Keep it Ali...ens! by Eldar

[raw]
made by Eldar for Ludum Dare 46 (COMPO)

As aliens spacecrafts start descending upon our planet, and the acting President is doing nothing to stop them, NASA's Commander Quill is Earth's last hope of defending the invaders.

Progress through 3 painfully hand-drawn ASCII-based levels and enjoy the subtle political satire throughout.

This game is totally related to the theme. Just as you are pronouncing "Keep it Alive", you look up to the sky, see the aliens, and end up saying "Aliens" instead.

  • Download the Mac and Windows executables here.
  • View the source.

Screen Shot 2020-04-19 at 4.09.35 PM.png Screen Shot 2020-04-19 at 5.06.28 PM.png Screen Shot 2020-04-19 at 4.14.11 PM.png

Ratings

Overall 915th 2.948⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Fun 841th 2.857⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 920th 2.759⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Theme 921th 3.089⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 663th 3.196⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Humor 339th 3.143⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Mood 811th 2.813⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Given 24🗳️ 32🗨️

Feedback

Maindric
20. Apr 2020 · 06:27 UTC
Good one! What engine did you use for this game? I enjoyed the humor and noticed Aliens/Covid-19 relationship. I feel the controls were not as responsive as I wished they were. Beyond that, I enjoyed it enough.
🎤 Eldar
20. Apr 2020 · 06:38 UTC
@maindric Thanks for playing!
I used Clubsandwich (https://github.com/irskep/clubsandwich) which builds on top of BearLibTerminal. In reality the framework is meant for roguelike games rather than real-time shooters, but that's the only one I have any experience in, so I pigeonholed it anyway. One sad side effect is that I can't listen to simultaneous inputs, so the player can either shoot or move, but not both. I assume that's what you mean by responsiveness of the controls - let me know otherwise! :)
Maindric
20. Apr 2020 · 06:49 UTC
@eldar, that makes sense! I find it neat that you took an engine that was clearly not designed for a task and made it work anyways. That makes it all that much more impressive for a 48 hour game. Good job!
NEKORUMA
21. Apr 2020 · 01:36 UTC
I didn't like the controls, but the game is very interesting. nice job!
mehrdadsh
21. Apr 2020 · 07:23 UTC
godd but controls a bit hard
🎤 Eldar
21. Apr 2020 · 17:38 UTC
@nekoruma @mehrdadsh Hey folks - thanks for checking out my game! Could you please elaborate on controls - do you dislike the key mapping, the speed of the player's vehicle, the fact that you can't shoot and move simultaneously, or something else?
toby-klauder
22. Apr 2020 · 22:30 UTC
This really reminds me of dwarf fortress, I love this aesthetic a lot!

The style of the game alongside the humor seemed to fit well with the graphics.
I do believe that the controls were a little rough. I personally think that the speed it takes to glide along the screen is a tad tedious. I do understand the limitations you had by your engine, but I am sure that others would argue that it would be pretty neat to shoot and move. Aside from that, I really loved the diversity in enemy movement too and overall I loved the style of your game!
meelo
23. Apr 2020 · 02:20 UTC
I'm really quite impressed with the graphics - the little renditions of San Francisco, New York, and the White House were lovely. Plus, the designs of each ship were very nice. The controls caused me trouble, like others, but I found myself really enjoying the game anyways - and I thought the difficulty level was quite appropriate - I barely beat it on my first go.
BlackOpsBen
23. Apr 2020 · 14:33 UTC
I like the retro look. Totally something I would play as a kid. The controls were really frustrating though. I would recommend making it smoother and easier to move around.
jsec
23. Apr 2020 · 20:13 UTC
love ascii art, game is fun. Sometimes hard to controll but still fun to play!
Chief141
26. Apr 2020 · 06:55 UTC
I really liked the art work , but it needs some polishing in the controls part.
Endurion
26. Apr 2020 · 17:02 UTC
I love the look of this!
And the humour :) Just great!

The thing with the controls is: You're getting the keyboards initial press delay, plus you can't use two controls at the same time (like move and shoot). So if you want to get to the other side fast, you have to push A or D, release it and push it again to get moving right away.

Other than that, it needs sound :)

Well done!
elysiagriffin
09. May 2020 · 20:38 UTC
Thanks for submitting your game for me to play on my livestream!

If you’d like to rewatch the playthrough, you can find it here:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/615952171?t=4h36m01s

Good luck on your ratings, see you next LD! :D

💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady

https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin