Sanctuary Station by Joror
You are Sanctuary Station.
As a benevolent AI you travel the subspace folds, listening for emergency broadcasts.
Where needed, you jump in and assist; and your station grows ever larger...
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Controls:
View
*Zoom view* Scoll wheel to zoom in or out
*Move view* Drag with right mouse button, or use WASD keys
Actions
*Move pod* Drag with left mouse button from pod room to to desired location.
*Summon pod* Click with left mouse button on the central hub. (blue diamond) Use this to speed up your game if you are ready for more pods.
*Close/open airlock* Click with left mouse button on an airlock. (only usable on connected airlocks - and at the moment purely cosmetic)
As a benevolent AI you travel the subspace folds, listening for emergency broadcasts.
Where needed, you jump in and assist; and your station grows ever larger...
--------------------------------
Controls:
View
*Zoom view* Scoll wheel to zoom in or out
*Move view* Drag with right mouse button, or use WASD keys
Actions
*Move pod* Drag with left mouse button from pod room to to desired location.
*Summon pod* Click with left mouse button on the central hub. (blue diamond) Use this to speed up your game if you are ready for more pods.
*Close/open airlock* Click with left mouse button on an airlock. (only usable on connected airlocks - and at the moment purely cosmetic)
Ratings
| Coolness | 93% | 2 |
| Overall(Jam) | 4.01 | 51 |
| Audio(Jam) | 3.43 | 284 |
| Fun(Jam) | 3.74 | 111 |
| Graphics(Jam) | 3.96 | 231 |
| Humor(Jam) | 2.90 | 367 |
| Innovation(Jam) | 4.18 | 18 |
| Mood(Jam) | 3.95 | 77 |
| Theme(Jam) | 3.93 | 284 |
+ Very interesting concept
+ Very innovative
+ Cool graphics and sound
Con:
- Pods moved a bit slow
Obs:
o I didn't understand what the summon pod and close and open airlock really do
Awesome job!
The pod movement was a bit slow, and the lack of real pathing on them made things a bit frustrating.
I enjoyed this game a lot - if the movement & pacing were tightened up a bit, there's the makings of a really innovate RTS here.
But then played the first actual level with the timers, boy was that stressful and fun! Good job!
It only needs a little tutorial but the player figures out pretty quick how to play ;)
Minor complaint: I wish the arrow keys doubled for WASD for moving the view around.
All in all, nice work!
-The pods had way too much momentum, and I found myself getting frustrated when a pod just wouldn't do what I wanted it to in time and died as a result.
-Similarly, I think basic pathing would do wonders for this game. Having to navigate pods manually around corners, in combination with their slow acceleration, was extremely annoying.
-Audio could have been better used to cue when pods were close to death. The "new pod" sound could have been more noticeable.
-Some more visual cues about when a pod is connected and how close a pod is to death would have been cool. Think something like the redness in FTL to indicate no oxygen.
These are fairly minor things, though (besides the momentum/acceleration issue), and overall this game is just fantastic. Great work creating something truly fun and interesting.
Everything was perfectly fit together, just like a nice working rescue. Premise, Controls, Visuals (I liked how the little people dots bounced around), difficulty. I only wish the second level would have ended with no more pods appearing and a proper ending instead of a dialog that forces me to quit the level. There was one with only 30 seconds of life support left!
Further awesomeness improvement ideas if you ever make this into a full game:
* Undocking if all doors are closed, so I can rebuild in case I accidentally covered all ports in one direction and can't find a pod that provides them.
* The stopping was weird. When I said "move there" while they still moved, they slowly changed direction. When they reached a destination, they just stopped even in mid space. This was very annoying when I needed to move a pod to the other side of the station quickly. I think the more unrealistic version of "stop when direction changes" would make the best game here. Alternatively increase acceleration and add proper breaking to normal stops.
It has potential for expansion, perhaps with pods that have various functional benefits.
Thanks for the game!
I see a few people commenting that they'd want the pods to move faster, but personally I really enjoyed the feeling of ordering them to build up momentum while I went to handle something else. I would like to see pods snap a bit easier when you push them together, but otherwise I really enjoyed it!
The only letdown for me was the music, which is a bit harsh around the edges, and a little short. Thankfully, you remembered to include a mute button, so I didn't have to let that bother me.
Below is a link to the post with details, and you can find out my opinion of your game in the video as I play!
http://ludumdare.com/compo/2016/01/02/lets-play-ludum-dare-34-episode-5/
Thank you for putting in that mute music button, that was highly appreciated.
I like the gameplay about connecting the pods to grow a space-ship, but moving them around was very tiresome.
It was annoying that the pods move so slow and I can't set waypoints to navigate them around the ship or around each other, and I always tried to move the camera with the arrow keys.
The pods move too slowly, though (too much momentum), and there could be more variety.