LudumData

🌎 Planet Unstable - The Law of Balance by Stefan B.

[raw]
made by Stefan B. for Ludum Dare 49 (JAM)

logo.png Nothing can be stable, if the planet isn‘t. This ecosystem is delicate and needs your supervision. Here the heroes don’t wear capes, but are invisible forces balancing nature’s power. Too hot? Shift the clouds! Too much rain? Move the atmosphere! The planet’s population needs your help. The power is in your hands.

Are you ready to save the world?

When it's too hot clouds can help. When it's too rainy the sun can help. I think you get the point. ;) Use your mouse or thumb to rotate the planet and the atmosphere in the right angle to keep the planets temperature in a perfect balance.

. start_game 1.png

"The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say - we will never forgive you." - UN Climate Summit, New York, 23 September 2019

We think that climate change should be more actively woven into todays world. We hope our game is making a small contribution towards this goal. Note: We're aware that our game is not representing the real physical causes of climate change but rather acts as a fun little time killer.

Screenshots

screenshots_v2.png

Tools we used

  • Game Engine: Godot
  • Music: LMMS (+ some Greta Thunberg audio quotes from YouTube)
  • 3D Models: Blender
  • Project Management: Github
HTML5 (web) https://share.neugelb.com/ld49/
macOS https://share.neugelb.com/ld49/planet-unstable.dmg
Windows https://share.neugelb.com/ld49/planet-unstable.exe
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/planet-unstable-the-law-of-balance

Ratings

Overall 1185th 3.176⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1457th 2.541⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 409th 3.622⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Theme 471th 3.838⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 953th 3.382⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Audio 526th 3.472⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1010th 2.5⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Mood 981th 3.194⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Given 35🗳️ 49🗨️

Feedback

yellow-basti
04. Oct 2021 · 21:58 UTC
Anyone who reaches a year higher than 3000 is a complete genius. Screenshot or it didn't happened..
Silurus
04. Oct 2021 · 23:25 UTC
The game is nice, I reached 50 population!
I did not manage to go further.

The music and graphics are cool.

good job!
PressStartEarly
04. Oct 2021 · 23:37 UTC
I would have loved a few more tips on what to do in game but overall I really liked it! Loved your take on the them! gg!
chesiq
05. Oct 2021 · 11:54 UTC
Interesting concept! I could not figure out what to do in the game unfortunately, and just kept dying repeatedly. Also, for some reason the sounds are cracking and popping, so I gave up on trying to figure out what to do. The animated planet looked cool tho!
Cookie_CHR
05. Oct 2021 · 19:52 UTC
I lost before even realizing what I had to do, so I suppose it fits the theme well!
Maxathon
05. Oct 2021 · 19:59 UTC
Very ambitious to do a "balance the ecosystem" game for the jam. Very cool execution.
Pennycook
05. Oct 2021 · 22:37 UTC
The idea is a good take on the theme, but like @chesiq I experienced lots of cracking and popping. I'm not sure whether I couldn't figure out what to do, or if things were made harder by a lack of responsiveness. I don't think my laptop is powerful enough to render your models -- at least not in the browser -- since the cracking and popping disappears if I switch tabs while the game is open.

Do you have any plans to release a Linux build, or a cutback version that isn't so GPU-hungry? If so, please let me know and I'll give things another go...
Div00
06. Oct 2021 · 08:36 UTC
@pennycook thanks for your feedback :heart: Linux build is on plan, will let you know once it's published.
legionGrifst
06. Oct 2021 · 16:02 UTC
My web versions slowed down and the sound crashed
I downloaded and hung in the game an interesting mechanic under the theme of jam, convenient control and difficulty. Good job !!!
Dizzydon
07. Oct 2021 · 17:21 UTC
now this is epic.
chromableedstudios
09. Oct 2021 · 07:05 UTC
I can't really figure out the controls? but the music is dope and remixes nicely when the html5 version crawls/glitches :)
🎤 Stefan B.
10. Oct 2021 · 12:01 UTC
HINT: move the planet and the atmosphere with the mouse or cursor and A/D keys.
Yes, the html5 version atm is a bit "unstable" ;)
Basset Romain
10. Oct 2021 · 13:39 UTC
Greta makes me laugh, nice game. Too bad that we have to play several games in order to really understand the mechanics.
Piper Thompson
10. Oct 2021 · 20:00 UTC
No chance of understanding what the game wanted me to do - always died instantly without any clue why...
Astramorae
10. Oct 2021 · 20:44 UTC
It has been pretty hard for me to understand what I should do and what I shouldn't. The game says "need light and water" or "it's really hot there!" but where? I tried to use rain on surface, and nothing happened except all people died.
However, the game itself really good. I can see simple mechanics based on light, temperature and water, and I believe the game can be better by implementing a better feedback. Or tutorial like "rain here, green grows" or "place aerials here to low temperature". It seems many iterations could be nice tutorial, and that's good idea but they are too short for me to understand how to play. Anyway, the game is really meditative.
aldorado
10. Oct 2021 · 21:34 UTC
Nicely done! When the window is in focus on the html build, the audio lags. Besides of that, cool music, nice graphics and an interesting take on the ui
LDJam user 271014
10. Oct 2021 · 21:54 UTC
I like the audio here, it fits the game very well! I lost about 8 times in a row, before managing to carry 1 population all the way to 2020 before dying. I think the biggest thing that would improve the game would be giving the player more immediate feedback on how they're doing. Maybe some adding some UI meters (like temperature, humidity, etc) would help, so that way the player could more easily evaluate the effect of what they're doing on the planet. I mostly felt like I was moving the clouds around randomly and trying to react to the little news pop-ups. That said, I really appreciate the ecological take on the theme; it's very relevant and not a topic explored by many games.
Nikl
11. Oct 2021 · 12:22 UTC
Nice graphics and fitting music. The controls are interesting, but took a bit to figure out. I think a quick win would be to display more simulation stats like the humidity and temperature.