M^3 (Moon Mining Manager) by KnightOwl

[raw]

made by KnightOwl for LD 38 (JAM)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx3D4OGNJ_k

My First Report!

Todd

Moon Mining Manager 2164

Small World = Moon :grin:

In the far future around a star not so far away, you are sent on a special mission to... Mine some rocks!? What sort of shenanigans did you pull to deserve this gig?

Select the 'big' yellow building to purchase some miners to get going. Miners automatically mine the closest ore, idiotically dumping the mined ore into a common container where it all gets mixed together.

Mixed ores can be used to improve both ores, or beef up the quantity of another more expensive ore. Refineries 'set' the ore mixes into materials, which can be sold for sweet 'Money'. Mixing ores and materials is the only sure way to keep going for a longer session.

Money can be used to purchase new miners, which do break down. How much of the moon can you mine before running out of money and ore?

Our goal is to explore the disciplines of Geology and Materials Engineering through the lens of a strategy game. We hope to build deeper mechanics in the future based upon these broad science disciplines. Bringing to light the interesting aspects of science through fun game mechanics is one of our main focuses at Tau Ceti Labs.

Game developed by a single developer from Tau Ceti Labs

http://www.TauCetiLabs.com

(A non-for-judging new version of the game can be found at our site)

Download Link:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3fVYh5HS8Xzb2lDeFgxY25BTWc

An updated version can be found at http://www.TauCetiLabs.com fixing UI issues and tuning the difficulty. However, these updates were made after the end of the competition period so it is not suitable for judging.

Playthrough video (New video is in development):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnucUB8syiI

Development Timelapse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovNVrjTvmbg

Original URL

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/m3-moon-mining-manager

Ratings

Overall	648^th	2.88⭐	27🧑‍⚖️
Fun	680^th	2.5⭐	26🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	274^th	3.333⭐	26🧑‍⚖️
Theme	329^th	3.542⭐	26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	621^th	2.75⭐	26🧑‍⚖️
Audio	499^th	1.867⭐	17🧑‍⚖️
Humor	542^th	2.158⭐	21🧑‍⚖️
Mood	675^th	2.545⭐	24🧑‍⚖️
Given		28🗳️	25🗨️

Feedback

🎤 KnightOwl

25. Apr 2017 · 02:04 UTC

Caught a UI position issue just after publish, nothing else was changed:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3fVYh5HS8XzRkQzTmV5MzNkUFE

This one is a bug fix found after the original submission but before the 'extended bonus'... It was only found after a longer play session.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3fVYh5HS8Xzb2lDeFgxY25BTWc

🎤 KnightOwl

25. Apr 2017 · 02:04 UTC

Duplicate...

🎤 KnightOwl

25. Apr 2017 · 02:04 UTC

Duplicate...

🎤 KnightOwl

25. Apr 2017 · 02:04 UTC

Duplicate... Consider this a feature request for a 'delete comment' button...

Roberto Romao

01. May 2017 · 05:45 UTC

Very smooth.. :D good job!

oxrock

01. May 2017 · 08:09 UTC

I like that the workers are automated but that creates a bit of a challenge in itself. How do you work around the resources that they're bringing you, right? Gotta process fast. So right off the bat this game hits a lot of good buttons for me personally with resource management, strategy coupled with silly AI workers. I'd love to see the game developed more allowing for further processing of materials and expansion of abilities. Of course ideally I think I'd prefer the workers be smartened up a bit and perhaps mined materials be separated into storage facilities or something. Maybe you could have a hierarchy for priority of things to be mined that you could change on the fly. It'd be a nice way to control workers without having to micro manage.

Overall I like it, keep up the good work!

Wheerd

01. May 2017 · 17:56 UTC

I really struggled with the UI of this game. Not only do the buttons not explain what they do, but there is no real feedback when you clicked them. I spammed the buy miners button because it didn't seem like it was doing anything. One ore deposit was very close to my base, so I didn't really see the miner, as it was half hidden in the base. Also, I am not sure, if the silo and refinery thing actually work. I can't seem to see ore accumulate anywhere and I cannot refine/sell/whatever. The UI needs some serious work before this becomes usable imho :confused: Its a shame because the idea looked really cool. Maybe I am just too stupid to use it :disappointed_relieved: BTW, the buttons all say "Button" etc. before you select anything.

EDIT: Okay, after I watched some of your video it is clearer how to actually play the game. But I think the UI is still pretty unintuitive :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

🎤 KnightOwl

01. May 2017 · 22:38 UTC

I agreed that the UI needs a lot of work from the 'jam' version and some instructions would be helpful. An updated version can be found on www.TauCetiLabs.com if you are interested. These were updates done after the 72 hours, so I didn't post it here.

I'll be taking this concept in a bit of a new direction going forward, meaning almost everything will be redeveloped. It will still stay true to the Geology and Material Science aspects, which I personally believe is the most promising result from this jam.

KabalaTrance

02. May 2017 · 08:35 UTC

This game needs some tutorials.

Jamesy012

02. May 2017 · 09:57 UTC

The game was very confusing, took me a few tries to fully understand what was going on,

Especially since the UI didn't update when you bought the mining drones or when the mining drones bring in more resources. that added to the confusion since i expected something to show up/happen but nothing did, only showing up if I click on the building again

Scornz

02. May 2017 · 12:38 UTC

Awesome game, although it was confusing to get the hang of at first, when I did, I had a lot of fun. UI was being really weird for me, but I don't know...

TMW

02. May 2017 · 13:49 UTC

I really like the idea, because I love these kind of games. This game need more work to be enjoyable. What you made is a very good start, but it feels unfinished. I hope you can improve it.

🎤 KnightOwl

02. May 2017 · 17:32 UTC

I agree completely that the UI is unfinished. This is my first jam and am unfamiliar with the rules concerning updates. Are updates allowed as long as the base gameplay remains unchanged? I do have a new version at TauCetiLabs.com that addresses most of the UI issues.

Thanks everyone for all the great feedback!

Swanito

02. May 2017 · 19:07 UTC

Very ambitious game for a jam! A bit too much maybe so that would explain the lack of polish but the concept is really cool :)

Bendev_Games

03. May 2017 · 00:50 UTC

I really like this concept and its a good first jam entry, keep the good work!
i missed some music and sound effects but its ok :)

Legion

03. May 2017 · 11:08 UTC

3D games are always a bit tricky and time consuming to develop for a jam, but nevertheless you did a splendid job. Keep up the good work :)

CliffracerX

03. May 2017 · 22:47 UTC

Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing, but I liked the idea. Maybe not a great idea for a jam (strategy games are hard enough NORMALLY), but a great concept for expansion post-LD.

Hegemege

07. May 2017 · 20:37 UTC

I liked the world layout you had, zooming out and seeing ALL those resources!

Too bad the way the player controls the whole game is quite difficult, and it was really hard to turn a profit after I spent a ton of money on collectors, like 70 to refine and 73-something back. I like the concept, though. One could make a whole economy simulation out of this, where you need to haul cargo to home base, sell to other planets etc etc.

Random-storykeeper

09. May 2017 · 21:29 UTC

I think you've tapped into something interesting, even if the final product (for the jam) is a bit bare bones. The zooming in and out was a good feature because it gave the impression of how small the world is. For some reason, turning the world constantly doesn't allow me to go in a complete 360; it just stops after rotating for a while, which sort of ruins the impression of this being a "round" world, where you can spin it continuously in one direction and end up where you started again. The rotation mechanic should be continuous, imo.

As for the game, yeah, I tried playing it, but I couldn't really get into it. It was confusing how everything worked in this game, what you were supposed to do and there were lots of placeholders such as "New text" and buttons labeled "Button" at the start of the game that I wasn't sure what to press. I feel bad, because even the video had me confused of how to work the game, but maybe I didn't listen intently enough to it.

Overall, I will give it to you that the mini map looks all right, and I do like the fancy names given to the resources. The video you use to promote your game at the start of the page was charming. I saw some nice looking graphics for the resources at the bottom of the screen in the game, but they weren't really integrated into the game itself. It felt unfinished and wasn't exactly pleasant to look at; too many grey and yellow tones, but I get that it's supposed to be the moon. I'm curious about the post-jam version, so I may check that out some time. Props.