LudumData

Storming Sands by grizeldi

[raw]
made by grizeldi for LD 41 (JAM)

You're stuck in the middle of a desert with a heavy duty truck along with 11 others. You were stationed there since there were attacks on the local power beacon. However, nothing is going on and you're bored. So all 12 of you take out your turret platforms and have a race. And then tanks decide to invade.

Storming Sands is a racing tower defense hybrid in which you race your rivals while trying to keep the power beacon protected.

Screenshot_1.png

About

Platform

truck.png

This is you. And also all the other racers. This vehicle is also know as Universal Turret Platform Mk.2 and can fit various types of turrets on the top. You were the one that figured out it could also probably be used for racing.

Tank

Screenshot_5.png

These mysterious shiny tanks have been spotted attacking the local power beacon. Nobody really knows why. Probably not even them.

Power Beacon

Screenshot_3.png

Protect this at all costs. Target of tank attacks.

How to play

The game is split into two states: racing and battle. During race phase, your objective is to get to waypoints faster than the opponents. Look around to find the waypoints. During battle phase, you must protect the power beacon. During the race phase the other platforms are your rivals, while during the battle phase, they are your allies.

Controls

WASD to steer. That's it, turrets shoot automatically.

ezgif.com-optimize (1).gif

Tips

  • Bots are sometimes pretty stupid, so just following them is not always the best idea.
  • Ramming is a good way to destroy tanks if you have no turret.

Misc

Tools used

  • powered by jMonkeyEngine3.2
  • jMonkeyEngine3.2 SDK for level editing
  • Blender for 3D art
  • GIMP and Paint.NET for images
  • FreeSound.com, GDC Packs and et cetera for Sound Effects

Notes

  • Apart from the tank, all 3D models were made by us.
  • All sound effects were found online.
Windows https://grizeldi.itch.io/storming-sands
Linux https://grizeldi.itch.io/storming-sands
Other (platform) https://grizeldi.itch.io/storming-sands
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/storming-sands

Ratings

Overall 361th 3.648⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Fun 359th 3.537⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 555th 3.389⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Theme 372th 3.87⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 475th 3.63⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Humor 434th 3.125⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Mood 788th 3.038⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 36🗳️ 15🗨️

Feedback

RAFFE
23. Apr 2018 · 20:55 UTC
This is sort of making me think about Lego Star Wars The Clone Wars :p (Except this gamehas better graphics) but it just has a nice feeling, the game works very nicely and even the UI is cool! Very nice game!
Jesper K
23. Apr 2018 · 21:46 UTC
Cool game :-)
Played it for while and it was fun. The tank movement felt pretty good.
I rammed a tree because I thought I could ram it down :-D
Models looks good, and I really liked the mix of racing and "war" where invasions would come while racing

While playing I discovered 2 bugs.
Sometimes while driving, the camera would rotate so it looks behind me and zooms in, and then back to normal, even though I drive forward.

Bug 2 is the turret buy menu.
It made a duplicate of itself somehow, like the menu got instantiated twice. I could close it with no issues though :-)
Kirill Nepomnyaschiy
24. Apr 2018 · 13:21 UTC
Pretty high quality stuff, reminded me of 1999 Tank Racers a bit, good memories. I'd say FoV was a bit to low, but overall great experience :)
sleepyGrin
24. Apr 2018 · 13:25 UTC
haha the bots did crazy things during my game. Overall the game feel is really good, i think you got a nice execution there, all in all great effort :D
svdvorak
24. Apr 2018 · 13:40 UTC
That was pretty fun, I enjoyed the thought of people racing inbetween attacks. And it was very entertaining seeing your race-competitors charge and smash into the tanks :)

I really liked the music as well but the gameplay was a bit slow though, took a while to accelerate and get around. I guess that added to the outer-space'ian feel.
Urban Logic Games
24. Apr 2018 · 13:53 UTC
I really liked this. Racing in a really unwieldy vehicle, the fact that the soldiers were so eager to get back to the race after every combat encounter, it was all pretty amusing. If I had any criticisms it would be the lack of camera control (which might be better bound to the mouse), and that the ramming mechanic is a little clumsy given the lack of maneuverability (this stops being as much of an issue once you have a turret). I really liked it overall though!
Riddhee Dutta
24. Apr 2018 · 14:42 UTC
I like the particle effect and the models, the terrain should be a bit more low poly to suit the other models. Feel free to drop a review at our game https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/boomball
gamesient
24. Apr 2018 · 14:59 UTC
I liked the racer combo, I would suggest adding some visual cues on where the waypoint or the nearest enemy is. Not sure if there is a glitch but even when i was first in through the way points my position did not increase. Fun game.
notpresident35
24. Apr 2018 · 15:08 UTC
How to make a racing game fit with a tower defense game... I know! Let's make all the cars super slow to make the racing part long, dragged out, and boring, and then cut out of the race really frequently and make you go all the way back to the base to kill the tanks! Seriously though, good job! The 3D art is darn good, the sound is at least decent, and the gameplay of fighting the tanks was somewhat fun! Good job and good luck!
Sun Parlor Studios
24. Apr 2018 · 15:12 UTC
Interesting game. I wasn't really paying attention to defending my base since the other bots would go wreck all the invading tanks :P I was just riding around with my laser on my *Universal Turret Platform Mk.2™* :D Cool stuff guys, liked it a lot.
Bradalli
24. Apr 2018 · 16:07 UTC
I had fun playing this game! :D I felt the swapping between racing and defending your base makes the gameplay more exciting. I did find not being able to control the camera myself a bit frustrating as I was struggling to turn in order to try and find the beacons/tanks. But overall great execution on a fun game!

P.S - Idk why but I found the platforms quite charming in a dopey sort of way
🎤 grizeldi
24. Apr 2018 · 16:23 UTC
@notpresident35 The idea was that the trucks are very big and heavy, but I guess we didn't do the best job on showing the scale compared to other objects.

Everyone commenting on crappy camera, we feel you. We are just using the default that comes with our engine, since there was not enough time to fix it.
HS_Dave
24. Apr 2018 · 16:25 UTC
enjoyable! I really didnt expect the tree to halt me though I thought I could smash those down :P It would be nice to be able to upgrade your engine etc get a bit more speed! and maybe some penalty for not being near to or involved in kills would be a good idea, I didnt test it but it seemed if i concentrated on kitting out the other tanks with the money then I could just sit by the way point, let them deal with all the baddies and then be well ahead of them in the race when it was back on. Nice thou!
John Timora
24. Apr 2018 · 16:47 UTC
Great game just wish the movement was on a controller rather then wasd. It would be easier to control.
🎤 grizeldi
24. Apr 2018 · 17:36 UTC
@john-timora We considered that, but since not everyone has a gamepad at hand, we decided it's one of the "maybe later" features that along with splitscreen we just couldn't fit into 72 hours.
John Timora
24. Apr 2018 · 17:42 UTC
@grizeldi Thats awesome cant wait to play with controller and split screen I really hop you decide to keep going with it.
Iaaac
24. Apr 2018 · 18:24 UTC
This was a lot of fun to play. Sadly it had a few bugs. If you play Grand Tour mode the value starts from the negatives to 19. I kept getting stuck every now and then. The cars move so slowly as well which kinda makes it feel really clunky. I kinda got bored halfway through. The art is great though and the sudden shift to base defense was fun.
neonian
24. Apr 2018 · 21:55 UTC
Interesting combination, quite fun to play, great work!
Langotriel
24. Apr 2018 · 22:28 UTC
Great potential if the game was expanded either with humorous dialogue or multiplayer and tightened controls. Great effort!
FlatTutorials
25. Apr 2018 · 19:31 UTC
Definitely engaging, though I think the tank handling could be a lot better and I loved the camera turn when enemies arrive should have zoomed in too. Great use of the theme.
Holofire
26. Apr 2018 · 20:49 UTC
I quite enjoyed playing this, replayed it a couple times but just couldnt get to first place, had to settle with second :smile: Awesome job!
theamazingb
01. May 2018 · 16:04 UTC
Really cool game. Once ya fix the bugs and the camera this could be a lot more fun. I wish the tanks took off a little faster and there was some sort of indicator as to where the next waypoint is