LudumData

Tentacle Blockade by mahalis

[raw]
made by mahalis for LD33 (COMPO)
They sail for the shore, bold, foolish, ignorant of the terror lurking in the depths below. Can you let their hubris go unchallenged? Grasp the intruders, crash them into each other, and send their crew and cargo to an unmarked grave at the bottom of the sea.

This is my second LD entry and I鈥檓 pretty happy with how it turned out鈥攖he gameplay could use a bit more variety, but the graphics and animation got a lot more polish than I thought I鈥檇 have time for, and I even learned some basic music theory while figuring out how to compose the music. Hope you enjoy it!

Note: the original version of this had an inverted difficulty curve, so it would get easier and easier as the game went on; that was pretty terrible and has now been fixed.
Windows http://noahw.net/tentacle-blockade/tentacle-blockade-updated-2.zip
OS X http://noahw.net/tentacle-blockade/tentacle-blockade-updated-2.zip
Source https://github.com/mahalis/TentacleBlockade
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-33/?action=preview&uid=46778

Ratings

Coolness 57% 3
Overall 3.63 151
Audio 3.55 106
Fun 3.30 277
Graphics 4.03 95
Humor 3.22 249
Innovation 3.67 108
Mood 3.60 121
Theme 4.17 42

Feedback

broiledvictory
24. Aug 2015 路 17:06 UTC
The core mechanic is very strong. Only thing missing is variety (more things for ship to carry, maybe even mundane thnigs to make the weird things even weirder, perhaps?, more variety in size/health of ship) and a difficulty curve.

Still, even after all that, I really enjoyed it, I could see this game after being getting the variety and difficulty curve being a strong game that I would play a lot.
馃帳 mahalis
24. Aug 2015 路 20:35 UTC
Thanks! I agree about the variety鈥攈ad an idea for a special boat that would leave burning cargo behind to damage other boats, which could have been fun, but sadly I ran out of time. Your mention of the difficulty curve made me realize that it was actually inverted: the time between boats was getting longer instead of shorter. Math is hard, apparently :)
CosmicAdventureSquad
25. Aug 2015 路 01:11 UTC
A very well-rounded game! I enjoyed the controls and mechanic, although would have been nice to see a visual indicator of ships in a "grasped" state, as sometimes I would think I have grabbed one, went on to slam it into another ship, and realizing I didn't grab it.

I agree that there should be more variety of ships as the difficulty ramped up. A scoring system could easily up the replay value too.
Shaw
25. Aug 2015 路 14:17 UTC
Love the map style look of the game, it plays well, very fluid and is a nice unique idea. Excellent work.
PEBKAC
26. Aug 2015 路 15:56 UTC
Nice one. Especially liked the polished graphics and background music. Could've done with some SpundFX.
Sedsibi
26. Aug 2015 路 16:00 UTC
Very well executed, I enjoyed it quite a bit. A little more polish and you'll have a great Mobile game on your hands.
mrdude1228
26. Aug 2015 路 17:05 UTC
Fun game. It got real hard real fast, but it was neat trying to strategize - do I try to destroy every ship, or do I try to just send lone ones flying off the left edge of the screen to buy a little time? The music adds tons to the atmosphere. Great start to a game, with a little more variety you could make a great time-killer.
VanDerGroot
27. Aug 2015 路 01:08 UTC
Really nice. This would make an excellent minigame in a larger story. :)
PeteGrammarman
27. Aug 2015 路 01:41 UTC
Man smashing boats into each other is fun! I liked that you labeled what the ships were carrying, a great way to add some humor. The map aesthetic was clever and looked cool. Add some screen shake and ship crashing sounds and it would be even more fun.
Feetsalot
27. Aug 2015 路 01:55 UTC
Great concept! Maybe add a few abilities or upgrades and this game is amazing. Variation in ships would also add some depth.
Pilly
27. Aug 2015 路 02:06 UTC
This is great. Top marks on innovation, for sure - loved the core mechanic. One suggestion would be to add a fullscreen mode - I kept on accidentally clicking off the screen. Also, I felt like the labels, while humorous, didn't really fit with the mood of the game. Everything else fit together perfectly though - LOVE the map aesthetic, graphics were great, and the music made me feel like I was a monster terrorizing the seas :) Thanks for making this.
KilledByAPixel
27. Aug 2015 路 03:02 UTC
Nice game. Style is good, nice take on theme. Grabbing and throwing ships was fun. Could use more variety and a win condition. Like maybe the meter is going up instead of down. When a ship gets there it goes down, but if it gets filled up then you win.
dydx
27. Aug 2015 路 03:03 UTC
This is a fantastic entry. I love the concept, the ship descriptions, and the hilarious monster reminds me of Mr. Game & Watch's final smash in Super Smash Bros. Really great job.
Hippomancer
27. Aug 2015 路 17:08 UTC
Solid gameplay and great use of the theme :)
the31
28. Aug 2015 路 01:28 UTC
Nice! I agree it could use some variety--once I figured out what was causing the damage I just dragged ships to the left a bunch and seemed to do alright. But the graphics were really neat and I liked the fun cargo.
Empyrealhell
30. Aug 2015 路 23:44 UTC
Solid entry all around. As you said, it could use a bit more variety in the mechanics, but what you had was good. I also really liked the naval map art style, very fitting for the game.
FieroNZ
31. Aug 2015 路 00:11 UTC
super cool all round, 5*
Zephyr Raine
31. Aug 2015 路 02:54 UTC
Nice art style, had fun, a little too simple though
inurashii
09. Sep 2015 路 16:09 UTC
Adorable! Wonderful graphics! I especially loved the cargo titles.