LudumData

If I Ran the (Alien) Zoo by UkuleleFury

[raw]
made by UkuleleFury for Ludum Dare 58 (JAM)

entity_demo.gif

👽🛸 Fly around in your UFO trying to satiate the alien zookeeper’s desire to collect all the Earthlings! Come for the cold hard cash and ship upgrades and stick around for the delightful sound effects and a soundtrack that’s impossible to not bob your head to.

Instructions

  • Use arrow keys or asdw to navigate your UFO around the world, fighting gravity as you pick up more earthlings.
  • Use space bar or the Enter key to activate your tractor beam.
  • Avoid being spotted by earthlings. Too much attention could bring some serious heat.
  • Fly straight up at any point to check-in with the alien zookeeper and drop off captured earthlings for cold hard cash.
  • Upgrade your ship to do things faster, better, and slyer.

🛠️ Our tools

All SFX were either synthesized from scratch or recorded; no samples or presets. All graphics are original.

👋 Our team

Link https://github.com/levilindsey/ld58
Link https://levilindsey.itch.io/if-i-ran-the-alien-zoo
Link https://levilindsey.itch.io/if-i-ran-the-alien-zoo
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/58/if-i-ran-the-alien-zoo

Ratings

Overall 66th 4.058⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Fun 33th 4.115⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 230th 3.538⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 32th 4.365⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 255th 3.981⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Audio 91th 3.981⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Humor 57th 4.058⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Mood 184th 3.885⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 17🗳️ 31🗨️

Feedback

jacobingalls
Oct 07th · 06:15 UTC
I had the same idea! Y'all executed on it brilliantly. I really liked all the sounds for each of the types; it added a lot of character and much needed drama. I also really liked the animated UFO sprite, it looks exactly like what I think a UFO should be. Great job!
Pimeko
Oct 07th · 23:52 UTC
I did it! Honestly, loved everything: the stunning art style, the screamings, the overall mood and feeling. Great entry :)
DGo
Oct 08th · 01:20 UTC
Loved the vibes here! Had a great time flying around and the music fit surprisingly well! Only thing I'd say is that it seemed a bit too easy to get one-shot by a jet randomly flying past and being forced to start over, it might be better to lose all money but keep upgrades? Not sure, but regardless, had a blast playing it, great entry! :smile:
🎤 UkuleleFury
Oct 08th · 02:31 UTC
@dgo :) Thanks! Yeah, it is a bit abrupt and unforgiving! We did tweak bunch to tone down the difficulty near the end, and I also added a last-minute flag to switch from triggering death to just triggering back to the zookeeper screen, but that then felt too forgiving! Yeah, losing only gold seems like a good compromise
peachy
Oct 09th · 01:20 UTC
Great job, as always :) I loved the atmosphere, the responsiveness of the controls, and the overall concept and execution. Graphics were very nice and felt unified. Sound effects and music were great, too, especially the sound of the UFO zooming around. The screaming humans cracked me up lol
AldenWitt
Oct 09th · 21:58 UTC
@peachy thank you! If you were my neighbor you'd have heard the sound of my screaming bloody murder into my mic for a few hours Saturday morning haha
Marcus Otterstrom
Oct 09th · 22:28 UTC
Fun little game! I would've liked to keep going a bit after finishing it, just to see what all the upgrades at the same time is like ;)


The controls for the spaceship felt a bit awkward at times, I understand that it was probably on purpose that the ship started going downwards when close to the ground to keep it more interactive, but it was something with the way turning worked at the same time as the ship was being dragged down that felt slightly off to me. But it didn't impact the gameplay too much :)

Loved the sound effects!
wles
Oct 10th · 01:11 UTC
Fun little game! The controls feel great, art is cute, music has a perfect UFO vibe, and no bugs encountered. Sound effects definitely stand out for a jam game.
Daniel123
Oct 10th · 05:42 UTC
I like the art of this game. A main menu would be better.
Accardo
Oct 10th · 08:09 UTC
Fun game, great art style, I also love the vibe of music and SFX a lot, really classic. Sometimes though when the beam hits the earthlings and they start screaming but it doesn't pull them up, need to release them first then do it again, wonder if it's a bug or they have some hidden status that can resist capture.
MartianMangka
Oct 10th · 09:11 UTC
Cool idea and great completeness. Enjoyed a lot.
Jinda
Oct 10th · 11:10 UTC
Finally I have the chance to play bad on the earth! Time to eliminate all humans (joking)
harujam
Oct 10th · 11:16 UTC
Well executed and fun game idea! One minor thing: The earthling icons on top right were a bit too small..
zircon123
Oct 10th · 11:20 UTC
neat, beam sometimes doesn't work.
cartmouse
Oct 10th · 11:20 UTC
Just wonderful! Lovely, charming theme. Amazing art and SFX. Fun gameplay. All round fantastic :D
MysticGames
Oct 10th · 11:26 UTC
Really enjoyed the game, loved the graphics and the audio. The gameplay was quite fun and has the potential for it to be expanded apon
pomogaeva
Oct 10th · 11:30 UTC
Very nice game to control! I also liked the alien who talks to us — he’s funny. I also liked that all the graphics in the game looked consistent and good (for some reason, I especially noticed the sprite of the grandma with the stroller) :)
Eugenik
Oct 10th · 11:45 UTC
groovy game! thanks!.
SirRed
Oct 11th · 04:03 UTC
Great concept for the theme. Loved the art and audio and gameplay was smooth. It did occasionally get stuck sometimes and not bring up things, but resetting the beam seemed to do the trick. I would have played much longer if the quest were endless.
Kupnu4
Oct 11th · 15:54 UTC
this is sucha funny game! The atmosphere is over the roof, it makes me smile all the time :D Kidnapping those little dudes is implemented very good and controls feel intuitive and tweaked well. Congratulations on the entr, I had a lot of fun, thank you! 👽
Surfa
Oct 12th · 17:36 UTC
Was a fun little game to play. A bit too much text in the introduction which I skipped out of laziness so originally did not know what I was doing properly. Liked that it corrected me when I brought the wrong earthlings.

Good job on the game :smile:
Asieke
Oct 12th · 19:45 UTC
Had a lot of fun! The screams were great with the crowd scattering as someone gets tractor beamed up.

The beam behavior was a bit inconsistent. Sometimes it just held earthlings in place instead of pulling them up, and sometimes I could move horizontally while beaming but other time I couldn't

The jet felt kind of bs. Basically a guaranteed run-ender since there's such little reaction time and it one-shots you. Needs some tweaking on how it's implemented and/or what the punishment is for getting hit by it.

The ship was a bit difficult to maneuver, which I think is a plus for this kind of game. Though personally on the fence with how hard it tried to nose-dive into the ground after a while. On the one hand I found it annoying, but on the other hand it's satisfying to know I overcame it and beat it.

Overall the game is great. The vibe, the way the alien gets miffed when you bring the wrong earthlings and tells you to complete the order.
PatUwU
Oct 21st · 17:15 UTC
Cute and interesting art style, addicting gameplay and interesting concept. Love it!
Pete Valeo
Oct 21st · 21:41 UTC
Love this. Great vibe, great aesthetics, and a simple mechanic that remains fun throughout a many-minute play session. Graphics were perfect for the feel, and the audio worked very well (the music track was great even though it didn't super fit the feel of the game IMO), and the premise was enough to keep me coming back.
It wasn't immediately clear to me that there were specific items you needed to get, so I ended up getting yelled at by the alien for 3 or 4 rounds before I figured out what was going on, but once I did it was much more straightforward.
Job very well done, team!
Coda Highland
Oct 22nd · 03:52 UTC
I got the golden chicken!

It would have been nice if the graphics were a little larger. My eyes aren't what they used to be! But I love the aesthetic. The sprites look fantastic and move very satisfyingly. I especially like the lights around the UFO -- very nice touch!

Audio is quite solid too!