Sky Sea by Zeriver

[raw]
made by Zeriver for LD 39 (JAM)

SkySeaNight.jpg

SkySeaTutorial.jpeg

You are a navy officer in the world of floating islands. Your ship is the only one that survived ambush but your power generator got damaged, without power you will fall from the skies to the void. To make matters even worse, your enemies are chasing you and are on their way to invade your kingdom. You must outrun them and warn your fleet.

This is a zen experience kind of game.

Game made solo from scratch (except sounds) under 48 hours. Software used: Unity, Blender, Krita, Audacity

Controls

Mouse - chose dialog options when required
Spacebar - speeds up game (works only on Windows version)

Download links

Windows (zip)
OSX (zip)
Linux (zip)

By the way

This time i joined the event pretty late and because of that i had to make few shortcuts. Gameplay is pretty simplistic but i aimed for low poly graphics and mood.

Ratings

Overall 175th 3.744⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Fun 501th 3.026⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 222th 3.421⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Theme 181th 3.872⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 115th 4.282⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Mood 11th 4.41⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Given 38🗳️ 43🗨️

Feedback

LooksLikeSomething
01. Aug 2017 · 21:19 UTC
I needed something calm, and this game was perfect for this.
Too short, so I hope you'll extend the experience in the future! ;)

Amazing graphics and the mood is just perfect, congrats!
NoytroO
01. Aug 2017 · 21:40 UTC
Man it's peacefull! It's a well way to take the theme, good job!
Just one thing, it can be cool to add some efffects when the player pass the mousse on an option, to really understand he have to choose one.

Short, but overall good!
NoytroO
01. Aug 2017 · 21:40 UTC
EDIT: Well, this one was not wanted. I should get some sleep...
hijomo
01. Aug 2017 · 21:50 UTC
This was a nice resource management game. letting the player choose which island they go to next could be rewarding. I want to know more about the thing I am being chased by. Your game was fun.
David Brož
02. Aug 2017 · 19:10 UTC
This music man... so peaceful, so calm. Just watching the ship float between floating islands is all I want to do sometimes. I think this is a gorgeous idea. Just it makes me sad that is ended so early. I really want to know more about this world. I want to experience it all. Please make this game something bigger. I cannot wait for what you will make with this game in the future.
nikrt
02. Aug 2017 · 19:11 UTC
The game looks visually appealing. Plus, I'd say this, that the length of the game maybe short, but its kinda perfect for a LD game, because people browsing through games aren't looking to devote more than a couple minutes into playing the game anyways. So, I would say it's clever to conclude the game early, so the player can experience every bit of the game, including the end. Anyways, nice game

Edit: The UI could be way better though.
bmacintosh
02. Aug 2017 · 19:22 UTC
Really nice mood and graphics. Is it beatable? I tried a few different paths and it seemed impossible to have enough time.
Pixel Game Wizard
02. Aug 2017 · 19:28 UTC
I thought this was an interesting entry. I liked the overall ambience of the game. The background was beautiful. The story-telling was decent. The ending on a cliffhanger left me wanting to see more. :-)

I found the transition from one place to the next to be rather slow. When I failed my mission, I would have to restart the game from the beginning. And that meant waiting for the intro sequence to replay again... and also more long wait times between decision points. It felt rather unnecessary, it might have been nice if there was a 'skip' button for those long decision-less periods.

Overall, I think it needs some work but it is pretty. Thank you for sharing this. :-)
Agecaf
02. Aug 2017 · 22:39 UTC
"i aimed for low poly graphics and mood." - Well you sure know how to aim well : )
It would definitely benefit from more content, but just the level of detail made it minutes worth spending. If I had one complaint, the introduction was removed while I was reading it, since I took some time resizing the window...

Having said that, the choice of music, the islands floating in the horizon, the ship slowly moving forward, it all comes together to create just the right feeling for this story. Great job!
drtizzle
02. Aug 2017 · 23:15 UTC
Very nice! Graphics are amazing, especially the clouds. And the music really adds to the mood. I got a bit of an FTL vibe of it, choosing to send your crew on an island with the risk of bad things happening or keeping your crew on the boat but not gaining anything.

Well done!
jahndis
03. Aug 2017 · 03:00 UTC
Pretty interesting events. Gorgeous graphics! Love the low poly style.
Wheffle
03. Aug 2017 · 05:09 UTC
Nice job! Great visuals and audio, really immersive. I would totally play more of this. I can't think of any suggestions off the top of my head, I could see more content and mechanics making this a pretty solid text adventure game. Very nice!
Aterlamia
03. Aug 2017 · 10:16 UTC
As you said the gameplay is a little bit simplistic and it was a shame you could not really move the ship yourself. BUt i do love the style and the atmospheric background music. So even if i would have liked to see some more gameplay i did like it very much and i do think you made the goal you set yourself.
Solah
03. Aug 2017 · 10:19 UTC
Wow, the mood in this game is incredible! The graphics and music fit so well with it also. Well done!
HuvaaKoodia
04. Aug 2017 · 20:19 UTC
A nice tranquil experience this. The graphics are neat and the ambient music sets up the mood well.

Currently none of the choices matter much due to the early ending; a bit of a let down that. I was getting invested in my choices though, so there certainly is potential here for a solid interactive and, most importantly, non-linear story.

Just a guess, is that mech based on the Page Delta-2 Peacebringer (I just looked that up) from the original Deus Ex?
kr4ft3r
04. Aug 2017 · 20:32 UTC
Really a nice ride, looks like a genre of its own. I'd like to see this expanded into a bigger game.
🎤 Zeriver
04. Aug 2017 · 21:00 UTC
@lookslikesomething Thank you! I wanted to make more encounters but i ran out of time

@noytroo That's a great suggestion, i already added it to the newest build. Thanks!

@hijomo That was on my list to do, but i never got to that. Not enough time unfortunately, thanks for feedback

@david-broz @kr4ft3r Yeah, 'floating islands' world has something magical and intriguing in it. I sure would like to expand this game and flesh out world more, but for the time being im stuck on other project. But hey, maybe one day in the future. And thanks for feedback m8

@nikrt Yep, most people just go through games and don't finish them if they are long. And yes UI kinda ruins the visual aspect of the game, wish i had more time for polishing that. Thanks for your feedback

@bmacintosh Yeah, it is beatable. Here is a hint: in second encounter it's good to charge robot (if you didn't rob the family), it will buy you time. Also every action cost some amount of time.

@pixel-game-wizard 'Skip' button is a great idea, thanks! I kind of added it to the newest build, if you press space you speed up the ship (time and power decrease proportionally).

@agecaf im glad that you liked the graphics and mood. I was worried about introduction panel, i know how irritating it can be when some text in games just fades away before you read it. Unfortunately i didn't find time nor the solution for this problem during event. I will try to fix that in new build. Thanks for feedback!

@drtizzle Ha, FTL was definitely the strongest inspiration for this game. Thanks for comment!

@jahndis @solah Glad you liked it, thanks!

@wheffle @aterlamia Text adventure was supposed to be part of the game, i wanted to add some battle mechanics but i pretty much knew i wouldn't have time for that. Especially since i started making my game pretty late (sunday, late afternoon). Thanks for feedback!

@huvaakoodia Ha, you got some good eye. It is robot from Deus Ex, bringing peace even in other worlds :D I would say that your choices matter, some people have problems with beating this game (luckily most people beat it on first, second or third try). And one fun fact: if you rob family in first encounter then while charging robot it will identify you as hostile and attack you. Thank you for feedback!
Emery
04. Aug 2017 · 22:12 UTC
This was a really cool game, and the mood and music are really good. I love the art style of this. keep on working on this, i can see this being a really popular game. Good Job!!! :)
Linus
05. Aug 2017 · 10:21 UTC
Incredible, it was a very nice experience even though it was short. But I guess that's a good sign since people seem to want more of this experience so that means you succeeded creating a game that has caught peoples' attention, great job!

I didn't realize at first I could interact with the dialog so maybe having the options labeled with a number preceding it would make it very obvious that you can choose an option.

The graphics were really cool looking and everything together in the game creating a very calming and interesting experience which adds to the mood a lot.

Great job overall!
MEOWStudios
05. Aug 2017 · 10:50 UTC
It was rather short, i was expecting some FTL style combat, overall a good experience however
gil4
05. Aug 2017 · 14:17 UTC
Really nice, I'd love to play a finished version of it with a lot of paths/endings. The graphics made the experience even more enjoyable, as did the sound. I'd suggest making the plus and minus signs a bit different though, was testing on a small screen and I had to look closer when I wasn't sure of what the option would entail (although it was obvious in most cases, of course). That said, if my only gripe is a font choice in only a single use case, the game is definitely a success. :) Can easily see it being ported to mobile btw, there even was a similar in terms of concept game that got pretty popular last year. Well done!
Gabet Games
05. Aug 2017 · 14:25 UTC
Great game! You did a great job on the game atmosphere.
At first contact, I did not realize I had selectable options. For three days, you did a very good job! :)
Sir Daniev
05. Aug 2017 · 17:38 UTC
Nice game with an amazing atmosphere. Really good job :)
Almax
05. Aug 2017 · 22:30 UTC
The only thing I disliked was how short it was, fantastic visuals and environment. Would be interesting seeing this get taken further.
Estebe
07. Aug 2017 · 07:58 UTC
Nice relaxing game, as you said. The music complements the mood immensely.
Original game too! I haven't seen something like that, so that's always good.
I like the low-poly graphics, though some had a weird rainbow-like sheen on it. The propellor and ford for instance.
A bit short, but that's to be expected. I wanted to play some more, so that's a good metric huh?!
droy
08. Aug 2017 · 18:02 UTC
Pitty there wasn't more. Fits the theme well.
StaNov
12. Aug 2017 · 08:04 UTC
Thanks for sharing your game :)

The music was great, graphics also! The horn at the end took me out of my mind bubble (in a good meaning!), it was really contrasting :)

I was worried about the stats, but then it really didn't matter at all :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P4Q4Fg7HSA