What the Firetruck!? by dvdfu

Play as a fire truck in a fire mayhem! You have 2 minutes to keep the city alive and prevent as many people from dying as possible. Put out fires, send people to rescue helicopters, and avoid car accidents to prevent the fire from spreading...
CONTROLS
- Move - WASD
- Shoot Water - Arrow Keys
- Dual-stick controller supported!
TIPS
- You need to refill water every now and then! Just move next to a fire hydrant
- People need to be rescued - touch them to pick them up, then move under the helicopter to send them to safety
- Your truck moves slower when carrying more people
- Sometimes, car drivers will not be nice!
| Youtube | https://dvdfu.itch.io/what-the-firetruck |
| Youtube | https://github.com/dvdfu/ld46 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/what-the-firetruck |
Ratings
| Overall | 20th | 4.348⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 2th | 4.545⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 78th | 4.106⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 390th | 4.061⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 102th | 4.5⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 76th | 4.197⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 85th | 4.125⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 216th | 4.047⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 15🗳️ | 18🗨️ |
After several tries, I think the difficulty changes too fast. It is quite easy for the first minute and then quickly turns into chaos, I never got a good score in the end (but maybe I just need more training :p). Overall, it is very fun to play.
A few more levels would have been nice, but understand the restrictions of LD.
A great entry, good luck with your results!
If you decide to develop this idea further here is some feedback:
1. The goal is not very clear from the start. Would it be more beneficial to put down some fires or rather deliver more people to helicopters?
2. Controlling the water with a keyboard is harder than with a gamepad.
3. Would be nice to have some mini-map or pointers to the nearest fire. Currently it is not clear enough what the player should focus on.
Overall, it's a great game! You should have more ratings =)
The beginning seems a bit slow, unless you force cars to crash into buildings. But I can imagine it being hard to balance seeing how quickly it becomes chaotic in the later half of the time.
Reaching some of the survivors is also quite hard when they're between buildings that are close to each other. It could be nice to have them head towards the firetruck if you're close enough.
Also, I loved the main menu mixed in as a short tutorial, it's perfect!
Not sure if my little firetruck was more helpful or hurtful to the city at large...It sure was fun, though! The music really fits the vibe too.
Probably the most wanted quality of life improvement I'd like is an indicator on the edge of the screen for off-screen fires, and more importantly, for the position of the rescue helicopter :)
I didn't really know when I was doing well or bad in that I felt like I could almost always just put out fires and save people pretty quickly - perhaps if you burned up and respawned and lost some seconds if your fire truck got too damaged that would add more incentive and feedback on playing well?
very fun concept, i like how the report text adapts to the stats
for completion's sake, i tried with keyboard as well. while it is more restrictive, it's not a problem in the game, i even got a better score than with a joystick.
I love the cute art style and the bouncyness when you hit the buildings and such. Also thought the gameplay mechanics were really good. You were frantically running around trying to put out fires, but then you gotta save the people and then take them to the helicopter, but also have to manage your water. It sounds like a lot of things to keep track of, but it all just flows together for a very nice gameplay loop.
I loved the little touches how when the people got ran over by a car a tombstone popped up. Also the beginning tutorial was simple and effective, I really liked how it was basically the intro screen. The music felt like it fit the game and the sound effects were cute too.
About the only thing I can think of was that while you hear the initial crashes you can assume there is a fire but if you miss that you might not realize there is a fire. I dunno if burning sounds would of helped this or some visual indicator (maybe an animating flame icon in the hud, or directional arrows to the fires). The map is somewhat small so it's not a huge deal b/c you just drive around the city and if you hear a crash find the fire.
The only real issue I had was not major, but I was trying to rescue some guys and they went into the bottom collision barrior so I couldn't get them, but eventually they left it and I was able to pick them up
Solid entry, well done.
The controls and the feeling are great and the arts are lovely!
Great game!
This is outright a legit full tiny game.
Graphics and audio are amazing, and the game itself feels very polished.
And smaller mechanics like refilling water, or collecting people (which slows you down) really makes you try to plan ahead.
But game's chaotic nature ruins all these plans, which is, probably the point.
I love it!
I only wish watering had a different sound.
great job people!
**https://github.blog/2020-05-15-ludum-dare-46-staff-picks** `<3`
