LudumData

Interplanetary Messengers by DragonMaster21

[raw]
made by DragonMaster21 for LD30 (COMPO)
You are a member of the IPM (Interplanetary Messengers) and you must deliver people and cargo to other planets. If the planets do not receive their goods in a certain amount of time, they will get mad and stop trading with you.

The area around planets are a safe zone. You can't get hurt while in them and they will heal you completely. You can only access the job and shop windows from inside a safe zone.

To close a window, press the same button you used to open it.

Controls:
W: Move forward
S: Move backward
A: Rotate left
D: Rotate right
L-Shift: Slows down ship and rotation
Space: Opens job window
Y: Opens show window
Q: Opens planet status window
Mouse: Aim your gun and fire with the left mouse button
Escape: Frees your mouse click on the screen to capture it again


Tools:
Language: Java
IDE: Eclipse
Framework: Libgdx
Art: Paint.net
Music: beepbox.co

libgdx-utils: https://bitbucket.org/dermetfan/libgdx-utils
My basecode: https://github.com/LegitzDestroy/gdx-game-utils


If chrome marks the Windows download as malicious, try downloading and running the jar instead.
Windows https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/188174929/Inter.exe
OS/X and Linux https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/188174929/InterplanetaryMessengers.jar
Runnable Jar https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/188174929/InterplanetaryMessengers.jar
Source https://github.com/LegitzDestroy/LD30
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=25675

Ratings

Coolness 66% 3
Overall 2.43 1139
Audio 3.12 320
Fun 2.29 1086
Graphics 3.24 445
Humor 2.00 776
Innovation 2.84 790
Mood 2.64 858
Theme 3.35 485

Feedback

rob
25. Aug 2014 · 04:07 UTC
I gave this a few tries, because I really like the idea, but I found it too unforgiving. I got to planet 2 once but the job to that planet doesn't pay you enough to buy anything. I then set off for planet 4 and died about 1cm away from it.

I think it's a problem that your bullets stop at the edge of planets, because it means you can't shoot obstacles that are coming at you through a planet.

I also found the distance between planets a little far — after dying right at the edge of planet 4, the idea of starting that journey again was a little off-putting.

With a couple of tweaks this would be really cool, but as it is I found it quite frustrating.
Suvidriel
25. Aug 2014 · 04:26 UTC
Really liked the idea :)
ruthiepee
25. Aug 2014 · 04:55 UTC
I really liked the concept as well but... I found the controls really cumbersome. It's hard to get around! I never made it to the next planet. The stylization of the graphics and the chiptuney sound effects give the game a great mood, but the gameplay is just too tough. Nice music.
Healthire
25. Aug 2014 · 04:57 UTC
Overall nice game with solid features. Unfortunately it was too hard for me and I barely made it halfway to other planets.
kadybat
25. Aug 2014 · 05:04 UTC
Couldn't get it to launch after the start screen! Tutorial worked, but in hitting play it'd crash. It's an old mid-2009 13'' MacBook Pro running Mavericks ^^
Jupitron
25. Aug 2014 · 05:06 UTC
Awesome chiptune music! Going from planet to planet felt like real space travelling!
🎤 DragonMaster21
25. Aug 2014 · 05:28 UTC
Thanks for the suggestions. I will keep all of them in mind when I continue working on it :)
varun
25. Aug 2014 · 06:06 UTC
Great pixel art - the gameplay almost feels like a demake of many flight sims.
IcyLava
25. Aug 2014 · 13:34 UTC
Why must it take so long to get to another planet? I guess it's kind of realistic, but not so fun... after I got to a different planet I quit, but now i see there are upgrades... well I'm not doing that again :P
Denisre3
25. Aug 2014 · 16:51 UTC
The idea of the game is really good, but the game itself is way too boring. It takes too much time to travel from a planet to another, and the ship controls really badly, making it hard to stop on planets(once I passed near planet 3, but wasn't able to turn fast enough to reach it). The musi is really good.
CodeNMore
25. Aug 2014 · 18:41 UTC
Great art and a good idea - just too far apart!
Jupiter_Hadley
25. Aug 2014 · 19:25 UTC
Cool concept! I included it in part 5 of my Ludum Dare 30 compilation video series :) http://youtu.be/W46twhRFdK8
uprightpath
25. Aug 2014 · 22:57 UTC
Rather cluggy controls and a VERY high distance between things. Made it difficult to enjoy the game, or get far at all.
danidre14
26. Aug 2014 · 01:43 UTC
Liked the graphics and audio, but the controls were too cumbersome, and I could not even make it to another planet! Also, the ship controls glitched a lot, and no the game was not sticking, because all the other planes moved freely!
DvigubaiPiktas
27. Aug 2014 · 15:31 UTC
Good game, but the distances between the planets are quite big.
whilefun
28. Aug 2014 · 20:43 UTC
Loved the music. I found the ship movement very cumbersome, as it took so long to move around. This is a cool concept though! :)
Menesetsu
30. Aug 2014 · 12:41 UTC
uberhardcore gameplay :) i couldn't achieve any planet until they became mad on me... Or stupid ships destroy all my health :) anyway, i've spent about hour in this game :)
Dry Tree
04. Sep 2014 · 20:36 UTC
I had quite a few goes at this but gave up in frustration before achieving anything significant - the travel and rotation are WAY... TOO... SLOW... :( *ragequit*

However, the graphics and audio are very good and its a nice fit for the theme so I scored you highly for those anyway :)
RobotFriend
04. Sep 2014 · 23:56 UTC
looks really cool.. kept crashing after I hit play (OS X).. bummer
frogcheese
06. Sep 2014 · 20:11 UTC
Worked for me on OS X. I think the idea is good with a lot of potential, but the game is far too slow. I managed to get to planet 4 to sell a couple things (took me a long time to get there, though) but that still wasn't enough to buy any upgrades. Since the ship was so slow to maneuver, I then got killed en route to the next planet by an asteroid that I couldn't avoid. That led to me not having enough time to get to another planet before they got mad and I got a game over. I think all of this could be fixed by simply making the ship faster - both in turning speed and thrust.

Other than that, I think the graphics and audio were really good - I especially liked the particle effects on the destroyed ships.