FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD38 → Solar Smash

Solar Smash

By blacksheepza, William_ZA and add-an-a

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall3673.4037
Fun3793.1737
Innovation3193.2537
Theme4093.3836
Graphics2893.7839
Audio3343.0036
Humor4692.3434
Mood4433.1234

Comments

emile 2017-04-27 11:11

Hi fellow South African game devs.... this looks like a way better, more polished and more fun version of my lame compo entry: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/planet-hell. Well done! ;)

king-kujito 2017-04-28 14:39

I suck at your game, but I can see it's well made. It's a clever idea and would make a great mobile app. Some advice though: could you perhaps add the option to change music/sound effect volume? The explosion were very loud compared to the music.

morbidcamel101 2017-04-28 14:54

love the use of newton's gravitation laws and the chain reactions. It's simple but addictive

james-dunlap 2017-05-01 15:31

Nice, enjoyable game. On the WebGL version, at times the line coming from the asteroid seemed a little non-responsive, but overall a very great game. Could maybe have used some music in the background while playing. Nice concept, and it took me a few times to win. The game was fun and made me want to keep playing until I won. I liked the subtle, but effective, cloud effect in the background.

symmsaur 2017-05-01 19:34

What happened to any links to the actual game?

add-an-a 2017-05-01 19:48

Hey @symmsaur, sorry about that! We updated our images and something went wrong. Here's the link in the mean time: https://groupeffort.itch.io/solar-smash

abhimonk 2017-05-01 22:22

Wow, overall amazing. The physics work so well! I love how the asteroids slingshot around the planets when you narrowly miss. Very difficult but really rewarding to hit a planet and have the pieces ricochet around. The explosions were also very satisfying. The 3d models also looked very well done. Great job!

kleinzach 2017-05-01 23:20

Very cool! I like the way the game felt quite a lot, everything felt responsive and satisfying. I also really like the look you were going for in the game. Good job!

smiling-cat-entertainment 2017-05-01 23:38

I really like the physics, and how things can break apart and cause chain reactions. Well done!

samlo 2017-05-02 00:50

This is really fun and satisfying to play! I do wish there was a score attack mode instead of the timed mode. That way I could smash planets all day

jamesy012 2017-05-02 01:56

When you hit the planet it's really epic but a lot of the time I was hoping the asteroid would go in the direction i was aiming, like half my shots went right into the sun, I also didn't understand was was going on at first, just clicking on planets and asteroids with sounds like i'm doing something right going on. I also didn't realise how much power I would be adding to the asteroids a lot of the times it just didn't seem right.

Good looking and sounding game though

gao-ming 2017-05-02 08:19

wonderful game and worth to play.

huvaakoodia 2017-05-02 11:32

Simple and functional. Not the most exciting entry truth to be told, the novelty wears off quite quickly. The gods seem to like it though.

death-is-cold 2017-05-02 12:01

Not bad! Did have a fatal error after 2 plays though. Good luck!

cambryx 2017-05-02 13:54

Cool idea. I really liked these big chain reactions. The graphics(especially in the menu) were really cool. Good job for a first 3D game. The gameplay though was often pretty random and lacked a bit of variety, which took some fun away. Still a nice idea and solid execution!

If you would like to try our game, here is a link: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/42-mikronikus

Feel free to leave some feedback!

broken-matrix 2017-05-02 17:17

Horribly optimized, not very fun.

smdeveloper 2017-05-02 17:38

Too bad the game is limited, you could add some extra level, the idea is good! :thumbsup:

palemachine 2017-05-02 17:54

Looks and sounds amazing, and the physics are used in a great way, making it very fun to fling asteroids at planets and then watch their pieces float into other planets and crash them as well. I agree that this could be made into a solid mobile game!

gcoope 2017-05-02 19:21

What a nice idea! It works well and the planets are modelled in an imaginative way - good job!

chispalbc 2017-05-02 19:24

Too much lag for me but it was interesting. I really liked the graphics!

blacksheepza 2017-05-02 20:00

Hey all, sorry about the lag! It should get better if you play a second round. I am still learning and made some non-optimal coding decisions in order to get things up and running as fast as possible. :sweat_smile:

Also, a BIG thank you to all the kind words, feedback and people playing our game! It means a lot to our fledgling team! We hope you enjoyed it! :smile: :rocket:

radmccool 2017-05-03 12:00

I had fun with this despite being terrible at it. I'd appreciate a mode with no time limit or something just to mess about. The orbital physics system looks like it could be fun to play with

tuteupaituamae 2017-05-03 12:43

Nice game art bro

Please hate us on https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/deep-bottom

turnwolf 2017-05-03 13:24

Great game, love the look of the planets and the particle effects and trails that you used. The interesting variation of the planets are also really cool. I liked how it was really easy to pick up and play and wasn't difficult to figure out. The destruction was satisfying and the sound effects were quite nice and gave the game some punch. It was a little odd how the trails stayed even though there wasn't anything left of the planet. Overall a very interesting and visually stunning game. Great work!

markusfisch 2017-05-03 16:34

Really like the graphics and sound effects but what's really setting it apart for me are that nice chain reactions! It's so much fun breaking things when they fall apart that great ;)

pix3m 2017-05-03 18:49

Artwork is pretty solid. The color palette is well controlled and looks very professional. Gameplay is very simple, intuitive and got me spending a few more sessions after winning the first time.

simple-blue 2017-05-05 04:08

Cool game. Couldn't figure out why I was so bad at aiming until I remember gravity was a thing, haha. Keep up the good work!

piotrek 2017-05-05 22:43

Nice game. Destruction mechanics are really well made and fun.

2017-05-06 19:10

A good physics based puzzle game like this is always a solid concept/choice. It reminded me a lot of Orbitalis, but with the goal of destruction rather than an elegant orbit. Toss in some alternate solar system designs with maybe a couple of extra suns or other gravitational mechanics and you'd be golden.

That said I thought the Aiming and guiding system to launch the asteroids was a bit janky. It was hard to reliably aim at the same spot more than once. I think the best system Ive seen in a game like this allowed the player in the early tutorial levels to see a complete arch with the aim assist system. Then it would show where it would land, and maybe even what the impact would do with the additional asteroid chunks. Then as the game went along with dialed back to just a direction assist to show you trajectory. If you tossed in something like that it would improve the game by leaps and bounds. Though I have a feeling that the current system is just what happens when you have a set time limit to work on the game. Which I Understand.

That said I thought you added a lot of detail to some of those planets. It's almost a shame that you can really zoom in and get a good look at them. I thought that would make for a great excuse to add a cinematic replay of your levels if you wanted. To just watch an asteroid smash into a planet as if it was a movie.

Overall I thought it was good, if a bit janky to play in its current form. So nice work. It was featured in my recent Ludum Dare 38 showcase video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfNotfty_Qc

morbidcamel101 2017-05-08 05:13

Hi - like the use of gravity and chain reaction mechanics. I feel as a Jam entry there's a few elements missing including UI and music that would have made it more enjoyable. It was a safe title to make and definitely playable

smeax 2017-05-11 09:40

I'm really bad at this game, but it's great! :D I love the low-poly art style and the gravity system is awesome. I played only the browser version and there it was a bit delayed when I shoot the asteroids but I think thats just because of the browser. The background music could be a little bit louder. All in all a fun little game. Well done! :)

thecritterscove 2017-05-13 23:42

Interesting game concept! It took a minute for me to realize what the goal of the game was, but after that I was able to have some fun with it. The leftover planet pieces being destructive is pretty neat. The graphics while simple are bright and colorful. I didn't really notice if there was background music, was it maybe too quiet? Overall a fun concept that could use some more content and UI.

evan-minto 2017-05-16 07:52

The idea is super cool, and I got the hang of it pretty quickly. There's a lot of nuance to it because it's all based on whether you can set off the right chain reaction. Unfortunately the controls are a little unresponsive, which made it difficult at first. Still, this is a cool, simple concept with a deceptive amount of depth to it.