WTF Aliens!? by Gaeel

[raw]
made by Gaeel for LD24 (COMPO)
Running this game:
If you want the Windows version, just download, unzip and click on the WTFAliens.exe icon

If you want to run this game via Love2D, make sure you have version 0.8 and that it works correctly.

I know I know, it's not obvious how this is about evolution.

I WAS going to make the ship EVOLVE with the music, but I ran out of time.

But you know what bro? It's cool, I got this...
The aliens in this game are the aliens you failed to contain in OMFG Aliens! (my LD#21 entry) and they've evolved... Maybe?

Anyway, in this Rythm/Shooter game, you go for HIGH SCORES, tap direction and action in sync with the beat for EXTRA AWESOME POINT VALUES! Combo Aliens in a single shot, pump up that SYNC bar and charge up to blast away with bigger shots. And if things get TOO hectic, use a PULSE WAVE to clear the screen.

Controls : Just press whatever keys you feel best represent a direction and ACTION setup, I got this...

Updates : I TOTALLY fixed that bug where the thing didn't work on Windows, and also a little bug with the particles on fast machines.

There was this one bug were the aliens were like "Yo, we're going to spawn SUPER fast, like 2 fast 4 you, bro!" and it's cause I'm all like "TO THE MAX" with my math.max() command, but I was supposed to be all math.min(). Now aliens won't be DOUCHEBAGS when you're being too AWESOME!

Apparently there's also a bug where everything goes "Yeah, but NO, bro.." and locks up like a deer in headlights.
I think I TOTALLY fixed this. I messed with sound retriggering and got it to be COOL when SHOOT sounds were SPAMMED.
If it still decides it's going to be UNCOOL and locks up on you, let me know and I'll tell it who's BOSS!

Ratings

Coolness 61% 3
Overall 3.42 145
Audio 3.66 39
Fun 3.33 130
Graphics 3.77 103
Humor 3.22 77
Innovation 3.53 111
Mood 3.10 152
Theme 1.67 718

Feedback

Citiral
27. Aug 2012 路 14:55 UTC
The game looks really great, but it doesn't work. the windows binary gives a DLL error, and the love2D one just gives me an error.
headchant
27. Aug 2012 路 15:33 UTC
This crashed on me, after a few minutes of playing(on windows), used the .love file.
馃帳 Gaeel
27. Aug 2012 路 16:39 UTC
Hmm, the love2D version works for me, (no errors) if you get "an error" can you tell me what the error says, otherwise I can't fix it.

As for the crash after a few minutes of play, I'm looking into it. I suspect an infinite loop, but I can't seem to figure WHAT is looping and WHY
NostraDamon
27. Aug 2012 路 21:06 UTC
Same thing here, a crash after one minute of play, but no error :/
馃帳 Gaeel
27. Aug 2012 路 23:12 UTC
OK, Things should be fixed now. There was a bug with a sound retriggering thingy, mostly on windows.

If you get a crash now, please let me know, and thank you for your patience.
GFM
27. Aug 2012 路 23:28 UTC
Dude, this rocks!

A rythm/shooter... that's new to me. xD
It made an interesting combination. =D
imef
28. Aug 2012 路 16:47 UTC
I love the concept!
IJoshayy
28. Aug 2012 路 16:53 UTC
Awesome game and epic music to go with it, good job this was fun.
hnjslater
28. Aug 2012 路 18:48 UTC
Hmmm I tried it with love-0.7 on ubuntu Linux and got a horrible error:

Error: [string "music.lua"]:21: attempt to call method 'tell' (a nil value)
stack traceback:
[string "music.lua"]:21: in function 'update'
[string "game.lua"]:74: in function '?'
[string "gamestate.lua"]:84: in function 'update'
[string "main.lua"]:64: in function 'update'
[string "boot.lua"]:320: in function <[string "boot.lua"]:308>
[C]: in function 'xpcall'
馃帳 Gaeel
28. Aug 2012 路 22:03 UTC
hnjslater: Try it with Love 0.8
whilefun
29. Aug 2012 路 01:47 UTC
It didn't really seem aligned with the theme, but it was a cool concept anyway. I liked the mechanic a lot, and the graphics and sounds were cool too. I was unable to beat match all the way though, but did unlock a few additional bits of music/rhythm. Nice job!
leafo
30. Aug 2012 路 06:23 UTC
Definitely didn't see the theme here but that doesn't mean I didn't enojoy it! This game is cool. I had to shake my leg to the rhythm to keep time :)
hirsch
30. Aug 2012 路 15:15 UTC
The game is interesting and also fun to play. Although i moved the ship with the rythm, the game sometimes did't count it. Bonus point: It runs on my netbook (resolution & speed). Well done ;)
X-0ut
30. Aug 2012 路 15:24 UTC
Quite an interesting idea but there seems to be no goal, other than to get in sync with the music. The music was very good but it would be nice if there was some climax, perhaps a boss fight or similar.
馃帳 Gaeel
30. Aug 2012 路 16:17 UTC
X-Out, the game gets harder and harder, throwing more enemies that move faster, you will eventually lose, the goal is to get the highest score before you lose.
gnx
30. Aug 2012 路 16:57 UTC
Very fun entry! Very slick presentation and intuitive gameplay. Audio nerdism: the rhythm patterns could be a bit more complex, also your shooting sound has that boomey longish attack which makes me want to time it to the peak rather than the beginning of the sample, thus making me off from the game's sync :)

Cool game.
Gidaio
30. Aug 2012 路 17:05 UTC
Very fun. The Sync meter seemed a little hard to keep up (it felt like it kept lowering even when I was doing stuff on the beat, and I'm no stranger to rhythm games - I play Patapon like mad) and it had NOTHING to do with evolution. Still fun, though. Music got a little repetitive.
plule
30. Aug 2012 路 17:24 UTC
Totally loved this one !
Polished, fun, beautiful, great sound... Well, too bad you didn't have the time to make the ship EVOLVE :p
Prefered entry so far.
DevWouter
30. Aug 2012 路 17:25 UTC
Really wished I got a feeling for rhythem, but besides that I enjoyed it.
infernet89
30. Aug 2012 路 17:27 UTC
The only think i din't liked is the fact that the ship don't move if i keep the button pressed.
馃帳 Gaeel
30. Aug 2012 路 17:32 UTC
gnx: I know about the sample, I used the pulse wave sound effect pitched up as a placeholder and didn't think to change it later.
BTW, the Sync meter is REALLY pessimistic, if I set it to what it SHOULD show, the variations are about 3 to 4 pixels, so you're actually doing much better than you think. Half way is already good.
馃帳 Gaeel
30. Aug 2012 路 17:46 UTC
infernet89: It's a rythm game, there's no rythm in a held down key.
Try tapping your movement keys in sync with the beat, that's the fastest you can and will ever need to go.
Atridas
30. Aug 2012 路 18:33 UTC
I played the game for a while, but I didn't find a goal. Beautyfull graphics and sound, ambientation was also great, even not really connected to theme.
TinyPlatypus
30. Aug 2012 路 19:37 UTC
Worked fine as many Love2D games have, really nicely done. With great art and music but not much progression, or even evolution. Overall great, could use expanding on!
BrothersT
01. Sep 2012 路 00:13 UTC
That was nice. A little more feedback on getting hit would be good, I'm not sure how I died in the end as there were no spaceships near me, do you lose life if they go of the screen? Anyway, graphics great, music good, gameplay fun :)
馃帳 Gaeel
01. Sep 2012 路 13:29 UTC
Yeah, you lose a hitpoint when an alien manages to escape the screen
MurrayL
01. Sep 2012 路 14:48 UTC
Really interesting concept! I'm not usually a great fan of rhythm games, but this was pretty fun.
MrPhil
02. Sep 2012 路 18:21 UTC
Interesting, was a little unclear when I was "on the beat" and when I wasn't.
azurenimbus
03. Sep 2012 路 00:02 UTC
Brilliant idea!
SFX
17. Sep 2012 路 22:29 UTC
I like the game, but it doesn't really seem to have anything to do with the theme.