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Highly Successful Research Submarine
Highly Successful Research Submarine
By james-macgill, AndrewAPrice, Paul Sullivan and drewpca
View on ldjam.com
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Overall | 973 | 3.48 | 60 | |
| Fun | 1144 | 3.19 | 60 | |
| Innovation | 238 | 3.88 | 58 | |
| Theme | 450 | 3.97 | 59 | |
| Graphics | 886 | 3.70 | 60 | |
| Audio | 1232 | 2.41 | 44 | |
| Humor | 564 | 3.12 | 51 | |
| Mood | 1076 | 3.36 | 55 | |
Comments
kiwi1281
2021-04-27 18:07
It's a really cool concept! I really like base building games and this game's base building is really cool! I struggled with building the sub though, the controls were a little clunky at times and you only had enough money to build the essentials, not even any corridors, which made it a little hard to actually get everything in place. The art of the game was really good! All of the models were consistent and had a really cool style and looking through the camera was great. I feel like having some ambiance like metal creaking or the whirring of an engine would have made it really atmospheric.
Couldnt play whatever it is i just downloaded. Find a new way to export
The game looks cool and I realy like the concept, but I couldn't find out how to do things (i.e.: Everything started to broke down and i grabed the right tool, walked next to the structure and pressed every button but nothing happend) I won't give you rateings now, but if you write down here a little "how to play", than i will replay it :D
duvey
2021-04-27 18:39
Fun concept but a little too ambitious for a weekend maybe. I had a hard time building the ship to go down and then once I did I didn't really know how to play. I then sat down at the camera and couldn't get up. Interesting concept but really hard to play right now. I'd suggest giving the player the basic ship of what they need and then have a tutorial mission explaining how to repair things, take pictures, and then explaining upgrades to the ship like windows. Very funny intro too!
guladam
2021-04-27 18:40
I really like how much work you put into this game and that you designed such a complicated system. I found hard to grasp the basics of my tasks (starting where I had to build the sub :laughing: ), but I figured it out. What I think could do wonders to this project is to include some sound effects and a more polished UI to inform the player about the tasks and objectives. But other than that, great work :wink:
I want to play this but I was unable to figure out what button to press to use tools on broken stations.
Maybe you should had a list of Rooms absolutely needed at the beginning, I spent quite some time on it as I first thought I could build want I wanted. Didn't notice there was some mandatory rooms.
Maybe also a little descriptions of how keys work.
But, nice concept, you could try to make it a post jam version! :D
Ever wanted to play Pokemon Snap in a submarine?
The graphics are very nice, the audio is very minimal but builds a nice atmosphere. Controls were fine but sometimes when I pressed R I accessed a station in another room on accident and sometimes picking up the correct tool when multiple were in the same spot was difficult. Nothing super broken though.
Other than that, this is a really relaxed game where you just snap photographs of fish and sell them while building a submarine. Very nice.
xiyou
2021-04-30 16:01
This design is so awesome that not only can you drive the submarine, but you can also build your own room inside the submarine. As a 3d game is also very high degree of completion
acdia
2021-04-30 19:47
This is really nice! I like the artstyle and the good tile system. I like all types of build your [ANYTHING] and try not to die with it. I didn't fully figure out what each and every module does (water? amn't I under water anyway?), but I got the main ones and made this submarine.
AcdiasSubmarine.JPG
While surfacing it was fully on fire and everything was broken. That's my style of doing things! I had a lot of fun, there are of course things that could be tweaked, but I think the other comments give already a good overview about those. I'll definitely keep this game and maybe we'll even see a save system some day? :) Well done guys!
Thanks everyone for the feedback. There were a couple of game breaking bugs in the first build that stoped UI buttons and tools from working and one that could cause everything to blowup almost instantly. So cool to see screen shots of subs people build!
I think there is a lot of potential here! I really like the concept - combination of "base" (submarine) building with exploration and the photo taking mechanic. Quite nice.
Blocky graphics are simple but nice and consistent. Text in the intro is way too big - the font size just assaults ;).
What I personally would change is the frequency with which stuff breaks and needs fixing. It often felt like there was just no time to wait for any good shot because this and this thing broke again and a yellow warning is flashing. It started to feel quite tedious.
It would also be nice if we could just pick up and reposition elements of our submarines, instead of having to sell them and re-buy them. Would also be nice, I think, if a window was just something you could attach to a wall of any room and not necessarily a separate room - this way you could design the outside of your ship as well as the inside :)
I also had a bug, I think. The only audio that played for me was in the menu (the button sounds). Otherwise, I had no audio. No music, no sfx. Is there any fix for this or a possible cause? I was playing in headphones.
Overall, it's a really impressive amount of content and effort for a jam game! And it definitely has a potential to grow.
Thanks for the feedback, the audio is not broken... it's non-existent :( we have a bunch of samples and events to tie them to but failed to pull it all together in time so shipped without audio. And we can't think of adding it as a bug fix as it is not game breaking.
The damage can be annoying - but you can get away with ignoring it for longer than you might think. Balancing the damage is hard especially with rnd and depth being combined as they currently are.
keppu
2021-05-01 14:53
I've not read any of the comments so I write my review as a pure first experience.
One minor technical thing first: Cancel button could be different in WebGL version as the ESC quits the full-screen mode.
Don't know how to make all the rooms reachable when constructing the submarine. Tried various combinations, turning stuff around. I don't have enough cash for the corridors that could perhaps remedy this? Maybe there should be a check when the player rotates the room if it's reachable in its current place so less trial and error would be needed. The room could be highlighted green if so, red if not.
To onboard the player without too much frustration, it would be recommended to have available only the rooms that are essential for the submarine at first. Then add more parts later on the catalog when the player has the money for them. The initial parts could act as a tutorial when constructing the submarine.
Shame I couldn't get any longer with the game. It has a nice bit of humor going on and constructing the submarine seems an interesting take on the jam theme.
Thanks for the feedback - got the WebGL port working yesterday and yes that ESC key needs fixing! The editor is indeed a little fiddly :( I've added the list of essential first rooms to the how to play section on the site and an image to help people figure out the door placement. Rooms often have to be rotated to make them work with each other.
doors.jpg
Update - cancel key is now 'R' in the editor so it will not kick you out of fullscreen.
reheated
2021-05-01 15:53
I had fun - I like the way things build up, so you start out taking photos for a pittence, and build up to more valuable trips. I like the multitasking aspect. Eventually I redesigned my whole ship and got stuck in a situation where pressing R would just take me from the screen of one station to another (no way to go move around). I'm impressed by the amount of 3D models in the game, for equipment and for sea creatures, as well as the special effects for damaged equipment. Could really do with audio. I like the intro.
Thanks for the bug report on getting stuck between stations - It looks like this happens if you are sat at a station when you hit the surface. As this can be game breaking we will look at adding a patch.
And yes, we are sad we missed on integrating the audio - will absolutely be adding it post jam.
fargred
2021-05-01 18:27
Very interesting concept, I think this has a lot of potential. It took a bit of fiddling in the beginning as your money doesn't allow for any corridors, but then its an interesting gameplay loop!
Agreed a little more starting money would make the first build a little easier to get right. Lots of balancing to do post jam.
I'm impressed on what you've been able to produce in 72h eh.
I agree with people above about needing some more money so we can express our creativity directly at the start (even tho not having too much is kinda motivating for playing more). I also thing it could be great if you can have some kind of indicator of the value of what you have on your camera **while** you are taking photo, so you have directly the "sparkle of joy" when you see big catches on your camera, instead of having to go check on your mission status their value.
But anyway, solid entry, great job to reaching this degree of completion with a 3D game, I really liked your little game o/ Big bravo to you guys !
sub.gif
Really spent some time in this game, it's kinda addicting haha. Loved it!
The idea is amazing - the mechanic of taking pictures, combined with survival mechanics...incredible! I missed the soundtrack, and at least for me, the game has no sound at all. that's a little sad.
Despite that, i played and enjoyed every minute. I liked very much and i will waiting ansiously for an update. I wonder how that game would be if you had more time to do it. Great work!
Thanks everyone for the feedback and encouragement to keep going with this after the jam. Top of the list will be us adding audio!
@SouthpawDevelopment There is now a WebGL version.
itskdog
2021-05-02 12:38
The was idea was good, but I had a difficult time building the sub. I think there should be move input for this game. Wasn't sure want to build. When I finally figure out what to build, it wouldn't let me place the last room because it was unreachable. I didn't know why it was unreachable. I placed it next to the others. But it take a while to sell and build things because everything is done by keypress. Also, I think R should be rotate and Q to cancel.
Super Fun, and an amazing amount of work for a weekend. The game play loop gives you plenty to do, and provides an enormous amount of game time given the limited amount of content that comes with a game jam. It takes a second to get your head around what you need to be keeping track of, but once you do, the game is easy to play and fun. Great Work!!! Thank you so much for bringing this by my stream. Here's a link to the VOD: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1007852839?t=3h22m31s
goldone
2021-05-02 18:42
Great idea and solid execution! One of the best jam games I've seen thus far.
While the tutorial is nice to bring some of the backstory, there could be a bit more info on what you have to do (e.g. which parts you need etc)
The key bindings are a bit unintuitive, e.g. rotating with R would make a lot more sense to me
@goldone @itskdog yeah the key bindings are a bit wonky. I switched esc to R for cancel because that clashed with exit full screen but should have swapped Q and R at the same time.
Expect building to be much improved post jam!
hidjy
2021-05-03 13:22
Interesting crossing of genre!
Even though I like building games, I think it would have been nice to start with a simple example build (maybe intentionally imperfect)
Very impressive how much work was put into this. I enjoyed the build your own ship feature, makes more personal. I would recommend changing the key bindings (Q = rotate left, E= rotate right, space = action), besides that nothing else to comment.
zimny11
2021-05-03 20:50
Great concept for a game! It was fun but as others point out the controls could be improved and there could be a bit of a longer tutorial explaining how everything works. But I understand there was only so much time.
I love the intro/premise. It was a solid transition to the main gameplay, and by ignoring the pictures for the instructions, I had a "frustrating" time lol. that being said, it is probably what a novice would experience IRL. I didn't hear any sounds/audio. was there supposed to be music or sfx? As I made a few trips, I started getting more money and gaming the system to get more money for a few quick shots and coming back to the surface. I Probably missed some good shots if I had just waited though. Overall, more fun than I expected and can see a future for this as maybe a mobile game or something !
@zimny11 @jkoftekian thanks for the feedback. Next jam we will make sure to get tutorials and on screen tips going sooner and think a bit more about control schemes. I've tried padding out instructions in the game description but people should be able to dive in without reading all that!
Hello! Your game was played on stream ( https://www.twitch.tv/ursagames/videos ) on 5/03 (Day 2 of LDJAM streams).
You can find the timestamp of when your game was played here: https://tinyurl.com/LDJAM48-ursa
rolle
2021-05-04 16:14
Wow, this game is impressive! Both the concept but also all this stuff in this short time. A mix of "casual game" with some nice building-genre.
Most other comments have already talk about what could have been done also to perhaps make the game even better, so I will not repeat that here.
Congrats on an unique and excellent game!
Really interesting concept with very nice graphics. I found it hard to get "good" photos and never saw any effects from the damage so it feels like a little bit of tweaking might make it even better.
@staircase27a lots of tweaking ahead post jam! Good photos are easier at deeper depths and with rarer fish. We will work to make the experience a bit more like the intro though.
evn
2021-05-05 00:15
Didn't realize you can fix things by just being in the room and holding a tool lol! Maybe a little 'task working' indicator could be helpful. Great concept and I look forward to playing more! Also I think some background music would go a long way. Maybe even just a deep drone.
Edit: Also it would be helpful to have an indicator of which items are absolutely necessary for diving when building the sub, maybe like a checklist.
doctortm
2021-05-05 01:38
Waw, great work guys. Cool building system, great graphics. Not sure if audio is missing or just didn't work for me.
@doctortm audio was sadly never wired up so not just you.
@evn thanks for the feedback. We are working on a streamlined first build experience for post jam.
It is surprising that a lot of content is made in 3 days: build system, marine environment and animation, earn and spend cycle.. I especially like the forgiving pace of the game, which makes me feel rather relaxed and dont have to worry much about effiency when building.
some optimization for control and UI might be favored. The tools might be hard to pick when dropped together, and sometimes they are hard to find when blending with the environment.
Nice work! I like the idea of the game and the graphics look good. I think it would have been better to use the mouse for some controls though instead of the keyboard.
@thegamerasd thanks for the feedback. Good news is the post jam version that we are working on has mouse controls for the editor. Your comment makes me think we should consider it as an option for the game play too...
[Thanks for submitting your game to the stream!](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1015053228?t=01h44m26s)
This was a ridiculously ambitious project! I really like how it all came together. I got weirdly excited whenever I saw a new fish, and I love that rather than just being models projected onto a 2D screen, they could actually be closer and further away from the camera.
Really excellent work here!
This one was really great! It's a nice mash of a ton of different styles. As we discussed on stream, I recognize you didn't finish everything you wanted to, but that's ok! You got a ton done and learned a whole bunch.
Other than the bugs and unfinished stuff, some suggestions I'd give would be to speed up the early game. I spent a lot of time trying to get enough money for my first room. After I unlocked the second area, it went far faster.
I noticed also that there were at least 3 different games going on at once here. One was a base builder, another was a camera game, and another was an overcooked-like. This is a cool thing, and it's impressive you got it all done in time, but in the future you might want to trim down the number of systems you want to implement so that you have one core gameloop you focus on. It will help you make a more polished experience for your next jam!
Hope something in there helps :D
Because of those technical difficulties we had on stream, yours is the very first game we played in this stream here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1017517813
Congrats guys!
It's imposing to see such a large game being made in just 3 days, even by a 4-man team (though the game could have had more background music, it's awfully quiet from time to time).
The art looks good and the idea of playing Pokémon Snap in a sub is clever.
@phoenix-fireflower thanks for the feedback. Yes we missed on the audio which is a shame as a build with it feels more atmospheric. And creaks and groans from the ship add to a sense of danger at depths. Will share a post jam version with sound when the contest is over. Or drop into our discord for a sneak peek.
Woah! You guys did a lot in 72 hours! I don't really have anything bad to say besides the fact that there wasn't any audio. Fantastic work!
I didn't get past the sub building part but I still quite liked it! The game has a LOT of depth (not a pun, just saying it starts with a good story and there are lots of ways to build your submarine). I found the UI a bit hard to use (although I got used to it), and struggled to build the sub properly. First I went over budget, then I couldn't figure out how to align all the essential rooms so that they connected correctly. The graphics were nice, especially the detail of the rooms. Hopefully next time you can throw together some audio. Overall, it's really ambitious but you've managed to pull if off surprisingly well so I've been left quite stunned (especially after looking through the screenshots and comments of how other players went). I can see this game growing to something really good! Well done!
@emperor-eagle thanks for the feedback. The editor is something we are paying a lot of attention to post jam. We now guide players through their first build and hide some rooms until after their first few dives. We will post a public link after the jam.
noobdude
2021-05-16 09:35
For the ammount of time this was made in, its incredible, it has so much depth and its so fun to play , i really like that you managed to even put an intro in there, it was a bit confusing creating my first viable sub but after i got going i found that the gameplay loop is really really fun, good job !
macdoom
2021-05-17 21:55
Woah! So much complexityin so little time! Gave me a feeling of Among Us vs FTL. Took me a couple of designs to realise that the needed rooms were anounced in red at the dive button. So difficult to get good photos, missed some controls to the camera or at least a zoom option. Really would like to play a more developed version even though I couldn't get enough money to afford a submarine htat let me go to other places. Excellent work! Lots of ambition done well
@macdoom Thanks for the feedback. Yep FTL was on our inspiration list, mind you so was overcooked :)
We hear you on the difficulty of getting good photos, especially on the the first level where you can only go down to 500m (It gets much easier on deeper levels, but it does not help if you can't afford to go on the deeper levels!) If you do want to play a more developed version you can [join our discord](https://discord.gg/aeQnUAE74W).
kram
2021-05-18 05:06
Really neat had lots of fun once I read through the instructions. Not very user friendly but an amazing sub-mission. :)
@kram Thanks for sticking with it and going back to read the instructions. Tutorials and on screen tips coming in post jam version. The system for showing them is something we will make sure to take with us when we next enter a jam!