We All Die by ollie_d

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

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DOWNLOAD OR USE FIREFOX. CHROME/CHROMIUM GLITCHES

Compo submission for Ludum Dare 50.

Use lasers to prevent world-ending asteroids from smashing into your planet and killing all of its inhabitants... for as long as you can...

Press the left mouse button to fire the laser. You can drag your mouse across the screen to slice multiple asteroids. Select different lasers using the 1, 2, 3, and 4 keys. Once a laser is gone, it will not come back. Every asteroid is a planet killer, so it's all over once one hits. Also if you don't like your planet's color scheme, just die and try again, they're randomly determined ;)

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A clip from my high score run -- good luck beating it ;)

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Tools Used: - Godot - Aseprite - Ableton - sfxr - Pixel FX Designer

Ratings

Overall 184th 3.662⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Fun 159th 3.662⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 193th 3.574⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Theme 68th 4.132⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 250th 3.588⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Audio 124th 3.662⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Humor 229th 3.097⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Mood 305th 3.25⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Given 36🗳️ 51🗨️

Feedback

sirJupitron
04. Apr 2022 · 11:09 UTC
Hi!
Amazing, really cool arcade game!
Music is nice, art and effects were perfect.
Mood is well set.
Thanks a lot, really enjoyed this one.
My score: 57
benbennett
05. Apr 2022 · 07:40 UTC
I enjoyed this one! My high score was 172. Once I read the instructions and realized you could sweep the laser it became a lot easier. I think the music could have been mixed a little quieter, seemed really loud compared to the sound effects. I played in Chrome and didn't run into any issues btw
🎤 ollie_d
05. Apr 2022 · 07:46 UTC
@benbennett thanks for the feedback! I added the sfx in the last hour before submission to give it a little more feedback and I didn't want them to mess with the music. Also glad you didn't run into problems on Chrome. The issue I've found is that a double click is sometimes needed to fire the laser.
candlesan
05. Apr 2022 · 08:34 UTC
This is a great concept! It totally embraces the theme with the different satellites that you have to control. It totally gave me this sense that all the satellites had to work together to cover each other. Once you lost ONE satellite, it all went downhill fast from there.
LDJam user 280565
05. Apr 2022 · 15:41 UTC
It's fun to sweep the laser around to clean up, I got 384. Cool game!
N.O. Games
05. Apr 2022 · 18:16 UTC
Really cool game. I just love the feeling of destroying those pesky asteroids and also 10/10 for the stats at the end. Just a great game!
rasblo
05. Apr 2022 · 18:22 UTC
Cool idea and well implemented! At first I tried to angle my shots to get more than one, then I discovered sweeping the laser, real eye-opener.. Felt great, nice graphics and dig the music, solid entry :)
Cedric86
05. Apr 2022 · 19:57 UTC
This is really well done and a cool arcade game idea. Great Job!
Itskdog
05. Apr 2022 · 23:50 UTC
Not too bad. You had to time it just right to destroy the asteroids.
damnscout
06. Apr 2022 · 01:22 UTC
I like the concept. I'm not crazy about the control scheme, but I can appreciate that's part of the design. I like that not every asteroid is aiming at the planet means you have to be selective about what you are going to shoot.
Agyrzstar
06. Apr 2022 · 01:58 UTC
This was an interesting mechanic. I had to think about using the right lasers at the right time. Well done on the art and music too!
🎤 ollie_d
06. Apr 2022 · 02:01 UTC
@damnscout I appreciate the feedback. I think other control schemes could've worked better, but using the mouse for aiming was quick and easy to implement and in general I like mouse control.

@agyrzstar Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the feedback :)
Aethona
06. Apr 2022 · 03:43 UTC
Overall I think this is a pretty cool and unique concept, but as mentioned already I think the control scheme is kind of frustrating, which makes it more challenging than I would have liked for a game jam game. The concept and implementation of the theme is good enough to look past some of the flaws and I think this concept has some pretty good potential.
Jungle
06. Apr 2022 · 03:44 UTC
came from jitspoe stream. Very nice game. I really like this kind of game. If you have some time to keep project on, I think it can be improved with more content (like different types of lasers/weapons, upgrades, shield generators, etc). Congratulations.
jitspoe
06. Apr 2022 · 03:51 UTC
Nice entry! I like the mechanic of swapping between different lasers. Had fun playing it on stream! Groovy music, too.
LDJam user 280755
06. Apr 2022 · 03:55 UTC
Cool graphics and concept! I like a couple of decisions you made: that the asteroids can hit the lasers too, and that not *all* the asteroids are going to run into something, so you have to decide which ones to prioritize.
velvetlobster
06. Apr 2022 · 04:26 UTC
my favorite soundtrack, a bit sad, a bit moody, a bit cute ... so simple and delicate, I just love this
PhoenixofForce
06. Apr 2022 · 12:59 UTC
The music and graphics are great, the game is fun. Great job
tigerj
06. Apr 2022 · 14:08 UTC
After I learned I could shoot through the planet I did much better! I like the concept and changing lasers with the number keys. Cool idea! https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1447965941?t=00h26m59s
failuer
06. Apr 2022 · 17:07 UTC
Yooo that was cooool! Interesting ideas for what looks like a simple arcade game. Would love to see this developed further. Bonus points for the dark humor on the final screen! ;)

Great job, thanks for creating!
stamestratagem
06. Apr 2022 · 18:20 UTC
Nice idea, a little difficult to control. The itch.io background merges with the game screen area and I kept dragging my mouse out of the game window.
LDJam user 139668
06. Apr 2022 · 18:50 UTC
Nice game you have there! For more interesting gameplay I would make lasers damage other satellites or even Earth, heh!
Yeti Kid
06. Apr 2022 · 19:32 UTC
Really nice game! Great idea, fun audio and graphics! Took me a while to get used to switching the lasers but great job! You should be proud!
🎤 ollie_d
06. Apr 2022 · 19:35 UTC
@stamestratagem I appreciate the feedback -- I changed the background image and BG2 color on itch to make this less of a problem for future players
theslate
06. Apr 2022 · 20:21 UTC
The friends we make along the way are inevitable. :) Good work! I only wish you could see a little further out.
pkenney
07. Apr 2022 · 01:20 UTC
Sweeping the laser effectively was a very cool moment, and the cooldown combined with the relatively short vision distance (thus planning horizon) made it satisfyingly risky to pull the trigger. Your design really delivered on the "pick your moment and make it count" feeling very well.

Critique-wise I would say two things: first I wished there was fullscreen. I played on windows and alt-enter didn't fullscreen. I lost control of about five runs when I swept my laser outside the window and clicked on another program that then popped in front, or accidentally moved/resized the game. Second, I did not find the arrangement of satellites vs buttons on the keyboard to be intuitive. Nothing about "3" says "down-left" to me. This was a constant source of minor brain-friction while playing and I selected the incorrect satellite many, many, many times. If that was your intended player experience - slight frictiony confusion - then it worked! That's a valid thing if you meant to do it. But I would have felt more powerful with a square, for example WESD maybe. Or better yet, have WASD and the satellites are up/down/left/right of the planet, and then you instantly tap into my existing muscle memory, if that layout works for the design. Another idea would be that right-click would select the nearest sat, so I could gesture to switch, and play only with the mouse.

I don't mean that to sound overly negative! I definitely enjoyed playing. The music was great, and the crunchy sound effects were nice. The graphics were good-looking and more importantly very clear about state, I certainly appreciated the glow and turning of the currently-selected satellite, and the nice clear red color when they were disabled. The randomly-generated planets were also a nice touch.

Good entry!
🎤 ollie_d
11. Apr 2022 · 08:16 UTC
@pkenney Thanks for all of the feedback!

I'm sorry you weren't able to fullscreen on the Windows build -- I'm able to by just clicking "Maximize" on the window itself. I didn't even know alt+enter was a common fullscreen bind, I've only ever clicked to maximize or used F11 or Win+Up.

Regarding the key/satellite mapping, I totally understand this criticism. I actually considered having them be in an Up/Down/Left/Right orientation to make the key mapping more intuitive and even considered using a circular playing window to make sure none of the lasers had an advantage, but ultimately decided to stick with the first scheme I implemented. I was considering doing a pure mouse implementation since I'll potentially port this to mobile where it'll need to work with just touch/dragging. I also wanted to have an upgrade system with different types of satellites that could be selected via clicking, but scrapped that idea to hang out with some friends Sunday night haha.

Genuinely appreciate the comments and I didn't take them negatively at all -- criticism is much appreciated.
Jackaljk
11. Apr 2022 · 20:35 UTC
Really fun and well made! It's really sad to lose one of the lasers, they're like a family. Also as soon as you do you lose too much fire rate to keep up. If you come up with interesting upgrades and figure out a control scheme that works on mobile this might be a hit, nice job!