LudumData

KEEP IT ALIVE by yy404

[raw]
made by yy404 for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

Introduction

  • Your are here to protect a health bar! Play in browser!
  • Controls: SPACE + W/S/A/D (or Arrow Keys)
  • Termination: no vitality OR health below the threshold.
  • Scoring: one score per cell cleaning. (imaging you could save a life every 100 scores)
  • Key mechanics:
    • keep the vitality by deploying capsules.
    • you are teleporting back to the origin after deploying a capsule.
    • a capsule cleans its nearby cells (itself/up/down/left/right) when a black cube spawns on it.
    • new capsule spawns immediate once any capsule triggered.
    • black cubes randomly spawn and the spawn rate increases over time.

Fixes/Changes

  • Changed the background from the default skybox to solid black
  • Adjusted movement controls and enabled arrow keys
  • Adjusted UI text and position
  • Enabled immediate spawn of new capsule once any capsule triggered
  • Enabled gradual increment of black cube spawn rate
  • Added the function of freezing player if the game is inactive
  • Added the feature of teleporting player back to origin
  • Added the feature of vitality

Screenshots

Latest Version: Screen Shot 2020-05-08 at 2.58.04 PM.png

Initial Version: Screen Shot 2020-04-20 at 11.17.06 PM.png

Last But Not Least

Thank you all very much for your time/comments!

This is my first entry for Ludum Dare. Really enjoying the jam!

Sorry if you could not open the game due to any reason.

Thanks for audio samples from the FREE Casual Game SFX Pack ​created by Dustyroom.​

Thanks for the Create with Code, a free course provided by Unity Learn.

Youtube https://yy404.itch.io/keep-it-alive
Youtube https://github.com/yy404/LD46
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/keep-it-alive-49

Ratings

Overall 1720th 3.275⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1238th 3.313⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 697th 3.55⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Theme 700th 3.9⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 2184th 2.613⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1537th 2.571⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Mood 2095th 2.797⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Given 104🗳️ 62🗨️

Feedback

Puddy
21. Apr 2020 · 20:45 UTC
Interesting idea, caught myself playing a few rounds to figure out the best way to place mines. Had a weird issue of the ball sliding up and right towards the center without pressing keys, though!
Abb1x
21. Apr 2020 · 20:47 UTC
Great Concept ! At start it's a bit confusing , But Great Game overall !
sadsmile
21. Apr 2020 · 20:55 UTC
I'd suggest to disable the default unity skybox and replace it with a solid color instead. But otherwise this is a neat small game :)
SnowToast
21. Apr 2020 · 20:55 UTC
Interesting idea and fun gameplay, if a bit random. I dod not really feel in control and jsut had to hope my placed mines got triggered. Also I had to protect my way back to the mine spawner, because I got cut off in the first round I played. Nice entry!
Pretzol
21. Apr 2020 · 20:55 UTC
This game is pretty addictive! Although, my only problem with it is that the black cubes can trap the player, which can lead to waiting for a game over. Maybe there could be some kind of a jump mechanic? Otherwise, cool game!
John Snyder
21. Apr 2020 · 20:56 UTC
I tried to play the game however it was just a black screen behind the buttons and text. I was still able to get sounds but I could not see any of my input
BlobRoss
21. Apr 2020 · 20:57 UTC
I can confirm that i am in fact addicted. Very interesting concept with a few bugs here and there to give it character. Well done! :D
Eric Lagergren
21. Apr 2020 · 20:57 UTC
Unique concept! Bit confusing at first. But once you figure it out? It's pretty fun replaying over and over strategizing
Nisanick
21. Apr 2020 · 20:58 UTC
Interesting concept. It's quite fun to play but very frustrating,
Controls doesn't feel right to me. the ball just kept sliding where i didn't want it to go. But what got me most of the time was that the corruption spawned around the mine spawn point right away effectively blocking me from getting it.
Isiah Brighton
21. Apr 2020 · 21:02 UTC
That was fun! I think it would be helpful to explain that the mines explode when a black square spawns on top of it and it destroys nearby black squares, since that caused some confusion at first. But I got the hang of it and had a great time afterwards.
oceanm
21. Apr 2020 · 21:02 UTC
I liked the idea of the game, I was a bit confused at first but it was a pretty satisfying game once I figured out how to place mines. Sometimes the ball would get stuck in a tile though or move a little weird. But otherwise nice game!
dhim
21. Apr 2020 · 21:09 UTC
Great concept, love the "material" of the black cube they fell dense, the blue ball felt really slick and reflected the fact that it moved so fast

I am not sure I understand the mine mecanic... do they explode multiple at once in a line ?
I mostly run back and forth between the start up place and the further i could go, dropping mine on the way to be sure I could come back, cause I was once caught in a black cube and could not move anymore...
got to 87 point and 160s I think in easy mode.

THe game would be better with a bit more explanation, even in the description on this page.
Also I felt like I was waiting for the next mine to appear, and that I was slow down by that.
YorisFresh
21. Apr 2020 · 21:11 UTC
Even after playing it for 10+ rounds i'm still kind of confused on how the main mechanic works, but every time i lost i restarted the game without thinking about it much. I think with some background music and reworking of the assets it could make an addictive mobile game!
hyunkelw
21. Apr 2020 · 21:25 UTC
couldn't play the game, it was just a black screen with the UI visible
kaeveris
24. Apr 2020 · 17:40 UTC
Cool and original idea! I would change the beginning to make it super easy (e.g. black boxes appearing super slowly) to understand the controls better as they are a bit confusing. I would also change the background from the default one to e.g. solid color
Bredian
28. Apr 2020 · 16:33 UTC
As far as I understood, the corrosion is entirely random, and that leaves no place for some kind of strategy, and thus, the fun of descision making(where should I place the next mine). Sometimes you get trapped near the mine generator and you can't do anything - you have to sit there until you lose. It would have been much better if you could control the detonations of every single mine.
Masaru
09. May 2020 · 22:47 UTC
315s and a score of 333 was my best ! Really cool game. As others have said, the mine mechanic is... weird ? I think it could be better if either the bombs could be triggered by the player (kind of doing a bomberman-style game) and/or if the corrosion spread into a pattern, which would mean that you could think about strategies to isolate part of it and let it die by itself for example (just an idea). Also, getting stuck on spawn and having to wait for randomness to deliver you isn't the best, but that also comes from the rest of the possible improvements. Too much randomness is too much.

But I have to say, running into a single block wide tunnel with my mine praying for no block to spawn in front of me to try to kerplode something back there and get some breathing room around spawn was super fun.
LCStark
10. May 2020 · 14:38 UTC
Congratulations on your first entry! It's pretty well done for your first game! If there is one thing I'd change, it's the camera location - currently, the perspective makes it difficult to see precisely where you're going. I'd also add a better explanation of game mechanics (like that vitality drops with time and you need to deploy mines before it drops to 0). Overall, it's a really good entry. Good job!
NunoRibeiro
10. May 2020 · 18:26 UTC
Very interesting concept and very fun. It could be explained better, but it didn't take long for me to understand the mechanic. Cool entry!
NiHuShu
10. May 2020 · 18:45 UTC
Looking at the graphics I wasn't expecting a lot but it turned out to be a really cool game. I was able to survive 300s and score 304 on easy mode. Interesting idea, it could use some music and better graphics but still a surprisingly good game :D
Artix312
11. May 2020 · 16:02 UTC
Sound effects are great, graphic is simple, but it looks cool! Very interesting concept and enjoyable gameplay.
PostMeridianGames
11. May 2020 · 20:40 UTC
A simple yet fun little game.
I ended up enjoying myself a lot even in easy mode !
fabula_rasa
12. May 2020 · 11:55 UTC
It's an interesting little puzzle game and a unique take on the theme. Very nice for a first jam! Gameplay is really enjoyable.

Some better graphics would definitely benefit the game :)
Abdulla Shuhair
12. May 2020 · 14:09 UTC
Game is well planned
Omickron
12. May 2020 · 14:23 UTC
A good and simple game based on saving lives. Like the more graphics, it would be better
JonasMumm
12. May 2020 · 14:37 UTC
I enjoyed finding a strategy that worked. My approach was abandoning the far right while focusing on keeping the left side alive, and it worked out very well! :) I appreciate the subtle political message behind it :D
My best time was 270s with a score of 247 on easy
Cancerous
12. May 2020 · 14:53 UTC
Game was simple and enjoyed the sound effects
good.enough
12. May 2020 · 15:32 UTC
Nice! I didn't know what to think at first, but it turned out to be a fun experience!
![KIAyy404score.png](///raw/445/2/z/3410c.png)
(on a side note, I just noticed that KIA could be keep it alive or killed in action.. kind of dichotomical if you ask me :P)
Duke
12. May 2020 · 17:42 UTC
I had troubles really understanding the mechanics of the game, even after lasting quite some time in the easy mode. I was just spamming capsules everywhere and sometimes, they would trigger and I would get points. I guess that black tiles were randomly spawning on top of the capsules and therefore also killing all surrounding black tiles (if there were any). But it everything was so uncertain that it was hard to really develop a strategy. That's also why I couldn't really enjoy playing it. It should be very clear, why the capsules are exploding and you get points. Maybe show the black tiles coming from above, so you can see where they land and why you get points. If they spawn and instantly vanish, it feels really off. The art was rough and a little uninspired. It would benefit a lot from some art direction. It's good to have sound feedback, thought the effects themselves felt kinda provisional. Basically the same feedback I had for the art.

All in all, a somewhat obtuse strategy(?) game with too much randomness for my taste. Would be good to give the player some agency and room for strategy :) Keep it up!
Daepso
12. May 2020 · 18:33 UTC
Quite a cool game for your first entry for Ludum Dare. I support what @duke said about the randomness. It would be great to improve the strategy aspect of where you place the capsule. This could be done by giving the player a hint on where the black cubes have a higher probability to spawn.
🎤 yy404
13. May 2020 · 15:33 UTC
Thanks everyone for all your comments!

I learnt a lot to improve myself and my game!

Sorry for any inconvenience and thank you again!