Planet Devourer by Brassawiking

[raw]
made by Brassawiking for LD23 (JAM)
This is our entry for the Jam. It is a game about who is the bigger fish out there in the wild. A tale of hunter and prey.

Try to stay alive as long as possible, while upgrading your engine and charging your jump drive. But beware, something lurks out there...

Controls:
- Arrows
- 1, 2, 3
- Space/Enter for menu

So this was a three man collaboration. Made in Flixel and the actual work effort is probably around 48 hours. Great fun and our first Ludum Dare Jam.

My co-workers Ludum Dare account:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/category/ld-23/?author_name=TheVideoGameMechanic

NOTE:
The flash file might be very big and graphical, also we don't have a loading screen, so be patient and try refresh if it doesn't show up

Ratings

Coolness 35% 824
Overall(Jam) 2.96 142
Audio(Jam) 3.35 62
Fun(Jam) 2.78 125
Graphics(Jam) 2.87 166
Humor(Jam) 2.73 82
Innovation(Jam) 3.26 81
Mood(Jam) 3.11 83
Theme(Jam) 3.00 118

Feedback

johanp
24. Apr 2012 路 11:13 UTC
A nice idea that could use some tweaking. ATM it feels a little too random as my chances depend a little too much on what planets that appear. Nice music!
TheVideoGameMechanic
24. Apr 2012 路 11:30 UTC
Balancing/tweaking is most certainly on the todo list. :)
Zed
24. Apr 2012 路 18:42 UTC
Had a LOT of fun with this one. Really nice idea, I'd love to see it expanded to something bigger.
馃帳 Brassawiking
24. Apr 2012 路 19:24 UTC
Thanks, that really means a lot!! =)
馃帳 Brassawiking
24. Apr 2012 路 21:08 UTC
I just gave it my all and manage to make 173 jumps, beat that! Should tweak the difficulty since this took a long time and felt like grinding in the middle with no action. But the gameflow is there at least =)
RadthorDax
26. Apr 2012 路 00:29 UTC
Best I got was 2 jumps! On the 3rd level, there were only 2 black holes, and I was still crunching up a planet and couldnt grab them! :o But a solid game, with solid play nonetheless! well done!
TheVideoGameMechanic
26. Apr 2012 路 08:29 UTC
Yes, it would really benefit the game if switching to a more evenly distributed "randomness" (or maybe even designed levels...hmmm). :)
moop
26. Apr 2012 路 19:05 UTC
Nice sound and graphics. Gameplay was interesting but hard to play without an on-screen key to the upgrades.
Make A Game
26. Apr 2012 路 20:03 UTC
Interesting, but the only way to learn how to use the weapons is to fail the first time!
TheVideoGameMechanic
27. Apr 2012 路 10:18 UTC
I guess the help should be baked into the gameplay to help with that. Visualizing what can be done with what mouth-pieces in a better way.
jwolf
29. Apr 2012 路 01:00 UTC
Really nice theme and concept! The entrance of the Kraken on scene is nicely done. The gameplay is simple but pretty fun, too.
Cosmologicon
05. May 2012 路 17:52 UTC
I'm sorry, I really like the feel of the game, but I can't figure it out. Maybe I'm an idiot or something. I've played 10 times and I haven't managed to jump once. There are four numbers along the top but I have no idea what any of them mean, or how they relate to what's happening in the gameplay area. Sorry, looks like I'm the only one, but I'm really at a loss here.
馃帳 Brassawiking
05. May 2012 路 20:27 UTC
No problem, it is our fault that we screwed up so the help screen is not the first thing you see when you start. At the menu, you can select help by pressing down or up, which will give you some hints, but I will give you the short version.

1. You got a population, when it reaches zero you lose. When low you can use the first mouth piece on key 1 and eat the small and the big planet, not the black hole and the asteroid.

2. You are being chased by Krakken. To get away from him, you will have to use the third mouth piece on key 3 and suck up two black holes to make a jump forward and put more distance between you.

3. For every jump you make, Krakken becomes faster. To keep him at bay, you will have to use the second mouth piece on key 2 to upgrade your engine by eating the small or big planet, not asteroid or black hole.
smvilar
08. May 2012 路 03:18 UTC
I didn't get it at first, but then it was actually quite fun!
Cosmologicon
08. May 2012 路 15:07 UTC
Ah, thanks for pointing out the help page. I must have pressed enter when the game first came up, because I never saw the title screen. I guess I am an idiot after all! :)
Christina Antoinette Neofotistou
12. May 2012 路 22:20 UTC
Top marks for humor, theme and innovation, both of you