LudumData

Despairship by Shess

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made by Shess for Ludum Dare 47 (JAM)

"Okay, maybe this one man crew idea wasn't the best when it comes to piloting an airship. But who could I trust other than myself, really? For now, let's try and stay afloat".

despairship<em>scr</em>001.png

Story: yup, it's a time-space anomaly alright. With my airship's current speed, it should only take about a minute to pass it through, but I am needed in several places at the same time, and I only have my own two hands to rely on.

But wait. Maybe I can use this loop to my advantage. As long as I plan my actions accordingly, I can be at several places at the same time, even going as far as preventing troubles before they actually happen!
I mean, all I need to do is dodge my earlier copies when I'm working. Easy, right?

  • Keep the airship systems functional and nicely green!
  • React to special events, or suffer massive damage!
  • Avoid your own clones when things get too cramped!
  • Reach the end of the anomaly with your ship intact!
  • Play in browser!

Controls: keyboard only. Use [W][A][S][D] or [ARROW KEYS] to move, press or hold [E], [X] or [ENTER] to interact. You can always leave the zone before the repairs are completed and return later, and clear up the debris to create shortcuts. Check out additional hints by reading tutorial in-game.

despairship<em>scr</em>002.png

Code: Yanrishatum. Gamedesign, story: Shess. Art: ZeusDex. Music: Theodote. Sfx: Elvendan.

Youtube https://yanrishatum.itch.io/despairship
Youtube http://wb.yanrishatum.ru/games/despairship/
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/despairship

Ratings

Overall 132th 4.083⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Fun 220th 3.889⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 117th 4.028⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Theme 135th 4.222⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 330th 4.069⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Audio 149th 3.986⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Humor 276th 3.588⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Mood 360th 3.814⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Given 30🗳️ 0🗨️

Feedback

coryru
06. Oct 2020 · 02:13 UTC
I love love love this game. It is so brilliant. When all of the mechanics of the game clicked it clicked sooooooo well. Clever truly clever.
DavidPeterWorks
06. Oct 2020 · 10:44 UTC
I see a high quality entry here. Nice art. Move tracking is a big surprise. The bar in the top is great idea. It shows progress and excitement. Very nice job.
arzi
06. Oct 2020 · 19:03 UTC
Wow, this is splendid indeed! Best use of the theme I've seen so far and good job figuring out how to make Red November a single player game!

Well done, good sirs!
Danae
06. Oct 2020 · 19:16 UTC
This is honestly one of the best games out here!
Acdia
21. Oct 2020 · 19:26 UTC
One of the games in which graphics, movement and sound are really good. For a jam game really polished and with a lot of feedback. The mechanic of time proceeding only if you move helps a lot to plan the next actions. The UI looks great and I found no bugs. All in all one of the best games I have seen so far.
techsec
21. Oct 2020 · 20:01 UTC
Really good game with alot of polish. Truthfuly I can't believe you made this in 72 hours.
ZXCDani
21. Oct 2020 · 20:02 UTC
really cool game! very polished and cool graphics
BytingGames
21. Oct 2020 · 20:27 UTC
Actually, this was very fun! It was easy to get into, but not too easy to beat, exactly the right difficulty. I really like, that you delete your crew permanently when you collide with them (at least I think it's that way). Very nice decision, that time stops, when you don't move. The art style is also nice, and I don't know.. it's kind of a comedic scenario, which I like :D
Flying Dog Fish
21. Oct 2020 · 21:26 UTC
Great game. Looks pretty, sounds great, and place well. Only with all those clones of yourself it felt like it was impossible not to win the game eventually.
Wolfrug
21. Oct 2020 · 21:56 UTC
Super cool stuff! But it felt like the clones started disappearing at some point? A little confusing maybe. But really nicely done!
Satolas
21. Oct 2020 · 22:39 UTC
Wow guys ! You did so well !
Super immersive world and story and the arts are super well done !

I will talk more about the game later but now I don’t have that much time. But still I wanted to ask few questions :
Did used version control during development to be able to collaborate at 5 people ? If yes what did you use? If you have a minutes guys checkout our game (we were 2 people) and we used Plastic SCM to collaborate easily and was actually perfect :-)
Where everyone of you doing a different thing (1 programmer,1 artist, 1 music ?) or it was everyone doing everything?

Thanks for such a quality game !
I’ll write a bit later more.
Cheers :-)
Yanrishatum
22. Oct 2020 · 07:22 UTC
@satolas We didn't use version control (I eventually drop source code into my jam repo on github however). Instead, we use Syncthing, since it's easiest to set up and use (I.e. simple folder sync). So it's just a drag&drop in terms of sharing assets. And apart from Shess, who did text/gamedesign/UI graphics, we all had our own role.

@wolfrug They do. You have a limit of 5 clones (including yourself), and then oldest one will disappear. If you could just spam however many clones you want that would destroy any semblance of difficulty.

@bytinggames You don't delete your crew on collision, as I just mentioned - you have a 5 clone limit, and collision just interrupts your current run at that point.
Gaming Night
22. Oct 2020 · 07:35 UTC
Really liked this old movie and painting style effect :)
Yword
22. Oct 2020 · 08:05 UTC
Very interesting and innovative idea! Nice works! Maybe it will be better if can make the passageway wider... ^_^
Ommadawn
22. Oct 2020 · 08:06 UTC
Really nice and well polished game ! One of my favorites entries so far. The art is amazing :thumbsup:
melvinng
22. Oct 2020 · 08:15 UTC
Nice graphics with nice gameplay! Enjoyable gameplay as well with good audio
Ryan Paton
22. Oct 2020 · 09:08 UTC
Really cool game, love the amount of polish this game has
Jam373
22. Oct 2020 · 09:35 UTC
This is great, so polished and fun with excellent mood created with your unique visuals, audio and narrative! I think the clone limit should be better tutorialised as understanding that really changes possible strategies.
Duke
22. Oct 2020 · 10:03 UTC
Phew, that's a hard sell for me :) The game looks really cool and I do understand the premise and core game play but it's really not my cup of tea. Such games are rather stress inducing to a point where I can't play them at all. It's hard for me to convert stress to fun. Having to ultimately lose to have another "easier" shot the next round, while losing again and again is not motivating for me personally. But I bet there's a lot of people out there that will enjoy playing your game!
The music and art style (like I said before) was fantastic though. Even the rough brush strokes of the environment are balanced very well against a solid art direction. The decision to stop time when not moving was also a nice touch to take away at least a little stress :)

Maybe try to interact with other games more so you'll have more of a player base! You barely made 20 votes up until know and this game does deserve a lot more.

My incompatibility with your game aside, you did a good job! Keep it uo
dcrdro
22. Oct 2020 · 10:28 UTC
Oh, it 's cool game with interesting concept!
But I found the rules a bit of complicated. While I got the main goal, I have some question:
- new loop appears when my ship hp is over ?
- I have a limit of my clones?
- why some clones disappear?
- why at some moment my hp starts to decreasy rapidly? (my systems seem to be fine)

Anyway, it's intersting experience!
Mog13
22. Oct 2020 · 10:30 UTC
this was fun. It always fewlt just a liiiiitle too chaotic, which was the perfect balance. I couldn't put this down till I completed it and i really enjoyed my time with it. The art and music balanced the game really well and worked together to really build a good feel within the game. I also really appreciated te amount of polish in everything. Thankyou for putting sound options in!!!! Great job on the game
PurpledArtFrog
22. Oct 2020 · 11:58 UTC
Really nice entry - stuck well to the theme and seemed really well polished :smile: the rules were a little fuzzy though.

:purple_heart: :dart: :frog:
Trexxak
23. Oct 2020 · 01:49 UTC
This may be one of the most underrated (literally) games this LD, wow!

While the gameplay is relatively simple and the difficulty is tuned a bit too forgiving maybe, nothing else
negative can be said about this game! The aesthetics work - the artstyle works together greatly with the sounddesign and, of course, the gameplay.
Although the ghost-clone mechanic was used a lot this time around, it feels like it's very original and belongs to the game.

Well done! Thank you for this great hidden gem! u_u
CodeRaurus
27. Oct 2020 · 16:23 UTC
Cool game! It's very hectic. I didn't have enough time to read text boxes, watch the top bar AND manage all the things in the ship. But I did finish the game and it was very enjoyable regardless. I also liked the music and visuals as well. Great job, very solid entry!
Narom42
27. Oct 2020 · 19:32 UTC
Really nice entry, congrats :)