Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD59 → Radio Free Earth
By ditam
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 223 | 3.85 | 26 | |
| Fun | 281 | 3.60 | 26 | |
| Innovation | 259 | 3.64 | 26 | |
| Theme | 125 | 4.22 | 26 | |
| Graphics | 598 | 3.33 | 26 | |
| Humor | 350 | 2.95 | 24 | |
| Mood | 164 | 4.08 | 26 |
This is great! the game screen gameplay feels kinda klunky like i can't really see what i need to click on the play screen feels oversized maybe, basically the credits and who's in range doesn't stay with me when i go down on the map but going up it's all there
and it's not clear after spending 5000 credits on one relay install, how to get them to work on other passing ships, my money goes away but the sound sounds the same as a mishap sound not sure if im doing it right.
Very little UI. Nothing is clear during the game, but it's a good idea.
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Thanks @tenthousandfireants! It sounds like you might have played the game on a too small resolution screen maybe? That would interfere with scrolling the screen as well, leading to all kinds of a mess... For now the playing area is fixed at 1920 x 1080 (Full HD), I recommend to use the browser's zoom function (Ctrl +/-) to find a scale where everything fits. Edit: oh, and for the relay installs: if you heard the error sound, you probably didn't have enough credits for the installation? You need to pay separately for each new relay.
Thank you too @olegator0270 - I've added a few instructions on this submission page now, maybe that helps with the barebones UI.
A really cozy game. The idea of running a radio station in the outer space and let other ship help broadcast your radio is so cool and romantic. I wish the game progression could be more interesting. It's really a good idea to keep developing.
Neat game! Awesome music. I ran into the same error as someone above: after installing one relay, every subsequent relay I tried to install took my 5000 credits, and then gave the error sound, and continued. This ended up happening for everything after the first install, I think I had one successful moon 20,000 credit upgrade happen, where magically it looked like 2 more ships had rebroadcasts? But I tried each other 20,000 credit upgrades, all with the error sound, and tried bribing 3 different planets, yes with enough credits, and all of them gave me the error sound, took my credits, and nothing changed. So unfortunately I just didn't know how to progress. But I think Enough worked for me to have a good idea of how the game plays, I like it!
It's a cool idea for sure! I also have the issue where I try to install a relay and it makes the fart noise and takes ALL of my credits (I had tens of thousands and it did this), but no relay appears on the passing ship. Seems to have started after playing for a while. Despite this, very cool little gem.
@tenthousandfireants @khaotom @t-c thanks for the bug report - relay buying should be fixed now! I took a closer look and turned out it was attempting to re-add all previously installed relays, so it quickly burned through all your money. I might or might not have had too much money in dev mode to notice, no comment.
If you'd like, give it an other go now, it should be a less frustrating experience :)
I really liked the music. And it was satisfying to watch my credits grow faster and faster. Cool submission!
@ditam gave it a quick replay. Nice work! The fixes definitely did it. The only things with the new version I kind of noticed were being able to try to buy the same relay twice on the same ship, (not sure if it took my credits, but the option was there) - not really seeing feedback for which planets you bribed (figured I'd see the dotted line around them turn white or something?) - and had an issue where the end of the game triggered before I even bribed the final planet :laughing: But not complaining! The % population before the final planet said something like 79%, so I was surprised that it ended the game.
But all small things. I really liked the idea of spending more to create more broadcasts, and the visual representation of doing so. The upgrades felt impactful and it was really neat seeing a network being built. Well realized, good game!
Thanks @eric-nguyen - I was very happy to find these songs with Creative Commons licenses, they do a lot for the atmosphere. You can find them listed in the repo and in-game on the end credits scene.
Thanks for giving it an other go @t-c! I'll look into that % population bug, especially because it made you skip the final planet, !> which you actually can't bribe!
Changing the colour of bribed planets is something I simply forgot to do, I've just fixed it in the post-jam version (for now I've made their area markers green, maybe I could even remove them altogether to be less confusing, as bribes themselves don't provide signal coverage).
Really nice game, I had a fun and relaxing experience with it!
The core idea of building a radio network across space is very cool, and it feels great to see your coverage and income grow over time. The atmosphere and music also add a lot to that cozy feeling.
If I had to point out something, I think a bit more clarity/feedback in the UI would help a lot, especially to better understand what actions are successful (like relays or bribes) and how they affect the network.
But overall, great job — really enjoyable experience!
Excellent game. I had a great time, especially with the music. I played through the post-jam version again.
Minor points that could be improved (for the post jam version):
- I don't earn any credits at the beginning if I have a too small audience. - Highlight the ship/planet I want to communicate with. - I couldn't finish the game because the hostile planet destroyed my ship too quickly. (i was able to do it in the jam version)
These are very minor points; it's a great game! :D
I really enjoyed this one. loved the music and how the game is played. I had issues reaching 100%, but I managed in the end.
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Thanks @ethernal-tech, glad you liked it! I agree that the UI is a bit sloppy currently. There are some minor UI sounds for successful/unsuccessful actions, but: - their levels are not set up properly, so they are hard to hear behind the music - the core issue is that the UI allows unsuccessful actions in the first place. Time is paused during the dialogs anyway (so it's not like you can wait to have enough money for the action), I need to simply display a "Not enough money" message instead of allowing pressing the button. I'll add this to the post-jam version soon! Beyond this, it's hard to visualize the action effects, but this should already get rid of a lot of confusion.
Thank you too @gurtek, extra kudos for playing through both versions - I'm really happy that you enjoyed the game enough to bother with that. Regarding your suggestions: - The fractional credits issue you need to bring up with SpaceGoogle AdSense ;) Jokes aside, I will push a small fix for this, I think it'll make for better UX (and the mechanic clearer to understand) if you always earn _something_ after listeners. - Highlighting the ship is a great idea, I'll try to add this too. - It was possible to win in the post-jam version, as evidenced by @xparker's comment below :) But I took a close look, and did find a relevant bug that made it much harder to win, because it broke !> multiple range upgrades, which is probably the easiest way to victory.
This is now also fixed in the post-jam version! (I just did a playthrough manually, I can confirm it's possible to win :))
@xparker thanks a lot! You managed to win despite some bugs increasing the difficulty, so congrats!
I really liked this concept
Very cool music and chill gameplay. Nice game.
Great concepts
Pretty cool idea! It was a bit unclear what to do first, but reading the Controls in description here helped with that. From there it was pretty smooth sailing right until the end, when I had relays installed everywhere and still haven't reached 100%. Turned out there was another planet far to the left which I've missed, since no ships were going that way. Oops! :D But hey, I got there eventually. Maybe having some sort of directional marker towards nearest object not connected to the signal network would make it better? Or some sort of active pulse-scan to find objects that still need to be connected?
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@lcstark, the ships are intentionally avoiding the last planet (otherwise their destinations are randomly selected), because I wanted to force players to use multiple mechanics to achieve the 100% coverage -- but yeah, this means that the discoverability of that planet is pretty bad. I guess I should have just put it in the middle of the map, heh. Some of the random dialogs you can encounter mention that they are not allowed on a certain planet, but that still doesn't really point the player anywhere. Oh well, it's good to hear that you stuck around to finish!
Thanks for the compliments @asieke @venomousmouse and @nordin!
Very relaxing gameplay that was still engaging. I spent a lot of time teasing the police of the various planets. Overall this was really well executed. The music choices were great and the upgrade system worked well. Nice work.
running a radio station in deep space is such a romantic and cozy concept. the music choices are absolute fire 10/10 vibes
A sweet game! I think I could buy the relay again on the same ship without getting anything for it.
Thanks @bentglasstube, I'm happy with the way the planetary patrols turned out (except for the fact that they don't have a custom image asset), especially after I tinkered with the ranges a bit in the post-jam version. Making them tease-able was one of my goals. Glad you enjoyed the game!
@murumart did you play the post-jam version? I had some bugs related to this in the original submission, but after the post-jam fixes you should only be able to buy multiple times at the 2 moons that also offer upgrades to your speed or your range.
Thank you too @alexandr-gerya!
This just feels delightful to play. The music, the chill pace, the dialogue, and the vibes in general all come together really nicely! It makes me nostalgic for a time that never existed.