Nexus by denvil

[raw]
made by denvil for Ludum Dare 55 (COMPO)

Screenshot 2024-04-14 222339.png You have been selected as manager in Nexus. The world needs your heroes that you must summon and send down to the planet.

Screenshot 2024-04-14 222352.png New heroes are available from the portal store.

Controls

WASD, Arrows and gamepad to move around
SPACE for actions
ESC for menu
M to mute music

Gameplay

After picking up the instructions, you can get first hero from the portal store. Send your first hero down to the planet by carrying them to the pipes. Each available pipe will open when near it. All heroes are returned via the summoning portal after missions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAH0czjtwqI

Tools

  • Godot 4.2
  • Audacity
  • Blender 4.1
  • LMMS

Notes

  • I had plans for upgrade store but this was scrapped due time.

Ratings

Overall 338th 2.7⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Fun 352th 2.167⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 257th 3⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Theme 278th 3.05⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 176th 3.467⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Audio 197th 3.034⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Humor 240th 2.466⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Mood 306th 2.65⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Given 35🗳️ 41🗨️

Feedback

mrVentures
15. Apr 2024 · 02:16 UTC
I couldn't quite figure out how to play it. I was able to pickup the hero capsule once I purchase it but I was not able to figure out how to send him down to a planet. I like the idea though!
altaf-creator
15. Apr 2024 · 04:01 UTC
Yeah, I didn't really figure out how to play the game. The gameplay feels like it's just walking around. Probably because you can't really see the actions except than reading the quests board. I kinda see and get the idea and I think it's pretty nice!
LDJam user 3808
15. Apr 2024 · 05:02 UTC
@mrventures @altaf-creator Yes. That part is not really indicated. Pipes on the right side open when you are carrying hero capsules. When the pipe is open you can send the hero down to the planet. After this it is waiting game how they handle quests. Original idea had more of handling heroes with health, stamina and recall mechanism... maybe I will have time next time to implement those.
altaf-creator
15. Apr 2024 · 05:38 UTC
@denvil Hey! Thanks for replying!

> Pipes on the right side open when you are carrying hero capsules. When the pipe is open you can send the hero down to the planet.

Yep, (fortunately) I get that part. Pretty nice idea overall, also (forgot to mention this) the music is pretty nice! Hope you the best for this game & good luck!
boba
17. Apr 2024 · 02:39 UTC
I like the concept! The wait for heroes to complete their missions was pretty long which I feel doesn't match the type of gameplay this was going for. The music is super cute.
RumiaObsessed
17. Apr 2024 · 02:47 UTC
Great concept of a hero manager!
I wasn't sure why I was losing money sometimes. I never made enough to buy another hero. Also, I think some visual/audio indicators of hero/quest state would go a long way.
SlavTurtle
17. Apr 2024 · 02:50 UTC
I really do love the idea, the animation and graphics are adorable, controls are fluid. My only complained is that after you have more than 1 hero capsule its hard to say which ones which.
LDJam user 242787
17. Apr 2024 · 06:10 UTC
Love the concept! It took a bit to figure out the hero deployment mechanic, but once I got it, it was smooth sailing. The music is catchy, adds a nice vibe. Maybe some visual cues for hero and quest statuses could help. Great work overall!
goodwincek
17. Apr 2024 · 11:49 UTC
Interesting concept! This would be perfect as a side-mission part of a larger game, maybe some sort of 3D platformer with the cat character. It's always fun to have your NPCs working for you while playing a bigger game (V Rising comes to mind for this kind of system!)

I like the art and nice chill background music which created a nice vibe. I think if I were to make immediate suggestions, it would be to create some player boundaries so you can't go flying off the edge of the map. At first I thought maybe my player was supposed to go into the pipes, or go through the mission doorway while holding the capsules (oops! I fell down to the planet like 3-4 times before I learned my lesson lol).

It was cool seeing the planet below, and I liked the animation of the hammer sending the hero capsule down. The cat has a cute design, and I like all the color choices. Nice work getting a 3D game completed for the compo!
cagibi
17. Apr 2024 · 17:53 UTC
For free heroes (after the first one), I didn't know how to get their stats since they just popup (unless they are automatically bought? It might explain why I suddenly lost). Also text on the rightmost board is easily obscured by the portal in front of it, but those are tiny nitpicks. It's still a cool idea with a nice and colorful environment!
DzejPi
17. Apr 2024 · 19:02 UTC
A little harder to pick up, but an interesting idea, it's always nice when someone else does the fighting! Nice colors and pleasant music. Not sure if I can say anything that hasn't been said above, but if there was one thing to focus on, I would definitely welcome some colliders around so that I don't fall from the platform more often than I am comfortable admitting. :)
LDJam user 3808
17. Apr 2024 · 20:01 UTC
@goodwincek @dzejpi Thanks for the feedback. Yeah I had collision in first version but I thought it would allow more freedom for the player just try and jump off. I added teleport zone and just removed colliders. I just forget to add colliders when adding portal, pipes and boards.

Adding indication on heroes of their stats was on list but I did not figure out quite the GUI for those fitting with the other elements and then run out of time.
Pe7e
17. Apr 2024 · 21:22 UTC
Nice graphics, nice music. Like others have said a timer or some sort of feedback on the hero progress is the first thing that comes to mind.
LDJam user 372425
17. Apr 2024 · 22:09 UTC
That was a cool concept and the graphics were cute and ambitious for a Compo. I really liked the hero capsules and the things you put them in to send them to the planet. The giant toy vending machine aesthetic is great. And the color scheme was really nice.

You definitely had to plan to fail some quests which added a surprising amount of complexity. At first I was trying to send heroes on the quests that were closest to failing but that strategy loses pretty quick lol. Once you've got multiple heroes and harder quests it gets pretty hectic! I think the tension is good for a time management game.

My two biggest critiques are that the UI can be difficult to read and sometimes the physics of the capsules can make it a little frustrating. I had two heroes return at the same time and it looks like they collided with each other and shot into the drop machines. That said what you accomplished within the time constraints is impressive!

A QoL suggestion I have would be adding an outline around an object that you can interact with. Overall great job!
martonel
18. Apr 2024 · 15:32 UTC
It is a nice concept, but I don't really understand what the main goal of this game. It takes really long time to me to collect that money, what you need to summon first summon. And some kind of tutorial text it would be great, what do you need to do
Andreas Decker
18. Apr 2024 · 15:33 UTC
I like the idea and it looks great! The world below, the obscure machines, the avatar: All very cool. The gameplay really falls down in the action department. The little messages do help and are quite funny sometimes, but while you're just making enough money to get more summons you have nothing to do and it takes very long. Maybe it would get better if everything was just really fast, so it has you kind of scrambling and prioritizing?

Anyway, a solid entry, I hope you had fun! :)
Ruslana
18. Apr 2024 · 18:50 UTC
It's quite solid for such short time. Music sounds nice, visuals are cute too!

Maybe the text on the board could be more laconic so it would be easier to understand what's going on.
UnrealKazu
18. Apr 2024 · 21:56 UTC
Pretty amazing what you managed to do in 48 hours as a solo dev. The music sounds good, and the graphics look great and colorful!

I figured out the gameplay loop pretty quickly, but it was a losing battle for me as I did not get my hero back fast enough to stop bleeding money, so I was stuck in that regard. I completely understand that a lot of the UX that would make the gameplay a bit more understandable would take too much time for a solo dev in a compo, so it's great that you managed to publish this. Congratulations on that!
GoldenMagnus
18. Apr 2024 · 22:44 UTC
A fun concept, but felt like the timers and bars needed a bit more balance. Felt like sometimes I would get a list of quests that would fail me and I didn't have any good way to send enough heros to mitigate failure. I think would have been easily fixed if the punish gold value was only half that of the quest reward value. Great work though and hope to see you at future Jams!
retrome
19. Apr 2024 · 14:16 UTC
Nice concept! I like the choice of colors and minimalism of playing area. Some note: UI elements in main menu are pretty small on 4K monitor. Overall, good job!
ThatSommeS
19. Apr 2024 · 16:53 UTC
Cool concept, the UI is hard to read, and I have no idea which hero I am getting back, what the stats do, and if a quest was successfull or failed :shrug:
CodeRaurus
19. Apr 2024 · 20:58 UTC
Nice idea and cute 3d models. I was also confused on what to do next at first. Once I got the first hero I tried to deploy them into the last pipe because that would've aligned where the mission board is - left side. I noticed you have the labels on pipe lids but they are pretty hard to read most of the time due to camera angle. Maybe turning them towards the camera could help a little.

I like the intention of seeing the progress of the mission. But the gameplay feels very slow, especially when the progress bar goes into negatives. It was also unclear when you lose your moneys. Is it when the bar goes -100?

Music is catchy and reminds me of old PSX times.

Good job!
Pimeko
19. Apr 2024 · 22:21 UTC
The graphics are cute and the music is nice. Struggled a bit to understand what to do and fell about 10 times haha, but overall it was nice afterwards!
fnelix
20. Apr 2024 · 12:13 UTC
Looks really nice! I don't think you did yourself a favor by making the gameplay so far removed from the actual action, though. Cool idea for the concept, maybe just too ambitious for the jam
CourtneyLapin
20. Apr 2024 · 16:05 UTC
So it took a few tries and an adjustment in strategy, but the game becomes trivial once you have 3 heroes. I did enjoy figuring out how to game it though.

One aspect I liked was reading the quest descriptions, and the descriptions of our heroes actions. But at the same time it feels like there's this disconnect because im playing as a cute cat hovering over the world, and all the quests are very much fantasy themed. Not only that, it made me feel like the interesting adventures are happening elsewhere, and I'm stuck here as a manager :p (Not that I dont like the cute cat though!)

Overall, it was a nice game and I had fun with it, nice job!
LCStark
23. Apr 2024 · 19:23 UTC
Really cool concept! I've always wanted a game about managing quests and choosing the right heroes to complete them instead of doing all that busywork yourself. :D

There is a lot of waiting, especially later on when you get to the challenging and hard quests. I enjoyed reading all the little info texts telling you what the heroes are currently doing on their quests, but it feels like there should be something more to do in the Nexus. Perhaps just adding more quests and tubes would help solving the issue, but it might also be better to add something for the player to do in the meantime. Maybe a way for the player to help the heroes with their quests, like sending buffs or equipment?

The deployment mechanic was a bit clunky - it took me a moment to find where and when to throw the hero capsules. During my first playthrough, I've spent a lot of time just throwing them off the edge, as apparently they didn't get detected by the tube colliders properly. Props for adding a teleport-back mechanic, both for the items and for the main character! (A couple of times I got a bit too close to the quest screens to read the text... Oops!)

The graphics are really impressive for a compo game. I especially enjoyed the globe revolving in the background. :) The music is fine, sounds exactly like something I'd expect to hear in a management game like this.

Overall, it's a great compo entry! And it's a pretty good base to expand upon, I think this idea is worth working on beyond the LD time limits. Well done!
LDJam user 364744
28. Apr 2024 · 20:10 UTC
there's an impressive amount of systems interacting here! i was able to figure it out pretty easily.

i found that the scaling was a bit off, so i wasn't able to get very far in the game. i couldn't really figure out what the lose condition was but it just said i failed. regardless, lots of interesting ideas in this entry, congrats!