LudumData

cosmoZ by rockford

[raw]
made by rockford for LD21 (-)
Tools used: Blitzmax/Photoshop/cfxr/Audacity.
Framework: homemade miniframework (public sources)

My first entry!
cosmoZ is a try to create a game with no tile map, no characters, and the most linked to the theme.
You have to escape from your dying planet to the promise land, using your space ship (the violet square on your screen...).
Mechanic is based on travel range (depending of the planet around which your in orbit. There is also special planets: asteroids (destroyable after take-off) and satellits (attracting your ship automatically).

I think there is something good in the gameplay. However, this is really unfinished. For example: difficulty curve is bad, and gamefield is not everytime fun to play (too much random, need some improvement).

It took me around 15 hours of work (or less) as I took some long break, and start late on the first day (and sleep a lot :)).

Enjoy!

Windows http://www.yousendit.com/download/ZUd0OU1ha0RlaFJjR0E9PQ
OS/X http://www.yousendit.com/download/ZUd0OU1ha0RCTW52Wmc9PQ
Source http://www.yousendit.com/download/ZUd0OU1ha0ROMUR2Wmc9PQ
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/?action=preview&uid=3553

Ratings

Coolness 0% 418
Overall 2.69 308
Audio 2.40 201
Community 2.20 305
Fun 2.44 307
Graphics 1.86 428
Humor 1.30 412
Innovation 3.07 178
Theme 2.69 318

Feedback

Josh @ Dreamland
22. Aug 2011 路 16:19 UTC
Segfaults in WINE, no Linux build.
kevglass
22. Aug 2011 路 20:18 UTC
Just made a lot of noise on OSX, no controls seemed to do anything.
馃帳 rockford
22. Aug 2011 路 21:58 UTC
Hum... The game works well on OSX (was made on OSX...). There is no controls except SPACE to play, and then use the mouse. There is a short help pressing "I" from the menu screen.
馃帳 rockford
23. Aug 2011 路 12:34 UTC
Please rate my game. I know it is a weird concept, but worth a play! Once you understand the mechanics, it's quite fun and very innovative.

Please note that the game play with the mouse. Except the menu (shortcuts displayed on the screen: SPACE to play, I for Instructions (ESC to quit instructions).
There is some bugs (invisible sentinels...) bu I don't know if I can fix before end of rating...
Arron Fowler
23. Aug 2011 路 12:37 UTC
I quite liked it up until I had to wait for too long to reach a planet. Worth building into something bigger mind you.
馃帳 rockford
23. Aug 2011 路 13:00 UTC
Yes you're right. The "wait too long" is the issue of the mechanic. I think to implement a better gamefield generator, and a tweak to avoid this, but it's was not possible in 48h. Thanks for playing!
dramble
23. Aug 2011 路 23:41 UTC
Played a few levels, hit 'n' by accident, wanted to see how many levels there were but they appeared to just be randomly generated forever.
Would make for a fine touch interface game if there were a few more mechanics added and you could zoom in, things were just a touch small.
jfroco
25. Aug 2011 路 03:50 UTC
Nice idea. Good luck!
qrunchmonkey
26. Aug 2011 路 02:17 UTC
I really like the pathfinding mechanic. There's definitely some potential there. Unfortunately the map generator seems to have some problems (not surprising for a 48 hour game =p) there were times when the only way to advance was to sit and wait while my orbit slowly expands to bring the next planet into range, which killed a lot of the fun for me.
angrygeometry
27. Aug 2011 路 02:21 UTC
shows potential, definitely
DrPetter
28. Aug 2011 路 09:27 UTC
I didn't really mind the waiting, although it was a bit easy to get isolated. Not sure if all levels were beatable. One interesting change of pace would be if the user could sketch a path several steps ahead, like just clicking and dragging from planet to planet with the available ones highlighted at each step. The ship would travel along each waypoint at its own pace, and might get caught in a trap along the way if you didn't anticipate that properly. Maybe the path-plotting would actually be done by a scout vessel that itself had to travel back to the main ship if it ended up stranded, during which time something else might happen to it if you're too far away or take too long to get back. So there should be some benefit to plotting the course as quickly as possible, but also the risk of leaving your ship too far behind in case it gets into trouble.
barigorokarl
28. Aug 2011 路 17:24 UTC
I quite like it, although there are Levels that couldn't be beat, right? I started with 5 Planets and they where all I could reach, there weren't any false jumps I could've made :/

Otherwise great concept, I see this on my phone someday! :)
馃帳 rockford
31. Aug 2011 路 08:49 UTC
Thanks DrPetter for the amazing advice! And thanks all for encouragements.