Hello, Alien! by klianc09

[raw]
made by klianc09 for LD30 (JAM)
'Hello, Alien!' is a puzzle game where you try to restore interplanetary connection by using satellites with laser technology.

--- Story-ish ---

Everything was well in the connected worlds of the aliens, until one day their inter-galaxy-net was disconnected by an asteroid shower. Help them by restoring the connection.

---Controls:---

Rotate/move things with mouse.

Or use Space to activate lasers.


---Credits---

Created by Accidently Awesome Studios
http://accidentlyawesome.wordpress.com/

Post-Mortem
http://accidentlyawesome.wordpress.com/2014/09/05/ludum-dare-30-hello-alien-post-mortem/

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 3.94 47
Audio(Jam) 3.55 154
Fun(Jam) 4.02 23
Graphics(Jam) 3.58 295
Humor(Jam) 3.82 39
Innovation(Jam) 3.62 106
Mood(Jam) 3.51 175
Theme(Jam) 3.90 57

Feedback

Almax27
26. Aug 2014 · 14:09 UTC
Simple but well executed. Good amount of puzzles too! Little dudes on the planets are cute :P
Boberro
26. Aug 2014 · 14:11 UTC
yay! I can rotate everything, burn everything. I can everything!
10/10 would not play skyrim ever again :D
Dramentiaras
26. Aug 2014 · 14:24 UTC
Absolutely loved it! The levels were fun and challenging. The death sounds of the aliens were fantastic and the aliens were quite funny. Got to level 15, but weren't able to figure it out.
mess110
26. Aug 2014 · 15:45 UTC
I could hear the sound but the game screen was invisible :(

on linux
JNyknn
26. Aug 2014 · 15:59 UTC
The gameplay is rather simple, but it works very well! I liked it!
MyougaHiroshi
26. Aug 2014 · 16:13 UTC
Simple, but very nice game :D works perfect
Cireon
27. Aug 2014 · 19:52 UTC
I find this a very cool game. The controls could have been a bit more flexible and at some point the game felt more like "how precise can you place mirrors" than actually solving puzzles, but the game itself has a very good feel to it. The tutorials are a bit slow, but I love how the information is communication, and it adds a lot of humour to the game.
🎤 klianc09
27. Aug 2014 · 20:19 UTC
Thank you all for your feedback, it is highly appreciated. And I'm glad so many people actually like it. :D

@mess110: Yeah, I forgot to test it on a linux machine during the weekend, but I will try to get it to work as soon as possible.

@Cireon: Yes, this game is suffering from the common got-no-time-to-create-good-puzzles-for-my-LudumDare-Puzzle-Game-itis.
Controls are something I have been struggling with, but I still can't point my finger on what exactly feels wrong.
Well, this time I wanted to make sure, that the player doesn't get stuck at the basics. But of course one shouldn't hold the player's hand too much. But if the aliens talk too slow, you can click on them to advance the text faster, if you are a fast reader, although this will cause dialogues between aliens to get out of sync, something I didn't get to fix yet.
ChuiGum
28. Aug 2014 · 05:47 UTC
Very innovative!
ConflictiveLabs
29. Aug 2014 · 19:50 UTC
I really enjoyed this game! I love the idea from start to end! great puzzles and the objects like bombs and mirrors added so much more to the gameplay. Great job!
monosaccharide
30. Aug 2014 · 18:26 UTC
fun puzzles and cool game overall
goerp
30. Aug 2014 · 19:17 UTC
I'll play your game tomorrow, but first an apology:
It turns out my game you played, was unwinnable at the state it was in (some last minute edit that didn't test).
I fixed it, tested it, and it's now playable. It now also gives more heplful hints.
Thank you for trying!
puppetmaster
30. Aug 2014 · 20:11 UTC
+ cool idea
+ music
- move placed object
- rotation start point
goerp
31. Aug 2014 · 12:12 UTC
Good music and nice clear pixel graphics (like the aliens). I don't think the game needs a gameplay video, it's pretty clear as it is. the aliens give helpful hints in a good non-intrusive way.
I also like little touches like frying the aliens.

The thing that I liked less was the mouse control, for me it was too sensitive so I had trouble getting the lasers get the lasers just right. And likt metioned above: the staring point of the rotation.

All in all a good puzzle game.
okmmjyygv
01. Sep 2014 · 11:16 UTC
really nice idea, nice graphics, nice song! well done!
H1S2
01. Sep 2014 · 11:28 UTC
Great Gameplay! You developed a great game with a bunch of pretty hard levels. Also nice graphics ;)
IsaacL.Balogh
01. Sep 2014 · 20:18 UTC
Really fun idea!
Ramiel
02. Sep 2014 · 13:48 UTC
Cool game. And an awesome amount of levels.
But the poor guys in the second last level... ;)
invader
02. Sep 2014 · 19:25 UTC
Well Done. Fun to play and so many levels shipped! Music is great. And I was really surprised and emotional when mistakenly wiped out the entire planet's population while turning the sattelites left and right :)

BTW, works nice on linux - kudos for using java ;)
HotBoxGames
04. Sep 2014 · 18:01 UTC
Nice concept, well executed. Didn't expect that many levels! Good job!
Rehacked
05. Sep 2014 · 11:40 UTC
Nice game. Good job!!
DarkCart
05. Sep 2014 · 21:07 UTC
Good job. Tried but true, but still a good job :)
Arakade
05. Sep 2014 · 21:12 UTC
Definitely the best entry I've played so far. Superb!
Spoilers:
Level 15!? Was that supposed to be solved by reflecting off the back of the mirror?
Arakade
05. Sep 2014 · 21:14 UTC
P.s. I finished it but a couple of puzzles one didn't need all the pieces and the "please don't kill anyone" could be solved without killing them or destroying the planet. Perhaps by design, perhaps by accident?
🎤 klianc09
05. Sep 2014 · 22:23 UTC
Thanks all, for the kind words.

It shows that I cranked out most of the levels 'literally' in the last minute (hour).
Upside: So many levels :D
Downside: Not so polished levels (as Arakade already pointed out) :(

Also I think I got a method of rotating/moving now, that actually doesn't suck, I will probably publish the first post-compo version in a few days.

@goerp: I'll definitely check out your game again.

@invader: Sorry for making you emotional, I guarentee you all those aliens deserved it (if this makes you feel better).

@Arakade: Because of time constraints I just wasn't able to perfectly test all levels.
By Design: sometimes not all pieces are needed because I wanted to err on the side of 'too easy' instead of 'too hard'
By Accident: Accidently, Level 15 should not be solvable by definition, but a bug in the win-condition logic makes it winnable. As you can see in one of the screenshots, not all satellites are connected (the two on the right side are isolated from the left side) but it still triggers a level complete. For the post-compo version I will fix the win-condition bug and give an additional mirror to that level.
And for the second last level... no alien is supposed to survive. *laughs maniacally*
AtkinsSJ
06. Sep 2014 · 15:05 UTC
Great game! I love the details you put in, when I zapped the little aliens. ("accidentally" <_<)

I made it to level 15, then got stuck, and wasn't really sure what I was doing wrong. Still, for an LD game, there's a lot of levels. And the music is amazing! :D
frogcheese
07. Sep 2014 · 13:24 UTC
Great puzzle game with really charming graphics and funny dialogue. And I will admit that I found the aliens screaming from being set on fire hilarious.
kyru
10. Sep 2014 · 20:12 UTC
Volume sliders! So many people don't include them and you get way to loud sound. That was a nice surprise. The game itself was very fun, a great puzzle game.
MunkeeBacon
11. Sep 2014 · 23:35 UTC
Won't run on my mac for some reason
jprogman
12. Sep 2014 · 02:03 UTC
Level 16, lol, boom! The sound effects are hilarious too!

I do wish I could control the mirrors better. I find rotating them precisely rather frustrating because when I click on them to rotate, they would often rotate a good amount on their own.
Sestren
12. Sep 2014 · 10:24 UTC
Overall a really great entry! I felt so bad whenever I killed the aliens.
Rehacked
12. Sep 2014 · 14:31 UTC
Hey klianc09 ive left you a comment on my games page.thanks for reminding me
Moosefly
12. Sep 2014 · 15:42 UTC
One of the best games I've played this LD, and easily the best puzzle game out of them! Loved abusing the backside of the mirrors to create some really interesting solutions, which might've not been the solutions you had in mind when creating the levels. It's always fun when there isn't a single correct way to solve a puzzle. Also the "Occam's Razor" type solution in the level with only one bomb was really clever and funny in my opinion!

Had a blast playing trough it, good job! Don't see any reason to really shut the laser down though, so maybe it should've just been on all the time by default.

Anssi@MooseflyGames
🎤 klianc09
12. Sep 2014 · 20:19 UTC
Thanks for the constructive feedback, guys.

@jprogman: Yes, that's because I don't actually rotate things like one would assume, but rather point them to the mouse.

@MunkeeBacon: It should theoretically work, but without more details it's rather difficult to troubleshoot the problem.

@Anssi@MooseflyGames: Shutting the laser down is helpful if you don't want to kill any aliens... but not really necessarry indeed. But good idea.

@Rehacked: LudumDare really needs a better comment system, so that people don't have to manually tell people when they replied to someone...
handCraftedRadio
13. Sep 2014 · 13:07 UTC
Wow great game! Very fun and it feels very polished. I also liked the music. Good work!
fisholith
13. Sep 2014 · 13:12 UTC
Very cool puzzle game. I love the concept.
I love the floating away detail when an asteroid buster is used on a planet. :D
The mechanics are fun and make for some interesting puzzles, the dialog from the little aliens is great. Wonderful graphics and sound. The music fits the theme really well too.

This looks like it could be a professional game. It's amazing that you put this all together in the LD timeframe.

Keep up the awesome work.

... Ah! "Connected worlds" I just got that. cool interpretation. :)
spacedoubt
14. Sep 2014 · 00:17 UTC
"LudumDare really needs a better comment system, so that people don't have to manually tell people when they replied to someone..."

Got to agree with ya there.. wanted to let you know my game link is back up. :)

and nice work on yours! very cool!
Jupiter_Hadley
14. Sep 2014 · 21:18 UTC
Fun game! I included it in part 25 of my Ludum Dare 30 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :) http://youtu.be/mlEPiXm0ehY
Moosefly
16. Sep 2014 · 08:39 UTC
@klianc09
Don't know if you'll see this, as I am just checking some of my favourite entries out for their scores, but here goes!

I actually took it upon myself to blast as many aliens as possibly in each map before completing it. It was sort of like an additional goal. Did "killing" the aliens have an effect on the game?

Anssi@MooseflyGames
🎤 klianc09
16. Sep 2014 · 11:38 UTC
@everyoneWhoRatedMyGame: Thanks, for liking my game. I can't believe how well received it is...^^

@fisholith: Thanks for the kind words. You also got an awesome game.

@spacedoubt: I gotta agree with you agreeing with me. Thank you for reminding me to check out your game.

@Jupiter_Hadley: Yeah, that's the first let's play footage of any game I've made, thanks for checking it out. :D

@Anssi@MooseflyGames: Thanks, for calling this one of your favourite entries! :D
At first I wanted killing aliens to be the lose condition, but I quickly dropped it (for being not fun).
Currently, killing aliens has no effect (besides painful screaming), but that could change in the future. I indeed already considered killing all aliens as an optional goal for the levels.