Scorched Asteroids! by svkj
An homage to the classic "Scorched Earth" (1991) game, except on asteroids hurtling through space!

| Link | https://svermeulen.itch.io/scorched-asteroids |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/scorched-asteroids |
Ratings
| Overall | 536th | 3.6⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 237th | 3.85⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 788th | 3.075⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 884th | 3.132⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 699th | 2.618⭐ | 19🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 644th | 3.447⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 25🗳️ | 7🗨️ |
Truth is we spent most of the jam just getting the gravity physics, asteroid rendering, level editor, and shot preview working at all :) In retrospect we definitely should have reduced our ambitions there and reserved more time for gameplay balancing
We also considered making it real time but it's not as fun when not using the mouse to aim (therefore local multiplayer isn't possible), and also this way it's more true to the original which we liked
It may be too easy or clunky, it's just a jam game. I enjoyed the little time I spent on it !
I think missiles should collide with enemy tanks though. I missed a great shot :(
The tanks not colliding with the missiles was a bug that I've now fixed
@gamedevsourcery Great idea about alternating who goes first. I've added this change too
Graphics are simple but nicely made which I think suits the game perfectly, a shame there's no AI so I couldn't really play it, but I imagine it's good fun. Hard to screw up a great formula like scorched earth.
My only gripe is the aiming system feels a bit clunky and unintuitive, I prefer the classic style where you manually adjust angle and force by holding keys.
Overall a great little jam game that nails it's scope perfectly, great work!
@martinboue Thanks! I'm assuming you mean the WASD/arrow keys for moving the tank. It is a bit strange because there is no "go forward/backward" button and instead you choose the absolute direction you want to go with WASD/arrow keys. I thought this would be less confusing than just forward/back because forward/back gets inverted when the tank is upside down
Re: turn time - I just re-publishing it with a change to have a bit longer turn times, and also reduced the move speed of the tanks (so users can't just drive to their opponent and shoot them directly as easily) so that may help a bit. I was also thinking maybe requiring that users "Ready Up" by hitting space bar before starting the timer and gaining control of their tank every turn.
I like how you did the land areas and break em.
maybe add indication when turn changes. and maybe small wait time in between if actually 2 users would be playing the same game with same keyboard and mouse, you need time to switch around.
Gameplay is clear and simple to learn. though shooting could be integrated to keyboard controls maybe? Like first move to place, then turn the gun where you want.
bit more time per turn would work, but I guess it's fast paced in a sense.
OR have little helper UI's showing what button moves in which direction.
Alternatively, you could change the movement entirely. Instead of tanks, perhaps a self launching kind of thing like angry birds? I think a neat way to go about it is to move by launching, let gravity take you around, then after the move phase, it goes into your shoot/action phase, then ends your turn if you didn't win.
I think experimenting would be good!
For the movement I'm a fans of left\right (and\or A\D) being counterclockwise and clockwise, in games like this.
Can easily see it expanded into a full game with enemy AI and different weapon types.
The gravity mechanic is an excellent addition to it. Getting trick shots perfectly and hitting the target feels really satisfying.
The game looks great, and I like the way the asteroids reshape after a hit. Though it does feel weird that I am changing the ground under the enemy tank when the shell hit a rock far above them. Seeing your explanation for it makes it a bit clearer, I guess I'll have to write an implementation of metaballs and do some experiments myself.
On the audio front the game is good too. All the needed sounds are there, and the background music is banging. It makes me feel more like I'm playing a scrolling shooter like Raptor rather than Scorched Earth, but it does hit the nostalgia button.
As for the controls - maybe changing the tank sprite to have a distinguishable front and back then controlling movement with A/D as forward/backward buttons would work better?