Last Question by amras0000
In lieu of a tutorial, here's more or less how the mechanics work
Please read this before playing
There's a story told starting 30 seconds from when you create your first drone. Try and keep the AC powered to hear it through. And keep your volume up.
When you create a drone, you get a console you can type in on the left of the screen. If you input HELP you get a list of commands.
To acquire power to feed the Cosmic AC: 1. JUMP to a planet 2. find a laptop or fusion core (use the RENDER command to get a first person view) 3. bring a drone with a CABLE to a laptop, or a FUSION REACTOR to a fusion core, and use the DRAIN command while facing it 4. JUMP back to the home forge 5. use DEPOSIT to transfer power from your drone to the AC
Some other notes - drones with a REFUELER can be used to move power to and from drones. This is useful if your drone is stuck with no power. Just send a refueler to it. Use the TRANSFER command, with a positive or negative value. - drones with a GRABBER can PICKUP laptops and fusion cores, and JUMP with them, but must DROP them before other drones can use them. - a drone with a HAMMER can CRUSH a drained laptop or fusion core. A drone with a fusion reactor can then DRAIN additional power from the wreck. - use INSPECT when facing any object to learn how much power it stores.
Now on to the description.
Feels like every other game I make I'm happy with, and the rest are kinda shit. This one feels kinda shit, sorry about that.
Game's inspired, and features, Asimov's short story "The Last Question". All audio is ultimately created by me, but if you feel that I shouldn't be entering the Compo with the text of a cult science fiction story, then feel free to rate things as though it wasn't there.
I don't know if it's possible to beat the game, I didn't have the time to check because I was staring at my digestive tract for the last 6 hours of the compo, attempting to set it on fire with my eyes so it'd be less painful.
Enjoy or something. I dunno.
Also there's a postLD version which I recommend using( Win, *Nix, OSX). It fixes a number of game breaking bugs, and adds one feature I added during submission hour, so the game becomes a 49 hour game instead of 48. The game actually notices when you run out of power (huhoy!), doesn't break, and dims the screen.
I'm supposed to add screenshots so here you go
Ratings
| Overall | 230th | 3.474⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 436th | 2.947⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 25th | 4.105⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 132th | 3.85⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 98th | 3.9⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 95th | 3.579⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 22th | 4.15⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 16🗳️ | 25🗨️ |
I've played the 49h Jam version:
I've really enjoyed the experience. Because this is how I felt it: It's a sci-fi interactive and audiovisual experience with a great concept behind.
I'm not used to the inspector, but I think that it is a great mechanic. It makes every movement and action something the player has decided and worked for.
Even if it's not a commercial kinda game (which is a good thing, nowadays), in my opinion would be a fantastic full game with all the final features. I highly encourage you to keep working on the idea.
Great work, good luck and thank you for your review!
soon mostly forgotten.
I would really liked if it was fully keyboard driven instead of requiring mouse clicks on buttons sometimes. Well I guess you could tab between the controls but it felt kinda awkward.
[Danae streams Ludum Dare 39: Day 2, part 1: Last Question](https://youtu.be/bhOEvC7XxZo?t=4m42s)
This game has a nice atmosphere to it, and its concept could work. Its visuals are pretty well suited to the game, too. I probably would survive longer on further attempts, but the difficulty is still quite unforgiving (which might not necessarily be a bad thing :D). Some bug fixes which would make the overall experience much smoother:
- make sure the text input always stays in focus (instead of having to click on it every now and then)
- make the drones switchable by command
- make sure the camera shows the drone in the window (the camera slowly drifted higher and higher for me)
I guess the original intention was for the drones to only capture their environment with their own cameras (or when the player uses `render`), why was there an overhead view anyway?
As for the audio in the background – it's a cool little idea and the story fits the theme, but its charm gets lost when it's so quiet / non-stop. I know the story, but I'm not sure I would know it if I only played the game. It would be better if there were subtitles, or an option to make it stop / progress line by line / make it louder. I would expect something like this to be unfolded in breaks between chapters of a game (see for example SpaceChem story telling).
It's still a very interesting game, so good job! :)
Graphics are good, audio too and playing with the console reminded me my Unix courses haha
It could become something better with more time! But it is some serious work for a compo entry!
Overall I'd give this game a 8/10