LudumData

Commander, We Have a Problem! by Lamossus

[raw]
made by Lamossus for LD 42 (JAM)

You've been elected as a new Commander of the underground colony on another planet. Walls keep collapsing, food is scarce, oxygen quickly decreases and people keep demending more and more of you. How long will you survive before you make one fatal mistake?

LMB - Build selected building.

RMB - Deconstuct selected building.

Any feedback is really appreciated.

I'm pretty sure you can go infinite on an easy difficulty, so I suggest playing on normal or higher difficulty and only switch to easy if you are having troubles with the game.

Music used:

"Impact Prelude"

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

screenshot.pngscreenshot1.png

Dev logs:

  1. Made Easy, Hard and Impossible modes easier.
  2. Fixed a few typos.
HTML5 (web) https://lamossus.itch.io/cwhap
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/commander-we-have-a-problem

Ratings

Overall 988th 3⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Fun 951th 2.857⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 928th 2.845⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Theme 588th 3.5⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1169th 2.083⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1005th 2.537⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Given 26🗳️ 29🗨️

Feedback

Chaach
14. Aug 2018 · 00:00 UTC
was a little lost at start, but after some retries i could to survive for some minutes, it's a complex gameplay, but for me it was too hard, even on easy i lost before i have to move my constructions hahaha. I think having so many resources to keep up in so little time is what make it hard, but i had a good time, great work!
🎤 Lamossus
14. Aug 2018 · 00:22 UTC
@chaach thanks for your feedback! I didn't think the game would be that hard for others, I personally can get to 15 minutes on normal, so I thought other players could get at least 5-10 minutes on it but it turns out it is much harder if you don't know the mechanics that well.

To make it easier I recommend building Laboratory as soon as possible and unlocking one of the Food buildings. They are both pretty good because they not only produce food but also increase happiness a bit.
Ben Lee
14. Aug 2018 · 00:29 UTC
I agree, it definitely takes a few tries to get the hang of things.
However, it also feels like there's no way to win — maybe if there was a way to reinforce space, or to reclaim collapsed areas. I felt pressured at first, but then I realized that I'd lose regardless of what I did.
🎤 Lamossus
14. Aug 2018 · 00:33 UTC
@ben-lee There isn't really a win condition, you just need to survive as long as possible
🎤 Lamossus
14. Aug 2018 · 00:44 UTC
@chaach @ben-lee I made easy mode a bit easier if you'd like to give a game a second chance
Ben Lee
14. Aug 2018 · 02:41 UTC
@lamossus The new version is much easier, I can almost spend the time to look at the research options :)
matzetoni
14. Aug 2018 · 09:11 UTC
I played it yesterday, but had problems to post a comment here, so here it is:
Pretty fast-paced. I lost several times in easy mode after about 40-50 days before I realized how the upgrade system works and food is pretty difficult to keep over 0. In the beginning I was a bit confused about all the shrinking values, but it makes sense after one gets the game mechanic. Nicely adapted the theme! My highscore: only 142 days on easy :P
🎤 Lamossus
14. Aug 2018 · 10:16 UTC
@matzetoni The farms are only ment to slow down food consumption, so I would recommend researching other Food buildings. The laboratory also eats a lot of food, so make sure to deconstruct it when you don't need it.
Nattress
14. Aug 2018 · 11:32 UTC
Took a little while to understand, but I figured it out. The mechanics are complex and really impressive, but I did find it a little hard, feels like it's a game that takes a while to master which I really appreciate in a swamp of games that are designed to be played only once or twice. Great work and I will return to play (and master ;) ) when I have some more time.
scottyseus
14. Aug 2018 · 13:18 UTC
THis game captured the theme really well; I wish there was a way to rotate buildings though.
🎤 Lamossus
14. Aug 2018 · 13:27 UTC
@scottyseus I thought about making it a feature but thought that not having it would encourage people to plan ahead further. I might add it post jam
scottyseus
14. Aug 2018 · 15:23 UTC
@lamossus yeah I think the inability to rotate definitely adds to the difficulty in a good way, but it triggered tetris-sense :)
Luca1152
15. Aug 2018 · 01:25 UTC
A pretty popular complaint from what I've seen: I don't really understand how to play the game :(. However, the music is pretty sweet :).
AwiX
15. Aug 2018 · 06:24 UTC
Good Gaming Idea, Music needs to be improved Graphics good
🎤 Lamossus
15. Aug 2018 · 08:36 UTC
@luca1152 could you please clarify what exactly is unclear to you about the game? There is an in-game how to play menu, if you haven't seen it
mrsylar59
17. Aug 2018 · 11:42 UTC
I liked the general gameplay of placing buildings and moving them around while keeping track of the ressources. But the fact that you don't really know how much ressource you need to build a building is a bit frustrating. I ended up mashing LMB until I could place the building I wanted. The graphics work well but I would have liked to have some design on the buildings rather than a flat color. Other than that, it's a neat game, good job!
🎤 Lamossus
17. Aug 2018 · 16:29 UTC
@mrsylar59 it says how much the building costs on the right in the desciption
Diego Escalante
21. Aug 2018 · 05:48 UTC
There is a surprising amount of depth to this game! One problem with this is that it can be a little bit difficult to fully grasp initially. However, I do like how instead of all building being the same shape like in other "city"-building games, this one has varying shapes, which means you got to be clever about how you maximize your space. Good design choice!
suve
27. Aug 2018 · 18:37 UTC
Nice, I enjoyed it. The game is very simple gameplay-wise, but balancing all the resources takes some skill. It's a bit of a shame there isn't any goal apart from "survive the most days" - on Easy, I was able to find a safe setup where all off the resources were steadily rising. It would also be nice to be able to rotate the buildings. Still, those minor issues aside, this is a very solid entry. Good job!
p1nkmaria
28. Aug 2018 · 15:33 UTC
I like the fact that you have so much cotent! Great Job
Jupiter_Hadley
04. Sep 2018 · 17:24 UTC
Interesting game! I included it in my compilation video series of the Ludum Dare 42 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/RlwE2-mxmJw