Celestial Survivors by candlesan

made by candlesan for Ludum Dare 51 (JAM)

Celestial Survivors takes inspiration from Vampire Survivors, Ikaruga and Geometry Wars

You are the captain of a ship caught in a space-time rift. You find yourself alternating between two different phases of reality every 10 seconds. You can be hit by enemies of either color, but your weapon systems can only damage enemies of the same color.

http://www.wyattcheng.com/games/CelestialSurvivors/

CONTROLS: * Mouse click to move. That's it! * (Post-Jam update) Added controller support at a friend's request.

I was originally trying to enter into the COMPO category but was not able to put the final spit and polish on so entering as a JAM. Entry follows all COMPO rules except it was done in 72 hours instead of 48. Post-Jam I also changed the initial tutorial from "Avoid enemies of the opposite color" to "Weapons can't hurt enemies of the opposite color" based on comment here.

Tools Used * Unity * Blender * Photoshop * Visual Studio * BFXR * LMMS * Sourcetree

Link	http://www.wyattcheng.com/games/CelestialSurvivors
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/celestial-survivors

Ratings

Overall	110^th	4.029⭐	37🧑‍⚖️
Fun	84^th	4.086⭐	37🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	397^th	3.544⭐	36🧑‍⚖️
Theme	63^th	4.3⭐	37🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	441^th	3.829⭐	37🧑‍⚖️
Audio	222^th	3.757⭐	37🧑‍⚖️
Humor	827^th	2.375⭐	30🧑‍⚖️
Mood	389^th	3.647⭐	36🧑‍⚖️
Given		38🗳️	50🗨️

Feedback

Ani

04. Oct 2022 · 12:27 UTC

Had fun playing a few runs of this! I was a little confused at first though - the tutorial saying to avoid enemies of the opposite colour makes it seem like same-colour ones won't hurt you (even though they do).

BenTheTwoOfUs

07. Oct 2022 · 03:58 UTC

I like the idea of your game combining 10 seconds, colors, and a level-up system.
If the level-up system is more sophisticated and balanced, it will be a really fun game.

benk

07. Oct 2022 · 13:23 UTC

Fun game, I especially appreciated the rhythm of the music matching the flow of the game like the lasers, and nice touches like the balls that you can attack becoming more solid. Generally it felt really polished and well thought out. The photon torpedoes were super badass, I kinda wish they happened more frequently.

Some other feedback: the laser hitbox on the balls seemed a bit off and I was punished for that a few times. Audio cues for the colour changing would be nice - having to look down on the screen or use my memory to see when a change was happening took me out of the moment. The upgrades might be even more fun if they were tied into a reward somehow, it felt random when I got them (and took me out of the flow).

puyo

08. Oct 2022 · 14:18 UTC

Feels great with the music lining up with the gameplay. Basically everything @benk said too. Would come back to this game with some tuning and polish. Well done!

zubspace

08. Oct 2022 · 22:17 UTC

Best game I've played this time! Great introduction, wonderful graphics and particle effects. And the core mechanic is a great interpretation of the theme!

But the best thing: Everything is perfectly balanced! From the movement speed to the enemy spawn rate and the abilities. There is no single best way to beat this game, which increases replayability considerably. It's also one of the rare games which gets better the longer you play.

And everything syncs to the beat, which is pure magic! I also love the minimalistic art style combined with bloom effect.

You really nailed everything in my opinion. Perfect Jam Game!

Pls play more games to get more ratings! You deserve it!

I've played for hours just to beat your highscore and had a lot of fun. Proof:

![CelestialSurvivors.png](///raw/037/22/z/52e38.png)

🎤 candlesan

08. Oct 2022 · 22:52 UTC

@ani Thanks for the early feedback. I made a post-jam note that I tweaked the text based on your recommendation to be less confusing. Thanks!

@benthetwoofus @benk @puyo Thanks for all the positive words. I will definitely consider making a post-jam version based on this!

@zubspace You are an absolute gem. Thank you liking my game there is no greater compliment than somebody who genuinely enjoys the game. Your enjoyment of the game is clear in your conquering of the #1 spot! What high praise.

confusedsoph

09. Oct 2022 · 00:08 UTC

Adding a leaderboard was a great touch

confusedsoph

09. Oct 2022 · 00:15 UTC

I wish that there were upgrade options to recover health. Every time I was hoping for some sort of health pack and never got one.

digital bacon

09. Oct 2022 · 10:13 UTC

Awesome! Loved the retro-ish graphics and the thumpy music, and the mechanics and upgrades were great. Fantastic work!

fumybulb

09. Oct 2022 · 11:15 UTC

Wow, amazing game!

We used similar principles to synchronize gameplay with background music.

The audio is excellent, the game balance is really well tuned!

~~Possible bug: it seemed to me that the frequency of photon torpedoes does not differ between levels 2/3 and 3/3.~~

Cayurr

09. Oct 2022 · 19:51 UTC

Really loved this take on the vampire survivors mechanics, couldn't just sit still, as you constantly had to move due to being locked to a colour. Awesome game, got to 880 :smile: Great job

MorePixels

10. Oct 2022 · 00:12 UTC

Super fun!! an awesome timekiller type of game. Very addicting, and great use of theme! Couldn't figure out what was triggering upgrades, was it time or enemies killed? Apart from that, amazing!

DaveCo

10. Oct 2022 · 00:18 UTC

Really cool, love the rhythm. Also like the global scoreboard, may have to borrow that idea in the future ;)

🎤 candlesan

10. Oct 2022 · 02:20 UTC

@confusedsoph Great suggestion to have upgrades that recover health. I wanted to make sure the game ended at some point but totally think think this is a great suggestion for post-jam

@digital-bacon @daveco Thanks for checking it out!

@fumybulb I think you crossed out the comment about the upgrades - you probably figured out that the diff between 2/3 and 3/3 is whether or not you fire rockets on 3 out of 4 bars or on every bar. Thanks for the audio compliments.

@cayurr Thanks! Anything that could come close to Vampire Survivors is a huge compliment since that game is so good.

@morepixels Upgrades are granted by points earned. If I work on this post-jam I'll probably try to visualize this to make it more obvious when an upgrade is coming. Thanks for the feedback!

hungryroy

10. Oct 2022 · 05:41 UTC

Very nice, simple controls, easy to understand, a very rhythmic feel. A great entry!

DesertMaw

10. Oct 2022 · 08:29 UTC

I like the way the shots are in sync with the beat and the simple design.
I guess I won't be able to get to that first spot...(@zubspace)

Inno

10. Oct 2022 · 11:20 UTC

Sorry but game loaded forever and eventually stopped loading at 90%. Please try to keep web versions small

FreeRunner

10. Oct 2022 · 13:47 UTC

Wow, really great game, so much arcade retro feel, but with the aesthetics of a modern game engine. Super coordinated, sound, animations movement, its almost like a dance. Very well executed. So far best game I played, hands down (sorry to everyone else) This is high-end quality.

Only grudge I have, when you are hit, the sound it makes is really annoying. Of course its ment to be but it triggers my old school "oh no its gonna crash" reflex somewhat :)

Everything runs super smoothly in the browser. Would definitely recommend using a mouse not a touchpad, my finger is weird sore from that haha.

PureImprov

10. Oct 2022 · 23:57 UTC

Good fun! Love that the music is synchronised with the sound effects (: I had a blast!

Caveman54

11. Oct 2022 · 03:35 UTC

Music and sound is really good. The mechanic works well and the game is very well polished. The level of polish is very impressive for a jam game.

SimplePotential

11. Oct 2022 · 17:22 UTC

Fantastic game, reminds me of Nova Drift a bit which I love. Well thought out and easy to understand mechanic. Nice job!

yetanother

12. Oct 2022 · 00:25 UTC

I love that kind of games! The music works well and the upgrade are nice.

Tuile

12. Oct 2022 · 11:33 UTC

I loved this! Played it for a while, and enjoyed the progression of levelling up my powers! Impressive work! Was a bit hard to tell some of the upgrades apart in the flavor text, but I think that in terms of gameplay it mattered very little. Thanks for making and sharing this!

chingle

13. Oct 2022 · 14:30 UTC

Simple but very fun! I like the little details like the enemies you can hit becomes solid and the aesthetic is minimal but very well polished. Amazing game for jam!

LDJam user 272447

15. Oct 2022 · 16:55 UTC

Simple to play and pick up but the upgrades definitely added some enjoyable depth here. The audio in particular was really well pitched to match the gameplay and visuals. Probably not a perfectly smooth difficulty curve, but it seemed remarkably well balanced for a jam game of this type. Had to keep playing until I got a half decent score so that's definitely a sign of a well made game. Nice work.

eptwalabha

17. Oct 2022 · 20:50 UTC

Very nice and polished game,
I really enjoyed playing your game, good job on your entry.

spudboy

18. Oct 2022 · 07:02 UTC

This may be my favorite one I've played this time around. Core gameplay is solid but it's everything being on-beat (or the offbeat :D) that makes this just viscerally satisfying to play. Amazing job!