Ludum Dare 33 - Page 4

Ludum Dare 33

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gajop
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by gajop »

Final round of voting is up, one of these will be selected as the theme.
Update your schedule and capabilities before the compo using the new Google doc

Notice: I have some net issues at home currently and uni will be without power during the compo, but I'll get something running even if I have to tether. Might end up not being in an ideal setup though.
EDIT: Seems I have gotten wifi-up back again so I should be able to use that over the weekend, and rely on tethering for the rest. I'll setup the repositories when I get home.
hokomoko
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by hokomoko »

This is really annoying, they've picked all the crappy themes.
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Anarchid
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by Anarchid »

But it has Companion, and we've done some heavy thinking on Companion previously :)
hokomoko
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by hokomoko »

have we? I can't remember...
gajop
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by gajop »

hokomoko wrote:have we? I can't remember...
yes: http://imgur.com/lFmMCHB
gajop
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by gajop »

Please update the Attendance and Skills tables in https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vs1 ... ijdkm5palm before the competition.
gajop
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by gajop »

raaar
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by raaar »

nice!


misc suggestions
- faster human movement animations
- add slow fat humans with more biomass
- add instruction on beginning that you need to research tech before shooting
(actually thought the game was bugged as couldn't fire before picking tech)
- add escalating difficulty and/or something to generate a sense of urgency
(like a timer and progressively tougher enemies that chase you, like big AA vehicles, fighter jets and finally nukes!)
- human respawn limits (after a while I just maxed everything)
- humans shouldn't explode if colliding with buildings as they are beamed up
- upgraded lasers too strong compared to upgraded napalm

(note : I got the game and map sdz and played through springlobby single player)
gajop
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by gajop »

raaar wrote:misc suggestions
Thanks, appreciated. My thoughts (not necessarily shared with the rest of the team).
raaar wrote: - faster human movement animations
You're right but I totally missed that one.
raaar wrote: - add slow fat humans with more biomass
=)
raaar wrote: - add instruction on beginning that you need to research tech before shooting
(actually thought the game was bugged as couldn't fire before picking tech)
This is something I disagreed with the team. Although the UI could be better (perhaps no fire cursor when you have no weapon, flashier/better visible "unlock available", etc.), I don't think the users should have everything explained to them. We even added control instructions in the bottom right (which I disagree with), and every keybind was visible. The joy of discovery (in our case the tech tree) is what drives many people to play games. Check this video starting at around 4:45, it mentions some of my thoughts regarding hand holding (although mostly game mechanic, not UI related).
raaar wrote: - add escalating difficulty and/or something to generate a sense of urgency
(like a timer and progressively tougher enemies that chase you, like big AA vehicles, fighter jets and finally nukes!)
We wanted that and had some ideas (some very similar to yours), but alas no time =)
raaar wrote: - human respawn limits (after a while I just maxed everything)
Yeah, game is easy, more of a sandbox that you can't lose. You can actually win if you beamup an alien babe, but it's really sandbox driven.
raaar wrote: - humans shouldn't explode if colliding with buildings as they are beamed up
Agreed. They also sometimes explode when fired by the enemy AA due to friendly fire.
raaar wrote: - upgraded lasers too strong compared to upgraded napalm
Balance is lacking =(
raaar wrote:(note : I got the game and map sdz and played through springlobby single player)
But but you won't be able to have the *designated experience*!
PS: I think we'll be able to put this one on rapid, maybe even add (cooperative) multiplayer once things get re-coded for it.
hokomoko
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by hokomoko »

gajop wrote:This is something I disagreed with the team. Although the UI could be better (perhaps no fire cursor when you have no weapon, flashier/better visible "unlock available", etc.), I don't think the users should have everything explained to them. We even added control instructions in the bottom right (which I disagree with), and every keybind was visible. The joy of discovery (in our case the tech tree) is what drives many people to play games. Check this video starting at around 4:45, it mentions some of my thoughts regarding hand holding (although mostly game mechanic, not UI related).
That may be true for regular games, or games that people pay for.
When players play/rate your game in LD, they have no reason to keep playing. Half the games suck and aren't worth the attempt to figure what you should do, so they make a half-arsed attempt (and we're starting from a disadvantage since they had to download the game and it's freakin 130MB) and if it doesn't work they just move on.

They didn't hear anyone recommending this game.
They didn't pay anything to play this game.
They just close the game and don't feel like they missed anything.
gajop
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by gajop »

hokomoko wrote:That may be true for regular games, or games that people pay for.
When players play/rate your game in LD, they have no reason to keep playing.
I think our game looks pretty nice and there are screenshots that suggest it has more.
The key disagreement was wasd and click to shoot. I thought that would've been obvious. Unlock available should just make the whole tech window flash but I didn't know how to code that easy and fast while using chili. (Probably would have to resort to default opengl and had no time for that)

Split how to make chili objects flash to viewtopic.php?f=14&t=33829. (Silentwings)
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Forboding Angel
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by Forboding Angel »

As someone who has a game on steam and has dealt with a lot of this shit... Let me affirm that on screen controls and handholding are needed, desperately.

This isn't 20 years ago when figuring out how to play was part of the experience. This is now, where you tell the player how to play the game or they go elsewhere.
abma
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by abma »

wow, game was fun. maybe could be more difficult at the end :)
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zwzsg
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by zwzsg »

gajop wrote:wasd
This is my main grief for most LD games.
(My keyboard is azerty.)
hokomoko
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by hokomoko »

you're a gamedev just edit the bindings luaui file...
gajop
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by gajop »

zwzsg wrote:
gajop wrote:wasd
This is my main grief for most LD games.
(My keyboard is azerty.)
OK: https://github.com/SpringCabal/Area-17/issues/35
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zwzsg
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by zwzsg »

After adding arrrow key support:
The controls feel nice and smooth. Though I suppose it's much easier to achieve with a flying saucer that never has to collide or pathfind.
The little humans are nicely modeled/animated.
The goal isn't very clear. Winning came by surprise.
There's a nice amount of content and polish/buglessness for a LD game.
gajop
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by gajop »

zwzsg wrote:The goal isn't very clear. Winning came by surprise.
Very true. I think we should've added the "Find and save the princess!" and the alien you have to rescue should be made more visible.
zwzsg wrote:There's a nice amount of content and polish/buglessness for a LD game.
While the original game wasn't buggy (it did have some FPS issues), it got a bit more polished (especially balanced after).
I recommend you check the next release we make today/tomorrow.
gajop
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by gajop »

Version 3 is up: https://github.com/SpringCabal/Area-17/releases/tag/0.3
This is how it looks when someone plays it: http://www.twitch.tv/techvalleygamespac ... 2?t=25m20s
Him rating it: http://www.twitch.tv/techvalleygamespac ... 2?t=48m20s
Notice he had FPS issues but it worked better than Gravitas. This is supposed to be the balanced version, or as hoko likes to call it, "ridiculously hard you fool", but he managed to get a hang of it. Pretty great and cooperative streamer (agreed to copy files with some totally gimped springsettings for a few extra frames) and had the patience to learn despite the FPS lag. Much better than the last time's guy who was wondering why he can't run "Java .BAT files without unzipping things".
Note that the Stream had 30s+ audio latency and he couldn't read my text so communication wasn't ideal, but still went well I think.
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KingRaptor
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Re: Ludum Dare 33

Post by KingRaptor »

Nice :)

It took me a while to figure out haste is needed to unlock cloak/teleport (actually I pretty much discovered it by accident).
(I'd draw connecting lines manually on the tech window using the gl functions)
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