Lodestar by folmerkelly

[raw]
made by folmerkelly for LD27 (JAM)
When the beacon shines, click dolphins to get turrets and bombs to defend your island from the ever-emerging sea creatures.

It lacks sound effects and balancing and polish, apologies for that. it's all i managed to get out of the time I had. i tried.

Mouse controls all day errday.

Have fun.

Ratings

Coolness 89% 2
Overall(Jam) 3.53 105
Audio(Jam) 3.73 41
Fun(Jam) 3.18 189
Graphics(Jam) 4.73 5
Humor(Jam) 3.00 136
Innovation(Jam) 3.01 276
Mood(Jam) 3.41 114
Theme(Jam) 3.09 283

Feedback

Larzan
26. Aug 2013 · 22:23 UTC
Absolutely gorgeous, one of the most beautiful games i have seen here. Great music, fits well.
But the game is too easy, and i don't see the theme connection really.
But this has potential, really beautiful.
Static 64
26. Aug 2013 · 22:24 UTC
I love the art style. That made the overall game so much better.
farmergnome
26. Aug 2013 · 22:54 UTC
Probably the best art ive seen so far.
Ludipe
26. Aug 2013 · 23:19 UTC
This game features gorgeous graphics, but the gameplay is way too easy.
Mclogenog
26. Aug 2013 · 23:19 UTC
Nice take on the plants versus zombies style tower defense. It's pretty easy right now, though. If there was some resource limit, or if there were enemies capable of easily destroying turrets, it would help a lot.
Spiridios
26. Aug 2013 · 23:28 UTC
Great music and I gave you highish audio despite not having sound effects because of it. The art is great and the mechanic has promise. I don't see any way to lose though, I got to a point where I stopped clicking on dolphins because there really was no point to having more firepower, things died as soon as they spawned. Would love to play a balanced version of this.
aschearer
26. Aug 2013 · 23:29 UTC
Very nice presentation, very polished. Gameplay was kind of uninspiring and repetitive. I quickly had enough guns that I didn't need any more and enemies couldn't get past the beach.
[-BipolarDesign+]
27. Aug 2013 · 00:48 UTC
The art is amazing, and the game could have been a lot better with a full week, instead of just 2.5+ days. I definitely see the potential here!!
deammer
27. Aug 2013 · 01:26 UTC
Great art as usual, and it's fun to stack dem cannons :)
Lianne Booton
27. Aug 2013 · 01:28 UTC
Really really pretty graphics, a bit more polish and this could be something special :) I applaud the amount you managed to pull off in the time frame though, so good work!
Orni
27. Aug 2013 · 08:46 UTC
amazing game - loved the drag&drop mechanic
the visual style is wonderful

very well done - didn't expect anything less from you :)
namuol
27. Aug 2013 · 09:14 UTC
Not to beat a dead horse, but those are some fantastic graphics!

The gameplay is fun, but imbalanced. I think the problem is that it's too easy to just cluster weapons directly in front of the lighthouse -- there should be a limit to how many you could place in one spot to force the player to micromanage as their defenses get destroyed.
juaxix
27. Aug 2013 · 11:23 UTC
The best mood :)
FireZenk
27. Aug 2013 · 11:25 UTC
Fantastic graphics and fun game
h_double
27. Aug 2013 · 14:08 UTC
Beautiful art style but I found it unplayably hard, maybe it's my touchpad?
rogueNoodle
27. Aug 2013 · 15:59 UTC
Man, that art...
Alexander Ponomariov
27. Aug 2013 · 18:37 UTC
Very sunny, bright and fun! Had a good couple of minutes! Thanks for the great game! Dolphins are good!
Unept
27. Aug 2013 · 19:11 UTC
So beautiful, and very clever. I love the style you have, especially the colors. Very polished. I can envision a finished game with different "islands," enemies, scenarios, etc.

Also, *frantic-dolphin-clicking*
Serilyn
27. Aug 2013 · 20:10 UTC
Pretty and fun game. I think I found a bug though. Sometimes I click a dolphin and it disappears but nothing happens. From a screenshot Spiridios sent me I know I should be getting guns but I'm only getting cannons and bombs. Guessing that for some reason the guns aren't dropping from those dolphins. Perhaps that's why some people are finding it hard and others easy?
(For reference I'm running Chrome on Windows 7)
DuduSAr
27. Aug 2013 · 22:25 UTC
Fun, simple and I like the idea. Nice art!
Unballanced at the moment (too easy).
Travis Irby
27. Aug 2013 · 22:29 UTC
One of the best looking games I've seen so far! Love the creature design and overall look. Fun concept too. good job
IHateATMFees
27. Aug 2013 · 22:48 UTC
Fantastic art. Music was very catchy
Spiridios
28. Aug 2013 · 05:24 UTC
Hmm. Tried the game on a different computer and I'm seeing the same bug Serilyn is - no guns spawn. With just the cannons and bombs spawning it's a pretty darn hard game. On this computer I see the bug in Firefox but not in Chrome. On the other computer I don't see the bug in Firefox and never tried Chrome. The buggy computer has flash 11,8,800,94. Symptoms are that sometimes when you click on a dolphin, nothing spawns and for as long as you play you'll only get cannons and bombs, no guns (presumably what would have dropped from the dolphins that drop nothing).
FunByJohn
28. Aug 2013 · 09:23 UTC
Amazing as always :D
Hypnohustla
28. Aug 2013 · 09:56 UTC
Absolutely gorgeous game. 5 stars on that department! A bit on the easy side though, it got boring pretty fast because of that. Some sound effects would have helped also :)
🎤 folmerkelly
28. Aug 2013 · 10:34 UTC
@ Serilyn and Spiridios: Yeah, when I open my workfile those dolphins spawn guns but in the swf they just spawn nothing. No idea what's up w that. Goes to show just how badly balanced the game is when one option makes it way too hard and the other makes it way too easy, ha.

@ everyone: Thanks for the kind words, I really appreciate it :)
panurge
28. Aug 2013 · 10:38 UTC
Lovely laid-back mood and beautiful graphics. Nice music too. I played this one for quite a long time just soaking up the atmosphere. I think it would only take a few tweaks to balance the gameplay (and a few extra levels and enemies) to turn it into a really addictive little game. Excellent work!
team_cow
28. Aug 2013 · 10:55 UTC
Beautiful art!
01010111
28. Aug 2013 · 14:25 UTC
INSANELY beautiful! I love the music too - it fits the visuals perfectly. Can you imagine how crazy the world would be if all dolphins were weapons dealers?
Loren
28. Aug 2013 · 15:20 UTC
So fun! I really really liked the art style and gameplay. Great job man :)
BenWhi
28. Aug 2013 · 15:21 UTC
Really great stuff! Graphics were stunning and music was great too. Concept of quickly clicking on something to get powerups was really original + a cool addition to the tower defense genre.
Kohijin
28. Aug 2013 · 15:26 UTC
Really like the visual designs and the music. The gameplay is already solid base aswell, maybe a bit too much PvsZ inspired, but its very own upbeat atmosphere.
tripleVisionGames
28. Aug 2013 · 18:28 UTC
Fantastic graphics and music and great all round presentation
nixeldev
28. Aug 2013 · 20:21 UTC
I love this! I watched its progress on twitter and am glad I got to play it :) The gameplay is difficult but fun (especially on a laptop touchpad) and the graphics are superb.
futuristteletex
29. Aug 2013 · 08:51 UTC
very beautiful very professional and fun!
targaciej
29. Aug 2013 · 11:31 UTC
Amazing and unique presentation, also fun to play. Great work!
futuristteletex
29. Aug 2013 · 14:00 UTC
Gorgeous graphics, not really a connection to the theme and it's too easy and not that fun.
PixlWalkr
29. Aug 2013 · 14:31 UTC
Enjoyed playing it. Great artstyle.
acro
29. Aug 2013 · 20:21 UTC
beautfil lowpoly look to the background, and great colours. I didn't realise the 10 seconds were the only chance to grab 'towers', and after that I lost immediately, having not clicked on any Dolphins. After that, clicking on more than 2 dolphins made it impossible to lose - so, it needs a bit of difficulty adjustment. Art and sound is top notch, though.
netmute
29. Aug 2013 · 21:02 UTC
Graphics are stunning!
Fififox
29. Aug 2013 · 22:31 UTC
Really awesome graphics!
Glad to see some #LDTD action! This free-form tower defense surprised me at first but it's a really neat system in the end!
Congrats on a very good entry! :)
zlowrance
30. Aug 2013 · 14:17 UTC
Amazing graphics! Really great job on this one
ratalaika
30. Aug 2013 · 15:32 UTC
This game features gorgeous graphics. good job
SaintHeiser
31. Aug 2013 · 05:27 UTC
Good work!
Nice visuals and interesting gameplay.
Visuals are really inspiring!
blackotus
31. Aug 2013 · 18:54 UTC
Very nice visuals and atmosphere.

The game has a lot of potential, keep working on it!
Submundo Games
02. Sep 2013 · 02:40 UTC
good game man! I really like this kind of art.
headchant
02. Sep 2013 · 16:42 UTC
Those graphics!
Christina Antoinette Neofotistou
02. Sep 2013 · 18:13 UTC
haha crazy fun, fantastic "thick" objects, very charming, very energetic game!

Top marks!!
SecondDimension
03. Sep 2013 · 10:41 UTC
This just looks great, well done on the style. Fun game as well.
vikingpotato
03. Sep 2013 · 18:32 UTC
Gorgeous and melodious! The visuals are epic!
Gameplay need more thoughts, i feel. Overall, its great stuff for something done in 72 hours! I like your sense of visual design
iterative deepening
04. Sep 2013 · 17:04 UTC
Would be great if the game was a bit more challenging, the art style is really cool though. Nice entry!
BNeutral
05. Sep 2013 · 05:15 UTC
Lovely art. Wish there was a bit more game though.
withoutpillow
05. Sep 2013 · 12:55 UTC
stunning visuals and solid gameplay but to easy and repetitive.
Zerkruemler
06. Sep 2013 · 19:06 UTC
Very cool art style. The ideas are really fantastic, but the balancing could be improved.
Almax27
08. Sep 2013 · 09:02 UTC
Welcome to Gun Island!

Art is so cute, really stylish :) Satisfying game to play and music suits it really well.

Great job. :)
lordjosephdeburg
15. Sep 2013 · 17:12 UTC
Im actually routing for this game, it deserves to be in the top 100 jams. Really stunning and great idea of protecting the light house. really nice.