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Lifeforms In Space
Lifeforms In Space
By eric-smith and Ryan Udairam
View on ldjam.com
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Overall | 342 | 3.63 | 60 | |
| Fun | 349 | 3.50 | 60 | |
| Innovation | 539 | 3.12 | 60 | |
| Theme | 790 | 3.06 | 60 | |
| Graphics | 432 | 3.73 | 60 | |
| Audio | 183 | 3.71 | 58 | |
| Humor | 541 | 2.83 | 55 | |
| Mood | 366 | 3.51 | 58 | |
Comments
Overall not bad! I really like what you were going for here, my biggest criticisms are that the movement/usage of the board is a bit tough to work with and it's never explicitly stated that the player can sacrifice their population to restore their ships. It often felt that I could never get my troops to do what I want, like moving right next to an enemy at the beginning of my turn when I haven't yet attacked and not being able to attack them. Outside of those two issues though, the atmosphere was really great! I really really enjoyed your music and the battle animations were really cool and intuitive! It was super easy for my to get a grasp on which fights I could take and which I couldn't. I also really like that the player can flee a battle at any point, so I found a great tactic was to use smaller ships to attack fast and flee before the enemy can hit you back. Overall, great job!
wie
2019-04-30 18:09
Very cool and interesting game! It would need some polishing, but it is enjoyable. The battles are very well made, but it would be nice if you could skip them, as they become a bit boring after a while, because if i understood right, i can't change anything in the battle, so i'm just waiting :D BTW hex grids FTW
mykola
2019-04-30 18:25
The best game I've played so far. Really impressive how you could do all that in just 72 hours! The gameplay is well-thought through, the graphics is amazing, animations are polished, music, sound FX and voice acting is awesome. Played it till the very end with excitement trying to find what could be improved. Here are some minor things: - not sure if it's a bug, but sometimes when a fleet is too close to a planet and you click on it, it doesn't go there but stays still, while the movement point is consumed; - I slightly lacked the "repair all" button; - fleet can freely fly through the sun; - would be great if enemies could capture your planets. The behavior of the enemy during their turn remained a mystery to me; - the ability to control the fleet during the fight would be nice;
But overall, really amazing. The most complete game with most features I've seen so far. Have put a lot of five-starts here.
Btw, the soundtrack is legendary! The fight theme reminds me of Final Fantasy motives.
Very nice work. It took a bit of time to get into and I had to restart the game to re-read the instructions after I found engagements to be kind of confusing. It would be great to see a tutorial with, say, a half-size map and just two or three planets while the instructions are displayed alongside (maybe even context-sensative instructions depending on the game state), then after the tutorial unleash the bigger complex challenge onto players.
agurcan
2019-04-30 18:33
Really interesting game overall. The sound effects and the music were impressive. The use of hexagonal tiles really fits the style and gameplay. It was a bit hard for me to understand it but once I did, the game felt really cool. My only criticisms are: - the wall of text at the start could be made more interesting - controlling the battles would be nice - sometimes there I didn't get why the ships moved that way and couldn't attack
It was really interesting to see such a game made in only 72 hours!
hbocao
2019-05-01 12:01
It would be nice to have a way to have more control during battles or a way to speed up, it got really boring watching the battles after some point. Loved the music! Was there a way to fix the ships? After some battles they got damaged and I couldn't buy anymore because there was no space left. So I had to go into battles with broken ships. Solid entry overall, good job!
Interesting concept! However the game is really hard to understand at first.
hpmnk
2019-05-01 23:27
Really interesting game, loved the combat mechanic, will blend real time and turned-based events (the cooldown system is pretty neat : D). The mood is really well done, graphics, music and sound-design fits perfectly well together.
The idea for the tutorial is pretty fun, but i don't think it work that well for a strategy games, as it needs more information than a simple platformer or shooter game. But i appreciated it anyway
Looks and sounds beautiful... congrats. I like that you can flee a battle at any time, since some weren't going my way :smile:
mcovert
2019-05-02 06:39
Is there a way to make multiple fleets? One of my fleets got destroyed off the bat, and I was left only able to do one thing.
Also, enemy turn processing seemed to take a while, which unfortunately broke up the flow a lot, but even so the enemy didn't really seem to do anything?
@mcovert You can only have 3 fleets at the moment. The strategy is to not lose them or merge them. Another strategy for a weak fleet would fly though a nebula on the way to a planet. At the moment the enemy is on a timed turn cycle per turn. And no, they dont do anything currently. I didnt have time to do it for the jam but I will be doing it post jam.
Nice job dudes, you have a nice and scalable TBS game prototype working on. Liked how you gave it that retro atmosphere with sounds and art, and simplicty of combat system design. Will you keep working on it? Good overall and great jam! PD: You forgot link your Ludum game site in your post, you have posted the game direct link ;).
invader
2019-05-04 19:59
That's the first turned-based strategy I've encountered in this jam. Cool looking hexagonal space and classy approach to battles - these are definitelly noteworthy features of the game :)
lyrcaxis
2019-05-04 22:30
Conquered all the planets on my first attempt, it's really nice! I was expecting some victory screen or new galaxy setup but it's fine. I had fun playing around with what you made!
Seemingly this has literally NOTHING to do with the theme though xD
Thumbs up for not letting the theme take you down and for doing a fun game! :v:
@lyrcaxis Lifeforms are the currency...
lyrcaxis
2019-05-05 01:33
@eric-smith well, I meant the actual theme.. "YOUR life is currency"
You're right though, saying "NOTHING" like that was kind of an exaggeration. I apologize.
@lyrcaxis I thought this theme was terrible. I wont deny it. It wasnt really a theme, it was an IDEA from a theme. Like to me the theme should have been Life or Currency or even Life is Currency. But YOUR life is currency? :x: But in all fairness, YOUR LIFEFORMS ARE CURRENCY! :)
Really nice game! There is not a lot to say because it feels very polished. If the enemies would take back the planets it would be realy nice. Also, thanks for the quick fight option ;)
Really good job on the game!
nippaaah
2019-05-05 20:48
this game is really polished, everything implemented is well thought-out and balanced. Loved the scrolling tutorial text in the beginning :D With a few random events or some story text in between turns it would break the somewhat repetitive feel it gets after a while. Good job with this!
Thank you for submitting your game to be played on my stream!
Once the stream is finished you can find the video here: https://www.twitch.tv/ursagames/videos If you want to know when it was played you can find your game in the queue here: https://tinyurl.com/y5rdokvp
Good times! Fun and tight little simple 4x, great stuff for a ludum dare. Combat felt cool, there were a lot of places where most LD style UIs would have fallen apart but the game here was solid and consistent. Everything made sense and conquering space was fun.
Cool intro screen which has a star wars like feel to it. I also really liked the animations for battling and also the overall game looks and feels polished. The only thing that may be hurting the gameplay is that the game is a bit too much on the easy side. I know that for a game jam it is important that a game is beatable but I think that the AI in this game needs a bit more improvement. Other than that, the game has an enorm potential to become something great :)
How do I make a new fleet? I had three at the beginning but by the time I had one fleet left I was "getting it" and making some progress. Cool game!
lexyvil
2019-05-07 02:58
Really fun game! I would love more games where it involves fleet battles that way. I wish there was a way to get more fleets since I lost all my fleets safe one, at the beginning, having to capture all the planets with that only one. Good use of the theme too~ Can't ever have enough crew.
@cheesepencil You only get three fleets. That is the strategy of the game.
paul59
2019-05-07 18:45
How can people rate the game fairly against others when the only version available is one that has had an additional 8 hours spent on it?
@paul59 Honestly, I don't know. That's up to you. In reality, I just do it for fun and could care less about winning. And I want others to have fun too. So if adding more hours post jam to make it fun, then what the hell. What ISN'T fun is having angry trolls lashing out in forums. :) And I'm just here for the fun.
dusho
2019-05-08 10:55
really cool game. had fun playing and beating it. art, music, controls, ... everything was well done.
almost
2019-05-09 06:11
Fighting for resources and upgrading my fleets is fun.
The wall of text at the start was really intimidating. It showed icons, but it would have been cool if it showed pictures of things being done to put it into context. It might also be possible to use fewer words and shorter sentences so I can read it quickly.
For my first battle I had no idea which ships were mine since they look the same. And then I thought maybe the attacker is on the left, and when an enemy attacked me on their turn I was unsure of which side is me. I eventually figured out I am always on the left. When warping around, it seems there is a fog of war effect, but I do not know which tiles I can and cannot see.
Is there a way to create a new fleet? Also, what do the purple glowing areas do?
Had no real difficulty beating this game. In my opinion much to easy. And the game does not suit the theme very well. It's not your life you trade but other creatures life. Anyway, great art and sounds. In the whole a solid entry.
Loved the opening Star Wars text crawl, your hilarious voice acting, the hex grid, graphics, and music was great too. Excellent entry.
udo
2019-05-11 10:34
I love this kind of game, well done! Not sure if there was a victory condition, because after I subjug- ...liberated all the planets, nothing really happened, but it matters not: this was a fun one! The attention to detail is astonishing for a Jam game. This could easily expanded into a fully-fledged "Solaris light" type of game.
neowedge
2019-05-11 21:40
Very good entry! I love turn based strategy games. Maybe it could be more difficult, but game feeling, graphics and audio are awesome. Great job!
simone
2019-05-11 22:30
Truly impressive for a 72h game jam :) good job!
Cool entry! I liked the strategy elements. The art and sound was good, and the game was well polished. The voice acting was a nice touch.
c0d3d
2019-05-12 02:37
Really fun and cool to see this type of game in a ludem dare! My only complaint is that you can't access the buy menu after you get the planet it really is quite annoying.
jimbly
2019-05-15 03:40
I enjoyed slowly conquering the galaxy, but I feel like I did not have any threat or challenge. I was never even close to losing a battle, never had to flee, just steamrolled over the map. A little more challenge would have made it interesting. Watching the battles was fun, and sometimes a little suspenseful, but my ships seemed to almost always gets the shots off on the right targets just in time to avert disaster =).
@jimbly In the beginning, the game was a lot harder. I dumbed it down for the benefit of the jam so that people could get through the whole game.
jimbly
2019-05-15 05:19
I understand! I have, perhaps too often, released LD entries which only 1 or 2 people managed to beat ^_^, so being a little too easy is understandable.
Cool game! I immediately lost two of my fleets but managed to survive the initial battles with the last and upgraded to a winning combo. After that it was just a cruise to shoot down everyone and conquer the galaxy.
I like the randomly generated maps. I didn't take advantage of the nebula, but that's a cool idea. I wish you could micromanage the battles, and that there was a way to create a new fleet. Also, if there's no risk of losing your planets (or to own planets), that limits the gameplay.
Overall very good entry in 72h. I enjoyed it.
joror
2019-05-19 11:45
Interesting tactical game! I like the animated battles - nice action. During the battle itself there are not many choices to make except for flee/initial heal, which feels a bit limiting. Since losing a fleet is quite harsh (you cannot create more?) that can be highlighted.
Some scanning map abilities for finding a 'good path' would be nice, since forces size is quite variable.
Cool seed for a more involved strategic/tactical game! :)
Awesome game! At the beginning is a bit confusing (maybe needs more UI support, for example: in the turn, who squadron can attack/move and who not). But the battles are interesting and engagging! Maybe needs more factors to achieve the player or a better balance.. at the middle of the gameplay I have a lot of resources and all my squadrons have the best ships! At the end I think I conquest all the universe... but the game doesn't finish! xD Screenshot_6.jpg Overall is an amazing game! Congrats! :clap:
@peterfonts It looks like you conquered all the planets but they are not colonized. There will be a blue atmosphere around the planet when you place 100 lifeforms on them. Only when they are all colonized will you win the game.
Ah! Thank you for the explanation!