SferePhall by auxiliarymoose

[raw]
made by auxiliarymoose for Ludum Dare 50 (COMPO)

Delay the Sfere's inevitable Phall into the abyss as long as possible!

With explosives, anti-gravity fields, damping zones, barriers, and the ability to slow time at your disposal, you can drag'n'drop a range of obstacles that will slow the Sfere down.

That is, as long as you keep your spending within $10.00, not like the pandemic helped the Sfere Phalling Prevention Department's budget.

There's no way to get the ball stuck... or is there? You'll have to play to find out!

Controls:

  • Drag'n'drop the items out from your tray at the bottom of the screen.
  • Rotate with right mouse button.
  • Escape to pause.
  • Click "Help!" button for more.

Screenshot from 2022-04-03 18-25-53.png

Tools

Engine: Godot 3.4.4

Textures: photographed using Nokia 6.1, edited in GIMP

Music: composed in MuseScore 3 with its default sound font

Sound effects: recorded with Nokia 6.1 (things around the house + playing trumpet), edited in Audacity

Menu font: Patrick Hand by Patrick Wagesreiter via Google Fonts

3D models: Blender & Godot CSG

Ratings

Overall 260th 3.524⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 368th 3.214⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 81th 3.881⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 120th 4⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 129th 3.929⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Audio 70th 3.842⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 183th 3.25⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 291th 3.275⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 12🗳️ 15🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 0
04. Apr 2022 · 02:24 UTC
Nice concept, the Interface and how to use the various abilities was self explanatory so +1 to that. The cameras was sometimes blocked by objects making it impossible to see. I liked the art-style
poopgames
04. Apr 2022 · 05:46 UTC
You can right click and move the mouse to turn the camera XD
AlexDaCxt
04. Apr 2022 · 05:51 UTC
This game was a ton of fun! I managed to keep it going for 2 and a half minutes. I enjoyed how many different paths there were
ubershmekel
04. Apr 2022 · 06:00 UTC
Took me a while to figure out that I need to drag the items onto the map. It was a bit hard to figure out what to do. I kind of wish that I could wreak more havoc. Why just $10? Still, it was a pretty cool concept. Thank you for the game.
🎤 auxiliarymoose
04. Apr 2022 · 06:00 UTC
@Anonymous yeah I wish I implemented better camera controls or proximity ghosting for platforms, argh :cry:

@poopgames glad you found that out! I should have def. made clearer instructions

@alexdacxt glad to hear you enjoyed it!
JCMonkey
04. Apr 2022 · 06:02 UTC
well there is really only one thing that i would add to this game, and its some kind of visual indicator of where the ball is when it dissapears under the obstacles.
🎤 auxiliarymoose
04. Apr 2022 · 06:02 UTC
@ubershmekel thanks for the feedback! It seems like a common thread between a few people I've showed this to is the drag'n'drop not being clear. I will work on that in the future. Yeah I'm regretting the $10.00 limit now ughh. Thanks for the kind words in any case!
🎤 auxiliarymoose
04. Apr 2022 · 06:03 UTC
@jcmonkey great idea! I'll have to add it once the competition is over
Billnotic
04. Apr 2022 · 06:08 UTC
Didn't quite understand what to do at first, but I retried several times and eventually got it. Fun concept, although in practice it felt a little underwhelming since you only have 10 bucks to last an entire slow-moving marble maze.

I quite liked the music, if the game was a little faster and more hectic, it would fit perfectly.

Good entry!
🎤 auxiliarymoose
04. Apr 2022 · 06:14 UTC
Thanks for the useful feedback and for playing the game @Billnotic! Yes, the pacing is a bit off.
William Corrin
04. Apr 2022 · 07:56 UTC
This felt like a very complete entry. I love the concept of a marble destined to fall to its ground, with the gameplay mechanics of various abilities to try and stop it.

I will say though, at first the controls were a little awkward - I was thinking the UI buttons were "click to select, click to place" but they acted more of a drag-and-drop.

Not a huge deal, as you play and you learn as you go.

Really love the concept, fits the theme well, has some nice simplistic graphics. Really solid entry overall!
sirikan
05. Apr 2022 · 05:07 UTC
Great take on the theme. Took me a little while to work out the controls but once I did was a lot of fun.
🎤 auxiliarymoose
05. Apr 2022 · 08:27 UTC
@william-corrin thanks for the feedback and kind words! That reminds me... I heard some FPS game (maybe it was metroid??) had a tutorial where it asks you to look up/down/left/right and automatically selects inverted controls based on which way you push the controller stick. Something like that for drag'n'drop versus click to place would probably work out pretty well for this! Or maybe just have both behaviors work by default. Actually, having both work is probably better lol.

@sirikan thank you for playing and glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, I think the controls need better explanation for sure
zantze
05. Apr 2022 · 20:51 UTC
Got 2:30 on my best run. Very fun and good take on the theme! Good job!
PoshDan
06. Apr 2022 · 06:17 UTC
Creative use of the theme! It's oozing personality too, all things considered this is an impressive compo game.
Took me a minute to figure out how the placements work (the protective sphere drew my attention thinking it was the place I could put things), and I wish the pricing was labelled. The level gets in the way a little bit at times, but these are all minor things.
Great job!
CrishNate
06. Apr 2022 · 09:42 UTC
Liked the sounds of trumpet :)

Firstly I thought buttons was click 'n' place, but it was actually drag 'n' drop, and for me it is fitting better that what I was thought originaly, but you need to make it clearer or add both methods of placing.

One big problem for me is the camera, sometimes it is very hard to see where the ball is. And I need to constantly rotate my camera to keep contact with the ball. Also it is hard to feel the depth for the level, so when I use the explosion it is hard to predict in which direction it would be thrown
OadT
07. Apr 2022 · 09:03 UTC
Cute game, I liked the different sounds! As already mentioned before I also think the camera is a bit of a problem, but still a fun entry
Hawke Games
12. Apr 2022 · 02:14 UTC
Really interesting concept, it really felt inevitable. The only problem I had was that the gameplay ended up being really slow just waiting for the ball to go through the whole thing. But the graphics look good and the audio style is cool. The map is also really well made.
eLeDe
12. Apr 2022 · 14:16 UTC
Some more credit would improve the fun because when you reach 0 there is no more to do. The music and sound is excellent. Good job!
Lazzor
12. Apr 2022 · 16:32 UTC
Great job all around! Gameplay, graphics and sound work together nicely and the style keeps coherent and minimalistic! Also, nice touch in the main menu, for the buttons to wiggle with the music :D
gbgames
20. Apr 2022 · 18:36 UTC
I love the fun music. It feels zany and fits the game.

It took me some time to figure out the interface in that I thought I needed to apply the tools to the sphere that showed up around the ball. Once I realized it was the area I could NOT place the tools, everything phell into place.

I sometimes fought with the camera, especially in the beginning when there were a lot of overlapping pieces.

I did manage to get the ball stuck on my second playthrough. Do I get bonus points? B-)

![Screenshot from 2022-04-20 13-19-23.png](///raw/d23/b2/z/4e3d2.png)
![Screenshot from 2022-04-20 13-27-56.png](///raw/d23/b2/z/4e3d7.png)