Last Days on Mars by snails84

[raw]
made by snails84 for LD 42 (JAM)

LD42.gif

This is my first entry into the Ludum Dare, and I'm really pleased with having created something. The game was a lot of fun to make, and hopefully it's fun to play as well!

EDIT: I updated the html version of the game after the jam ended to switch the arrow key controls over to WASD. This is because using the up and down arrows would cause the page to scroll. It only took a few seconds to fix so I hope that doesn't count as cheating or anything. Otherwise the desktop version download is still the original.

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Earth's overpopulation crisis has led humanity to flee to Mars. You are tasked with managing a colony on the red planet and dealing with the constant influx of colonists. Be warned, the mass exodus from Earth is unsustainable and you will inevitably run out of space. Your goal is to survive as long as possible.

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Tools used:

Written in Java with Eclipse IDE, LibGDX as game engine

Graphics made using paint.net

Sounds made using bfxr

Ratings

Overall 539th 3.429⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 462th 3.357⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 675th 3.095⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 696th 3.375⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 713th 3.262⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Audio 766th 2.175⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 916th 2.7⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 8🗳️ 3🗨️

Feedback

Swini
14. Aug 2018 · 22:49 UTC
Good build up and plan game. A find these type of games a pretty complex to code so a lot of respect to you. Like the graphics to! Good work my friend!
Iokin
14. Aug 2018 · 22:54 UTC
It's a good strategy, I really like it. I love clever games)
We used LibGDX too ( big love for multi-platform!). Rate you high!
Kaipi
14. Aug 2018 · 22:57 UTC
it was challenging to play! i lost really fast xD, love this kind of games!nice work!
comenoha
14. Aug 2018 · 22:58 UTC
I saw a post about this on the blog board the first day and I never thought I would be able to find it again! I love it, really really fun and difficult gameplay. The balancing needs a tiny bit of a tweak I think, and I would love a little bit of music, but other than that I love the graphics and gameplay!
Jesús González
14. Aug 2018 · 22:58 UTC
Best one I tried so far (I tried 3). 4/5 from me.
*Edit: I now played many more LD games, and this is still the best one.*
C0nst4ntin
14. Aug 2018 · 22:59 UTC
Well planed out Game. It seems quite complex at first. Nice that you made a web version! I liked the Graphics!
TheCommonThug
14. Aug 2018 · 23:06 UTC
Music and some animations would be clutch, and my game stopped and "EXIT" popped up when I had 5 turns until losing so I kinda had to stop playing :( However, this is really fun and engaging. It's feels closer to a real complete game than anything else so far. Really impressive.
abhimonk
14. Aug 2018 · 23:06 UTC
Nice work! I had some trouble understanding the game at first, but once I understood that the game was essentially watching the top numbers and avoiding negatives by taking advantage of the multiplier spots, it became really fun!

One quick note: For some reason when I used the arrow keys to navigate the area, the page also scrolled if I pressed up or down (not sure if this is a browser-specific issue or not).

I liked that I had to plan out turns to make sure I had enough building resources to eventually build the structures I'd need to keep my other resources from going negative. The constant pressure of new inhabitants coming each turn (meaning you must keep housing positive) was a nice mechanic to keep the pressure up.

Also, coding all of this using just LibGDX is very impressive! Great job!
ryan123rudder
14. Aug 2018 · 23:07 UTC
Great job, really fun to play!
happyhour
14. Aug 2018 · 23:07 UTC
This one took a bunch of tries to wrap my head around but in the end I enjoyed it. Good turn-based take on the theme as well.
MarcoValeKaz
14. Aug 2018 · 23:07 UTC
While the theme is interesting, more time should have been put into explaining the relation between the different types of buildings. what do they do and how they interact. I saw the indicators at the bottom an the adjacent reference, but it should have been more. Still, for a first jam gam, its pretty awesome!
Not the real Mark Zhang
14. Aug 2018 · 23:09 UTC
A fun but challenging game. Didn't expect to play it multiple times, but it became addicting.
calixjumio
14. Aug 2018 · 23:11 UTC
It seems well layed out altho i didn't get it that much. It was hard to notice what was affecting who.
George Lancaster
14. Aug 2018 · 23:15 UTC
I love these types of games so I'm biased. Great job. The "Running out of space" theme was a little vague, but I got the general idea that we're on Mars because we have no room on the Earth. Thank you for making a web version. Easy to check out.
cheetahcat
14. Aug 2018 · 23:33 UTC
I think it's very impressive you got this much done in the time limit!
The mechanics seem very well thought through, though I must admit, I didn't full get all the rules and mechanics, probably because I didn't read all the text you wrote as intro for my eyes being tired.
cheetahcat
14. Aug 2018 · 23:34 UTC
Still, I liked it. Just saying that the rules aren't self-explanatory. ;)
pkenney
14. Aug 2018 · 23:34 UTC
Very cool! Nice little hex builder strat game. You say I couldn't win, but after a few times losing early and never getting a toehold, I figured out the systems and built a thriving colony. Of course, in the end it didn't last -- new people came, and instead of simply throwing them out the airlock for the good of the many, we decided to let them doom us... but still, the high-water mark of my society wasn't too shabby: https://imgur.com/dV8Wb24

I thought the systems were cool, and the art was really clear and nice-looking. I don't know the term MOXIE but the picture very well communicated what it was all about, which I really appreciated.

Interface-wise the shift for multi-drop was a nice touch. I did struggle with the arrow keys. There were two issues with them: first that arrows + mouse is an awkward body position, which is why usually WASD is also offered. Second, the browser as well as the game both responded to my arrow key strokes, which meant I was scrolling within the game (wanted) but also scrolling the web page down and pulling the game off the screen (very unwanted). This wasn't much of an issue in the early game where I was functioning in a limited area, but later when was utilizing the whole map and scrolling very often it was a real drag.

The sound effects were minimal and simple, but important and good at communicating important game events.

Overall I think this is a really nice entry, especially for a first LD! Congratulations.
Alfie275
14. Aug 2018 · 23:37 UTC
Heh, tried my best but could never get past 11 turns. Feel like I came close a few times, and there were a few things I didn't realise at first - Like how oxygen is proportional to housing capacity but food is only proportional to number of habs.
🎤 snails84
14. Aug 2018 · 23:41 UTC
@pkenney Thanks for all the feedback! In hindsight I'm really wondering why I made it the arrow keys instead of WASD. Completely overlooked that. Cheers!
Ceasar
15. Aug 2018 · 00:59 UTC
Nice job!