LudumData

Dead Weight by Marc Jones

[raw]
made by Marc Jones for LD 40 (JAM)

Introduction

Shiver me timbers - it's Ludum Dare 40! There may have been many game jams before this, but today is our virgin voyage!

Take command of a dread pirate's ship and collect as much booty as ye can! But beware you salty seadogs, too much gold will weigh your vessel down which may have disastrous consequences! But it doesn't stop there, stockpiling munitions and having too many crew members will also dampen your abilities. Maybe you can afford to jettison some of those crew members... Can you get the high score (in play testing ours was 18!) and become a famous buccaneer? Or will you sleep with the fishes... Good luck.

Screenshot2.png

Controls

UP / W - Accelerate

LEFT, RIGHT / A, D - Steer

LEFT CONTROL, SPACE - Fire (Port, Broadside)

Screenshot1.png

Post-Submission

~~We've been made aware that the resolution may not be scaling properly on some systems. The game was designed to be played in a 800x600 window, which we tried to set as default, but that is apparently not working on all systems. We'll try and upload a hopefully tweaked Windows version, and a web version, soon.~~

Should be fine now!

HTML5 (web) https://manicmoleman.itch.io/dead-weight
Windows https://manicmoleman.itch.io/dead-weight
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/dead-weight

Ratings

Overall 588th 3.438⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 536th 3.354⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 569th 3.167⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Theme 754th 3.208⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 752th 3.167⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Audio 327th 3.438⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Humor 528th 3.021⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Mood 551th 3.304⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Given 27🗳️ 31🗨️

Feedback

Thy Duck
05. Dec 2017 · 00:32 UTC
A very nice game! Would recommend on making the player mechanics feel more responsive and fun, as it felt a bit clunky. It is an enjoyable game though, definitely something to be proud of!
batmanasb
05. Dec 2017 · 00:49 UTC
This game seems fun, but I think resolution scaling is broken. I have an ultrawide resolution (3440x1440) and the top and bottom of the game are cut off, and the bottom of the window is cut off, and I can't resize the window.
🎤 Marc Jones
05. Dec 2017 · 10:03 UTC
@batmanasb That's strange, we tried to set it to open in a window 800x600 but clearly that didn't work! I'll try tweaking it, thanks for the feedback!
NikorasuChan
07. Dec 2017 · 08:06 UTC
This is definitely a quite well done game, why aren't you getting more votes? Ah well, the game was pretty fun and addictive, the graphics are done well, the audio is quite good and the idea is great too. I really don't have much complaint except that I think the ship is a little slow.
jlindell
07. Dec 2017 · 11:51 UTC
Cool risk management, nice controls, graphics and sounds. Take on the theme is cool! Didn't beat the high score though.
Gruhh
07. Dec 2017 · 11:55 UTC
A good concept, I think the game could be a bit faster and have more feedbacks to have a stronger feeling. Congratulations on the project.

Um bom conceito, acho que o jogo poderia ser um pouco mais rápido e ter mais feedbacks para ter um feeling mais forte. Parabéns pelo projeto. :flag_br:
Veralos
07. Dec 2017 · 12:17 UTC
My best score was 9.

I really like the presentation here. The music fits well, the text adds a lot of flavour, and the colour palette is neat. Unfortunately, the sluggish turning and movement of the ship makes it a bit tough to play. The mechanics are solid but the movement really hurts them. I do especially like how you can only shoot sideways - it add an interesting dynamic to the combat.
TheAioliGuy
13. Dec 2017 · 01:13 UTC
I enjoyed playing this game! The audio was definitely a favourite of mine, from the music to the sound effects it all seemed really well done. I completely forgot about the carry weight and got a score of 5 while being greedy. Great work on the jam!
Steve Johnson
13. Dec 2017 · 05:01 UTC
I couldn't figure out how to score points. Every island was just something my ship would bump into. But the combination of mechanics is a good idea and the music is hilarious.
Jezzamon
13. Dec 2017 · 05:10 UTC
Good stuff!

Great flavour text, including the stuff on the entry page!

Don't have any significant suggestions here, pretty excellent all round
🎤 Marc Jones
13. Dec 2017 · 10:04 UTC
@steve-johnson I'm really sorry that didn't work, but thanks for trying our game. The island where you need to stash the gold has an 'X' marking the spot. Perhaps the random map generation bugged and put another island or a powerup on top of it.
Pecolyte
13. Dec 2017 · 15:10 UTC
The controlls are very ship-like, which is I liked. The music is cool, and the gameplay is fun and chanlenging. Text style is cool and fixes the game as well. I get 6 points at most. Liked this entry!
Joror
13. Dec 2017 · 15:26 UTC
Fine game with some nicely thought out goals & mechanics! Would have like a little more range on the guns for more tactical play, but this works well enough.
Good job!
🎤 Marc Jones
13. Dec 2017 · 15:32 UTC
@joror If you dare to sail with a few crew and only one or two shots, then the range improves a lot!
sebbernery
13. Dec 2017 · 17:56 UTC
Nice, I always like games with boats driving. Arts are really good (music + minimalist sprites).I was a little confused at first, but after like two or three play, I understood the mechanics (thanks to the help).
arron-fowler
13. Dec 2017 · 18:33 UTC
Lo fi pirate fun. Really enjoyed it!
Moski
13. Dec 2017 · 18:52 UTC
The game just kept getting more and more challenging.

![chrome_2017-12-13_13-36-39.png](///raw/519/z/e8e7.png)

Had an amazing piracy rum driven thrill with this game. Very minimalistic in presentation, but quite surprising in execution. I liked the idea of juggling between crew, ammo and gold, and the naval combat felt very fluid.

I have two minor concerns though. It's a bit odd that while we can accelerate, there's no deceleration or even reverse, which gave me a very hard time to find my route again once I crashed into something. The second is that, with so much movement, I ended up getting confused at times as to which button would fire in which direction. Possibly make it so there's just one fire button and it automatically fires in the direction of the closest ship? I don't know.

It'd be fantastic to see future updates on this. There's a lot of potential for it, and it could even be great to see a mobile version of it. [In behalf of my team](twitter.com/whalesandgames), great job once again on such a fun entry! :whale:
Mundis
13. Dec 2017 · 18:58 UTC
@moski,

Thanks for your review! With regards to your feedback, we debated about the reverse a couple of times so it's interesting to hear your comments on this!

You now have a new twitter follower at least! ;)
MrChippy
14. Dec 2017 · 21:50 UTC
This was nice. I liked the idea of there being risk to having less crew but you can score more if you have less. It would have been nice if it was more clear how much you were allowed to have. The map looking art was nice too.
Pox
15. Dec 2017 · 20:28 UTC
Really nice game, offers a good challenge ! It's pleasant to drive the ship on those dangerous seas :) Good job !
SecretPocketCat
19. Dec 2017 · 00:30 UTC
It kept me on the edge of my seat and I really liked the menu version (the tempo) of The Drunken Sailor, although I felt the ingame one was a tad too fast. I also felt that without cargo the ship was almost too fast.
Overall, it's a cool game. Not a fan of the green-yellow palette, though.


I was rubbish at shooting as I never remembered which side is which, so I just went the pacifist route and abused the, or lack thereof, pathfinding.

Et voila

![2017-12-19 01_18_34-Dead Weight by manicmoleman.png](///raw/7f2/3/z/eaa9.png)