Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD48 → Oumuamua - From Outer Space to Deeper and Deepr Down the Well
By nikolaj and kevin-mooney
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 1421 | 3.21 | 32 | |
| Fun | 1465 | 2.95 | 32 | |
| Innovation | 762 | 3.33 | 32 | |
| Theme | 1734 | 2.75 | 32 | |
| Graphics | 1012 | 3.60 | 32 | |
| Audio | 540 | 3.60 | 31 | |
| Humor | 1346 | 2.06 | 26 | |
| Mood | 785 | 3.58 | 32 |
Ok, first dev post!
We are thinking about a gravity/planet game where you launch a space probe and navigate through various systems deeper and deeper.
My task was to make some planets and gravity, so w00t here we go!
Building this in React/Ecsy/Three/Planck
* [prototype](https://ld48.nikolaj.dev/) * [src](https://github.com/nikolajbaer/ld48)
Arrow keys control the red little probe! Still pretty wonky, but a good start!
Screenshot 2021-04-23 231507.png
Screenshot 2021-04-25 171310.png
Planets are getting there...
So our "deeper and deeper" space probe is a bit waylaid with the amazingly satisfying joy of just arcade flying with orbital mechanics. This little sublime moment barely does it justice so check out the realtime latest build at [ld48.nikolaj.dev](https://ld48.nikolaj.dev) WASD + shift for extra boost!
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I love orbital mechanics games! The flight paths are so pretty to look at.
Really athmospheric music too!
Cool Low-polly graphics) I really like the way of fly in system !
good idea !
Neat graphics. I didn't understand at first that my movement was absolute. I figured W and S were controlling my speed and A and D were turning me, but that's not how it is, so that took some getting used to.
After that I didn't have much trouble navigating, it's very easy to control, so props there.
Obviously, some goals would have been nice.
I was sad that I wasn't able to get the ship to orbit the planets, maybe their gravity isn't strong enough for that?
I didn't really understand the relationship to the theme, sure I was in space, but I was going in and out of the system, kinda all over.
Nice little sim!
Interesting little orbital mechanics sim. I found myself wanting some goal to reach, as I felt kinda aimless without. Setting up weird paths was fun though, and the audio was good! I did notice the prediction integration didn't quite match the result sometimes, was that intended or a result of the method used?
What an awesome, innovative idea! Like a minimalist, desconstructed Kerbal Space Program. Visuals and audio are really good, too!
(And hey, I also made a game with a gravity mechanic, although totally different thematically :D)
I had some hard times navigating at the beginning. I would get sped up due to gravity from the sun I think and then get thrown off screen. Once I was off screen it was nearly impossible to get back to the game, and I would have to reopen the game from the link. I think it would be really good to teleport the player to the opposite side going in the same direction when that happens. That could potentially lead to some cool orbital patterns in the future too.
Overall though I really liked the idea and there is definitely a lot you have to work with for major improvements. The simulation behind it is really great. Loved the music as well.
All my time playing KSP has prepared me for this moment. :smile:
Love the music, would totally use it as a study track. This is actually something a younger version of me really wanted to make but I never got around to it, just a simple orbital mechanics simulator, quite fun.
Great submission! Really intuitive controls and it feels great to fly around the planets to plan your next move. I once flew out of orbit and kept going and had to reload but that didn't effect my overall enjoyment. Well done!
Very good! Though I think it would be nice if there was a little more control or a slower mode :) Too much insta-crashing into things!
Really fun! The "80% sandbox, 20% game with a goal" feel is interesting. Makes it feel lighthearted, almost joyful, despite having nothing resembling a storyline, lol. I'm super curious how you predict trajectory, wtf kinda math is behind that; first game I've wanted to go look at the source code. Figuring out the physics by trial an error is really fun!
One gripe: if the spacecraft flies off into insterstellar space, I have to reload the page, there's no (obvious) way to selfdestruct and start over.
It runs pretty slowly in Firefox, faster in Chromium.
Neat little sandbox.
Would be nice to have had some kind of goal, like maybe reaching enough escape velocity to delve deeper into the galaxy and reach other solar systems.
@adam-selker thanks for the feedback (and note on firefox, i will have to check that out). For the prediction, we have a gravity system, and basically run the clock forward with the predefined static orbits of the planets. The reason the line "wobbles" as planets move is that the time-step is different for the prediction, as well as probably hitting some floating point errors. Source code for [prediction](https://github.com/nikolajbaer/ld48/blob/main/app/src/systems/path_predict.js#L77), but really that relies on [gravity](https://github.com/nikolajbaer/ld48/blob/main/app/src/systems/gravity.js#L33) calculation and [orbit calculation](https://github.com/nikolajbaer/ld48/blob/main/app/src/systems/orbit.js#L7)
@lumous thanks, we had on our issue list to add "fine-tuned" thrust in addition to booster thrust... but didn't make the cut.. damn Monday work day ..
I'm a big fan of KSP and creator of [several](http://deathraygames.com/play-online/stardust/) [mini](https://deathraygames.github.io/lunar-lander-13k/src/) [gravity](https://js13kgames.com/entries/404-orbiting-asteroids) [games](https://js13kgames.com/entries/star-hopper-glitch-jump) (that last link is very similar to yours in gameplay!)... so of course I really enjoyed this. It's definitely the kind of game I've wanted to make. Graphics and music perfectly compliment the game. I only wish there was a zoom feature, and a slower version so I could be more meticulous with my engine thrusts.
Nice little atmospheric game. Flying around was interesting once I figured how to adjust my ships trajectory just right. Took a bit to learn but felt a little wonky. When I fuel at a planet I end up sticking to it for a bit too long and it wastes a bunch of fuel leaving. Would be nice to have some story or something when you arrive on random planets, or have random events occur or something. The random planets are cool and keep it nice to look at though. The planet gravity is a nice mechanic. It'd probably help if there was some sort of number or something to see how heavy the gravity is for different planets. Nice work!
I was able to land on a planet! Once I did though it was very hard to reach escape velocity again. The orbit line preview was very nice. Perhaps once you got close to a planet you could zoom in or have more precise controls, I think getting realistic space orbit controls to feel good can be hard since it's not initially intuitive (though cool).
Really cool idea but a little hard to grasp (for me). I got knocked out a few times without getting the "game over" screen which was a bit confusing. Still really enjoyed it =) Thank you!
While I only ever managed to land once before running out of fuel, I think this was one of the most interesting ones I've played among the LD48 games.
Played 3 times, first died due to a collision with a planet, then flew between planets twice, after that nothing happened, I had to reload the page to start the game again
I want to note the pleasant atmospheric music)
This game is similar to mine. Try it :)
I don't understand what should I do. I landed to Earth and then can't fly to space (gravity is too strong)
@robotex just checked out your game, nice job!
You can get off a planet by holding down SHIFT and .. just trying to get off i guess. We didn't really get to build out the "point" of the game beyond just the fun of planning out orbits. Next time!
Loved the solar system sandbox feel, graphics were nice, after many a reloads started to get the hang of the controls. Didn't even know I could land on a planet until I got to the comments :sweat_smile:
I really enjoyed this solar-system faring experience! I gave myself the goal of visiting every planet in a solar system and finally succeeded on my 3rd or 4th try. It was fun mastering the controls, and making decisions about how to route the ship. The music really added to the atmosphere, and made it easy to get into the zone with the gameplay.
I flew out of the solar system!
Well this was a pretty cool simulation but it was kind of hard to really control. It didn't really feel like game more like a (quite interesting) simulation. It was also really easy to fly of in the beginning making it hard to start. Once I realized I had to fire in the oppositee direction immediately I managed to get in orbits but I couldn't get the refueling to work I don't know why. Overall it's a cool entry but it needs some more mechanics to feel like a game and be fun.