Sky signal by Kit Gorn
Controls:
- TAB — Menu
- Mouse — Camera
- W — Move forward
- S — Move backward
- F — Flashlight
- Q — Send signal
- R — Return to checkpoint
Objective:
Reach the lighthouse to send a signal.
Story:
Sky and his four loyal companions ventured into the very heart of danger—a derelict mining planet. Their mission was to scan deep veins of rare ore hidden within the bowels of this dead world. However, the universe itself chose to test their resolve: at the moment of descent, the local star unleashed a massive solar flare.
A violent electromagnetic pulse instantly blinded their navigation systems, turning a controlled landing into a chaotic freefall. The escape pods were scattered across the planet's lifeless surface. Now, barely recovering from a crash landing amidst the wreckage, Sky must traverse the wastes alone, locate his stranded friends, and, against all odds, see the mission through to the end.
Управление:
- TAB - Меню
- Мышь - Камера
- W - Движение вперед
- S - Движение назад
- F - Фонарик
- Q - Послать сигнал
- R - Вернуться к контрольной точке
Цель игры:
Добраться до маяка, чтобы отправить сигнал.
История:
Sky и четверо его верных соратников отправились в самое сердце опасности — на заброшенную планету-рудник. Их целью были глубинные жилы редкой руды, скрытые в недрах этого мертвого мира. Однако сама Вселенная решила испытать их на прочность: в момент посадки на местном светиле произошла мощная вспышка. Яростный электромагнитный импульс мгновенно ослепил системы навигации, превратив управляемый спуск в хаотичное падение. Спускаемые капсулы разметало по безжизненной поверхности планеты. Теперь Sky, едва оправившемуся после жесткого приземления среди обломков, предстоит в одиночку пересечь пустоши, отыскать разбросанных друзей и, вопреки всему, довести миссию до конца.
| Link | https://kitgorn.itch.io/sky-signal |
| Link | https://kitgorn.itch.io/sky-signal |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/sky-signal |
Ratings
| Overall | 583th | 3.352⭐ | 46🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 694th | 2.909⭐ | 46🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 679th | 2.92⭐ | 46🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 369th | 3.852⭐ | 46🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 690th | 3.045⭐ | 46🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 416th | 3.307⭐ | 46🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 554th | 2.41⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 319th | 3.802⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 43🗳️ | 67🗨️ |
I was a bit confused at first about how to control the rover’s left and right movement using the mouse.
A really good 3D game :thumbsup:
The music used to be more complex, but it required more time to refine. So I simplified it to three notes. It literally has three bass notes and a delay.
Cons:
- The background music was a bit repetitive
- Gameplay is kind of repetitive. Some kid of upgrade for Sky like a shooter that lets you blast stuff open would be killer
- Shadows/lighting are too harsh
- Flashlight is too soft
- Terrain fidelity is too low (character got stuck a lot)
Pros:
- The story actually made me care for the little robots. Poor Jade :( lol
- The title screen having an intro animation was really cool.
- The graphics meshed well together
- The controls have no glaring issues or bugs
- Having a return to checkpoint button was very smart in a game like this where you can get stuck and lose progress
- SFX on the engine motor is good
Overall you did a great job!
What was planned:
- Two endings: With two different final cutscenes.
- Constant energy search: There would be ore scattered across the map acting as an energy source.
- A more complex story in the mine: Sky was supposed to find a deep-sea radar from Rust. That’s where we meet Mars. During the scan, Mars was meant to perish right before our eyes.
- Search mechanics: Our antenna was intended to work as a radar for finding items—the closer the object, the more frequent the signal.
- Upgrade - Jump: At some point, we would have had to jump across platforms.
- Upgrade - Sprint: Using Shift for high-speed driving to escape a collapsing cave.
- More complex music: I decided not to spend too much time on it, which is why there are only three notes.
What I realized for myself: "Terrain" is quite limiting when it comes to creating controlled landscapes. It’s better to use it only as a base layer for the ground.
Thanks for the detailed feedback. It really gives me a lot to think about to make the game better!
These are my thoughts:
- the lighting is too harsh: the shadows are way darker in comparison of the light area. A texture for terrain (a rocky one is perfect) with low to 0 smoothness would solve 90% of the problem.
- the title screen is animated (that's a good thing, especially for a game jam).
- terrain is quite interesting... the thing is that you see lots of tall mountains. I'd do a smoothness for them to be honest, but I guess this is how you want to look like. Not complaining about this aspect, but the roads where the rover could go feel sometimes off. In some areas the rover is stuck and need to do a turn to avoid them.
- I don't know if this planet has an atmosphere, and if it doesn't, it would be nice to have some stars in the sky.
Overall, good job! :smile:
@paulsams Да, действительно все так. Но свой запланированный минимум я все же сделал, хоть и в последний час. Да какие-то вещи я не успел внедрить, но они были оверзадачей. Так что джем прошел по плану. В дальнейшем я буду стараться больше времени оставлять для полишинга игры.
@anku Спасибо, я учту. Раньше я делал звук тихим и люди просто его не слышали, поэтому на этот раз сделал погромче, но оставил возможность регулировки. Я добавил версию для скачивания и в ней звук уже выставлен на 40%.
@ternarycat На заставку я потратил 3 часа. Но считаю оно того стоило. Не успел финальную заставку сделать и пожертвовал время на проработку геймплея. Но что есть то есть. Нужного эфффекта я надеюсь мне удалось достичь.
@hdvr02 Согласен, пожертвовал геймплейными элементами в пользу нарратива и эффектной заставки. Была бы игра лучше с задуманным геймплеем, но без заставки? Может быть. Но мне хотелось ее сделать.
@planetary
- I agree, a texture would have been nice. However, I would have had to draw it myself since I built everything from scratch, or rely on the engine's native features.
- Yeah, I spent 3 hours on the splash screen, but it was worth it.
- I made the terrain in a rush. I haven't worked with it much before, so I didn't fully understand how to make it behave the way I wanted. I had to figure it out on the fly.
- Yes, I had some ideas for the stars—either generating them as separate objects with textures or creating a custom Skybox texture. I decided it was a low priority, though, as it wouldn't have changed much.
@sledzik I agree, it’s definitely missing an end screen.
Music works well, it gets repedetive but for the short duration it is fine.
The world had it's rough spots but a bit back and forth does wonders :smile:
I like the story a lot.
It would be great to be able to look around with the mouse, while driving in another direction (e.g. move with WASD)