LudumData

The Unreal Odyssey by cushycode

[raw]
made by cushycode for LD36 (JAM)
Hi, everyone!
It's my first entry for LD.
Hope, you'll like it.

=============== INFO =================

Hello, stranger!

Your ship has been lost in the waves of the Mediterranean Sea.
Now you have only 25 weeks to save your team and bring the ship back to the Island!

But how can you find the road to your home?
Use the spyglass to observe night sky and the Starmap to find out how far are you now from the Island!

Celestial navigation is your best friend.
Let's know would you survive in Ancient Greece.

============== CONTROLS ===============

W - move forward
S - move backward
A - counterclockwise rotation
D - clockwise rotation
SPACE - turn on/off the Starmap mode
TAB - turn on/off the Spyglass mode

=========== HOW TO PLAY ===============

Look to the sky using the Spyglass and remember what stars and constellation (or their parts) are directly over your ship now.
Try to figure out where they are shown on the static Starmap and how far you are from the Island marked with the red cross on the map.

========= POST-JAM FIXES ===========

- Updated boundary colliders to prevent stacking outside the sea area
- Added ability to restart game after "Game over" by clicking "R" button
- Fixed shadow rendering (no gaps anymore)

========= FUTURE OF THE GAME ===========

Thank you for all your comments!
They are encourage me to continue polishing this game and turn this 2-days prototype to a real game.

There are my plans for the game:

- Fix bugs and improve performance.
- Add background music and sound effects.
- Add short playable tutorial to explain how to use the Spyglass with the given Starmap.
- Add various types of obstacles, not only rocks.
- Create whirlpools that will work as portals.
- Improve appearance of the Island and obstacles on the screen. Make it more natural.
- Make dynamic low-poly waves.
- Update UI and polish 3D models.
Web (gamejolt.com) http://gamejolt.com/games/the-unreal-odyssey/184361
Windows (gamejolt.com) http://gamejolt.com/games/the-unreal-odyssey/184361
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-36/?action=preview&uid=111095

Feedback

TeamBALD
30. Aug 2016 · 10:35 UTC
I liked the minimalist 3D look of your game, the particle effects where nice and when you saw your Goal is was very different from all the rest of the scenery, which was much appreciated after 3 mins wandering around.
I'm afraid I couldn't really figure out how to use the star map to figure out my location and I swam off of the ocean a couple of times :( any hints on the map? would be curious to know what I was missing
pressxtoskip
30. Aug 2016 · 10:49 UTC
I really liked the models and the overall look of the game. I did sail straight off the edge a few times! I think upping the view distance for the rocks would be a good move - they kept popping up right in front of the boat. Pretty though.
ccegeadamcc
30. Aug 2016 · 10:54 UTC
Low poly is best
mathiasj
30. Aug 2016 · 11:11 UTC
Nice little game! It sometimes was not clear though where in the starmap the ship is looking and I first though that the goal was the position of my ship. That could've been a little bit clearer. BUt otherwise it was really nice!
Hammers
30. Aug 2016 · 11:56 UTC
Aha what a cool idea! It works really well. I managed to get back to my island using only the stars :)

I really like this. I guess the only thing that could be improved is as pressxtoskip said, maybe up the draw distance a bit so that rocks and things don't pop up right in front of you. Or maybe use some fog or something to hide it :)

Also once you've worked out where you are it's basicallly just a case of heading in a straight line, so maybe some random events like a storm or something that spin you around/move you a bit, and mean you have to reorient yourself.
novotmike
30. Aug 2016 · 12:01 UTC
Very cool game! I like low poly graphics and the overall style is nice. I got lost so many times! Would be nice to have something like compas so I would know which diretion I'm facing. Great work!
teamBallShui
30. Aug 2016 · 12:06 UTC
Honestly, I did not understand what I had to do. The star map didn't change no matter where I drove and neither did the space-view. Maybe I'm just too tired to get it, though. I liked the low poly artwork though.
Nichii
30. Aug 2016 · 12:07 UTC
The map is pretty confusing to read and It took me a while but i still can't pin point the position I'm in. The art work does what it intends to do, good job on that but yeah this game isn't super good in terms of gameplay. It had a good idea, maybe if you flesh it out more then it could be great. Good luck on your next project. Cheers.
Ghen
30. Aug 2016 · 12:33 UTC
pretty cool game and idea, but honestly the execution a bit rough
graphically its amazing, love the low poly graphics, the particle when moving also nice
but the map implementation, really confusing, i can't see any segnificance different when i'm moving anywhere, and theres no clear indication what to do/see
the control on the other hand quite responsive

and a bit bug probably, i can move past the world border, the water just cut off like that
PanicTheFirst
30. Aug 2016 · 13:06 UTC
Pretty cool idea and I like the look. But I didn't really get how to read the map and so I didn't made it to the island. But it's a good start. :)
Kitkom
30. Aug 2016 · 13:22 UTC
Everything looks so pretty with low poly :)
And it's really challenging to observe the star sky to locate your self.

Here's a tip about the shadow of low poly models :
(In Unity)Set the directional light(or any other light source)'s Shadow Type - Normal Bias to 0 then you can avoid the gap between faces.
Well done!
Wevel
30. Aug 2016 · 14:10 UTC
Nice idea, i liked how you had to navigate, however it was fairly difficult to work out where you where on the map, also turning the ship on the spot shouldn't count down the time you have remaining
olkeencole
30. Aug 2016 · 14:18 UTC
Very cool. I'm a big fan of the Odyssey so naturally I would like this. I really like the look of the water. The draw distance I found a bit weird. My brain wants a point of interest, but there's little of that in the world. I think if you had points of interest that worked in conjunction with the map, then you'd have a pretty cool dynamic.
🎤 cushycode
30. Aug 2016 · 14:23 UTC
@pressxtoskip, @Hammers, I totally agree with your suggestions about rocks appearance! They definitely should be shown more gently. I've added clouds to my todo list for the game, thanks for comments!
🎤 cushycode
30. Aug 2016 · 14:33 UTC
@TeamBALD, @mathiasj, @Ghen thank you for the reviews. I really have to make correlation between the static starmap view and the dynamic spyglass view more obvious. Or maybe add short step-by-step tutorial to explain the game mechanics.

@novotmike I thought about compass, but I decided that it would be to easy in that case. Maybe I was wrong Х)

@olkeencole, glad to hear it because I'm going to continue with this game! There are so many ideas left after the LD36 deadline.
🎤 cushycode
30. Aug 2016 · 14:36 UTC
@Kitkom, thanks for the unity tip. Now it works like a charms, no gaps any more!
Frump
30. Aug 2016 · 15:34 UTC
Very cool, I love just sailing around in games. I found the island pretty quickly on my first run then went through again trying to use the star chart and spyglass. I think I get the idea of the starchart but the spyglass I didn't get. It was zoomed in on the starchart but looking at I don't know what. Cool concept for a game.

PS thanks for letting me know about the bug in my game. I managed to solve it if you want to take another look.
adsilcott
30. Aug 2016 · 17:42 UTC
Took me a long time to figure out what to do with the star map, and even once I did it I never quite found where I was.
It's a cool idea, great use of the theme, and I really like the graphics style!
AODQ
30. Aug 2016 · 19:36 UTC
Hey, don't listen to the critique about the map being confusing. I got the idea behind the game very quickly, the spyglass is used to find your orientation and position in correlation to the starmap. Sextants can be considered ancient technology, right? :) Took me about a minute to find the island. I wish the game was done on a larger scale but this was still nice and a good concept. The lowpoly models are nice, but the shadows has an issue I'm sure you're aware of. Really the only complain is the boat lacks a texture.
KingSlizzard
30. Aug 2016 · 21:46 UTC
I was going to write about how the map confused me, but like an authentic player, I didn't read the directions or controls haha. Which is why my feedback is to make the two map buttons on the UI rather than the keyboard. Maybe use iconology to communicate more efficiently as well. Like the concept, though! I'm fascinated with seafaring and navigation and understood the two maps once I found the connection.
Decentsauce
31. Aug 2016 · 00:16 UTC
Neat idea! Had a hard time using the map but eventually got the hang of it. (I think at least) Sailing was fun but scenery felt a bit samey after some time. Still, well done on your entry! :)
catchthefloaty
31. Aug 2016 · 07:56 UTC
not really sure what im supposed to be doing.
eott
31. Aug 2016 · 08:03 UTC
This is a really cool idea! It took me a minute to figure out how to actually use the starmap to read my position, but it was actually fun to navigate by this method once I knew. Well done.
Darenn
31. Aug 2016 · 08:33 UTC
Good job ! At my first try, I didn't understand at all how use the star map, so I move randomly and finished to go out of the map (and I couldn't come back, an invisible wall was blocking me). It's a good idea, but I think you really should explain/demonstrate how to use the map. I like the low-poly art of your game, but it would be better with sounds and musics ;) Your idea is in the theme too. Well, it's a good game you can improve, so keep creating games !
Phaix
31. Aug 2016 · 10:36 UTC
Nice one! Was lost outside of the Water :)
Geruhn
31. Aug 2016 · 11:17 UTC
I made it to the island, but the map was quite confusing.
Liked the low-poly style, but I thought the ship could use at least a brown texture
BloodJohn
31. Aug 2016 · 18:32 UTC
Probably here it is necessary to find your piece of heaven on the map. I couldn't understand what was going on. Ship model - handsome. Will be great when the game will be more objects.
SquirrelSoft
31. Aug 2016 · 23:19 UTC
I found the time to try your game :p

The minimalist look of your game is the exact way to work on the graphism for a 2 days game :p
lot of person try to make "real" graphism and it's always ugly :p so very good choice

For the gameplay, I understand nothing at the starmap and spyglass :p and the first time I finished stuck outside of the playable area I think... my other tries I understand I mustn't go outside of the map but I didn't find the end of the game... sorry for this bad review :p

btw, exactly in the theme ;) maybe too much
SquirrelSoft
31. Aug 2016 · 23:24 UTC
@SquirrelSoft the person who post this review was stupid but learned a lot by simply reading the "How to play" section... now he is a real man with very big skills in leading a ship !!! thank you for learning him to read the "How to play" section
TomBuston
01. Sep 2016 · 18:17 UTC
Great interpretation of the theme, i loved this feeling of getting lost, then figuring where I was on the map, then getting lost again x)
Great game ! Well done
sftrabbit
01. Sep 2016 · 20:35 UTC
Nice idea! I also was quite confused by the starmap and eyeglass, but eventually figured it out! However, even once I got it, it was still a bit of trial and error to see which direction I needed to to get towards the goal - I wasn't sure what perspective the eyeglass view was from. Oh, and I also didn't realise the X was the goal at first. But still, turned out to be a nice little puzzle. Graphics are pretty nice for the boat, ocean and island! Well done.
Volcanic Giraffe
01. Sep 2016 · 22:05 UTC
I'm a bit late to the party, but I see your plans for the game. Can't agree on the tutorial since it is really interesting to understand these game mechanics by yourself.

More obstacles like storms (disorienting waves and inability to see the stars due to the clouds). Some fishing needs and crew animation - would be great as well. Nice submission.
oab
02. Sep 2016 · 07:09 UTC
My ship stuck outside the sea area. :')
wowods
02. Sep 2016 · 10:35 UTC
Actually, I'm kinda confusing with he gameplay. But it's a good idea according to the theme.
There's border for the sea and if I sail across it, I can't get back to the sea again :'(
🎤 cushycode
02. Sep 2016 · 10:43 UTC
@oab, @wowods Can you, please, try to reproduce the issue with the invisible borders again? I've just updated colliders, but I'm not sure that it fixed the problem because I couldn't reproduce it by myself.
JK5000
02. Sep 2016 · 15:06 UTC
Okay the game is a bit confusing, especially the map is hard to understand. But the idea is good, and you have something to work with. I can not wait to see the "real" finished game.

By the way to make a game for the first LD is hard, in that perspective is your game super great. Well done.
kfischer_okarin
03. Sep 2016 · 03:05 UTC
In the beginning it was really a little bit confusing, but I quickly got the hang of navigation (even though when you turn with your ship the spyglass view rotated in the other direction which caused quite a lot of difficulty).

But generally an interesting idea... The slight tediousness of the gameplay simulates well how difficult it must have been in that times to navigate.

Music would have been nice too to add to the atmosphere and as someone said before... increasing the range of vision would be helpful or adding a visible fog to explain why everything just pops out of nowhere :)
Chaoslab
04. Sep 2016 · 23:14 UTC
That was some fun. Thanks.
HuvaaKoodia
11. Sep 2016 · 09:30 UTC
I love the idea of navigating using only the stars and you pulled it off. The graphics are stylish, some audio would seal the deal.

It is a bit too easy after getting the hang of it, especially if you happen to spawn right next to the target! You could add in some challenges like changing weather, sea monsters, pirates, etc. to spice it up a bit.

Glad to see you already got a post-jam plan. There's potential here!
Molpe
26. Sep 2016 · 22:28 UTC
Great game! It wasn't easy to orientate, it took me a while at first, but I really enjoyed playing this x)

Here you can see it on my let's play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfx5PcyC3Pg x)