LudumData

One Earth, One Defender by Mental Atrophy

[raw]
made by Mental Atrophy for LD28 (COMPO)
Controls:
- main.exe to run the software
- Left mouse to shoot
- Right mouse to thrust
- Spacebar to bring up satellite turret placement
- To play in fullscreen, open the settings.ini file and change the value to 1.

Background:
This game was written in Python 3.3 using Pygame/SDL media libraries. Audio was made in bfxr.

Summary:
This is an Asteroids clone, more or less. Asteroids that collide with the earth reduce its health, with game over at zero. Tower defense elements let you purchase satellite turrets that orbit and help defend the earth, though this feature was largely incomplete. The game is won upon reaching $1,000,000 space bucks. Dying loses 25% of your current credits.

My Thoughts:
This game is terrible and I don't recommend it. Asteroids spawn randomly and in uninteresting patterns. No music due to poor time management. Limited play-testing due to poor time management as well... Maybe next quarter I'll actually have something polished in time. If it isn't obvious I tacked on the "title" and "game over" scenes at basically the last second, and have no transition to speak of. Death and respawn is also abrupt since I procrastinated on that element, and the HUD is lacking as well. Oh, well.
Windows https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/87770923/one_earth_one_defender.rar
Source https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/87770923/one_earth_source.rar
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-28/?action=preview&uid=26025

Ratings

Coolness 79% 2
Overall 3.17 366
Audio 2.00 683
Fun 3.22 267
Graphics 3.37 277
Humor 1.79 707
Innovation 2.05 941
Mood 2.66 570
Theme 2.48 716

Feedback

george_prosser
16. Dec 2013 · 11:52 UTC
Hey, your game is a bit like mine!
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-28/?action=preview&uid=29464
Darkcoder
16. Dec 2013 · 12:17 UTC
I really like the aesthetics, but I don't see how you can reach a million without the ability to buy better weapons or something.
ezolotko
16. Dec 2013 · 12:17 UTC
Great game!
turnA
16. Dec 2013 · 12:18 UTC
Although not very original, I enjoy thrusting the rocket and shoot asteroid for fun. Like what you said, it will be better if it have more time for polish on several part.
I also have problem with the control on my laptop's trackpad, but not a big trouble for me :D
strong99
16. Dec 2013 · 12:20 UTC
I like this game's view on asteroid and the satellite dishes orbiting with their own speed. I think I did more damage to earth than all of these asteroids.
I don't miss anything with the death and respawn, it was pretty clear to me :) I could play this for hours.
🎤 Mental Atrophy
16. Dec 2013 · 12:22 UTC
Darkcoder, if you press spacebar you can purchase defense turrets that orbit the earth. Unfortunately I forgot to put some kind of indicator for this option in the HUD before it was time to upload the game (I should've made a task list to keep myself on track, probably). Buying more satellites also upgrades your weapon. At two satellites you shoot three bullets, and at four you shoot five bullets. I was hoping to have a somewhat robust set of weapon and turret upgrades but I was woefully behind schedule.
🎤 Mental Atrophy
16. Dec 2013 · 12:24 UTC
strong99, the orbit speed of the satellites is actually calculated by range from the earth. In my head I was going to have proper orbital mechanics, and the player could fine tune satellite orbits to meet their requirements (like a highly elliptical orbit that spends more time in the northwest quadrant, protecting that area more securely), but this whole 48-hour thing is stressful and I didn't get very far there.
Tsumei
16. Dec 2013 · 13:44 UTC
I think the major drawback for me with this game is the audio, Even setting my mixer to 12% for it, it was still repetitive and painfull.

That said! The game is fun, genuinely fun. I like flying around shooting at asteroids and waiting for that money to tick up so I can buy more satelites. At some point my gun upgraded and I do not quite understand why - So my criticism there would be that perhaps some gun-shop or other way of informing the player would be good.

But it was fun, and it looks kind of gorgeous for what it is.
oskardevelopment
16. Dec 2013 · 17:48 UTC
Cool graphics, I love the background! A classic earth defender but with better graphics. Good luck! :)
ocmu
16. Dec 2013 · 20:07 UTC
Interesting take on asteroids, $1mil seems like a lot, though. Fun game.
adnzzzzZ
16. Dec 2013 · 20:07 UTC
Amazing game. I see you didn't have time to finish it properly, but still it was really fun, especially when I have the 5 shots going on. Your art style looks pretty good too. A few things that might make it better: some camera shakes here and there when bigger asteroids are destroyed, some particle effect for when asteroids get divided into smaller ones, make it so that the turrets can aim at asteroids (although I don't know if you didn't to this because of time or because it was intentional). Overall you did a really good job. Congrats!
Coblynau
16. Dec 2013 · 20:16 UTC
Great take on a classic game; very smooth and the graphics/sounds work well together.
Fadobo
16. Dec 2013 · 20:28 UTC
Really cool game. Get's pretty wild later on (but the sound was a bit annoying towards the end)
vallde
17. Dec 2013 · 00:25 UTC
I think I killed half of the population with such wide attacks xD but overall good game, looks good and the controls feel good :)
Binary Gambit
17. Dec 2013 · 00:27 UTC
great entry! also remember you made it in FORTY EIGHT HOURS. bloody marvellous!
funselektor
17. Dec 2013 · 01:50 UTC
That was fun, props for making it in SDL, that takes skill. Nice and tight gameplay and controls.
Ekilibr
17. Dec 2013 · 16:30 UTC
Love the mood of this game, and the idea is very nice too :)
Kayelgee
17. Dec 2013 · 21:33 UTC
This game is too hard :/
Radnen
17. Dec 2013 · 23:36 UTC
A solid game. Learning how to use your thrusters right and shooting carefully are your biggest goals in the game. I likwe how you can damage the earth too, and I like the simple controls. Very fun!
droqen
18. Dec 2013 · 20:58 UTC
I liked how, eventually, I realized that if I shot the Earth I didn't kill THAT many people, much better than letting a little asteroid through.

Still didn't beat it - but I got really damn close ]:
🎤 Mental Atrophy
18. Dec 2013 · 21:08 UTC
Yeah, I'll be surprised if anybody can kill the earth with bullets alone since they only hit for 10 and the population is 22 billion. I just thought it was morbidly funny, imagining a stray bullet from space destroying somebody's house.
Nikteddy92
18. Dec 2013 · 21:12 UTC
I like this one!
*restart*
ChrisMingay
20. Dec 2013 · 17:29 UTC
Nice smooth gameplay, and good controls. Gotta say though, I gave up before 1,000,000 because it got a tad repetitive.
Muciojad
25. Dec 2013 · 10:47 UTC
Really cool,mouse control for first look were "diffrent", but I quickly like it ;D Good job!
tommakesgames
27. Dec 2013 · 18:42 UTC
I don't think it's as bad as you make out. It's not really tied to the theme and not incredibly innovative, but the graphics were nice (particularly the particle effects) and the sounds that were there were enough to spice up gameplay. Most importantly, the controls with just the mouse felt really good and surprisingly precise. Still a good effort.
PEBKAC
04. Jan 2014 · 14:45 UTC
Graphics are certainly OK and the turrets are a welcome addition to Asteroids. Is it my imagination or do the controls get sluggish with lots of objects on screen?
JaymeeMak
04. Jan 2014 · 15:52 UTC
This is a good Asteroid clone with a few more features, and is pretty fun to play in general, though it looks like victory would take a long time, even with upgrades (which should be explained more clearly). The theme feels kind of tacked-on, too.