FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD42 → Emissary

Emissary

By handle

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall513.9576
Fun1183.7176
Innovation933.7777
Theme324.2976
Graphics384.1476
Audio653.7075
Humor4152.1160
Mood783.6367

Comments

secretstage 2018-08-12 22:25

smooth experience. reminded me of tetrisphere for n64 a bit.

secretstage 2018-08-12 22:25

smooth experience. reminded me of tetrisphere for n64 a bit.

2018-08-12 22:47

aesthetically pleasing, but didn't enjoy the core gameplay loop

rs11s21n 2018-08-12 23:19

ha ha... me too but seems interesting!

sdrrv 2018-08-12 23:19

Loved the art style!

handle 2018-08-12 23:29

@sdrrv Thanks! I was pretty happy with it. @secretstage Thank you for checking it out, glad it ran well.

chillen 2018-08-12 23:31

Really loved the core loop personally! Took a little while to get the hang of it, but I think I'll be coming back to play this again later. Really good and really tough! Also looked and sounded great.

handle 2018-08-12 23:35

@chillen Thanks! Great to hear it! I think some more tutorial content would have helped people figure it out, but you know... compo.

chillen 2018-08-12 23:41

@handle Quite possibly! It definitely felt pretty intuitive, but does take some trial and error to get into the strategy. I wonder if making it a little faster to get back into a new game would help? eg. start landing on a new planet as soon as you die, rather than being shot back to the menu. Then you can trial and error much faster. Still insanely fun either way :)

xinmone 2018-08-13 00:00

Great art and fun for a quick play!

4thwallstudios 2018-08-13 00:02

Pretty fun! I couldn't see how many points I got at the end.

soyertek 2018-08-13 04:10

Great soundtrack and engaging visuals. Love the game let me know if it becomes a smartphone app because it would make a great one!

smilewood 2018-08-13 04:17

Rather difficult game to play, it kept getting me that pressing and holding space didn't make me hover, i had to press it again. It was a little framey in the web build, but overall very fun to play and good sound design! Nice job.

handle 2018-08-13 04:24

@4thwallstudios You only get a score when you complete a planet, failure is worth nothing! :-P

handle 2018-08-13 04:25

@smilewood Okay, good to know about the web version. It runs fine on my machine, but I was hesitant to even put it up in case it ran poorly. The downloads should run much better of course. Also, I wanted you to be able to control your hover altitude, so that was my reasoning for the double press.

smilewood 2018-08-13 04:34

@handle That makes perfect sense for the spacebar holding, i just wasn't used to it in the beginning. I wouldn't worry too much about the web build, it wasn't very bad, as in it didn't make the game unplayable or even hard to play, it was just something that I noticed.

smithy 2018-08-13 07:44

Fun but hard game (or I am just not used to a gamepad). The game looks fantastic and you have an incredible soundtrack

haustgeirr 2018-08-13 09:35

Gorgeous looking game. I found it a bit of a finger-twister to play. Nice idea, lovely style - great entry.

gao-ming 2018-08-13 10:01

Very fun. The graphics are beautiful. Great work!

alexkarate 2018-08-13 10:23

This is a really fun game that you could just sit and play while a podcast is playing in the background

ysty 2018-08-13 14:41

Very tense and fun. I love the music and the aesthetic, and I really enjoyed the dark interpretation of the theme.

elzach 2018-08-13 15:01

Sick visuals. The menacing music really underlines of being the bad guy. Nice interpretation of the theme - it has facettes. At first I didn't realize I had to press the bomb button and was just hunting terraformers for minutes!

randomphantom 2018-08-13 15:20

Awesome artstyle and slick gameplay. It's a nice touch that you added a touch of procedural generation/randomisation of the worlds, helps with the repetitive nature of gameplay. Would be great if you could restart the level without having to wait. Wasn't sure how to use the bomb as well. Great work!

adroitconceptions 2018-08-13 18:01

I think you just set the bar for every other game rating for me. good art good game play Only thing I could add would be to have some sort of "bomb" ready notification.

handle 2018-08-13 18:19

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I just found an unfortunate bug where the movement is dependent on framerate... I'll add an updated version and label it accordingly. If the game was moving super quickly that's why.

nam-nguyen 2018-08-14 02:38

I died a lot and very fast. The control was rather complex for me to follow. I understand that it adds complexity to the gameplay, but I couldn't follow it. So you have ASDW because I dont have a joystick, but then A or space is jump. Space is fine for me, but then you have X under ASDW, and then B above Space. I couldnt think of anyway of using my hands to control it properly. Having all the OR options adds a bit more confusion to it too. Probably just the design choice, but I could enjoy the game more if the control layout was a bit less complex. It would be great if you have several levels, and start increasing the complexity of the game, i.e. adding ability and control keys. My game play was basically rolling around and jumping when possible/have to. And for the part that I love: great art work, the graphic, the UI.. It is so pleasing to see and even tho I died quickly, it doesnt stop me from replaying the game haha. The main menu was sooo impressively elegant that I really didnt mind it having no music. Great job!!

thesomeonexd 2018-08-14 02:56

This game really felt good, definitely a nice arcade game. With a gamepad, it was really easy and intuitive to pick up. I didn't know what I was doing first, but it was really fun once I got the hang of it! Good job!

detectivelosos 2018-08-14 02:57

This game is such an enjoyable audiovisual experience! Music, all the lights and especially the fact that you are constantly moving really put you in this flow state, when there is no more such abstraction as a controller, it's just you and the need to constantly be on the go. Pretty much the only downside I found (not even a downside, but more of a misunderstanding on my part) is that it seems to me like you don't really need a dash move in this game at all. But it's still there preventing the controls scheme from being even more minimal and elegant.

2018-08-14 03:07

I loved this game. There are some slight browser shortcut issues (holding ctrl and pressing w at same time) that will end the experience of the game prematurely but those are unforeseen circumstances I guess. the graphics were nice. the audio was great. I was in extreme focus the entire time and it took a long time to get used to moving around and hovering but after a while it was perfectly fine. each level got harder which i appreciated a lot. Things I would have liked would be putting a face to the character i am using to destroy planets. I would love to hear a story about why I am destroying planets and stuff. Overall though I was really upset when I lost at higher levels so you definitely have grabbed that emotion from me and amplified it. GREAT JOB!

handle 2018-08-14 03:41

@nam-nguyen The first control for each action is for the controller, the second is for the keyboard. I should have made that more clear. There is music!

@detectivelosos Your score at the end of the level is based on how quickly you win, so that's why the dash is there.

@gmanadvanced Thanks for playing! Sorry about the control conflict between Emissary and Chrome... that's unfortunate.

dongle 2018-08-14 03:57

Solid visuals. It took some time to get use to, but it was really fun after I got the hang of it.

gus-the-shark 2018-08-14 05:02

Really cool programmer art going on here, and the music is quite good too, I dig it. The concept is nice and the theme is very pure and well executed. I wish there were more levels and objectives, as it got really hard to die once I got the hang of it. Nice work!

nam-nguyen 2018-08-14 06:14

@handle at the main menu? Are you sure? I just double checked it, still no sound in the main menu. Im playing the web version though. Once you play the game, there is sound.

mza 2018-08-14 11:07

Bonus points for making a game involving a globe just like me :)

On a serious note, Aesthetics are clean and appealing, controls are responsive, sound is fitting.

I understand 2D circular physics. 3D spherical physics is a bit more challenging to implement for myself. Therefore, glad this is a compo too. Once, I have more time, i'll delve into your source code for nuggets of knowledge regarless of the quality of your documentation.

alexey-akulovich 2018-08-14 12:15

Beautiful visuals and interesting concept, very cool work with lights.

It's a pity that HTML5 build does not work on intel hd graphics... But it is not a game problem.

handle 2018-08-14 14:14

@nam-nguyen Oh sorry, I thought you meant no music in general. There is indeed no title screen music.

@mza I'm afraid you'll be disappointed, because the physics are entirely cheated lol. Also it is not documented at all. But if it's helpful that's awesome!

lefinno 2018-08-14 23:18

The graphics, gameplay, and audio is nice, the only thing is maybe change the thruster sound.

laytanl 2018-08-14 23:28

Great game, everything feels good and is aesthatically pleasing. One suggestion is that i would like the audio to keep playing once you die so i can really take in the soundtrack.

rexpeppers 2018-08-15 04:24

Wow great game!

annie-owl 2018-08-15 09:17

Damn you are good at making electronic music. This soundtrack just gorgeous and fits the gameplay perfectly. And the gameplay itself is really fun and engaging. Great entry.

monkeydom 2018-08-15 13:26

Wow. What a fantastic entry, hard fun and well balanced.

blackoptics8 2018-08-15 18:46

It took me a bit to actually beat a world. I didn't realize obliterating the scenery recharged the bomb faster. Would be nice to see your score and past scores on the title screen. The audio could use some work, the jumping/hovering sound feels like it cuts off too fast on release. Had fun though and graphics are great! ;D superb entry!

nightsong 2018-08-15 20:50

There's so much to love about this contribution! You really did an amazing job on all fronts! There are some minor things though that stuck out to me; - If I end a planet with a bomb, the hexagons don't dissapear, it pauses before they do. - It would be nice to have a counter up while playing saying how many planets I've cleared (apart from the score that is) so I can easily nudge my friends and give them a small number to beat rather than score. - Game does only get harder by giving you less time to navigate. I would have liked more content on top of that. Maybe one planet has lava shooting out of it at spots? Maybe one planet has cows that block you...

Highly enjoyed playing it!

ossi 2018-08-15 21:40

Presentation and graphics were nice, great use of the theme. Took me a while to figure out how to charge up the bomb properly, it almost felt random. It was very intense having the ground fall from underneath you with the core of the planet burning in the background. Nicely done!

webthingee 2018-08-15 21:50

Great Graphics. Neat Idea. I had trouble trying to play on a keyboard, a controller is probably pretty slick! thx!

chrissx2 2018-08-16 00:09

Crazy fun! Especially the huge explosion!

keppu 2018-08-16 09:46

The Web Gl version of the game had quite long loading time, but after that I was actually pleasantly surprised by this game. Game is hugely innovative and fitting for the theme.

I would recommend people to download the game straight on. Playing in browser it's way too easy to accidentally activate "Sticky Keys" feature on windows or add browser bookmarks, save as, etc.. when you get going.

Graphics are functional. Not much to say about that. Sounds are kind of simple too. I left humor unrated as the game doesn't go for that.

justinmullin 2018-08-16 13:02

Super cool. I like the look a lot, and the bomb just looks awesome. My only complaint was the character I'm playing didn't really feel like it was in the 3d space, and it was hard to know how far above the ground I was when jumping around. Overall pretty impressive!

mrjoshuamclean 2018-08-16 13:19

After almost thirty games, this is still one of my favorites. The jumping is hard to judge because of the camera angle but other than that I had a lot of fun! Here's a video of my play: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/297350813

darkguardsman 2018-08-16 18:24

Even though a control is recommend the keyboard controls are very smooth and easy to use. Still had no clue what I was doing but enjoyed the movement alone.

kobrar 2018-08-17 22:08

The objective is definitely not clear enough. I figured it out at some point, and got 539 total score before I failed. With more developement, I could see this on a tablet. Gameplay generally feels solid but more feedback would be welcome, failure is very often just sudden and unexpected.

lumpy 2018-08-17 22:54

Fun experience! Appreciated the camera angle, which helped me judge all the jumps quite well. Loved the arcade-y feel. Well done!

drury 2018-08-18 11:01

When did you manage to make such a great game, nevermind the music?! So good.

paveldlouhy 2018-08-24 18:55

Very nice idea, colors and pretty polished game. Very well done. Really. To play I used WASD and SPACE only. What should other keys do? I tried X and B and didn't noticed anything new happening...