LudumData

-REACH- by Zachary Lewis

[raw]
made by Zachary Lewis for LD19 (COMPO)
REACH is a game created in 6 hours for Ludum Dare 19 (I would've taken longer, but I just simply didn't have any more time available). You play a human who wants to explore the universe and discover what it has to offer.

Instructions
Click on a linked planet to travel there, but be careful, since travel takes time. Some planets have useful powerups. You can click and drag anywhere to scroll the map around. Press Escape to retire at any time you are docked at a planet. When your life expectancy is 0, you perish in space and can see how awesome you were.

Oh, and due to the random naming system of the planets, some times you can get some pretty good planet names! If you see one that's really funny or cool, you should share it with us. :)

One time I found GRRRIBLL. I also discovered LUDUDUMM. Turns out, that planet was unremarkable. :(

Kongregate http://www.kongregate.com/games/zachwlewis/reach?sfa=permalink&referrer=zachwlewis
Backup http://www.thegamestudio.net/volatile/ld19/
Source https://github.com/zachwlewis/reach
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-19/?action=preview&uid=2617

Ratings

Coolness 0% 201
Overall 2.95 100
Audio 1.97 143
Community 1.72 198
Fun 2.68 123
Graphics 2.24 199
Humor 2.36 97
Innovation 3.03 92
Theme 3.90 21

Feedback

Draknek
19. Dec 2010 · 12:06 UTC
This is neat! Didn't realise I could retire, so I died in space...
PoV
19. Dec 2010 · 14:37 UTC
Cool concept.
wizbane
20. Dec 2010 · 04:40 UTC
Cool basic mechanics & concept. I think you could take the strategy further with some additional mechanics like scanning planets. I wish you could zoom out the view, or get a better idea of which planets you already went to.
johnfn
20. Dec 2010 · 05:46 UTC
Cute, simple, and perhaps a little addictive too! All in all, I couldn't ask for more out of a 6 hour game. Nice job.
Zillix
20. Dec 2010 · 06:20 UTC
Neat idea! Kind of gave me a vibe of futility. Reminded me of Spore's space stage.
Razen
20. Dec 2010 · 08:32 UTC
Cool names I got: THAWFFAR, ULKICHVH, YICSDYNE, and XSVAAPAU.

It fit the theme really well, and I found myself wanting to find more planets despite how simplified everything was. It would be cool if you updated this with more information about the planets (Like, what they look like, stuff like that). I wouldn't fix the name generation though, that's part of what made it so charming for me. Nicely done!
barigorokarl
20. Dec 2010 · 11:41 UTC
Very very cool concept. I felt really allone out there on this yellow circles, because my grey circle was far far away.
I also like the 2001 graphics style. wow!
KoryWazHere
20. Dec 2010 · 13:54 UTC
Lovely game, the simple style let my imagination run wild. I really felt like I was a space traveller =)
madk
20. Dec 2010 · 18:16 UTC
It's nothing more than glorified Russian Roulette. That's what I keep telling myself, but the game is inexplicably fun to play. Awesome job for a 6 hour game.
Sos
20. Dec 2010 · 19:06 UTC
I could talk to your name generator when I'm drunk :D. Cool concept ;)
madk
20. Dec 2010 · 19:14 UTC
It's nothing more than glorified Russian Roulette. That's what I keep telling myself, but the game is inexplicably fun to play. Awesome job for a 6 hour game.
increpare
20. Dec 2010 · 19:51 UTC
It seems there's a threshold above which you can explore freely until the undiscovered planet count dries up. I discovered 177 planets before retiring. Interesting concepts - fact that the graph vertices weren't based on distance made any sort of tactical playing very difficult.
frr171
20. Dec 2010 · 21:49 UTC
Strangely addicting! I found myself really weighing my options when it came down to choosing a planet.
Hamumu
21. Dec 2010 · 01:05 UTC
As someone else said (oddly, twice...?), it's Russian Roulette. There's no game at all, just completely unmitigated random chance. But as slot machines are fun, so is this. I like the looks of it. I wish there was just a little nubbin of gameplay to grab onto... it's almost a minimalist Weird Worlds, but about one feature shy of actually having gameplay.
🎤 Zachary Lewis
21. Dec 2010 · 05:32 UTC
The concept in my mind had strategy: Better graph construction and pathfinding, travel information (12.3 years to this planet) and persistence across games. But, this is all I could churn out in my timebox. :(

Maybe I'll revisit this idea. It seems people either love or hate the random name generator. I love it. I want to make an RPG where all the things (characters, towns, items, skills) are named with something like that. Just to piss people off, I think. :)
Dark Acre Jack
21. Dec 2010 · 06:25 UTC
Nifty concept and given the time a very good execution.
plams
21. Dec 2010 · 20:37 UTC
Shame you didn't have more time, but nice for a 6hr effort. The destinations didn't make a lot of sense (a lot of nearby systems, but I can only travel enormous lengths?!). Needs more discovery and challenge,.. perhaps like in Star Control II where star temperature is related to mineral richness, but also more dangerous :)
ranklar
22. Dec 2010 · 05:06 UTC
It was ok, decent for time spent. Still, I would have liked to get bigger bonuses to your life, was too easy to end up dead or having to retire... which I guess is fine since you most likely had very little to keep the user entertained in the long run. Nice job, could be a really nice game. I did like the interface, seemed to work fine, would be nice to see how long travel was, but it was fine.
John Axon
22. Dec 2010 · 05:33 UTC
Cool game Zachary! I had fun seeing where I could go and how long I could last. I enjoyed the tension I felt when I didn't know if I could make it to the next star. If you added more atmosphere to this game with some background sfx, it would be a really cool experience.
danblack
22. Dec 2010 · 10:32 UTC
Nice concept but I think it needed a bit longer than 6 hours spent on it to do it justice. it just felt a bit random to me and therefore not much point in playing. Worth spending more time on it if you can though. it'd be interesting to see where you went with it.
Endurion
22. Dec 2010 · 13:17 UTC
I like the concept. Really solid for 6 hours.
I wish you could see a bigger map when you retire. Also more life addons ;)
dertom
25. Dec 2010 · 12:13 UTC
Nice concept! Actually I died quite young...but it was a nice life full of discoveries ;D Too less "feel youngers" and too much "makes you ship fasters" ;D
Terry
26. Dec 2010 · 14:21 UTC
Pretty well done for six hours! I like the idea.
yadurajiv
26. Dec 2010 · 15:10 UTC
For some reason, it does not work for me on Kongregate. Nice game :)
localcoder
27. Dec 2010 · 23:19 UTC
I love the way the text looks in this game. Especially the stark black-and-white text-only title screen.
badlydrawnrod
29. Dec 2010 · 19:48 UTC
Nice idea.
Ryan
09. Jan 2011 · 02:41 UTC
Neat game. Very simple and lots of luck. I found mostly unremarkable planets. XD