Space Dog by Thygrrr
:dog: You are LD39, the space dog, on the USS WISHBONE.
Are you a Good Boy?
You have four power consumers, three batteries, two chargers, one reactor. What could possibly go wrong?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cArNZJ0_9LQ
The WISHBONE's main reactor was struck by an antimatter asteroid! Now, she's running on emergency power... with the crew fast asleep in cryo stasis, only this dog can help the A.I. prevent disaster!
:dog::video_game: Windows (Recommended)
:globewithmeridians::keyboard: Browser (HTML5)
(Windows download is only 30MB, and the browser version has some sound issues)
How to Play:
- Place batteries in the slots to power the ship's systems (Shields, Weapons, Helm, Cryo)
- Certain situations need certain systems to be running.
- If Cryo Vault is without power too long, the crew will slowly thaw... and die.
- Be a good boy and listen to the A.I.
Recharge at the Charger Manifold
:keyboard: Cursor Keys to move and Space to interact
- :video_game: GamePad to move and Button A to interact
Can you save the ship?!?
Every couple of minutes, a new crisis will hit the ship. LD39 is tasked by the A.I. to be a Good Boy and power the correct systems so the ship can continue its mission!
There's about 20 minutes worth of "Crisis" events in the game. It gets pretty hard, but the initial order of events is identical (but the timing may vary!). It helps to practice and experiment, and use your downtime well!
Hints:
- Crises end faster only if all the requested systems are powered.
- Check the TODO-List in the screen corner!
- Once the Cryo Power is restored, injured crew slowly heals.
- Batteries don't recharge when the Reactor is empty.
- Don't forget to pick up your Space Doggy Treats!
- Be very well prepared for the (Spoiler - click to decrypt).
Recommended Version:
If you can at all, do download the Windows version! It runs better than the embedded version.
Known Issues:
- Gamepad doesn't work in Internet Explorer or Edge
- Some Sounds in Web Version have an unpleasant "click" (only half-fixed)
Changelog:
- Moved the alert text down a notch, as it was covering the game on some screens
- I found some of the broken sounds and replaced them (this also causes less voice spam at times)
- You were often only getting the basic doggy treat amount, no matter how well you mastered a crisis :frowning:
Credits:
- Code: Thygrrr, Arakin, Demi (Unity 2017)
- Graphics: Demi, Thygrrr (MagicaVoxel, Paint dotNET)
- Level: Arakin, Thygrrr, Demi (SabreCSG)
- Music: CoVahr (working from his studio)
- Sound: Thygrrr (sfxr, FromTextToSpeech, and also stock sounds, so we opted out of audio ranking)
Ratings
| Overall | 18th | 4.3⭐ | 92🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 26th | 4.1⭐ | 92🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 81th | 3.844⭐ | 92🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 23th | 4.311⭐ | 92🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 167th | 4.154⭐ | 93🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 52th | 3.864⭐ | 90🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 69th | 4.022⭐ | 91🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 89🗳️ | 130🗨️ |
We did our best with the graphics, we're three coders and one musician... :grin:!
There is so much fun in trying to keep the crew alive and so much irony in getting threats in such a critic situation.
To sum up: BRAVO !
Thank you for the kind review, @bombjack, glad you enjoyed the game! :dog:
The developers were good boys
The developers were good boys
Either way it's awesome!
@kungkras After you get to this crisis [*(spoiler, click to decrypt)*](http://www.decode.org/?q=xbonlnfuv+zneh), the game will give you random crises until reactor fuel runs out.
Speaking of running out, we ran out of time for a game over sequence, which is why we have a rather abrupt game end. We're polishing a post-jam version we'll put on itch.io where when you solve the last crisis AND have crew left, you actually win. :)
Consider yourself a winner when you even get to the last crisis. :)
Lovely artstyle (the dog is too cute), nice and fresh gameplay with a great mood too (thanks to the clever use of sound effects).
My favorite so far! :)
@zgragselus Haha - at first I read 20 "threats", we had this discussion with misspellings of "treats" in our team, and at first I thought you meant "alerts"... playing 20 crises would take about 30 minutes of pure game play. And lots of micromanagement.
Thanks for giving the game a good spin, 20 space doggy treats is a nice achievement. My record is 29.
@jesus-fermin-villar Awww, thanks! :dog:
But it was a very good experience overall! After some time it gets a bit repetitive, but... gotta get those treats, right?
Probably, to stop cryo was the right thing to do. At least that's what the A.I. gave you the doggy treats for, right? ... right? :thinking:
(In this crisis, you can only choose between slow death of the crew by thawing, or slow damage to the ship's systems. Choose one, or the other. Note that if your crew is healthy, they might not even die ... if you stand at the ready with a fresh battery as soon as this crisis ends.)
Secret pro tip for those reading the comments: *If you power the shields, the structural damage taken from any crisis is reduced, even if shields aren't the entire or even part of the "solution". That is, unless the shields are part of the problem...*
And gee, thanks, this is high praise for my teammates, who still consider themselves beginners. It was Demi's first and Arakin's second Ludum Dare. Both of them relatively new to Unity, they have really outdone themselves for this game. :) Could not have done it without them, and it's also my first team submission. I don't think I want to go back to solo submissions, even though I had a blast in my first LD, the [LD37 Compo](http://legacy.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-37/?action=preview&uid=124451).
I gotta say a three day JAM with a team is even a lot more fun than a two day COMPO alone!
@furkanfs - Good Boy! :) Glad you enjoyed those treats! Too bad you couldn't chase off those pirates...
The guys did an excellent job!:D
Changelog:
-----------------
- Moved the alert text down a notch, as it was covering the game on some screens
- I found some of the broken sounds and replaced them (this also causes less voice spam at times)
- You were often only getting the basic doggy treat amount, no matter how well you mastered a crisis :frowning:
I promise no more changes to this version until after the rating is over. I might link an itch.io version in one or two weeks.
I find it a bit hard, but not frustrating and the ambiance is great. Congrats ! :)
And then I saw those alerts and start thinking "maybe I should consider what the voice said". Finally it wasn't that hard to understand the mechanics and it feels natural. And the ending is abrupt, I didn't understood the first try. My record is 15 treats.
I'm not really into voxel art but it feels OK. Ship design and difficulty is good, nice job.
The ending is indeed abrupt, I'll reserve extra time next Ludum Dare to get a proper end sequence. For whatever game we'll be making then. :dog:
Good job!
I'll reduce the size of the player window, also for performance reasons.
*EDIT: that might have improved it*
Nothing happens when you put a fuel rod in a battery stand.
I'm glad nobody tried to put a battery into the reactor yet. Not even myself... :thinking:
*Good news everyone, the battery is big enough so you can take it out of the reactor again!
The Wishbone has a Class 42 Barrier Free Equal Opportunity Reactor.*
Sadly I noticed the web version doesn't play the alarm for the Cryo Failures... the web player really has issues with short WAV samples.
I always want to make the game HARDER and more frantic, but I realize I have about twenty plays at 15+ minutes in it (80% of the game solved). I know all the moves, when to expect disasters, etc. Seeing Demi play the final balance version the first time was shocking, she too lost most of her crew in the first two alerts.
But I don't know the role of weapon and shield.
Just one tiny little sticking point with the premise - you implicitly suggest the existence of dogs (space or otherwise) who are not Good, and that I cannot abide. It might seem heavy-handed to dock you a point of fun for this grievous slight on dogkind, but the topic of canine goodliness is no laughing matter, chum.
I could go into all the different praises, but I think others have already summarised my opinion. Suffice to say, really really really good job.
I had one minor frustration when picking up and placing batteries. If I pressed the key to put down batteries at the wrong time, the battery could be put down in front of me. Then it would block me from doing what I was trying to do. It wouldn't let me pick up the battery right away again either. This didn't happen too often though (I only noticed it when I was in a pirate attack :P ). It's not a big deal overall, I'm really just trying to find SOME way to provide constructive feedback, so... there ya go. :-P
You've achieved an incredible result. You should be really proud of this.
@pixel-game-wizard - I am really grateful for the time you took to play and review our entry. Wow! And I'm now happy I made the HTML5 verison and will make a point to build Linux builds (need to get a Linux machine running anyway). Very much appreciated. Cheers!
@bocodillo & @ursagames - Thank you for the praise, and it's great to hear you had fun!
At first I didn't know what to do, I was running in circles taking and throwing things xD but then I figured it out and it was really funny (and stressfull as well).
I like the dog and the art style :)
Nice work!
That seals it, we'll never build unskippable text anymore.
I liked the sound effects and music, and as a musician myself I can feel that it's done by someone who understands what role it should play in this type of game. Well focused and successful effort. Kudos.
To offer criticism, hmm. I think it'd be a thing if the ship was designed more platonically and using a more intentional color palette. The voxel art was great, but I think focusing on the aesthetic dimension of this game has a lot of potential to make it even more charming. That just goes to say that the mechanics and game-feel are already where they need to be, at least for me.
The ship's voice is a great touch. Full marks from me!
Last minute game jam mess. :) We're currently looking into making a 2 or 3 player co-op prototype to find out how that works.
Redoing some of the art is next. Thanks again, this is great input!
We're looking into smarter switching. I was probably too stubborn by refusing a simple "switch what you're holding with the other one" mechanic during the jam. (post event version is sinking into feature creep, haha)
:metal: **Overall: 5**
Just saw your comment about 2-3 player coop attempt as well, looks like we're on the same page.
Thanks so much for playing, you did really well, too! :)
Love the Camera control, so smooth and just right for the game. Your algorithm is awesome!
I'll investigate and figure out what's wrong there.
The only 'complain' is about swapping batteries -- if you nave battery equipped, pressing E should swap your battery with the one installed.
Well done : thumbsup:
@pablodap and @michaeltwg - thank you so much for the kind words, as well! :dog:
That came out a lot more confusing than I wanted. :)
The broken reactor can't be fixed, but you can fetch fuel sticks (see what we did there?) to put them into the bottom reactor.
When you put a battery into the shield console, the shields go up.
If you put one into the helm slot, the helm is powered.
If you put one into the weapons slow, the guns fire.
We're adding an interactive element to this in our post-jam edition (especially useful in coop-multiplayer), but the jam version just needs all required stations to be powered at once to get through an alarm scenario.
I think the only thing to improve is the music, which it's not bad, but I think it couls be better.
Five-for-all. Thanks for the game!