LudumData

Power signature by vidarn

[raw]
made by vidarn for Ludum Dare 54 (COMPO)

A pair of treasure hunters has discovered a mysterious power signature from an asteroid field. Join them in their hunt for the source.

Play on itch.io for fullscreen support

How to play

Use the mouse to interact

Explore the asteroids and collect useful items but be sure to bring your bots back to the ship before leaving. The ship only has space for 4 bots, so you might not be able to fit them all. Any bots outside the ship when you leave will be left on the surface.

The difficulty determines the number of turns allowed on each level: * Easy - Unlimited turns, the asteroid will never collapse * Normal - The asteroid will collapse after a few turns * Hard - You have 2 turns less than in Normal mode

power<em>signature</em>howto.png

Post compo fixes

I've fixed some minor bugs and made a few usability fixes after the compo: * Added "easy" and "normal" difficulty options and kept the old one as hard mode. The only difference is the number of turns until the asteroid collapses * A button for leaving the asteroid early instead of having to wait until the last turn * Allow you to restart the game if you run out of bots.

You can find the untouched submission version in the links below

Link https://www.vidarnel.se/code/info/6d46e23e46393be6
Link https://vidarn.itch.io/power-signature
Original submission https://www.vidarnel.se/games/ld54_submission/
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/power-signature

Ratings

Overall 100th 3.846⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Fun 198th 3.42⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 195th 3.34⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Theme 131th 3.86⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 15th 4.36⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Audio 32th 4⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Humor 165th 2.74⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Mood 74th 3.76⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 21🗳️ 33🗨️

Feedback

amarokczukay
02. Oct 2023 · 16:37 UTC
the game visually and musically feels very polished! i really LOVED the art, 5/5 great job on this!

i played the original version, and i can see why you created an easier one! also the pathfinding seemed a bit odd sometimes (by odd i mean not working like i'd think they would, but maybe i'm odd and your pathfinding is great haha)
🎤 vidarn
03. Oct 2023 · 06:47 UTC
@amarokczukay thank you! I'm glad to hear you liked the art :)

Yeah, I fell into the old trap of balancing the game after what I though felt fun when making it, forgetting that as a developer you are always way better at your game than you realize, seeing as you know how the levels are supposed to be solved :laughing:. The only change I did in the easier difficulties was increasing the number of turns until the asteroid collapses, which I felt was a fair thing to tweak post compo.

I see what you mean about the pathfinding being a bit unintuitive! I dont *think* it's wrong per se, but it does not always seem to take the most obvious route. I chose to only allow movement in cardinal directions (no diagonals), which might make it even more confusing. I also realize now that it would have been good to see the tiles you are able to move to more clearly.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the feedback!
zundou
03. Oct 2023 · 11:30 UTC
Yeah, I absolutely love the hand-drawn graphics and the mystical ambiance of the music.
It's incredibly soothing, and just exploring brings such a wonderful feeling.

Especially the music – it gave me goosebumps the first time I heard it. Great job :)
🎤 vidarn
03. Oct 2023 · 12:29 UTC
@zundou Thank you for the kind words! I'm very glad you liked the game :two_hearts:
Henrik Ganard
03. Oct 2023 · 12:33 UTC
Nice artstyle and puzzles. Fun game.
Enad96
03. Oct 2023 · 12:37 UTC
Love the style! You really made the characters, tiles and music match in aesthetic!
Surune
03. Oct 2023 · 12:47 UTC
Wow, so great quality. It is a bit difficult to understand how to play, but still the style and idea is fantastic.
LDJam user 283449
03. Oct 2023 · 12:56 UTC
Took me a short bit of time to understand what I'm supposed to do but it feels really polished overall. Great game!
Ayced
03. Oct 2023 · 13:07 UTC
I didn't have any trouble on normal mode but I really like how you give the option to not have to rush through the game with the easy setting.

The font is nice and readable
Babaorhum
03. Oct 2023 · 13:27 UTC
Really, one of the best game in game jam I ever played, looks a lot like Terra Nil which I love: contemplative yet a management game. It was a bit long, I played for 1 hour to get to the end, but it is the first time I really wanted to go through a game in game jam! Love the suprising idea of an extraterrestrial spirit that arrives in the middle of the game, it brings depth to the game and adds a benevolent ecological note. The sound design is great too. Love it guys, what a great job
🎤 vidarn
03. Oct 2023 · 13:44 UTC
Thank you all for the nice comments! I think I made the game a bit complicated :laughing: but I'm very happy you liked the style! I'll see if I can improve the instructions to make it a bit easier to understand how it works.

@babaorhum Wow thank you, that's probably the nicest comment I've ever received :heart: I'm very glad you liked the game!
Sorry for making it so long. It's so easy to misjudge the length of a game while making it, but in hindsight I can definitely see that I went too far. Thanks a lot for having the patience to play it all the way through! You made my day :blush:
Phillip Scott
03. Oct 2023 · 14:10 UTC
Art is great, this is a great base to continue building from :heart:
jukepoks1
03. Oct 2023 · 14:16 UTC
first of, the main menu gravity physics, nice!

second, audio track, excellent!

third, the cat and dog faces! LOVE IT! :smile:

Artstyle is like concept art.(probably is) but fits in well. Makes it feel bit more fluffy and comfortable, even though machines and rocks are hard stuff.

Game mechanics need little bit try and error at start as nothing is explained what every item does

Leave-button could be further away from the "end turn" button. Almost accidentally pressed it. they could have different color also.

I like how well you implemented the ship, animations, scene change, action and robot selection. Everything feels thought through. You even included a nice story into it that evolves the further you get.

interesting ending, could be expanded further.
watson
03. Oct 2023 · 14:39 UTC
Love the graphics, interesting puzzles, great learning curve
jaydex
03. Oct 2023 · 23:25 UTC
The graphics are beautiful, the sound is spacy and the puzzles are fun. At first it was a little too much for me and I did not understand what to do. Then I read your description :sweat_smile: and actually started playing the game. It's impressive what you did in 48 hours: Many levels, a nice story and interesting items to use on the journey. (Maybe it was good, that you removed the collapsing part which is still in the story/description/screenshot. Don't know if I would have made it to the end if the turns were limited :wink:)
Frogman
04. Oct 2023 · 17:53 UTC
Really nice game! The moment that I saw the main menu I knew it was going to be good. The graphics are amazing! The game was interesting, I liked all the different abilities and bots that you implemented. I thought that the dog bot was V34-N and panicked when I accidentally left it to die, but the dog was fine in the following cutscenes, so all was good :) It would've been nice to be able to see what each item did before picking it up (although that did add to the mystery aspect, so perhaps not), and the wording of Drop made me think it would just permanently dispose of the item instead of giving them to other bots, but other than that, great entry!
GreenPig
05. Oct 2023 · 01:30 UTC
Really great game, love the cute graphics and the wonderful music. First i had a bit of problem understanding the objective of the game so maybe a prompt at the start would be helpful but otherwise great game feels very polished.
milq
08. Oct 2023 · 12:35 UTC
Impressive graphics and music! I find it incredible how you were able to create this turn-based puzzle in such a short amount of time and all by yourself! Not only that, but the level designs are also very well thought out and crafted. I do miss a brief tutorial, but it's understandable that you might not have had the time. I must emphasize, it's a spectacular game; my congratulations!
🎤 vidarn
08. Oct 2023 · 17:02 UTC
Wow, thank you all for the kind comments! I'm humbled by all the nice feedback :blush:

I do agree with the comments regarding the lack of a tutorial and instructions on what to do, it is very good to hear the things that confused you. I hope to be able to do better with communication in future games, so I'm very grateful for the feedback!
Vyndilis
10. Oct 2023 · 01:58 UTC
Very impressive game! It reminds me of a pacifist "Into the Breach".

The graphics are beautiful. The music fits the atmosphere well. I love that the theme is present in several game mechanics: the collapsing floor, the inventory and the ship. Very smart!

The game is perhaps a bit too long for a jam game, but the gameplay is really addictive. The items and bots give a good feeling of progress. I couldn't stop playing until the end :smile:

Great potential! Good job!
🎤 vidarn
11. Oct 2023 · 16:28 UTC
@vyndilis thank you, that's very kind! I'm flattered by the comparison with a pacifist Into the breach, haha :laughing:

Sorry for making the game so long! I find it easy to fall into that trap when making a game in a hurry. It's hard to judge the length until you have someone try it. I'm glad you found it fun to play through, thanks for the patience and for the nice comment! :heart:
Jimbly
12. Oct 2023 · 23:55 UTC
That was really cool, I played through to the end and enjoyed it. I really like balancing my loadout of items and robots, though I felt kinda sad leaving my original 'bots behind -_-. My only complaint is that the mouseover effect for where I'm going to move sometimes confused me (seems like it puts a black arrow in the final spot I could move into when I'm reaching too far, it's not until I move the mouse back near there that it turns into the light circle and I realize I can move one farther than the arrows seemed to indicate). Music was nice, didn't feel the need to mute it even once!
🎤 vidarn
14. Oct 2023 · 20:15 UTC
@jimbly Thanks a lot for the feedback! I'm glad you liked the game, thank you for having the patience to play it all the way through :blush:

I see what you mean regarding the path visualization, that's a good point! It made sense to me when I implemented it but looking at it now I definitely understand how confusing it is. :laughing: I feel like I need to get better at looking at things from the players perspective when making games. Comments like this really help, thanks for pointing it out.