FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD39 → Power Plant Simulator.

Power Plant Simulator.

By brorawr, Granlord and Bejk

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall2253.6659
Fun1823.5758
Innovation2553.3558
Theme1273.9658
Graphics2703.9159
Audio1803.5758
Humor1073.4856
Mood2543.5257

Comments

esokishi 2017-08-01 14:45

Cool game, I had a lot of fun playing it (and drank a lot of coffee)! It would be nice to also have a long term goal, because once you understand the game, you do not really have a challenge other than Do not fall asleep ^^

brorawr 2017-08-01 17:11

Thanks Esokishi! We didnt have time to balance it further, we initially wanted each pipe to have certain pressure levels. It would mean that once in a while you would have to open the valves and release some plasma, goo or water to stabilize it. We want it to be really hectic and fast paced! :D Thanks for playing and thanks for the feedback! <3

rongo-matane 2017-08-01 19:10

Animations are aweomse, Music is awesome, great entry! That old dude rocking to the swinging of coffe is really nice. While playing, i couldn't really figure out the mechanics of the switches on each pipe. Maybe it would be an option to start wiht one pipe or two, and introduce the others while progressing?

p-dude 2017-08-01 20:20

I agree that a long-term goal would improve the experience dramatically. Love the art and animation. It felt like once the pipe on the right started the alarm, there was never enough time to actually fix it. It was also hard to hear the "yawn" at times, making me lose unexpectedly. The coffee mechanic is smart, as is the placement - always keeps the player running around!

brorawr 2017-08-01 21:04

@rongo-matane thanks a bunch, glad you like it! We plan on adding a tutorial post jam to clarify the mechanics. Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it alot! /Bejk

brorawr 2017-08-01 21:12

@p-dude Thanks for playing and thank you for your kind words! Thanks for your feedback, I know exactly what you mean regarding the water pipe.. we have alot of balancing to do :) And you are on point with the yawn as well, its too low :) Again, thanks a bunch for playing and thanks for the feedback! /Bejk

boxfort 2017-08-01 23:34

Really fun puzzler, the fluids all look very nice and the scientist running with his tie flapping behind him is great. Very good job!

reboundgames 2017-08-01 23:49

The art is excellent. I like the way the liquids looks, and it's handy that it tells you why you lost along with multiple stats. Very nice.

royoyo 2017-08-02 07:33

Solid idea and release! Difficulty is nice and pace keeps you moving, love it :)

polona 2017-08-02 08:54

Unfortunately, mac version does not work.

alien 2017-08-02 09:18

Really amazing game!! I had a ton of fun playing it and Great joB!

pandorfa 2017-08-02 10:34

Looks cool, but I didnt really grasp the game :(

granlord 2017-08-02 11:07

@polona Thanks for the feedback, I Will look into it asap :)

brorawr 2017-08-02 13:06

@boxfort thank you for playing and leaving feedback!

brorawr 2017-08-02 13:08

@ReboundGames Thanks for playing! I agree with you and @boxfort! @granlord did an amazing job with the particles that make up for the liquids! Thank you for your kind words! Glad you liked it! /Bejk

brorawr 2017-08-02 13:10

@royoyo thanks for playing, glad you liked it! <3

brorawr 2017-08-02 13:10

@alien thanks man, it means alot! <3

binaryspark 2017-08-02 13:48

Cool game! I quite like the art, it's simple and charming. The music is nice and adds to the slightly rushed mood of the game.

I wasn't entirely sure what was going on at first, particularly I was confused that the leftmost generator was supposed to go up rather than down.

Overall, very nice and thematic time killer :smile:

robber 2017-08-02 15:15

Love the graphics and a pumped up atmosphere! some feedback of actually drinking a cup a joe would be nice, i was in doubt a few times.

brorawr 2017-08-02 16:39

@robber I am sorry I missed when you streamed our game, I have watched the vod and am glad you liked it! Thanks for playing, rating and leaving feedback! /Bejk (KoltrastenTV @ Twitch)

gurvan 2017-08-02 17:56

Really a nice game! I like how you need to move a lot and there is no dead time. The graphics are really nice and music is too.

brorawr 2017-08-02 17:59

@binaryspark Hey man! Glad you liked it! thanks for the feedback and thanks for playing! <3

bomb-x 2017-08-03 11:38

Same issue than polona, mac version does not work :(((

holypangolin 2017-08-03 12:11

Couldn't open mac build:(

lerpish 2017-08-03 12:47

Great game

wheffle 2017-08-03 12:49

Wow, really tight package! Pretty creative concept and everything jives perfectly. The visuals and audio are great, and it goes great with the theme. Was a lot of fun to play!

granlord 2017-08-03 12:54

So sorry @bomb-x and @holypangolin I have been swamped, I promise to fix it soon 😊

simon-rahnasto 2017-08-03 15:33

This was a really cool take on the theme, litterally generating power to prevent it from running out and also drinking coffee for personal power, something I think most of us did a lot during the gamejam :D

Graphics are very nice and coherent, everything looks and feela right, nothing out of place and that leads to a great game feel. Same goes for the audio, really great.

There is just a ton of work that has gone in to this, I love the feedback for an example, something we all can learn from this entry.

I also digg the "crazy-professor" look. Reminds me of futurama and rick and morty. Character design is very important and you nailed it. Great work overall, fantastic game :)

simon-rahnasto 2017-08-03 15:33

Ludum Dare website + internet lag = sorry for tripple post.

simon-rahnasto 2017-08-03 15:33

I will use this 3rd accidental post to once again say good job on making such a great game :D

connor-hagan 2017-08-03 16:09

Really, really cool game. I hit 402 energy!

##### Pros

* Love the art style, and love the liquid physics. I also liked the run animation. It all looks really cool.

* Simple yet engaging gameplay

* Good use of sound effects and music

* Really unique and cool take on the theme

##### Cons

* Could use a bit more management. Maybe every 100 energy generated, new stuff should come along and give you even more things to manage. I found being able to manage the 3 meters pretty easily once I got the hang of it.

* Jumping doesn't really serve a purpose.

* I discovered a bug that ended my run. If you go to either wall, and spam the jump button, you'll just keep jumping until you fall outside the level bounds (whoops).

##### Overall

A really, really cool game! I definitely enjoyed it a lot.

assoonasimpossible 2017-08-03 18:03

Simple and cool idea. Overall nice experience.

damdoshi 2017-08-03 19:14

This is pretty cool. It is simple but we can play it and there is a challenge. The graphic environment is well done.

Having an objective could improve the game. An objective and new obstacles coming while the energy level goes up.

funkyhippo 2017-08-03 19:38

This game is a super awesome 72-hour game - one of the best I've seen so far!

The graphics are really awesome, consistent and super smooth! (and satisfying as all hell fluid animations).

The music is kinda out of place, but also oddly fitting because of the goofy nature of the game (and how intense it is)

I really enjoy the balancing mechanics of the game.. And the fluid animations are simply awesome.. Can't stress that enough. Well done guys!

designernap 2017-08-03 19:45

This looks great. Kinda frustrating having the levels on the far right but it does encourage movement. A nice and simple plate spinning mechanic that is well executed. Nicely done!

amarcu 2017-08-03 20:13

Cool game, i'm a sucker for resource management games and you've made a nice one. The liquids were well made and the music helped a lot with the hectic gameplay :). Congratz!

estebe 2017-08-03 20:34

Frantic game in a good way!

The animation is splendid, music is pumping and fitting, gamplay is wel balanced.

It is pretty hard, but hey, that's what the game said beforehand!

I only missed a good feedback upon sipping coffee like I got at the controls. It came a bit late compared.

Good collaboration!

gimbalock 2017-08-03 20:38

Great entry. Love the animations. And the sfx and music is really good. Everything fits together so well. Great game!

flaterectomy 2017-08-03 20:53

This is a pretty nifty take on the spinning plates mechanic. Not good for my stress levels. :smile:

The art style is quite appealing, the protagonist looks great. I wonder if the game scaled up awkwardly here and there, though, or if that was an intentional choice. It made the text in the menu a little hard to read, for example, but I couldn't be sure if that was intended or not.

The music helps the high-pressure atmosphere of the game, but got repetitive after a while. Still, it set a good tone.

Nice job, shame about my blood pressure. :joy:

eshudra 2017-08-03 21:36

Very interesting game! It takes me some time to understand the balance.

mianagames 2017-08-03 22:42

Great game. I loved your art and audio. Congrats!

brorawr 2017-08-03 23:23

I have been rating so many games today and I did not expect this many responses and feedback! You guys are awesome!

Thanks.gif

brorawr 2017-08-03 23:27

@simon-rahnasto Thanks for the feedback I'm glad you liked it! And for coffee.. @granlord, our programmer, drank so much of my coffee while developing this game that he suprised me the day after submissions with a new bag of coffee beans! :grin:

Im really stoked that you like the visuals, audio and our crazy doctor! As for him, I had nothing in mind when I created him.. I later discovered that he looks like the grandpa from Rugrats fused with the doctor from Futurama! :smile:

@connor-hagan Great way to structure your feedback! I think I'll adopt it myself :thumbsup:

Thank you for everything mentioned in the pros! Glad you liked it!

As for the cons, I completely agree with you, we didnt have time to add more elements to further increase the difficulty. We will add more in the future though, as we plan on completing this game.

Also! Thanks for pointing out the bug, I will inform @granlord about it and we will make sure we iron it out!

brorawr 2017-08-03 23:37

@assonasimpossible Thank you! glad you liked it! :)

@damdoshi Glad you liked it! We will add objectives and obstacles after the jam :thumbsup: thanks for the feedback!

@funkyhippo

omg thank you for the praise! :heart:

As for the music, its 100% made from scratch to fit this game, glad it worked! :grin:

@designernap Haha the meters/levels and coffe pot are strategically placed for that reason alone, as you guessed! :D Thanks for the feedback!

@amarcu Glad you liked it! The liquids are actually particles within Unity that @granlord infused with some shader voodoo magic! As a designer.. I have no idea how he did it.. but I like it as well! :thumbsup: :sunglasses:

@estebe Haha yay! thats exactly what we were going for!

As for the coffee cue, it is there and it is instant.. the only issue is that its: "Sluuurp.....Aaaahh!" and sometimes the slurp is lost in the alarms and/or music. Im going to replace that audio cue with something more noticable (plus visual feedback). Thanks for playing, rating and commenting! :heart:

brorawr 2017-08-03 23:47

@gimbalock Thanks for playing and glad you liked it! (ps.. I managed 4 years in the purple house ;) )

@flaterectomy haha oh no! sorry about the stress levels! :joy:

The text on that screen is actually a bad font I had to put in at the last minute to make it somewhat easier on the player. When we first were to publish the game we had no information and/or start screen.

Needless to say, it will be changed post jam and I will most likely create a custom font for this game :smile:

All in all, thank you so much for playing and taking your time giving us your feedback!

And again, sorry about the stress/blood pressure! :joy:

christina-antoinette-neofotistou 2017-08-04 05:29

ha! That was great!! My only nitpick: I'd have liked the 3 indicator bars to always be present on the UI, instead of me having to go and look at them. Sure, it added some tension, but the game was really fun and tense without it anyway.

Lovely job :D

mr-houdini 2017-08-04 15:12

556 Gwatts! Great and simple idea, a dynamic real time resource manager really well put together. I had a little problem at the beguinning with: - Didn't know that it was not possible to use 2 goos at the same time, so I thought they had limited time open. - I was waiting for the coffe to fill at the coffe machine (maybe it is just my problem).

I loved the goos screen and having to look at it, it makes the game more realistic. The camera under the parameters was so good to manage timings. As I said, a really well made game, congratulations! Good luck.

a333 2017-08-04 20:40

The danger sounds and effects were super good =) Almost the same as in actual reactor room, when I... err.. nevermind. Gotta drink some coffee!

Great job, excelent urgency mood, and pressure's just right to keep you on your toes.

nyri0 2017-08-04 20:47

Really good idea and I like the graphics and audio. The gameplay isn't balanced yet, and you spend most of your time dying because the guy falls asleep and you didn't hear him yawn.

brorawr 2017-08-05 00:09

@a333 Thanks man! glad you enjoyed it! :D As for your knowledge on realistic reactor warning sounds... no comments! :joy:

PS: Drink some coffee for me and Dr. Wattson, will you? :coffee:

@nyri0 Thanks for playing and thank you for your feedback! :) We will work on better feedback on audio cues and we have been talking about a visual cue when you drink and/or need coffee as well. Alot of times the yawning drowns in the alarm sfx at the moment.

ddrkirbyisq 2017-08-05 17:02

Hi there! Your windows RAR file download doesn't seem to properly open for me. I'm attempting to extract it using 7-zip (x64). The filesize of the archive is 12.8 MB (13,444,447 bytes) and its MD5 checksum is 7D9187082C776A5995CABC26E2C4C0DD. Please verify?

sinclairstrange 2017-08-05 18:31

Couldn't open the zip file :( I'll check back when it's fixed ^-^

brorawr 2017-08-05 20:06

@ddrkirbyisq The file for Windows works for me with winrar and 7zip D: try it again maybe? (I did update the build yesterday, but that should not affect this download)

The checksum is correct: 7d9187082c776a5995cabc26e2c4c0dd

@sinclairstrange The zip file works for me (although I cant verify the mac build)

orcdraco 2017-08-06 15:41

Creative idea and fun gameplay! :) Nice work! :)

thygrrr 2017-08-06 15:47

Holy hell, this is frantic!

Likes: - coffee as an extra resource for your avatar. just like in real life - hectic music, hectic sounds - klaxons galore - nice graphics with smooth scrolling and even some parallax :)

Challenges: - it was really hard to understand what was going on - the gauges... when the blue gauge is full, does that mean I have lots of water, or I need lots of water? :)

Overall: - fun game, really frantic, quite challenging. - I should not run a power plant.

tolmera 2017-08-06 18:27

Hey @brorawr, @granlord, and @bejk - [you put your game on my list to play](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/end-of-time/whos-not-had-any-love-link-your-game-for-me-to-play), and [I streamed the play-through on Friday](https://youtu.be/-DEvWdMWCKk?t=4912), The music was pretty cool! The visuals were great, and the pressure was way high! :) overall it was a fun play-through. I realized almost straight away that the game would let you just pump the gray and water, and only hit the fuel when it was getting low. So the challenge was a little low, it made it kinda button mashy, but I think it's close to that 'complicated' fun, where if you implemented a 'real' triangle between water, gray and fuel, you could make the player try to run closer to the balance or edge. And it would be more challenging/fun. That being said, you might already have the triangle, in which case, just a little more feedback from the game (the graph was cool) :)

brorawr 2017-08-06 19:52

@tolmera

Thanks for playing our game and leaving your feedback!

Unfortunately your voice was kinda drowned in the youtube clip when I tried to watch it during your playthrough so I didnt get all of your feedback while playing.

One thing I have to mention, I noticed that one key component of the game goes missing when playing in window mode, there is usually a "coffee meter" at the top left corner.

We are still working on a perfect mixture of difficulty and adding end game mechanics to make it harder the longer you play :)

Again, thank you for playing and linking your playthrough (with the correct timing :heart: )

/Bejk

brorawr 2017-08-06 20:04

@thygrrr

haha glad you thought it was frantic! that is what we were aiming for :grin:

Im gonna leave out the things you liked, and just say, I am glad you liked it! :grin:

The things we can improve, I completely agree, we wanted to create a tutorial, intro screen but we ran out of time.

As for the liquids, we will have to look into a more clear way to display what is going on based on alot of the feedback we have been receiving.

Thanks alot for playing and leaving feedback, your feedback is what helps us improve the game post jam! :heart:

tolmera 2017-08-06 20:25

@BroRawr, Oh, I thought you just listened for when he yawned :) lol. I thought that was nice mechanic :P but now I know haha :)

And yea, my audio was terrible, never done this before. So much to learn :)

brorawr 2017-08-06 22:21

@tolmera We added the audio cue because it was so easy to forget to watch the coffee meter :D the yawn is easily drowned by the alarms and other sounds in game so they both complete eachother fairly well :)

btw I laughed in the beginning when you managed to get as many cups of coffee as gigawatts :thumbsup:

iamsodarncool 2017-08-07 00:47

When I try to extract the windows version using 7zip, I get this error: "Can not open file 'E:\Users\Jimmy\Downloads\Power Plant Simulator.rar' as archive"

badly-drawn-rod 2017-08-12 21:03

The animations, particularly on the flowing fluid, were great. I hope my local power station has better safety procedures than the way that I ran this one, but with all the cut backs and cost savings these days the engineers probably do run on coffee. Funny game!

ddrkirbyisq 2017-08-13 20:59

Hehe, fun. I also played in windowed mode and apparently missed the "coffee meter" -- oops! Make sure you are building your UI to account for different resolutions! (anchor to a corner of the screen)

Other than that, I'm questioning why jumping was in the game (maybe some planned feature that didn't make it in?). My only other feedback would be with the menu -- IMHO in general if you are going to make your game controls use the keyboard exclusively it's better in terms of UX if you have your menu use the keyboard as well. But I understand that just slapping on a Unity mouse button is easy too; maybe you were crunched for time. =P

Proper pixel fonts would help your title screen look a lot more polished too!

brorawr 2017-08-17 12:11

Thanks for playing @badly-drawn-rod and @ddrkirbyisq! I hope ALL power plants are managed better than this! :joy:

you are on point @ddrkirbyisq, we had initially intended to have more mechanics implemented, we wanted the player to never have a moment to stand still. We toyed a little with objects to avoid, platforms to reach certain pressure valves etc etc.. but we didnt have enough time to actually make it work.

I really appreciate the honest feedback, we already have a whole list of things we want to redo completely when we get back to working on it :)