The Lars Mission by Honest Dan
Controls WASD to move. E to interact. Minigames require keyboard typing, A & D, entering numbers and dragging sliders.
Objective Delay the inevitable end to your settlement on Mars as long as you can to board as many researchers as you can onto your rocket ship. Overcooked vibes with hints of Among Us mini games, set in a beautiful sci-fi laboratory.
FAQ: We've had people ask, and YES, our music was created by our very own developer @brainoid! I also created the sounds, so please do rate us in the Audio category!
Streaming Our Game? Unreal games often run poorly in OBS. We recommend adding the game to your scene as a "Game Capture" and checking the "Limit capture framerate" option. Also try checking the VSync option on / off in the game options.
* YOU DO NOT NEED TO READ THE REST - OPTIONAL BACKSTORY AND MECHANIC EXPLANATIONS *
THE LARS MISSION
The Problem:
The GROWTH, an invasive species of plant, is expanding rapidly, consuming the planet! A dangerous large growth, known as the MOTHER VINE is destroying everything we’ve ever built. We need to get off this planet, abandoning the planet, leaving our settlements and precious research equipment behind.
The Solution:
The only way off this planet is via my ROCKET. The trouble is, all the other RESEARCHERS are still at their settlements and need to make their way here. I must delay the inevitable Growth for as long as I can, to allow as many of my fellow researchers as possible to escape with me!
You don't need to read this before playing, but if you're not short on time - have a read :)
REMINDERS:
The Generator
Keep the GENERATOR fuelled! It powers most of the lab’s equipment. Remember to fill the FUEL CAN at the FUEL TANK before refuelling the generator!!
The Greenhouse
Keep the GREENHOUSE watered to continue growing our medical herbs Remember to fill the WATERING CAN at the WATER PUMP before watering the crops!! Use the WATER PUMP to resupply its water supply CROPS will grow as long as the greenhouse soil isn’t dry Remember to HARVEST fully grown crops to allow new plants to grow. HARVESTED CROPS will be used to produce the PREFLIGHT BOOSTER SHOT.
The Researchers
Keep your eyes and ears open for RESEARCHERS arriving at the MAIN DOOR Open the MAIN DOOR to allow RESEARCHERS into the Lab Remember the Lab needs to re-pressurise for a duration after opening the MAIN DOOR RESEARCHERS will only board the rocket once they’ve had their PRE-FLIGHT BOOSTER SHOT Remember to HARVEST CROPS to produce additional PREFLIGHT BOOSTER SHOTS
The Growth
Use the CHAINSAW to remove any growth that’s obstructing lab equipment If the MOTHER VINE gets to our lab, it’ll destroy the rocket and we’ll be doomed. Delay the MOTHER VINE by hitting it regularly with missiles using MISSILE CONTROL Remember the SATELLITE needs to be aligned to use MISSILE CONTROL
The Rocket
The ROCKET can only launch after COMPILING THE LAUNCH CODE Board to the ROCKET when ready to depart Remember to delay as long as possible - we must SAVE as many RESEARCHERS as possible!!
Housekeeping
Remember to put back the CHAINSAW, FUEL CAN and WATERING CAN back where you found them!
Currently @TeamChooChoo is the highscore leader.
Special Thanks Rubixqubed for testing our build!
| Link | https://honestdan.itch.io/the-lars-mission |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/the-lars-mission |
Ratings
| Overall | 12th | 4.386⭐ | 85🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 34th | 4.205⭐ | 85🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 82th | 4.018⭐ | 86🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 74th | 4.286⭐ | 86🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 14th | 4.701⭐ | 89🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 20th | 4.402⭐ | 89🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 92th | 4.106⭐ | 87🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 77th | 4.238⭐ | 86🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 153🗳️ | 272🗨️ |
You did a good job.
I had a bug though, sometimes when I missclick a slider, my mouse is gone and I have to ALT+TAB to see it again.
But overall, an excellent entry.
Everything else worked great together and I think the game could easily scale with more rooms, more stations and more tasks! There is a point about five minutes in when the humor of the situation really kicks in. The seventh or eighth crew member you let through the door who then immediately runs up to the tool tables to block your path makes you wonder to yourself, "Huh, really wish some of these block heads could lend a hand with such simple tasks. Of course not. Better start praying to the vine mom." This is where games like this really shine! I think your team will do great if you decide to take it to market.
Overall i really enjoyed it and its clear a lot of good work was put into this gamejam project from everyone involved, great job!
@bastienre4 Yes, we will try and get a fix for that - some issue with multiple UI elements interfering with each other! Glad you found a work around. And I agree, @spacey3d knocked it out the park with the graphics!
I didn't quite get what you were supposed to do to get the launch codes. When I opened the computer it's just a black screen...
Also, the game crashed when I was refueling the generator.
Overall nice job! You really put a lot of effort into this and it shows!
@mateusboga Sorry to hear about the crash :( as for the launch code, the text at the top says "Enter the following text:" and then has a phrase underneath. You type the phrase, and it will fill the screen with code then compile when you've finished typing. Thanks for taking the time to play and give feedback :)
What a timing, you just updated the itch.io page (probably uploading a bugfixed version) and the download button seems to be gone. Send me a message (mention me in a comment here) once it is back online so I can play it. ^^
@beefsock really appreciate the comments and the company during the LD jam streams. Its really draining, and sometimes during the jam I question if I am really enjoying it, but always at the end it feels worth it!
I was quite lost in what to do, the big text tutorial almost lost me at the beginning, Have to admit. For me, it lacks a bit of in-game feedback, the voice is not enough for my tired brain that is not native English. Haha.
But it was cool and it's very well done! So great work!
But obviously, it is not very intuitive. That could be the criticism here :D
Thanks again!
Any ideas for more in-game feedback? At the moment there are lights on every device that change colour when they are not operational (Blue is good, Red is out of action), the machines vibrate aggressively when the vines entangle them, and the lab ai voice announces almost all of the issue that can occur with the equipment. Do you think something like a list of problems on the HUD/UI would be something that would have helped?
The tutorial we worked hard to condense down to 5 points, that you can bring up at any time by pressing tab - it may be less overwhelming if you don't try and memorise it all and check it whenever you feel like "I'm not sure what to do".
Hmmm a list would have helped yes or especially maybe a gauge that empties or something like that to indicate in real time the state of each object at a glance and be able to plan our actions accordingly.
For example to be able to see the water gauge in real time without having to put down the tool we have in hand and then go use the water machine. That kind of thing.
And sorry, the comment may seems negative, but it's not, I'm frankly surprised about the work you did, frankly well done!
I also absolutely love the coding jokes.
Congrats on a really cool entry!
A hectic game, but I loved keeping all the tasks in balance. Finally managed to escape with all(?) 5 of the scientists.
Poor lizards tho .__.
Thanks for game, and I wish you luck!
@niklas-zhaga thanks very much! 9 is really good! I think the highest we've watched someone get is 12!
@sloke-t thanks for feedback - sorry about that, sometimes you can get "stuck" on machines, usually pressing E again will "disengage" you from it. I hope you still had a good time though!
@arya-s I am glad at least some appreciate the humour snuck in there hahaha!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcnBUgfPhe8
The little floppy vines were great every time too :D
PS: I'm tweeting about the games I play from this jam, here is yours: https://twitter.com/TheAntonSem/status/1512132524964732936
Like I said on the comment I threw on your game, I envy the scope of your game. Minimal controls <3 I wish we could keep it that simple <3
Had the pleasure to finally play it early today and I'm glad I did!
**THINGS I LIKED:**
- The audio, it was amazing, the intensity, it felt so hectic and I was just Kreying my gasms while pogging my champs.
- The different "minigames", nice variety and not too easy at all! I loved the missile thing with the coordinates, great concept!
- The lizard. I love them.
- The main menu, both the button feedback AND the little dudes on the background.
- I liked the 5/5 goal rather than running a timer.
Top notch submission! Had a good time playing it!
I giggled when I forgot the semicolon.
So much talent.
The only mechanical feedback I can give is spamming chainsaw shouldn't penalize you. but I mean it's such a small thing and only a problem if the player is crazy like me and spamming eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
highlight: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1449896005?t=00h07m30s
Great job on this
Blep
Stunning visuals, immersive music and sfx, lots of humor. Well done all around!
The only thing that might need a bit of improvement is the learning curve. A small tutorial that explains every system in a non-stress environment. Not asking it from a jam entry that has so many other things though
Loved it :heart:
Thanks for bringing it to my stream @brainoid! Here's a recording in case you'd like to refer to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WudvDztkwdg
The gameplay was also pretty good, but a little tricky to understand at first. I did mostly skim past the explanations, but only because they were hard to understand without context.
There are a couple of minor things I could complain about, like how it wasn't immediately evident how compiling the rocket code would work, or how maybe the water tank could have been more obviously a water tank, but these really are minor complaints.
I also ran into a bug, I think: on my first couple of attempts, the plants didn't seem to grow at all, despite me keeping them fully hydrated. Maybe I was doing something wrong, but on my third try they grew just fine and I think I did nothing different.
These kinds of bugs and issues are completely understandable. All in all this was a very impressive game.
@caudatecoder thank you, really nice to see - as I missed the live stream! :D
@thebooksnail yeah the sweetspot mechanic I've seen a few do wrong - its been hard to watch someone stand there for like 60 seconds as the fuel tank trickles full! Thanks for playing :)
@escapade 100% agree with a tutorial! If we had another half a day :D
An catchy concept, an 3D well animated game, and the believing that you can save more searcher in the next game
At an certain moment, you doesn't only play to the game but talk like him (yes i have to do the Nininini sound, and after I have to bip the door)
For me it was not juste a playing session with too much flex and clutch than the guys of the team hated me for dying stupidly at each try
But I have got 3 achievement :
* Launch the rocket without electricty (Thrust me I'm an Engineer)
* Play a game in hard mode (without the beautiful sound effect of the interaction)
* Save 31 searcher
Its the end off my emotional feedback on the game
For the Techinical Feedback:
I think for the missil and plant and external UI is needed (I never sure about when an plant is full grow or just (80% done) perhaps for the plant a switch color ? or an led under the plant can be an good idea ?)
The other UI of the watering plan more on the left (Its hard to naturaly understand that is associated with the watering functionality)
They are some curious moment with pathfinding of the searcher (like when you refull the water and the searcher to pass by this road to take an antidote, the searcher just stop near you (and fix you with a creepy look (or it's juste on my head))
Im also not sure about the Satellite feature (in one or two of my game, I didn't have to re-align this module and that make a more easier (perhaps to easier) run)
Have a great day - thanks for that great moment I spent testing your game
PS: I just found one small bug, when I select the quality in Options, choosing any of the non-High ones changes the font for all the four quality buttons:
Very nice one! Kept you busy but was not overwhelming.
Look at who got a new high score :p
I tried to rescue Lars and his fellow researchers on my [HaaYaargh](https://www.twitch.tv/haayaargh) stream the other day.
Beginnings were difficult because there was a lot to learn. The tutorial page was helpful but didn't feel like I have enough time to read all of that carefully once I was in the game. After the first fail things become more clear and I began to have more fun hastily walking around doing various tasks.
Mini-games were on point and varied in difficulty and time necessary to complete them. Typing commands and rocket aiming jobs were most unique for me, if it was co-op, I would be on typing and aiming duty constantly! :) Slider thing was a nice simple touch. Refueling was most underwhelmed as it didn't even have a mini-game like water pumping, despite both being liquids of some sort.
The visuals and sounds were great. The sounds were very funny, especially cutting vines. I can tell you all had a lot of fun making these.
I would prefer a more top-down view, not entirely from top, but a slightly higher camera, because sometimes equipment obscured my vision. Visual language telling me something is about to break up wasn't clear for some time to me, later I learnt that it has blue and red/orange alarm, but in a general nervous atmosphere, it was easy to overlook. Sometimes plants visually looked like they are ready to be chopped or at least pruned a little, but you couldn't do any preventive work on them before they grow large enough.
Overall, great game (even though I had so many complaints above). Definitely co-op potential if you ever decide to continue the project. I will keep my fingers crossed for that :fingers_crossed:
:herb: :alien: :rocket:
[Glad I was able to play this on stream!](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1457959497?t=03h49m53s)
I still contest that I beat the game on my first run fair and square. :angry:
As usual, Lars remains #1 in my heart :heart:
I always feel like there's a million little details that go into the games you make, and I try to notice as many as I can. Like the way the camera moves when you go to realign the radar dish; you didn't have to add that bit, but it makes the game better to see the dish actually moving. or the shiny copper texture on the sides of the cabinets holding the equipment, and the little light-up logos that show which piece of equipment goes where. or the way the medical plants actually look like succulents with the thickness of the leaves and the shiny-ness. or the way the sliders change color to tell you when you've hit the right spot. a million tiny little details, that really add up to aid that suspension of disbelief and make things more fun. Nice work!
@bauke-regnerus it is not John, I swear!! Well, actually, we should check with spacey... maybe she used him as a reference....
Only things I'd add: let us look at water amount and fuel amount without bringing the watering can (or gasoline thingymajig)
Great entry!
https://www.marykayintouch.website/