LudumData

Spacewatch by sekaru

[raw]
made by sekaru for LD30 (JAM)
Spacewatch is a procedurally generated pseudo-puzzle game. You are tasked with monitoring the solar system for threats as part of the "Solar System Space Watch". When a threat is detected, you need to send a transmission signal from your current planet to the distress planet. However, you can only transmit signals between planets that have one or more mutual languages. You need to quickly decide the best possible route with the least amount of links to get the highest scores.
Windows/Mac/Linux http://downloads.sleepystudios.com/Spacewatch.jar
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=23171

Ratings

Coolness 54% 3
Overall(Jam) 3.60 137
Audio(Jam) 3.07 377
Fun(Jam) 3.36 203
Graphics(Jam) 3.21 450
Innovation(Jam) 3.69 83
Mood(Jam) 2.92 481
Theme(Jam) 4.36 6

Feedback

Mali
26. Aug 2014 · 01:45 UTC
Game is really solid! Very well polished, I enjoyed it but struggled a bit because my eyes are bad with colours. I really liked the SFX for level complete, felt nice.
stephenhaney
26. Aug 2014 · 04:13 UTC
Very enjoyable. I really liked the core mechanic of the languages and finding matches. Sometimes it seemed that it was impossible to find matches close enough to the planet to save it? But it's very possible that's just me being bad :P

Definitely unique, good gameplay mechanics. The sound added as well.
blindfox
26. Aug 2014 · 20:38 UTC
What a cool idea with the languages. My only complaint is that the text on planets usually just seems like gibberish and is preventing systems from seeming truly cohesive. I understand that that isn't the point, though.
SeriouslyCrunchy
26. Aug 2014 · 20:39 UTC
Very solid idea, quite challenging too.
Freudian
26. Aug 2014 · 21:02 UTC
Fun to play!, Unfortunatly I was unable to play it... I am colourblind :(
Dissiden7
26. Aug 2014 · 21:07 UTC
Took me a couple of tries to realise there was a time limit, but after I figured that out, it was very enjoyable. Nicely done.
kyru
26. Aug 2014 · 21:08 UTC
Good use of the theme and a neat puzzle game.
Z.B.G.E.
26. Aug 2014 · 21:09 UTC
It was hard to find the good path the first time but finally I manage to find a way to the target many times after ;)
Good realisation
Chaoseiro
26. Aug 2014 · 21:11 UTC
The limited time to setup the links made me lose many points :P
The game is nice, well done!
Binary Gambit
26. Aug 2014 · 21:14 UTC
Not bad, took me a while to figure it out. Very polished but it would be nice if the arrow was more pointy towards the business end!
🎤 sekaru
26. Aug 2014 · 21:25 UTC
@blindfox: they're aliens, they don't need to follow our language rules :p.
@freudian: sorry about that, not really sure what I could do about it.

Thanks everyone!
HellBlazer
26. Aug 2014 · 21:44 UTC
Very original concept, and the mechanics work quite well. Perfect idea for a game jam: simple but fun. Nice work!
ice cold muffin
26. Aug 2014 · 22:21 UTC
Zooming out would be great!
puppetmaster
26. Aug 2014 · 23:15 UTC
Loved the music and the mood.
10 gameover, to find the GPS arrow in the corner. I'm getting old!!
MunkeeBacon
26. Aug 2014 · 23:20 UTC
The polish is very nice, I dig it.
ZYXer
27. Aug 2014 · 00:03 UTC
Quite innovative and promissing game mechanic!

I really like the look of the procedurally generated levels. But I have the feeling that the difficulty of the individual tasks is a bit arbitrary.
Moosefly
27. Aug 2014 · 15:09 UTC
On my first three tries or so, I failed after only one or two connections, but on my last try I made it to 20k points before I quit because it didn't seem to get any harder. I found it a little annoying that you had to mouse over a planet and wait a bit before you could see the languages of that planet. The maximum distance of a link could also be visually presented so that the player won't have to keep guessing if the link can be made.

Anssi@MooseflyGames
lytedev
28. Aug 2014 · 01:48 UTC
Fun game! No audio, though on Windows 8 64bit. Took me a while to get good!
🎤 sekaru
28. Aug 2014 · 02:02 UTC
You sure you didn't mute it or something? I'm running Windows 8.1 64bit and the audio works fine. Did for other people too I assume.
DaGamesta
28. Aug 2014 · 02:10 UTC
Cool concept, but I feel it's a bit hard. Remember that the developer often finds the game easier than most players. That being said, I enjoyed it, I'd say this was one of the better games I played. :)
Lvyn
28. Aug 2014 · 20:14 UTC
Great game ! Would be awesome on a tablet ! Sounds are good, the gameplay is simple and solid, graphics good, gratz !
bentog
29. Aug 2014 · 00:10 UTC
Cool game once I got the hang of it, very well polished. The sounds were great and the music too, but that lead synth got very annoying after some time. My high score was six thousand something, I don't know it exacly because the game didn't show it. With some other features it could be even better. Good job!
rustybroomhandle
31. Aug 2014 · 06:33 UTC
Took me a while to get the hang of this, but finally managed to finish about four in a row. Nice idea.
invader
05. Sep 2014 · 11:30 UTC
polished and really challenging game. The music and SFX are really setting the interplanetary mood.

+1 for portability, so I can play in on linux ;)
Jupiter_Hadley
06. Sep 2014 · 21:29 UTC
Wasnt really sure what to do but I included it in part 17 of my Ludum Dare 30 Compilation video series, if you’d like to check it out :) http://youtu.be/02vIiZyi3-c