{"author_link":"\/users\/nnnnneeeedddd","author_name":"Nnnnneeeedddd","author_uid":"1000766","comments":[{"author_name":"danbolt","author_uid":"1001909","time":"2017-05-01T06:23:12Z","epoch":1493619792,"modified":1493619820,"text":"Cool upgrading scheme! I certainly went for acceleration\/speed, but I liked all the options available. The growth curve made a lot of sense. I liked the pixel art and style of the game.\n\nThe compo has a short timespan, and figuring out an ideal solution with Java games can be tricky, but I if you had an extra day, I'd suggest avoiding Java dialogue boxes for when the player wins or loses, as they can seem a bit jarring and take away from the experience.\n\nJust as a heads up, running the jar on Linux didn't activate sound! Perhaps it was an issue with my machine? I'm using Lubuntu 17.04 on a ThinkPad T430 if that helps. I opted out of rating audio because of it.\n\n```\n$ java -jar TheAliens.jar \nSounds are not workinga\n60 ticks, 60 frames\n60 ticks, 60 frames\n60 ticks, 60 frames\n...\n```\n\nOtherwise, awesome stuff! Keep up the good work!","likes":1,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"Rombus","author_uid":"1012366","time":"2017-05-01T14:24:28Z","epoch":1493648668,"modified":1493648668,"text":"I have sound on linux, although I break the sounds when I killed the first alien :o\n\n```\nSound not working!b\njavax.sound.sampled.LineUnavailableException: line with format PCM_SIGNED 44100.0 Hz, 16 bit, mono, 2 bytes\/frame, little-endian not supported.\n\tat com.sun.media.sound.DirectAudioDevice$DirectDL.implOpen(DirectAudioDevice.java:513)\n\tat com.sun.media.sound.DirectAudioDevice$DirectClip.implOpen(DirectAudioDevice.java:1304)\n\tat com.sun.media.sound.AbstractDataLine.open(AbstractDataLine.java:121)\n\tat com.sun.media.sound.DirectAudioDevice$DirectClip.open(DirectAudioDevice.java:1085)\n\tat com.sun.media.sound.DirectAudioDevice$DirectClip.open(DirectAudioDevice.java:1175)\n\tat game.SoundEngine.play(SoundEngine.java:93)\n\tat game.obj.ship.SpaceShip.update(SpaceShip.java:80)\n\tat game.obj.Entity.tick(Entity.java:25)\n\tat game.state.Tester.tick(Tester.java:89)\n\tat game.Game.run(Game.java:247)\n\tat java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)\n```\n\n\nYou went hardcore synthesysing your own sounds? that's awesome\nAnd the building ship part adds more depth\n\nRated!","likes":1,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"Nnnnneeeedddd","author_uid":"1000766","time":"2017-05-01T15:37:02Z","epoch":1493653022,"modified":1493653022,"text":"Sounds on linux is a known issue everyone, Sorry...","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"Steve Johnson","author_uid":"1010500","time":"2017-05-01T18:09:23Z","epoch":1493662163,"modified":1493662163,"text":"I'm on OS X. The game crashed when I killed an alien. I had 21 coins and 3299 height.\n\nThis is one of the more fun games I've played in LD38 though! Decent sound, fine gameplay. I do wish the field of view was bigger, it feels unfair how little time you have to react to enemies.\n\nIt's not often I see a metagame, so nice job on that! It feels appropriate.","likes":1,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"Khorm","author_uid":"1013156","time":"2017-05-02T22:41:50Z","epoch":1493764910,"modified":1493764910,"text":"This was great fun, very nice upgrade scheme that made sense and made it fun to play a good while. I agree with steve that a bit bigger view would have been good, not enough time to see enemies and I resulted in just prefire and steering back and forth to not take any damage. Overall very good though! ","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"Krylos","author_uid":"1007529","time":"2017-05-02T22:42:54Z","epoch":1493764974,"modified":1493764974,"text":"Also on OSX, I had a crash killing an enemy at some point.\n\nOther than that, this game was really enjoyable. The upgrades kept me motivated and the rocket felt quite nice to handle. The gameplay is certainly the strong point of this entry. But it could get a little boring waiting for new enemies to arrive.\n\nThe graphics were really appropriate for the gameplay, as was the sound. But both of them didn't really stand out to me.\n\nI suppose the theme wasn't tackled that explicitly, which is a bit of a weak point for this game.\n\nBut overall, I'd say that you did a very good job on it. It's an enjoyable way to spend 15-20 minutes.","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"Listonos","author_uid":"1000380","time":"2017-05-02T22:47:50Z","epoch":1493765270,"modified":1493765270,"text":"The gameplay is lacking (played the original version), you just spam fire button and go up. Upgrades are good, I'm glad you managed to do those.","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"fakefrogsonly","author_uid":"1005407","time":"2017-05-02T22:48:10Z","epoch":1493765290,"modified":1493765290,"text":"Interesting concept, would be cool to see it developed further. ","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"el_Flex0s","author_uid":"1016498","time":"2017-05-05T14:40:32Z","epoch":1493995232,"modified":1493995232,"text":"Awesome game! It was really hard at first, but I realised whenn flying straight and spamming spacebar, you can win the game quite easily. \nBut it made quite fun! Very good work, you even had time for sounds!","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"bentglasstube","author_uid":"1002361","time":"2017-05-12T06:47:08Z","epoch":1494571628,"modified":1494571628,"text":"Seemed like a pretty neat concept but unfortunately whenever I got hit the game would freeze up (linux) so I didn't get to play the upgrade parts at all.  I enjoyed the art of the rocket flying around when I pressed left and right.","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"DusteD","author_uid":"1015111","time":"2017-05-12T10:00:06Z","epoch":1494583206,"modified":1494583206,"text":"Works perfect (and with sound) on Archlinux, I like the funky controls and how you've put this together! :)","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"manolo_rei","author_uid":"1013402","time":"2017-05-12T14:03:04Z","epoch":1494597784,"modified":1494597784,"text":"This game reminded of a lot of newgrounds \"infinite climbers\"! I have really fond memories of games like Hedgehog Launch, thanks for bringing it all back. \n\nLoved the particle effects. So simples, and yet really add up to the experience. I like the amount of things you can upgrade and the choices to make, but it is all really unbalanced. I choose the best cannons after two playthroughs and it was enough to beat the game. It would be good in your next project to save some time in the end to balance everything. A good idea is to limit the amount of mechanics\/upgrades so there is less stuff to balance in the end, but the choices become more meaningful. Still, it's a fun experience and works great as a proof of concept prototype. \n\nBut 17 man! KEEP GOING! You're going far, just like my overpowered cannon rocket \\o","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"Ben McEldowney","author_uid":"1012263","time":"2017-05-12T15:57:48Z","epoch":1494604668,"modified":1494604668,"text":"Great work! I'm amazed at the quality for a compo game. The audio gets a little repetitive after a while, but it fits the mood of the game perfectly. I was able to fly backwards down through the earth and outrun all the aliens while my height kept ticking up, but playing the game correctly was a lot of fun.\n\nAlso on OSX with a crash on killing. I think I had 36 coins and was at a height of ~8000.","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"Bomb-X","author_uid":"1007828","time":"2017-05-12T18:07:18Z","epoch":1494612438,"modified":1494612438,"text":"A pretty good game ! \n\nI liked graphisms, and the upgrade system a lot ! \n\nI just think it lacked of a bit more difficulty since you just have to get second weapons upgrade and spam button to be totally safe and then just upgrade your motors to go as fast as you can ! \n\nBut you got a very nice base on which you can construct something very cool ! With some balancing and more diversity on ennemies i would totally play it ! \nI was surprised steps didn't give money ! Since you count them i think you should do something with it ! \nAnd in my opinion, it would be very cool if an ending would be reachable but very far to give a real objective to the player ! \n\nI didn't really liked music and i'm sorry of it, i just find it too much dissonant to be enjoyed, but it must be my only opinion ! \n\nAnyway, great job, it was a very nice experience !","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"mar3k","author_uid":"1002837","time":"2017-05-12T20:40:38Z","epoch":1494621638,"modified":1494621638,"text":"Cool game!\nFirst of all I would like to say, that I glad to see some more devs using Java and making their own engines as well and have to give you a big thumb up for the particle effects I really like those and know how hard it is to make a good ones.\n\nI quite like the game, it was simple but fun, the controls were a bit wonky and by that I mean the way the ship flew and also I found an exploit where I just was spamming the fire and never got hit, so maybe that could be fixed with making a longer cooldown on firing. Also one more thing I would like to point out is that it would be better if the enemies spawned right away after the 1st one died, cause there were a lot of time where nothing was happening and I was just waiting for the correct distance to get an enemy.\n\nBut overall it is a nice entry...Oh also the music and sound effects were nice as well! Good job!","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"internetpaulicy","author_uid":"1005083","time":"2017-05-12T21:01:59Z","epoch":1494622919,"modified":1494622919,"text":"I really enjoyed playing this game. It took me a few deaths to figure out that clicking on an item means buying and not looking but after that I had a blast. The ship is awkward to fly at first it steers like a super agile sail boat. I found I could \"tack\" upwards in the sailing sense which allowed me to shoot the enemies side on while they could only shoot down. I liked being able to evade freely I found it really fun. I upgraded my ship a bit. I maxed out the guns and the nose cone. The challenge seemed flat(always hard) and that's a good way to go. I found it compelling, you just can't make mistakes. The music loop is great. There are lots of little touches like animating the side thrusters, making the sky get darker as you go higher, showing damage on the aliens. I think this is a really great entry :)","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"TeamMonumental","author_uid":"1002761","time":"2017-05-12T21:10:41Z","epoch":1494623441,"modified":1494623441,"text":"I like the upgrade and currency system, however, the aliens shoot really fast which often result in a cheap kill on the player which are random. The horizontal movement felt kinda weird and I would of like wasd implementation. I appreciate all the time and effort you put into to this and props to you for making a cool game! ","likes":1,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"Rother Games","author_uid":"1000653","time":"2017-05-12T21:35:26Z","epoch":1494624926,"modified":1494625081,"text":"I play the non Post Compo Version. Solid core mechanics, but at some points I was a bit hard to control the rocket. As I bought a new gun and tried to compare it to the old one, I lost the new gun","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"__init__.py","author_uid":"1010557","time":"2017-05-12T23:43:35Z","epoch":1494632615,"modified":1494632615,"text":"cool game! I found it a bit too easy, and I had the game crash on me a few times.","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"nbilyk","author_uid":"1011431","time":"2017-05-13T00:31:20Z","epoch":1494635480,"modified":1494635480,"text":"I liked the upgrade scheme.  Overall it was a fun arcade shooter :)","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"mryamz","author_uid":"1010151","time":"2017-05-13T01:22:33Z","epoch":1494638553,"modified":1494638553,"text":"Anyone notice you can travel below the ground? Haha cracked me up. Nice game overall. I wanted to make a game similar to this. I just fly straight up and spam the space bar, works like a charm.","likes":1,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"Jerm","author_uid":"1003563","time":"2017-05-13T05:00:42Z","epoch":1494651642,"modified":1494651642,"text":"Neat game! The gameplay was a bit repetitive, but the upgrade system gave you a reason to keep trying after getting killed, which was really nice. Although it seemed only upgrading the gun made any difference to the gameplay. Also I think it would be better if the upgrades were more expensive as it didn't take long to get them (but maybe it's just me who likes grindy games :smiley:).\n\nI found the alien ships quite difficult at first because the small view meant they would appear right above you so you didn't have much time to react and they would kill you in one shot.\n\nThe particle effects were neat and I also liked how the background sky got darker as you went up. I managed to get to level 9 and also got max upgrades on my ship.","likes":0,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"ashdnazg","author_uid":"1000401","time":"2017-05-13T07:19:51Z","epoch":1494659991,"modified":1494659991,"text":"Mostly what everyone else said.\nPersonally I really liked the particle effects!\n\nMusic could use a slightly lower volume :P","likes":1,"format":"md"},{"author_name":"stefvanschie","author_uid":"1000290","time":"2017-05-13T07:27:44Z","epoch":1494660464,"modified":1494660464,"text":"I really liked the game, although it was a bit simple. I just pressed launch and started spamming spacebar. If you've upgraded your health and damage a bit you are practically undefeatable. I reached level 34 using this technique.\nAlso, your game consumes insane amounts of RAM. After 15 minutes of gameplay, it was using 2.1GB RAM, which is over half of my total RAM, leading to my internet browser crashing and the SFX in the game stopped playing.\nBut the fact that you kept me entertained for 15 minutes is quite good (I usually stop after 5 minutes of gameplay on these entries), so good job.","likes":1,"format":"md"}],"format":"md","images":["ld38\/15225-e919b5995a2572b93375cdce33fe2fd6.png"],"links":[],"metadata":{"g_key":"50338","g_author":"1000766","g_event":"LD38","g_eventkey":"69","g_subevent":"COMPO","g_urlkey":"248832","g_title":"The Aliens","g_status":"USEAR3","g_place":"396","g_commentcount":"24","g_site2_node_id":"15225","g_hide":"Y","g_has_icon":"Y","g_rqueue":"0","g_random":"0"},"nds":{"n_key":"15225","n_urlkey":"248832","n_parent":"9405","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/the-aliens","n_slug":"the-aliens","n_type":"item","n_subtype":"game","n_subsubtype":"compo","n_author":"766","n_created":"1492807030","n_modified":"1493149619","n_version":"66590","n_status":"COMMIT"},"node":{"id":15225,"parent":9405,"superparent":9,"author":766,"type":"item","subtype":"game","subsubtype":"compo","published":"2017-04-24T03:07:23Z","created":"2017-04-21T20:37:10Z","modified":"2017-04-25T19:46:59Z","version":66590,"slug":"the-aliens","name":"The Aliens","body":"![scrshot.png](\/\/\/raw\/ef2\/z\/f37.png)\n\nWelcome to my game **THE ALIENS**\n\nInstructions are in the README.txt file which is in the download folder, I will also paste it below\n\nDownload Links:\n\n~~**1. THE GAME -**~~ (Please consider playing PostCompo version) https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=0B9e_ZRFruqXvSVdZT0dkSkIzZEE\nit's Java so it 'should' be cross-platform, although I think cross-platform Java sound is a bit sketchy. It will work fine on windows (with a bit of luck)\n\n**2. THE SOURCE -** https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=0B9e_ZRFruqXvMkRHZGlpQ3ExNG8\nSo... I heard people learn stuff from LD sources. Feel free. But.... Um.. It's a 'bit' of a ~~clusterf~~ mess\n\n**POST COMPO - ** This is some VERY MINOR bugfixes. There are ways in the original you can easily cheat, and win for free, I would much appreciate it if you played the post compo, and judged it as though it was the original, the original is left above for comparison reasons, Thanks!\n\nhttps:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=0B9e_ZRFruqXvbGg5aUU1RkRMUG8 - this is the **post compo link**\n\n\n**README - INSTRUCTIONS**\n\n**Running-----**\n\nMake sure you run \"TheAliens.jar\" in the same folder as the sounds directory\n\n**Concept-----**\n\nYou play as a space rocket, that can shoot Aliens, and you have to get as high as possible.\nYou can upgrade your space rocket, with coins that the Aliens drop when you kill them.\nYou can then get higher.\n\nYou 'win' the game at level 7, although you can continue playing if you wanna see how high you can get ;)\n\n**Designing----**\n\nWhen you start the game it will be in the \"Design\" tab (top left)\nthis is where you upgrade your space rocket the buttons labeled \"Nose Cones\", \"Bodies\" etc. control which part of the\nship you are trying to upgrade, e.g. if you wanted to upgrade the thruster, you would click on \"Main Thrusters\"\n\nTo upgrade a part, just click on one of the buttons underneath the green label that will be labelled similarly\/thesame as the button\nyou clicked.\n\nWhen you start you won't be able to afford anything, so click on the play tab (topleft)\n\n**Playing---**\n\nYou will see your ship. When you are ready, click on LAUNCH. This will start the ship, and it will take off (very slowly if you have the\nfirst thruster). Before you do so though, there will be an alien that will come out on the screen pretty soon.\nThe very start can quite often be quite narly, just spam the shoot button (SPACEBAR), and kill the first enemy, after that it will be\nslightly easier.\n\nWhenever you kill an enemy he drops coins for you to collect.\nYou can see your current height, level, money, and nextgoal(how far you need to go before getting to the next level)\n\n**About-----**\n\nMy name is Ned Boulter. I make games from scratch for almost every Ludum Dare\nI very much enjoy it. Usually I make 3D games, because it hides my programmer art more.\nI am 17 at time of writing, but my age is always 20xx where xx = myage. i.e: 2017: 17\n\nI am very interested in graphics programming (e.g. OpenGL, Vulkan)\nI am currently learning vulkan.\n\n**FAQ----**\n\nDo you really think this fits the theme?\n\tI am aware the game doesn't really fit the theme, it was supposed to be as the ship got further away from the \n        planet,\n\tthe planet got smaller (which is very tacked on) but it sounded good in my head.\n\n\nYou know you can turn the ship 180 degrees, and go into negative height?\n\tIs this fun? Yes! Well, while it's fun you go ahead and do that, but when it get's boring (and it will)\n\tyou can play the game properly :P","meta":{"cover":"\/\/\/content\/ef2\/z\/30be.png","author":[766]},"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/the-aliens","parents":[1,5,9,9405],"love":0,"notes":24,"notes-timestamp":"2017-05-13T07:27:44Z","grade":{"grade-01":40,"grade-02":40,"grade-03":40,"grade-04":40,"grade-05":40,"grade-06":39,"grade-07":35,"grade-08":36},"magic":{"cool":54.590589393513,"feedback":11,"given":11.25,"grade":38.75,"grade-01-average":3,"grade-01-result":396,"grade-02-average":3,"grade-02-result":334,"grade-03-average":2.684,"grade-03-result":410,"grade-04-average":2.342,"grade-04-result":520,"grade-05-average":2.947,"grade-05-result":369,"grade-06-average":2.568,"grade-06-result":334,"grade-07-average":2.424,"grade-07-result":294,"grade-08-average":2.794,"grade-08-result":379,"smart":-35.88736904593}},"text":"![scrshot.png](\/\/\/raw\/ef2\/z\/f37.png)\n\nWelcome to my game **THE ALIENS**\n\nInstructions are in the README.txt file which is in the download folder, I will also paste it below\n\nDownload Links:\n\n~~**1. THE GAME -**~~ (Please consider playing PostCompo version) https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=0B9e_ZRFruqXvSVdZT0dkSkIzZEE\nit's Java so it 'should' be cross-platform, although I think cross-platform Java sound is a bit sketchy. It will work fine on windows (with a bit of luck)\n\n**2. THE SOURCE -** https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=0B9e_ZRFruqXvMkRHZGlpQ3ExNG8\nSo... I heard people learn stuff from LD sources. Feel free. But.... Um.. It's a 'bit' of a ~~clusterf~~ mess\n\n**POST COMPO - ** This is some VERY MINOR bugfixes. There are ways in the original you can easily cheat, and win for free, I would much appreciate it if you played the post compo, and judged it as though it was the original, the original is left above for comparison reasons, Thanks!\n\nhttps:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=0B9e_ZRFruqXvbGg5aUU1RkRMUG8 - this is the **post compo link**\n\n\n**README - INSTRUCTIONS**\n\n**Running-----**\n\nMake sure you run \"TheAliens.jar\" in the same folder as the sounds directory\n\n**Concept-----**\n\nYou play as a space rocket, that can shoot Aliens, and you have to get as high as possible.\nYou can upgrade your space rocket, with coins that the Aliens drop when you kill them.\nYou can then get higher.\n\nYou 'win' the game at level 7, although you can continue playing if you wanna see how high you can get ;)\n\n**Designing----**\n\nWhen you start the game it will be in the \"Design\" tab (top left)\nthis is where you upgrade your space rocket the buttons labeled \"Nose Cones\", \"Bodies\" etc. control which part of the\nship you are trying to upgrade, e.g. if you wanted to upgrade the thruster, you would click on \"Main Thrusters\"\n\nTo upgrade a part, just click on one of the buttons underneath the green label that will be labelled similarly\/thesame as the button\nyou clicked.\n\nWhen you start you won't be able to afford anything, so click on the play tab (topleft)\n\n**Playing---**\n\nYou will see your ship. When you are ready, click on LAUNCH. This will start the ship, and it will take off (very slowly if you have the\nfirst thruster). Before you do so though, there will be an alien that will come out on the screen pretty soon.\nThe very start can quite often be quite narly, just spam the shoot button (SPACEBAR), and kill the first enemy, after that it will be\nslightly easier.\n\nWhenever you kill an enemy he drops coins for you to collect.\nYou can see your current height, level, money, and nextgoal(how far you need to go before getting to the next level)\n\n**About-----**\n\nMy name is Ned Boulter. I make games from scratch for almost every Ludum Dare\nI very much enjoy it. Usually I make 3D games, because it hides my programmer art more.\nI am 17 at time of writing, but my age is always 20xx where xx = myage. i.e: 2017: 17\n\nI am very interested in graphics programming (e.g. OpenGL, Vulkan)\nI am currently learning vulkan.\n\n**FAQ----**\n\nDo you really think this fits the theme?\n\tI am aware the game doesn't really fit the theme, it was supposed to be as the ship got further away from the \n        planet,\n\tthe planet got smaller (which is very tacked on) but it sounded good in my head.\n\n\nYou know you can turn the ship 180 degrees, and go into negative height?\n\tIs this fun? Yes! Well, while it's fun you go ahead and do that, but when it get's boring (and it will)\n\tyou can play the game properly :P","title":"The Aliens"}