Unstable: Save a Herd of Horses by Alex Chertilin

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

Only a brave alien can save horses from disaster catastrophe brought down to Earth. Graceful creatures are locked down in stables and will die without your help because of fire! But be careful - horses are so scared and could be dangerous on the loose. Use your "Stabilizer" to sedate animals for further sending them to UFO. Horses spread fire so fast and furious! Try to achieve the HiScore!


CONTROLS

Move: WASD, arrows

Release horses: E

A shot from the "Stabilizer" for saving horses: SPACE, or any Q, F, LCtrl


We are so proud to present our first attempt to make a game at Jam. It was so much challenge for our team, especially because we used Godot engine for the very first time, respect @ullent for his incredible development skill, @michaelgamerus as a talented artist and jack of all trade @alex-chertilin. We hope you will enjoy our game and look forward for feedback. Thank you so much.


Screenshot 2021-10-06 at 16.54.42.png Screenshot 2021-10-06 at 16.59.58.png https://youtu.be/qvlHMd5d-Aw


Ratings

Overall 1048th 3.295⭐ 75🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1147th 3.041⭐ 76🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 928th 3.142⭐ 76🧑‍⚖️
Theme 751th 3.541⭐ 76🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 740th 3.613⭐ 77🧑‍⚖️
Humor 622th 3.145⭐ 71🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1072th 3.101⭐ 71🧑‍⚖️
Given 169🗳️ 119🗨️

Feedback

🎤 Alex Chertilin
06. Oct 2021 · 08:45 UTC
The following bugs fixed:
- Audio Settings shows up in Main Menu and game (You can adjust Sound&Music Volume);
- Game statistics shows up at GameOver Screen (You know how many horses were stabilized & saved exactly);
- Limit for "unstabled" (active) horses was added for dramatically performance improvement;
- Some sounds and animations works correctly now.

Thank you for your patient. We learned so much for the Jam time.
Play, save & enjoy!
MetalFox Dioxymore
06. Oct 2021 · 10:51 UTC
Nice little game, especially for a first attempt. Congratulations =) !
BlurdeBlah
06. Oct 2021 · 10:57 UTC
Nice short game. Took a minute to figure out how to do things but once I did, I had fun! Only thing I would say is that the "stablise" ray thing didn't always seem to work.

Well done completing your 1st jam!!!
Nehvis
06. Oct 2021 · 10:57 UTC
Nice graphics, sound and gameplay. The game did run pretty unstable for me, so I guess that's extra points for theme :D
Enya454
06. Oct 2021 · 11:01 UTC
At first I was a little confused since I didn't know what the objective of the game was, but once I got the hang iof it it was alright. It was a little tricky to direct the attacks sedatives where I wanted them to but other than that it was good.
Pixelydian
06. Oct 2021 · 16:23 UTC
Oh noooooo the horses are ON FIRE! D: Pixel art is adorable and I felt so bad for the crying (and burning) horses. I've seen a couple of "un stable" takes on the theme but this was a unique idea! Good music and it all came together for a neat little game. Good job team!
UglySwedishFish
06. Oct 2021 · 16:33 UTC
Great job, especially for a first jam! The idea was unique and the sound & visual style was good as well. I wish there was some kind of health bar to indicate how much health you have though
Bakenshake
06. Oct 2021 · 16:33 UTC
Cute little game. Welcome to the Godot community! We also made our entry in it. :) It was a bit unclear as to what I needed to do and how but otherwise good job!
Lisek Gagatek
06. Oct 2021 · 16:53 UTC
Cool little game. It was unfortunately a little laggy and jittery for me on Linux+Firefox, but I know it's because of Godot's not yet production ready state of HTML exporting, which was probably out of your control. It wasn't anything gamebreaking, just an annoyance. I also think that if you have a button in game, you should make a player want not to use it sometimes - otherwise it shouldn't be a button. This is the case with shooting in your game - there is no reason not to shoot. It should be better, if the character used autofire, or if you could at least hold the spacebar to shoot continously. Having the game without mouse allows you to make controls for both hands on keyboard - right now E button clashes a bit with your movement and it could as well be remapped to arrows + ZX, or similar.

I really liked the graphics and fire animations, it looked quite good overall. The use of sfx was also on point, as well as the music. Overall it's quite a good piece for a first jam. Good job!
thunderkerrigan
06. Oct 2021 · 17:16 UTC
Hmmm I got stuck between a cage and a pump and could not move any more. Dig the graphics and cool mechanics.
yodoG
06. Oct 2021 · 18:26 UTC
Nice work! love the look and the take on the theme. I wish there was more of a ramp up to the craziness to allow the player to get used to the mechanics. It took me a few plays to figure it out, but I eventually started getting the hang of it. I really enjoyed the music.
sunderBird
06. Oct 2021 · 18:30 UTC
A very unusual setting. What kind of people are they, since the alien had to save their horses?
Shaggy
06. Oct 2021 · 18:47 UTC
Poor horses.. great game well don! Love the music.
Timo Strating
06. Oct 2021 · 19:08 UTC
The lightning strike was really well made. The sound for it was also really nice
blobo
06. Oct 2021 · 19:29 UTC
That's the most intense title screen music I've ever heard, ha! I wish there was some sort of score to keep track of. The artwork looks really good, and the sound effects / music sound great as well! Nice work.
Jesper Fyhr Knudsen
06. Oct 2021 · 19:29 UTC
Nice work, you are really good at pixel art :) Especially impressive for to achieve this in your first attempt.
RyanJavanshir
06. Oct 2021 · 20:53 UTC
Nice entry - really loved the art and effects! Had some laggyness a few times that made the music jitter but otherwise smooth. Some more UI would be great I think for this one. Well done!
Karsinis
06. Oct 2021 · 21:06 UTC
Wow, this is a very nice game. As one graphic artist to another, @michaelgamerus the pixel art is amazing!! Love the idea for the game and it was very funny. I was confused at first what to do at first and had to re-read the instructions. Maybe an indicator when you first start the game with a prompt showing where/how to release the horses would be nice. Don't get me wrong, this game was really well done. Good job guys!
Raphiell
06. Oct 2021 · 22:02 UTC
Fun little game, it got hectic fast though! +1 for using godot, and +1 for also having it be themed around horses and stables :)
Jon_Nova
06. Oct 2021 · 22:27 UTC
Oh boy that was pure caos! Would be cool if you could shoot in all directions. Nice job!
poovi
07. Oct 2021 · 06:16 UTC
The horses are really on fire. I found it funny. Haha. It became very chaotic for me towards the end. Over all good job.:)
ChillerTyp
07. Oct 2021 · 09:45 UTC
The music is pretty cool, but also very loud. Had to turn it down.
beats
07. Oct 2021 · 10:03 UTC
Decent little game, nice retro styled graphics, game could have been a bit more punishing as the horses very rarely run straight into the player, but solid effort overall.
Pancho
07. Oct 2021 · 13:01 UTC
This game is excruciating and exasperating in a very good way. Great job with art and music. Congratulations.
ardorugus
07. Oct 2021 · 14:27 UTC
Un-stable, indeed. But me partner felt so sad with horses burning... Quite a hard story for some stablemaster, yet there's a concept to work with. Thanks!
Weine
07. Oct 2021 · 18:52 UTC
Yay! I saved 26 unstable(d) horses. Now to sell them at the intergalactic meat market...
Frantic and fun gameplay once i realized how to open stables. Not sure where all the horses came from once they started de-stable-izing, but lets blast those neigh-sayers.
Sorry, can't stop the bad punning. Love the theme pun.
vivyhasadream
07. Oct 2021 · 19:15 UTC
congrats on your first game jam!
the concept is pretty interesting, and I felt so panicking when saving the horses. the music and game combine very well
LDJam user 0
07. Oct 2021 · 20:17 UTC
very nice game
Zhenda Hu
07. Oct 2021 · 20:20 UTC
The concept of the game is pretty unique, although it was a bit hard to understand what the goal is at first. Music and sound effects are nice, and the game definitely goes along with the "unstable" theme.
SimonL
07. Oct 2021 · 21:04 UTC
Nice gameplay, but it took some time until I understood how it works.

I especially liked the music track in the main menu!
My highscore was 31.
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 21:31 UTC
Thank you so much for feedback. I added more consistent explanation. I hope we save much more horses that way.
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 21:47 UTC
@metalfox-dioxymore Thank you for the feedback. A little game with with a herd of horses on fire at once)
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 21:50 UTC
@blurdeblah Thank you. Horses will never end For the Jam!
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 21:52 UTC
@nehvis Thanks and we are so sorry for the inconvenient. We made an update. Please try again. We are looking for feedback on fixes
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 21:53 UTC
@enya454 Thank you. I hope We learned the lesson
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 21:55 UTC
@uglyswedishfish Thank you for the advice. We will learn aliens how to communicate
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 21:57 UTC
@pixelydian Thank you for your attention to horses. They really crying so much but players do everything to help them.
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 21:59 UTC
@lisek-gagatek Thank you for the detailed feedback. We definitely will use advices in our next projects. Stay tuned!
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 22:02 UTC
@thunderkerrigan Thank you for the feedback. Special forces set up this to capture the alien. We will try to help
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 22:03 UTC
@yodog Thank you. We will extent environment
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 22:06 UTC
@sunderbird Unfortunately so much people forget about friends in difficult times.. But what if aliens initially gave life on Earth..
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 22:08 UTC
@shaggy Thank you! All horses will be save. We don't leave ours
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 22:14 UTC
@timo-strating Thank you. At first we did it procedurally but run into issues and our great artist @michaelgamerus managed in classic way, with a little bit manual's help)
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 22:16 UTC
@100th-coin Thank you The score will show at end of the game. Yes at cemetery..
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 22:17 UTC
@jesper-fyhr-knudsen Thank you. We love pixel art and we happy when it responds in kind
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 22:20 UTC
@ryanjavanshir Thank you, we are fighting with lugs and teach aliens how to communicate
🎤 Alex Chertilin
07. Oct 2021 · 22:23 UTC
@karsinis Thank you and thank you. We will try get more information about the situation. Please stay tuned!)
The_Fazzo
08. Oct 2021 · 04:14 UTC
Everything is very good! I don´t understand it yet, but will replay it to find out.
The_Fazzo
08. Oct 2021 · 04:19 UTC
Everything is very good! It would be nice to have a help menu to show the controls.
🎤 Alex Chertilin
08. Oct 2021 · 08:20 UTC
@the-fazzo We definitely will do provide some onboarding in our next projects. This is our very first time to do Jam, but we learned a lot. Many thanks to everyone who plays our game and gives feedback.
🎤 Alex Chertilin
08. Oct 2021 · 08:25 UTC
@simonl Thank you. Our goal was to put players to situation of uncertainty but to give them some common mechanics to solve the problem. We eager to any critics and advices.
🎤 Alex Chertilin
08. Oct 2021 · 08:27 UTC
@vivyhasadream Thank you from our team and the horses! Stay safe!
Krystal McDonald
08. Oct 2021 · 09:29 UTC
Neat little arcade game! The pixel art was pretty good. The in game art was pretty appealing since it stuck to a very consistent colour palette. Making the game run within browser was a good idea since many people on all platforms will be able to play it. The mechanics seemed to make sense and i liked the twist on the word stable in unstable. You really are unstabling them.
Quoc
08. Oct 2021 · 09:36 UTC
Nice little game. I like the style. It was fun to play.
🎤 Alex Chertilin
08. Oct 2021 · 10:06 UTC
@krystal-mcdonald Thank you very much for the feedback. We commit to improvements in future
llaumegui
08. Oct 2021 · 10:25 UTC
It was pretty interesting ! The game was pretty fun, i think it would be cool if you can keep shooting by holding the button, it felt a bit weird to mash the buttons to shoot the horses
Overall it was really cool !
khofez
08. Oct 2021 · 11:50 UTC
Great game! Awesome job! Very fun
XeduR
08. Oct 2021 · 13:14 UTC
Just a personal pet peeve of mine for LD games:

The controls should be easy enough that anyone can pick them up quickly without any instructions, or if not, then the instructions should be found within the game.

The audio was good and the game looked nice, but I needed to get out of the game and come back to this page to read the instructions on how to play it.

I was also expecting to "do something" to the burning trees and building, not just chase the horses around. I think the game's clarity could have used some work.
🎤 Alex Chertilin
08. Oct 2021 · 13:42 UTC
@xedur Thank you for your feedback. It is our first attempt for Jams and Godot engine. All three of our team just finished our initial education for game development in this year and we are so exciting so many people already played our game and gave us so treasure comments. We will try hard to provide more pleasure experience to everybody in future!
Ozfolo
08. Oct 2021 · 17:22 UTC
Amazing game I love the literal take on the Unstable theme :racehorse::fire::racehorse::fire::racehorse::fire::racehorse::fire::racehorse::fire::racehorse::fire:
robbietaco
08. Oct 2021 · 19:20 UTC
Simple and fun!
jelch
08. Oct 2021 · 20:56 UTC
A fellow horsey interpretation! Nice job!
LMB
08. Oct 2021 · 21:15 UTC
Hey folks, congrats on your first jam game! The graphics and the sound and pretty good and the idea was also quite interesting! Here are some suggestions for improvement:

* It took me some time to understand that I had to press the red buttons on the hydrants(?) to free the horses.
* I am still not sure I understand when I need to use my "stabilizer gun". Can a non-stabilized horse be teleported (saved) by the UFO? Is it worth to stabilize a horse that is already on fire?

One idea would be to not start the fires until the player saved a couple of horses, to give him time to grasp the main game concepts.

* I don't understand what triggers a game over. To me it felt random. Might be related with the number of fires? I don't know. Some more feedback about it would be super nice.
* The stables seem to continuously spawn new horses, and this was overwhelming. I could not follow everything was happening on the screen: many stable, many horses, many fires. I think you should either have less things happening and once, or make the most important things stand out more.

I hope these are useful suggestions! And I hope to see you making games again on the next Ludum Dare! :slight_smile:
Gurt
09. Oct 2021 · 02:49 UTC
Great art and presentation!
🎤 Alex Chertilin
09. Oct 2021 · 07:55 UTC
@lmb Thank you so much for playing, feedback and suggestions.
- Yes, we wanted to put players in shoes of an alien who has to figure out how to save crying horses.
- Yes, use "stabilizer" in any incomprehensible situation. It must help)

- We had a draft version of health bar, but didn't make it on time. My fault. Honestly, we need to try harder next time. Deliver proper impact is our first goal now.
- And yes, during the Jam's time we fell for development too deep and tried to entertain in more ways than we could carried out.

So thorough comments make us better! We appreciate it a lot.
Itzemii
09. Oct 2021 · 20:02 UTC
Nice! Very much fun to play.
Very nice graphics. Well implemented controls (even I normally prefer controller).
I got stuck a few times, but could get out after a while.
Very crazy chaotic unstable after some time passes ... cool. Feels the urge to save them here, while they are burning there and everywhere.
Yes, UNSTABLE in different ways.
Congratulations!
Soul Grinder
10. Oct 2021 · 07:52 UTC
Cool idea for a game with nice graphics. It took me a little while to figure out how to free the horses but once I did it was fun to play. Great work for a 1st jam also, hopefully more to come :)
🎤 Alex Chertilin
10. Oct 2021 · 09:32 UTC
@soul-grinder Thank you so much for the feedback
🎤 Alex Chertilin
10. Oct 2021 · 09:36 UTC
@itzemii Thank you for playing our game and saving horses
JPatchZ
10. Oct 2021 · 11:38 UTC
The ideia is very original and interesting. I love the pixel art, specially of the horses. It got me a while to understand what I was suppose to do in the game. Maybe a quick tutorial would be a good addition. Overall, it's really good!
🎤 Alex Chertilin
10. Oct 2021 · 13:18 UTC
@jpatchz Thank you for the feedback. We will provide decent tutorial in every our future project. So many players wrote us about this issue that we figured out that very clearly.
JPatchZ
10. Oct 2021 · 13:38 UTC
@alex-chertilin, that's really common, actually. When you're making a game or other thing, you test it so much you eventually gets to be really good at it. So eventually you think your game is too easy to play or understand that you increse the difficult of it. I have made it myself many times with previous projects. You guys made an amazing debut af the jam and I expect to see more of you at the next jam as well.
🎤 Alex Chertilin
10. Oct 2021 · 14:47 UTC
@jpatchz With all the inspiration which we get here our next goal is to try participate Game Off 2021
kumber
11. Oct 2021 · 00:21 UTC
Original take on the theme :D Well done! I liked the graphics and the music. On the game design side, there is actually no reason to go open all the stables, right? I found that if I opened two of them I could play the same and the game is less hectic :laughing:

Good job to all three of you! Keep up the good work.
LDJam user 238142
11. Oct 2021 · 10:17 UTC
I really enjoyed the art style on this. I only saved 3 horses (I feel terrible...). My team considered "Horse Heist" during our brainstorming, but we ended up going with a different idea, this was a fun take on that! Congrats!
Yorsh
11. Oct 2021 · 12:07 UTC
Interesting word play with the theme. It also go a nice mood, and the thunder effect is top notch. I think the stabilizer could shoot less bullets but be stronger with some sfx, to add a bit of *humph* to the shooting part.
chtimy
11. Oct 2021 · 19:26 UTC
Thank you for your game. So sad for the horses :'( I didn't save a lot of them, snif!
The graphics is good, especially the lighning and fire. Maybe you could add some shadows to give more deep to your 2D design ^^ and the gameplay is efficient :)
What is your best score?
Nice job!
javve
12. Oct 2021 · 14:58 UTC
Hahahaha so disturbing game 😂 But I like it. Nice graphics, mood and music! Pretty fun game play :D
zimny11
13. Oct 2021 · 11:15 UTC
Cool game. I like the crazy idea behind the game. I also really appreciate nice art style. Music is good too. Great job!

And congratulation on your first game in LD. I hope you will stay with us for long time :)
Harmadillo
13. Oct 2021 · 16:03 UTC
A fun and different take on unstable. Lots of burning horses and upbeat music.
xpoho
19. Oct 2021 · 04:46 UTC
Я спас 18 лошадей. Я молодец!