Unicast Network Simulator by Richard Baltrusch

[raw]
made by Richard Baltrusch for Ludum Dare 53 (COMPO)

(July 30th 1982) Your boss left you in the server room to fix the unicast packet router, and told you to deliver little blue network packets as long as possible before the system combo zeroes out completely. All he handed you before leaving were some number keys to move around...

Controls: - 1-9 to move - R/Enter to restart - F to fullscreen - M to mute - Escape to close

A game by Richard Baltrusch. Written in Python 3.8 with pygame.

gameplay.gif

screenshot.png

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Ratings

Overall 134th 3.729⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 198th 3.396⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 16th 4.25⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Theme 80th 4.188⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 248th 3.396⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Audio 174th 3.391⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Mood 143th 3.5⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Given 22🗳️ 34🗨️

Feedback

yoddaa
01. May 2023 · 14:01 UTC
love the concept good job.
tomrijnbeek
01. May 2023 · 14:13 UTC
Such an original idea, I love it. The unique control system adds a new challenge layer to the game, and the graphics and music just fit. I did have to restart a few times just to get a map that didn't have too many connections too close together since sometimes it was hard to see which number corresponded to which direction, so that could've used some polish, but overall lovely game!
🎤 Richard Baltrusch
01. May 2023 · 14:47 UTC
@tomrijnbeek thank you for the kind comment! I did start to work on a fix for overlapping node connections, unfortunately ran out of time to implement a "risky" feature (changing the map gen completely) just before the deadline. Glad you liked it!
HUGETUBE
01. May 2023 · 15:50 UTC
Pretty god damn nice and a cool visual style definitely very unique!
tompudding
01. May 2023 · 15:52 UTC
I enjoyed this quite a lot. The theme is excellent, it looks beautiful, and bonus points for pygame! I also ran into the problem with dense node clusters, but my third map was interesting and I hung out on it for quite a while. Good job!
Calcopod
01. May 2023 · 16:02 UTC
One of the most original ideas I have seen so far! The style of the game is very distinguishable from others. The only problem I ran into, as others have mentioned, dense node clusters or, the opposite of that, a very sparse map.

Even so, one great entry I could see turn into a full game!
Corporation
01. May 2023 · 19:12 UTC
Nice concept, simple gameplay and good implementation. As much as I like the style you were going for, I think this game would look good in the theme of medieval road. Well done!)
Douwe_Ravers
02. May 2023 · 20:09 UTC
Cool take on the theme. Network package delivery was not on my brainstorm list, dahm.
The concept was very original, I have never seen this stype of puzzle before. Very cool.

Game was very easy to learn and then the puzzle was just fun to perform. The only note I have is that once you have your previous goal the new goal doesn't spawn directly. That was annoying as you were just waiting while the ticker was going down.
Space_Games
03. May 2023 · 14:08 UTC
I've never seen a interpretation of the theme like this! This is super awesome!
LDJam user 158900
03. May 2023 · 20:21 UTC
very interesting
Cowgummiboy
03. May 2023 · 20:21 UTC
Oh wow i just now realized that the graph is randomly generated that is really cool. I loved the style of the game and it is a very cool interpretation of the theme. As was said before, it can be a bit hard to see which number corresponds to which connection but i got used to it after a while. All in all it is a very polished experience really nice job :)
benskca
03. May 2023 · 20:30 UTC
Love the visual style and sounds! The control scheme adds a lot to the game, having to think carefully about your inputs makes you have to plan your route and means you can't get away with button mashing at all. On one run I had a map with some close together connections that made it a little hard to traverse at times, but that being the only issue with random level generation in a jam game is very impressive :smile:
🎤 Richard Baltrusch
04. May 2023 · 20:55 UTC
@calcopod thanks for the encouraging comment! I agree the random mapgen needs some kinks ironed out. I actually have a ton of things noted down for this game, I may flesh it out further in the future :)
🎤 Richard Baltrusch
04. May 2023 · 20:56 UTC
@corporation that would require me to have art skills :laughing:
🎤 Richard Baltrusch
04. May 2023 · 20:59 UTC
@douwe-ravers thanks! The idea is the only thing that made me enter the jam, because I didn't really otherwise find delivery very inspiring.

ps: I didn't do a good job to visualise that in the game, but you actually need to pick up packets to have a target location :)
🎤 Richard Baltrusch
04. May 2023 · 21:09 UTC
@benskca Thanks for the kind comment! I agree that the inputs make this game more special than it otherwise would it - it kinda got me hooked on developing the concept :)
Untitled Studios
06. May 2023 · 19:42 UTC
Awesome take on the theme, with a unique and fun-to-master movement system. As others have mentioned, it might be helpful if in some cases it were a bit easier to see the label numbers.
Sylf
06. May 2023 · 19:55 UTC
We looove the graphics and sounds!
Cinterre
06. May 2023 · 21:24 UTC
Cool idea! I could see it getting quite fun and snappy if you had the time to sort out the overlaps. I would have liked to be able to use the numpad as well. The presentation is great overall. Nice work!
🎤 Richard Baltrusch
06. May 2023 · 21:43 UTC
@cinterre thanks for trying it out :) My main keyboard does not have a numpad, I just assumed that would work out of the box, but apparently not, thanks for the suggestion!
YurisCat
07. May 2023 · 05:49 UTC
Great concept and creativity, they really captivated me and immersed me in the game.:heart:
Harmadillo
07. May 2023 · 19:13 UTC
Nice game. The controls made it easy to pick up and some of the overlapping paths made learning the paths/moves interesting.
Stevie257
15. May 2023 · 20:13 UTC
The graphics in this game possess a handcrafted charm, showcasing the developer's creativity and personal touch