Type II by Jo Bettaque

[raw]
made by Jo Bettaque for Ludum Dare 58 (JAM)

ldjam58_pXyGz890FO.png

In Type II, you control a Space Faring Civilization on it's quest to become a Type II Civilization on the Kardashev Scale and harness the full energy output of its star.

Launch Energy Collectors into space and manage their orbits to maximize energy collection while avoiding collisions.

ldjam58_wzu6tbOonT.png

Win by placing a lot of them in a stable orbit!
Being able to win was part of a fix that also added now working trails postjam. screenshot4.png

Controls

  • Aim, hold and release with your Left Mouse Button to launch energy collectors.
  • Press Space to use fuel and slow down the collector to adjust the orbit.
  • You can speed up and slow down time with the arrow keys.
  • Hover over collectors to select them for adjustment and view their orbit.

You have 10 minutes to construct your energy collection network. Good luck!

There is a postjam version at https://type2.dynv6.net Known bug right now, braking brakes all satellites.

Its still in development so there are quite some changes. It also works somewhat on mobile now, a bit laggy.

We welcome any feedback!

Development

This game was developed using the Bevy game engine and is open source.

Other tools used: - Photoshop - Ableton Live - RustRover

Credits

Lilly, Jo, Johannes, Alex

Ratings

Overall 280th 3.647⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Fun 322th 3.456⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 76th 3.912⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Theme 394th 3.676⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 524th 3.364⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Audio 302th 3.406⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Humor 655th 2.14⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Mood 340th 3.625⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Given 38🗳️ 43🗨️

Feedback

kkritikov
Oct 06th · 23:05 UTC
Great game, never seen gameplay like this before.
Maksim Shalaev
Oct 06th · 23:24 UTC
I haven't played old school games for a long time, it was great.
Grizwhirl
Oct 07th · 00:06 UTC
Would love a path calculation before release
LivingiPod
Oct 07th · 09:55 UTC
Theme is good, audio matches it very well, and it feels like I'm interacting with an old school movie prop. +1!
Curtis Pelissier
Oct 07th · 10:05 UTC
![Type2.jpg](///raw/614/41/z/6e896.jpg)

Great entry, hard to understand clearly. And I don't know if I made a good score or not? Maybe a goal would be pertinent? Nice job though :clap:
Hymirth
Oct 07th · 10:06 UTC
As somebody else said, would have been great to be able to see the path before release, but a lot of potential
k1ruko
Oct 07th · 10:10 UTC
cool concept, like the art!
Ha-kuro
Oct 07th · 10:12 UTC
![Screenshot 2025-10-07 211015.png](///raw/cd0/a4/z/6e898.png)

Loved this game! Super moody and tough to get any orbits without them colliding into each other but also kind of addicting... Beautiful execution. 10/10 would Kardashev again
Skoufakis
Oct 07th · 10:19 UTC
Nice vibe and somehow really catchy :D
Rionisse
Oct 07th · 10:34 UTC
Very creative take on the theme!
I don't agree with the other commenters here — making the path visible before release would trivialize the task quite a bit. Calculating the most effective orbit is the main point of this game, after all. But maybe it’s possible to add some kind of indirect assistance, like visualizing the gravitational pull of the star.
TowerCrane
Oct 07th · 10:36 UTC
damn, i thought i could cheat by launching multiple at the same trajectory. I love that the game so small is quite serious
SolidHinken
Oct 07th · 10:50 UTC
first of all - amazing interface, love that ascii vibe! Gameplay is smooth, especially when you understand a bit of orbital physics! Great entry!
LDJam user 411567
Oct 07th · 13:03 UTC
@curtis-pelissier the game is called type two so the goal is to get to type 2. It's written below in a sentence as well. So yes it's not very clear but with some guesswork it should be deduce able. 😅 400 YW as energy rate is needed
tangling
Oct 07th · 15:21 UTC
like this ! super old school but atmosphere is peace and beautiful! UI is also great.
Aurora_Bee
Oct 07th · 16:46 UTC
I definitely like the concept, sometimes it can feel really satisfying, but the game itself in this state felt really difficult and frustrating at times though.

The frustrating bits:

- When trying to adjust the orbit tapping the space bar twice or thrice sometimes got registered "full stop" and used up all available fuel to slow down the satellite as much as possible.
- The hitboxes for the satellites would be alright in relation to the debris, but them colliding together feels like it should be more forgiving, especially in the context of them being satellites they shouldn't have a hitbox as big as the planet looks to be here in the game. :sweat_smile: I'm not against satellite to satellite collision, but it should really only happen when they're completely overlapping imo. Also whether only one or both satellites get destroyed by that felt very random. ^^'
- Some sort of "spawn protection" for the satellites as they get sent out would have been cool, it's very easy to only focus on the tip of the arrow and concentrate on getting the orbit just right, and then completely forget to check if the path is clear and accidentally end up destroying one of your most productive satellites.
- Debris spawning right inside one of your satellites... happened at least 3-4x in every playthrough so far :sweat_smile:

Nice to haves:

- Better control over the satellite, even just another key to accelerate the satellite instead of decelerate would open up a lot more strategy and fine control.
- Debris notice in advance, making it enter from the far side of the screen, something like that to be able to prepare.
- Making the planet's orbit visible. (at least with my strategy of making them all orbit in the same direction to avoid collisions and as circular of an orbit as possible, using the tangent of the planet's orbit as a base)

The good:

- The UI design, it's minimalist and retro in the best sense, good job there!
- Cool concept and setting, definitely not what I would have thought of when I saw "collector" being the winning theme!
- It's super satisfying to see how the projected orbit changes as the satellite gets closer to the sun or decelerates, generally also just the whole orbit mechanic is very well done and well communicated to the player with the moving 'x's matching the speed that the satellite would do at that point of the orbit. Sure a preview would have been nice as others said, but I think it works well without it, after your first 10 or so satellites you already get a decent feel for how the orbit will turn out.
- The game might be super difficult, still haven't beaten it, but it does feel like a challenge I want to try again and again, well done there too! :3

Nice job overall, keen to see what else you all have in store in future game jams :3
ExLudos
Oct 07th · 18:15 UTC
I'm not smart enough for this game but love the way it looks and plays. It's so cool to see the orbit path adjusting and managing all your satellites
LDJam user 221561
Oct 07th · 18:58 UTC
Colour palette like an old CRT monitor, and orbital mechanics. Very nicely done. Satellite collision seems a bit too eager (larger hitbox than expected) but this is fun to play!
ProtoHere
Oct 07th · 19:14 UTC
I love the theming!! very solid andcohesive game. Its fun working out new strategies to try to maximize energy collection. I settled on making a ton of sattelites with oblong orbits so they nearly all the time there is at least one satellite really close to the star
🎤 Jo Bettaque
Oct 08th · 07:32 UTC
@aurora-bee Thank you for your detailled feedback, we apprecheate it!
Dannyk1994
Oct 08th · 21:44 UTC
I enjoyed alot about the way this game is presented. Love the art style and the sound design. Struggled to understand what I was doing but sound affects were very old school. Love it
bzz_nsk
Oct 09th · 06:35 UTC
There's surely the distinctive style in such visuals, but I coudn't get rid of wanting to hear voices from the "Planetes" anime))) Theme was sooo close! Thank you for your work!
LDJam user 411567
Oct 10th · 02:15 UTC
So i made some fixes it should be winnable now :D
@aurora-bee i also changed the hitboxes and the debris a little should be a little less frustrating now.
Aurora_Bee
Oct 10th · 21:45 UTC
@letmebeme thanks! my new high score is now ~1.1 Kardashev, still some ways to go but it definitely feels smoother now and more possible to win :3
Kupnu4
Oct 11th · 16:06 UTC
I love them orbital mechanics! Great premise of the game, nice controls and orbit manipulations! It was mentioned already, but yes, seeing a path before releasing the mouse button would be nice. Simple on the looks but complex on the mechanics. Beautiful job, thank you!
Rol
Oct 11th · 17:51 UTC
Like the vibe and mechanics. It’s cool that you can launch new ones to cause collisions on purpose and save the ones you want. In the early stage the game feels a bit hard to tell if I’m doing okay and maybe some clearer feedback or a small progress hint would help.
kuggenhoffen
Oct 11th · 19:03 UTC
Game has great atmosphere and feels quite nicely polished. Only issue I could see was that occasionally when adjusting the orbits with space it seemed to get stuck and burned all my fuel even if I released the key, that was quite annoying. Other than that the game is really well done. Great job!
katis
Oct 17th · 12:25 UTC
Cool idea, would be nice if there was some launch pad preview, and a highlight on the currently focused satellite
Mibi88
Oct 20th · 15:14 UTC
Very interesting concept, the controls were just a little hard to understand as I hadn't understood what the little crosses meant nor that I could beep the right mouse button pressed (maybe it's just that I didn't read the instruction well enough :joy: ). Once I understood that, the game was quite fun! Well done!
LDJam user 411567
Oct 20th · 16:20 UTC
@Mibi88 no no, i think our tutorial is not the best sadly, :D
what was your score btw ?
Mibi88
Oct 20th · 16:25 UTC
I don't remember, I haven't taken a screenshot.
volcanoeyes
Oct 20th · 19:39 UTC
Cool game, the math for the planetary motion must've been awesome! Wasn't too sure how to control the satellites after placing them (or if you can at all). In the end I just sent a ton of satellites on kamikaze missions to generate energy close to the star hahaha.
![Capture.PNG](///raw/a65/25/z/6f827.png)
johnnysix
Oct 20th · 21:02 UTC
I spent a few goes launching satelites directly into the planet, before figuring I need to launch them tangentially :smile:

Pretty cool - would be good to have a little more visual feedback on the 'collecting' part, maybe some rays of sunlight for when the panels are facing the sun etc.

![Screenshot 2025-10-20 220022.png](///raw/028/2/z/6f832.png)

![Screenshot 2025-10-20 215739.png](///raw/028/2/z/6f833.png)
RubixNoob13
Oct 21st · 10:22 UTC
Maybe it was the music, but this game really gave me some Kerbal Space Program vibes, and I liked that a lot (although I was blowing up more satellites than making them stay in a stable orbit haha) Great job though!
LDJam user 411567
Oct 22nd · 16:25 UTC
@johnnysix great idea! I will think about how i might integrate that :D
LDJam user 411567
Oct 22nd · 16:26 UTC
@rubixnoob13 thanks! yeah Kerbal was a big inspiration for us
LDJam user 411567
Oct 22nd · 16:27 UTC
@volcanoeyes pressing space should brake the satellite you selected, hovering selects a satellite. At least thats how it should be :D