Radar Rider by 3LSTMsInATrenchcoat

[raw]
made by 3LSTMsInATrenchcoat for Ludum Dare 51 (COMPO)

Radar Rider

(or, Radars of the Lost Dark)

radar_screenshot.png

Guide a spaceship to safety with the aid of a very slowly updating radar display. A game made in 43-ish hours as a submission to both Ludum Dare 51 (Compo) and the Fall 2022 Waterloo Game Jam. You can play it online here.

Featuring: - Eight levels, at least four of which are good - Pretty glow/bloom effect - Fireworks if you win

Instructions

Use WASD or arrow keys to move.

Try to get to the stargate. Don't touch the red spikey things. Pretty self-explanatory.

Theme

The Ludum Dare theme was "Every 10 seconds." The radar sweeps a full circle once every 10 seconds. Thus, each part of the screen is also visible once every 10 seconds.

The Waterloo Game Jam theme was "Far from Close." Radar maps nearby objects by measuring how far away they are (i.e. it distinguishes far objects from close ones).

Ratings

Overall 94th 3.775⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Fun 147th 3.563⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 16th 4.179⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Theme 43th 4.175⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 195th 3.575⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Audio 271th 3⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Humor 262th 2.483⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Mood 143th 3.526⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Given 16🗳️ 56🗨️

Feedback

SciDev
03. Oct 2022 · 01:36 UTC
This is a really cool concept, the introduction of the alien spaceship was so oddly terrifying too, where is it??

If you continue on this game, I'd recommend some quiet/ambient spacey music to fill out the silence between pings, or even just a quiet hum to make it more eerie.
Frib
03. Oct 2022 · 01:36 UTC
Neat little game! Managed to beat all levels first try, but some of the later ones were tense! Hoping for the best that you blindly reach the gate before the enemies reach you or you accidentally hit a mine.

At first I thought the player ship moved too slow, but as the levels progressed, it was the perfect speed to match the difficulty and tension.

Well done!
AnxiousGameDev
03. Oct 2022 · 08:47 UTC
Really good concept, with the radar moving around. I think when your ship disappears you lose a sense of control and I would have preferred if only the dangers were invisible - I think the game would have kept the same mechanics and tension. The sound effects were a bit jarring - perhaps some radar machine noises rather than the very electronic sci-fi bleeps would have been more fitting, with a bit of music.
TermiGht
03. Oct 2022 · 09:05 UTC
Nice game from a nice idea! The graphics are neat.
Hawke Games
03. Oct 2022 · 14:57 UTC
This is a really cool game! The concept is super unique and awesome, and it's really fun. The graphics look great and the audio is a bit minimal, but it still sounds good. While it could be frustrating trying to get to the goal while flying blind, the levels are short and easy enough it's not a problem. It's kinda funny because my biggest complaint with a lot of the games this jam is that ten seconds is too long Lol. I think that if the radar moved a bit faster, this game has a lot of potential for more complicated and difficult levels. But overall, an awesome game that I enjoyed a lot!
(also, I love the name Lol)
LDJam user 303716
03. Oct 2022 · 22:55 UTC
Cool Game!
Craig Snedeker
03. Oct 2022 · 23:53 UTC
Wow, what a unique concept. Super hard to master, which makes it fun! Love it
chromaphase
04. Oct 2022 · 00:21 UTC
I quite like it but because of the 10 seconds it's a bit slow! An idea would be to do it with a grid so we can try to calculate how to move between the radar swap ? Some ennemies would be good too ! Like in the board game battleship, Great atmosphere and the graphics and sounds are well done.

Edit: @anxiousgamedev idea is also quite nice. For now it doesn't reward risk !
BlackCat508
04. Oct 2022 · 03:14 UTC
great concept! It did feel like I was waiting around a lot for the radar to reveal my new location, maybe make the radar only reveal the harmful stuff?
LDJam user 257946
04. Oct 2022 · 03:55 UTC
At first I didn't understand why the ship moved so slowly, but after playing the first REAL level, I got it. This is quite an innovative concept, and I think it has quite a bit of potential. Very, very nicely done!
nardandas
04. Oct 2022 · 06:05 UTC
Super cool! I was a little hot-and-heavy with my maneuvering of the ship, as I said in stream because of the pressure from the enemies. I had a lot of fun with it. There's a lot of variety in playstyle you accommodate in this little game and that's really fun!
EOShadows
04. Oct 2022 · 06:28 UTC
Great game! I love the concept of the radar, it was very innovative. It could get tiring waiting for the radar to come all the way back around so I could see where I was, but overall it was really fun. Adding the enemies to the already interesting challenges of maneuvering around the stars just really added to the experience. I really liked this game, well done!
Georgy
04. Oct 2022 · 10:25 UTC
It's just an excellent game. I really liked her. And it was very beautiful.
Holy_Doggo01
04. Oct 2022 · 12:05 UTC
Really good gameplay, simple and charming graphics, game is challenging, just how I like!
ZungryWare
04. Oct 2022 · 16:21 UTC
Interesting concept. Each level (especially the ones with moving parts) required a bit of thinking for how to move and not die to some obstacle you couldn't see.

Though a lot of the time it just felt like playing blindfolded. The ten second sweep is really slow and a lot of the time, you can't figure out if enemies will reach you in time. (Especially since you never get to see enemies actually move for more than a split second.) I ended up beating the last level by just holding up and right for varying amounts of time until I hit the goal.

The controls felt really clean. Well, they felt clean in the tutorial level where I could actually see myself moving. Overall, interesting concept, but probably a good thing it doesn't go on for too long. Nice work!
Chocolat-Endive
04. Oct 2022 · 17:01 UTC
Wow it's a great entry! I had a lot of fun playing all the levels, and trying to half blindly sneak between the various threats. The game sets both a calm and oppressive mood, it's very effective. I would love to play more levels!
Rowdy3
04. Oct 2022 · 18:16 UTC
I like the idea a lot and the execution was flawless, great job!
ynthamy
05. Oct 2022 · 01:41 UTC
Ooh, this is such an awesome concept! Great interpretation of the theme. Had an amazing "oh shit" moment where it turns into a tense horror game, haha. Cool that the thing trying to kill me was actually helping me orient myself. Really nice minimal visuals that would fit in an 80s arcade. Really, my only negative comment is the sound effect for mines showing up; I turned my volume way down on the more dense levels, heh.
If you keep working on it, I'd consider adding little visual effects to radar pings, giving the pings a softer sound effect, and putting in a simple ambient soundtrack. Gameplay-wise (and outside of the 10-second theme), I can imagine levels with faster or slower radar and longer or shorter pings to vary the pacing. This seriously has a lot of potential, and you should be proud.
Matt Green
05. Oct 2022 · 19:26 UTC
I was hooked. I ended up just counting my steps and managed to do alright until the target started moving haha!

I agree with some other comments, I'd love a subtle music track. The beeping got aggressive after a while, especially when there were more stars.


The graphics were great and really set the tone. Movement was smooth. Solid entry!
Mika314
06. Oct 2022 · 05:26 UTC
I little fun game. Not stream friendly, because you cannot see too much on the screen. Everything what is happening is in the mind of the player. :) I had fun, though. I found the way to time in the game with mississippis. :)
waffleworksgames
06. Oct 2022 · 19:15 UTC
Neat idea, and a really cool take on the theme! I think this idea might work even better if the radar only revealed the hazards and the player sprite was visible the entire time, or at least a couple seconds- it sometimes felt like I spent a bit too much time waiting for the radar to reveal me otherwise. Nice work!
José Bonilla
08. Oct 2022 · 02:09 UTC
Really enjoyed this game. Tension and mood are fantastic. Hated the squid! Finally made it alive:![image_2022-10-07_210913043.png](///raw/371/a2/z/52d1e.png). Fantastic little game, congratulations on submitting this one!
tetrapteryx
08. Oct 2022 · 17:13 UTC
I wish I'd been paying more attention in the tutorial level to get a feel for how fast the ship moves. By the time I realized I needed to know that, it was too late! The other ship showing up felt legitimately scary. Great job creating an effective survival horror vibe with minimalistic sound/visuals!
LDJam user 306215
09. Oct 2022 · 07:09 UTC
Definitely a very unique concept and a very tough game for sure. Had me running into a lot of mines and a lot of deaths and a lot of just press and pray I guess. Can't really spray and pray so that works.

Though at times it's definitely a little crazy difficult I'd say, so some sort of mix up on the radar might help. Possibly multiple smaller radars (a suggestion from hittaus) or maybe, and this is just me, but a echo location sort of thing where you can try and find some stuff on the map just barely, maybe circles or zones around them to give you an idea of what you're dealing with, or even if it was just something that shows the general zone that the ship is in. Not the environment, but just the ship.

That would just make it a little easier to pilot, since a lot of the game was sort a just as I said, praying that I went the right direction. But making it so you can always see the ship would definitely kinda invalidate a lot so not really helpful. But maybe on a timer or a cooldown having the ability to do a short range sonar to get a slight idea of where you are.

Heck, even if it just showed stuff around the player and you have to guess which way you're facing. That way it still has the difficulty of you could run into the enemies, BUT it does give some sort of location as to where you are. That way letting you at least know distances, if not direction.

Though another way to do it would maybe be some sort of change in the enemies on the radar based off distance. Some sort of, light up or something else like they're attacking for example. That way there's a indication of your location as well as their distance to you letting you figure out where you are based off of that.


Overall though a very difficult and very interesting, I guess puzzle game. A nice setup and a very interesting execution that definitely adds some interesting difficulty. It takes very good advantage of the limited information it gives.
ColeSlaughter
17. Oct 2022 · 19:26 UTC
https://youtu.be/Yp7YCi13v_k?t=9011

Thanks for submitting your game to stream!

I think this is my official favorite sleeper hit. I loved the way you utilized this concept, and all of the different ways that you iterated on the formula (adding enemies, decoy player characters, moving mines, etc.) was super cool and fun to figure out. Awesome job here!