Running from ⭐⭐Space⭐⭐ by sobakaduka
Space is very unpleasant place to be. Vacuum, coldness, space demons...
Use your grappling hook to navigate thru the asteroid belt!
Find the portal that will take you home! You need to do your best to RUN FROM SPACE
You can reload only when you stand on the ground. When you are grounded you also regenerate your health! Hook range is limited, and it's hard to shoot demons from great distances, so try to keep them close!

This is our first project on LudumDare and we are super excited about it, thanks for your comments and attention!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJje87LgVaw



[We highly encourage you to give a try to pc version, if it's possible! Impression from the game will be much better! 😉]
Postmortem: https://sobakaduka.itch.io/run-from-space/devlog/45470/postmortem-for-run-from-space
Post ludum dare version is out now! You can find it at game's page under 'RunFromSpaceWinPOSTLUDUM.zip' name. Web GL version will be deployed after LD ends
| Windows | https://sobakaduka.itch.io/run-from-space |
| HTML5 (web) | https://sobakaduka.itch.io/run-from-space |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/running-from-space |
Ratings
| Overall | 345th | 3.616⭐ | 110🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 181th | 3.695⭐ | 112🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 395th | 3.376⭐ | 111🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1035th | 2.835⭐ | 111🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 329th | 3.83⭐ | 111🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 358th | 3.387⭐ | 108🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 53🗳️ | 22🗨️ |
Sorry, i completely understand. But in order to make mac build i need to have an Apple computer, which i don't :C
Still a lot of fun regardless!
If you are still interested i've added WebGL support!
Ugh! Monsters tuning was put to last moment, and as you can understand we completely missed it :с
Thanks for your feedback!
I loved the style, the gameplay and the music ! Hot damn ! That reminded me "A Story about my uncle" and "Doom".
That was really cool guys ! Good job !
I really have no doneside to note ! A big thumb up !
I did notice that I could just skip reloading and regenerating altogether by just going for the portal. It might be nice to have some sort of blockade or different monsters that block progress (blackholes?).
Good job to the three of you :D
Perhaps there should have been some mention of the grapple in the intro text, cause it took me a while to understand the purpose of that right-hand weapon. I just ended up zooming to the end and not bothering to kill any of the enemies, which is cool that there are multiple ways to play the game.
But the enemies look not very important. You can through them without having any attantion. Quick suggestion (if you need :D ) is to make barriers in the middle of the level, so you can go further until you clear this district.
But still - grappling is too good mechanic, liked to play it a lot.
For the mechanics, the grappling hook made it feel pretty relaxing, and the monsters weren't much of a threat. On the other hand, it was really awkward every once in a while taking some time to get to a platform, and then to just reload or wait for your health to regenerate. I think if some healthpacks / ammopacks were placed in the space it would make game game even more fun and fluid.
Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable experience. Good Job! :D
Also, while raycasting is useful and all that, I wouldn't really use a line renderer for the gun shoot. Add a muzzle effect instead with particles, it'll probably look much better.
Good job.
Interresting mechanic, but I didn't find i'm "running out of space".
Anyway, good job
Like the mood and the mechanisms, good job.
The 3D assets looked really good for the amount of time given, and the music fit your game really well in terms of speed and action. There were even multiple music tracks which really helped in not making things repetitive.
Definitely needs a restart button (unless I've missed something), and your game has a bad case of "mouse leaving the screen" on a 2+ monitor setup. Although, this was easily solved by temporarily changing my display to one screen (the hardships we face). Ummmm...yeah, pretty awesomely fantastic game. Please work on it more and sue ID for stealing your idea ;) ;).

(need...moar...SPEED)
Well we did have an air truster, bud decided to get rid of it later in the development.
You actually do have possibility to affect your movement: Rifle gives you back-force which if you should down you will stop falling. It was way stronger, but again we decided to decrease it later on.
And about shooting mechanic you are totally right! We will redo it (and also monsters) in next few days, when we will prepare post ludum dare version !
Again thanks for feedback, we appreciate it a lot! :)
First of, the core of the gun-mechanic goes completely against gaining moving and gaining momentum, and to be honest it just always felt like a bad idea to shoot! While shooting you need to stop focusing on where your going, therefore increasing the risk of losing you momentum. If you lose momentum you increase the chance of getting shot by the aliens, and on top of this the only way to gain more ammunition is to COMPLETELY stop your momentum, preventing you from progressing (against your target goal) and become a very easy target.
And I just now realise after reading Diablo's comment that I'm basically saying the same thing as him, but I guess it's worth repeating. I really like his momentum-gain-by-shooting idea. Another idea would be to focus a lot more on the level-design and make the challenge focus more on GOOD movement and momentum control (maybe only having aliens as only a selective hazard). Make the level feel more alive by having you fly through a active/moving asteroid field, locations that open/closes and you need to time yourself to get thought (or take a longer way around it, I think you should always keep the SPACE aspect) etc. In short: Let me be able to see a hazard further in-front of me that needs to be "solved/overcome" with movement, not guns.
Another small detail I thought about was a bit on the presentation. Don't get me wrong, the game looks great! Some really nice 3D-assets, but I would have liked to see more details in several ways. For example: The shooting feel very bad at the moment... The laser shoot is tiny with a honestly irritating sound effect (Edit: Now that I look at it again, maybe it's actually not a laser gun, ops. Still don't like it however). Make it a bit thicker, add some particles to the beam/shoot and a nice IMPACT! etc. Make it FEEL like a epic laser gun rather then a pea-shooter (the same can be said about the grappling gun). I also found it rather irritating not to know when I was in RANGE of anything to grapple, maybe add a indicator (like the nice visual ammo counter on the gun) that tells you how much closer you need to get to hit the target, or at-least a on/off light that tells you when you can hit something.
Do think about redesign the sounds... Its just not that great, and sadly removes mood rather then setting it.
Overall a great entry. Had fun playing it. Managed to win on my second try :)
Pros :
- The grappling hook : easy to use, hard not to f*** up. Lovely !
- The graphics : asteroïds at their best, all in my browser
- The background music is always a welcome addition
- Minimal UI, maximum readability
Cons :
- The gun had potential, but is overshadowed by the hook
- If would be nice to see in advance if we are close enough to hook (colored reticle, for exemple)
All in all, great job !
The game is doable with only the hook. It's not a default because using the gun is too painfull for now. But I was expecting a shooting game and no :D
I played both the web version and it seemed to run super smoothly in my browser. (as long as you go full screen)
Another positive is that I was able to look at the title and the screnshots and was able to imediately know what the jist of the game. I did not read anything else and I found the controls intuitive.
I feel the gun has little to no use though.
First I died to them, second I just ruhsed to the portal and won, and the third time I killed them all! The children too. (One of the tried to hide in a rock but I found him too, hehehe) At the end of that run I gained so many skills, I mean I didn't have to struggle to get on a platform, and could survive if ten of them was on me.
There were one thing that didn't make me that happy: you can't move your mouse around, there were invisible walls and that made me so many akward situations. And also there were gravity but that's ok after the demons I guess.
Very well done!
Actually I've prepared it now! You can check it here:
https://sobakaduka.itch.io/run-from-space/devlog/45470/postmortem-for-run-from-space
It was really fun but too much difficult of a FPS for me. Great effort on the graphism side, it's way above average for a jam to have modeled and textured gun and ennemies. The gameplay could be developped more, maybe in a real game who knows ;).
I think everyone already commented what I wanted to tell you haha, the grapple feels great to use, but I mean fuck enemies they're just here to make our character go UH UH UH UH UH,
if you're doing a postjam version I think you should try to either remove enemies, either make them more threatful. Maybe killing enemies reload your grappling, or add range to it, or momentum to the character ?
Something silly like this could reward accuracy and speed, as well as giving us a fucking good feeling or flying all along the level :D !
That's a pretty fun game based on a simple idea, and a literal take on theme. Good job lads :D
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Evaluation...
1 - Main Mechanics:
I think it's moving between platforms killing creatures as you go. I encountered some difficulties landing on some platforms, but this strengthened the fun and challenge.
2 - Secondary Mechanics:
Zooming in on enemies, allowing you to shoot more easily was also surprisingly fun.
The idea of just shooting when stepping on platforms still causes me strangeness.
Hitting creatures from far away, but without precision was something that left me thinking (still without definitive opinion).
3 - Learning Curve:
I believe that I learned quickly how I could play (even with limited time on my part). As I learned some details out of the game, I could not judge if the game would adequately teach a player in a definitive version.
4 - Flow:
The challenge increases quickly for those who advance, as they find themselves surrounded by creatures. This makes me believe that a slower onset could prevent premature death during the action (there is a lot of action, and that's fine).
5 - Love Points:
I believe that the strong point that I bring to the game is actually applied physics in conjunction with the action. The song also fit well (good choice), which I understand is not to be rated.
6 - Presentation of the Narrative:
I do not think that the focus was on presenting a very elaborate narrative. The game does not fit this type of analysis very well because of this.
7 - Polishing Art:
I liked the creature and most of the effects used, so it was very good. I do not fully understand the smoke that comes out of the gun when it is recharged (it may be a reference to events at or near zero). Within the game the screens beyond the game can be better worked on (I have no suggestions besides, and I know that in Ludum Dare's time it gets complicated).
8 - Monetization Attractions:
I believe the game would sell for itself, unless they think of multiplayer, which could sell skins and weapon variations.
9 - Community Generation:
I think it would generate a community of players if it was published (with an associated page on Facebook, invite me to enjoy it, hahahahahah). With the possibility of something in the sense of multiplayer would also facilitate the generation of a "community of players and stakeholders."
10 - Cultural Dialogue:
Because it is a shooting game, there is a relation with other games of the same nature and the reflex of the type of game with the type of player. Without an applied narrative it is difficult to say more about how culture affects play and how the game affects culture.
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Also: My SO saw me playing this and they said they'd love to play something like this in VR... and I do agree with them :) (not that we have any VR system on PC...)
It was very fun nonetheless. The grappling more than the shooting.Good stuff
Edit - Windows build worked just fine
I enjoyed how I felt a bit awkward with the hook at first, but later came to make some nice moves with it, that felt really satisfying. I remember a nice deliberate overshoot, the turning and flipping around to hook the floor I wanted, and shooting a demon as I came into the landing, like "This is MY rock, punk!" Very nice.
The only thing was that maybe I should be encouraged not to play so slow, somehow. Because I was able to reload and shoot demons a mile away in the sky, I kept doing it because I "had to" since it was possible. Minor thing, though.
Well done on an innovative game idea!