Societies Stranding by UnitedFailures

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

If you are coming to rate our game, please use our original Windows submission! Otherwise, feel free to play the latest post-jam web build on itch.

Societies around the galaxy are running out of space. You are the last hope to delay the stranding.

​Deliver pods from overpopulated planets (denoted with a red icon) to growing planets (denoted with blue icons). Get a high score before all the planets run out of space!

Screenshot1.png

Controls

  • WASD: Move ship
  • E: Attach Pod
  • Space: Detach Pod

Credits

Music: @MrAozora

SFX: @Ekata

Ratings

Overall 1073th 2.804⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1060th 2.63⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 800th 3.065⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 952th 3⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Audio 469th 3.348⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Humor 888th 2⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Mood 969th 2.864⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Given 53🗳️ 24🗨️

Feedback

Qaolin
03. Oct 2023 · 16:36 UTC
Hi, your game cover is beautiful but it does not show for me, i had to click on you itch ;c the art looks great, as for gameplay cool that you added a prompt with an input, i took a pod and then i kind of didnt know what to do next, id need to deliver the pod somewhere, no idea where, i flew to the planet nearby and tried clicking space/e but no luck :D
Qaolin
03. Oct 2023 · 16:37 UTC
I think the game would benefit if u added a little arrow where should i fly or at least try to tell me direction for a few seconds i guess
Teist
03. Oct 2023 · 18:28 UTC
I would love to play this game but after the 2 starting pods I can't find any other and even so, I dont't really know what to do with them
Did I miss anything?
Otherwise, great art!
OadT
06. Oct 2023 · 14:13 UTC
Is the web version a post jam version? Because I can't see the map in the Windows version. Without the mini map it is sadly almost impossible to play properly :sweat_smile: Also, as Teist already said the pods just seem to disapear after the first few seconds (this also seems to be a bug in the Windows version that is not present in the web version?). I understood the gameplay in the web version but couldn't replicate it in the windows version for this reason. I will wait to rate this as I think I am currently a bit too confused :smile:

Have to say even with the map traveling between the planets was too much time without doing anything, but I really liked the music and the sprites were nice!
🎤 UnitedFailures
07. Oct 2023 · 02:11 UTC
@OadT my friend! Highlight of every jam is checking to see if you're participating too! Looking forward to playing your game when I am free :)

Yeah, the WebGL version is our post jam version. The minimap was always planned for the game but was too buggy to make it into the jam release. I encourage you to play both versions, but rate regarding the original.
somewan
07. Oct 2023 · 14:32 UTC
The creativity is quite impressive. Personally, I find it a bit challenging to adapt to the relative coordinate system. It might be helpful to also provide an option for an absolute coordinate system mode.
LDJam user 372515
09. Oct 2023 · 23:07 UTC
That was fun! I especially liked flinging the pods across the map to the planets as an extra challenge (using the mini-map to line things up). Good job! Maybe consider a pause screen for sound/music control in your post-jam!
Greytyphoon
09. Oct 2023 · 23:30 UTC
The end is so abrupt! It just suddenly teleported me to the main menu, with a new banner saying "High Score: 34".

It was nice and immersive, with intuitive controls and a clear goal. Took me a while to understand I had a limited time, not limited fuel (I know, I should have read). Also, I lost some time trying to take pods to the Sun, not realizing it's not a planet on the mini-map.

A solid entry, nice work!
Nevernox
09. Oct 2023 · 23:54 UTC
Played both jam and post-jam versions - I appreciate the polish that you did after jam! I liked music and SFX very much, they set the mood really well! As for gameplay - I enjoyed the sling mechanic, it was fun throwing pods eveywhere xD Though, even in post-jam version its quite unclear when the planet is about to become full - I think, some bar would be good for that.

Congrats on the game and wish you even better projects in future!
LDJam user 216538
11. Oct 2023 · 01:22 UTC
It's a really well polished experience. The only thing I didn't get was what the win condition was.
Mr Bluecap
11. Oct 2023 · 03:47 UTC
I unfortunately had a hard time playing the original game. I grabbed a pod at the start and then it vanished and I couldn't find any other pods after that. It's really hard to navigate the game because there are no landmarks and the planets move. As mentioned, the addition of a mini-map would've solved a lot of these issues, but I also feel like you could probably zoom the camera out a bit as well. I also found the edge of the world (which you can leave), so that should have a bounding box.

But I really liked the idea of the game, and where you were trying to take it. The ship movement was smooth and quite easy to control. And the music and sound effects were spot on. The post-jam version fixes a lot of these issues, and makes it far more playable - so I'm grateful for that. Overall a good effort!
Prismapunch
14. Oct 2023 · 04:31 UTC
Fun game! The art and music are really nice, the concept was fun and it controlled very well. I did have some trouble understanding the concept at first but I like the idea of the game a lot and it was very pleasant. Good work!!
3mpty
15. Oct 2023 · 01:23 UTC
Interesting idea, I like the visual designs of the planets and the overall aesthetic, the minimap is a good idea and dragging pods behind you is pretty funny.

The game is not communicated very clearly, I get that I'm meant to deliver pods but it's hard to tell when i have successfully delivered a pod or if it is destroyed or what have you, I spent most of the time confused about what was happening. There is also some kind of reputation mechanic that I didn't really understand?

Not a bad submission but I think more effort needs to go into making the game state clear to the player and helping them onboard.

Great work!
LDJam user 206001
15. Oct 2023 · 03:39 UTC
I played both versions. The music is pleasant. The second version with radar really helped a lot, without radar it's like flying aimlessly in space. But I liked flying in space, the graphics are cool in general. In the second version I can rescue people and take them to the blue planet, in the first version I can't find anyone. But even on Monday, my time is up and I don't know what else to do.
DurkaGames
15. Oct 2023 · 21:56 UTC
Cute game with beautiful art! We liked the ship's fire animation.

As for the gameplay, there was not enough progression in the difficulty level, I would like some variety