Bit-ship Ld27 By lcass by lcass

[raw]
made by lcass for LD27 (COMPO)
First ludum dare and here is my game its called bitship took about 23 hours to make and contains around 3400 lines of java!. No external libraries were used, this is pure java goodness ,enjoy!

read the tutorial for controls , they are abit strange.

---REQUIRES JAVA 7---
If you try to run it on mac make sure you have it installed, Apple dont like java so it doesnt allow it to be installed automatically.

---You must change mode to place blocks. this is done by pressing e . Your mode is shown on the top left---


---TUTORIAL BELOW---

After requests I have made a youtube tutorial just here

-----> http://youtu.be/oP4W4NeaabQ



-----> STORY <-----
Life was good in the year 2078 firmware programmed robots were used on space ships around the galaxy, you are the core computer aboard the ship you control everything. When being given the task to test out the effects of large speed boosts using the oberth effect you manage to generate a wormhole! You are sent across the universe and after lots of time and your ship being almost entirely destroyed other than the nanobots and your energy signiture you find that you are one galaxy away. Unfortunatly that galaxy is riddled with threats bandits,rogue droids you name it.

Fight your way through all 40 levels can you win the game?

As you fight through level become exponentially harder as the enemy becomes more powerful than your puny system can handle.
Use your wit to survive.

Don't forget your borgs, when made they can serve as a valuable resource boosting power, shields and autofiring weapons. Be careful though as they are outdated by 100s of years and are all rusty so take it slow when trying to program them or they might just decide to go the other way.

Build new weapons systems , fight more powerful enemys , develop the ultimate attack vessel.

Your outdated systems take 10 seconds to recharge the enemy has more fire power and shields that recharge faster, Strategy is the key.

Create the Bit-Ship!


sorry for it being low res youtube is being really annoying atm.

press p to start the fights can you win all the way to level 40?

---Known bugs---
When moving left or right after projectiles are fired flashes of the projectile images are seen on the left/right side of screen.

lag can sometimes occur when moving.


---Future development---
So this game has been great, i've heard lots of good things and things that can be improved. I am going to do a full remake of the game so that its more efficient (the way I coded it was quick but not good for efficiency) And I will be changing the gameplay hugely. A post about this will be up on www.java-gaming.org sometime in the near future.

Thanks for playing!

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall 2.77 832
Audio 2.16 753
Fun 2.20 1051
Graphics 2.57 757
Humor 1.71 864
Innovation 3.20 384
Mood 2.23 913
Theme 2.34 1091

Feedback

Croze
26. Aug 2013 路 02:44 UTC
Cool game and idea, but was not user friendly.
Senevri
26. Aug 2013 路 02:51 UTC
Couldn't get it to work - shows a screen, but no matter what I try, the most I get is a beep.
bushmango
26. Aug 2013 路 02:52 UTC
This seems like it would be really fun if I could get it to work... could you upload a YouTube video or something explaining the basics to getting started?
lambda_express
26. Aug 2013 路 02:55 UTC
java -jar bit-shipforludum.jar
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: com/lcass/bitship/core/core : Unsupported major.minor version 51.0
馃帳 lcass
26. Aug 2013 路 02:56 UTC
Sure. I have to sleep now but I will make one for you guys in the mornin.
馃帳 lcass
26. Aug 2013 路 02:58 UTC
What version of java are you using? this was made in Java 7.
Zuige
26. Aug 2013 路 03:08 UTC
Seems like a fascinating piece of video gaming, but just couldn't figure out how to play. Maybe some tutorials?
wrongcoder
26. Aug 2013 路 03:43 UTC
Seconding the request for a video. It looks like it could be quite fun but it needs a tutorial.
caranha
26. Aug 2013 路 03:52 UTC
That is a very very neat idea that you have. I love the concept "build your ship, then fight!".

Of course, there is a long way to go for your game to be really playable, and many things to talk about it.

I will try to give only one piece of advice:

When explaining something complex, I think that you should first start by explaining what the "goal/end state" is, and after that you explain how to get there.

For example, you have this huge manual above, but only in the very last line it says that you can "press P to fight other ships", I almost missed it.

I suggest you re-organize your manual. Start by explaining that in this game you build ships and then use them to fight other ships. Then say that the game has three states - and what they do! After all of that, start explaining how building works.

If you have a good manual, even the most complex games become playable :-)

Cheers! And I hope to see more from this game.
ethankennerly
26. Aug 2013 路 04:23 UTC
The menu of items to build, which reminded me of a level editor interested me! If you continue to develop this, have you considered showing the keyboard shortcuts on the menu and simplifying how to start, maybe with the first level already constructed?
HeroesGrave
26. Aug 2013 路 06:13 UTC
I didn't know what to do, even though I read the tutorial
馃帳 lcass
26. Aug 2013 路 10:45 UTC
Well ethan I had that as my origonal idea but I ran out of time.
馃帳 lcass
26. Aug 2013 路 10:58 UTC
Some of the stuff in there just took soo long.
馃帳 lcass
26. Aug 2013 路 16:38 UTC
Ok so ive created a youtube tutorial for it link is up by the links. enjoy.
nintendoeats
26. Aug 2013 路 19:46 UTC
This is really impressive for something made in 2 days. It's so complicated that I don't really feel like I can make proper sense of it mechanically right now. Ideally I would spend about an hour figuring out how everything works.

But man, concept and execution are very impressive. I'm not sure what it has to do with the theme though :p
馃帳 lcass
26. Aug 2013 路 19:57 UTC
all the cooldowns are 10 seconds
GNecro1
26. Aug 2013 路 21:43 UTC
not user friendly. i dont see how does it fit the theme but it is still a cool game :D
[-BipolarDesign+]
27. Aug 2013 路 17:18 UTC
I think that a 20 minute tutorial is a bit much, especially for a Ludum Dare game, haha. I can tell you have big ideas and big plans for this one, I hope it turns out well!
Sergey Mohov
27. Aug 2013 路 17:34 UTC
Doesn't seem to work on my Mac.
馃帳 lcass
27. Aug 2013 路 17:37 UTC
Sergey run it through the command line you may have a different version of java.
loxo
27. Aug 2013 路 17:45 UTC
Great game, I like it very much. It's a bit complicated, though. But the tutorial video made it much easier. Only the mixed keyboard/mouse controls remain confusing, because I always forget to use the keyboard instead of the mouse. So I've put some blocks behind the controls :)
psema4
27. Aug 2013 路 18:01 UTC
Definitely watch the tutorial before playing. Love ship-building - this is one of my favorite entries so far.
馃帳 lcass
27. Aug 2013 路 19:10 UTC
Thank you for the support guys. I will be updating it as a full game go check out javagaming.org for the page on it. will be up soon!
klianc09
27. Aug 2013 路 19:54 UTC
This could be a very strategy heavy game, but as it is, it's only about "who can patiently wait the longest until he got enough energy generators to create a battleship"
The 10-second delay outside of battles seemed unnecessary, since you have unlimited time building. I had a hard time telling the different factories apart. And why would I make a floor if it only made my ship burn more easily?

But if you made some tweaks to the gameplay (and made it easier to understand), it could be a great strategy game.
馃帳 lcass
27. Aug 2013 路 21:04 UTC
Most of the reason for this is time, I ran out. Floors are used for borgs they require them to move on.
Dioiminik
27. Aug 2013 路 21:05 UTC
Doesn't run on osx (Maybe java version 1.6 is to old?)
Dioiminik
27. Aug 2013 路 21:06 UTC
nvm didn't read that you already posted it wouldn't run using 1.6 :P
hoqjed
27. Aug 2013 路 21:28 UTC
Right, as some previous posters have mentioned the learning curve is quite steep. That said, it's pretty impressive how much was put into this game in such a short amount of time.

The video tutorial was extremely helpful in picking up the game to get started playing. Without the video I was basically clicking and trying to figure out how to control the game.

Now controls should definitely be mentioned here because the keyboard/mouse combo was pretty awkward for me to get accustomed to.

That said, if you invest a little time into the game it's interesting. Complex to pick up though. Ideally the game should be user friendly enough to allow someone to come in, click around and figure some things out. Not everything mind you, but get the gist of the game. I would work on user friendliness on this and future projects, it deters quite a few people not explaining the game in the game... if that makes sense

-Dylan Gallardo
Joxno
27. Aug 2013 路 21:30 UTC
Really rough around the edges but it's to be expected for a scope of this game to make in 48 hours, all I can say is that I had a lot of fun with it, amazing, well done!
馃帳 lcass
27. Aug 2013 路 22:59 UTC
Thanks for the support and suggestions I will take everything into account upon my next ludum.
kaype
27. Aug 2013 路 23:11 UTC
I like it.

I noticed you made it in Java, I might toy around with the code for it.
馃帳 lcass
27. Aug 2013 路 23:18 UTC
I think the source may be the buggy version with the projectiles not calling the destroy() functions. Its still fully functional go ahead.
Sh1rogane
28. Aug 2013 路 20:29 UTC
Very interesting entry but not the most user friendly, the tutorial help alot, it is a good game but really hard to get in to.
kristof
28. Aug 2013 路 22:06 UTC
Wow that is a really great idea and a lot of work must have been gone into this. I often thought of making a game where you build your own ship. However games kind of have to explain themselves in my opinion. Especially in a context like this compo people will not take the time to learn such a complex game. But this is a great start.
awppy
28. Aug 2013 路 23:32 UTC
I really wish you could click on a tile to select it, as that is my natural instinct and I did so several times, placing tiles I shouldn't have placed. It was a bit overwhelming and complicated, which is a bit of a burden for most people. I think the learning curve can easily put someone off.

I played around a bit after watching the tutorial, but still didn't fully understand what I was doing or what my objective was :(
Laelien
29. Aug 2013 路 00:05 UTC
Really awesome. I mean it. Probably needs a little more in-game explanation, and I've got the feeling that power sometimes just disappears when weapons are destroyed.
But it's freakin' awesome all the way. Congrats. 2 days just to do this ? Man, a lot of people must feel bad now XD
馃帳 lcass
29. Aug 2013 路 00:18 UTC
Yer the power is a bit glitchy sometimes. Ha.
KhaoTom
29. Aug 2013 路 10:34 UTC
Very ambitious project!
Crowbeak
29. Aug 2013 路 10:38 UTC
I have but one critique, which is that your next game have more focus on a good user interface. Good luck!
馃帳 lcass
29. Aug 2013 路 10:39 UTC
Yer, For this one I made it key controlled simply because it was less of a hastle to code. I have big plans for the new version.
mort96
29. Aug 2013 路 11:28 UTC
Really cool - if only it was more user friendly. Some visual candy could do too.
ratalaika
29. Aug 2013 路 15:52 UTC
good job
iiechapman
30. Aug 2013 路 03:35 UTC
I am having trouble, I think it is not working properly on my end, I would love a gameplay video because this game is very intriguing
Solifuge
31. Aug 2013 路 03:09 UTC
I like it. A very ambitious and impressive project for the 48-hour time frame. Also, you sound a lot younger than I expected. Good work on this!

I've been looking for a finished game that was something like this for a long time, with player-built hulls, the ability to fly and fight ships in a semi-tactical way, etc. Add in some more detailed ship physics, the ability to zoom out and actually have to aim at enemy vessels, and so on, and this could be a really neat finished game. Thanks for putting it together!
馃帳 lcass
31. Aug 2013 路 10:56 UTC
I am quite young. All of that will be a feature in the new version.
Pinktreeleaf
31. Aug 2013 路 18:12 UTC
way too complicated for my blood. at least without more detailed controls