Unstable Reactor by Gale-swift

[raw]
made by Gale-swift for Ludum Dare 49 (JAM)

Info

Jam game completed by two game devs who work in the industry. (Runs on Unity). Inspired by Homeworld and Diner Dash. (Hello r/brandnewsentence!)

Your ship barely escaped its last battle. Unfortunately your reactor has become UNSTABLE and can only charge one system at a time. Your goal is to charge your warp core fully and get out.

Time's ticking though, as the enemy has tracked you down and is warping in to finish the job!

Balance charging each system to defend yourself, while also trying to warp out

Instructions

  1. You can only charge one system at a time.
  2. Once a system is fully charged, you must click it again to activate.
  3. If you aren't actively charging a system, it will start draining after some time (except the reactor)
  4. Each system has different charge and drain rates. The warp core does not drain.
  5. Click the help button in the top right of the game for more info about each system
  6. Enemies will come at you with fighters, bombers and frigates.

Systems:

Systems_Help.png

Media

SpaceJam<em>01.JPG SpaceJam</em>02.JPG SpaceJam_03.JPG

The vods for development are here: https://www.twitch.tv/galeswift

Thanks:

Special thanks to DarwinStreams for providing us with the wormhole, and moral support! https://twitter.com/darwinstreams?lang=en

Music: Volatile Reaction by Kevin MacLeod

Ratings

Overall 589th 3.638⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Fun 677th 3.483⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 703th 3.345⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1081th 3.161⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 155th 4.362⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Audio 481th 3.519⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1177th 2.065⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Mood 339th 3.796⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Given 8🗳️ 15🗨️

Feedback

kernon
04. Oct 2021 · 14:30 UTC
Looks great and I like the cooldown driven gameplay.. I wasn't quite able to figure out what was going on though. I couldn't quite make sense of the on-screen feedback and I ended up dead far too quickly to figure it out. I may come and revisit this one later because I feel like there's an enjoyable experience in here once I manage to figure out which buttons to click first!
grizeldi
04. Oct 2021 · 18:31 UTC
I'm loving the graphics and the subsystems are rather intuitive so I almost instantly knew what is what.
SneakyLemon
04. Oct 2021 · 18:36 UTC
Looks really good, though the skewed camera angle makes it difficult to see what's going on. I think the main cannon is missing a visual effect? It made a sound and the enemy frigate sort of fell apart, but I didn't get any visual feedback other than that. Nice job on the voice over too, though it does get a bit annoying hearing it every single time :sweat_smile:

I managed to beat it on my first try, but did fall below 50% health once or twice, so I'd say the difficulty is just right for a jam game, good job!

I wish the radar was more visual, as in an actual radar, and less a text box with some numbers, but I understand that this is time consuming and not a high priority in a jam. I just feel like with the graphics being as awesome as they are, it would have added that little bit extra.
p-r
04. Oct 2021 · 18:37 UTC
That wormhole effect was very cool, the intro is fire. I think the Repair is OP, imo you could have the repair to charge until a certain level, and have the option to activate on the spot. The amount you have charged is the equivalent amount to the health you're given. The game is very polished and visually stunning by the time it took developing, well done.
OctahedronSoftware
04. Oct 2021 · 18:38 UTC
For those who try the game, try starting out by creating bunch of fighters before even thinking of trying to charge the warp core, you're going to need something to defend yourself with VERY soon.

The idea is interesting, graphics and audio are good. But when I played for the first time I was overwhelmed with options and got killed immediately. Some kind of advice about what should be the first priority when starting would be nice so you don't die immediately.
LDJam user 266940
04. Oct 2021 · 19:12 UTC
Great concept and execution! I had a fun time playing the game. Ship models are outstanding, and I love the modulated voice effects.
3mpty
05. Oct 2021 · 00:26 UTC
Really awesome, a bit complex at first but after a few tries it clicked. I really like the visual aesthetic and I found the whole bridge command feeling awesome.

I think the VFX need a little more punch to really sell the epic space battle feeling, it would also help to see what's being targeted and dying if the vfx were a bit bigger and flashier.

Overall, impressive submission, awesome work!
BinaryPrinciple
05. Oct 2021 · 04:01 UTC
The way it looks is way to impressive! It a nice merge of concepts, like a type of timed-rts. Initially was a bit confusing but on my second try it started to fit. I would recommend rebalance the time it takes for certain actions because it feels that randomness sometimes get the best of you. Great game!
LDJam user 235915
05. Oct 2021 · 06:28 UTC
Super, played for a very long time)
drtizzle
05. Oct 2021 · 06:41 UTC
As others have said before, it was a bit confusing at the beginning, but the looks and music kept me playing! There is a bit of a lack of feedback of what you're doing, and if you are winning or not. After a while I knew what to do and I could win pretty easy. Overall a very polished entry, well done!
poovi
05. Oct 2021 · 07:03 UTC
Such a fun game... i thoroughly enjoyed it... strong game built in such short time... even the music fit perfectly... but i am unsure how this is unstable... but a very well made game..
peterfiftyfour
05. Oct 2021 · 09:28 UTC
Epic! Would love to have more camera control especially the ability to zoom right out and see everything top down? Was pretty hard to figure out the best way to win haha. Maybe the waves could be less fast?
Dinwy
05. Oct 2021 · 10:26 UTC
Nice work! Good modeling and I like the space feeling!
DaleP
06. Oct 2021 · 00:37 UTC
That was nerve-wracking (in a good way)! Felt like I was in an episode of Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica. Took some trial and error to work out a strategy and figure out some of the nuance of the different systems (e.g. I’m pretty sure each turret you activate lasts forever, but the fighters get destroyed pretty easily although they’re faster to activate. Finding the right shield timing to block bombs was kind of annoying. etc), but it’s fairly intuitive to learn. The game does a pretty good job of providing the feeling that you can stay mostly on top of things early on but as the waves build up, the shit really hits the fan and you have to scramble to make a last-ditch effort.
Hobzone
07. Oct 2021 · 13:41 UTC
I really liked the game, great Art and fun to replay some game !
Game_Coder28
07. Oct 2021 · 18:41 UTC
Quite a fun game! The gameplay is fun and the graphics are very nice. Im not fully sure how it fits into the theme but overall good job!
GuitarBro
12. Oct 2021 · 02:35 UTC
This is a surprisingly complete experience (I know, that sounds weird lol). But I mean, you have voice lines for all the actions and the intro, a bunch of counter options to react to the enemy, unique models for the different ships... it all makes a very cohesive experience.

Gameplay was pretty fun, though my biggest complaint was that a lot of actions didn't seem to have much response. Ex: the shield didn't make it very clear when it blocked something. On the other hand, the main cannon was _very_ clear when it worked (and the sound was very satisfying). On that note though, given the use of Kevin MacLeod's music, shouldn't audio have been opted-out of? It was a good selection and I know effort went into the voice lines, but doesn't seem fair to rate that category. Wish there was a better way than all-or-nothing. :confused:

Graphics-wise, the ship models/vfx were the strong point. Saw your post about using the Substance apps to make them (*surprise*, I used Substance too lol), they turned out well in my opinion. However, the UI could use a bit of work since, despite being plenty functional, the presentation just isn't quite as slick as the audio/ship models/vfx. Regardless, the fact that it had the voice lines and charging sounds to go along with it was definitely a nice touch.

Overall, a pretty solid game!