Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD49 → Heating plant tycoon
By hadik
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 644 | 3.60 | 46 | |
| Fun | 972 | 3.21 | 46 | |
| Innovation | 593 | 3.45 | 49 | |
| Theme | 1145 | 3.07 | 47 | |
| Graphics | 596 | 3.77 | 50 | |
| Audio | 604 | 3.35 | 49 | |
| Mood | 841 | 3.33 | 45 |
The game is a very ambitious undertaking for a game jam, so there are still some rough edges (like, idk how to disconnect a pipe, once i connected it, and one time, the game decided to not let me build at all, anymore...) Other than that, the graphics and the music is very cool! great job!
@catalina-luca Thank you for review, pipe can be disconnected by first icon in the menu, with electircal cable/socket icon under the money count.
It looks like a great game. It seems very well thought out. I'm finding it tricky to play though. It only lets me build pipes one time, and once I've disconnected a pipe, then I can't interact with the game anymore.
Very cool concept, I definitely would play this in my free time but needs a bit more polish. Controls are difficult and components are hard to understand but absolutely fun
I love games like this, but the interface needed more work. I clicked and started making a pipe. And things went downhill from there. I couldn't stop making pipes. The instruction screen wouldn't close. None of the buttons worked. I can't rate something I can't really play, but I'd love to play something more polished after the jam.
@pavocado yeah disconnecting is sometimes buggy, I will try debug it. Try avoid disconnecting pipes. Anyway thank you for review
@cslupius More polish, it was in my dreams tonight :) Need more polish, but also more time. maybe I will release it on steam or mobiles. And yeah components are pretty hard, but there is in game help with descipritons what it is and what for it is. Thank you for review :)
@michael-faragher Yeah, that interface is not finished :( You must connect powerplant to houses, or splitters, and from splitter into house. From stop connecting pipes you can simple press cancel on the screen.
I'll give it another shot.
Alright, I like the game. It's a jam game, and UI was one of my biggest "why is it doing that?" hurdles. It's neat, but since you can only have one pipe and the town keeps growing, destroying old pipes is really important. I don't know what you have going on under the hood, but if I was doing this, I'd have a function I'd call every time an object was added or deleted. Start with each power plant and run through each attached child. Then have those children keep running until they reach a consumer. With this small number of nodes, rebuilding a network shouldn't take long.
@michael-faragher @cslupius @pavocado Disconnecting and destroy system (bug with stuck pipes) fixed, try load it into anoynomous mode, because of cache.
I liked the game, but well, it is very hard. I don't think it's possible to lose, but I am certainly not winning.
Music gives a nice throwback to transport tycoon.
Screen gets cluttered with wires/indicators/numbers way too quickly.
Overall, I think this is a pretty good game, but it is tricky.
This is one of my favorite games so far. The graphics and audio are really good and the game is absolutely addicting. I just spend more than an hour planning my city and starting over again because I found a better way to start off and so on. The fact that cutting pipes and destroying buildings is marked as "Very buggy dont use this" makes it even more interesting. You have to carefully plan your design so that you can modify it later without destroying stuff. I got to the strategy of building some splitter-lines that just put the remaining power forward to the next splitter. This way I can regulate everything without the need of the other buildings. Would be cool if the building were more expensive so there is more reason to use the other, cheaper buildings.
Overall a really cool captivating planning game with some remaining bugs (sometimes pipes appear that should not be there etc. but using the "very buggy" features resolves it most of the times somehow), great graphics and audio and beautiful mechanics. Going to play this some more hours later, maybe there is some sort of win condition?
Would be even cooler as a puzzle game with multiple levels. City is given and money is just enough to solve the task
@hadik like I said before this is just the type of game for me, This would be a great tycoon game with some time :) I didn't break any points from bugs before, so I don't need to change my ratings like I said, I love it.
@fenno-boomgaarden Thank you very much for your long and detailed review. Screenshot of your city will be awesome, to see, how others use that "circuits". That buggy staff is fixed, so your second game was maybe without these bugs. There is no win scenerio, but I planning to do post-ldjam version with some more staff, more chalanges, bigger city/more levels, and some money balancing (coal and water will cost also some money), and release it on the steam. (You get it ? steam game on steam :D)
@vlandemart You can use, hide building action, forth from top, which will hide all buildins expect yours and pipes.
@cslupius I see, my falt, anyway, thank you for reply.
I realy like the concept. I'm not realy sure if thats right that you can use only one for one plant. So to conect 10 houses I need 9 spliter... A little bit weard but I like this game. Tell me when it is out for cellphone ;)
@singular Yep one plant has only one output, but you can use balancer which will split into two outputs with half of plant output on each output. Or you can siplme can add anothar powerplant.
But you use that right, splitter is the way, for large cluster of same building you can use balancers and behind that circuit one splitter for specify right heat output :)
And I will remind when will be game released on mobile devices or steam (polished) :)
Moblie? Steam? I take both :D
Wow what an ambitious jam game! Great work getting the game play done in time, there is a lot of complexity in there. It took a few restarts to get the hang of it, especially with the no removing pipes but then it opens out before you. It has great transport tycoon vibes with the way the roads build out and the music. Now that you have the core down there is a lot of scope for a more polished and forgiving UI if you decide to do a post jam version.
A really complex game, i am amazed that you managed to fill so much complexity in a short span of time. Not my style of game for a jam, but i still appreciate the effort and dedication!
I always like simulation games, and I am very happy to see this kind of game in ld. It's awesome to be able to make such a complicated system in such a short time.
But I think the interaction needs to be improved. In fact, the mechanism itself is not too complicated, but this construction method is not convenient . For example, when connecting to a splitter, I hope to be able to select which port is connected. Often the output port I connected does not meet expectations, so I can only disconnect all and reconnect
I like tycoons but this one is too hard for me. Waiting for Steam version :)
Nice game! It's a bit hard in my opinion, and the balancers/splits are quite limited so each time a new building appears you have to destroy and rebuild pipes everywhere. With a good polish it would make a great game! Congrats!
@juanlu You must plan pipe system well and it will not require any destroying/disconnecting :)
Use splitter for branch out specify amount of power which building require and continue with rest into another splitter and branch out to another building. And repeat over again.
For multiple same building you can use balancer :)
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Сначала я совершенно ничего не понял. Что-то куда-то тыкаю, ничего не получается. Хотел уже забросить. Но потом решил еще раз попробовать. И оказалось очень круто! Игра захватывает. Конечно, многого не хватает. Больше всяких элементов. Но это в будущем. А пока хватает и этого. Спасибо!
Interesting and complex game, wasn't sure what I was doing at first but got the hang of it on second play through, looks like a lot of work was put into this. Nice work!
This is a really ambitious game, and I must admit that this ambition paid off! The game is extremely fun, and the replayability is almost infinite! It is very well thought out and the city grows organically. The only downside is the music, it is a bit short and repetitive. Otherwise it is a total success!
Don't apologize for complexity. I'm here exactly because I saw an image from your game that looked complicated :P
I must say the idea is really ambitious for Jam, not to mention Compo, but you nail it pretty well :) The art style is clean, quite pretty and easy to understand. The game mechanic take a moment to figure out, but after you got it is a fun game. My only complaint will be music. I found it a bit distracting.
This game destroys my brain. I was trying to get it to work but I think I'm too dumb for this. Implementing some functions through HTML is a little jarring, and the music is... something.
VOD Link: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1168815112
Awesome game you've put together for this jam. It's no small undertaking at all. For future polish I would like to see some feedback for button presses.
@jake-marks Thank you for your review, and sorry that you not enjoy the game. But I tried to prepare information that will help you start without confusion. Ingame help but mainly TIPS here under the images. Which could definitly helps you to starts :)
- Use pause mode, for building pipes, it will not overhelm you - for perfect control and balancing place one splitter per building and divert how much heat building wants - Use splitter for branch out specify amount of power which building require and continue with rest into another splitter and branch out to another building. And repeat over again. - toggle on and off visibility of numbers because it will overhelm you - toggle on/of visiblity of building, you can clearly see where pipes start and ends - For multiple same building you can use balancer - Started TIP. Place splitter near the plant, and another near the buildins. Connect them together, and pass from first one 4 on second also 4 and place 1 balancer near the last one, and connect first sokcet into balancer from that splitter, from balancer into two red houses. Second output of splitter connect into another splitter, and then into directly bulding.
@swiney Thx I will write it down :)
Oh, finally found it! Yeterday it catched my eye in the main feed, so let's give it a try!
First, I love the music, it definitely reminds me of transport tycoon, nice touch! The game looks great, too! I admire the scope of the game you've managed to create in this 72 hrs! Very impressive! I must say, playing this was quite a learning curve. UI/UX need a good polishing for sure, but for such a complex game it would take another day. So I took my time to learn how to play, and after some time and page refreshes I started to really enjoy your game, that was quite rewarding. Thanks for nice touches like show/hide numbers and buildings, this helped for sure. I like how along with load balancing, careful "pipe management" is also an element of a gameplay. If you're not careful, your map quickly turns into a mess. Overall, great game, I would like to play the post-compo version some time!
Cool little sim, I really like the TTD style city that builds itself over time.
I found it pretty hard to balance structures, once a building was cold it was kinda a pain to warm it back up again, perhaps if a building has the right value it could slowly move back towards the correct temperature? You could still have that transition be really slow, so a skilled player could warm or cool the building faster, but if you're concentrating on other things you can trust a building will go back to the right temp on it's own.
I also found the input system a little confusing at first, I like that you can lay pipes in any shape you like, but I was often stuck in a ui mode without realising, because the only way to turn off a construction mode was to click the cancel button. I think right click or escape to cancel current action would help make it a lot more intuitive, as that's a pretty common pattern in games like this.
I really like the little village aesthetic and the music is spot on, loving the old sim game vibes.
Very cool project, although i felt a bit overwhelmed with everything. Impressive how much you got done in these days. Would be interested to play even more if you ever got the time to polish it!
Cool sim-steam game! It brings back a little of that classic feel. The controls for connecting pipes are a bit unclear at first, but after some trying got the hang of it. I really would love some multi-splitters in there, since it felt like a game of just binary splitters everywhere after a while. :) The graphics are very neat and appropriate, the music is sim-good. Nice lil game!
Can't imagine you pulled it off in 3 days! with some polishing I'm sure this will be a fun game
I started the game and was a overwhelmed by the mechanics and the help menu is a lot to read, but once I figured out how to actually connect pipes and use the different buildings it quickly became addictive!
I like the graphics and the audio is good for a chill sim building game, I actually played a lot once I figured it out so here are some things I noticed out of order: - The factories don't need to be turned off during the night, Idk if I misread or if it's a bug - Being able to click and put anchor points while building lines to be more organised is a great touch - Pressing the help button and then exiting it, unpauses the game, which can be a bit annoying - The city that constructs itself is cool and I like that you don't have control of it - A game over or big penalty for overheating/freezing would be a cool touch for a risk/reward mechanic
Honestly this is an addictive game, with a better tutorial and maybe even playable on mobile I'd totally play it more, but for a 3 day jam I think you did a great job!
The game can be overwhelming at the beginning, which is understandable with an ambitious game like this, but it got a little bit better after some time. I think the music and the graphics fit this type of game pretty good.
Interesting ways to connect wires and split them, I like how the town would grow and you would have to manage that, and how you could draw out the wires really in any way you wanted. The controls are pretty difficult to get at first, maybe if the different kind of pipe switches/splitters were introduced one by one? Or perhaps smaller levels where you just have to do one thing and the move on (perhaps out of scope for jam but if you were to keep developing it). I found the music a bit jarring as there were many instruments that would suddenly come in or it would feel like it changed music tracks very suddenly.
this game is… a bit complex, but after I got it, I would say it was decent fun!
the UI is very nice, I like the art style and even the song does add to the overall feel of the game. I will just say though, the controls were a bit unintuitive, as well as a bit of the design… The controls, I’m mainly talking about the disconnect feature, it’s rather inconvenient. Three facts, 1). that you have to move your mouse to click the disconnect button, 2). that you can’t click on the pipe rather you have to click on the building to remove ALL the pipes attached [which is inconvenient when you have a splitter and you only want to remove one pipe], and 3). the fact that when you’re finished you have to click another button. Usually I want to remove only one pipe, so the fact that it doesn’t cancel itself automatically was a slight hassle. I think a much simpler, and easier system, would be for you to be able to double click, or left click on the pipe and that would delete the pipe. Or maybe you could hold shift, and then everytime you press a pipe / building with the shift button down, it disconnects.
And the design, mainly the art on the balancer and splitter. The art is honestly great as a whole, but I feel it’s a miss with these two item..
First of all the balancer I think is simple and intuitive, and a visual change I’d suggest is to alter the start position of the pipes [accidentally called them wires but see below]. But what I don’t get is the splitter, since the balancer and the splitter have the same core principle, one input, two outputs, why is the splitter flipped? I do think both should be facing as the balancer is facing, since the starting factory is on the left [the input], and the houses are on the right [the output].
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And getting to the elephant in the room… the complexity… This game took a while to get, I was a bit confused by the function of the different devices, as I said above the control scheme was a bit confusing, the wall of text tutorial, and overall this game did take me a while to get… …
however, however… I can say that after I did manage to get it, after I understood the mechanics… that it actually was solid then. I’m usually not that big a fan of these types of games, however once I understood and got into it, it was legit engaging and fun. Bit stressful at times, but it fits with the theme greatly!
And look, I apologize for being a bit harsh with the review, this was an ambitious project, and I have to say props for getting so much done, from the speed up feature to the town building by itself to all the other mechanics and getting it all to work with almost 0 bugs, that is commendable. And the game itself, once I understood, was legit engaging, it was fun setting up different factories for different types of buildings, and I had a good time! It’s just that there are a few nooks and crannies that need to be leveled out, mainly in the complexity department, that once they are, I think this will be a solid mini game all around!
TL;DR: Main complaints are A). the controls [disconnecting pipes], B). the design of the splitter & balancer, and C). the complexity. However once I got it, the UI, the background music, the gameplay, and the ambition, all combined to make a pretty solid & fun experience!
Once again I apologize for the harsh tone, props for making an ambitious project and I hope to see your entry next jam!
Here's where I was at, btw! 819_11-05-2021_Time-03-26-48_ApplicationFrameHost.png