Before anything else I would like to thank everyone who played my game! This was my first Ludum Dare and it was worth it!

Into the Universe: My first LD game

Since this was my first Ludum Dare I knew from the beginning that I have to make something very simple, just to be sure that I can finish everything in time. I was originally aiming for the Compo, but I ended up in Jam, because my final game turned out to be a bit more complex. When I look back I think it is better to submit finished game in 72 hours rather than unfinished in 48.

With Into the Universe my main goal was to create simple strategic game – I really like the gendre of simple strategic/rogue games like FTL so I decided to do something like it, in a way.

What went wrong

One thing that I really struggled with was time. Making a game all alone is hard but it is doable when you plan in the right way. I unfortunately spent so much time on procedural solar system generation and planet stuff that I did not have time to implement proper fighting or even usage of the planets themselves. Because of this I did not have time to balance the game in the end either, so some games might be very easy and some very hard.

If it’s broken, I won’t fix it

Two things in the game are totally bad! Sound effects were added literally 5 minutes before the deadline (and I don’t mean the deadline with 1 hour to submit, I mean the end end deadline). Same goes for the fighting. Even though it was added this late in the process it still works, well, kind of… Fighting is really bad because it is repetitive and there is no feedback other than weird sound effect and there is also one BUG when if the AI kills you, the blowing up sound plays forever (sorry about blowing up your head).
Overall things are broken in this game, but they are not game breaking! What I really like about Ludum Dare is that the time is limited and I don’t want to fix these issues, because it is my fault as a creator that they exist. I had limited time and the game is what it is and you all should play the game that was really created in 72 hours.

What went right

One thing I’m really happy about is the whole game concept. I like it a lot! What I really like is the fact that the game can be played for quite a long time and it still can be fun. And even though I spent too much time working on the planets I really like the feel of randomly generated solar system and the feel of the whole game. I’m really happy about the music too.

Future of this game

All in all I’m really happy about my game and I accept all the feedback comments from you guys. Thank you very much for them, because knowing that you played my game just makes me smile every time I play it!
I plan to work more on this game in the future – basicly rewriting it altogether. I think the idea behind it is very cool and definitely is worth exploring.

TL;DR;

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR PLAYING MY GAME and THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS LUDUM DARE.

Feel free to PLAY MY GAME!