FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD49 → Unstable Aviation

Unstable Aviation

By icedjam

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall3463.8146
Fun1034.0546
Innovation7093.3446
Theme5403.7646
Graphics5853.7846

Comments

xyterix 2021-10-04 17:51

Cool concept with some great art. You end up needing to switch modes very often, which is good chaotic fun!

guntrip 2021-10-04 18:01

I loved that, what a great idea. The difficulty ramped up nicely and there were some nice suprises with the power-ups. Really fun good-looking game, well done!

parttimeindie 2021-10-04 18:03

The most fun I had during the jam, it is a nice concept and well executed.

water-otter 2021-10-04 18:08

I really like this game, couldn't go farther 1300 points, but that's just because I'm not very good. The art is simple, but really cool too, would add sound options though, the game is really loud(or just my PC, who knows)

owca 2021-10-04 18:21

One of most fun-to-play games so far for me. It proves that you don't have to spend hours to write complex shaders to make a good game. Also a nice and fresh approach to a classical asteroids-type game. Good job!

chesschaser 2021-10-04 19:31

Love it!

misaravensoul 2021-10-04 19:48

Oh my goodness, this reminded me of those old asteroid games, but better! Loved the mode swapping to keep the percentages up!

circle 2021-10-04 19:50

This is really cool! I love how unstable everything feels. It's really difficult, but I feel like I could master this game given enough time. The graphics as well are really nice. I love the retro look you've captured.

silkworm-sweatshop 2021-10-04 20:04

Simple graphics made cool with polish and juice. Mode switching worked better than I thought it would and switched things up from the usual "asteroids-like". Spaming mode switching seemed like the best strategy though, almost cheating.

r3l0ad1 2021-10-04 20:31

Nice game! I love the music and the concept is great. good work!

bentebent 2021-10-04 21:03

Really like the concept, trying to balance between shooting and moving was a lot of fun. The graphics and sound felt cohesive, overall very well executed!

dannyk1994 2021-10-04 22:24

Wow, great entry! Simple and effective! Controls were fluid and easy to use, was very satisfying once mastered!

anthony-servedio 2021-10-04 23:24

I like this game. It has a good flow to it. Nice job!

mechanizedit 2021-10-05 01:33

Nice idea, a little awkward at first, but once you get used to the mode switching, it is pretty satisfying. Love the retro arcade feel and audio is great.

honey-pony 2021-10-05 02:37

This game is really nicely polished! All the nice graphics and particle effects and a lot of the sound effects are really good.

I find that the unstable control scheme is interesting to try to wrangle. It is definitely not an easy control scheme to work with. In particular, I find that I am really not able to maneuver myself to avoid enemy projectiles and asteroids; practically the only reason I ever survive a possible collision with a hazard is because my shield happens to be up at that time.

I imagine it may be possible to get better at actually moving out of the way, with enough practice with the control scheme, but I think it is very hard to learn how to be remotely good.

That said, this kind of difficulty is not particularly unexpected, as this is essentially an arcade game. I just thought it was worth talking about.

A nitpick: the way the screen wrapping works is kind of confusing. I feel like I lose track of my ship when I wrap the screen.

Overall this is a pretty fun game. I don't think I'll be able to get a score much above 13,000 though.

matthew-roelle 2021-10-05 03:43

Great take on the theme! I really enjoyed the graphical style as well.

guitarbro 2021-10-05 03:47

Really fun little game! The powerup variety was really nice and added some extra spice to and already interesting balancing act. Graphics are simple but get the job done (it's an aesthetic :stuck_out_tongue:) and even though you opted out of music, you've selected some funky beats there. Perhaps lower the volume slightly though?

shade2810 2021-10-05 03:58

This game is really polished. I enjoy the powerups and it has some really good aesthetic to it. The unstable theme was also quite well thought out. My only gripe with it, is that it does look the same between the modes so maybe a different look to it would indicate what mode it is would be easier to the eye.

The difficulty reminds me of old arcade games, which I enjoy as well. However, I do feel like I get lost with the ship a few times. Got about 10,000 pts which is good

koolruz 2021-10-05 03:58

I really liked the art style here - Everything is super juiced up and polished. The sound design also helps reinforce the visuals - Your actions feel like they have weight to them :)

The one thing I can offer for criticism is that death felt really abrupt, especially compared to how polished the gameplay was.

Overall though, great job! :)

bernard-bumblebutt 2021-10-05 04:38

The mode switching gives a nice little twist, challenging at first but eventually it the switching becomes natural, nice work!

vsi 2021-10-05 05:01

Nice game, liked the cute graphics,gj!

icedjam 2021-10-05 06:10

Thank you all for the useful feedback so far! Much appreciated

bloodbane 2021-10-05 07:21

That was fun! the ship is unstable but it's still within control :)

lucy-lu 2021-10-05 08:20

Interesting concept! Funny, good looking game! There is nothing more to say than... good job.. I love it.

preda 2021-10-05 12:36

What a fun little game. I Really enjoyed switching between the modes and trying to get all the collectibles! Also how the game sped up was nice

jane-wei 2021-10-05 13:29

So fun, game looks and feels really good. I love the screen wobble on impact, really brings home the unstable theme

alpharock6 2021-10-05 16:46

I wasn't very clear what my "health" was the first time I played, but even with that it was quite fun, really juicy combat! Very enjoyable :)

ukulelefury 2021-10-05 17:11

:) Wow, great game! Very very fun to play. At first, I thought, "oh, so this is very much just like asteroids, but you can't shoot and move at the same time." But then, I found my first upgrade, and I was unreasonably pleased. Nice music, fits the vibe. Good sfx. Nice art style! Well built!

slimmerburger 2021-10-05 19:26

Really reminds me of geometry wars, but I absolutely love the stability mechanic, makes it so you have to constantly switch around your mindset and keeps you on your feet. Only thing I'd say is I'd like it if you could aim with the mouse

zack-andre 2021-10-05 20:10

Very cool mechanic of swapping between moving and shooting. Makes for a very intense and suspenseful game trying to stay alive. Very fun game overall! :)

erkberg 2021-10-05 20:34

Awesome game! It made it into my first video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK4L_VinlSY

icedjam 2021-10-06 01:11

@alpharock6 If you collide with anything or get shot, you die. But also if your engine stability or weapon stability reach zero you die so I guess this is technically a form of health. It's useful to know that might be confusing for the player, it's very useful info, thanks for the feedback!

@ukulelefury I'm glad you liked it, it's always useful to hear someone's initial reaction to the game and their opinion after playing, thank you!

@slimmerburger That means a lot because some of the particle FX are really inspired by how beautiful Geometry Wars is. I definitely prefer aiming and rotating with a mouse, I was just keeping it true to the asteroids like controls but maybe mouse controls would have played better. Great job with Tables & Tremors btw, I look forward to seeing your future work.

@zack-andre Thank you for playing and leaving feedback, I massively appreciate it.

@erkberg This video was so fun to watch and see someones live reaction to the game, thanks so much for taking the time to play my game and producing content with it!

flywolfe 2021-10-06 03:05

This was actually a lot of fun. I found a little bug where you can keep shooting forever if you never switch modes, which got me a good amount of points, but it's definitely way more fun to move around and get power ups. Also the bigger enemies and the way the game just got more chaotic as you went. It was really cool, nice job! It's a lot of fun :D

icedjam 2021-10-06 03:47

@flywolfe Thanks for the detailed feedback and I'm glad you enjoyed it! It's actually not a bug, it's something I implemented because I thought if I started the game and your weapon stability decreased instantly, it's a little confusing for the player and they'd die before they even knew what was going on. So the stability doesn't decrease until the first time you switch modes. But your feedback is valuable, it means I needed to explain that better to the player, thanks a lot!

roelosaurus 2021-10-06 05:11

Yo, that's dope. I could only get in the 3000s. What was your highscore?

2021-10-06 11:37

What an interesting game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 49 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/jL-Xn4X6IAQ

soul-grinder 2021-10-06 17:50

Nice polished asteroids style game. I liked the powerups and the audio, nice work!

aderpychickenstudios 2021-10-06 19:42

Really fun game with a neat game idea I really liked it my only suggestion would be wasd as well as arrow keys just cause that's how I usually play games but overall great and fun game!

maus-games 2021-10-07 19:14

Really cool gameplay alternating between offense and defense. Simple, but very readable graphics. The UI is also very clear, with the percentage at the ship, the overheating alert and more. I was only disappointed, that there is no huge explosion or other effect when losing.

dreamerflow 2021-10-08 10:05

Great game! good job, really feels like a arcade game and theme match perfectly

neowhoru 2021-10-08 16:15

wow this as really great arcade game :D

laurari 2021-10-08 17:12

great idea and super well executed!! I like this neon art a lot :smile:

kukurammus 2021-10-09 22:12

Fun game, graphics are nice

loveapplegames 2021-10-10 14:24

This is a really fun shooter! I'm not sure the stability feature really adds to the gameplay though. Since there's no penalty for switching modes often, switching back and forth quickly allows you to essentially stay in the same mode.

zimny11 2021-10-12 22:40

Cool game. The graphic are nice and simple. I think game need a bit more balance, or maybe I'm just bad at it :)

gustavo-christino 2021-10-20 21:38

I finally managed to finish the gameplays and uploaded the game session for this game. I hope you like it and that my comments can be understood as those most interested in enabling improvements to the project.

Thank you for requesting this gameplay!

https://youtu.be/3BRxQRgkcBg