LudumData

ROOP (Running Out Of Power) by Spetsdod

[raw]
made by Spetsdod for LD 39 (COMPO)

You have a space ship. It holds 1000 units of power. Enemy space ships want your power. Don't let them take it!

starfield_start.jpg cover.png

This is my first LD Compo game. Had a great time working on it, even though I didn't have as much time as I would have liked (other obligations).

Game was created using Clickteam Fusion 2.5, PyxelEdit, Photoshop, and sfxr for sounds.

Somehow I managed to click the Do Not Rate Me On Graphics box at some point, but that is wrong. All of the graphics were created by me during the Compo. I've fixed the checkbox, but of course now there is a hole in my ratings. If you liked the graphics, and are looking at this again, please take the time to rate them. Thanks in advance.

Gameplay Question

I'm seeing several comments about the handling of the ship being hard, or the controls being difficult. I've played this in 4 different browsers in 3 different operating systems, and it appears to behave as I'm expecting. If you experience something odd, please describe in as much detail as you can what you feel is wrong and I will see what I can do to address it in the evolution build.

YouTube Demo

Created this video to show gameplay and maybe get feedback on performance vs. what others are seeing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Eaf8ACdPgc

Known issues:

  • Enemy ships spawn randomly inside the game field, which results in unavoidable collisions some times.
  • Random seed isn't random yet.
  • Physics engine has an issue when exported to HTML5 as best I can tell. Had to reduce thrust to very low levels to make it playable in web interface, which makes it too slow to be viable in CTF.
  • If you shoot at overlapping enemies, one of the dropped energy pods scales wrong and is stuck in one spot

Roadmap for the future:

  • Add additional power-ups
  • Improve enemy logic (enemies avoid colliding with each other, ie: no overlap)
  • Add tractor beam to collect energy pods rather than colliding with them
  • Add music
  • Add animations (engines, ships exploding, maybe slight parallax in the background)
  • Power bar on ship?
  • Score breakdown on game over screen
  • Add additional enemies (tougher enemies)
  • Add enemy combat functions (shooting, mines, etc)
  • Possibly convert the game to a panning view rather than a static screen with warping
  • Add a mobile port
  • ???

2 August 2017 Notes

Thank you everyone for the amazing feedback. It's really great to hear the suggestions and comments. Ironically, many of the suggestions being made are things I already have planned for the game but just didn't have time to get done during the Compo. I have already started adding a few things which you can find at the link below. The main HTML5 (Web) link at the bottom is still the one to use for rating the game. All in all this has been a great experience and I'm already hyped and looking forward to the next Ludum Dare.

6 August 2017 Notes

Work continues on the evolution build. I've added in some new features, detailed in the list below. Once you have played the submitted version of the game, please play the updated game and see how it has changed.

THESE ARE THE LD39 SUBMISSION LINKS FOR RATING (This is what was completed during the Compo, and should be used to rate the game)
  • HTML5 LD39 Submission http://www.spetsdod.com/ld39
  • LD39 Submission Source http://www.spetsdod.com/ld39/source.zip
THIS IS THE POST EVEN UPDATES LINK
DO NOT RATE ME ON THE FOLLOWING LINK
  • HTML5 Post Event Updates http://www.spetsdod.com/ld39-evolution

This is where I will continue to add in new features after the event.

Added:

  • High Energy Pod Drop from random enemy ships
  • Updated Start screen with scoring changes
  • Fixed random seed so ships should appear more randomly now (still spawning in the playfield - haven't fixed that yet)
  • Post game score breakdown
  • Fixed enemy spawning inside the frame. No more unavoidable collisions
  • Enemy speed increases slightly every 30 seconds
  • Added explosion animation when enemies are destroyed
HTML5 (web) http://www.spetsdod.com/ld39
Source code http://www.spetsdod.com/ld39/source.zip
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/roop-running-out-of-power

Ratings

Overall 517th 2.957⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Fun 427th 2.978⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 635th 2.111⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Theme 440th 3.304⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 451th 2.889⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Audio 436th 2.386⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Humor 464th 1.784⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Mood 452th 2.675⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Given 43🗳️ 43🗨️

Feedback

jchaplin
31. Jul 2017 · 17:01 UTC
Nice job! Reminds me of the classic Asteroids which is one of my all time favorite games.
Quixx
31. Jul 2017 · 17:13 UTC
Solid Arcade Space shooter
WhatFruit
31. Jul 2017 · 17:51 UTC
I like how you connected the power mechanic to the fuel cells, ammo and not just with enemies. It adds a bit of complexity that prevents spamming shoot from being the best technique. Nice entry!
GistNoesis
31. Jul 2017 · 21:38 UTC
It reminded me of comet busters. But your version has star-ships which tracks you. I played the web version, and I found it quite hard to control (maybe that's the known issue you refer). I found strange the behaviour of aliens not to follow you through the edge of the world. Overall quite fun. Well done!
🎤 Spetsdod
31. Jul 2017 · 23:11 UTC
@gistnoesis Can you clarify what problems you were having with the control? The issue I mentioned in the known issues relates (I think) to how thrust is translated from the physics control object to the ship in the HTML5 exporter. At the default setting of 25, which plays perfectly fine in the game dev tool, the ship goes from stopped to "light speed" in the web client. Basically you are going so fast you have no hope of controlling the ship. I had to drop the thrust impulse down to 2.5 for the web build just to get a similar feeling from the controls. Now, in the web client, there is some skill required to maneuver the ship, so maybe it would just take a little practice, but if there is an actual issue, I'd like to know about it. As for the edge warping, I left that in as part of the mechanic to give the player a bit of an edge over the ships. It can play against you though if you're not careful. Ultimately, one of the things I want to address moving forward is make the ships have some momentum and force them to have to turn normally instead of just instantly popping to face the player. That will change the edge warp dynamic a bit. I'm already working on the evolution of the game, and will post it up somewhere when I start tweaking things to my liking. Thank you for the feedback.
Repusv
01. Aug 2017 · 20:39 UTC
Being able to destroy the battery is a very good idea ! Force us to be extra carefull.
Kosmo
02. Aug 2017 · 00:56 UTC
Game played well for me -- no control issues. Overall the gameplay was a bit simple for me, not a whole of a reason to play it more than once or twice -- but hey, that's compo. That being said it runs well, has good sfx and definitely fits the theme. Next time I'd try to make a simple background music to go with the game, I've always found it adds a lot. I use http://www.beepbox.co.

Thanks for the game!
Ajayajayaj
02. Aug 2017 · 03:57 UTC
You say there is an issue with HTML5? Could you upload another version? I found that the friction was way too low (it seemed like there was none at all), but other than that, the game is great. I really like the concept that each action consumes your fuel, but each action, but you can still get more fuel. I also like that you have to collect the fuel and don't just get it from killing.

Nice job on your first LD!
LandoSystems
02. Aug 2017 · 05:22 UTC
Good little asteroids clone. Adding in power management changed the gameplay from basic asteroids in an surprising way. Nice graphical style, good work!
Kodiqi
02. Aug 2017 · 06:23 UTC
I like the enemies dropping power cells when they died, which you might then destroy if you're not careful. It's somewhat like the Kill Confirmed system you see in COD games. I played the HTML5 version and the thrust was definitely too much but I see you're aware of that issue. Still, being able to backward thrust as well would help with making the ship more maneuverable. Enemy spawns also led to a lot of unfair damage for me, which you've also noted as an issue already.

If you're adding more to this, I would suggest a shield of some sort, as well as a weapon upgrade with a wider spread of fire (like a space shotgun). If you're going to keep the energy mechanic, you might want to give a visual indicator of its status on the ship, as that is where the player's eye is usually focused. Just an energy bar above the ship would achieve this.
jahndis
02. Aug 2017 · 07:09 UTC
Pretty basic concept, but fairly well done. I'm lousy at these type of games so I didn't get too far :P Great job!
wan
02. Aug 2017 · 11:04 UTC
My score: 11400

Well done, the gameplay doesn't stray too far from the classic Asteroid genre, but making us be extra careful with "fuel" management is an interesting twist. It's hard to figure out whether it's worth it to go out of our way to catch fuel cells (it can quickly cost >20 to go catch one), so it takes a few replays to really learn the right tactics.

All in all the game works well, has above average graphics, and all it really lacks in the end is some music. Congrats for your first LD game!
mrnyarlathotep
02. Aug 2017 · 12:51 UTC
Hey, you came at the theme in a really similar way as I did - I love seeing that happen, and what changes to the formula someone else has made, like keeping good old World Wrap which I hummed and hahed about.

Nice solid take on the Asteroids template!
Psilon
02. Aug 2017 · 15:54 UTC
This is a good take on the classic space shooter games. I would liked it more, if the engine had some animation.
TheLord
02. Aug 2017 · 16:07 UTC
Controls took some time to get used to, but very cool game!
smbe19
02. Aug 2017 · 17:24 UTC
Solid game. The only issue I had is already in the description; enemies spawning way too close.
TomDev
02. Aug 2017 · 18:52 UTC
Classic n cool, the spaceship is beautiful as is the whole graphics, intense fun game
RisinGoat
02. Aug 2017 · 19:11 UTC
Asteroids with a twist! Nice work.
Geckoo1337
02. Aug 2017 · 21:00 UTC
Not a bad game. I like it. maybe too slow. It could be more tense. However well done ++
Zarkonnen
03. Aug 2017 · 12:28 UTC
Nicely executed game. I like the cruelty of the power-ups being shootable. :D
recursor
03. Aug 2017 · 14:35 UTC
Reminds me of asteriods but with the power-saving mechanic thrown in. I would like to see a bit more drag on the player ship i.e. I would also like the ship to slow down a bit after you let off the thrust. Some additional power-ups and different ship types would be nice to have too. Those things are, of course, very difficult to get in just 48 hours :)
CMLSC
04. Aug 2017 · 05:59 UTC
Nice game! The controls felt a bit slidy and it was weird how the AI didn't track me across the edges of the map and just pointed to where I was visually. Because of the slidy controls it was a bit hard to play and control myself. The sound was nice as well as the art.

Good job! :smile:

P.S. Just so you know, developers tend to find controls/the difficulty of their game easier than the average player. This tends to be because of all the time spent testing during the development and how things get added slowly which makes it easier for your brain to get the hang of. I had to make my game way easier than I'd like because I knew that other people would find it too hard if I kept it at the difficulty I liked.
drtizzle
04. Aug 2017 · 09:36 UTC
Very nice! Graphics and soundeffects are really well made. Gameplay is fun! I love how shooting drains energy, so you cannot spam the shoot button. The controls are a bit floaty but very smooth, and the spaceship reacts as you would expect. The only complaint I have is that sometimes enemies spawn right in front of you, so you cannot evade them. Well done!
Ramou
04. Aug 2017 · 18:40 UTC
good game for a compo ;)
Finlal
05. Aug 2017 · 09:45 UTC
fun little game)
remind me many of DOS games in my youth)
AntaresValdemar
06. Aug 2017 · 16:45 UTC
I think the main issue is the movement of the ship and how it relates to the other elements. You can float without moving and just rotate to shoot the enemy ships, but of course at some point you need to move to collect power cells. It takes a while for the ship to build up momentum. Once you have momentum, you have basically committed yourself because it takes so much efort to alter the course of the ship, if you overshoot and miss the power cell then you are worse off than before. In addition to how hard it is to aim yourself at the power cells, if you actually get there you're moving so fast that you can't really get out of the way of the enemies. If you apply too much force to the ship you end up speeding uncontrollably across the screen. On top of that, the enemies sometimes spawn right on top of you in which case you have no chance to defend yourself. I think everything would work better if the acceleration and turning of the ship was a bit more immediate. In its current state its kind of unmanageable. Having said all that, it was still quite enjoyable, the visuals and sound were simple but effective, and aside from what I mentioned above the gameplay was well thought-out and executed. Not bad at all especially on the compo time limit, nice work!

[EDIT] I played the postjam version and my score skyrocketed (no pun intended), I'm not sure how much was due to your changes and how much was just me getting better at the game, but I enjoyed it a lot more, watching your demo probably helped me get the technique down too. Great job :)
🎤 Spetsdod
06. Aug 2017 · 19:12 UTC
@antaresvaldemar Thank you for the comments. As you see from the demo I recorded, the key to surviving longer is to use small controlled thrusts to move around. Part of the dynamic intended is weighing the risk vs reward of chasing down energy pods. Sometimes it's not worth it to chase after them because you end up using more energy than you can recoup. As for the post-jam version of the game, the addition of the blue pods which return 200 energy makes it much easier to survive for longer periods of time. To offset that, the enemy ships increase speed slowly over time. You did witness one of the known bugs of the game, specifically the bad enemy spawns that sometimes happen right on top of you that you can't avoid. That has been fixed in the post-jam version, finally. One of the next "fixes" I am hoping to make is to change the enemy ships so they have to turn to chase the player, not just instantly snap to face you. That will make it much more realistic, I think. Also, I may try to add in a feature that allows you to press a button to "tractor beam" all pods with in a certain distance straight too you. This would be another risk/reward mechanic, as using the tractor beam would cost energy, but could potentially capture several pods at once that you might have otherwise missed.

Anyway, thanks again for the feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed the game.
Pandakipu
07. Aug 2017 · 21:21 UTC
Simple bue efficient, like an old school arcade. Well done !
CTTFOW
08. Aug 2017 · 15:24 UTC
This is a pretty cool game, I, too, found controlling the ship a little difficult (web version). The gameplay is clear and easily understandable. It's a neat little game!
🎤 Spetsdod
08. Aug 2017 · 17:53 UTC
@cttfow What part of the controls was difficult for you? Could you elaborate? I know that being the developer makes a lot of difference when playing the game, but I feel like the controls are pretty simple and comparable to a game like Asteroids, which this game takes some of it's inspiration from. Thrust takes time to build up, and inertia allows you to move around without using power. I've heard from a few folks about the control issues, but no one has yet elaborated on those issues. Thank you very much for the review.
CTTFOW
13. Aug 2017 · 15:14 UTC
Like a lot of other people have said, it's actually controlling the ship that's difficult. I feel like if I once try to get some more power, I'll be stuck in that movement forever. The controls themselves are simple to learn but how to move the rocket, not so much. I guess it would require some more time to learn but at least for me it feels like it's totally out of control, whatever I try to do I'll be floating without really having much of a say to it.

But, looking at the comments above it also seems like that's part of what makes the game fun, learning to balance between too much and too little power. I'd still like to have a little more power to _myself_.
HuvaaKoodia
14. Aug 2017 · 11:39 UTC
The controls are fine! Newtonian physics must have gone over their heads :smile:

The fuel runs out pretty fast, but that is thematic enough and keeps the playthroughs short which is fine and dandy.

Good work!
TheFlyingKeyboard
15. Aug 2017 · 21:13 UTC
Really fun, but I think that steering this ship extremely difficult. Good game, but needs some polishing.
automatonvx
17. Aug 2017 · 19:12 UTC
Pretty fun, only managed 6800. Controls were fine for me, would maybe decrease the thrust a touch. Asteroids style games are always pretty fun, I liked the twist of losing power for shots and movement that changes the gameplay style from typical asteroids. Not sure if it really makes it more fun, but it makes it different anyway.
I had a similar idea for a mini LD 72 a little while ago,in the schmup style instead of asteroids, where you lose points for each shot, so tries to encourage accuracy. https://automatonvx.itch.io/schmup-trainer.
For this style of game i always think a leaderboard to encourage competition adds quite a bit too. mine had one but it seems to be currently broken.
Other stuff - as already said, music would be nice, I also think it would be better for the overall feel, if you keep a consistent resolution for the background and the main sprites (which are pretty decent).
Overall, good job, congrats for your first LD.
Yirggzmb
18. Aug 2017 · 06:06 UTC
Nice, simple concept. Done well. Of course, I'm terrible at this type of game, but still had fun!
Tim Eriksen
18. Aug 2017 · 10:25 UTC
Hey, fun little game :) The graphics were cute and the sounds made it all feel very arcade-y. I found it a bit easy as I quickly learned that the best strategy is to just stand still in the midle and shoot the ships as they come closer. All in all a job well done! :)
🎤 Spetsdod
18. Aug 2017 · 14:56 UTC
@tim-eriksen That is an acceptable strategy, but by no means is it the best strategy. If you stay in the center of the screen, you miss out on the energy pods which limits the total length of your game. Also, in the LD version of the game there is a bug where the enemy ships can spawn anywhere, including right on top of you, resulting in unavoidable collisions. I fixed that in the Post LD version of the game, plus I added in larger energy pods, giving the player an incentive to move around. Glad you enjoyed the game though. =)