Ludum Dare #22compo

The Search

by quinnius

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.00

Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.80

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.75

Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.83

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★1.56

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.50

Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.45

Community★★★★★★★★★★2.89

Coolness★★★★★★★★★★24%

The Search is a community game for Ludum Dare 22 "Alone" by Quin.

You play as your civilization's scientific leadership over a span of decades. Each day of real time represents one year of progress in The Search, so you'll want to come back often to review findings, change policies, and adjust budget allocation.

Here in the heart of the galaxy, stars are separated by 1 - 6 lightyears so it can take several years for radio signals to reach distant worlds.

Comments16

Gaeel19 Dec 2011, 09:44

An interesting idea, shame that it takes so long for each move.

quinauthor19 Dec 2011, 14:45

Quite necessary to make sure everyone's had a chance to take their turn.

Also I don't think I could handle responding to everyone's actions more than once a day.

Mjiig20 Dec 2011, 10:57

Looks pretty fun, just out of interest, are you interpreting the orders manually? Or have you written a bot or something?

quinauthor20 Dec 2011, 17:50

I am not a savant AI programmer, no. There's an army of GMs behind the curtain.

quinauthor20 Dec 2011, 17:51

having some DNS issues presently

quinauthor20 Dec 2011, 19:13

site's back.

ratking21 Dec 2011, 22:48

Inspiring idea, but unfortunately not my type of gameplay. I prefer to play the "lone hero" instead of trying to be a leader of worlds. :-)

Pixelgel21 Dec 2011, 23:43

An awesome idea, and well executed. I'm already enjoying the game thoroughly!

summaky26 Dec 2011, 02:43

The idea is quite interesting, but I don't have the time nor the patience to wait so long to make a move, although I understand why you are doing it. Also, I do not want to register to yet another website.

As such, I am not in a position to rate your entry, sorry.

jeffz2 Jan 2012, 09:44

registration is a bit of a downer...

lorancou7 Jan 2012, 14:57

I barely have time for one turn before judging ends, but OK, I'm in :)

DDRKirby(ISQ)7 Jan 2012, 15:03

Interesting concept! Not quite the best fit for LD judging but oh well. Might help to provide a little bit more direction to new players.

quinauthor7 Jan 2012, 15:52

yeah, we've been talking about ways to ease new players in, and also ways to make it easier for GMs to know what to do. I'll send a quick email inviting everyone who played to contribute ideas (or get removed from that list if they want) after judging is over.

We're also planning to do some pretty significant overhauls on the code post-judging, including OpenID for registration and better user interface.

quinauthor7 Jan 2012, 15:53

by "we" I mean me (the programmer) and also the people I recruited to be GMs, and some of the players.

Mjiig7 Jan 2012, 22:38

This was a really neat idea, but towards the end I just got a bit tired of it :(
Never got anywhere significant in the time I was playing but it was fun.

nmtr9 Jan 2012, 21:47

I really enjoyed the game, especially considering the short time available to put things together. The concept is very good indeed.
Since i started playing, it became part of my daily routine to read the events and make my move, everyday a few minutes, something no other entry could achieve.