Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD51 → FLARE
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 1182 | 2.69 | 25 | |
| Fun | 1178 | 2.47 | 25 | |
| Innovation | 393 | 3.54 | 24 | |
| Theme | 558 | 3.68 | 24 | |
| Graphics | 877 | 3.11 | 23 | |
| Audio | 712 | 2.73 | 23 | |
| Humor | 862 | 2.29 | 22 | |
| Mood | 923 | 3.04 | 23 |
I like the concept but you might want to share a few hints about how to play. The Sector Chart makes sense. I played around with the Reactor Controls and discovered that I need to hold down the Fuel Injection button, but I haven't made much progress beyond that. I like the mysterious spaceship controls, they're just a little too mysterious for me.
@rose try keeping reactors online instead, emergency injection is for emergency (for instance when you reactors are out of charge completely).
(Kickstarting a reactor may require pressing button more than once)
There is a lot of thought put into how this game plays but because of that I feel that there isn't a lot of time allowed for the player to take apart and figure out what they are supposed to do before things start happening around the player. It's a little bit disorienting and confusing for the player. The intro video and art look incredible!
concept has a lot of potential, but the game being so hard to understand when its so short feels like it leaves the player confused as to why they lost, and not in a good way.
Cool game, but I tried about 10 times and couldn't figure how to build enough charge before my ship exploded (closest I got was 75%). I didn't really understand what the row of lights in the reactor controls were telling me.
@mr-danh the trick is to keep reactors going at all times. After each flare you have to kick off both. Then you have a choice - if you want to recover the damaged systems or charge drive faster (using overrides). Although keep in mind that using main reactor override diverts power from all systems, so you only want to use it on healthy ship
@mr-danh about row of lights - they are showing which systems are charging now. Try switching aux override on to see drive light goes green. They are in the same order they appear in ship status area (upper right)
Also there's some critical systems like heating, oxygen regen and hull. If they are dead, pilot is dying. Those systems have a priority while recharging.
I could not understand the game at first or even after reading the comments, I suggest like a how to or like a tutorial at the start of the game.
@reyansh tutorial would ruin all the fun, this game is very easy when you know which buttons to press.
The first explosion scared the sh*t out of me haha. I had my audio set to a way to high volume. It's a hard game and tried for about 10 tries, but gave up since I could figure out properly how to avoid takes so much damage every time.
@lemare you need to keep reactors online! keep kicking them off, both reactors are charging way faster than flare damages your systems, you can even keep aux override on at all times :smile_cat:
I FINNALY DID IT!!!!!!! YES!!!!
@cantthinkofaname congratulations! I hope you didn't become allergic to space travels 😅
I don't really understand the mechanics of the game. I try everything by trial and error. The game has a lot of potential, maybe more instructions and a tutorial would help.
@vivat-vector did you try spamming ignition buttons?
Some kind of tutorial would be appreciated. Very nice graphics and idea! Audio of explosion was tooooo loud, should be a warning there xD, my ears blooding
Likes others have said: The game is really hard to understand and lacks help texts. Due to the time limit it's very hard to find out what's happening by trial and error, there just isn't enough time to play around and see what happens. Also, there isn't even a lot of controls, so it very much feels like not being in control of anything really...
While a tutorial might not really be the best choice for this game, a few help texts that explain what the buttons do, what they influence etc. would be really helpful.
The graphics are fine for a game jam game, I actually like the poorly drawn spaceship in the intro. ^^ Generally the intro is done well, except that it should state the "mission" of the game (i.e. fix the drive and escape from the star).
The sound was a bit too loud, especially the first explosion was louder than expected.
I literally could not figure out a single thing about how this game works. If that's the point, then you need to work on making the player feel like the things they're doing actually are having some sort of effect. I flipped all six of those switches and for the life of me I have no idea what they did besides scroll some text on the monitor and change some blinking lights. I don't know what any of the icons in the top right mean. I couldn't even focus on the task at hand because every ten seconds, and overly loud explosion interrupts me. Players need a safe environment to learn how the game works at a base level.
I really don't think you can just throw the player into a stressful environment like this with completely obtuse controls and expect many people to figure it out. It's information overload. Maybe another way to implement this would be to have multiple levels, where each level gives the player a new control panel to work with. That way, you can give the player an easy control panel and scenario right at the start so they can get familiar with the game's base mechanics.
Only after playing a few times did I figure out what I could or could not click on, but then I gave up anyway. A tutorial would definitely help
that's why we can't have space travels
Holy shit the first explosion scared the crap out of me. My volume was way too high. :D Took me a while to figure out what to do . Had to read your description but even then i could not survive. Must have done something wrong. I can say for certain though that the sound design is very nice. Really put you under pressure. Visuals are cute. Except the red dwarf explosions those are not cute those are scary. :-) Well done. Great entry.