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Totally Stable Docking Simulator
Totally Stable Docking Simulator
By mlkvr
View on ldjam.com
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Overall | 509 | 2.80 | 25 | |
| Fun | 518 | 2.52 | 25 | |
| Innovation | 389 | 3.02 | 25 | |
| Theme | 231 | 3.68 | 24 | |
| Graphics | 445 | 2.89 | 25 | |
Comments
mikoziq
2021-10-04 01:15
Joe is trying to get docked while drinking!
After crashing the platform twice and breaking the game ( I managed to get a module without collisions, so it could jusy fly through stuff lol )
Pros:
- Easy to grasp controls - Relaxing gameplay - You know exactly what to do from the beginning - Nice speed indicator
Cons:
- Wish there were any sound effect, but I understand the struggle of Compo - Maybe it's just my screen, but the game is really dark for me. Any starlight background would give it a nice touch. Or a sun shining on the modules (that 'space' look)
Good job nontheless, welcome to the COMPO-league!
hotaloca
2021-10-04 09:34
I agree a really relaxing gameplay, with some ambient music I could think to play it just to break away for a few minutes. What i liked on graphics that it is a consistent palette - it matches. It could be a bit lighter colors though as well. Some stars would have gone a long way I think to create an immersion of a space docking. Nice job alltogether! I also appreciated the theme of unstability.
mlkvr
2021-10-04 15:41
@mikoziq Thats the mini solar module I added at last hour yeah I forgot adding the mesh collider and brightness well its a problem about my screen not yours, I use a tv screen so brightness and contrast different from monitors it seem good while making but when I checked ld page using mobile after submitting wow its almost complately black, you are right!
Stars were on my list alongside with iconic white nuzzle particle effect unfortunately they have to wait until post-jam version, much thanks for your feedback!
mikoziq
2021-10-04 15:46
@mlkvr If you're looking for inspiration, you can check out my first LD entry (47), in which I have made the starlight background: [Entry LD47 - Loopfield](https://tinyurl.com/7r299mm6)
mlkvr
2021-10-04 15:46
@hotaloca I model them one after another glad that you liked it there was a CanadArm module aswell but couldnt finish it maybe I will add it also in the post-jam version, thanks for the feedback!
Nice job!
I don't know if that's my way of enjoying or it was meant to be so but at some point I just started spawning modules non-stop and crashing them. A lot of fun :)
When you load up and think it's 2d, but then a moment of hubris leads to a crash and the shrapnel flies at you in 3d! That is a fantastic moment Love the idea, great execution, with some polish this could be a super fun game and a great way to teach RCS thrusters with an intuitive idea of physics in space
m-a-t
2021-10-04 16:11
Oooh man! SPACE! I had to play it. Great game, it is a lot relaxing and easy to play. Love it!
I had a bug while playing, at some point it has spawned a solar module without the dongle to attach on the ship. You can imagine how it end up. :laughing:
mlkvr
2021-10-04 16:36
@caudatecoder Exacly thats what I did in playtesting just attach few modules to mothership then crash full speed hahaha, thanks for the feedback
mlkvr
2021-10-04 16:59
@ugly-robot Its a 3d top down game from start to finish, when I first started making it was free angle camera like KSP but I tought we dont need that much depth it would be easier both the player and me if I constrain movement in two axis while the game being still 3d, thank you for the reply!
@mlkvr my pleasure! Yeah imagine my surprise when what I thought were sprites suddenly fell to chunks! Really great work with TSDS - and I think I just saw a comment from you on my game! Haha, how fun
The movement and docking were pleasant, just slowly bringing them in. Well done there. There were a few things that wouldn't dock, and I didn't know why though. Nice explosions.
oh noooo i liked it so much but the third one somehow kept losing its docking station and could not dock
the controls are on point! and the game plays well keep up the good work
Nice work entering the Compo!
At first I was trying hard to be careful and dock things properly. Then I got a ship that spawned without it's connector piece attached, and it was all downhill for my run from there haha. I didn't know at first that not all ships can rotate, and it felt a bit strange that you had to press the rotate button rather than hold (since that's how the movement works). But it was a lot of fun spamming the spawn button and watching the ships fly out of control ;)
Thanks for making this!
mrchip
2021-10-05 12:53
Fun game! I didnt find the complete lack of tutorials or explanations an issue. It's very straightforward. It's the good kind of simple. The shattering animation is nice too.
Only issue is a gamebreaking bug: the "docking points" dont always move correctly. (Sometimes they are at an offset with the module you're controlling, and dont follow its rotation, sometimes they simply dont move and theres no way for you to dock that module, effectively a game over.)
I would have played this a lot longer if that bug wasnt there.
Also i guess control options would theoretically have been nice, i instinctively used Q and E in the opposite way.
Last thing is, i havent figured out what the arrows marked on the bottom left corner of the screen is supposed to represent. That didnt affect how i played, so not a major issue.
mlkvr
2021-10-05 13:56
@mrchip Those markings -in theory- shows your speed but they are not working correctly most of the time ,thats the easy one to fix the second you mentioned other hand is a bit harder, right now Im still working on it and postjam version will be -hopefully- bug-free, thanks for indepth reply glad you enjoyed!
Interesting concept and the gameplay was fun and intuitive. The game could do with a bit more structure though, such as goals or levels.
Nice concept and the effect of the satellites breaking is satisfying to watch. Good definitely use some ambient sound and/or music, and a bit more lighter as it was quite difficult to see.
Definitely played well with No Time for Caution blaring in the background! :D
wuppos
2021-10-06 17:45
Really cool idea for the theme! Docking a spaceship is indeed something that needs to be very carefully, and you cannot be unstable about it XD I often got two pieces docked, but I could never manage the third one. For some reason one of the modules I already docked often exploded around this point, and I did not fully understand why.
I must say that at first I was very confused about who I was. For a second I thought I was controlling the big thing in the middle. I think this was because I had already pressed spacebar a few times, so when I pressed 'left' all the modules flew left, making it look like the center thing flew to the right. I was very confused, but that is probably on me :P Perhaps it was also because both the background and the ships were pretty dark, making it a bit hard to see what was happening
I agree with the others that music and sound effects would be great! They could add a lot to the atmosphere, and might also help with clarity. For example a nice sound when you succesfully dock a module would both give an adrenaline boost and make it clear that what you just did was good!
Anway, I think that is a lot of nitpicking and that this was fun a fun game to play! Especially for your first compo submission this was really cool! Those explosions once you missed looked really nice and the physics worked really nicely. Great job :D
mlkvr
2021-10-07 23:01
@rustbaron Yeah! I listen the whole soundtrack while making the game actually I was going to write (it goes well with no time for caution) hahaha but then tought even Nolan didn't use explosion sound when Matt couln't docked, thanks for the feedback glad you enjoyed!
mlkvr
2021-10-07 23:09
@wuppos Wow I never tought it would be confusing my bad, RCS thursters may help about finding who player is and movement code applies for every module that havent been docked yet so yes its a bug as well as not docking points other than mothership, I have fixed most of them but still there are work to be done. Much thanks for your indepth reply I want you to see post-jam version too if you like ?
Good game and it has potential to make it better but it was tough to control, I should continuous tap on button but not hold I felt it might be better
wuppos
2021-10-08 06:09
@mlkvr Yeah, I would love to see the post-jam version as well! :D Let me know once it is done ^^
srynetix
2021-10-08 06:35
Cool take on the theme! Some on-screen instructions would have been nice, but I think it's great, stressful as it should be. :grin: Good job!
tiranice
2021-10-08 16:32
• I like this idea. It reminds of all the space debr- stations that I made in Kerbal Space Program.
• I'm not clear on what causes the parts to explode, but it's very entertaining when they do.
• The docking ports on my second solar panel array got separated and never moved from their stating position.
• The small solar panel array with one port doesn't dock at all for me.
• I have no idea what the arrows in the bottom corner mean.
• When you zip and pass around a Unity project you can exclude several things in the root directory, as they are regenerated as soon as Unity opens. These are: Library, Logs, obj, and any .csproj or .sln files. There are others, but you don't have any of them. See the official [gitignore](https://github.com/github/gitignore/blob/master/Unity.gitignore) for a more complete list.