LudumData

Unnamed Space Project by Devastus

[raw]
made by Devastus for LD 38 (JAM)

LD38_promo3.jpg Animated GIF

Your task is to go from "planet" to "planet", scavenging for resources (those purple crystal things) and to survive the incoming horde of ARMED ROBOT SPIDERS! By using TURRETS!

... this is what happens when you bite more than you can chew: a pretty decent idea turned into a total wreck of a prototype. It contains maybe 10% of the planned sense, content and functionality, but since it is a playable core game loop, I call it a submission.

I also never got down to making SFX for this game (only two short music loops), thus the game will not feature such as I would perceive it as adding new content in.

Postmortem for further details

NOTE: At submission time the game was in a totally unplayable state due to a hefty amount of game-breaking bugs, so you may want to take that into account when you judge it. No offense taken in low scores :P

Bugfixes:

26.04.2017 -- Fixed the whole thing not even starting up, Music Manager not playing music and crashing, spawners not despawning -- crashing, things not playing effects -- crashing, difficulty levels not working, options not working at all, increased camera height... a pretty exhaustive list, and hopefully one that will suffice to give it a chance at life.

Controls:

  • WASD: Move character
  • Mouse: Aim, Left Mouse Button: Shoot, Right Mouse Button: Cancel building (in Build Mode)
  • Spacebar: Toggle Build Mode
  • Esc: Pause menu
HTML5 (web) http://89.40.3.128/ld38/
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/unnamed-space-project

Ratings

Overall 385th 3.376⭐ 87🧑‍⚖️
Fun 312th 3.294⭐ 87🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 668th 2.494⭐ 87🧑‍⚖️
Theme 449th 3.31⭐ 86🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 203th 3.988⭐ 87🧑‍⚖️
Audio 294th 3.179⭐ 86🧑‍⚖️
Mood 499th 3.024⭐ 85🧑‍⚖️
Given 24🗳️ 56🗨️

Feedback

theslate
01. May 2017 · 14:07 UTC
The music loop made me physically ill for some reason. :)
Good start of something.
🎤 Devastus
01. May 2017 · 14:13 UTC
The menu loop in particular has a rather unsettling bass to it, so I'm not surprised (things that with better time I would have definitely fixed in the mix). Luckily there is a volume setting to mute it if necessary :P
mox
01. May 2017 · 14:37 UTC
level set up was slick. swooping into the flat shards felt pretty solid.
MathijsVissers
01. May 2017 · 14:38 UTC
Pretty cool actually. I can see where you were going with this, this is a pretty solid start.
I like the artwork, 'planets' are a bit simple perhaps, but the enemies and ship look great.
Ingame music has a nice pace.
holgk
01. May 2017 · 19:23 UTC
Wow, nice game. The particle effects are awesome.
clegamecoop
01. May 2017 · 19:27 UTC
The music fit the game perfectly! And definitely like the visuals and the approach. But, I had a hard time getting started without getting overwhelmed with the first wave. So, hard to get very far.
Dink_Dunk
01. May 2017 · 19:32 UTC
"YOU DONE GOOFED" perfect! That was actually rather fun, disappointing you never managed to finish on time. Gamejams are always a test of planning and execution, we had to cut a lot of polish out of Skylets to get it into a reasonable release state.
Burgee
01. May 2017 · 19:36 UTC
This game's presentation is really well done and had you been able to finish it and balance it a little bit I think it could have bee a strong contender here.

Unfortunately, I was unable to play for long because even when putting down turrets I was overwhelmed by enemies who ignored me and just destroyed my ship.

Graphics were really good, particles were nice too - a touch of screenshake would have gone a long long way with explosions (if you decide to polish it more).

I like what you have, I wish you had more!
schizoid2k
01. May 2017 · 19:56 UTC
Wow, nice! Love the music, the effects, and game play. Not as easy as it looks though! Well done!
SkullPixel
01. May 2017 · 20:22 UTC
Your art is quite impressive. I'd suggest not insisting on an options menu in a jam, but oh well. While it was kinda hard, it was really quite fun, and just took a little to get used to. Maybe some more time before the level start would be nice. Nice job on your entry!
Zeriver
01. May 2017 · 23:21 UTC
I like tower defense kind of game especially when you can actually control hero instead of just placing turrets. Gameplay is pretty fun and requires from player to plan ahead (where to put turrets, if they will be enough and i should save money for next map or do i have to make additional support). Cool visual effects and audio fits the game pretty well.
ropedog
02. May 2017 · 01:08 UTC
This game looks sharp! I'm a big fan of strategy/tower defense games, and this is no exception. It was a little tough for me at first, and it would have been helpful to have some additional instructions. But once you get going this game is really fun! It's all about getting those quick turrets out!

I do wish there were some sound effects to go along with the intense action. All in all, great entry!
Wizcas
02. May 2017 · 03:16 UTC
Amazing job on visual effects and character controlling! This modeling, animation and particle look decent. I love how you control the camera, making the game looks kinda cinematic. I wish there were more gameplay contents, and some feedback would be great as well, health bars for example. I didn't know what happens until my space aircraft exploded...

And your entry description makes me LOLed :rofl:
PeachTreeOath
02. May 2017 · 06:40 UTC
Controls went haywire at times (I would keep running in the opposite direction i was pressing, and sometimes i couldn't deploy turrets). It was a bit fun trying to taunt the spiders so they would stop attacking the ship, but alas I got rekt. Sometimes the RNG gods smiled on me, and others they laughed at me with regards to the mineral placement. The game looks great and the transition between wave and rest music was awesome.
Urban Logic Games
02. May 2017 · 08:57 UTC
Liked the visuals, music and controls were pretty slick too. Not sure if I was playing it wrong but I did seem to get overwhelmed very quickly though.
Psilon
02. May 2017 · 17:19 UTC
Good graphics, and enjoyable gameplay. Maybe too hard.
Scriptorum
02. May 2017 · 17:40 UTC
Looks good! I loved the ship landing and all that. It's really hard from the get-go: if you don't manage to collect enough resources before the countdown ends, there's no way you're going to survive the first wave. But I had fun *done goofing*. :smirk:
Piller Yann
02. May 2017 · 18:01 UTC
It's a nice game ! The visuals effects and graphics are beautiful. But it's a shame it misses the sound effects.
Pedro Henrique Cesar
02. May 2017 · 18:05 UTC
• No innovation on gameplay, basiclly it's a tower defense with shooter;

• Although no innovation, the game follow its precessors recipe of fun!

• The music fits perfectly with the rhythm of the gameplay but without SFX, there is no immersion;

• Overall: it's a good game to kill time, very fun and simple, the good graphics makes me wanna keep playing it.
diknows
02. May 2017 · 20:32 UTC
I like the music and the graphics very much - you certainly did a great job there.

For the gameplay: I never could survive really long. So I am either pretty shitty at tower defense games, there is a bug or it is just too hard. Oh and if you do not restart the game completely, the build mode will be totally fucked (on windows).

Anyway, thanks for this entry :)
fatPenguin
02. May 2017 · 20:35 UTC
First of all: cool 3d graphics :sunglasses:

I like the idea of supporting your towers in the defense by shooting the enemies yourself. The game would profit from some sound effects as the background music alone gets a bit repetitive after some time^^ The difficulty heavily depends on the placement of the crystals and spawn point, which is not bad but can be very irritating.

Overall you did a great job end the game is definitely a success for such a short time of development:slight_smile:
Zantamar
02. May 2017 · 20:44 UTC
A fun idea with a good graphical foundation, this game had me excited for the prospect of a tower defense and shooter combination, which I enjoy. However, I feel a bit more time was needed to get the balancing right. On one hand, the simple AI makes spinning around a centered mass of enemies very effective. However, upon reaching level 2 and not receiving resources back for previous turrets, it was hard to defend against the two spawners and attempt to build turrets. I think another look at the resource costs and damage/health ratios, plus some SFX for the gunfire would really make this game a great time killer! Thanks for your game!
blacksheepza
02. May 2017 · 20:49 UTC
Didn't realise you could build turrets at first and died way too quickly :sweat_smile:
The visuals of the game are great! The models are really well done for such a short time frame.
I agree that the lack of sfx does detract from the game a bit and it is a bit annoying that you cant shoot while you have the build menu up. I would suggest you add a thematic reason for doing that (eg accessing a terminal on your ship) or perhaps just have it always on and let the player shoot normally. Just a thought :)

Great job again!
wildmusketeer
02. May 2017 · 21:07 UTC
I'm a big fan of these type of top-down shooter games, and I think you've done a solid job with the visuals and audio, especially the particles, they look stunning on top of the dirt platform. I also think you did a great job with the 3D models (character, plants, plane). They have a very alien swarm feel to them :slight_smile:

However, like many people mentioned, I think the difficulty of the game needs some tuning. It was really difficult to start when you have no turrets, and the enemies felt a little too tanky for the damage they output. I got to 3 spawners, and that overwhelmed me too quickly.

Overall, great game for the duration!
Cornchip
02. May 2017 · 21:18 UTC
Nice intro-ship-swoop-in! I really think it has great potential! "You done goofed" was the greatest thing I've seen all day :)
NedMakesGames
02. May 2017 · 21:30 UTC
Nice game! The gameplay is actually pretty polished but very hard. I think the beginning timer could be longer to allow for more scouting. Impressive that you were able to implement an options menu! I liked the music but definitely missed sound effects! Also impressed with the graphics! Good job.
Bomb-X
02. May 2017 · 21:40 UTC
Pretty cool even if you've had to cut many things !
Nice idea of tower defense, and the ship animation was quite deliteful to watch xD
Graphisms are neat though and the idea of making the player quit its ship at first to collect resources is interresting !
However the game lacked a bit of balancing in my opinion, having the player sped up would be cool, and a bit more of turrets should have been cool !
Very good entry anyway, good job ! :)
SimplePotential
02. May 2017 · 22:41 UTC
This game has a lot of good things going for it! Graphics are wonderful, game play seems mostly good, and having the extra settings options are a nice touch. Music wise I felt like I was in an episode of Knight Rider (good? not sure). Controls maybe could have worked differently for moving, maybe W moves forward all the time but in the direction you are aiming would have been better, that's just preference though.
Quaternius
02. May 2017 · 23:02 UTC
Loved the graphics and the controls feel really tight! Loved the building mechanic.
doomshmuck
02. May 2017 · 23:23 UTC
I didn't even realize this was a tower defense game initially, and got completely destroyed. There was no indication that you need to break the crystals around to get materials, and it felt like the difficulty was way too over-tuned. As for the sound, I immediately turned the music way down, as it was a little overbearing. It was a good track. However, the complete lack of sound effects (I didn't hear any, perhaps because I was playing the web version>) made the combat and mechanics feel pretty non-impactful. The visuals were really good and definitely the highlight of this. Perhaps my general dislike for tower defense is contributing to my opinion here too, so I guess take that with a grain of salt.
MiggyG
03. May 2017 · 00:16 UTC
The game hard but fun! Wasn't able to survive for long, maybe a longer start timer or shorter turret build time! Great Work!
Plepletier
03. May 2017 · 01:16 UTC
Great Game! I think is more fun and fluid if you can not stop shooting when put the turrets. Some times i forget and take damage of enemies. Great graphics. Congratulation.
Kakureta
03. May 2017 · 01:29 UTC
I really like the graphics and especially the audio of your game! One thing I noted is that there's a very obvious seem in the texture of the side of the planet/island that probably could have been easily hidden. Other than that I think the game is too hard at the start and gets easier as you progress when in reality it should be the opposite. A fun game regardless, i enjoyed it.
Apostate Games
03. May 2017 · 02:54 UTC
Wow! Love it - was really fun to play, picked up controls quick and graphics and audio were great! Good job!

------------------------------

Please check out our submission as well:
- https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/plutus

Thanks! :smile:

http://www.apostategames.com/
CheesyMoo
03. May 2017 · 03:52 UTC
I kept getting killed really quick... then I learned about the turrets... still can't figure out how to build them... :confused:
BrothersT
03. May 2017 · 06:44 UTC
Nice graphics and particle effects! Obviously, your game needs a lot of work to make it playable. I don't know if it's possible to defeat the first wave of enemies, but I sure couldn't!

Thanks for checking out our game, [E.(a)T.](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/e-at). Much appreciated :slight_smile:.
Scornz
03. May 2017 · 10:21 UTC
Awesome graphics, looks great for a game jam. Impressive work! Gameplay was a little bland and I could never really figure out what the resources were for however...
Pecolyte
03. May 2017 · 11:51 UTC
It's fun combining tower defence and 2D shooting together! The music is beautiful, too. Resources are a little hard to gether when they are in the enemy approaching way. But it's really fun to play!
gustavo.christino
03. May 2017 · 12:31 UTC
Nice graphics.

Tips:
* Put more feedback on opponents life points.
* Fix the construction Build Mode, sometimes it does not work or it shifts between Normal Mode without working.
* Put some SFX, it could be cool (as mentioned).
* Make possible to skip the arriving of the ship in the begining (I know that time can be used to know where the crystal are).
* Put more crystals, please. It's very hard. Hahahahah.
DanteWang
03. May 2017 · 13:15 UTC
Great graphic. The music is great too. Maybe it would be better if the enemy AI is a little bit more intelligent.
siryakko
03. May 2017 · 13:28 UTC
Really hard game but worth the time playing / trying it. Nice work for the realization and the main idea. The audio was a bit weird to me.
walnoot
03. May 2017 · 13:57 UTC
Wow, this is a challenging game (although it got a bit easier after I realised that you can build turrets :p). I hope you'll continue working on this, its seems very promising with some more polish.
Chuck Zelvis
03. May 2017 · 14:00 UTC
Wow, good job. I wanted to make something similiar, but it was way too ambitious for me.

The gameplay issues can be easily fixed by changing numbers, and the artwork is really good.

There could be some indication of crystal positions tho, they are crucial and there is not much time to find them.
UnidayStudio
03. May 2017 · 15:01 UTC
I've liked the game, but it is VERY hard... :/ this ruinded my expectations... When I started playing, the sound and the ambientation of the game makes me feel alive, and makes me want to play A LOT, but when the enemies start coming, I realised that they are VERY hard :/. I don't know if I don't understand the mechanics, if I don't, probabilly you need to make a tutorial, or something like this. I really will enjoy to play this again, after your feedback here...

Good job! :D
nevaermorr
03. May 2017 · 15:14 UTC
Nice and simple - easy to play and addictive, also with nice visuals. Only thing bothering me was the lack of SFX. Also beware of a small bug - if you are in build mode and you die, you get a free turret at the start of the next game ;-) All in all, good job :)
Fiote
04. May 2017 · 01:42 UTC
I liked the game overall, but yeah, it was too hard lol. Also, I couldn't skip the 'you done goofed' screen for some reason and it took more than I could endure (because I goofed a lot). With more towers and balancing it would be a nice real game!
Cambryx
04. May 2017 · 14:17 UTC
Cool game but really hard! It took me multiple tries to get through the first level. But awesome graphics! I enjoyed playing it.

If you want to try out our game, here is a link:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/42-mikronikus

Feel free to leave some feedback :)
grena
04. May 2017 · 18:09 UTC
Nice theme exploitation! Graphics are awesome, I am amazed, well done. The gameplay is really fun and addictive :) But REALLY hard! I didn't pass the second level, which is frustrating!

For the next time please, allow to rebind the keys for non-QWERTY keyboard, I had to play with the arrows, and it's not easy to reach the spacebar when doing so.

Nice entry, I had fun playing your game :)
diptoman
05. May 2017 · 08:06 UTC
Cool stuff. Nothing particularly new, but extremely well polished, and as per the description - overscoped! The visuals and music was spot on (some SFX would have been nice). It feels like the concentration was mostly on the graphics and visual presentation (particles et al) that the actual game (including balancing) was ignored - which is perfectly acceptable for a jam game. I hope you keep working on this!
Terrabalt
05. May 2017 · 23:06 UTC
Yeah, scope is pretty much the problem of most of your game jams, but i think you're not completely dropped the ball with this one

The gameplay is not bad, but i agree, the first wave is quite overwhelming. Probably make it so that the enemy spawn less per wave? Also, with such a small timeframe, i think it's better off that the resource is clumped together; most of the time i didn't get enough for the first turret before the wave start.

But i think your focus primarily lies in the assets, and it shows; The graphics are gorgerous, though i do wish the explosion actually damage the units near it, and the music is so good. I don't felt any sickness like the first comment did, but i do think it's quite sick.

Overall, not a bad entry! Would love if you worked on this more :D
CodeChomper
05. May 2017 · 23:55 UTC
Awesome graphics, hard game! The game is well put together and models / animations were soo cool! The first wave was really hard but I too built a hard game. Great job!

Feel free to rate mine if you have time [Not So Small (HTML5)](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/not-so-small)
Sean S. LeBlanc
06. May 2017 · 04:11 UTC
It feels like a solid start, but it's unfortunately lacking a lot of the polish and fine-tuning that I think a game like this needs in order to be fun. The 3D models were quite good, but it was difficult to get into the rhythm of things and I couldn't stand to play it for too long.
korvyashka
09. May 2017 · 20:15 UTC
I must admit that it looks pretty decent. Gameplay is understandable and intuitive. What I can advise according to the core mechanics - it will be good to have indicators of turrets health in UI.
voxel
09. May 2017 · 23:10 UTC
Great visuals, fun turret defence, but player gun felt completely useless against the enemy.
mwcz
10. May 2017 · 00:28 UTC
GOOD GRAPHICS! Easy to move around! Overall pretty cool game!
pikopik
11. May 2017 · 17:19 UTC
I was sold by the dynamic music. good vfx too, nice job
comatomatoes
14. May 2017 · 17:57 UTC
Solid entry! I definitely had fun playing the game and getting better at it. I think there are some balance issues: most of the time I either had a very firm grip on the situation or it just spiraled out of control. There wasn't really any way to make a come back. A minor UI point is that I would have really liked a health bar on the turrets. Great work! =)
joemid
16. May 2017 · 03:40 UTC
Hey @devastus! You left me wanting more! (And with a string hatred for those robo-spiders. Just made me want those turrets.) Graphics were awesome and control was fluid. So much scale- I found myself running toward the end of the cliff to see how far I could drop before the game reset! Meta! Great job, just wish I could place turrets!

EDIT: For some reason, (Me? WebGl? Mac? Safari? Me?) I could not place a turret on the first play-though, as I read through the comments I saw that people were placing turrets. I revisited and WOW. Felt more finished than you led me to first believe. Really got into it. Brought me back to the arcades. Lost the sense of going for score points and really felt the necessity of scarcity of resource and time. I thought it was a great start before, but can't wait to see where you go with this.

Love it! VVV
![Screen Shot 2017-05-15 at 10.36.11 PM.png](///raw/684/z/461f.png)