Midnight Inertia by Michcioperz

[raw]
made by Michcioperz for LD26 (COMPO)
The goal is to hit the terrain as fast as possible, and as often as possible. You have 30 seconds to earn your score. Your score is a sum of speeds you had while hitting the terrain, but it won't be counted if the speed was too low. You won't see your score until the game ends. Only hint is the time written in hex numbers in the upper left corner and a vector showing your velocity.

Use [Space] and [LShift] to change your altitude, [Q] to quickly get your velocity to zero, [Tab] to use the Throwback(tm) feature. Don't care about [W][A][S][D], unless you find a way to use them creatively.

The game works better at lower framerate, as Bullet physics run with unchangeabe number of 60 updates per seconds.

If you needed to see someone playing this, watch http://youtu.be/Dvbl_Wj1tWo?a featuring me. Try not to focus on how awful my voice is.

Meanwhile, if this game is too ununderstandable for you, try Puzzlem00n's # game at http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=11003

Ratings

Coolness 48% 1284
Overall 2.11 1313
Audio 2.24 822
Fun 1.57 1327
Graphics 3.04 547
Innovation 2.85 773
Mood 2.81 611
Theme 2.62 1241

Feedback

nintendoeats
29. Apr 2013 · 03:15 UTC
I don't quite understand how to bounce, and the "throwback" button chucked me into infinite blueness. I like the LSD-ness of the aesthetic though.
TaleLore
29. Apr 2013 · 13:22 UTC
Cool graphics.
Are
29. Apr 2013 · 13:24 UTC
I wasn't able to bounce, but sure the graphics are original!
Fabien Porée
29. Apr 2013 · 13:43 UTC
I'm afraid I really don't understand the controls :)
All I can do is rise up into the air until the game ends.
Graphics are beautiful though.
metadept
29. Apr 2013 · 14:19 UTC
As others have said, there doesn't seem to be a way to bounce, so I just enjoyed the ride. Nice aesthetic.
egos
29. Apr 2013 · 14:20 UTC
sorry . i think i understand the base but after 4 tring i didtn see any difference just a arrow growing .

nice trip
🎤 Michcioperz
29. Apr 2013 · 14:23 UTC
Throwback is actually a time slowdown to help with precision. LShift pushes you to the ground. WASD pushes left/right/forward/backward. Speed is shown as a vector.

By bouncing I meant just crashing with the terrain :)
🎤 Michcioperz
29. Apr 2013 · 14:24 UTC
Also, gravity is minimal to give player almost full control of speed.
JaJ
29. Apr 2013 · 14:35 UTC
Like others have said, music and visuals are really interesting, but I couldn't figure out what to do
🎤 Michcioperz
29. Apr 2013 · 14:43 UTC
Try holding Space for a while, quickly braking with Q and then holding LShift to crash with the terrain. That should give you some points. (Score is shown after time is up)
Cake_Catastrophe
29. Apr 2013 · 17:22 UTC
I am also confused. I was able to bounce, I think, but the game ended with what looked like an error message. Although that may have been a score in units I didn't understand. Looks nice though.
🎤 Michcioperz
30. Apr 2013 · 05:36 UTC
There are no errors in-game GUI shows. It was a score window, containg a 42 reference written with binary numbers, and your score written in hex numbers.
🎤 Michcioperz
30. Apr 2013 · 06:40 UTC
Added the description and a video.
KilledByAPixel
30. Apr 2013 · 07:26 UTC
Best use of the theme so far! Maybe unintentionally though because it seems like the controls don't work. Nice visuals though.
biscuitdough
30. Apr 2013 · 07:27 UTC
This is one of the most confusing experiences I've had, if that was the intention, great, but yeah, some interesting graphics, even with your video, still not sure if it's a kind of joke or something.
🎤 Michcioperz
30. Apr 2013 · 07:30 UTC
There is no joke. That's the 3rd Ludum Dare I joined, but the 1st I finished. Confusion is an unintended side effect. I hope my next game to be better.
Kix
30. Apr 2013 · 07:45 UTC
I had no idea what was going on, but i liked the graphics
EdoMiyamoto
30. Apr 2013 · 07:55 UTC
Like the others, i find this game really hard to control, even after reading everything and trying a few times ! But that's a nice overall design !
Leginar
30. Apr 2013 · 07:56 UTC
The game looks interesting but the controls don't respond... Things seem to move very very slow...I was able to move down quickly once.... but moving any other direction has been impossible.
🎤 Michcioperz
01. May 2013 · 09:06 UTC
Moving is a problem with the jME engine. Bullet physics aren't synced with graphics updates. I tried to run it in parallel thread, but it didn't work well. As these are deep bugs, I'm going to fix it for a post-compo version.
Jeremias
01. May 2013 · 11:25 UTC
As the others said: I tried to follow the instructions but I can't get the thing crash into the terrain. But I will have a look at the post-compo version if you made one and Ludum Dare rating ends :)
DaanVanYperen
01. May 2013 · 12:29 UTC
Wish the controls were a bit easier to use.
PsenFilip
03. May 2013 · 21:05 UTC
I understand the instructions but controls are unresponsive. You sure can go up and down but in 30 seconds all I manage to do is to 'bounce' once. Best case.

The graphics are pretty original, to say the least. Very trippy color scheme on there.
HelkeGames
05. May 2013 · 19:09 UTC
Nice game, i like the concept and the art! Well done :)
MinionStudios
07. May 2013 · 15:42 UTC
Very strange game. I ran into 0 FPS on my decent GPU. Love the colors!