Unable to Be Unstable by MadR

[raw]
made by MadR for Ludum Dare 49 (JAM)

Unable to be Stable

Plot You are A scientist who needs to save a power plant that has gone unstable. Make the necessary repairs. Watch out for the robot guards as they also have become unstable and will try to kill You!

Controls (GamePad support is tested only with one controller):

WASD/ANALOG - move SPACE/SQR/LMB - POUR OUT THE ACID (attack) Bring items (1 by 1) to the plant FIX Both sides of the plant by standing CLOSE to them

2controlls.png 4gameplay.png 5theend.png

Ratings

Overall 876th 3.429⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Fun 646th 3.518⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1206th 2.857⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Theme 773th 3.518⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 815th 3.536⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Audio 486th 3.5⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Humor 866th 2.731⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Mood 817th 3.352⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Given 17🗳️ 33🗨️

Feedback

Spolarium
04. Oct 2021 · 21:41 UTC
Interesting game! I like the concept and story behind it, as well as the gameplay itself. Though I feel that the music doesn't go well with the dark environment the game has (either way love the music). I also noticed that once you win you could still move around and die, and it would lag really bad if you throw a lot of acid.

But nonetheless, really cool game!
Teegan
04. Oct 2021 · 21:44 UTC
What have I done?!?! Cute little game, nice animations and I good tutorialization. I wasn't lost at any point which is great for a jam game!
SpaceGuinea Productions
04. Oct 2021 · 21:45 UTC
Really nice graphics and good sfx. It got a little boring pretty quick and the attack was pretty slow, aside from that great game!
NBumgardner
04. Oct 2021 · 21:49 UTC
This game has a great overall atmosphere with the music and art fitting the gameplay of outmaneuvering your enemies! Some optional feedback on difficulty and controls:

1. Normally I am running away from enemies and don't notice it, but you can lose almost instantly if you keep running into the same enemy. This could be avoided by destroying enemies you touch after they hurt you, or stun them and make them harmless for a couple seconds.
2. The game could be made harder by having a limited amount of acid fluid you can drop. At first I thought the repair canisters were ammo until I remembered them from the tutorial.
3. I would like to also be able to retry by pressing spacebar or another key so I do not need to switch away to a mouse.
4. If ammo is always unlimited, maybe let the user hold spacebar to continuously spray it, or reward them with a bigger splash for waiting, or narrow down the trail until it recharges over time.

Keep up the great work, the early game feels polished and intuitive to me!
LDJam user 237945
04. Oct 2021 · 21:49 UTC
@teegan Cuteness ends in the final cutscene at the end of LVL3 :)

@spaceguinea-productions the attack was slowed down by design - was too fast at first :)


Thanks for Your feedback!
Ghostbit
05. Oct 2021 · 18:25 UTC
Great game! love the twist ending, solid game no complaints
azagaya
05. Oct 2021 · 19:33 UTC
I really liked the game! Was enjoyable, with good music and art! I felt the collisions where a bit off, because due to perspective i would have thought that you could pass behind the enemies. Not a problem after i lost one time though. The attack was cool because you need to plan where to put acid, but imho you should limit how often you can drop acid, or something, because spamming the attack was my way to victory!

I really love that the theme is superficially linked to the unstable plant and robots, but you only understand what was really unstable when you finish the game! this could be a double edge sword though, because people not finishing the game wont fully understand it! I wont share a screenshot of the end screen as i usually do because i want to avoid spoilers for other players!

Good entry! well done!
LDJam user 237945
05. Oct 2021 · 20:16 UTC
@ghostbit Thanks ghost!

@azagaya
Yeah I tough about spiking up the difficulty a bit by limiting the acid amaut ect., but was afraid no one could finish like my last LD :)

Tanks for the feed back, appreciate it!
LelulaGames
06. Oct 2021 · 04:36 UTC
I think the pouring of the acid is a little slow, but otherwise I really enjoyed this. I loved the boss on the second floor.
Stroe Andrew
07. Oct 2021 · 09:39 UTC
I like the way you build this game. I really smooth and each element you put is very fast to understand :) Graphics and sounds are good good.
Congrats on your entry <3
Doctor_Zeus
07. Oct 2021 · 17:57 UTC
Nice work!

I like how the robots didn't follow my movements exactly - the wide sort of arc they took was fun to plan around when eyeballing my escape routes. I think it paired nicely with the tasks you set up - standing in place at the repair spots and delivering the items both made me strategize around the robots' movements in different ways.

Other folks have already mentioned similar things, but I wouldn't mind having the way you fight off robots be different some way. The slight delay on dropping acid is fine by me, I think it's the sort of restriction that makes me consider my own movements and the robots' pathing more carefully. I'd just like the idea of having more variety in my options - maybe the player can sabotage some parts of the lab to cause some one-time effects with different sizes / durations / power level / etc? Something that gives me even more unique situations to consider when trying to plan my movement.

I think the stuff you put together works well, though, and the ideas complement each other well while being reasonable to make on a strict schedule - perfect for the game jam! (Also the ending got me, good stuff :D)
LDJam user 237945
07. Oct 2021 · 20:52 UTC
@doctor-zeus Thanks for the feedback - and an in depth review, appreciate it!
Elazulus
08. Oct 2021 · 06:39 UTC
Hi, this was a fun entry!

I think fun was my highest score, it was definitely enjoyable to figure it out!

As others mentioned, the collisions were a bit off - at times where I thought I could walk in front of something, I was unable to because my head was a collision box!

I also thought the music, while quite catchy and good, didn't fit the atmosphere well. Had some great sound effects though!

Thank you for the submission, good work :)
koalaura
08. Oct 2021 · 22:15 UTC
I really liked playing this, the graphics were very cute! It was quite challenging too! The ending was amazing!
Cynthia Clementine
11. Oct 2021 · 01:28 UTC
Cool game! Sometimes hitboxes were a little awkward, but I loved the ending, and how the acid was infinite.
Lyssa
11. Oct 2021 · 02:01 UTC
Really enjoyed this! it was fun but simple enough that even when I got a little lost I was able to figure out what I was doing wrong fairly quickly. The art was also nice to look at which was a plus.
mar3k
13. Oct 2021 · 16:55 UTC
Nice game and concept. What I didn't like was how easy it was to die, some life immunity after getting hit would be really nice. Great job though!