Space Potato by AinoraZ

[raw]
made by AinoraZ for LD32 (COMPO)
Introduction:

Hey everyone!

So yesterday I finished my game for the LD #32 Compo! Everything was done in a little less then 42 hours (37 hours)! This was my first ludum dare but definitely not my last! I really enjoyed participating and I'll definitely keep competing! Anyways, enough of the small talk! Let's get to the game!

What's it about?

Join our hero in protecting the faith of the Earth from evil (derpy looking) space squids! Use one of the four randomly dropped potato weapons to protect the Earth and yourself. How long will you last against hordes and hordes of space squid? Let's find out!

Controls:

A, D - movment
Space - jump
F - use special ability
Esc - exit to tittle screen
Mouse click - navigate the menu

Mechanics in detail:

Well, first off, I think we should start from the 4 different potato types in the game.

Each potato effect lasts for 10 seconds!

A new potato is spawned immediately after ones effect runs out!



Bullet potato

Cool Down: 0.5 seconds (You can fire 20 of them per 1 pick up);

Best use: Fending off single enemies before they come close to the core. Best used during start of the game. Falls off during late game.

Mechanic: Each bullet insta-kills the first enemy it touches. Be careful though because it's range is fairly short.

Healing potato

Cool Down: 2.5 seconds (You can spawn up to 4 heals).

Best use: The healing potato is used to heal the core (in game "The Faith of Humanity") or the player.

Mechanic: Use the healing potato when needed. It spawns the heals at a fair distance from the player and nothing is stopping you from storing them somewhere further away from the core so they can be used when needed, though you could only heal yourself if stored away( It is recommend to save them on the 2nd or 3rd floor because otherwise they will get pushed back to the core by the enemy). If the heal touches the core, it will heal the core for 150 HP. Otherwise, the player can also use it to heal himself for the same amount of HP.

Chillato (Chilli Potato)

Cool Down: 10 seconds (You can only fire it once).

Best use: The Chillato is best used when there is a lot of enemies around, so make sure to make it count since you can only do it once!

Mechanic: The Chillato is a little bit more challenging to use, because you can only use it once. Once you use it, an effect as if you were using fire appears and burns all of the enemies you are facing with quite a bit of range (so it is best to sneak up behind huge hordes of enemies while they are attacking the core and destroy the enemies on both sides of the core). The Chillato only destroys the enemies on the side you are facing, so be careful where you aim it! The heat from the fire will stay for a few more seconds and kill any enemies that enter the radius of it's fire for a few seconds after it's activation.

AOE Potato (Area of effect)

Cool Down: 4.5 seconds (You can fire it twice).

Best use: The AOE Potato is best used when there are enemies on both sides of the player. It's range is not so large, so try to use it carefully!

Mechanic: The AOE Potato creates a radius around the player killing everything in the radius after a 2 second delay. The radius isn't really big, so you have to make sure to get as much as enemies as possible with it, because it is not a fast attack.

Enemy, core and player interaction:

There could be quite a bit of confusion on how the enemies interact with the player and the core, so it's time I clear that our for everyone!

The enemy only does damage to the core when it is in a certain distance from the core. This means that if in time of need and if you have health to spare, you can push out the enemies away from the core to buy some time to potentially get a heal or an AOE attack.

A more detailed guide with pictures here: http://ludumdare.com/compo/2015/04/20/space-potato-the-game/

Easy, isn't it?:

And that's it! That is pretty much all you need to know to become a real space potato pro! The objective of the game is to protect the Earth or survive as long as possible!

Programs used:

Unity3D
Photoshop
MsPaint
http://www.bfxr.net/
FL Studio

Have fun gaming!:

Well, that's it for me. You know everything there is to know to master this game and understand how it works! Creating it was a blast, and I don't plan on stopping! Any and all feedback is very highly appreciated because I plan to continue the game after ludum dare is finished.

~AinoraZ

Ratings

Coolness 81% 2
Overall 2.63 983
Audio 2.68 561
Fun 2.44 969
Graphics 2.35 943
Humor 2.84 469
Innovation 2.57 907
Mood 2.55 841
Theme 3.43 482

Feedback

edve98
20. Apr 2015 · 13:20 UTC
It's pretty hard to understand how potatoes work. It's very weird that I have to wait for the cooldown to end, which wont because the weapon will run out of time. Maybe you should have at least have added cool down/weapon timers UI?
2 more suggestions:
*make camera bigger, so at least you could see where new potato has dropped
*add simple pause menu that would toggle with escape button
Domicuc
20. Apr 2015 · 16:10 UTC
Yeah its pretty hard to understand how potatoes work. But when you get it how its work its pretty fun! Im giving good rating cause u are new in ludum dare, and its good game! :)
also check my project, if u have some time mate. Have a greaaat day ! :)
jgritty
20. Apr 2015 · 20:32 UTC
First, the Mac version just wouldn't run. Next, it took me a while to figure out that F was the key I needed to press.

Once those were out of the way. I have a few suggestions. As you head left or right from the core, you can't really even tell if you are moving. The platforms are fairly useless, I couldn't figure out what the point was. Also, the text in the upper left is pretty much unreadably small.

Maybe make it clear what the score is, or whatever it's showing me.

There should splosions! The enemies just die, poof! I want guts flying around, or something.

The background should move behind me, so I can tell I'm moving, or add some variation to the platforms, so I can see that I'm moving.

Other than that, it seems like an interesting idea.

I liked the potatoes.
Reccy
21. Apr 2015 · 01:01 UTC
The game was pretty hard to figure out, and the game was highly pixilated. The music made it worth it though.
XtremePrime
21. Apr 2015 · 01:12 UTC
Fun but the graphic it's quite poor, I actually like the weapon yet there could've been more work on the graphics, I guess.
🎤 AinoraZ
21. Apr 2015 · 12:46 UTC
@XtremePrime well, it was my first ludum dare :P! I spent the whole first day and half of the second day on trying to perfect the mechanics and such and when I end up starting to make the graphics I was already kind of out of time. Didn't have time for animations, player sprite or platforms :/! Thank you for the feedback though, means a lot :)
🎤 AinoraZ
21. Apr 2015 · 12:48 UTC
@Reccy I've posted a full on guide in the description and on another link you can find in the description. Tried to explain everything as detailed as possible. And yeah, I'm not much of an artist so the graphic side ended up being quite hard. Thank you though, means a lot! Also the music was a last second touch. I wanted to use a generator at first, but something popped in to my head and I just did it!
🎤 AinoraZ
21. Apr 2015 · 12:58 UTC
@jgritty Hmmmm. Well, I exported the mac version just like I did with the windows and linux but guess something got screwed up (I couldn't actually test it since I don't have any OS/X device).

The score seemed fine on my screen and was quite readable but I guess something screwed up with scaling as well.

I do agree, I should have added some kind of splosions, though I'm not much of an artist. Doing the pixel art was probably one of the hardest tasks for me since I had no idea what I was doing.

Thank you very much for your feedback! I'll do a lot better on my next LD!
lochmann-apps
22. Apr 2015 · 15:21 UTC
Hi Ainoraz, thanks for your feedback! I've just played your game, looks nice too!
crazyninjamofo
22. Apr 2015 · 19:08 UTC
The idea of differently powered space potatoes sounds cool, but in the game, it was hard to get a chance to use them. I fell like I would pick them up, then they disappeared. Nice music.
UrbanHelsing
22. Apr 2015 · 19:11 UTC
Nice robot
elpaulo
22. Apr 2015 · 20:31 UTC
It misses a little tutorial to better understand the purpose of the game.
Anyway, there's a lot of work there, keep up !
🎤 AinoraZ
23. Apr 2015 · 13:15 UTC
@elpaulo there is a tutorial in the description and at a separate link here: http://ludumdare.com/compo/2015/04/20/space-potato-the-game/
Thank you though ^w^!
Rialgar
23. Apr 2015 · 14:07 UTC
Here is a video of me playing your game: http://youtu.be/ukg2MUoi8o4

Congratulations on finishing your first LD game. The mechanics of randomly changing weapons is good, and the Robot guy looks very nice. Everything else looks hastily done in comparison. Much has been said about the small things that could improve this game. I'd like to add that LD is not a place were people like to read instructions before playing, so put them clearly visible into the game or make it possible to just discover everything. Also I liked the fire.
🎤 AinoraZ
23. Apr 2015 · 14:33 UTC
@Rialgar Thank you very much for playing and recording my game ^W^!

Well yeah, it was my first LD and I should have added instructions. Everything was still quite new for me, so I didn't have all that much time. I will do a post version and improve all of the little things that I couldn't do during the 48 hours. Thank you again!
OrkyOrks
23. Apr 2015 · 20:24 UTC
basic mechanics are, a few touch ups are needed though, overall good job
Kraosu
23. Apr 2015 · 20:30 UTC
I was charmed the moment I saw the menu and heard the music XD hahaha. Silly and fun.
kabutakogames
24. Apr 2015 · 15:38 UTC
It'd be cool to have more of an idea of when are where potatoes spawn - I found I got stuck a bunch without any potatoes, and that's never a situation you want to be in haha
ermrk
24. Apr 2015 · 21:12 UTC
It has quite low resolution. I also miss some feedback, that enemy is hurting me.
Langouste
29. Apr 2015 · 16:40 UTC
Super Game! I love it ;) Thanks
greytram
11. May 2015 · 20:55 UTC
Funny concept but I didn't understand how to properly use the potatoes. Music is entertaining. You should add some parallax to the background as it's a bit strange not seeing it moving when the character is walking along the screen.
wademcgillis
11. May 2015 · 23:44 UTC
mediafire is too spooky for me