Sauber by gagapete

The orbit of your planet is full of satellites. When a critical mass of satellites in orbit was hit, they're falling uncontrolled to the ground after there was no more space left for them up there. They threaten to destroy all the trees on the planet by setting them on fire. Without the trees there will be no oxygen and all humans will miserably suffocate.
Earth is lost but there’s hope. A brave hero stays behind while the rest of humankind is preparing the evacuation of the planet. He protects the trees, extinguishes fires and tries not to be smashed by falling satellites while the evacuation ships are being started. It depends on the skill of this hero how many can be saved before the planet runs out of trees and earth is lost forever. It’s a suicide mission to save humankind.
Gameplay
The goal is to keep the amount of living trees above the displayed threshold. For every tree alive you save one live per second. The game is over when the amount of living trees drops below the threshold or you get hit by a falling satellite. Please post your survivor count in the comments.
Controls
Keyboard * Move around with WASD and the arrow keys. * Extinguish fire with space.
Controller * Move around with the right stick. * Extinguish fire with the A button.
| Linux | https://gagapete.itch.io/sauber |
| Windows | https://gagapete.itch.io/sauber |
| macOS | https://gagapete.itch.io/sauber |
| Source code | https://gitlab.com/GagaPete/ld42 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/sauber |
Ratings
| Overall | 1153th | 2.762⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1207th | 2.409⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 990th | 2.773⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1240th | 2.175⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 924th | 2.935⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 667th | 2.447⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 1039th | 2.425⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 30🗳️ | 4🗨️ |
I would recommend to change it so that the character shoots where the player's mouse is, that way it allows for extinguishing while moving, which would add a little bit of skill and make it more engaging.
The gameplay process if fun, but the extinguisher hitbox is sometimes off (spraying on the fires directly to no effect)
The playing space is... big. So no matter how you play there will be unattended trees burning in other places. Having visibility of the whole field and a bit of a forewarnign where the sattelites are about to hit could have made the game more... strategic. Currently the only reason to move is if you lost all the trees in the area and nothing to protect here.
* it wasn't clear what the end goal was / score was..
* it would help to have some instructions in game and a clear goal.
Tried your game, found it an interesting idea!
Some notes:
- world seemed huge, long travel distances, didn't know really know if it was all forest or if I'd find population centers.
- trees a bit hard to extinguish; more directional control/spraying would have been nice and intuitive.
- pretty cool menu
- I saved a lot of people, but I never saw anyone. Thousands saved for a few trees seems like a bit of mathematical rounding error. ;)
- Arrows were helpful, wouldn't have had a clue where to go otherwise.
- Arrow keys were a bit cumbersome, but I discovered some controller support, so that was a big help!
Conceptually, a great idea. I might have limited the world size and really nailed the spraying mechanic. Some signs of these other lives might have been nice (cars along the road, smashed houses, random animals grazing (then running when they're too close to fire)--stuff like that.
So happy to see Godot games--thanks for sharing yours with me. I hope you continue to work on this. Have a great jam! :)
Finally, it would be a good idea to have some form of instructions somewhere. Ideally within the game itself, but at least somewhere on this page at the minimum.
As for the technical questions, the game is pretty solid. I didn't notice any bug or misbehaviour. Sound would be nice, and there always is a room for polish. =)