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They Attack At Night
They Attack At Night
By randomphantom
View on ldjam.com
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Overall | 273 | 3.41 | 60 | |
| Fun | 265 | 3.29 | 60 | |
| Innovation | 283 | 3.20 | 60 | |
| Theme | 229 | 3.69 | 60 | |
| Graphics | 248 | 3.48 | 60 | |
| Audio | 337 | 2.79 | 55 | |
| Mood | 185 | 3.32 | 57 | |
Comments
Sweet game! I really loved the atmosphere and setting. I've always liked the "small cityscape" feel, and the 80's neon glow thing was cool too.
The combat was enjoyable enough, although it didn't feel really challenging since they all came in a straight line. But the sfx and animations were good enough it didn't really matter.
I didn't really understand the resource management. I took that first blue box in the beginning and by wave 4 i still hadn't seen anything else so I ventured to where the pink guys were spawning and saw another box which I ran to and then fell into some ditch and then by the time I got back my base was destroyed. So I was a bit confused there.
Good work!
I loved the atmosphere even with "they attack at night" i thought was a bit dar but once the enemies started showing i think that was the right choice. The right music would have added to the experience
rushar
2017-07-31 22:56
I love the feel and look of the game. It's really suspenseful and gets challenging at just the right pace. This could be turned into a great full game if you continue to build on it. I had a fun time playing overall and can't think of anything to complain about.
Thanks for playing y'all! will be playing yours once I get a chance (back to work!)
Awesome man. Thanks for going to all the trouble for me with the OSX build. /Cheers!
Really great atmosphere! The sounds when the buildings were powering down was also quite nice! It felt satisfying to kill the enemies and it was nice how they stood out so well. Great job!
rebtf
2017-08-02 11:19
Great visuals and mood, I really liked how the lights in the town reflected your current power.
I did find the main combat loop fairly basic but there were some interesting elements like turning buildings into turrets.
I did like how distinct the enemies were from the environment, really made them pop.
Pretty interesting game you have there~ Took me a while to figure out what was going on, and I fell down a trench trying to get to a generator in the distance. Got lost in the dark hallways and ended up resetting. It's a bit annoying how the progress numbers for buildings are so high up; I didn't realize I was interacting with them until I stepped really far back! Otherwise, the gameplay seems to be solid, forcing you to defend your location while risking heading far out to grab generators and leaving your base vulnerable. Very pretty graphics, too, despite its simplicity! Well done~
Agree that the progress numbers for the buildings could be difficult to make out being so high up. A number of players seem to have stumbled onto the trenches too (which was totally intended to remind players on the dangers of venturing in the dark, there's some ramps to get back though so all is not lost). Shooting light spears would help illuminate those areas. Thanks for the feedback!
incobalt
2017-08-02 23:04
I found this game to be a bit difficult, and I didn't understand what I was supposed to be doing with the buildings at first. I will say, though, that I got farther without using the buildings than I did with them. The turrets didn't seem to help as much as it seemed like they would. Still, it was an interesting idea, and it looks rather good for so little time!
Yeah the turrets can be a bit dumb sometimes, shooting at other buildings. Every shot causes some knockback though and that helps delay the enemy advancement. Might consider rebalancing it to be more powerful. Thanks for playing!
Biggest flaw is the tutorial text, most of it's in hard places to see. Most of it is sideways and clipping into the ground so you cna't even read the whole thing. I think a lot of the game was self-explainatory or easy enough to figure out, but I feel like I'm missing out on something. Also, the "Options" didn't seem to work, I couldn't switch to windowed mode, for example.
The gameplay is pretty good balance between managing your power and defending your base.
Did the tutorial last and was trying to be funny by making the text in odd angles (the one that got clipped off was kind of intentional) but I guess I should make instructions as clear as possible. Missed out on the windowed mode option - will fix that! Thanks for the feedback.
klianc09
2017-08-03 20:10
Tried the Linux version, but it crashes for me unfortunately a few seconds after pressing start from the main menu.
vodzik
2017-08-03 21:35
Great game :D After some attempts I managed to turn on all generators and survived to 42 wave. At that moment it was too easy. But before I turned on the generators and collected all the powerups, the difficulty curve grew very well
@klianc09 may I know what version of Linux you are using? Although I have absolutely no clue about linux at all.
@vodzik wow you made it further than me at wave39! It gets boring after all the generators are on, mad kudos for powering through the game:D
Graphics were good, I especially like the look of the minimap, enemies were a bit plain. 3/5.
Audio, soundeffects but no music track. 3/5.
Innovation and Theme. On the surface it's a basic shooter, but using your ammo to fix generators as well as lighting your path and then as regular bullets, was very clever. Also lowering the main base hp everytime you recharge your gun. You took the theme and made some innnovative gameplay out of it cant ask for more. 5/5 for both theme and innovation.
Fun. I had fun with it all I can say, 4/5.
Over all great job on this game.
tomdeal
2017-08-04 14:56
The windows/Fullscreen Toggle didnt work for me. Otherwise nice entry, good graphics and sound, and well thought included theme. It could start a bit faster (more enemies early on), and I had trouble finding myself on the minimap :-)
2017-08-04 16:01
Neat game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 39 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qvdJmOzeNg
Took a while to get the hang of it even after reading all the directions both on site and in game. BTW, many of the in-game instructions are in rather inconvenient or useless places (on clips right into the ground and the text over the base probably won't be seen by a number of people). Additionally, the build percentage for creating towers is WAY out of the player's view point. It took a while before I noticed I was doing anything at all.
Think there is a bit of a bug where if you run out of power while standing in the recharge circle, you won't recharge.
The game also feels unfairly balanced (or I just suck). Even after getting a few turrets running, I never felt safe making a run on others. This was compounded by the fact that if I fell into the trenches, I was pretty much boned.
I like the concept a great deal and the controls work fine, but I think the odd are stacked against me too much.
Clearly evident of a last minute hack job on the tutorial, apologies for the confusion at the start. The build percentage for the buildings needs to be fixed as well, and the bug (There to prevent you from sucking all the juice from your base, but it should still be activated if the base power increases). The balancing also needs work as right now (1) it takes too long for the action to start (2) there's too little downtime between waves making it feel somewhat relentless. Just pushed out a "post jam" version that fixes this issues. Thanks again for the feedback!
Cool concept and nice style! Want`s this in VR
egn
2017-08-05 16:08
nice work!!!
Very nice thematic mechanics you've got here to back up the basic shooting and tower defense. Not to say the execution is brilliant all around.
Absorbing the power of the city, it shutting down and the vision range dropping is marvelous. The enemy graphics are less great, but serviceable at least.
The turrets should be more powerful, their damage and range are very low. Constructing them is quite slow too. Maybe they could build up on their own after right clicking, draining energy from the main core directly.
Them trenches. I get the idea of lighting your path with "light spears", but that doesn't make it any less annoying. An old-school flashlight would do better in this regard.
Last little niggle: Runs pretty badly on my computer. The options you put in allowed me to get it up to 40 fps, looking very pixely though. More of a UE4 problem this.
Inventive stuff really. Good job.
I played both your jam entry and post jam entry. The post jam entry did a much better job at explaining to the player how to play, that being said, don't expect that your player is willing to read a bunch of floating text. Slowly feed the player information and get them comfortable with the mechanics before throwing more complex stuff at them. Not sure if it was just me but I was only able to make it to about wave 5. I never really felt challenged until I was completely overwhelmed with enemies and there was nothing I could do. This left me with the feeling that I had little control over the outcome of the game. That being said, your game looks and plays really nicely!
Congratulations on making a complete game!
ditzel
2017-08-05 21:43
Very good game! I like the retro arcade mood. It remind me of Tron. A background Musik or mood would be great to improve it.
Very good entry. Simple mechanic and interesting gameplay. It works well. I assume that it could be improved adding new features. You have done a great work in less than 48 hours. The aesthetic is unusual and good enough - maybe too darkly. I had fun playing. Well done ++
well its gotta be 5 stars across the board, i just played it for half an hour. i like the steady buildup of power, from "oh no i have to defend my base how am i gonna get out to activate things aah build this turret faster" to "psh ill let that entire wave run into my base as i fly across the sky raining bullet time shots at my enemies, I have enough power gen" controls felt good, only complaint there would be to allow changing direction/speed while jetpacking, felt awkward being stuck going 1 direction/speed once you started. i like the use of light to disguise enemies and make you spend some of your early power lighting the way.
This was the best entry I have played so far! Loved the game and I actually want to play it again to see how far I can get! Great work!!
Very stylish game, but I'm not quite sure I fully understood it. I managed to recharge the first building to 100%. Then I stood for a while at the center defending the position, and that seemed quite doable to just wait for that first building or whatever caused the main meter to increase. But after a while I figured, I rather chance going to the second building in the far distance. But there was a trench that was invisible to me before I fell down and the game had not really hinted that there'd be trenches running through the city. After walking around in the trench a while, I fell off the map and there the game froze. So it did have a very nice feeling and looked really well but the rather giant leap from the first to the second building. The way I wasn't warned about strange city-planning. And that I could walk off map, well the game needs some tweaking in easing the player into the experience and showing the player what to expect and do before they are fully exposed to the adversities of the game. A really well made entry though. So don't take my issues like I'm very negative, just hints about where I'd work on the game.
Thanks for the feedback y'all!
@local-minimum yeah the game's not very clear, I guess you played the jam version as I fixed the falling-off map crash in the post-jam version (just a game over screen). Agree that too many players were lured into the trenches too quickly. One potential fix would be to add more lights in those areas that could be powered up.
@loadsofmana - Awesome that you made use of the bullet time - at least coding that feature wasn't in vain! I'll try to figure out how to make better maneuverability of the jetpack.
@huvaakoodia - Will need to have a think about balancing it if the building continues automatically (now it just takes time to build which can be kind of boring). Once constructed they are a constant flow of damage though. Perhaps if it cost more power to build. I'll need to figure out how to optimize UE4 as well.
@johnny-turbo - After playing the postjam I find the floating text to be annoying as well - will take note of your suggestions, perhaps a separate tutorial session rather than smacking the tutorial in the main game loop.
zirrrus
2017-08-06 12:07
Gorgeous! The neon style is very nice.
I kept falling into the pits though...those are pretty devious :) Having to scope out the area using your shots as the light source was a really cool idea. So was spending your health/power to repair generators. Overall really good job.
wabble
2017-08-07 00:07
Cool game. It lagge my pc a bit tho ^^.
The towers dont do much so u should make em a bit more powerfull.
The theme is there and its pretty well thought out :) but the gameplay becomes a bit dull since it take a lot of time to bit turrets with very little reward.
Also I got a powerup once but i dint understand what it did.
A fun 10 minutes of gameplay
Great use of lighting, shooting was good. Had some issues with capturing the mouse, though, kept clicking off the screen.
Solid feel to the game, but I have to admit the gameplay didn't hold me very much. I felt like i was waiting for the enemies a fair bit. The look, sound, feel of the shooting was fantastic though.
linus
2017-08-07 15:35
Awesome game, unfortunately it doesn't run very well on Linux. Had a really weird graphical bug with the buildings (see the image below): bug.png
Not sure why that happend (I downloaded the post-jam version of the game) but it ruined my experience somewhat but still I enjoyed the gameplay of the game.
Neat idea but I was a bit confused about what to do first because I didn't really know where to look. There was a lot of floating text billboards but I think they should have been displayed as UI components in order and maybe even be interactive so that it would display the next text when you accomplished the specific goal and element that you explained in the current text, if you get what I'm trying to say.
Still, very cool game and very impressive for a LD game. It felt like a full game that I had a lot of fun with. Great job!
nusan
2017-08-07 16:13
Nice work, it took me time to realize than by recharging I was taking power from by base. I also didn't found about special powers and that you could recharge others generators. So I only made it to the 7th waves in about 4 tries. The black cubes are a bit too invisible and it was a bit slow to place turrets. Maybe an instant turret placement would be more fun, and let you shoot while you recharge. I was pretty fun though so good job.
I really liked the visual look of this game. For some reason it reminded me of "Shogo: Mobile Armor Division". I think the game needed a few more sounds. Other than that I liked the game. Thank you for making it!
klianc09
2017-08-10 22:10
@randomphantom I'm currently running Ubuntu 16.04 64-bit on a Lenovo E50. In case that helps tŕoubleshooting :D
I very much enjoyed the game. Difficulty steadily increasing fit my learning curve. Graphics are fantastic. The game is actually fun enough for me to play after having it tested, just to see if I can do better. This is not very common for a 48h game :) I blame in on Unreal lighting ;)
I was hoping for a moment of rest to go exploring and setting up the generators, but the enemy kept coming. I survived until wave 5; perhaps setting up more turrets would've helped.
I couldn't see the trenches around the city and fell into them few times. I couldn't reach other reactors to increase base power recharge.
lukezaz
2017-08-13 23:10
Before I go further, please bear in mind, I haven't played the post-jam, however I *have* read its changes, so take that as you will.
Anyway, I liked the general idea, and it was a pretty good sign that I played for about half an hour, so as far as gameplay and fun go, you've done quite well!
I have to say though, it was very hard to see things at first. I got adjusted to it eventually, but just about everything being glossy black didn't bode well for contrast, and I had to see the images just to find out where building text was. I also did not expect the black enemies either, and they were hard to notice for a while. In addition to this, I also couldn't see the trenches until I fell into them.
I had a little trouble with enemies at first, but I quickly found out that if you rush to get a third generator during the first few waves, you can get it up and running and be a much better spot for the rest of the game. I'm rather certain had I tried, I could've gotten a fourth up at some point and quite possibly found myself nigh-invincible.
Solid entry overall. I plan to try the post-compo for myself to see what you've done, as I liked this a lot.
@linus @klianc09 Finally able to get back to my PC and I uploaded a new linux post-jam build, realized that I was using an old toolchain for the windows cross-compile of linux, that might have been the cause of all those weird linux issues. Not sure if its working now, do let me know!
Thanks for playing all! Yes @lukezaz third generator is crucial and its important to get it in the early stage when the enemy waves are relatively easy. Kind of regret making the trenches as they make the game too difficult too soon (perhaps a power generator nearer to base would help ease the challenge)
Interesting concept, at least for me, I haven't played an FPS-TD before and to be honest, it is a fun idea. I fell down a few times because I forgot to light my path and thought everything was under them same level. :P Only got to turn on one turret which wasn't use much either. lol. Solid compo entry
klianc09
2017-08-14 21:45
@randomphantom I tried again, and it's no longer crashing. But I'm experiencing the same graphical glitches as @linus. Also it lagged quite a lot, but I have a shitty laptop, so that's not your fault.
I mostly kept to building generators and stuff, since the lag made normal combat impossible. So it was probably harder than it should have been. I like the artstyle, but it's a bit too dark. Especially those trenches at the outer parts of the map, they just hide in the pitch black ground. Also the sound when the buildings are powering down is a bit loud, and startled me the first time. I wasn't really sure what was going on at first.