{"author_link":"\/users\/csimpson","author_name":"csimpson","author_uid":1336728,"comments":[{"id":937661,"author_name":"Sean Spiggle","author_uid":"sean-spiggle","epoch":1682959037,"text":"Very fun game, even though I wasn't able to land successfully after 5 attempts. I kept wanting to try again!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":937727,"author_name":"Calcopod","author_uid":"calcopod","epoch":1682959854,"text":"I really liked it, a fun and original idea, from what I've seen!\n\nAll assets were nice, but the music and SFX really shined. If there were more levels I would play them all just to hear the main theme song.\n\nThe controls took a bit to adjust to, but weren't bad at all, and after a few runs I can safely say I am a master at piloting the rover!\n\nGreat entry and even more so for a first jam! I too had this as my first jam. Whatever the result, we both can only go up from here!","format":"md","likes":4,"spam":"N"},{"id":937728,"author_name":"seurimas","author_uid":"seurimas","epoch":1682959858,"text":"It took me a lot of tries, but I landed just a few meters from the target! Very challenging, but a nice little game nonetheless. Good work!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":943493,"author_name":"JM Studio","author_uid":"jm-studio","epoch":1683015213,"text":"Very challenging game that I can say that I could finish ! And actually 2 times because I felt my first success i landed the rover and the sky crane at the same time, so I had to rewin correctly\n\n![finish.png](\/\/\/raw\/da9\/32\/z\/5a7bb.png)\n\nCongratulation for your first jam !","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":943952,"author_name":"Sodoj","author_uid":"sodoj","epoch":1683019330,"text":"This was a deceptively hard game! However, the controls were intuitive so it wasn't frustrating at all! I even managed to land the cargo multiple times with each one being different. Well done!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":943953,"author_name":"peterfiftyfour","author_uid":"peterfiftyfour","epoch":1683019341,"text":"Very tricky but eventually succeeded! These lunar lander style games are always simple and fun nice job!","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":944112,"author_name":"farfadet46","author_uid":"farfadet46","epoch":1683020653,"text":"A pleasing game, i'm not into this type of game (too much stress !)\nthanks","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":950798,"author_name":"Adam Gallina","author_uid":"adam-gallina","epoch":1683057745,"text":"Really nice submission! Definitely challenging but left me wanting to retry over and over","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":952942,"author_name":"Pincushion","author_uid":"pincushion","epoch":1683070955,"text":"Nicely balanced. Good crontrols and direction. It took some practice, but it wasn't frustrating to try over and over. Well done. \n\n![red-planet.PNG](\/\/\/raw\/c44\/32\/z\/5ae1f.png)","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":953024,"author_name":"Ismael Rodriguez","author_uid":"ismael-rodriguez","epoch":1683071781,"text":"Cool game. I probably broke a million drones.","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":956468,"author_name":"csimpson","author_uid":"csimpson","epoch":1683117583,"text":"@sean-spiggle thanks for the kind words! My goal was to have players be able to land after several attempts. Once you get the hang of it, it then turns into a game of landing as close to the target as possible. I knew going in that the game would be harder than I think as a developer, but I guess I still feel victim. I'm glad that at least it's not frustrating to try again.\n\n@calcopod it makes me very happy to hear that you like the audio! I have never written music or sound effects before, so that was as much of a learning experience for me as the rest of the game. I was surprised to read that this was also your first jam. Your game is one of my favorites that I have played.\n\n@seurimas I'm glad you like it! \n\n@jm-studio Oops, it is not supposed to be possible to land with the rover retracted like that. The win condition requires both the rover and the sky crane to be in contact with the ground. Looks like I have some adjustments to make! \n\n@sodoj It's definitely more challenging than I meant it to be, but maybe that's a good thing. I made some adjustments throughout the development process to make it less frustrating for me to debug again and again, so I guess that translates into a less frustrating experience for the player too.\n\n@peterfiftyfour lunar lander was my inspiration! I initially had the same art style, but couldn't make it look good, so I finally went with the only type of illustration I have any experience with. Glad you enjoyed it!","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":956634,"author_name":"csimpson","author_uid":"csimpson","epoch":1683119583,"text":"@farfadet46 fair enough haha. I'm glad you found it pleasing\n\n@adam-gallina I definitely underestimated the difficulty. Glad it's fun to try again though!\n\n@pincushion Happy to hear! (You're not supposed to be able to land that way btw!)\n\n@ismael-rodriguez I'm glad you like it! I think I bankrupted NASA with all of my crashes!","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":961000,"author_name":"Wadlo","author_uid":"wadlo","epoch":1683164983,"text":"Easy to learn, tricky to beat. Took me about 20 tries. Great game. Plus you used Godot, so 10\/10 in my books. Great submission!","format":"md","likes":1,"spam":"N"},{"id":967527,"author_name":"Sam Minh","author_uid":"sam-minh","epoch":1683293806,"text":"This is a well done game. I am personally not good at these but I do like them.\nI think you can improve the controls by making the same slightly slower and have some momentum in your controls instead of instantly rotating at max speed. ","format":"md","likes":1,"spam":"N"},{"id":970940,"author_name":"Rocktavious","author_uid":"rocktavious","epoch":1683386369,"text":"This is one of those games thats perfect for a game jam.  Simple controls but hard to master and wasn't frustrating to try and try and try again.  Great Work!  I almost got it landed but on my best try I ran out of fuel right at the end and landed too hard :( \n\nI could see the engine gas feeling better \/ easier to use on a joystick vs the keyboard.  Also it would be nice if the sky crane started with the gas on right way at least 1\/4 or 1\/2 of the full power.","format":"md","likes":1,"spam":"N"},{"id":971558,"author_name":"philipprapp95","author_uid":"philipprapp95","epoch":1683404309,"text":"Wow, thats a hard one, really have to admin it took me forever :D But very nice idea, I loved the graphics :)","format":"md","likes":1,"spam":"N"},{"id":971849,"author_name":"T C","author_uid":"t-c","epoch":1683412819,"text":"Took me a handful of tries, but I got it detached and got a 0m distance.  Had to play again and drop off target to make sure it was displaying correctly :laughing: Good work, especially for a first time game jam!  Momentum based physics games are always tricky for players, this one was done quite well though.  Good work!","format":"md","likes":1,"spam":"N"},{"id":973052,"author_name":"Lex","author_uid":"lex","epoch":1683472508,"text":"I struggled a bit with the controller, but I think that's part of the challenge. After a few tries I was able to land properly and missed the target by just 2m :)\n\nCongratulations, good game!","format":"md","likes":1,"spam":"N"}],"format":"md","images":["ld53\/wayback-placeholder.png"],"links":[{"url":"https:\/\/csimpson88.itch.io\/red-planet-rendezvous","text":"HTML5 (web)"},{"url":"https:\/\/github.com\/csimpson88\/red-planet-rendezvous","text":"Source Code"}],"metadata":{"g_key":"87863","g_author":"1336728","g_event":"LD53","g_eventkey":"118","g_subevent":"JAM","g_urlkey":"407393","g_title":"Red Planet Rendezvous","g_status":"WAYBACK","g_place":"715","g_commentcount":"18","g_site2_node_id":"337254","g_hide":"N","g_has_icon":"Y","g_rqueue":"0","g_random":"0"},"nds":{"n_key":"337254","n_urlkey":"407393","n_parent":"332127","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/53\/red-planet-rendezvous","n_slug":"red-planet-rendezvous","n_type":"item","n_subtype":"game","n_subsubtype":"jam","n_author":"336728","n_created":"1682090114","n_modified":"1778922254","n_version":"1118793","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD53","removed_author":false},"_superparent":9,"_trust":1,"author":336728,"body":"![game_screenshot.png](\/\/\/raw\/853\/25\/z\/58ae6.png)\n\n# Overview\nLand a rover on Mars! Try to place the rover as close to the target as possible, but watch your fuel level and don't land too hard. The scientists hate it when their equipment breaks.\n\n# How to play\n## Controls\n* Up\/down arrow keys: increase\/decrease thrust\n* Left\/right arrow keys: rotate the sky crane left\/right\n* Space bar: progresses through states (retracted, lowered, detached)\n\n## Suggested Strategy\n1. Descend and maneuver toward the target (follow the green arrow)\n2. Lower the rover (press space)\n3. Set the rover on the target and detach (press space again)\n4. Maneuver and land the sky crane anywhere on the ground\n\n# Tools used:\n* Game Engine: Godot 4.0.1\n* Art: Inkscape\n* Sound Effects: Bfxr\n* Music: BeepBox\n* Coffee: Costco\n\nThis is my first game jam, and my first released game. I had a great time making this and I am looking forward to receiving feedback!","comments":18,"comments-timestamp":"2023-05-07T15:15:08Z","created":"2023-04-21T15:15:14Z","files":[{"author":336728,"id":14003,"name":"$$embed-14003.zip","node":337254,"size":9933985,"status":64,"tag":0,"timestamp":"2023-05-01T08:03:09Z"}],"files-timestamp":"2023-05-01T08:03:09Z","grade":{"grade-01":28,"grade-02":28,"grade-03":28,"grade-04":28,"grade-05":28,"grade-06":26,"grade-07":25,"grade-08":27},"id":337254,"love":0,"magic":{"cool":98.319208025018,"feedback":36,"given":25.375,"grade":27.25,"grade-01-average":3.462,"grade-01-result":715,"grade-02-average":3.404,"grade-02-result":612,"grade-03-average":3.385,"grade-03-result":553,"grade-04-average":4.077,"grade-04-result":420,"grade-05-average":3.269,"grade-05-result":830,"grade-06-average":3.271,"grade-06-result":536,"grade-07-average":2.543,"grade-07-result":897,"grade-08-average":3.24,"grade-08-result":848,"smart":5.3206388833163},"meta":{"allow-anonymous-comments":"1","author":[336728],"cover":"\/\/\/content\/853\/25\/z\/58a98.jpg","link-01":"https:\/\/csimpson88.itch.io\/red-planet-rendezvous","link-01-name":"HTML5 (web)","link-01-tag":[42336],"link-02":"https:\/\/github.com\/csimpson88\/red-planet-rendezvous","link-02-name":"Source Code","link-02-tag":[42332]},"meta-timestamp":"2026-05-16T09:04:14Z","modified":"2026-05-16T09:04:14Z","name":"Red Planet Rendezvous","node-timestamp":"2023-05-01T08:11:07Z","parent":332127,"parents":[1,5,9,332127],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/53\/red-planet-rendezvous","published":"2023-05-01T07:15:45Z","scope":"public","slug":"red-planet-rendezvous","subsubtype":"jam","subtype":"game","type":"item","version":1118793},"text":"![game_screenshot.png](\/\/\/raw\/853\/25\/z\/58ae6.png)\n\n# Overview\nLand a rover on Mars! Try to place the rover as close to the target as possible, but watch your fuel level and don't land too hard. The scientists hate it when their equipment breaks.\n\n# How to play\n## Controls\n* Up\/down arrow keys: increase\/decrease thrust\n* Left\/right arrow keys: rotate the sky crane left\/right\n* Space bar: progresses through states (retracted, lowered, detached)\n\n## Suggested Strategy\n1. Descend and maneuver toward the target (follow the green arrow)\n2. Lower the rover (press space)\n3. Set the rover on the target and detach (press space again)\n4. Maneuver and land the sky crane anywhere on the ground\n\n# Tools used:\n* Game Engine: Godot 4.0.1\n* Art: Inkscape\n* Sound Effects: Bfxr\n* Music: BeepBox\n* Coffee: Costco\n\nThis is my first game jam, and my first released game. I had a great time making this and I am looking forward to receiving feedback!","title":"Red Planet Rendezvous","wayback_recovered":true,"wayback_source":{"capture":{"original":"https:\/\/api-jam.ludumdare.com\/vx\/node2\/get\/337001+337002+337003+337004+337005+337006+337007+337008+337009+337010+337011+337012+337013+337014+337015+337016+337017+337018+337019+337020+337021+337022+337023+337024+337025+337026+337027+337028+337029+337030+337031+337032+337033+337034+337035+337036+337037+337038+337039+337040+337041+337042+337043+337044+337045+337046+337047+337048+337049+337050+337051+337052+337053+337054+337055+337056+337057+337058+337059+337060+337061+337062+337063+337064+337065+337066+337067+337068+337069+337070+337071+337072+337073+337074+337075+337076+337077+337078+337079+337080+337081+337082+337083+337084+337085+337086+337087+337088+337089+337090+337091+337092+337093+337094+337095+337096+337097+337098+337099+337100+337101+337102+337103+337104+337105+337106+337107+337108+337109+337110+337111+337112+337113+337114+337115+337116+337117+337118+337119+337120+337121+337122+337123+337124+337125+337126+337127+337128+337129+337130+337131+337132+337133+337134+337135+337136+337137+337138+337139+337140+337141+337142+337143+337144+337145+337146+337147+337148+337149+337150+337151+337152+337153+337154+337155+337156+337157+337158+337159+337160+337161+337162+337163+337164+337165+337166+337167+337168+337169+337170+337171+337172+337173+337174+337175+337176+337177+337178+337179+337180+337181+337182+337183+337184+337185+337186+337187+337188+337189+337190+337191+337192+337193+337194+337195+337196+337197+337198+337199+337200+337201+337202+337203+337204+337205+337206+337207+337208+337209+337210+337211+337212+337213+337214+337215+337216+337217+337218+337219+337220+337221+337222+337223+337224+337225+337226+337227+337228+337229+337230+337231+337232+337233+337234+337235+337236+337237+337238+337239+337240+337241+337242+337243+337244+337245+337246+337247+337248+337249+337250+337251+337252+337253+337254+337255+337256+337257+337258+337259+337260+337261+337262+337263+337264+337265+337266+337267+337268+337269+337270+337271+337272+337273+337274+337275+337276+337277+337278+337279+337280+337281+337282+337283+337284+337285+337286+337287+337288+337289+337290+337291+337292+337293+337294+337295+337296+337297+337298+337299+337300+337301+337302+337303+337304+337305+337306+337307+337308+337309+337310+337311+337312+337313+337314+337315+337316+337317+337318+337319+337320+337321+337322+337323+337324+337325+337326+337327+337328+337329+337330+337331+337332+337333+337334+337335+337336+337337+337338+337339+337340+337341+337342+337343+337344+337345+337346+337347+337348+337349+337350+337351+337352+337353+337354+337355+337356+337357+337358+337359+337360+337361+337362+337363+337364+337365+337366+337367+337368+337369+337370+337371+337372+337373+337374+337375+337376+337377+337378+337379+337380+337381+337382+337383+337384+337385+337386+337387+337388+337389+337390+337391+337392+337393+337394+337395+337396+337397+337398+337399+337400+337401+337402+337403+337404+337405+337406+337407+337408+337409+337410+337411+337412+337413+337414+337415+337416+337417+337418+337419+337420+337421+337422+337423+337424+337425+337426+337427+337428+337429+337430+337431+337432+337433+337434+337435+337436+337437+337438+337439+337440+337441+337442+337443+337444+337445+337446+337447+337448+337449+337450+337451+337452+337453+337454+337455+337456+337457+337458+337459+337460+337461+337462+337463+337464+337465+337466+337467+337468+337469+337470+337471+337472+337473+337474+337475+337476+337477+337478+337479+337480+337481+337482+337483+337484+337485+337486+337487+337488+337489+337490+337491+337492+337493+337494+337495+337496+337497+337498+337499+337500?authors&parents&superparent"},"object":"objects\/sha256\/8a\/8adbbbaefd6f4455d5e189c6546d606dc0fb11d3983e3d544637a829c182b74b","record":"shard-1\/json-live-urgent-v3\/records\/15d4106bcc93b8e175d4555adc310f49bc517bdaf29037c29eb929d93eb9093d.json","sha256":"8adbbbaefd6f4455d5e189c6546d606dc0fb11d3983e3d544637a829c182b74b","source":"https","stored_at":1784022470}}