Gravity Assist by Lyje

[raw]
made by Lyje for LD28 (COMPO)
In "Gravity Assist" players fire a particle through a map of gravity fields, repulsors and speed boosters, scoring by making the particle's trajectory graze as many objects as closely as possible without hitting them.

You only get one particle at a time to score with but can retry at will if you think you can do better. Each particle leaves a trail both to help you perfect your trajectories and reward experimentation by getting prettier the more you play.

http://gameoflyje.wordpress.com/
@six_ways

Postmortem: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/12/18/gravity-assist-post-mortem/

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall 3.51 155
Audio 2.32 591
Fun 3.47 133
Graphics 3.28 317
Humor 1.80 701
Innovation 3.22 294
Mood 2.90 408
Theme 2.51 700

Feedback

phi6
15. Dec 2013 · 21:04 UTC
I love, it's really addictive and showing the previous attempts is vital. Really difficult to figure out the optimal path in order to get as many points as possible!
ParaPup
16. Dec 2013 · 04:22 UTC
This is so fun, great concept great everything realy.
Loren
16. Dec 2013 · 05:35 UTC
very cool, love these gravity games :D I really enjoyed the style and powerup features.
phi6
16. Dec 2013 · 10:44 UTC
Rated! Addictive game, but I think it could be improved further by showing your previous attempt's power (pull back) as well as trajectory.
conormn
16. Dec 2013 · 19:30 UTC
Very nice job!
sudorossy
17. Dec 2013 · 14:09 UTC
Difficult, but quite rewarding! Powerups are a cool idea!
Jgpicatoste
17. Dec 2013 · 15:39 UTC
Really cool concept! Simple but fun.
hate-marina
17. Dec 2013 · 15:49 UTC
Guys, listen.
Guys.
Listen.
I have best idea ever.
Guys.
Once you hit nucleus, it should split!
And produce TWO more neutrones.
Guys, NUCLEAR EXPLOSION!

* Nice one, looks a bit like Gravity Wars.
KumoKairo
17. Dec 2013 · 16:16 UTC
Interesting game, really had fun playing it. It's a surely kind of a "master it" game :)
And those trails are just gorgeous! I'll take a look at the source to learn how to do those, hope you won't mind :)
Great job!
koller-digital
17. Dec 2013 · 16:20 UTC
I spent far to much time perfecting my score per level. Really addictive game!
Diptoman
17. Dec 2013 · 16:24 UTC
Love this! My favorite so far!
The concept is awesome, the game is addicting, and there are a lot of features in there. However, the theme use is weak, some music would be nice, and the retry/next options are rather ugly - these would be my only complaints. But the gameplay makes up for that, so full score from me!
chamberlainpi
17. Dec 2013 · 16:33 UTC
Has that "addictive" special sauce for sure. I love these types of space-physics simulation games. Inspired by "Angry Birds in Space" maybe? Still, very nice submission. I like that you implemented repulsion fields too.
Some of the forces (when combined with nearby ones) doesn't seem to make much sense though. It's like only the last entered force-field is applying its force on the projectile. Is that intentional, or maybe overlooked?
Regardless, good job! :)
🎤 Lyje
17. Dec 2013 · 17:56 UTC
@hate-marina: That would be awesome! I'll stick it on my list of potential additions on my blog post ( http://bit.ly/19aRCph ) and hopefully add some bits!

@KumoKairo: It's just the Unity TrailRenderer component, it's super easy to use. At the risk of shamelessly self-promoting, check out the previous (and first...) post on my blog cos I talk about it briefly.

@Diptoman: Totally agreed on music and the UI - I only had time to use built-in Unity UI which is notoriously awful!

@chamberlainpi: It was actually more inspired by my day job (I'm an accelerator physicist) but it definitely ended up with rovio-esque elements. The forces are implemented in a fairly hacky way so, as you've noticed, it's a little... wrong in some situations! If I were to do this "properly", I'd be very careful with the physics code and start from scratch.
finefin
17. Dec 2013 · 19:35 UTC
this is a good one!
I want more levels!
darwinpek
18. Dec 2013 · 01:25 UTC
I got 25,888! It would have been nice to also see where the mouse was previously for each of the trails; it would make it a lot easier to tweak the trajectories.
SpellingPhailer
18. Dec 2013 · 01:27 UTC
Awesome concept! Well executed. Very addictive game indeed.
Christina Antoinette Neofotistou
18. Dec 2013 · 02:04 UTC
Oh wow I love gravity games! And this one is awesome! Just one thing: on level 3, "the fastest way to the endzone may not be the best" is not true. I managed to send a particle full-blast through the big ones, just shooting straight. But this is addictive and fun, so top marks!
🎤 Lyje
18. Dec 2013 · 11:57 UTC
Thanks Christina! The message on level 3 means that you can score more by going the long way round.
fullmontis
18. Dec 2013 · 12:05 UTC
Very interesting concept. Simple yet very addicting. I really enjoyed it.
goerp
18. Dec 2013 · 12:30 UTC
Nice idea!
I also like that there are different types of elements that do different things.
Visually it looks great to see all the trajectories of all your attempts to do better (a piece of art sometimes).
But that also made it more difficult at some point to see my last attempt. I already had trouble recreating my last attempt especially with slow speeds (it's hard to see where you are pointing when there's only a small line).
That made me feel a bit like shooting in the dark.

Some more indication of power and direction would be nice. Maybe not numbers, because that would make it too obvious, but maybe some circles around your dot as power indicators and lines radiating form the center at every 30 degrees to indicate direction?
That way you could more easily finetune your last attempt ("I was somewhere between the first and second circle and next to the 30 degrees line").
Ekilibr
18. Dec 2013 · 14:30 UTC
Addictive Gameplay, and cool graphics. Nice job !
van noctar
18. Dec 2013 · 15:02 UTC
Great concept! The game is interesting!
Manou
18. Dec 2013 · 15:05 UTC
The next and retry buttons are annoying, very good game otherwise!
🎤 Lyje
18. Dec 2013 · 15:08 UTC
@Manou - Unfortunately given the time, I was hamstrung by Unity's GUI code! But you can restart quicker by pressing space.
Thecoolestnerdguys
18. Dec 2013 · 15:25 UTC
Very fun (and difficult)!
Also, the graphics looks pretty cool!
The only complain I can make is about the lack of music. It would really help creating a nicer mood.
ExtreLime
18. Dec 2013 · 16:16 UTC
Well, it wa fun to play it even it was short. The gameplay is pretty attractive =)
xrm0
18. Dec 2013 · 16:17 UTC
Great game!. Love the graphics.
My only complaint is that the retry button has assigned a key (spacebar) but move to the next level not.
🎤 Lyje
18. Dec 2013 · 16:27 UTC
@xrm0: Thanks! The reason for the "next" button not having a key is mainly to prevent accidental presses, but this would perhaps be solved with better UI (e.g. a bigger button!) anyway.
ENDESGA
19. Dec 2013 · 03:54 UTC
Interesting concept. I played it a few times, and it's great fun!
Very nice :)
javifugitivo
19. Dec 2013 · 04:25 UTC
Addictive! Nice game!
funselektor
19. Dec 2013 · 07:28 UTC
Good polish, the difficulty ramped up at a good pace. Takes lots of tries, but it's nice to see the past paths!
rojo
19. Dec 2013 · 07:41 UTC
I failed so many times, but it did look nice!
CatOnMars
19. Dec 2013 · 11:35 UTC
I love the part that particle paths are remained if you retry. Nice job.
jdpalmer
19. Dec 2013 · 16:46 UTC
I made it through all the levels! Nice work on your game.
Zhrack
19. Dec 2013 · 17:19 UTC
Very difficult to get points! Nice!
jacklehamster
19. Dec 2013 · 18:09 UTC
Nice visuals. I feel the trails of old paths should have less opacity though
Coblynau
20. Dec 2013 · 10:14 UTC
Really good fun, would like to see more of this.
kakhoofd
20. Dec 2013 · 11:50 UTC
really addictive, like it lots!
frogcheese
20. Dec 2013 · 18:28 UTC
This was really cool! I tried for high points for a while, but it got ridiculously hard really fast. And then my screen ended up looking like an abstract art piece. It's not often that I somehow manage to create something so beautiful by failing horribly at a task. I salute you ;)
ipe369
21. Dec 2013 · 11:27 UTC
Really enjoyed this^_^ I found myself retrying the levels over and over for the highest score:3
archaeometrician
22. Dec 2013 · 02:38 UTC
Great idea, your game is addictive ! I like the mechanics. Really good work!
lilinx
22. Dec 2013 · 14:37 UTC
Interesting! It's nice to be able to retry as much as you want, and to be able to analyze your previous moves.