Tower To The Sun by Zer0Kelvin

made by Zer0Kelvin for LD27 (COMPO)

Tower To The Sun is a game about our legacy to the planet and our children. I incorporated the 10 Seconds theme by having the player's character live his entire life in only ten seconds. When that character dies, a new one is born.
Your goal is to improve your surroundings so future people will reach the the goal of building a tower to the sun.

Controls are Left and Right Arrows to move, X to build and C to smash.

To play the game, just unzip and run the .exe file.
Make sure you extract the entire zip, running the .exe from inside the zip file will most likely cause a crash :)

Programmed in BlitzMAX:
http://www.blitzbasic.com/

With Paint.NET
http://www.getpaint.net/

And SFXR & BFXR
http://www.drpetter.se/project_sfxr.html
http://www.bfxr.net/

Extra special thanks to my wife and kids for their patience! ;)

TL;DR:

LEFT RIGHT X C

Windows	https://www.dropbox.com/s/wf7m11vpp1gu6j2/TowerToTheSunByIanMartinLudumDare27Compo.zip
Source	https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8zvqz25qzgnlok/TowerToTheSun024.bmx
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-27/?action=preview&uid=11953

Ratings

Coolness	75%	2
Overall	3.02	596

Audio	1.80	864
Fun	2.71	730
Graphics	2.60	726
Humor	2.19	582
Innovation	3.45	235
Mood	2.85	458
Theme	3.86	65

Feedback

skywing

25. Aug 2013 · 13:21 UTC

Really really cool concept, but you might want to make a deadzone or some kind of warning When you're about to die because I keep accidentally blocking myself off from my tower because I die in the middle of a button press. I love the game though.

skywing

25. Aug 2013 · 14:22 UTC

Just realized you can destroy blocks, so nothing really wrong at all, I'm just an idiot.

🎤 Zer0Kelvin

25. Aug 2013 · 18:37 UTC

Yeah, I little pause after you die before you respawn would be a good addition :)

🎤 Zer0Kelvin

25. Aug 2013 · 19:45 UTC

Just uploaded a new version with a little pause after you die :)

🎤 Zer0Kelvin

25. Aug 2013 · 21:07 UTC

New version (23), minor bug fix to stop making a block when reborn when the player presses the key while dead.

🎤 Zer0Kelvin

25. Aug 2013 · 21:21 UTC

New version (24), win screen screenshots now working correctly :)

Conflei

26. Aug 2013 · 01:22 UTC

Cool.

NorthernCrux

26. Aug 2013 · 03:53 UTC

Very innovative representation of the theme.

jay griffin

26. Aug 2013 · 03:53 UTC

This is really good. I love the little aging animation in particular, it's a cute touch. There are a few "ten-second lifespan" games out there, but this is a more interesting use of that mechanic than most. Nice work!

🎤 Zer0Kelvin

26. Aug 2013 · 10:50 UTC

Thanks guys! Glad you liked it! :)

aschearer

26. Aug 2013 · 23:11 UTC

A neat take on the theme while still being time-based. Didn't feel like I was accomplishing much or making interesting gameplay decisions while playing, though.

flyingbear

27. Aug 2013 · 01:53 UTC

I made it to the sun! I loved that you're presented with a monumental task up front and you slowly build your way up to it. The different lifetimes gave the game some extra meaning. Nice job!

JHollands

27. Aug 2013 · 01:53 UTC

Doesn't seem to work for me - getting a black screen with a large cursor and pressing anything on the keyboard will close it. Looks interesting though! Am using an Acer Aspire 8943g laptop with i5 if that's any kinda help.

lcass

27. Aug 2013 · 01:54 UTC

its a good theme but not really enjoyable. a bit repetitive

Jayjay

27. Aug 2013 · 02:30 UTC

Heh, definitely takes some time to make a nice tower like the screenshots, fun though!

🎤 Zer0Kelvin

27. Aug 2013 · 02:45 UTC

@JHollands, did you extract the entire archive before running it? What OS are you running on it? Win XP, Vista, 7, 8?

lordjosephdeburg

27. Aug 2013 · 15:53 UTC

standing on the shoulders of giants. Good concept!

MrAwesomeHimself

27. Aug 2013 · 17:51 UTC

I enjoyed this, a bit of a puzzle element to it too.

🎤 Zer0Kelvin

28. Aug 2013 · 03:46 UTC

Thanks for all the positive comments! Glad people are liking this :D

ZYXer

28. Aug 2013 · 04:24 UTC

Great game idea! Simple, but quite addictive. Of course, once you found the optimal strategy, it's really easy. ;) Made it in 39 generations.

Kragnir

28. Aug 2013 · 04:32 UTC

The idea is nice but the game is very repetitive. When I alt tabbed to lower the volume almost one hour had passed in game before I got back.

lurkingshadow

28. Aug 2013 · 04:36 UTC

Cool game :3, would have been nice to have had several levels.

🎤 Zer0Kelvin

28. Aug 2013 · 05:11 UTC

@Kragnir, by an hour passed, do you mean the character had died hundreds of times?

🎤 Zer0Kelvin

28. Aug 2013 · 05:14 UTC

@lurkingshadow, maybe I'll see what I can do post compo? Maybe if people are really interested it could be expanded :)

Kragnir

28. Aug 2013 · 06:26 UTC

@Zer0Kelvin

Yes they died 260 times I believe.

🎤 Zer0Kelvin

28. Aug 2013 · 14:21 UTC

@Kragnir, heheh, it must have been running in the background. Sound like it was running quite fast too! :P

🎤 Zer0Kelvin

28. Aug 2013 · 15:19 UTC

*Sounds

Endurion

28. Aug 2013 · 17:45 UTC

Interesting idea.

Took me 36 life times. The last bit is nasty, since you have to block yourself to reach the sun.

DesignerNap

28. Aug 2013 · 17:45 UTC

Lovely concept and really enjoyed figuring it out. Tricky little puzzler with a nice idea. great stuff! :)

ShellfishGames

28. Aug 2013 · 17:50 UTC

Nice game. Needed 27 lifetimes to reach the sun. :) Wasn't too easy figuring out a strategy to actually reach it. But I did, Bam! And enjoyed it despite the obvious repitition involved. Also, I like your TL;DR text. :P

nathanhoffer

29. Aug 2013 · 03:27 UTC

I really like the puzzle. I just had to play through this. Addicting!

TheDreik

29. Aug 2013 · 05:59 UTC

It more hard than it looks. Nice entry!

Thermite

30. Aug 2013 · 02:34 UTC

I didn't find this all that fun, but the message and use of the theme are really good!

marccspro

30. Aug 2013 · 02:41 UTC

I like the game it was fun to play :D

kirbytails7

30. Aug 2013 · 02:56 UTC

Nice idea, but it's pretty simple. Variable terrain, or something like that, could make it more interesting.

HD408

30. Aug 2013 · 12:00 UTC

Apparently, this game doesn't notice (or doesn't have) the frame limit, so it runs with insane speed on my machine. I've got more than 300 death before stacking only the 5 levels, and it's going too fast.

Still, there's a good idea over there.

🎤 Zer0Kelvin

30. Aug 2013 · 17:17 UTC

@HD408, the game runs at 60 frames per second. Can you give me more info about your computer system so I can figure out what might be wrong?
What OS are you running, etc.?
Anyone else having this problem?

otresnjak

31. Aug 2013 · 21:53 UTC

Love the rapid aging. :)

Almax27

31. Aug 2013 · 22:56 UTC

Love the sprite aging, very nice idea.

SecondDimension

02. Sep 2013 · 20:31 UTC

Interesting entry, it would be good if there was a little bit of challenge. I like the concept of a 10 second lifespan, I'd like to see the idea developed further.

🎤 Zer0Kelvin

02. Sep 2013 · 23:36 UTC

@SecondDimension, did you finish it? The last bit can be quite tricky, at least for most people :)

bvanschooten

16. Sep 2013 · 22:09 UTC

The story that the game tells is interesting, and is a good take on the 10 seconds theme. I can even interpret the game's repetitiveness as part of the story (have patience), but I think a little more depth to the game could make the story more compelling.