Mobile Protection Unit HEADLESS by FireSlash
HEADLESS is a PSX-styled tactics game, in which you fight using cover and tactics instead of with brute force
Controls
A controller is highly recommended. Chrome is a bit finnicky with controllers, but Firefox seems to be fairly reliable. If you can't get controller support working:
Z -> A
X -> B
C -> X
V -> Y
SPACE -> START
I know this is a bad layout in some countries, so apologies in advance.
Start/Space will skip the rather long dialogue sections, which you'll probably want to do after your first attempt.
What the heck do I do
I realized this is LD, so many of you simply don't have time to read the dialog. So here's a quick rundown of what you need to do: * Pick up a Dorothy XL Gatling gun. They look like this:
* Shoot The Beast, which can be found near the middle of the map
* Every two shots, the gatling gun is junk and needs to be replaced.
* The Beast's attacks will instantly kill you. Stay behind buildings.
* You will instantly lose if The Beast is not shot at least once per round.
* Once Shiki does her magic, all that's left to do is gun it down using normal attacks without getting yourself killed.
Known bugs
Controllers don't work in all browsers. Firefox seems to be fairly good at working (Tested with an Xbox 1 wireless controller). Chrome seems to be good at knowing a controller is attached, and bad at actually forwarding input. No idea on other browsers.
Credits/Technologies
- Code: @fireslash
- Art/story: @kiririn51
- Music: Zircon
SFX from: Syna-Max, unfa, and wangshoukun
Written in Haxe; while dragging Heaps along, kicking and screaming the whole way.
| HTML5 (web) | https://comeonandsl.am/dev/LD44/ |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/headless |
Ratings
| Given | 14🗳️ | 15🗨️ |
Dont have a gamepad so couldnt try it with that. Overall I think it looks super cool and really reminds me of a ps1 game for sure. Think it needs a little more work in the area of tutorials or a little hand holding to make it a bit more accessible before ramping up the difficulty. Would love to see more from this project or whatever else you have in store.
Mechs + ps1 games = winning combo.
MOV : give a move command
DEF : Done with this unit
DOR : Shoot?
ACP : Accept? Why not OK?
BAK : Back?
I assume that I always want to either move + shoot, shoot from where I am, or just move (because I have no weapon). The game gives me an option to move when I have already moved. I don't know why I would ever want to choose Back, or why I would want to not auto-end turn after moving when unarmed.
It seems that I can shoot regardless of cover. I don't know which tiles are safe for me (can it shoot diagonally? does it have a max range? Do I need to be immediately behind a building, or can I be further behind?).
I guess "Too slow" means I didn't attack it this turn.
I seem to start without a weapon, and I didn't see any visual indicator of whether or not I have a gun.
Is shooting it twice on the same turn a good thing?
I got soft-locked once when I left a unit out in the open, but it didn't happen again after a restart.
I used up 3 guns, and couldnt find a 4th. At this point despite me not shooting, the virus took effect. Carlos was able to walk into a building on the turn before the virus took effect. At this point I just pressed X every turn, but I did not know if I was supposed to be running away, using cover, or what.
After figuring it out, the mechanics seemed decent, the art is cool, and the dialog was fun.
I don't know what the theme connection is.
The only soft lock I'm aware of is if Carlos dies (The green mech) before a certain point. This is a gameover state but doesn't switch to the scene properly. If you got into one via some other path, please let me know!
EDIT: Looks both mechs have states which can cause soft locks if you die. The second one is a bit more rare though.
I can totally understand why you didn't have time for VFX because of that, but I really can't help but feel this game really needed some explosions and laser beams to really sell the action, keyboard input would have been nice too. Absolutely awesome game, I love it.
Well done people !
Gameplay vise- I need some numbers / stats. And different choices, could be something simple like static turrets that fires towards civilian cars moving on a road that you can protect as an optional goal.
I had huge issues with the controls until I gave up using my PS3 controller and just used the keyboard instead.
Gameplay was a bit boring though. I found it hard to see the gatlings, and to figure out what to do when it started moving. Also I'm not sure what the connection with the theme is.