FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD53 → Grav Garb

Grav Garb

By alchemic, gizmolo, wiredoverload, xxAtrain223, BigTex, karkadan and Arnenia

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall6873.4951
Fun8793.0951
Innovation3523.6251
Theme4364.0651
Graphics5253.7851
Audio3183.6551
Humor5213.2049
Mood5153.6150

Comments

slimefriend 2023-05-02 02:21

I love the sfx, art, and general theme, but I found the controls to be kinda mushy and I was a little unclear on my goal.

guin36 2023-05-02 02:22

This was a pretty cool game! I like asteroids style games and pushing things around was a good time. Pretty hard for me though

rjdrag 2023-05-02 02:24

I finished the first mission, but none of my cargo made it. The physics and ship movement feel great. I think there's maybe a bit too much junk in the way at first, but I powered through. Gonna come back and play more later.

tycoonbelle 2023-05-02 02:25

sexy aliens

cody-holt 2023-05-02 02:28

Interesting idea to add the online part. I wasn't sure exactly what was changing because of it, but it was starting to feel good once I got used to the controls more. The thrusters and gravity pull were really neat to use and help out a lot.

tommeh 2023-05-02 02:30

Production quality is over the top. Art and sound were incredible! Took a bit to get used to the gameplay since the game was very hard but the gameplay loop is satisfying. Nice job!

braveskin 2023-05-02 02:32

Pretty difficult, but cool concept and nice variety in space junk!

triangle-point 2023-05-02 02:36

Love this game! Gameplay is a bit tough (probobly just a me thing :p) and the controls are a bit stiff. The online element is so cool! Other than that, I love the art and music and the characters and their dialogue; this is an awesome game! Love the characters!

fermingimpel 2023-05-02 02:41

randomly freezes when playing, idk if is my pc

wiredoverload 2023-05-02 03:18

@fermingimpel we put up a windows build if that helps

aplovestudio 2023-05-02 04:48

alien women?? yes please

mikyll 2023-05-02 16:51

I had some trouble initially (I couldn't use the controls) but I figured it out :) Good entry! I loved mostly the gfx and sfx

bodhiagora 2023-05-02 18:13

Once I got used to the gravity accelerator, it's a really fun, new way to move. It was a bit unfortunate i blew through my missiles and then was broke for my second run by the time I figured out how they worked, but overall a solid and different game. At first I thought there was no regular thrusters on W, I think some kind of regular thrust animation would have been helpful. Nice job all around!

jp-design 2023-05-03 04:26

Great game overall, just a few upgrades away from being a full commercial game.

But i'm still little confused about the design of the ship, it feels backwards (perhaps a more animal inspired design might help?)

dissonance-generator 2023-05-03 19:33

Really fun game mechanics! It all feels reasonably well balanced, too, for a weekend jam game! I liked being able to carefully fly backwards through a debris field and turn myself into a giant snake along the way ... though my tail had a tendency to snap around and smash me to bits when I did! The sexy aliens thing is a little weird? but I guess it fits the theme.

pazzi 2023-05-04 09:33

Much fun. I am moonrat. moonrat.PNG

josep93 2023-05-04 17:31

It has an interesting mechanic, although with a somewhat unbalanced learning curve

furtive-pygmy 2023-05-04 20:52

Such a good game, good job team. I think reducing the rotation on the ship would make it feel a little less twitchy on the controls, but just takes a bit of getting used to. The upgrades/deployables are a nice addition that adds to the experience. I think the cargo is hard to keep alive, not impossible but doesn't take much for it to get destroyed if you're trying to drift through the game. Really solid entry, good luck with the ratings!

gizmolo 2023-05-05 00:27

Thanks all for playing! Appreciate the kind comments and feedback! A few responses:

@furtive-pygmy @jp-design @slimefriend @triangle-point I agree with y'all. Controls need some tuning, I think a redesign of the player ship could go far, both aesthetically and kinesthetically.

@tycoonbelle @aplovestudio The most important part of this game, naturally :nerd:

@pazzi Spoiler alert: moonrats rule the universe :grin:

jdemattos 2023-05-05 01:08

Really moonratted up the fine glassware stage. Loved the music loop and cute pixel art, and the old computer sound when the level starts. I was able to make the gravity well create a permanent instance by spamming space bar. Great vibe!

drainkid 2023-05-05 02:43

strap in we goin moonrat mode boys

bytomancer 2023-05-05 03:43

Great job on the the artwork and music. I'd love to see a tutorial level or something to introduce the nuances of the mechanics, it's a little overwhelming to get into.

fabula-rasa 2023-05-05 19:13

Controls definitely take a while to get used to, but that's okay :smile: I think the ship rotation could be a bit less "violent" (the angles are quite harsh). It also wasn't always apparent to me what exactly is damaging me. I speculated it was pieces of small metal junk I attached to my back, but I'm still not sure.

The world and setting are imaginative. Very nice to see something unique like that!

The art and music are both solid. Nice, consistent atmosphere overall. And I came to love the ship exploding sound :wink:

eyedromeda 2023-05-05 19:13

Quite difficult, but an interesting concept nonetheless. An interactive tutorial would've definitely been a nice addition, but I understand that those take a lot of time to develop. I did occasionally feel like there was just a bit too much stuff in the way, which made it almost impossible to push through, so maybe making the trash a little easier to move with just the ship would've helped. Overall it was a very solid, atmospheric and well made entry. Good work!

nizanth-p 2023-05-06 14:54

Good game concept, but quite difficult to play. The controls are somewhat unresponsive. The graphics, special effects, and sound in the game are all superb. The issue is that the player does not understand what to do and what will happen if they do so. When I first started playing, as I approached the edge line, a plane suddenly appeared and attacked me, and I had no idea what to do. Controls and overall game flow could use some improvement. Overall, it's a good.

remco 2023-05-06 21:31

What you expect from reading the text and looking at the images: A fast paced adrenaline action shooter, with a shop and progression.

What the game is actually like: A slow but tactical game about avoiding too sudden turns, carefully displacing hazardous waste, one package-length at a time, while strategically managing resources like thrusters and repair-stations. With a shop and progression.

I mostly enjoyed it after I got over my initial disconnected expectations. The slowness does disincentivize trying things though, you're not likely to take risks (or try the level too often again).

Music is great for the mood.

As for the art, I'm more into beefcake than cheesecake. Still, there's a large variety of space-junk and if you'd spent the same amount of detail there the game wouldn't be done until next year.

sleepystudios 2023-05-13 15:42

Impressive amount of work went into this game, great work! I like that the gameplay starts out quite slow and deliberate.

jeremy-ryan 2023-05-14 04:32

Turns out I'm quite the moonrat!

Graphics: The character art was well done, and the UI was very clean! Some of the in-game visuals got a bit confusing; I was never quite sure which pieces of space junk were very dangerous and which could just be pushed out of the way. It might be nice if there was a consistent shape or color language for which things are most hazardous (e.g. everything that immediately damages you is red).

Audio: Music was great! Especially liked the menu music, although it only had a short loop.

Gameplay: The main gameplay consists of pushing or maneuvering around space junk while trailing delicate cargo behind your ship. I liked the utility areas that could spawn (the one that gives you extra vision is clever) and the variety of hazards. I never ended up figuring out exactly what the gravity ball does. The long levels can be a little tedious, but there are usually zones to stop and recharge and it's nice that you get something for completing the level even without cargo. I liked that there were different kinds of cargo that could withstand more or less of a beating and it affected how you approached the game.

Overall, solid entry! Particularly impressive that the game is so cohesive with such a large team since they are often difficult to coordinate.

I drew Zoey (or Zara?) and added her to the cat-ear pixel fan art compilation on [my profile page](https://ldjam.com/users/jeremy-ryan/).

garb.png

Good luck during the rest of play and rate!

f1krazy 2023-05-16 19:53

This is good. Unlike most entries, where the challenge is to go as fast as possible, here you're encouraged to be slow and deliberate, carefully picking your way through the debris. Sadly, that's not always possible: the random placement means you'll often get gas clouds(? The little green things) that you can't fly around and have to go through, draining a massive chunk of your health. Other times you'll find bombs positioned in such a way that that punt you straight into a gas cloud and there's nothing you can do prevent the resulting game-over.

I love the "strand-like" gameplay, it's always fascinating to see multiplayer elements in a jam game. The one weakness is that, again, sometimes a gas cloud will spawn in such a way that it covers a station and makes it difficult if not impossible to use. I'm also not entirely sure what the point of the "fence" item is supposed to be, it's just another massive obstacle that gets in the way.

This is overall a fun experience with a lot of potential, but I feel it needs some adjusting to make it feel a little less frustrating.

no-whone 2023-05-17 13:45

Yooo this was a very well-made game! I love the music and sounds, and the retro feel to it. The goals and controls are pretty intuitive, and very cool alien art :) However, you guys (or I guess @xxatrain223) were able to create an online system in a short period of time in GODOT??? Hats off to you, I would love to be able to learn that XD... Anyway, well done, great job!

tenlki 2023-05-19 21:43

I really liked the audio in this game!

Trying to deliver Human Heart was one of the most difficult things I've had to do LOL.

The generation makes for a lot of "come up with your own solution" situations... I've dived out of zone to speed boost past a field of debris. It was a lot more tactical of a game even though my brain kept telling me it should be a race :laughing:

I liked it!