Beacon in the Dark by BilalCh213

[raw]
made by BilalCh213 for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAuuZfGYEYY

vlcsnap-2020-04-21-06h03m57s572.jpg vlcsnap-2020-04-21-06h04m29s081.jpg vlcsnap-2020-04-21-06h05m03s235.jpg

Protect the Beacon from the enemies by building the units!

Click to add/remove units on the grid.

Buildings require Nelfon (the blue brick icon) and/or Power (the purple thunder icon). First, Nelfon is provided to the buildings and then, power is provided after cutting off Nelfon supply. You can transfer the Nelfon/Power via Conveyer Tracks.

Buildings can only accept 1 CONNECTION. You must remove the other connections!

Use Obelisk Laser to prevent enemies from approaching your other units and Beacon. Construct Tech Ramp to double the production rate!

Note: The game some conveyer track connection bugs. :grimacing:

Ratings

Overall 2180th 3⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Fun 2415th 2.478⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1413th 3.196⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1801th 3.37⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 867th 3.87⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Audio 1478th 2.595⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Mood 2088th 2.804⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Given 17🗳️ 19🗨️

Feedback

Scott Steffes
21. Apr 2020 · 02:58 UTC
I loved this! Management games are my jam, and this one delivered. It wasn't always clear whether power was flowing or whether my towers were doing their laser thing, but overall I had a great time.
Kornel
21. Apr 2020 · 07:04 UTC
Great artystyle! Wasn't sure how to power things but overall extremely solid game! :clap:
🎤 BilalCh213
21. Apr 2020 · 11:12 UTC
Hey, thanks @scott-steffes! Yeah, I should have added a visual flow from the generators to the unit/towers which would have made it much much easier.

@kornel Thanks bro! Yeah, I wasn't able to add the tutorial or guide :sweat_smile: . But you can watch the gameplay video to get an idea regarding how to power the units: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAuuZfGYEYY
Kornel
21. Apr 2020 · 16:15 UTC
I did, @bilalch213, and it was very helpful!

Still, very impressive for a solo project! :clap:
Keithdae
22. Apr 2020 · 15:49 UTC
Very nice and elaborate game for a jam, great work!
Daniel Michaeloudis
23. Apr 2020 · 18:37 UTC
Very Fun game. I really enjoyed playing it
Anthony Pengelly
25. Apr 2020 · 14:33 UTC
Really fun! Well done - a bit confusing at first though
DogMan789
25. Apr 2020 · 14:37 UTC
really fun game but I would recommend adding a tutorial or some levels or a sense of progression
🎤 BilalCh213
25. Apr 2020 · 17:47 UTC
@anthony-pengelly @dogman789 Thank you for playing and rating the game! I should have added a tutorial but couldn't do so because I ran out of time. So, I made a quick gameplay video as help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAuuZfGYEYY
Duke
27. Apr 2020 · 15:57 UTC
Couldn't really get into the game. Had problems understanding the mechanics. My build defense towers never seemed to be working properly, even after I put them first on the blue energy and then afterwards on the purple engery. They always seemed to reset again and needed new purple energy after they were finished. It seems like the mechanics are too complicated for their own good. It wasn't really fun to micro manage the energy tracks all the time when build a new structure. Felt like work. I'm not too much into the real time strategy genre and I don't like tower defence games too much, so I'd guess that I'm not the main target audience after all. Still it seems like the core mechanics were not intuitive enough.
The art was nice though. Sound effects as well. I hope other testers with a higher strategy game affinity had more to say regarding the game play than I did.

Keep it up!
🎤 BilalCh213
27. Apr 2020 · 16:23 UTC
@duke Yeah, I can understand. The game has some issues with conveyor tracks and I was hardly able to 'complete' the game. But hey, thanks for trying out! :D
AguaHervida
28. Apr 2020 · 23:39 UTC
It is clear how much work was put into this, but as everyone has said, is hard to actually know how the game works, there is a lack of feedback overall, things said like "it needs nelfon" but you don´t know where the nelfon is or if you have nelfon :/ there where some towers I didn't how they worked of if they where working.

The game looks great and the sound FX are neat, but it is really hard to understand. Hope to see a full release of this, it is promessing.
🎤 BilalCh213
28. Apr 2020 · 23:54 UTC
@aguahervida Hey, thanks mate! Yeeeah, the game is too technical :grimacing:. If things go well, I might make a full release! :smile:
Random Thoughts
29. Apr 2020 · 08:36 UTC
Really impressed that you managed to submit essentially an RTS game for a game jam! My main suggestion for this game is to make it more readable. For example, I assume enemies being invisible except for a moment after the pulse is intentional design but it kind of makes it hard to tell if you are in danger or not. In my first playthrough, I didn't even notice there was any enemies until I was already surrounded. Another smaller example would be the beam of light coming from the thing I'm protecting, which makes it harder to see whats happening behind that. Other than that, really interesting game that I will definitely check out again if you make a full release :)
Laura del Pino
29. Apr 2020 · 11:42 UTC
Hi!!
Good job with this entry!!
I miss an in-game tutorial that explains the blocks.
But really like the graphic style.
Congratulations!
🎤 BilalCh213
29. Apr 2020 · 16:27 UTC
@random-thoughts Thank you very much for such a decent feedback! Hmm, readability. I will focus on that; noted :pencil:!

@laura-del-pino Thanks. Yeah, I couldn't add an in-game tutorial. If you hover on the cards at the bottom left or hover on the units in the map, the subtitles appear in the bottom right that explains the blocks to some extent.
pillitoka
29. Apr 2020 · 17:21 UTC
Nice graphics. took me a while to understand how the game worked. Reading the hints at the bottom right helped me figure out what was required. Having buildings next to each other worked against me as I kept having to delete whole buildings to be able to supply power to a newer construction. Found it to be counter-intuitive at first. Adding screen shots of how connections work can be an easy alternative to a tutorial. It would get players to not give up soon.
🎤 BilalCh213
29. Apr 2020 · 18:38 UTC
@pillitoka Hey thanks mate! I am glad that you are able to understand the game. Yeah, there should be some space between buildings. I like your idea of screenshots.
bitbrain
09. May 2020 · 17:49 UTC
Very cool game concept. A combination of Command&Conquer and Tower Defense. Plus points: Graphics, Controls, UI, To improve: energy management is a bit confusing, also some things are not very intuitive from the start. However, once you learn what is expected from you it becomes quite straight forward!
🎤 BilalCh213
10. May 2020 · 17:55 UTC
@bitbrain Hey, thanks mate. Command&Conquer (Red Alert, Tiberian Sun) is one of my favourite games so, it is a big complement in my eyes. Energy management is definitely confusing and the conveyer track system has some bugs which makes it more confusing. But you still managed to cross the beginner's bridge to enjoy this little game. :heart: