LudumData

SolarFactory by LarrySeinfeld

[raw]
made by LarrySeinfeld for Ludum Dare 56 (JAM)

Description

Welcome to our LD56 submission for the Tiny Creatures theme!

After Herman's failed attempt at love, he sought to up his game and become a celestial being. Now an overseer of multiple solar systems, he seeks satisfaction in assisting aliens find their dream home.

Help Herman place aliens on planets in the solar system according to the their needs and solve every puzzle to make Herman the happiest guy in the universe.

Controls

  • Select and place planets/aliens using Left Mouse Click
  • When planet is placed, Drag Mouse to resize it and Left Mouse Click again to confirm
  • Hold Shift and drag mouse to rotate camera
  • Right Mouse click on planet to delete
  • Scroll Mouse Wheel to zoom in/out
  • Press Space to run simulation and see if the aliens' needs were met

This was the most troublesome LD we've ever done. Many issues across the board from programming, to modeling, to animations and music. We even struggled with the theme for a good while. While we wouldn't share this with our friends and family as we care to keep our dignity, you are all welcome to try it!

Enjoy! (if that's possible)

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Link https://kingpine.itch.io/solarfactory
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/solarfactory

Ratings

Overall 623th 3.474⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 587th 3.342⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 235th 3.684⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 880th 3.15⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 842th 3.075⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Audio 577th 3⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 230th 3.605⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 606th 3.45⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 12🗳️ 21🗨️

Feedback

Filmmagician
07. Oct 2024 · 22:05 UTC
Let's gooooo!!! Herman's back! Can't keep Herman down. I'm excited to play this. Congrats, guys.
TheChadRampage
09. Oct 2024 · 02:11 UTC
Lol cute humor, interesting concept
Tsaot
09. Oct 2024 · 02:52 UTC
The concept is neat, but it doesn't seem to work for me. The instructions say the planet needs to make one full rotation to win, but they don't appear to rotate. I like the idea of having to mix planets and moons to make a planet or moon that meets the alien's criteria.
Zachary Granger
09. Oct 2024 · 03:01 UTC
@thechadrampage thanks for playing our game!

@tsaot oops - you need to press space to run the "simulation" and see the planets start their orbit.
We'll update the description, thanks for leaving a comment!
mrs.wheelsx
09. Oct 2024 · 03:43 UTC
Don't be so hard on yourselves. Now that I know the space bar starts and stops the simulation, the game is a solid puzzle solving game with good physics feel. I enjoyed playing it even though i wasn't smart enough to beat every level. It was nice that you could choose each level even if you didn't beat the previous one, so I tried them all :D
plasticsword
10. Oct 2024 · 15:50 UTC
Cool concept, some of the mechanism was pretty hard to figure out.
JohnCoffee
11. Oct 2024 · 00:15 UTC
a bit weird and janky to play, but a bit fun. keep going making stuff :)
Str8griz
11. Oct 2024 · 01:39 UTC
Pretty fun game, got to level 5 but my IQ isn't there... I'm sure I will wake up in the middle of the night with the answer!

Don't know if it was me but if I put an alien on the planet and the planet was small I couldn't delete it.

Great job!
Avi
11. Oct 2024 · 08:12 UTC
Cool idea! wish there was a web build -- i dont have a windows machine :(
Lollister
11. Oct 2024 · 08:48 UTC
Awesome little game. I had very much fun figuring out how to solve all the puzzles. I especially liked the way the mechanics of the different planets work. On the downside, I think you really have to stretch the theme to make it fit the game, and some further explanation of certain mechanics would be helpful. For example, in Level 4, I struggled to realize that planets could be reused multiple times, though that might be on me. Overall, I had a great time playing this game!
Blazerker
11. Oct 2024 · 18:15 UTC
Took me a while to figure out how to play and actually place planets, but it was fun to play. I think a tutorial would help to understand how the planet influences each other's temperatures. I couldn't quite figure it out.
Machinic
12. Oct 2024 · 04:23 UTC
I liked playing around with the simulations. I almost wonder if this would be more enjoyable just as a sandbox simulator game - I kinda felt like I was just roughly guessing at the starting conditions that would bring about the goal, it was hard to connect causes to effects intuitively.
Pachino55
13. Oct 2024 · 23:08 UTC
This is a pretty sick game, nice job
ejmejm
14. Oct 2024 · 23:02 UTC
Made me think a lot, loved the idea and a lot of fun! Loved Herman.
Exa
15. Oct 2024 · 07:21 UTC
Nice game,very interesting plot!!!!Nice job!!!!
yancharkin
15. Oct 2024 · 17:43 UTC
Certainly not a bad game; with a little more work, it could be really good.
chusmimax
15. Oct 2024 · 19:11 UTC
The game is really good but the UI/UX is pain. no play button on the screen and no reset planet buttons. If you place an alien, you can only reset by reading the prompt again. If you press the back button out of muscle memory to stop the simulation, back to the menu. if you press space during the level prompt, it start the simulation and doesn't let you place planets(easy fix if you get what is going on, but will keep you busy the first time you encounter the problem).

And I want to highlight that it is a really good game that I really liked, it is just that the UI/UX works against it.
Luis Priego Cuenca
23. Oct 2024 · 17:26 UTC
A very interesting concept, it reminded me strongly of Spore but with its own characteristics, this could be expanded and with more polished mechanics it could be a game that I would love to play. I think what I liked the most was discovering how gravity and temperature work, I would just like to see my creatures enjoy the place I have built for them.