LudumData

Heat Ray Defense by BoltKey

[raw]
made by BoltKey for LD36 (COMPO)
Defend the coast of Sicily back in ancient Greece using mirrors, light and knowledge of physics.

Click a mirror and drag left and right to rotate it. Damage ships by pointing light at them. If two or more beams focus the same ship, it catches on fire, which damages it over time.

In between rounds you can buy upgrades. The "Better focus!" upgrade makes beams maintain their power when moved and regain power after moving faster.

When a ship gets through your defense, it kills one of your people. Archimedes dies when he is the last man standing. If he gets killed, the game is over.
Web http://boltkey.cz/hrd/
Kongregate (with kong API) http://www.kongregate.com/games/absolutel/heat-ray-defense
Screenlapse https://youtu.be/BCdsrkphoc4
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-36/?action=preview&uid=50511

Feedback

ReboundGames
28. Aug 2016 · 18:50 UTC
The art is pretty funny, and the effect on the water is cool. I wish the beams went all the way to a 90 degree angle though, because it's frustrating when a ship hasn't reached the land yet but I can't hit it. Held my attention for longer than I expected.
psilon
28. Aug 2016 · 18:59 UTC
Great theme usage. Fun gameplay, i played three times with diffferent upgrades. it's great.
Traf d-Lo
28. Aug 2016 · 19:32 UTC
LoL, best game I've played so far, well done!
SetTheBet
28. Aug 2016 · 20:09 UTC
Great idea, great theme and really well done executed. Love the small comments from the people and the powerups. Could definitely be made into a bigger mobile game! Had some frustration with the angles, yes
McMutton
28. Aug 2016 · 20:10 UTC
Nice game. I like the upgrade system. :)

A bit more speed would be nice though... (but no high speed ships in ancient times ^^)
deadpixelsociety
28. Aug 2016 · 22:49 UTC
This is fun! Though I think I'm too uncoordinated to line up the mirrors efficiently. :) I could see expanding on the idea. Being able to setup mirrors to reflect beams to get around walls or other obstacles could add another element to the game.

Great job!
demogorgon
28. Aug 2016 · 22:57 UTC
I wish the mirrors were easier to control. That's really my biggest issue. The broken Latin instead of Greek really fits the entire spirit of Ludum Dare perfectly. It's sad I can't rate this game highly, but if there were ratings, I would.
CMLSC
28. Aug 2016 · 23:06 UTC
That art though. XD
I actually heard about the "ancient technology" you used in this game! :D
I really like the concept. The game could use some polishing though.
Swampie
29. Aug 2016 · 00:26 UTC
Good job! I enjoyed this even though I'm pretty bad at it
MaTeX-7seven
29. Aug 2016 · 00:59 UTC
The game has a solid gameplay nice work ^^ sometimes the mirrors followed the mouse even after releasing but overall pretty fun
pogo575
29. Aug 2016 · 03:13 UTC
That was very enjoyable. It was hard to aim the mirrors for me. Maybe cycle through them and have which ever is selected aim at the mouse instead of trying to tilt them by clicking on them.
jsonbee
29. Aug 2016 · 03:46 UTC
:) fun concept. Unique idea.. maybe a sound effect to indicate the damage of the enemies would be a simple addition :)
indieyp
29. Aug 2016 · 13:34 UTC
Good game + update system
PanicTheFirst
30. Aug 2016 · 13:08 UTC
We had the same idea but a little bit different execution.
I like your approach, too. Especially the upgrades. Good Work. :)
silkworm_sweatshop
30. Aug 2016 · 13:47 UTC
Cool twist on the missile defense type games and pretty charming. This Ludum Dare is all about learning history (ok, not really but this one is at least).
kingpirux
31. Aug 2016 · 00:11 UTC
xD lol it's nice and have its own spirit, but its quite brute in graphics, maybe with something more polished the game is going to be magnific
n42k
31. Aug 2016 · 08:12 UTC
I like it! I originally wanted to do something similar to this.
Wish I could point the mirrors to my mouse though instead of dragging them around. But maybe that is part of the difficulty of the game?
🎤 BoltKey
31. Aug 2016 · 20:52 UTC
@n42k Thanks for feedback. I wanted to simulate a bit the difficulty of precise aiming of light with mirrors in real life. You have to move them carefully and estimate where the light lands, unlike for example guns where you see exactly where you aim with gunsight. I was playing a bit with the idea of having some handles on the other side of the mirrors which you could manipulate, but it turned out to be weird.
euske
01. Sep 2016 · 14:58 UTC
I was always buying the beam power like crazy. Nice game.
friedfishstudios
02. Sep 2016 · 01:34 UTC
I like the idea, it has some potential. Would improve the control of the mirrors, often I lost control for no apparent reason. Also the game over screen with all the letters mixed up is something I would fix now.
Linus123xbb
05. Sep 2016 · 17:36 UTC
Awesome game man, it was definitely one of the best ones I have played this ludum dare. It involved a lot of strategy which I always find is something that a lot of games in ludum dare lack. Great fun!
Frederika and Patrick
07. Sep 2016 · 01:31 UTC
Cool game, the controls were awkward. It would be easier if you could select the mirrors by clicking on the beams or you could see which mirror was selected. Other than that the game was really fun and I like the humor.