LudumData

BatteryUnknown's PowerGrounds by udo

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

A minimalistic free-for-all multiplayer shooter where you need to kill in order to stay alive! At first I wanted to make a battle-royale/last-man-standing mode, but that doesn't work without a lot of players...

scrn-01.jpg

Remember this is a multiplayer game, so if you don't want to get bored, invite some friends

BatteryUnknown's PowerGrounds

This game was made completely from scratch for LD39. After spending much of the weekend at a family function, I decided to turn in something for the Jam :)

The sound effects and music were made by my friend Tim specifically for this game, kudos Tim for helping me out, awesome work!

Gameplay: it's a free-for-all; stay alive and gather batteries to keep going. You can see other players only if they're within your line of sight, once they disappear behind a wall, they're invisible.

Controls: Use W,A,S,D to move; Q,E to turn; Spacebar to fire. If you prefer, you can use the arrow keys to turn and move.

Libraries used for making this: Three.js, Node.js, Howler.js

  • TImelapse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzfgQsHgxRU

Post-Jam Changelog

  • player nametags
  • (hopefully) fixed a framerate-dependent bug
  • players who go behind a wall now become gray for a second to make it clear they're not just vanishing without a reason, hopefully that will clear up some confusion about visibility rules

Please leave a comment with some feedback!

HTML5 (web) http://direct.openfu.com/ld/ld39/game2/
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/batteryunknowns-powergrounds

Ratings

Overall 31th 4.185⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Fun 15th 4.148⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 191th 3.481⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Theme 129th 3.963⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 549th 3.185⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Audio 81th 3.885⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Mood 192th 3.654⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 16🗳️ 20🗨️

Feedback

mactinite
01. Aug 2017 · 23:22 UTC
Wow the rare online multiplayer game in Ludum Dare. The controls are strange, would have been nice to be able to aim with the mouse or with the arrow keys rather than q and e. Other than that it is a rather enjoyable game. I'm on kinda of a crappy connection at the moment, but the lag didn't seem too bad. Nice work!
JacazzaJade
01. Aug 2017 · 23:26 UTC
Me and my friend just started playing your game and we both agree that it's really good! The concepts really cool, very addictive to play. One problem that I have been having is that when I rotate the camera sometimes make me feel a bit dizzy but other than that I'm really enjoying playing it!
🎤 udo
01. Aug 2017 · 23:26 UTC
Thank you! You can use the arrow keys as well, just not for strafing. :)
Shepsy
02. Aug 2017 · 00:21 UTC
Love this game! Made an account just to comment.I just figured out however that movement and turning speed quickens on a higher refresh rate (144hz) monitor (I was wondering why I managed to get so high on the leaderboard!), however firing rate is decreased. So much fun, maybe consider increasing the base turn speed for 60hz monitors? Otherwise though, great game!
🎤 udo
02. Aug 2017 · 00:27 UTC
Thank you Shepsy, I remember you killing me several times :D Yes, the turn and movement rate is framerate-dependent, but the cooldown timer for shooting is not. There is only so much I could do in the time I had, but that's definitely something that should be corrected.
Shepsy
02. Aug 2017 · 02:05 UTC
Just been playing again and it seems to be fixed (still managed to beat my high score too ;) ). Awesome work udo.
HolyBlackCat
02. Aug 2017 · 11:01 UTC
A great game! Noticed it on a @elysiagriffin stream.
Boxfort
02. Aug 2017 · 11:06 UTC
First multiplayer game i've played here! It's really well made and addictive! Uses the theme effectively too. I encountered some bugs too with players being invisible but apart from that its great :)
🎤 udo
02. Aug 2017 · 11:08 UTC
@Boxfort they're not invisible, they're probably only behind a wall at the time
ryzy27
02. Aug 2017 · 11:21 UTC
Great game. It has big potential if you spend some more time on it. There are some bugs with players teleporting and vanisihing i have encountered. Other than that great gameplay and music. Love it!
gwinnell
02. Aug 2017 · 21:04 UTC
I, too, encountered issues with players being invisible. I almost thought there was an extra mechanic where you are only visible when you move or shoot, but me staying exactly still proved that one wrong. :joy: The audio is really great too - props to Tim. I'll have to come back to this one later on. :thumbsup:
🎤 udo
02. Aug 2017 · 21:24 UTC
So judging from watching people play it on live streams, I think what throws many people off is that you can only see people if you have a direct line of sight to them. If they're behind a wall, they disappear. Maybe in some cases that's coupled with the fact that, if they have a bad connection, their characters will move in big jumps instead of smooth movement.
🎤 udo
02. Aug 2017 · 22:23 UTC
Oh, and it's possible for people to spawn directly near an active player, I should probably fix that at some point...
Shepsy
02. Aug 2017 · 23:48 UTC
I'm not sure if it was intended, however a really interesting way to play is using both wasd to strafe and left/right arrows to turn. With this, dodging becomes much more of a viable strategy. Once you start to get used to this, there is no going back - movement is so much fun, and playing against my friends who also play like this makes engagements much more intense! In addition, battery pickups grant brief invisibility, meaning you can use that to your advantage if in a skirmish.
FlyingMeta
03. Aug 2017 · 18:46 UTC
Omg a game jam multiplayer game with players. AND IT WORKS. AND ITS PRETTY GOOD!!

Good job y'all. The rotating made me dizzy a bit, but other than that I had a good time playing. :)
MarkWolf
05. Aug 2017 · 11:31 UTC
Great job! The multiplayer aspect makes the game really exciting. Knowing I am fighting real players put the stake at a high level. The minimalist graphics fits well. Something more realistic would not have been more immersive.
I do not know if my Internet line is involved but rotating the player was pretty slow and after a few sec pressing the button my character do 270 deg rotation. So I have strafed a lot to get my opponents.
I will definitively play it again when I want to chill out from work.
MrChippy
05. Aug 2017 · 21:40 UTC
Good job on a multiplayer jam game! This was extremely fun. I like the simplistic look of it too. I don't really have much to say about it but I really enjoyed it.
vulpineblazeyt
05. Aug 2017 · 22:39 UTC
I am so damn impressed with this game, especially having multiplayer working in a jam game. This was really fun blowing up people and getting blown up in return.
g12345
06. Aug 2017 · 19:58 UTC
Whoa! This is actually a nice multiplayer online shooter!

It was better than I thought, it was fun.
Drums
07. Aug 2017 · 00:19 UTC
Probably the most fun game I've played this competition. The shooting felt and sounded nice. Good job!
Jimbly
09. Aug 2017 · 15:48 UTC
Great job, and nicely done on the multiplayer!