syo 2020-04-20 09:46
Hardcore gameplay. It looks like he needs to move the center of mass closer to the bottom
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD46 → Keep It Alive!
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 868 | 3.01 | 36 | |
| Fun | 687 | 3.08 | 36 | |
| Innovation | 951 | 2.69 | 36 | |
| Theme | 839 | 3.25 | 36 | |
| Graphics | 854 | 2.85 | 36 | |
| Audio | 734 | 2.51 | 33 | |
| Humor | 436 | 2.93 | 34 | |
| Mood | 892 | 2.65 | 34 |
Hardcore gameplay. It looks like he needs to move the center of mass closer to the bottom
@syo Thanks for the feedback, yes unfortunately its a bit rough to control, and I had to change the 'feel' of how the drone controls multiple times and I'm still not really happy with it, but ah well.
For 48 hours you did a LOT! That's good!
* As for feedback, I can't say any more that what syo said. But I think for me it's also the turning power. As for prototyping, you may want to start with the movement first, as it's always good to have the game feel satisfying before anything else. * Other than that, the difficulty is simply broken by the fact you only need to press up, be good at dodging and nothing else. Fuel could have been regenerated by landing to incite the challenge. The layout of the platforms too could've been placed with diagonals to force you to make use of the left and right buttons. * There's a bug at one point where you get 2 damage in one frame, thus allowing you to pass 0 and still survive with less than 0 shields. When doing programming do a `shield <= 0` check than a `shield == 0` check. You can fix this bug while the compo is happening, by the way! It's allowed. * Sadly the name being the same name as the theme gave me doubts at first. Glad I got that wrong!
With all of this, this is a very good foundation. You should work on it more if you have the time!
An enjoyable little game. I feel the player needs a little more fuel, as if you get at all stuck and have to burn around a bit, you run out before you can find the next landing place. Still, very clever and done in 48 hours, really well done.
@andrew-hoyer @fiakaiera Thank you so much for the in depth feedback and tips!
On fuel use : I have to agree with both of you, balancing fuel use (or fuel generation) was one thing I really wanted to spend more time on, it never quite felt right, same as the movement. I will definitely make sure to have something feel good before I move on in the future.
On the shield bug : I have no idea how I missed that, late compo tiredness I guess! Thank you, I will fix it up!
On the name : I actually sat at my PC after midnight UK time just before the end of the compo trying to think of a good name! I had some backstory about how this might be how certain delivery companies test their delivery drones before sending them off to deliver items for customers, buuut I gave up and got that well needed sleep. Any ideas? :D
I'm so bad at this game, I feel soo sorry for the poor little drone :°D Liked it a lot!!
Cute little game. I really like the dialogues between drone and facility, as well as the drone's expressions. Since controlling the drone is very challenging it seems that the safest way to play is just trying to stay as vertical as possible while avoiding enemies and platforms, since there is plenty of fule and it recharges even when airborne.
The dialog was a really nice touch! I like the idea of controlling the thrusters, but it does need refining a bit.
Had fun with this game, I was OK with the movement, took some getting used to but it worked. However I did find that if I didn't jump off a platform I would be frozen in the air after it left and wouldn't fall until I used my thrusters.
I love the concept. It's tough to control the character, but i think that's by design. Quick bug note though, if you don't move at all you stay suspended in air infinitely, so you never die.
Fun game! I found one bug - after touching a horizontal platform my fuel got stuck at 201 and the character stopped moving by themselves, not affected by gravity.
@trusty @blobo @zuza Thank you all for reporting this bug, I'll look into it and see if I can fix it!
@bongo227 @hanamigi thank you for the feedback!
Cute game! I liked the bit of dialogue, it's a nice touch. For added difficulty, you should make the fuel not recharge until the player lands on a platform. I found that I could just hover in the air indefinitely, which trivialized most of the game. Also, there's a bug where if you stay on a platform and not move, you'll hover in the air without any player input once the platform leaves.
Overall, nice submission!
A complete compo game! The idea of keeping him alive is good and cute somehow XD some suggestions would be that the control is a little wonky and it makes me really hard to control the movement I also found a strategy that will help me survive very long: don't use left and right arrow key and just fly upward, and hold at this position. Turns out there wont be any obstacles instantiated here lol微信截图_20200421172908.png
@thewinrawr @foursay Thanks for the feedback! Initially I wanted enemy drones to track the player and slowly follow them, but I ran out of time. I'm not sure if it would have been too difficult either with the quite hardcore controls!
Nothing i could add that wasnt already said. For Compo good job, you have my honest respect. Cute little game.
Really cool game! The only thing I wish was different in it is the time to restart the game! In games like this you tend to die a lot, so having to wait a long time to play again after each death is annoying, would`ve played more for sure if after I died I could play again faster. Other than that the game is and quite fun. Good job!
@fireshake thank you so much!
@arthurds Aha yes of course! I imagine seeing the cute death sequence is fun the first few times, but it could get annoying after a few!
Funny game! Definetely would benefit from more 'testing machinery' around, maybe some way to induce upgrades like a rough stabilizator or some preset maneuverings to make the drone do cool stuff...I don't know.
Ha ha - this was fun to play. Rotating was a little tricy to pick up, but I got the hang of it. (I got to about 1:30). I have noticed a small bug where the fuel can go to 201, so maybe set it to 200 if it goes over the fuel max. Great game, with some cool sound effects. I would reccomend adding a simple bit of music in the background, to make the game more interesting - as well as a game name that is not the LD theme - there are quite a lot of those. Wee done either way. Kudos!
wow, it's quite challenging for me, especially when I fall down.
Took me a while to realize there's a fuel limit and was wondering why my controls randomly stop working. Might want to mention it somewhere.
I like physics games like this, and I've experimented with some very similar ideas in the past, so it was fun playing a game based on those ideas. The fuel mechanic was nice, and I think it could be better if there were fuel tanks you have to navigate to rather than it automatically refilling. That would force me to move around more rather than hovering in the same place all the time.
The physics seemed to be a bit odd, moving platforms didn't really move the drone when I landed on them. Sometimes the drone would tilt in a weird way and it seemed like I needed to use a lot of rotational force to get it back up, as if there was some ghost force acting against my control.
@lukein Yes if I was creating a post-jam version, which I don't think I will at this time, I would definitely add upgrades, and of course additional enemies to dodge.
@arcus Aww, I thought I'd got rid of that 201 fuel bug! Music was on the list but I juuuuust ran out of time to make anything.
@justuspan Yes, unfortunately when he starts rolling he likes to keep going! You can counter it a little by boosting him into the floor.
@grizeldi Hmm, thats a good point. I didn't really mention much about the goal or the instructions I must admit!
@fryer Fuel tanks would have been a great addition, and a better one than the automatic refill I must agree. It was actually on my list of stuff to add if I had time, but unfortunately, I spent a bit too much time on the drone's cute eyes! The physics does need work, once the drone starts spinning it requires a LOT of force to stop it, and I couldn't figure a decent way to prevent it at this time.
Thank you all for your feedback!
Nice game. My best time was 53 seconds. Seems like the best strategy is to just use to up key and not move left or right. It really felt like Asteroid controls.
I like a game where the main challenge is mastering the controls, and the graphics, sounds and funny intros in this one work great!
However, I feel that small changes would make this game more interesting:
a) more fuel, I felt that the low amount of fuel actually discouraged moving, but you want the player to master moving instead of avoiding it b) player sticks to platforms, again, make the player move, landing on a platform should allow for a brief period of rest/re-fueling but also move you around so you have to compensate c) permanent spikes at the bottom, just landing on the bottom was way to easy
See me bumbling around until I notice the easy way exists: https://youtu.be/v7SeO8iHW2M
@rialgar thank you so much for the excellent feedback and for the video! I'd never actually made it as far as you did in my own testing, so I didn't realise the game would spawn so many enemy drones at the end! I will have to look into that!
I 100% agree that it was a mistake to have the fuel count so low, and I do like the idea of permanent spikes. Maybe have the spikes come in permanently after a short amount of time to give the player time to get their bearings