Falling Bot by Phobos

:fuelpump: Summary
You are a powered robot with low fuel, you need to avoid and destroy obstacles in order to land safely at the end of the cavern. Good luck !
:joystick: Controls
- Activate left thruster -> Right arrow key
- Activate right thruster -> Left arrow key
- Activate both thruster -> Left + Right arrow key
:exclamation: Disclaimer
All 3D models, textures, UI elements and scripts were made by our team.
We recommend you to used the downloadable .exe game, as the art and audio quality are better on it.

:star: Credits
- Julien Machado - Development, Integration, SFX, UI.
- Aurore Thomas - 3D Models, Textures, UI.
- Matthieu Bielle - 3D Models, Animations, Textures.
- Jordan Benureau - Level Design, Integration, 3D Model, Texturing, SFX, Lighting, UI.
- Nicolas Saussol - Level Design, Lighting.
- Romain Pitot - VFX, UI.
- Corentin Sabiaux - Debug, Optimisation, HTML5 port.
:notepad_spiral: Patch Notes
1.0 | 26.04.21
- Fixed credit scene responsivity.
- Fixed freeze on instruction screen.
- Fixed Patrick monster damage deal.
- Fixed thruster power inconstancy.
- Fixed block destruction delay inconstancy.
- Fixed fuel consumption inconstancy.
- Fixed "Metter" specification to "Score".
HTML5 port | 27.04.21
2.0 | 28.04.21
- Fixed HTML5 screensize bug.
| Link | https://phobosrandom.itch.io/falling-bot |
| Link | https://phobosrandom.itch.io/falling-bot |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/falling-bot |
Ratings
| Overall | 656th | 3.66⭐ | 102🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 537th | 3.593⭐ | 104🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 945th | 3.182⭐ | 101🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 462th | 3.97⭐ | 103🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 373th | 4.149⭐ | 103🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 707th | 3.444⭐ | 100🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 1057th | 2.483⭐ | 90🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 961th | 3.468⭐ | 97🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 128🗳️ | 129🗨️ |
A simple concept with nice graphics and incredible animation, good job ;)
Sometimes hard to see wich part of the level could be an obstacle or not
good job tho :thumbsup:
The sound and the graphics came together nicely and made for a great atmosphere. If I could improve one thing about this game: Sometimes I couldn't really see clearly the next obstacle. Maybe you could distinguish them a bit better from the background.
Lastly, I would like to point out how disappointed I am about @phobos for leaving such a toxic comment on our game, just saying "everything is bad". And also he blamed us for making such a bad game with 6 people. That comment gave no useful advice and just hurt to read. This is not constructive criticism at all and really bad for the game development community. We are all in this together.
It would be nice for some indicator on the platforms that you're destroying with your beam, my first few runs I didn't understand that. It was also a bit hard knowing which platforms you could destroy. Maybe change the texture or have a particle effect or something when you're destroying an object.
Overall I really enjoyed the game!
Concept is a bit basic but works, and could make for a good mobile game.
Audio though a bit simple does the work quite well overall.
For the downsides :
- The fuel mechanic didn't feel useful as you have way more than enough fuel to clear the whole game without catching any fuel cans. Also catching the cans was too hard due to the horizontal speed being slow.
- Laser mechanic wasn't obvious at first and it took me 2 runs to understand it (some indication of that in the 'controls' screen would be good) and it lacks feedback as to what can be destroyed and what can't be. It could be done through different colors depending on what the laser is hitting : Grey or transparent for air/nothing), red for indestrucible, yellow/orange for destructible (and with different sfx for each).
Also, on another point, i think Up Arrow to trigger both engines at the same time and hover could have been nice as an alternative to holding both left & right at once.
@marcovalekaz thanks, someone tell us he prefer to choose another option than this but we will see and think about it. Thank you for the tips =)
@ilprinny We had the two idea, but we decided for the jam to do an end. We are working on some feedbacks to make the game more understandable. Thank you for your advices and hope you enjoyed playing our game.
Хорошая игра в ядовитых оттенках ^_^
thanks for your feedbacks we are aware of this things, we will probably change this things.
Большое спасибо за отзыв, рад, что игра вам понравилась ( google trad sorry if that dont mean anything )
I've managed to reach 709meters.. i'll definitely play it again to get deeper. By the way the graphics are awesome and i loved the colors.. especially on the rocks. The mechanics of the thrusters well designed.. maybe i would like them to be a bit more responsive. Great job guys, i've enjoyed playing your game!
The laser mechanic wasn't entirely obvious though, also the indication of what could be destroyed seemed to change a little bit during the game. And maybe the lateral speed is just a tiny bit too slow for my preferences. Those are pretty minor things all things considered though.
I thoroughly enjoyed the game, stellar work!
@devastus a huge thank you =)
I'd perhaps make it so I can control the ship with WASD, just as a personal preference. I'd also make it so I can recover a bad run by picking up extra lives as I go. But honestly? This is nit-picking - this is a solid entry!
Polish is incredible! Good job to the team!
And you done that very well! Easy to learn, fun to play. The controls are very good and I only have two feedbacks to give:
- More visuals juicy feedbacks. Your game could be playable fastly with more juicy effect (SFX, VFX, more screen shake maybe?) to encourage the player to replay instantly a new run
- Make a better difference between elements that the player can touch or not. I was thinking I couldn't touch flowers (or mushrooms? I don't know...) even when I "finished" the game. I think I could move through some other elements like the metal frames.
Really great job for a jam :thumbsup:

Strengths :
- Fun control scheme that makes for a good challenge, especially given the theme
- General aesthetic seemed to have a lot of thought and effort put into it
Possible improvements :
- Invincibility frames/crossing obstacles you've hit would be less punishing than the current system, which removes your 4 lives very fast (get stuck once, lose everything).
All in all, great job !
Art and soundscape are great. Really enjoyed!
I got confused on some mechanics, like the laser and the gas canisters (I thought those were grenades you had to dodge!), highlighting them green or something would make it more clear that they are bonuses.
Overall very good job from the team!
few tips :
5 cecond count is a little long for me;
the laser line and hit effect can be mo big or lightner :smile: