Grav Garb by Alchemic
This is a strand-like game, where you'll be loosely connected to other players online, and help each other out to complete deliveries. There is no realtime multiplayer.
Intro
Hiya! And welcome to Ink & Ink Industries. You are a Drone Pilot AI in training and are working to prove yourself with the most honorable of tasks: delivering a human heart. To get there we're going to train you on some simple deliveries like gravel and fine glassware.
You'll need to take things slow, since there's a lot of space junk and other hazards which could damage your packages (or you).
Other delivery drones are active in this sector and will deploy helpful structures such as repair and mapping stations that will help you along your journey.
Zoey & Zara signing off!
How To Play
- Your goal is to deliver your packages to the other space station across the sector.
- The other station is located directly to the right - deviating will alert the anti-rogue-AI security bots.
- Careful! Both your drone ship and packages are susceptible to damage.
- Completing a delivery will grant you some credits, even if you have no surviving packages.
- Use your earned credits in the shop to purchase more thrusters and deployable stations.
- Deployed stations will stick around for a while - and will also help out other players!
Controls
- Up-Down/W-S - accelerate
- Left-Right/A-D - turn
- Space - activate gravity ball
- Shift - launch thruster rocket
- H - open deployment menu
- E - grab small junk with ship tail - junk is sold when delivery is completed
Note About Online Play
This game features a non-realtime multiplayer system.
The only data sent to the server is your chosen username and some in-game accomplishments. Usernames of other players will be visible in-game.
Online play can be disabled on the title screen.
Credits
- @Alchemic: Programming, game design, king of no sleep
- @Gizmolo: Programming, big booty alien girl art
- @BigTex: Art, sfx & frankly just a beautiful soul
- @WiredOverload: Programming, scrum lord, master delegator of tasks no one wants to do
- @karkadan: Unpaid programming intern & cat wrangler
- @xxAtrain223: Server code & client side api, holds the team together by his heart strings
- @Arnenia: Music & sfx (AKA the cute one :kissing_heart:)
- Montjuleant: Art director (AKA art abuser)
Tools
- Godot 4.0 - Game engine
- ASP.NET - Strand server
- Aseprite - Artwork
- LMMS - Music and SFX (via SFXR instrument)
- JSFXR - SFX
Post-submission changes
We felt these changes were necessary to make post-submission. Due to the online nature of the game, previous versions are not available for download.
- Changed scaling to allow other players' structures to be visible on the first mission.
- Fixed some sprites that were present in the game, but not correctly shown.
See the devlog on the itch page for more details.
| Link | https://alchemical.itch.io/grav-garb |
| Link | https://alchemical.itch.io/grav-garb |
| Link | https://github.com/apples/ludum-dare-53 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/53/grav-garb |
Ratings
| Overall | 687th | 3.49⭐ | 51🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 879th | 3.092⭐ | 51🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 352th | 3.622⭐ | 51🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 436th | 4.061⭐ | 51🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 525th | 3.786⭐ | 51🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 318th | 3.653⭐ | 51🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 521th | 3.202⭐ | 49🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 515th | 3.615⭐ | 50🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 76🗳️ | 89🗨️ |
Good entry! I loved mostly the gfx and sfx
But i'm still little confused about the design of the ship, it feels backwards
(perhaps a more animal inspired design might help?)
I think reducing the rotation on the ship would make it feel a little less twitchy on the controls, but just takes a bit of getting used to.
The upgrades/deployables are a nice addition that adds to the experience.
I think the cargo is hard to keep alive, not impossible but doesn't take much for it to get destroyed if you're trying to drift through the game.
Really solid entry, good luck with the ratings!
@furtive-pygmy @jp-design @slimefriend @triangle-point I agree with y'all. Controls need some tuning, I think a redesign of the player ship could go far, both aesthetically and kinesthetically.
@tycoonbelle @aplovestudio The most important part of this game, naturally :nerd:
@pazzi Spoiler alert: moonrats rule the universe :grin:
The world and setting are imaginative. Very nice to see something unique like that!
The art and music are both solid. Nice, consistent atmosphere overall. And I came to love the ship exploding sound :wink:
What the game is actually like: A slow but tactical game about avoiding too sudden turns, carefully displacing hazardous waste, one package-length at a time, while strategically managing resources like thrusters and repair-stations. With a shop and progression.
I mostly enjoyed it after I got over my initial disconnected expectations. The slowness does disincentivize trying things though, you're not likely to take risks (or try the level too often again).
Music is great for the mood.
As for the art, I'm more into beefcake than cheesecake. Still, there's a large variety of space-junk and if you'd spent the same amount of detail there the game wouldn't be done until next year.
Graphics: The character art was well done, and the UI was very clean! Some of the in-game visuals got a bit confusing; I was never quite sure which pieces of space junk were very dangerous and which could just be pushed out of the way. It might be nice if there was a consistent shape or color language for which things are most hazardous (e.g. everything that immediately damages you is red).
Audio: Music was great! Especially liked the menu music, although it only had a short loop.
Gameplay: The main gameplay consists of pushing or maneuvering around space junk while trailing delicate cargo behind your ship. I liked the utility areas that could spawn (the one that gives you extra vision is clever) and the variety of hazards. I never ended up figuring out exactly what the gravity ball does. The long levels can be a little tedious, but there are usually zones to stop and recharge and it's nice that you get something for completing the level even without cargo. I liked that there were different kinds of cargo that could withstand more or less of a beating and it affected how you approached the game.
Overall, solid entry! Particularly impressive that the game is so cohesive with such a large team since they are often difficult to coordinate.
I drew Zoey (or Zara?) and added her to the cat-ear pixel fan art compilation on [my profile page](https://ldjam.com/users/jeremy-ryan/).
Good luck during the rest of play and rate!
I love the "strand-like" gameplay, it's always fascinating to see multiplayer elements in a jam game. The one weakness is that, again, sometimes a gas cloud will spawn in such a way that it covers a station and makes it difficult if not impossible to use. I'm also not entirely sure what the point of the "fence" item is supposed to be, it's just another massive obstacle that gets in the way.
This is overall a fun experience with a lot of potential, but I feel it needs some adjusting to make it feel a little less frustrating.
Trying to deliver Human Heart was one of the most difficult things I've had to do LOL.
The generation makes for a lot of "come up with your own solution" situations... I've dived out of zone to speed boost past a field of debris. It was a lot more tactical of a game even though my brain kept telling me it should be a race :laughing:
I liked it!