Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD49 → UnstableOS
By zwodahs
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 285 | 3.45 | 33 | |
| Fun | 374 | 3.08 | 33 | |
| Innovation | 61 | 4.00 | 34 | |
| Theme | 108 | 4.06 | 33 | |
| Graphics | 211 | 3.61 | 33 | |
| Humor | 218 | 2.93 | 32 | |
| Mood | 322 | 3.10 | 31 |
The game moves too fast for me to be able to choose between colors, I found myself just burning indiscriminately and switching back and forth between mining and burning. The idea is really cool and unique and the interface is cool as well. There were some white lines scrolling on the screen - not sure if that is intentional bc of the theme but it was distracting. Overall cool game, good job!
Cool little game concept. I like the idea of it being about a ship's OS. I think if the game was slowed down slightly and with a few extra screens to manage it could be a lot of fun!
Graphically really pleasing and I like the idea of juggling random errors etc., but it might have been slightly more clear what was going on with some simple audio queues.
Keep up the good work!
@bluemaus yeap those lines are screen glitches and are intentional. You can reboot your phone to clear them.
@nafe I agree. I would like to say that I would add more screens post LD but I seldom revisit my LD games. I started with 10 minutes but I figured no one would sit through a 10 minute LD game of hectic management, so I shrink it down to 3 minutes.
The game is actually quite beatable, as the initial fuel can last you about 1 minute.
Smart idea for a game, I wish there was some audio feedback though
Very polished look and feel and clever idea for the theme!
Whilst I understand the glitches are required to communicate to the player how the OS is deteriorating , I found them sometimes very annoying - if you could lower the saturation and speed of them it would be easier to focus on the tasks at hand. But thats just a tiny detail.
Amazing job for 48h!
@marc-grabow have you try turning it off and on again :D ? (there is a reboot button at the bottom)
but yeah overall the glitch is meant to force you to reboot the phone.
I don't understand what's happening but I love it. Really original concept. The only thing that was taking me away was the lack of audio (hope it's not an issue on my side), I'd prefer some audio feeedback.
But keep up the good work!
Definitely a really cool idea. Things kind of happened quite quickly. Even though I partially didn't know what I was doing haha, I eventually started to understand what was going on. Looks very nice, very clean! I do wish there was some sound, as it would add a lot to the experience. Overall, a very good job!
Intresting concept! It took a few tries before I really understood what to do, and eventually I managed to win. I could actually see this being expanded on by having multiple phases with different minigames/tasks to manage, and tying them all together into a larger story.
Nice game, I like your take on the theme.
Polished smooth graphics, the theme of a phone is really awesome! Was there any sounds? I couldn't hear anything, if not even some simple beeps when cycling apps would've helped with immersion and feedback. Good game!
Interesting idea of creating this to resemble a phone OS. It does need some audio, even a notification sound for warnings which might drop out at times.
I did get caught out by a couple of the glitches without realising they were a thing (like the burn/dispose button swap). But the age old advice of turning it off and on again helps.
Thanks all for the play. I guess I will spend my time from now till next LD to get myself familiar with sound and music. I usually play most of my games with sound off, hence the lack of sound in most of my games.
Made it home! Thats one of the more interesting takes on the theme, I know there are more os related games out there but this one is pretty unique. Graphically its alright, nice and simple. Gameplay wise I was running around like a headless chicken trying to get home, after randomly mining and burning material and disposing of junk I finished the game but I never did understand if I was doing well or badly, it doesnt feel like the actions you do have immediate consequences. Anyway great work.
oh wow that was so unique, my dude just made an OS sim lol really good work honestly I love the idea
I love OS sim style games, and I really enjoyed this one! It's really tough trying to balance the power, I found I kept on running out of energy before I got to the planet. I loved the hectic vibe of the game, where you're trying to finish simple tasks but the damn computer just keeps getting in your way lol. I also played it on my phone, which added to the atmosphere. Great entry, great work!
Fun little game :two_hearts:
Was fun playing through the game, I liked the idea and the graphics! It's maybe a little bit too easy in my opinion and audio feedback would be awesome for this game :blush:
@digitaldude555 Thanks! For the most part if you burn and mine a few material, the game is quite easy to finish.
@0x-void-x0 glad you like it. I was initially going for a power plant similar to "Cook, Serve, Delicious"/"Papers, Please" but the restriction i enforced on myself (i.e. Mobile friendly) just essentially created the mobile OS theme.
@reccy Thank you ! Have you try turning it on and off again ? :D the reboot button is your friend.
@simonchik I think the difficulty is a hard one. Initially it was way harder than this, but if you see the comments, some people still find this version quite hard =/ I didn't want to bring the immersion down by putting a difficulty setting at the main menu. Definitely agree that audio will be better.
It's a great idea, to make this management as if from an app - I really dig the looks of the game and the crisis-management gameplay loop! And the introductory backstory just puts a smile on my face, how silly yet not impossible the situation is. Good one, liked playing it :)
A really clever take on the theme! I like how not only the energy level is unstable but the os as well. I had a good chuckle first time it got disconnected :smile:
Nice work on the artwork as well. Great job!
I was streaming my playthrough of some games and made a recording of it. I hope it will be helpful for you to see a first-time player's perspective of your game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88rtTOXawsw I'm starting to play your game at 1:11:25
@caudatecoder Thanks a lot ! I will definitely watch it later. Did you encounter the blue screen of death ? bsod.png
Didn't want to post this so that BSOD is a surprise. I hope people have encounter it.
Edit: Watched your video. Haha I couldn't believe you could stand the flickering lines for so long. I would have rebooted it when it hit 3 or 4 lines.
Thanks for the video as well. I learnt quite a few things from your playthrough. A lot of things that was quite obvious to me wasn't that obvious afterall.
Great idea, it's a bit hard to understand though.
It's a fun idea, though a bit frustrating, which---I know---is the point 😅
A nice take on the theme! Having a buggy mobile OS to manage your survival sounds like a nightmare ha ha. The game looks great. I did try it on the computer but will follow your advice to try another run from a phone. Well done!
Really unique setting and the ui was well polished. It reminded me of those small games of the old days for PalmOS. It could have been cool if the UnstableOS engineers thought about writing a small widget to show the engine temperature near the clock. Although the windows switching is part of the experience, I know :D Well done.
Great aesthetic, and interesting concept! I wish the bugs had come on a bit more slowly at first, I didn't have time to figure out what I needed to accomplish before being overwhelmed. The bugs and ship management feel a bit disconnected as a result, and I think the gameplay would be stronger if I'd been able to fully understand both parts before being challenged by them simultaneously.
It's an interesting and abstract idea, I quite like it. I was unsuccessful in saving my ship, due to a variety of errors with the operating system. The blue screen of death got me pretty good. I am not sure I fully understand what a good strategy would be to win, I think a bit of auditory feedback would help keep track of the notices at the top of the screen as well as the mining portion. Well done!
@tetrapteryx I had that when I first build the game. I had 10 minutes of gameplay, with the first 3 minutes being slower and allow the player to ease into it. However it become way too slow at the start and you kind of have to wait for things to happen.
I kind of just went with the roguelike approach, make a shorter game and make you die and learn. The whole game is only 3 minutes to victory, and if you die in the first 1 or 2 minutes of the game, you can restart and the whole experience will take around 5~6 minutes long. I do see what you are getting at tho.
@jonah-srg yeah sound is really my weakness at the moment. I tend to play most of my games with sound off unless they are part of the mechanics. The strategy is actually not to panic. If you start the game by mining all the things you see, you are bound to lose since mining increases energy consumption. Without doing anything, the first minute will pass without problem, and if you burn all the stuffs in the storage at the start, you will be safe for about 1.5 minutes. In short, you only have need to survive 1.5 minutes :D
Thanks all for the play.