lachlan-james 2022-04-05 01:50
Really impressive! I struggled a little figuring out how to purchase all the different defences (I imagine that's UI stuff you didn't get to finish) but the core gameplay and animations are awesome. Well done.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD50 → Aster Defense
By emrod, The_Fazzo, idontkillcoyotes, Emaigualmc2_art and sergio-gp11
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 493 | 3.67 | 111 | |
| Fun | 509 | 3.55 | 111 | |
| Innovation | 595 | 3.40 | 111 | |
| Theme | 889 | 3.48 | 111 | |
| Graphics | 394 | 4.00 | 111 | |
| Audio | 498 | 3.47 | 110 | |
| Mood | 531 | 3.63 | 106 |
Really impressive! I struggled a little figuring out how to purchase all the different defences (I imagine that's UI stuff you didn't get to finish) but the core gameplay and animations are awesome. Well done.
cool idea, and very nice graphics and sound effects. I couldn't figure out how to use the radar or missile turrets though. But just shields was still fun, good work!
Sadly, we don't get on time with the tutorial. The idea of the turrets it's that needs radars to target the asteroids.
It might be worth calling out the controls in your description. It took me a little bit to figure out how to interact with the game - I kept clicking the buttons, expecting something to happen when I did, and it took me a minute or two of clicking around to realize that I was supposed to be clicking around the planet to set up my defenses. Even after I discovered the controls, I wasn't really sure how I was supposed to use the missiles or radar - I didn't realize the missiles could only be placed in orbit far from the planet. I did eventually figure that out, but I never seemed to be able to get radar to work.
Once I figured out how to play though, I thought the distinction between shields and turrets was very clever! It was cool how the shields were your only reliable protection, but they were consumable items, so you had to strike a balance between burning through all your cash on shields, vs having an unreliable turret defense :)
Nice audio. There are some minor UI things, like I can't see how much things cost, but figured that out pretty quickly. Biggest problem seems to be balancing and that it doesn't really get more difficult over time. I have $15000 and doing fine with what I have already built. Good potential here, I really like the idea.
Thanks! We will increase the cost then!
Fun game wish there was a way to resupply my turrets, I think there needs to be a difficulty increase every so often
This was a nice game. However, I feel like the difficulty should increase, rather than stay the same throughout. The visuals were extremely polished and the audio was satisfying. I feel like this could have good potential, if expanded upon.
Nice little game. Perhaps a bit easy? I think some sort of in game "what this button does" feature would be good on hover. Good job though!
That's a very neat concept! And it looks nice too. Once I figured out what everything does exactly, it did indeed seem a bit on the easy side. That said, I died regardless because I didn't see one particularly sneaky meteor, so what do I know. All said, very fun game!
Really awesome game! The gameplay loop was super tight, and easy to get back into a game after losing. I will say that there's definitely a critical point that you reach where it becomes nearly impossible to lose the game. More harsh difficulty scaling over time could fix this for sure.
Lastly, I feel like the audio did an excellent job making things seem echo-y and imminent. Nice work!
I like games like this. The level of difficulty could have been increased a bit, though. Nicely executed!done.JPG
The concept, art, and sound design are really nice. I love the scale of the game world, and that you can feel the thought put into potential strategies - eg, putting radars and shields on alternating layers. I felt the gameplay was a bit too easy, though. I got to the point where I don't think I could lose quite quickly. It would be nice if the difficulty ramped up faster, or if there was a way to 'fast forward' waves like in a tower defense game.
Really enjoyed this one! It definitely felt like there were never enough asteroids to challenge my defences, but still a lot of fun! I think with some better difficulty balancing, maybe more structures you can unlock between runs, a delete/sell button, and a bit more polish, this would be something I'd spend a lot of hours on!
I did notice a slight issue, where sometimes the turrets don't seem to shoot at asteroids, even when they're clearly in range:sc1.png
I had a lot of fun though! Here's what I ended up doing before I left off: sc2.png
Wow that rotating earth is beautiful and the UI looks great too though it blocks you seeing the asteroids, gameplay needs balancing the turrets are overpowered, doesnt seem like earths demise is inevitable with these guys around.
I like the audio of the game. It really fits the setting. I believe that the difficulty could be increased over time. Basically, I started to build turets all over the place and filled the rest with shields and radars. After I had a few rings, it felt like I couldn't lose anymore. Still, I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this game.
Thanks guys!! I love your builds, send more please!! We will definitely increase the difficulty when the jam is over because we're not sure if it's fair for the rest of the submissions to do it now.
Game was super fun I just felt it was a little too easy
Hello all! Thanks a lot for your comments, it really helps us a lot! We agree with you all the game right now is a bit easy after the initial phase, after the jam we will update it and rebalance it
One thing though, we just updated the live version on itch.io, we fixed the bug where the turrets suddenly stopped firing (yes it was a bug) and I guess now it's even easier with that fixed
We have a lot of ideas to improve the game, and we as a team are really happy how it turned out, so stay tuned for future updates after the jam! :smile:
Great job, I enjoyed the game! I immediately died the first time and then was able to survive on the second run. As others have probably mentioned, it starts off hard and then gets pretty easy later on. I definitely expected the frequency and health(?) of the asteroids to increase over time but I know balance is really hard to get to in a game jam. Also wanted to mention the Earth is really pretty :smile: I was able to get to a stable defense with no shields AsterDefense.jpg
Cool game with great graphics! The sound effects were also nice enough to make up for a lack of music. Having difficulty scaling would have made the game a lot more fun as you can currently beat the game with about 4 turrets. Additionally I wasn't really how far away radar stations could share their range and couldn't really figure it out. Overall great job!
I think it's bugged for me as I can't see the planet.Screenshot 2022-04-06 at 07.52.28.png
Classic tower defense. good job!
Great game, I enjoued playing, but some difficulty progress is missing (cost of building depends on distance from earth, more enemies, stronger enemies)
A fun entry! Seems like my initial defense was enough to survive the first 5 minutes of gameplay however, and I wasn't ever forced to use shields. Perhaps difficulty ramps up too slowly ;) Game looks fantastic and has fun tower defense aspects, I love the idea of having towers orbit and rotate around. Good work!
It's super! :) Maybe I'm a bad defender of the Earth, but I tried my best! :) I recommend everyone to play! :)
This looks and sounds fantastic, and I really like the concept. I can see what you were going for, but it needs to ramp up the number of asteroids and quickly. It took me forever to create my fortress of asteroid death because I had to sit there wait for asteroids to appear. None of them got remotely close as they were all mowed down the second they appeared. Shield are pointless. They need to be able to withstand multiple hits radar and turrets are far superior at the moment even at the higher cost. Anyway, don't mean to sound negative as I really enjoyed playing, it's just this could be a great little game with a few tweaks. Solid entry.
Good stuff :8ball:
@tudydev It's only visual the bug or the collider is missing too?
@oddballdave Thanks for playing! You have a good point about the shield, we will look into
@ksimaster At least you tried! Thanks for playing
It's soooooooo preeeeeeeetty aster defense.png
I'm honestly surprised how fun this turned out. If you were to explain the gameplay to me or write it down on paper, I would call it boring. You proved me wrong and made this quite engaging. Sure there isn't any difficulty ramp up, but that didn't stop it from being satisfying to build proper defenses. Difficulty balancing is one of the hardest things to get right in a jam game, and it's ALWAYS better to end up being too easy.
I honestly only have 1 critique that's super minor. The coloring on the buttons at the bottom made me think I couldn't afford or needed to unlock the other choices. Maybe some different colors like red for not enough money, or maybe even just showing their cost, would have helped there. Selecting could make that sprite bigger than the others?
Either way, nice job!
Love these kind of games :) Love them even more of done whell like This one.
The game is interesting, the idea is very fresh, but it needs balance. If everything is built up with turrets, then it becomes impossible to lose, earthlings can sleep peacefully. But the game can be very interestingly developed to a full-fledged project.
@mhorth Glad you like it!! And yes, you are right about the UI, we will see how we make it more intuitive
Thanks everyone for playing the game and leaving your feedback, we´re very happy to see that you like it! ^^
@wiredoverload The idea for the audio was to create something similar to Space Invader, but we´ll improve on that lacking of music. Thanks for your feedback!
Amazing game! Once I figured the controls I had a lot of fun! Like others have mentioned, I think the difficulty scaling can be tweaked a little. I would have also liked if I could place more turrets xD Either way I had fun! Screenshot 2022-04-07 132039.png "*I see a suit of armor around the world*" - Ironman probably
nice.png i had a good time trying to figure things out (had a rocky start ) The game itself is great the vibes are cool and the graphics are my favorite kind of style! if i had to suggest anything it would be a quick intro or how to section but other than that you all did a great job on this! a wonderful experience
Cool game and idea I enjoyed protecting the Earth! Really balanced gameplay!
It's a cool idea to make a game in the strategy genre. Very suitable for the theme. The work of the masters is immediately visible! :) Excellent work!
A bit of a strange complaint perhaps, but I wish it was harder.
Seems like the difficulty ramp (if there is one?) is extremely outpaced by the effectiveness of your guns, which doesn't let me fully realize my urge to light up the sky with lasers and exploding asteroids.
Overall I really like this entry. It scratched my base building itch, and got me building a giant death ring of lasers and sensors.
Nice work!
@sheol @rowlna @fireslash @online-play @alexsolonnikovp4 Thanks for playing!! We will made of Aster Defense a more challenging experience so stay tuned!
Did I win?
image_2022-04-07_153005.png
I loved this, it was super relaxing and the sounds helped lull me into, not quite sleep but definitely resting. This is not a complaint mind - I've had really bad insomnia the past few days and this has relaxed me perfectly. I'm writing this while enjoying my turret defense music and sipping on some rooibos tea. My only "complaints" are mirrored in the others, there doesn't seem to be any increase in difficulty as time goes on and so this took me a long, long time to build. Then there is the need to move the UI/make it semi-transparent/hideable. The top and bottom bars cover a lot of space (beyond what we see I learned) and at one point I had to wait awhile for the rotation to make placement opportunities possible again despite being able to clearly see empty spots. Either way though, I loved this so much, thank you!
Nice game, love the concept, allthough as others have said, it could be a bit harder, it doesnt really seem ineviteble to get hit at the moment
Great concept and solid execution. As others have already mentioned the difficulty curve could use some tweaking (if such exists xd) as it's seemingly impossible to lose after a certain point. Graphics are on the simpler side but get the job done. Same goes for the sound effects. Lack of music is a bummer, but the ambient noise and sound effects do fit the space theme/mood quite well.
Great game! Like many already said, the difficulty could be higher, but balancing is always tricky. But I really like the concept of the structures orbiting around the planet in with varying speeds and directions. That makes the whole game a lot more dynamic than regular TD games. Also the graphics are really lovely. Well done!
Fun game. The graphics were really nice. I liked the concept too. I thought the beginning was more difficult than later stages though. Maybe having larger asteroids than can break multiple defences at once might help.
Beautiful! And 'stellar' audio too! I loved being able to scroll in to inspect all of the gorgeous sprites closer. I greatly enjoyed kitting out the planet in a warm blanket of shields and missiles. Very rewarding game, well done!
Unintentional ASMR if I ever saw it :D As others have said, it's very easy. I'm not sure it's truly "delaying the inevitable" as I think the planet is protected forever by just a few turrets. But boy is this game relaxing! Sorry if that's not what you were going for but I really enjoyed feeling sleepier as I watched all the little asteroids pop in and out of existence :) Super satisfying
This was really solid, it's a nice concept executed in a really clean way. Everyone has already mentioned the difficulty but I do have to add on to that bandwagon, I don't think I ever felt super challenged. That didn't stop this game being satisfying however, I loved the audio and the reverbing sound effects, it gave the game this lonely vast mood that was fitting for space defense. The visuals as well, when you got close the design of each ship and the UI was gorgeous, I was almost disappointed with how much I spent the game zoomed out away from this pixel art. It's rare for me to ask for a game too look more busy, but I think adding in some elements such as particles, prices, even maybe some targeting UI or post-processing would do a lot to add to this large scale impending doom style vibe you're going for. In general however this game was really solid, and I think with a few tweaks to balance it out it could be a really nice challenge, great work!
I liked this concept, i think it only needs balancing and difficulty and maybe more weapons. Good job
I liked the game, If you intend to continue developing the game I recommend making some adjustments to the difficulty, the game becomes easy quickly if you only build a turret.
The concept of the game is really nice, it is satisfying to build new defenses objects around the earth in the game :)
I like this game, the opposing rings is a nice dynamic. Overall it was a nice vibe and that pixel art planet is just perfect.
There is always something satisfying about building up more and more defenses in games. It tickles the inner part of my monkey brain :monkey:
The visuals are wonderful (especially zoomed in :eyes:) and the audio is tastefully applied :ok_hand: :kiss:
Great entry!
Nice concept and great execution! Tower defense games are some of my favorite games to just pick up and play. If you all plan on building this out the two things that I think would be nice is to have the turrets and radar display their range when choosing where to place them and the option to destroy a unit if you want to swap it with something else. Pretty awesome what you all got done in the time frame!
Screenshot 2022-04-08 232625.png
Other than the game getting wayyyy too easy once you have your first few turrets set up, this is a really cool game! I'd love to see it worked on a little more and balanced out a bit!
As others have said, not so inevitable with how effective our space lasers are, but there's a lot of good ideas here and its just waiting to be expanded on.
Most things have probably been said already, but in game tool tips on the defenses would be nice. And obviously ramping up spawn of enemies. Good mood! Other stuff has already been said elsewhere, so just definitely work on it some more, this is an amazing base to work off of.
I think this is a very interesting take on the theme. I definitely died several times quickly but slowly got the hang of the premise.
Art wise, I like the fact that the Earth turns and isn't static.
Wonderful game
Solid game! Once i surrounded my planet with turrets it was smooth sailing. All around great art, programming and SFX
Pretty good, overall! The gameplay mechanics work well and are very polished, and a turret defense game where you place stuff on tiles in an orbit rather than a regular square grid makes things a bit more interesting for this type of game. I did get caught off guard by the lack of a tutorial initially, but once I read the description I got the hang of what was happening. The pixel art here is nicely done, and the sound effects work well in setting a strong mood. The game does feel a bit too easy overall, though, as from what I saw, simply putting one layer of turrets with radars every third one or so, and then a layer of shields under it works at preventing anything from ever happening.
Capture.PNG
I don't consider it a major issue, since the game is still fun, overall, and it is polished-it could just used some difficulty balancing. Overall, great entry!
Great game! Would like to see a post jam version with more enemies/turrets and upgrade options. Nice work
Nice game! I like the artwork and the sound effects are well done too. Having defenses move around in orbit is an interesting idea.
I liked the game, but to be honest, it took me more than 5 attempts to figure out how to build the defense of the earth .. I think the game should improve the balance and the economic system so that after the amount of the cost grows depending on the number of items purchased. Good work!
The subtle background sounds really helped build a good sense of atmosphere for this game. Well done.
Truly beautiful and meditative game. A bit on the easier side, but it's even good for the jam. Really enjoyed it!
Very polished too! I've got only one minor complain about UI with turrets/shields placement -- at first it's not obvious where you can place what and where you can't. It's really minor though because it takes just a bit of trial and error to figure it. Overall a very solid entry!
Thanks for coming to my stream! Here's a recording in case you'd like to refer to it https://youtu.be/WudvDztkwdg
@caudatecoder Thanks for streaming our game! Glad you like it and we will continue developing Aster Defense so if you want we could let you know when the next update is ready. We have a tons of ideas to improve thanks to all the feedback posted here like the UI problem you mention.
@emrod that's great, I'd love to!
Very excited to see where this game goes post jam, I love playing it but as many have stated its very easy at the moment
Really fun take on the tower defense, liked how simple it was to start and get into the flow of the game. Really addictive gameplay and excited to see if more work is done on this post ludum dare.
Great game! i think needs more dificulty but nice work!
Great game, if you make a more difficult version please tag me :)
Nice game, I like how each ring orbits in the other direction :smile: Like how the other comments mentioned, it needs a difficulty increase otherwise the inevitable is not coming XD Love the artwork, it is very detailed, the sound effects are satisfying too, great job!
Very good entry, all of you did a great job! The main problem I had with it is that the game seems a bit easy (what ended my run was actually a blue screen - the computer I used for my test has a very low config), nonetheless it's a fun game with a good concept and an efficient art direction. GG!
Loved how the defences are in different orbits, maybe you can even expand on it to have different elliptical orbits :) Also, the game needs a little balancing with the asteroid spawn rate
I love tower defenses, even more so when they have a nice spin like a radial map. It was way too easy after I figured out the controls. I suppose the theme was delaying the inevitable fall of the aliens. [Stream](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1449310095?t=1h47m2s)
Very cool and fun game! I really like the defense options and how the different asteroids behave. How each lane rotates in its own direction was a nice touch as well! I built a wall around Earth and had a nice layer of protection always! My only suggestion would be to add a way to fast-forward time so that people can add challenge for themselves. Great submission!
Before starting the game I thought it would be a regular td but I really liked the idea of the orbits moving the turrets around, making you have to place shiels to the side so they rotate infront of the asteroids. At leas until you've made a ring of defences. It took a while for me to understand what to do as I tried to place things on orbits that were not allowed. Great visual and sound design, what I missed the most was an increase in difficulty over time.
Great piece! I have nothing to add beyond what others have said, so I'll just say: well done. Thank you for sharing this with us!
Nice TD game! Though I think it's a little bit too easy if you take care at the beginning :smile: Window-000282.png
I really liked the concept and I find the game to be an interesting take on Tower Defense. As others stated - you should work a bit on balancing and continuously raising the difficulty. It seems most players survive forever on their second try which, unfortunately, conflicts with the theme.
Nevertheless, I like the visuals and the ambiance. This asteroids destruction echo is spot on - super satisfying!
WinForEternity.png
This is a cool orbital TowerDefense, tooltips, telling you what the sattelites cost, for the construction buttons would have been nice
@theblitz @alaah @jzucc12 @bjornstahl @jackofcups @bitnight @sopata @oille @mrpouletbzh @specturnal @snowirbis @dreamerflow @blooalain @rosymaple @caudatecoder @caudatecoder @squimmy @yusovv @thegamerasd @jamesolivermusic @proxy-games @blue-pin-studio @vixenmink @cyzaine @renge @pickyburrito49 @langotriel @jake-g @nicknameriu @morcado @porcus-pie @brotherst @ugly-robot @abdonatioera @stefan-laimer @justmars @kronox @otterfaelure @fireslash @alexsolonnikovp4 @online-play @rowlna @sheol @gamedevalexandr @senso @mhorth @oddballdave @ksimaster @fusionnist @wondry @larsdu @tudydev @wiredoverload @maimai @vincent-a @crygos @digitaldude555 @cosmo8 @inert-aesthetic @darwyn @cad @ferociter @simplepotential @real-flamingicecubegames @jesse-martin @sharploaded @koolruz @matt-swieboda @lachlan-james Hello guys! It's has been almost two months, sorry for that but now you can play a more challenging experience, thanks for playing and hope you enjoy it! https://ldj.am/$294305