LudumData

Gas Giant Airship by Jcourt

[raw]
made by Jcourt for Ludum Dare 57 (JAM)

Note: It seems like the ldjam.com embedded version may not work on Chrome. The Alternate link below seems to work fine?

You know how some sci-fi universes have stations floating inside of gas giants, or dense atmospheres like Venus'? You control an airship bringing cargo between several of those.

Airship.png

Different layers (depths) of the atmosphere have different air currents. If you use these properly, you can get to your destinations much faster, and if you don't account for the wind, you might not be able to get there at all.

This game isn't my best work, but hopefully the concept is at least briefly interesting. If you find the Normal mode boring, try Hot Air Balloon mode! It's weird and hard, but more unique and closer to my original idea (thought of when voting on themes - I repurposed my idea for "Layers").

Controls:

  • Left Click to move towards the mouse
  • Mouse wheel to zoom
  • Esc to return to the main menu
Alternate Web (Itch.io) https://jcourt325.itch.io/gas-giant-airship
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/gas-giant-airship

Ratings

Overall 598th 3.327⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Fun 667th 3.019⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 227th 3.615⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 726th 3⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 680th 3.058⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Humor 610th 2.304⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Mood 538th 3.42⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 20🗳️ 33🗨️

Feedback

FrauKauz
07. Apr 2025 · 20:03 UTC
On startup, I get the following error: Failed to read the 'serviceWorker' property from 'Navigator': Service worker is disabled because the context is sandboxed and lacks the 'allow-same-origin' flag.
AntagonistBob
07. Apr 2025 · 20:30 UTC
Quite fun! The wind currents were hard to see until I zoomed out and then I got the hang of the game.
Velis69
09. Apr 2025 · 06:43 UTC
Lol its "truckers of europe" in sci-fi, cool! Rate ours game too pls comrade and send your comment!
Christian Zommerfelds
09. Apr 2025 · 06:49 UTC
IMO the controls could be a bit faster (apply more force). I personally thing keyboard controls would be more fun. Holding the mouse strains your wrist very quickly.

I think the game has potential if you added more mechanics or a story, but it it's just moving around it gets boring fast :)

Congrats on your entry!
LDJam user 355692
09. Apr 2025 · 06:54 UTC
Nice wind currents and overall gameplay. Liked chill music and wind effects. It started to get repetitive at around 10th mission and I don't know if the game has the end goal, so I stopped after around 15th mission. I would've preferred to have keyboard controls for this game though, it felt tiring to hold the left mouse button all the time.
poboy
09. Apr 2025 · 07:09 UTC
Hot Air Balloon mode is the way, there is no other mode IMO. Pretty fun and I enjoyed trying to find the right air currents :)

Would love to see more in a postjam version, like ability to upgrade your engine etc upon dropping people off.
LDJam user 0
09. Apr 2025 · 14:24 UTC
Finding the currents is an interesting challenge, to be sure.

Sometimes though the distance is a bit tedious. Would be nice to have more gamified and less realistic currents, so for the player it would be similar to riding a roller coaster rather than trying to walk against the wind.

And it would be nice to have an option to turn the engine on and only worry about the direction, fingers get tired of holding the mouse all the time :)

Still, a very nice entry!
Goiaba Games
09. Apr 2025 · 17:25 UTC
Very interesting concept, I just wish there a fullscreen option because it's kind of hard to see even with the zoom feature. I tried Hot Air Balloon, but I found the main mode to be more fun, because you have more control over and the game is faster.
Alex Servirog
09. Apr 2025 · 22:58 UTC
I like the use of particles for showing wind direction\strength. WSAD or arrow keys for additional input method would be great.
Gaspar
10. Apr 2025 · 06:41 UTC
The concept is quite original. I just missed having a better sense of current speed - maybe a parallax background could help with that?
Verbante
10. Apr 2025 · 06:42 UTC
Such a cool idea!
Arsvarg
10. Apr 2025 · 06:44 UTC
Concept is really interesting! Plays fun!
Dandee
10. Apr 2025 · 06:45 UTC
Fun concept! The pain of going against the wind though xD Well done!
Kamile V.
10. Apr 2025 · 06:49 UTC
nice game!
Nicholas Smart
10. Apr 2025 · 06:52 UTC
Quite a fun game! Love the idea of controlling an airship and delivering packages. Kinda reminded me of Euro Truck in way but just controlling an airship. If refined further and maybe if the graphics could be slightly more interesting, I can see a fun game come to life from this.
Shamedoor
10. Apr 2025 · 07:00 UTC
It is a super chilling game, loved the music. I tried the hot balloon and it is interesting, but I got stacked in some spots haha I wonder how this concept will work in a more frenetic and quick pace, the wipout of the balloons if you will haha
Broco
12. Apr 2025 · 03:39 UTC
Nice concept! It's simple yet with great execution.

I just feel it's missing something. Maybe the missions should be in a rush to be delivered or something similar. As it is it feels like a mechanic showcase!

Also I can't really see the depth theme here. I understand you were planning it for a different category, Maybe it could have been sea currents and something under the sea?

Anyways, nice entry! 😉
Jake G
13. Apr 2025 · 00:55 UTC
Whoa! Very cool and original concept, absolutely innovative. The wind system is so interesting. The aesthetic and vibe were really endearing and remind me of the early era of PC gaming, in a good way.

I also like the world itself. Habitats, fuel depots, refineries. It seems like a living breathing world.

Great submission!!
AgrMayank
14. Apr 2025 · 13:40 UTC
The Winds of Change are indeed pretty strong and hard to control, I guess this is where proper planning comes into play to save as much fuel and time as possible!
Papaver
18. Apr 2025 · 23:11 UTC
I like the concept a lot! I like all the wind layers. I first made 10 deliveries in normal mode. Then I tried Hot Air Balloon mode, which I also enjoyed! Then it's a little bit more of a puzzle to get to the correct side of the destination so that you can ride the wind into it. I wish I could move up and down (/change layers) a bit faster. And in Hot Air Balloon mode, I'd prefer up and down arrows over the mouse.

I liked the graphics, with all the different stations that we visited. I did miss some background, to give even more sense of moving. I liked the audio as well!

Well done :smile:
Wallted
22. Apr 2025 · 19:35 UTC
I like the concept a lot. The execution is really fine for the jam purposes!
This game could be a great place to tell some sci-fi story and hook the player to the full extent. When doing a few mission I immediately got inspired by the mission briefings, why they need that cargo (like delivering ldjam games!)
CiaranW
24. Apr 2025 · 23:30 UTC
Nice, I like the mechanic, and the particle visualisations of the layers were perfect! I wish there was some kind of scoring system to tell me whether my times were 'good' or not, but even so, I was enjoying trying to optimise my routes by remembering the challenges of certain destinations. I had a good time, nice entry!