Loop Swat 'em Gravity by Nick Rafalski

Click to play in browser!
Game Background
Swat those pesky monochromatic aliens all the way back to where they came from!
But there's a catch, you can only swat the aliens into the barrier that matches their color, otherwise it sets off a huge explosion (not pictured) that destroys the ship!
Don't fret though! Thanks to the miracle of time travel, you'll be able to go back and face the same wave again, this time with a little more strategy hopefully.
Try to get through all 10 waves in as few loop iterations as possible!
Or play the endless mode and see how far you make it on one attempt!
How to play
- Use Left/Right arrows (or on-screen buttons) to turn the ship left or right
- Use the ship's bumpers to swat the enemies into the barriers that match their color
- Use Spacebar (or the on-screen button) to launch the B.A.A.D (Blow-up All Aliens Device)
- Use Enter to acknowledge dialogs.
Tools:
- Unity
- Inkscape
- Audacity
Changelog:
1.0.1
- Moved spawn points so enemies won't immediately die and fail the level in some cases
- Fixed background music doubling up when clicking start game button too quickly
| Youtube | https://nostyleguy.itch.io/ld47 |
| Youtube | https://nostyleguy.itch.io/ld47 |
| Youtube | https://nostyleguy.itch.io/ld47 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/loop-swat-em-gravity |
Ratings
| Overall | 144th | 3.742⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 119th | 3.758⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 127th | 3.742⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 361th | 3.468⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 215th | 3.613⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 159th | 3.484⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 105th | 3.387⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 164th | 3.5⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 27🗳️ | 32🗨️ |
@rhoff95 I wanted to integrate all that block-of-text into a more engaging tutorial, but just ran out of time. Thanks for all the feedback :)
@chaosinism Thanks! I Know the body being a source of deflections is kind of against the whole theme of the game. At first, I was going to make the body take damage and eventually die, but that was way too stressful. It ended up as kind of an awkward mechanic where the body still deflects the bad guys, just not as drastically as the paddles. Thanks for playing :)
@minibetrayal Spending longer than you should is the ultimate compliment, thanks for making my day :)
@todd-mitchell Thanks so much!
@pizzasgood You stumbled upon my favorite unintentional mechanic. Initially, I wasn't sure what to do when 2 aliens collided. Should you get no points? should you get negative points? I ended up making it count as 2, and that turns out to be a pretty good strategy for clearing waves quickly. It's sort of a risk/reward thing though because it's usually harder to 'aim' a swatted enemy at another one, and you risk missing and him hitting the wrong zone. I think it works overall. Thanks for all the kind words :)
My best score was 42, it took me a bit to figure out a strategy. My first impression was oh god this is hectic, trying to juggle all the colors and angles. Once you get used to it though, everything slows down in your brain and makes sense. I started to line up my rotations better and handle the scenarios where there were multiple objects. I started to use spacebar better as well, as it's best to conserve it as long as possible.
I think the alien collision decision was a good idea. I actually assumed they WERE cancelling it other out so I was always in despair when it happened. Only a few waves later did I realize the situation. It now became the best option there was since you don't have to worry about shooting things into the wrong goal.
This game has a very high skill ceiling. I could see some people going nuts with this. If it weren't for having to review so many games I'd definitely spend more time on this. Maybe after review period is over :)
Great job showing off your design chops. It can be hard to innovate on core gameplay because so many ideas have been explored before. Amazing entry!
@kunonooni I'm so glad you found it fun! I've made some overly-complicated LD games before that I thought were super novel, but just weren't *fun*. I really tried to keep in mind that games are supposed to be about fun first. Thanks for playing and all the feedback :)
@peachtreeoath Wow what amazing feedback! I really really appreciate you taking the time to analyze the game so deeply. You're exactly right about things 'slowing down' once you get used to it. 42 is a great score. I have only beat that a couple times myself. Thanks again!
@ds-nahogara You're right: the main mechanic is pretty confusing and only having a block-of-text to explain it is a pretty weak solution. I wish I could have added an in-game tutorial. Still, I'm glad you had fun, and thanks for the feedback
I was about to say I don't understand why I lose as my bumpers are hitting the matching color... Then I launched again and understood the colored edge were the barriers you have to project the aliens into (I read the tutorial I promise :D) and this placed your game in an other dimension. Really working well and hard as hell, type of game you need to try hard and get some skills because the gameplay is kind of unique.
Gratz