LudumData

Ursa Miner by Will Edwards

[raw]
made by Will Edwards for LD28 (COMPO)
Although it looks simple, under the hood there's some pretty tricky code, and I'm really pleased shooting real holes in meshes! Check out the jaw-dropping DEV VIDEO!!!

Being an asteroid gemstone miner in Ursa Minor is really really hard work, what with zero G and only as much oxygen as you can carry!

Luckily, it has it perks; like the "vapouriser" cannon for getting at hard-to-reach gemstones embedded in the rock!

INSTRUCTIONS:::

Always make sure you can find your way back to the airlock where you started before you suffocate!

1. fly around using WASD and ARROW keys

2. fly into gemstones to collect them

3. use the vapouriser to liberate gemstones embedded in rock

4. diamonds = 1000 pts, rubies 500 and emeralds 200

5. keep an eye on how much oxygen you have left

6. you only get the one bottle of oxygen...

7. always track where the airlock was so you can get back in time!

...

17. PROFIT !!!



----

My first solo entry, using my own javascript webGL framework barebones.js.

The vapouriser uses csg.js (which I've made some performance tuning to; 3-5x faster generally). See the dev video or use the javascript console to look at the 'debug' object to get an idea of how computationally intensive shooting the vapouriser is!

I'm not musical I'm afraid. So sound effects from BFXR, and its my own server so I'm trying to keep the bandwidth down a bit.
Web http://31.192.226.244:43534/index.html
Source http://31.192.226.244:43534/28.zip
Dev Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zjz-hpm8No
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-28/?action=preview&uid=10313

Ratings

Coolness 82% 2
Overall 2.94 559
Audio 1.85 710
Fun 2.44 768
Graphics 3.00 451
Humor 1.78 713
Innovation 3.24 276
Mood 2.69 545
Theme 2.27 820

Feedback

sknoslo
16. Dec 2013 · 03:16 UTC
The controls took some getting used to, otherwise it was pretty entertaining. I was confused as to what I was doing, but that's my fault because I didn't read the instructions.
PolishedPixels
16. Dec 2013 · 03:25 UTC
Need more optimization for web...but fun never the less
wombatica
16. Dec 2013 · 08:06 UTC
Like it!! Love the deforming terrain. Plays fine on my laptop. Everything could be tweaked and further improved but that's 48hrs and one guy....
Good sound effects, pity you didn't have time to learn to generate music.
capnramses
16. Dec 2013 · 15:34 UTC
I got Error: could not load ui.js ?
ittlebit
16. Dec 2013 · 16:36 UTC
The deforming terrain was pretty cool, Very minimal.
oskardevelopment
16. Dec 2013 · 17:35 UTC
I'm very impressed! Really amazing that you were able to do so much on so little time. Good luck!
Gaspard_
16. Dec 2013 · 18:25 UTC
Graphics are awesome!
But the game experience wasn't so great... reversed up and down really confused me and when you put some tiny lag above that...
The mood is well set, but the game could use some music.
Good job!
🎤 Will Edwards
16. Dec 2013 · 18:35 UTC
@Gaspard_ thank you :)

I actually asked on the LD IRC minutes before I submitted, and most people there said they wanted me to *swap* the up/down... To what it is now! I can't win.

The lag is because Constructive Solid Geometry is a performance hog and this game needs a powerful CPU and GPU to keep up. Optimising it would be worthy of a thesis assignment ;)

Glad you liked it though.
ovenchips
16. Dec 2013 · 22:53 UTC
The link appears to be down... :(
cwkx
17. Dec 2013 · 08:53 UTC
I couldn't resist the blocks when I saw this in the screenshots :D I love the simple art style, runs fine on my laptop. Excellent work!
vrld
17. Dec 2013 · 09:44 UTC
Ursa miner gives a nice Descent feeling (good job on that), but it doesn't really feel like a finished game. Here are my main points (in case you want to develop this further - please do!):

1) Add an arrow to point to the airlock (like in Freespace). It's really hard to find it using the XYZ coordinates in the upper left corner alone.
2) Better feedback, e.g.screenshake when firing the vaporizer, particle effec when collecting gems, oxygen bar instead of a number, stuff like that.
3) Background - less black (dark greyish blue could work) and maybe add a few stars
4) Afterburner!
daredevildave
17. Dec 2013 · 10:09 UTC
It's a great idea. I found the collision detection on the gems frustrating.

Some background music would add a lot to the atmosphere.

And some way of finding the airlock again. :-)
ahimsa
17. Dec 2013 · 11:28 UTC
Really fun, I love this type of Descentesque free flying games and it's always a bonus if you get to shoot something while at it.
Ysty
17. Dec 2013 · 12:09 UTC
Once I got a handle on the controls it was great. I love the aesthetic.
lubos
17. Dec 2013 · 12:53 UTC
Shooting holes is indeed awesome! And once you get used to controls you don't mind them at all. Nice experience overall.
xgeovanni
17. Dec 2013 · 20:00 UTC
It's going to be great when this sort of fully destructible terrain can be run on top of a more complex game.
Pietro Ferrantelli
17. Dec 2013 · 20:45 UTC
This game is very interesting ! Amazing job :)
Dir3kt
18. Dec 2013 · 21:05 UTC
Wow quite impressive for a html5 game. It was fun to explore the universe, and going full speed between those blocks is a nice feeling :)

Revert Y axis would have been nice.

After playing for a while started to lag (firefox).
psychomonster
19. Dec 2013 · 20:52 UTC
Very cool idea but I couldn't move and crasehd into blocks... Think it is a problem with my Keyboard :(
Ashtom
19. Dec 2013 · 21:00 UTC
A bit choppy (maybe I have a low config) but fun and somewhat immersive. I wish I could identify what the airlock looks like.
Alex Higgins
19. Dec 2013 · 21:09 UTC
Technically, super impressive. The player was too hard to control, though, and the collision box for picking up gems was way too small. Also really, really hard to find the airlock again, even when you make an effort not the stray too far from it - maybe making the asteroids around it the same color or just leaving some empty space around it would be helpful? You did a great job of conveying the sense of fear, confusing, and paranoia one would have doing this job alone in space, though!
🎤 Will Edwards
19. Dec 2013 · 21:10 UTC
@Ashtom you start in one. Its always at 0,0,0. If you start the level and fly a little bit forward, you can then swing around and take a look at it. And keep remembering where it is at all times; if you fly away wildly and enjoy the immersion, you'll never find your way back!

And yeah its a polygon hog however simple it looks. Please watch the dev video :)
Atmospherium
20. Dec 2013 · 18:09 UTC
Really cool abstract art. My computer had a hard time keeping up, but other than that this was a very interesting game.
netmute
20. Dec 2013 · 19:34 UTC
I liked that you can actually shoot holes into everything. But the forward velocity was way too sensitive. I pushed forward a couple thousand miles of space, got hopelessly lost, and then managed to get stuck in a hole that I just dug into something. That was fun :D
evilseanbot
20. Dec 2013 · 19:41 UTC
Very fascinating mechanic with the boring holes in things. Unfortunately it was too slow on my computer.
Jiggawatt
21. Dec 2013 · 00:39 UTC
Super laggy, unintuitive controls. The vaporizer *is* pretty cool though, I saw that development video when you posted it and was looking forward to trying it out.

Demo Effect: The Game, I guess.
Crowbeak
21. Dec 2013 · 09:58 UTC
The left and right button appear to just cause barrel rolls (web player on a mac), so I dunno if I'm just not getting it or what.
drnick
21. Dec 2013 · 21:47 UTC
dat Goldeneye controllers. Nice atmosphere. - notdrnick
PS: drnick has a shitty computer and is sorry for not being able to play this game
isaacmarco
31. Dec 2013 · 16:20 UTC
needs some optimization, but the idea is very good
csanyk
01. Jan 2014 · 23:27 UTC
Technically impressive but a bit too slow in my browser to play at a decent framerate.
jimmypaulin
02. Jan 2014 · 16:09 UTC
Very technically accomplished and an interesting concept. I liked the feeling of flying through the unusual space and exploring around, though it didn't run particularly well on my ageing rig...
Broxxar
02. Jan 2014 · 17:30 UTC
Not quite sure I got it, but this is pretty awesome. Honestly just flying through the procedural terrain was awesome, not really sure how the vaporiser or oxygen mechanics played a part. Aside from not running at 60 fps, this looks great.
archaeometrician
02. Jan 2014 · 17:43 UTC
Amazing work ! Really interesting to see what can be done with .js
Very cool to mine into the rock!
rosastegosaurus
05. Jan 2014 · 18:23 UTC
First i thought something was wrong with the game or the browser, then i got how it worked. I liked it, but it was hard.
very impressively made considering the short time.
atony
02. May 2016 · 17:10 UTC
The link is down :(