FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD49 → StarBase Balance

StarBase Balance

By dimesto52

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall2.005
Fun1.665
Innovation2.335
Theme3.005

Comments

mike-burns 2021-10-04 05:17

Neat mechanic, beware the explosion sound that almost knocked me out of my chair when wearing headphones.

cogcomp 2021-10-04 05:45

Well done! I think you nailed the theme pretty well. Had a hard time figuring out how to balance the engines at first.

zwodahs 2021-10-04 06:52

Interesting concept. It took me at least 5 minutes to figure out how to play the game. A better explanation in the description would be helpful. For example, I didn't know that I need to select the rocket in order to control it.

Quite fun to have to control the various rocket. Not sure if intended, but seems like letting all except 1 rocket alive is the best strategy for highscore, although it is not the best thing to happen to the other rockets.

squimmy 2021-10-04 07:30

This is a fun idea.

I agree with zwodahs and cogcomp that some sort of explanation of how to control the rockets would have helped. Most people will work it out after a couple of failed attempts, but it's not a good first impression.

Related to what zwodahs said about leaving a single rocket alive, I'm not sure if it's a bug or just an oversight but it seems like a single rocket can maintain its altitude indefinitely, so the score becomes simply a matter of how long I leave the game running!

I also think it might have been a good idea to disable the scrolling the view when the cursor is over the control panel. It's a little bit distracting when everything moves around as you change the rocket power.

The music and art are nice, by the way. Simple and easy to understand. :thumbsup:

dzejpi 2021-10-04 09:27

Interesting take on the theme. It took me several tries to figure out the game, but once I did, I was able to keep going for a while. As mentioned above, if you stay with single rocket, you can go for a long time (maybe even indefinitely); maybe if there is only one left, it should be destroyed as well. What kinda bothered me was the scrolling when you are interacting with something - especially scrolling when you’re switching between the rocket fires. Otherwise very solid entry and if you polish this, I think you would have something really cool!