Defuse Run by dreadzilla

[raw]
made by dreadzilla for LD34 (JAM)
Collect all the fuel bombs before the timer runs out. You will get a small, time limited, throttle boost each time you pick up a fuel bomb.

Plan your route carefully as you must have enough speed to collect some of the bombs...

Ohh, and one more thing, you can only steer right and left (Two button controls!).


Controls:
A, D turns left or right.
Escape Pauses the game.


The game was made with Unreal Engine 4.10. My previous experience with the engine amounts to 8 hours the day before LD34.

I only used blueprints and no coding at all. The game is based on the starter project called Vehicle Advanced. I added the game mechanic of bombs, constant throttle, speed boosts and win/lose condition. The audio and graphics were all default from the engine (map was default and I just did some additional composition).

I am happy that I managed to make something even though I had practically no previous experience with the Unreal Engine. The game is also somewhat fun in my opinion. For my next Ludum Dare I think I would be less stressed if I use more familiar tools. :)

Hopefully I can make HTML5 work from a web server in a bit. If I manage to clean my code from junk I will upload it too.

Update: I added a web link.

From my own tests, it works in Chrome and Safari but not IE or Firefox. You may have to resize the web browser (Narrow is better). Sorry for the inconvenience about the screen ratio. :)

Unfortunately you will have to restart the game if you fall upside down. Escape button pauses the game and lets you restart.

Ratings

Coolness 41% 1679
Overall(Jam) 3.00 788
Fun(Jam) 2.77 809
Innovation(Jam) 2.45 912
Mood(Jam) 2.53 909
Theme(Jam) 3.24 835

Feedback

Quadnozzle
15. Dec 2015 · 23:26 UTC
It was fun, although I kept getting stuck in corners or upside down. Maybe implementing a mechanic where if you don't change position after a couple seconds, it picks up and moves your car so you can continue to play without restarting. It was fun to just drive around though!
MintArcade
16. Dec 2015 · 00:29 UTC
If not for driving upsidedown all the time and hopelisly stucking to every wall, it's a cool game idea.
fpwong
16. Dec 2015 · 00:43 UTC
Good work on this, this LD was also for me to learn UE4. Would have liked to see some more lighting / texturing, they make the game look a lot more polished with not much work.
juaxix
16. Dec 2015 · 17:50 UTC
Pretty good for your first game with unreal for ld!
zenmumbler
20. Dec 2015 · 15:59 UTC
Would've liked to try but a UE4 game with on normal quality setting is unplayable in VMWare ;) Will look back later for a web version or if you can add like a Low quality graphics option. Good that you're learning new stuff!
Nega Drive
20. Dec 2015 · 16:42 UTC
Fun game. It's a bit tricky to control at times, seems a bit too easy to flip over. Maybe add more weight to the car? Also the camera is a bit too zoomed in on the car. Otherwise its pretty good for a first time using UE4.
Xanjos
03. Jan 2016 · 18:24 UTC
Like others have said, the steering might need some tweaking to stop it flipping over at times otherwise this was a rather fun entry to play.
Bocodillo
03. Jan 2016 · 18:28 UTC
Very fun game but a little too easy to flip.
SuperDolfy
04. Jan 2016 · 20:16 UTC
I was able to drive while upside down :D
VDZ
04. Jan 2016 · 20:33 UTC
An interesting game, despite its technical shortcomings. Though the 'no brakes' idea has been done before, combining it with a Trackmania-like stunt track feels surprisingly fresh.

That said, having to manually restart whenever you flip over in a lightweight car on a track apparently designed to flip you over is more frustrating than fun. The game would've been much more fun if you could just respawn with a time penalty or something like that. The tendency for the car to flip over in midair after a ramp as well as the bumps in the road nearly guaranteed to flip you over felt rather unfair. The challenge to get the boxes despite your lack of control was fun though, when it worked properly.
Martin Vilcans
04. Jan 2016 · 20:46 UTC
Nice, and with some similarities to my game, just as you said! I found the brake button, so I could cheat, so it's not really two buttons. :-)
Brightstar
04. Jan 2016 · 22:10 UTC
It was fun. I got stuck on my back like a turtle a lot, though.
Big Cow
04. Jan 2016 · 22:40 UTC
The graphics of the car and track are really good. I imagine with more time this would be a really good looking game. The dynamics of the car made it hard to control but it was fun going round the loops and finding the boxes. Kinda reminded me of quarantine a bit. Well done!
🎤 dreadzilla
05. Jan 2016 · 20:24 UTC
Thanks for playing my game and for all the invaluable feedback!

I see that at least one of you found the handbrake button! (I forgot to remove it.) :-).

The most requested feature is the "reset vehicle" feature that I left out due to lack of time.

I should probably fix the physics a bit, to make it harder to flip upside down. (The Windows version seems a bit less sensitive with regard to physics.)