Moon Settlers by Alex Duh

[raw]
made by Alex Duh for Ludum Dare 54 (JAM)

Build structures on the moon to generate essential resources in order to survive in space for 30 days!

Moon Settlers is a base building survival game, with several resources to manage and hazards that threaten your survival. The biggest limitation is the amount of space for buildings; use the 'Hammer' tool to clear up space to construct new structures!

The only input required is the mouse, but Spacebar, 'P', and the 'Escape' key can pause the game. The moon can be rotated while right-click is held. Right-click will also cancel out of build or dismantle mode.

If all the settlers are lost then the game is over.

Gameplay.PNG

I created all the art and sound effects. The game was made in Unity.

Ratings

Overall 1117th 2.474⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1125th 2.222⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1062th 2.528⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Theme 748th 3.368⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 991th 2.167⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Audio 690th 2.25⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Humor 917th 1.844⭐ 18🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1075th 2.083⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 17🗳️ 2🗨️

Feedback

mira
03. Oct 2023 · 11:41 UTC
its cool idea with this limited space for building. Sometimes is very hard to find the right place and build the building, maybe some grid can by very helpfull. I love the sound of meteoric fall.
fabula_rasa
06. Oct 2023 · 23:02 UTC
I like this interpretation of the theme. I can already see it expanded with more building variety, more effects, more disasters, building on the dark side of the moon and so on.

Shame that the meteor shower always destroys the same two buildings - would be cool if there would be some variety to that, some surprise. I also adore the sound of the meteor fall :grin:
LDJam user 333527
07. Oct 2023 · 16:44 UTC
Thanks for the feedback folks!

@mira I like the idea of a grid, that would solve the ambiguity of the moon and buildings' shapes

@fabula-rasa The meteor shower actually destroys all non-advanced buildings; there are some rules that I didn't really explain because I like the feeling of discovery, but that could be a negative if crucial information is never discovered or results in frustration
LDJam user 261037
09. Oct 2023 · 23:18 UTC
Is there a way to cancel a building if you picked the wrong one or it does not fit? I lost two rounds just because I had selected a building that would not fit on the moon and their was no way change buildings or pick up the pick ax.
Yamacrate
10. Oct 2023 · 02:16 UTC
Nice game... I enjoyed playing it :) It's a good idea and it's a great adaptation of the theme. I also like the idea of having a grid too if you choose to expand the game. I thoroughly enjoyed the sound effects too. Good work!
LDJam user 206001
10. Oct 2023 · 04:21 UTC
I know there's something, but it's not possible to understand it very quickly, I won't have enough patience to try more. I understood the topic but I think I was missing something
LDJam user 333527
11. Oct 2023 · 16:44 UTC
@kobata-games you can cancel out of building or dismantling by right-clicking, I should have put that in the game description
yifengqing
13. Oct 2023 · 08:08 UTC
Great idea, but the feel of turning the moon was strange and took me a long time to turn it.
3mpty
14. Oct 2023 · 21:06 UTC
Interesting idea, I think it would have been a bit more user friendly to have slots for buildings rather than trying to cram them in pixel by pixel. The economy also feels a little straightforward, not much to think about once you have food and water online.

There's also a bit of an exploit where you can place buildings in space.

I like the idea of having to destroy and replace buildings to manage needs, but the build time is a bit tedious for that and the clunky building placement makes it a bit annoying.

Congrats on submitting a game to LDjam!
Amedea
20. Oct 2023 · 01:32 UTC
Great Game! I've survived for long time only with Greenhouses and Synthesis Reactors, so I didn't understand the real utility of the other constructions. Sometimes the Greenhouses stopped their work and i didn't know why. The Beacon and the Hospital also have been locked for the entire game, so I didn't know how to use them. And at the end all the buttons turned red so I wasn't able to do anyting to survive. I really loved the meteoras sound ahaha. Hope it could be a useful review :)
LDJam user 372515
20. Oct 2023 · 06:00 UTC
![Screen Shot 2023-10-19 at 10.52.40 PM.png](///raw/32f/a5/z/6079e.png)
This one felt a bit frustrating to me. It didn't seem there was much incentive to build anything other than greenhouses and synthesis reactors. Sometimes the greenhouses stopped producing food, and I wasn't sure why. The headquarters seemed too large to ever fit with the other buildilngs I needed.

And as addressed in other comments, fitting building in felt more like cheesing the game's hitboxes rather than satisfying tetrising things together. I never felt like I was making empowered decisions, just sort of hoping that I had left enough space to fit other buildings.

It looks like I can rotate buildings? One of the comments mentions it, and it appears so in the screenshot, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. Lastly, I think I hit a bug where the messages scrolled way too slowly, and clogged up my screen.

This is a game with potential and a fun core loop of trying to manage your base and resources. With a little more balance, and some more polish, it could really shine.
LDJam user 249050
20. Oct 2023 · 07:36 UTC
I only found out how to rotate by reading the comments here, that should maybe be explained.

Figuring out that building a hospital stops ruined food supplies was satisfying. I got to a point where I can more or less infinitely sustain the colony by having a hospital and rebuilding the greenhouse&reactor after each meteor shower, overpopulated colonists will die though.

It's a bit silly that the settlers start munching their fingers after less than a day of no food, water and oxygen should be the more urgent ones.

I like that you simulated the colonists, would be nice if they showed status effects like hunger/thirst/disease. Also some death animation would be nice feedback.
LDJam user 333527
20. Oct 2023 · 22:08 UTC
@amedea There are some pretty game-breaking bugs in here; the text scrolls way too slowly to be helpful, buildings can be built in space and meteors can lock your building functions

@pen-island-games There are some major visibility issues with the text scrolling, and the mechanics can definitely feel clunky. I'm still quite pleased with this result, I feel like all my core ideas are well-represented here.
For rotation, currently only the moon can be rotated, which applies a rotation to all buildings already on it. I may update the game to allow scroll-wheeling to rotate before building

@bliny-lynx I did initially go for a more realistic vibe with regards to resource consumption and survival mechanics, but didn't follow all the way through for balance and emotional reasons (settlers dying used to increase food supply) I'm glad you utilized one of the advanced structures, most people seem to ignore those in favor of basic resource generation!