Aquatic by Riley Adams

[raw]
made by Riley Adams for LD19 (COMPO)
NOTE: The last download above is updated (post compo, but a very slight change, like 5 lines of code) to include a sensitivity option, edit the number in "sensitivity.txt" to change your sensitivity.

How to play:
Grab valuable stuff and bring it back to the start area (marked with red lights).

Your submersible has limited energy (its engine uses energy when moving or idling (the engine can be turned off with Q), and the lights drain power as long as they're on ('E' toggles lights)), and the only way of recharging is to get back to the spawn area.

It is easy to get lost in the murky water, so it's advisable to leave a trail for yourself with beacons (press F to drop a green beacon). Beacons can be seen from fairly far in the fog.

Your sub can also only hold a certain weight of loot, and the more you carry, the slower your sub gets.

After you have some stuff, go into the circle of red lights at the start area, and press space to sell it off. From there you can press enter in the spawn area to buy upgrades and beacons.

I would've had more interesting gadgets to buy (sonar, etc), predators to avoid (sharks), and more types of loot to find etc, but a power and then internet outage happened... I'm still pretty happy with what I got done in the time I had though.

Controls:
WASD: Move
Q - Toggle Engines
E - Toggle lights
F - Place beacon
Left Click - Pick up salvage
Space/Enter/Arrows navigate menus and such.

EDIT: oh, and GPL'd source is included (src.zip).

Ratings

Coolness 1% 181
Overall 3.85 11
Audio 3.00 55
Community 4.14 7
Fun 3.45 42
Graphics 4.55 2
Humor 1.44 204
Innovation 3.80 18
Theme 4.40 5

Feedback

hsmith
20. Dec 2010 · 01:11 UTC
very nicely done, great polish, a lot of fun.
Furyhunter
20. Dec 2010 · 05:02 UTC
For losing power on one day, you sure did something pretty impressive.
r4m0n
20. Dec 2010 · 05:24 UTC
Very nice game! The only problem I saw was that the mouse was way too slow here, but else than that, great job!
True Valhalla
20. Dec 2010 · 06:45 UTC
Wish the mouse movement was a little less sluggish, but nevertheless a great entry...good job!
True Valhalla
20. Dec 2010 · 11:51 UTC
Haha, my friend started playing this and got addicted...played for like an hour, and then hit a bug (died just before spawn, but let his body drift, sold loot just when his dead body passed over spawn, which reset his health and he couldn't restart).

Lol, anyway, I think the fact that you kept a non-indie hardcore gamer entertained for so long warrants mention.

I also enjoyed your time lapse.
deepnight
20. Dec 2010 · 15:14 UTC
OMG ! Remembers me of Aquanox :)
Really beautiful for something done in 48h !
I played for the last 2h, which is a clear sign of a good game. The ambiant is good, the player's progress through the shop system is simple and works perfectly.

I especially loved the feeling of being lost when I went too far without beacons in stock to get this shiny little Ancient Chest :)

Love you.
🎤 Riley Adams
20. Dec 2010 · 21:45 UTC
Thanks for all the comments! I was sorta bummed I couldn't add a lot of the cool stuff I thought of, but it sounds like it turned out alright anyways.

And about the sensitivity, I had originally intended to make the rotation sort of floaty (since it's a submersible, not an fps character...), but I never got to it (aside from slowing it way down...).

So I made a like 60 second update to add a "sensitivity.txt" file with a number that you can change to edit your sensitivity. So see the 3rd download link for that if you find the stock setting unbearable.
frr171
20. Dec 2010 · 22:32 UTC
Wow, this is pretty amazing! Looks great and is a load of fun!
ladron
20. Dec 2010 · 22:53 UTC
Fun, atmospheric game! Ran into a bug, though, when I coasted into base just running out of energy. It let me buy/sell, but the "press R to respawn" message just sat on the screen and pressing R didn't do anything.

Great weekend effort!
Endurion
22. Dec 2010 · 13:08 UTC
Really good :)
It creates a nice scary atmosphere when you went out too far and try to find the station again.
Great polish, the sounds could use some refinement. Oh, and damn slow mouse.
Jerm
29. Dec 2010 · 05:16 UTC
Wow! This is awesome! Fun and very atmospheric. The only thing I can think that might improve this would be to have the player always moving along the ground and make the strafing less responsive (it doesn't really feel underwatery).

There seems to be a bug with the number of beacons. At the start it says you have 5, but when you drop one, it says you have 14.

Also, is there any reason to turn the engine off?
sfernald
30. Dec 2010 · 18:05 UTC
Great game. Amazing considering the time available. I would like to see this fleshed out as a full game.

Especially effective was the algorithm you used to generate the floor (really felt like I was descending into the abyss). Also, the graphics effect that made it look like you are in water is great.
diki
01. Jan 2011 · 15:05 UTC
Awesome game!
Everything works very well; I found it especially amazing how much those robot arms contribute to the immersion & actually panicked a bit upon first getting lost too far out :D Really great!
alexlarioza
09. Jan 2011 · 22:08 UTC
This was a very well made game. For only 48h, great job! I'd love to see some aquatic life around me though.
Sos
10. Jan 2011 · 19:24 UTC
I nearly got addicted! Wow! It would use a mouse sensitivity control tho!