URBO by hadesfury

[raw]
made by hadesfury for LD34 (JAM)
Welcome to Urbo!

Make decisions and watch your town grow, district by district.

Instructions:

Click and drag to pan the view and scroll up and down to zoom in and out.
Click on the question marks that appear over your districts and answer the question in the pop up window. You only get two choices, per question. And each answer will influence the evolution of your district in a different way. Play and find out how high you can score !

Art by Vincent Schneider and François Mauge
Programming by Quentin Chevalier and Fabien Kalinowsky
Game Design by Timmy Gilbert
Sound by Tristan Dauly and Bruno Jarles

Ratings

Coolness 39% 1766
Overall(Jam) 3.61 249
Audio(Jam) 3.76 139
Fun(Jam) 2.92 701
Graphics(Jam) 4.72 13
Humor(Jam) 2.29 705
Innovation(Jam) 3.61 187
Mood(Jam) 3.62 212
Theme(Jam) 4.14 127

Feedback

squarebridges
15. Dec 2015 · 02:14 UTC
Love the art. Not really sure what effect my choices have on the game, though...
JanGames
15. Dec 2015 · 02:24 UTC
The game looks nice, but most of the time i wasn't sure what was going on, maybe if you could give some more information about the gameplay to the player it would work better.
BunchaSapsGames
15. Dec 2015 · 02:34 UTC
A really cool title that I could see being expanded a bit. Great artwork and design. Only flaw is what other people have said in that you don't really know what your choices are doing.
MakerArt
15. Dec 2015 · 02:43 UTC
Hi there!!!
Webjl - it is bold decision!
You have good animations and interface.
It sounds great too.
Telltale version of city builder)) NextGen))

I think it deserv to win the price for fun, theme and innovation!
Leaghorn
15. Dec 2015 · 02:51 UTC
Graphics are awesome but gameplay seems completely random.

// also I got some JS error on web version and it crahed every time. IDK why. And windows version has some problem detecting resolution or something. some of the GUI goes out of the screen
VitasaMode
15. Dec 2015 · 02:55 UTC
Love the art and modular design, I was not sure how my decisions effected the outcome. A exit option would be nice as well. Overall great job!
ProgramGamer
15. Dec 2015 · 04:53 UTC
I have no idea what the heck is going on, but I love it. 10/10
TheBreakfast
15. Dec 2015 · 05:45 UTC
The art is amazing. This is one of the most impressive looking games from the jam. It looks professional and polished, and I found myself looking at the city modules trying to piece together what type of technology or company was being represented, making up neat stories for each.

It has a sort of old Maxis feel to it, similar to Sim City 2000 or 3000. Definitely dig that.

However, when I had 24 blocks left, I encountered a bug. The same city region kept asking me questions. No other city regions could ask questions, and no more blocks were appearing.

Overall, definitely a great entry! Loved it, and I'd like to see it expanded with additional mechanics. Choosing your next block and where to put it would be neat.
Dining Philosopher
15. Dec 2015 · 12:28 UTC
Great mood, nice minimalism. Could use better feedback on what effects your choices have, but hey, Ludum Dare game! :P
MisterMortal
15. Dec 2015 · 16:18 UTC
Good looking game, needs more info on how to play it though.
David Cookie
15. Dec 2015 · 18:30 UTC
Too bad there's no real feedback of what our choices affect the development of the city, or music.. because the rest is gorgeous, especially graphics! Well done, and it would greatly deserve a post compo!
VDZ
15. Dec 2015 · 20:14 UTC
I'm with the others; the gameplay is a bit unclear and feels rather random. For that matter, I never felt like I was building a city; I was making random choices while a city appeared in front of me. There was no goal for me to work towards - not even a personal goal, as I had no idea what I was doing - and no challenge to struggle against.

The graphics are great, the sound effects are very fitting, and I like your interpretation of the theme.

Unfortunately, I'm rating this as a game, not a tech demo, and as a game it just seems entirely lacking in fun. The first minute or two was interesting to see the city grow, but the time I played after that kind of felt like I was just wasting my time, and I can't really say I had fun playing it.
hd_
15. Dec 2015 · 20:18 UTC
The gameplay variety is low, but I was eager to see what happens when I reach the end of all those expansions. Unfortunately on the Web GL version, it ran out of memory when I got to 55 remaining !

I wish there was more to this game. I think I can see some gameplay mechanics that weren't explained (such as zoning and choices relating to the zone?), but I don't have enough reason to play such a slow paced game again to find out.
silkworm_sweatshop
15. Dec 2015 · 23:20 UTC
Yeah my game seemed to get stuck too with 48 blocks remaining. It was fun clicking stuff and watching the town grow for a bit but it got old after a while since I had no idea what I was doing really. It looks great though and I think there is some potential here.
Jishenaz
16. Dec 2015 · 04:15 UTC
Gorgeous city game! I liked seeing the city grow, and it was pleasant to look at the awesome art style.

But sometimes I felt that the the question bubbles came up too often, making me compulsively answer the questions, so that I can go back to seeing the city again.

I felt that the answers did have some influence over how the city formed, but the city more or less stops growing after it said "61 Block(s) remaining".

But anyhow, it was a beautiful little city game with an inspiring, simple art style.
lawendt
16. Dec 2015 · 04:28 UTC
Most of time wasn't sure what was going on... And it feel like it was too long.
lawendt
16. Dec 2015 · 04:43 UTC
https://i.gyazo.com/3cc4ba116d621ddc951dc8d6dbec4418.jpg
What does this means? >:
🎤 hadesfury
16. Dec 2015 · 10:19 UTC
@lawendt : Yeah, unfortunately we didn't have enough time to balance the game properly and to clarify interactions. And game length definitely needs to be tweaked.
So, to me, it's actually amazing that you were patient enough to get to the end, cheers to you !
When you reach the end, what you see is actually our first attempt at cobbling together a leaderboard.
Anyways, we plan on releasing a post compo soon that will, hopefully, make the game a lot more enjoyable.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank you all for your encouraging comments !!
Akhera
16. Dec 2015 · 18:49 UTC
Looks awesome! The concept could work, but the player really needs more information to make their decisions and more feedback so that they know what their decisions actually did.
antonuklein
17. Dec 2015 · 15:59 UTC
The concept's there, it just feels too random. Pretty fun though. Sound is top-tier quality.

Also, while the models and animations are amazing, I'm personally not a fan of the tilt shift effect that Urho or Cities: Skylines uses, and I'm not sure why it's even an option.
psypol
18. Dec 2015 · 13:58 UTC
i agree with the other comments. the main problem is the lack of understanding of the effects of your choices. Wether they give a good or a bad thing on those numbers in the hud. for now reminds me of looking at a antfarm, if you do nothing it lives on its own, if you put a small trash on it it seem to react but you dont really know what it will do with it. a contemplative experience more than playing for now. but you probably will expand the idea. Kudos for the cool art.
PanKamil
18. Dec 2015 · 22:17 UTC
Graphics are terrific, but it was hard to figure out what district do the question marks belong to (and it was a very important aspect of the game).
SelfTitled
21. Dec 2015 · 18:21 UTC
Very pleasing to the eye
WERT Studio
22. Dec 2015 · 22:46 UTC
Great city buliding sim looks wonderful
n8m8
29. Dec 2015 · 15:03 UTC
I wrote some mini-reviews for mini ludumdare games! https://goo.gl/l4dkaT
Thanks for your game! It was lovely and a very relaxing experience! I look forward to games from you in the future!
Blobo
02. Jan 2016 · 16:34 UTC
Really cool graphics. the sound effects were pretty great whenever a block was placed, and i loved the take on the theme.