LudumData

Squadron Commander by Raxsus

[raw]
made by Raxsus for LD31 (COMPO)
Control three ships (one with a shield, one with fast light firepower, and one with slow heavy firepower) as you fight your way through bunches of difficult enemies.

Select, drag, and drop the ships to move them. Try and keep your ships inside the shield whenever possible (you have to move them around if you hope to destroy any enemies though).

I'm pressed for time, so no sounds or music were added.[Update] Added some sounds!

F4 to toggle fullscreen

I used GameMaker 8.1 to program the game and draw all the sprites, http://converticon.com/ to make an icon, and sfxr to generate some sound effects.
Windows http://gamejolt.com/games/arcade/squadron-commander/40950/
Source https://www.dropbox.com/s/3welg5hk2njysw3/squadron%20command.gm81?dl=0
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-31/?action=preview&uid=44875

Ratings

Coolness 61% 3
Overall 3.00 749
Audio 2.66 582
Fun 3.06 581
Graphics 2.78 746
Innovation 3.03 637
Mood 2.81 674
Theme 3.22 965

Feedback

BtheDestroyer
07. Dec 2014 路 21:19 UTC
Pretty good concept :) Sound would be nice though
Broivula
07. Dec 2014 路 21:23 UTC
Yeah, concept isn't nothing new but it's well made! Some sound would've been pretty nice, though.
馃帳 Raxsus
07. Dec 2014 路 22:35 UTC
I added sounds. The Compo is still going on, so I think it was legal for me to do that.
wandersenus
07. Dec 2014 路 23:25 UTC
this one is very fun. hahaha. I think it is much better if the graphic is improved.
justinooncx
08. Dec 2014 路 07:53 UTC
Incredibly hard to manage 3 ships at once. Next to impossible really. If that's part of the design to just grab the shield ship and play with that alone, why not.

Also, I can put the ship at the far left of the screen and become invulnerable and also not be able to shoot.
Wilson
08. Dec 2014 路 09:21 UTC
Nice concept, but agreed justinooncx that it's very tricky to manage your three ships all together - maybe if the enemies were a bit slower or you got more warning what was coming, you could plan and position a bit better. I had some fun though :)
Halleflux
08. Dec 2014 路 18:52 UTC
I really like the concept, could work well if it was multiplayer, or something along those lines.
I found it difficult to do too much, what with each ship (apart from the shielder) having only one life point. I'm not too sure what you could do for that, but it's something to think about.
Spacemyname
08. Dec 2014 路 21:00 UTC
Very fun, also nice 8-bit feel
tyty5949
08. Dec 2014 路 21:24 UTC
Good looking game. It runs nicely but is just really hard. I ended up sacrificing two ships, lol, and then it became more manageable just moving one around the screen. Either way, good game.
ponk
08. Dec 2014 路 21:36 UTC
Cool !
馃帳 Raxsus
08. Dec 2014 路 22:55 UTC
I'm very sorry about the difficulty; I should have given each ship at least three hit points. After the jam is over I'm probably going to improve this a bit; lower difficulty, better graphics, multiple levels, and a shop to buy different kinds of ships.
someone
09. Dec 2014 路 21:03 UTC
Nice game, Hard though.
Code Medicine
10. Dec 2014 路 01:38 UTC
I have to agree with a lot of the comments about difficulty. I'm not sure if I missed something but felt like I could stand more of a chance if I could aim the ships fire in different directions. With a bit more work this could really turn into a great game. Keep it up!
johnnwfs
10. Dec 2014 路 02:11 UTC
Pretty neat. Interesting drag n drop idea for a space shooter. I liked the enemy spawning and timing and the retro audio boops and beeps was cool. Was hard to deal with 3 ships but I had fun slamming shields into ships as well.
CrefossusJam
10. Dec 2014 路 14:11 UTC
Never seen a shooter that allows you to position ships like this. Unfortunately I couldn't keep my ships alive for too long. I love the graphics consistency throughout.
Alendro
10. Dec 2014 路 14:59 UTC
neat little game, enjoyed the controls
Zolkren
10. Dec 2014 路 15:23 UTC
Cool game.
馃帳 Raxsus
10. Dec 2014 路 19:59 UTC
I've started working on the new version that addresses all of the problems this one had. So far I've added warnings that note when a ship is a approaching, and multiple hit points for each ship. Here's a GIF I whipped up to show you what I'm talking about. https://33.media.tumblr.com/89d6b184ed93b820975ee37d380f6812/tumblr_ngdu40gZiD1rjzjuno1_400.gif
gene-z
10. Dec 2014 路 22:12 UTC
Very good, Congratulations
Team Flashlight
11. Dec 2014 路 04:38 UTC
Interesting concept (normally in this kind of game player only controls one ship). The pixel art works fine! Like it.
馃帳 Raxsus
11. Dec 2014 路 21:27 UTC
Demo of the post-LD version is up. http://gamejolt.com/games/arcade/squadron-commander-2/41580/
monkeedude1212
11. Dec 2014 路 21:45 UTC
Like the idea, but clicking and dragging as a control input can be a bit cumbersome at times. Not too bad though. Runs at a really low resolution so it was tiny on my screen.

But aside from that, great method of timing sequences and different AI strategies - good sounds that make it clear what's happening and fun to play. You opted not to be rated on humour - but your ending was the first one that made me laugh, so I gave you a good mood score.
馃帳 Raxsus
11. Dec 2014 路 23:16 UTC
@monkeedude1212 Ugh, I wish I had checked that sooner. I added humor now; thanks for rating it.

I agree with you; clicking and dragging is cumbersome, but I'm trying to find ways to make it less so. Hopefully the post-LD game won't feel as cumbersome as this one.
Odefus
12. Dec 2014 路 00:35 UTC
I found trying to micro manage the three ships next to impossible. I felt my best bet was to grab one and play the game with that. It was rather fun though.
rzfmzn
12. Dec 2014 路 00:56 UTC
liked it. But I think its a bit too fast. You could improve it to become something like the battleheart :D
CMWeissMedia
14. Dec 2014 路 07:40 UTC
Very neat idea with moving the ships around. I wish I could see something like this with multiple players (each with their own cursor) scrambling to move around a dozen ships. Either way, this is something I haven't seen before and it's a very cool idea!

Other than that, I liked your method of giving stats to the player. It was fun to see how many of each type of ship I destroyed, rather than some arbitrary score value. Good work!
cxsquared
16. Dec 2014 路 20:08 UTC
Really neat idea and I really like the graphics. Good work.