Lord of the Packets by Zennith

You are the soul manager of the KeepAlive packets being sent to and from LD Inc. You job is to keep the packets flowing back to the clients connected to the server before the timeout limit is hit. You don't want to face the angry wrath of the clients, hell bent on submitting games, do you?
Version 0.1.1 BUG FIX:
Input Slots were not clearing once a package was sent.
This would prevent players from loading packages into previously used slots.
Rules:
Using the text commands, move the incoming packets into any input column to begin processing it.
To resolve the data in each input you must unscramble the word given. (Hint: They are numbers)
Command Order:
1.) load
2.) extract
3.) resolve
4.) repack
5.) send
commands are as follows:
start: starts the service
load packageNumber inputSlot: loads the package into input
extract-data inputSlot: extract package data
resolve-data inputSlot solution: resolves package data with the given solution
repack-data inputSlot: repackages data into package
send inputSlot: sends package to client
exit: quit the service
Command Structure:
load [packageNumber] [inputName]
extract-data [inputName]
resolve-data [inputName] [solution]
repack-data [inputName]
send [inputName]
Example Commands:
load 0 input0
extract-data input0
resolve-data input0 forty-five
repack-data input0
send input0
HTML5 build coming soonish - HTML5 build is now published!
| Youtube | https://zennith.itch.io/lord-of-the-packets |
| Youtube | https://zennith.itch.io/lord-of-the-packets |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/lord-of-the-packets |
Ratings
| Overall | 2213th | 2.979⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 2263th | 2.688⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 438th | 3.708⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1935th | 3.271⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 2083th | 2.792⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 1887th | 2.143⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 2194th | 2.682⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 24🗳️ | 21🗨️ |
Firstly, there needs to be a tutorial here. Yes, you have detailed instructions on the game page, but people either don't read that or forget what they just read. A tutorial doesn't have to be anything complicated, just have the first package be a tutorial level. Disable the timer during the tutorial, and highlight next command the player has to type.
Secondly, there's not really that much gameplay here because you lose after a certain time no matter what. I wish you'd get more time when you send a package, and that the timer runs down faster as the game progresses. Or maybe the packages would come in continously, and the timer is only going down when you have a number of packages in the queue. Like, make it an overheat meter as opposed to a timer.
Thirdly, and this is a minor one, I feel like the commands are unnecessarily difficult to type. Instead of 'extract-data', why not just 'extract', or 'resolve' instead of 'resolve-data'? Also, instead of input fields being named 'inputX' and packages being named 'X' where X are numbers, why not do just inputs as a single letter and packages as a single number? So for example, instead of 'resolve-data input0 0' it would be 'resolve a 0'.
So seems like you've got a nugget of something cool here but didn't quite make it all the way.
Looks like the LD website is going to go down. :-P
need to add restart button into game - now need to reload page to restart. and at first you realy need to try much, while learning, so you need add some stuff from real command lines here. for example, add return of last command to input by pressing up key.
@xart2012 - Hey! Thanks for the feedback. A reset button would have been really nice to have and, yeah, I would have loved to add more realistic command line functionality but sadly I didn't have time. Thanks again for you feedback!
- Autocomplete (and shorter commands). You know, you know ;)
- I'm not sure why the slots need to be named *input*0..3. Wouldn't 0 to 3 have done the job as well?
- The gameplay is extremely repetitive, and many of the steps seem unnecessary as is. I'm looking at you, resolve-repack-send sequence. I think this could've been mitigated a bit by requiring different things to be done to different packages?
- A visual state of what each package is currently in would've been nice.
- Right now, having multiple input slots feels unneeded, since I can only actively process one anyway. Maybe some commands don't complete immediately and will be run in the background until they come back? (That could also enable a "limited memory" mechanic if you ever feel like adding more mechanics.)
As is, this seems like a game with potential, but it's really repetitive and not much fun *yet*. I'm sure you could get it there though!
Yeah, looking back I'm not quite sure why I went with input0 instead of just 0. Must have been sleep deprivation :þ
As for the repetitiveness and multiple input slots, I had originally planned out some different package types to watch for, kinda give it a 'Papers Please' feel where you'd have to do extra steps for certain packages and while waiting for those you could try and process more. That got tossed out due to lack of time though :(
I like your idea about the visual state. Maybe change it after every command is processed.
Again, thanks for the excellent feedback!