Star Keeper (Ludum Dare 46) by Cobear25

[raw]
made by Cobear25 for Ludum Dare 46 (COMPO)

You are the Star Keeper! You must go from planet to planet healing and protecting by collecting shooting stars. The game is played entirely with a mouse, right-click to move around and right-click to bust out your stretchy arm.

The game was built with the Unity game engine. All visual assets were created from scratch using Gravit Designer, and all audio and music was made using Garage Band.

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Screen Shot 2020-04-19 at 7.36.02 PM.png

Screen Shot 2020-04-19 at 7.36.26 PM.png

Screen Shot 2020-04-19 at 7.36.56 PM.png

Screen Shot 2020-04-19 at 7.37.27 PM.png

Screen Shot 2020-04-19 at 7.37.42 PM.png

Source code here: https://github.com/cobear25/LudumDare46

Ratings

Overall 144th 3.872⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Fun 192th 3.731⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 55th 4.103⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Theme 103th 4.128⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 334th 3.705⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Audio 189th 3.618⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Humor 318th 3.176⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Mood 113th 3.811⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Given 29🗳️ 49🗨️

Feedback

ATTX
20. Apr 2020 · 02:11 UTC
One of the few space games I've seen so far in this Jam, and I really like it! The arm mechanism took a bit to get a handle of. I was trying to click on the star, not click past it and have it drag over. The planets were nicely colored and the game was the right amount of challenging. Good work!
🎤 Cobear25
20. Apr 2020 · 13:09 UTC
Thanks @attx !
johnjoemcbob
20. Apr 2020 · 13:22 UTC
Took me a second to work out the grabbing controls but I love it, really unique and interesting! Great atmosphere too and I love seeing all the different planet designs :)
Mumb0
20. Apr 2020 · 13:27 UTC
Fantastic i love it!
Klaus Peter
20. Apr 2020 · 13:36 UTC
The way the sound effects add to to music is awsome!
Mad Scientist Carl
20. Apr 2020 · 13:46 UTC
This is pretty nice. It would be much better if the controls are polished a bit more.
gajop
20. Apr 2020 · 13:46 UTC
This game has a pleasant mood with fitting graphics. Mechanic wise, the tree vs repair tradeoff gets less interesting later on.
HABAR
20. Apr 2020 · 13:48 UTC
That'sa awesome!
🎤 Cobear25
20. Apr 2020 · 14:13 UTC
@mad-scientist-carl What particularly did you notice in the controls that could use polish? And thanks for the feedback.
Mad Scientist Carl
20. Apr 2020 · 14:27 UTC
@cobear25 It is fine to use the "rubber band" mechanics. I am talking about my own viewpoint here, so please judge by yourself.

It was very frustrating at first, but practising made it less so -- but still somewhat frustrating. Two greatest points: aimed correctly, but not enough range, and missing by just a tiny bit. Both of these were "so close", but provided no positive feedback because 1) I cannot refine my firing solution due to the need to reset my mouse cursor to the PC and 2) the trajectory of star is not changed, so I have to aim from scratch again. For me, there would be 3 things that may make this game much better.

First, increase the range! I have to pull all the way across the screen to hit halfway the other side. Heck, I have to pull _outside_ the window sometimes. Second improvement would be a "magnet" or "sticky" grabber. If you miss by a little, you can either get it anyway (reducing difficulty outright and might not be what you want) or pull the star's trajectory towards you (rewards by extending the aiming window and allowing a more refined second shot). Third and probably least important, is some kind of aiming aid. A dashed line projecting the grabber should be pretty good.
🎤 Cobear25
20. Apr 2020 · 14:30 UTC
Thanks @gajop ! With more time I would have loved to add more variety and strategy.

@mad-scientist-carl Great feedback. Making catching stars easier was on my todo list for sure, I just didn't quite get to it. I'll probably add some polish after the jam and be sure to make those improvements. I'm not sure if the rules allow me to adjust things like that before judging is over.
Mad Scientist Carl
20. Apr 2020 · 14:31 UTC
No, you cannot do anything except for bugfixes. New features like this cannot be added... for judging anyways. No one would look at your `development` branch, probably.
AryanJumani
20. Apr 2020 · 17:59 UTC
I agree with @mad-scientist-carl, also the game goes on for tooo long, after some time you just zone out of playing the game, although at the start the game felt pretty unique and I loved the logic behind it. Anyways great work done
Squeg Inc.
20. Apr 2020 · 19:39 UTC
I really liked this game! Fun, unique, and innovative! The music and sfx were great, and while it took a while to get used to I ended up loving the grab system too.

My main feedback is there wasn't much variety - once you started you've kindof seen everything - but this is a game jam game so of course there'll be limitations.

Overall - great game! Really enjoyed it and the mechanics were fun :)

![planetfdsf.PNG](///raw/d14/03/z/2e06f.png)
beepyeah
21. Apr 2020 · 03:06 UTC
Took me a minute to figure out the grabbing controls with my trackpad, but I got it. Great concept and really polished execution!
bloodyaugust
21. Apr 2020 · 04:00 UTC
Great game! Looks and sounds excellent, but the feel was a bit marred by the fact that the collider on the grabber was so small, and that there were definitely some missed collisions there. I think if you changed the collision detection mode on the hand grabber to continuous, these missed collisions wouldn't happen. I might chalk that up as a game-breaking bug, which would be allowed to be fixed under the rules of the jam. The mechanic itself however was very intuitive, and also innovative! Overall, a great entry. Well done! :heart:
Black Flag
21. Apr 2020 · 11:56 UTC
I really like the music and the concept of this game! Unfortunately, I found it quite hard to grab stars, but if that was fixed this game could really go somewhere. Overall though, this is a really good Compo submission!
🎤 Cobear25
21. Apr 2020 · 13:55 UTC
@bloodyaugust I actually am using continuous collision detection, but the colliders are small. I just pushed a slight fix that went along with an existing bug. Should be a little bit better now. @black-flag The thanks for the feedback! Should be a little bit better now.
unept
21. Apr 2020 · 14:19 UTC
This was fun! It took me too long to figure out the benefits of planting trees. That really adds innovation to the gameplay, well done. I would consider adding some leeway on the slingshot so it grabs the stars when they're close, not just colliding. Great job overall!
Kto-to
21. Apr 2020 · 14:54 UTC
Very nice game. Lets relax.
Varbin
21. Apr 2020 · 15:09 UTC
Nice game!
bloodyaugust
21. Apr 2020 · 19:38 UTC
@cobear25 Looks like your fixes worked! Nicely done. :smile:
WoooWooo
21. Apr 2020 · 20:31 UTC
Lovely! I felt pretty pro catching an off screen star!
🎤 Cobear25
21. Apr 2020 · 21:17 UTC
@wooowooo Woah, I haven't even done that, pro move for sure.
MacDoom
23. Apr 2020 · 20:49 UTC
Very creative game. Reminds me of "the Little prince" by Exupery. Nice mechanics and physics.
Good job.
🎤 Cobear25
23. Apr 2020 · 20:50 UTC
Thanks @macdoom The Little Prince was an inspiration for sure.
Blue Pin Studio
23. Apr 2020 · 20:56 UTC
Considering it's a compo game i think it was VERY good! I'm not entirely sure if it's possible to lose, maybe im too good haha but some kind of indicator that i'm close to losing would've been a welcome addition. You may also want to look into your grabby arm, it was sometimes not clear why the arm wasn't grabbing the star, perhaps it's just user error. Great game sir!
🎤 Cobear25
23. Apr 2020 · 21:00 UTC
Thanks @blue-pin-studio You can actually tell how close you are to losing based on the face the planet is making and how many cracks there are. Once you get to a full frown it's game over. I do want to enhance the arm grabbing for sure. There's code in there right now that prevents you from just draging the hand a little bit past the star to grab it, but I want to make it clear that the best way is to pull it back and launch. Ideally the hand would launch twice as far as pulling back.
Blue Pin Studio
23. Apr 2020 · 21:05 UTC
@cobear25 Ohhhh i was putting the hand beyond the star and letting it retract into the star
Stell
23. Apr 2020 · 21:30 UTC
Really fun game! Good job!
🎤 Cobear25
23. Apr 2020 · 22:34 UTC
@blue-pin-studio That does work if you put the hand out far enough, but not if it's close by. I could have done a better job of making that clear for sure.
Jonrei
24. Apr 2020 · 01:53 UTC
I liked the game and it didnt take too long to figure out what to do. I think maybe the colliders, or whatever it is youre using to hit the stars might be a bit too small, it atleast feels like I have to click exactly in the middle of them to hit sometimes. But it was a good game, so good job!
katamary
24. Apr 2020 · 07:33 UTC
Nice game! Simple idea and fun gameplay. Surprisingly we made the similar game! As the saying goes: Ideas fly in the air!
🎤 Cobear25
24. Apr 2020 · 13:26 UTC
@jonrei Are you moving the cursor to where the stars are and releasing? If so, that's not the way to catch them. You actually want to pull the arm back and fling it toward the stars, or drag the arm past the star quite a bit. You can see in the gifs above. I do want to improve it though to make it more clear and easier to play that way. Thanks for the feedback!
Jonrei
24. Apr 2020 · 14:46 UTC
@cobear25 AH! Gotcha! I gave the game another try and it makes sense why it seemed off, I just completely misunderstood the main mechanic of the game. Thanks mate, the game was a lot more fun now haha, I updated the rating ;)
FarBeyond Studio
25. Apr 2020 · 19:06 UTC
Cute game! I like the simple controls and the rotating movement. I feel it could be a little more fast-paced. At times you're just waiting for a star to come and can't do nothing but wait. Played until level 5, not sure if that changes? But this has good potential!
Francisco Lucas
25. Apr 2020 · 21:59 UTC
I liked the idea and the game is very cute! I had a hard time catching the stars at first. My favorite planet is Mars hahahaha <3
Alexander Wayne
25. Apr 2020 · 22:11 UTC
I dunno if it's just me, but I found the controls rather unreliable. They seemed to not work each time, though I felt like I was doing the same thing each time.
The original idea was nice, but it could definitely use some improvements - like some bonuses, more enemies etc. Otherwise than that, I really enjoyed the game, and the way you handled the theme, really nice job there!
Jcourt
25. Apr 2020 · 22:13 UTC
Nice work! I really like flinging the arm out to catch the stars.

Just so you know, on the windows version I had to rename the executable to "LudumDare46" to match the Data folder, or it wouldn't run.
SAVVU
25. Apr 2020 · 22:38 UTC
Simple but enough! I can't complain about anything and I find it really fun to play! Well done and keep up the great work!
flubz_5
25. Apr 2020 · 22:47 UTC
Neat game! I loved the space theme and the planets were very cute. It took me a little while to figure out how to grab the stars. The info for that in the tutorial flew by really quickly
🎤 Cobear25
26. Apr 2020 · 02:37 UTC
@jcourt Thanks, I'll see if I can get that fixed.
Raomer
26. Apr 2020 · 09:54 UTC
Yes, a space theme :)
Not easy to catch that small comets to heal the planet, i must say.
Fun to play, slinging the rubber arm and trying to get them comets. Not easy.
monblu
28. Apr 2020 · 14:16 UTC
I like the way we can play with ony the mouse, it makes the thing easier! I still had a hard time trying to get these stars, maybe i was just bad x) i was not sure if i was hitting them or not, it would be maybe great to have a more visual feedback when we hit a star. Nice game tho!
Untitled Studios
28. Apr 2020 · 14:18 UTC
Fun! Looks good, sounds good, I like how most every mechanic has several uses.
zubspace
28. Apr 2020 · 19:30 UTC
Very nice game! The planet is adorable. The controls work fine, catching stars is fun and needs a bit of skill. The planting tree bit works, but my only gripe is, that you can't anticipate from where comets will be incoming, so you just plant enough of them around the planet. It's ok I guess, but a bit pointless.

Anyhow, I had fun saving my planets. Well done!
GameOverMexico
04. May 2020 · 17:02 UTC
He is entertaining but he did not understand why he did not win until he covered the last crack on the planet, good job!!!
Aaron Taube
05. May 2020 · 14:44 UTC
It was fun, but I felt that it did not do very much to plant the trees to protect the planet, but maybe if it progressed further I'd feel more incentive. Great job!