merrow 2024-04-16 08:18
Well sorry I cannot see the theme in it, do I miss a clue?
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD55 → Vassal
By marrs
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 1026 | 3.15 | 22 | |
| Fun | 941 | 3.07 | 22 | |
| Innovation | 1136 | 2.60 | 22 | |
| Theme | 1208 | 1.75 | 22 | |
| Graphics | 941 | 3.07 | 22 | |
| Audio | 704 | 2.82 | 22 | |
| Humor | 1018 | 2.11 | 20 | |
| Mood | 1045 | 2.97 | 22 |
Well sorry I cannot see the theme in it, do I miss a clue?
I like the concept and aesthetic - like Asteroids + Lunar Lander. It's really difficult!
Love the actual idea of this! It did take me a while to figure out what to do, though. The start screen is just asteroids and I thought I had to destroy them. It's also really hard to land safely.
No need to be sorry, @merrow :) I guess if I have to explain it, I failed to make it clear enough in the game. I took the theme as being summoned stranded astronauts to come to their rescue. First by visiting each and every one of them and providing them with an "escape pod", the fighter you control and land next to them, and then the transporter to pick up those fighters. All three of them combined then give you the firepower to clear the asteroids so the mothership can safely pick everybody up to live happily ever after.
Thanks for the kind words @james-greenleaf and @baggersmurf and I'll admit the game can be a bit difficult. It's definitely inspired by some of the really old arcade classics and I've also tried to recreate the difficulty of such games. The attract screen gives you a really short mission brief, but I'll admit you're probably going to do some exploring in the first and second level to figure it all out. There are seven unique levels that wrap around and becoming increasingly difficult the second time round... but I'll admit I have not been able to manage to get that far myself! :)
Very nice! The game is extremely difficult though. Well I guess that's the point. Nice game :D
Nice game, very clean, smooth play, not the best summoning theme, but nice game overall!
A nice take on the classic Lunar Lander (I'm old enough to remember the arcade game). I like how the gravity gets stronger when you get closer to the pads. Loved the retro vector graphics!
The idea is fun and I had fun trying it. Landing was a bit too difficult for me. But overall a pretty well made and interesting little jam game. Well done.
I loved the vectrex aesthetic and on paper the game seems like a nice spin on the classic asteroids game. However, I could not make much progress, I was very confused about what to do. I found little people at the bottom of the screen, but i could not collect them in any way. The game said I could use a tractor beam with the shoot button, but I couldnt get it to work. Shooting asteroids didn't seem to do anything at all as well. Maybe I am missing something, a couple of instructions would've been cool.
Hello @sodoj let me take a bit more time to explain how the game works, in case you want to try it again. There are a couple of tasks you need to complete sequentially:
1. At the very start of each level, you get dropped from the mothership in a small fighter. This fighter has a gun which can eliminate turrets located (starting from the second level) on the planet surface. Its gun is too small to destroy the asteroids, so avoid those for now and decend to the surface. Your mission there is to gently land your fighter on one of the platforms where the astronauts are waving to you. Doing so will make that astronaut enter your fighter. At that instant, you get dropped out of a second (and after that a third) fighter, with again the mission to land near one of the astronauts. If you landed all three fighters successfully, the second task starts. 2. You now get dropped in a slightly larger transporter. It has no guns, so avoid the asteroids again as well as any flying saucers that will spawn. Decend to the surface, fly to one of the landed fighers, and hover close to it. Do not land, just hover, and then hold the space bar to activate the tractor beam. Keep it pressed until the fighter has fully been assimilated by your transporter. Then fly to the other two fighters, and repeat the process. This starts the final task. 3. Your thansporter has now gained the ability to shoot, and the combined firepower of the three fighters actually allows you to destroy the asteroids above. You need to clear them all so the mothership can safely pick you up. Shoot any saucers you might encounter for extra points. As soon as all asteroids are gone, the mothership will appear and you can safely exit the level by flying to the top of the screen.
At this point you move on to the next level. If at any point you get shot while flying a fighter, you simply get a new one until you run out of lives and have to try and land it again. If you get shot in a transporter, all astronauts have to be picked up by fighters. In total there are seven levels, and if you reach the end you go back to level one but with an increased difficulty. Enjoy!
Good job, you made a lot in this game! I'll give you my honest feedback, I hope it helps you! - Graphics is very very nice. You take (I believe) Asteroids graphics and made it even better! - Your ideas with saving astronauts is briliant. I really empathize with the goals of the game. But I'm not sure that we can understand "summoning" this way. I'm not native, maybe you're right :) - It is a good idea to add rocket landing. I like this chanllenge. - I understand that it's what I call "challenge" game, where you need to develop your skill and have a lot of tries to overcome some obstacles. But I think you made it a bit harder than I can take:) I mean sometimes challenge becomes a hell and you lose your desire to improve your skill. So, spaceship acceleration is too fast for me. So, thank you for youe game! Well done!
Thanks @meranolean for the very extensive feedback. I appreciate it a lot. You are not the only one who thinks the difficulty is a bit too much so I will definitely incorporate that and rebalance the game in a future update.
Great, a cross between Thrust and Asteroids! I really enjoyed playing it. Graphics and sound are basic but very effective. The game is hard, it could possibly be improved with smoother thrust controls and slower enemy bullets and movement. It also helps for LD to have the option to start at any level.
I like the suggestion to start at any level @loveapplegames so I put that on my list for a future update and I will also review the controls to see what I can do there. Glad you enjoyed it!
Brutally difficult but I have to applaud the clever hybrid of Asteroids and Lunar Lander. Also props to another developer who largely ignored the theme in order to make the game they wanted~
Thrust, Gravitar, Asteroids... I liked very much using vector display graphics. It took time to understand difference between death and successful landing. This genre has heritage of being extremely difficult, but mechanics feel little unfair - finetuning acceleration mechanics little bit would make game much more fun. Overall feeling very positive!
It reminded me a lot of Atari's Asteroid, it's a good game. Good job!
Surprisingly addictive! I really wanted to save my astronauts... and figure out the range on the gravity! Got to the second ship, but had trouble figuring out how to land it. I also gave up on trying to destroy asteroids - not sure how many hits it takes but it seems like a lot!
@willhoit the clue to landing a ship is to land softly on each of the three landing platforms. Destroying the asteroids is not possible with the small fighters, but once you have picked up the three fighters with your transport you have the combined firepower of the three fighters which fires bigger bullets that will be able to destroy the asteroids.