Midnight Inertia

Overall★★★★★★★★★★2.11
Fun★★★★★★★★★★1.57
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.85
Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.62
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.04
Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.24
Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.81
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★48%
The goal is to hit the terrain as fast as possible, and as often as possible. You have 30 seconds to earn your score. Your score is a sum of speeds you had while hitting the terrain, but it won't be counted if the speed was too low. You won't see your score until the game ends. Only hint is the time written in hex numbers in the upper left corner and a vector showing your velocity.

Use [Space] and [LShift] to change your altitude, [Q] to quickly get your velocity to zero, [Tab] to use the Throwback(tm) feature. Don't care about [W][A][S][D], unless you find a way to use them creatively.

The game works better at lower framerate, as Bullet physics run with unchangeabe number of 60 updates per seconds.

If you needed to see someone playing this, watch http://youtu.be/Dvbl_Wj1tWo?a featuring me. Try not to focus on how awful my voice is.

Meanwhile, if this game is too ununderstandable for you, try Puzzlem00n's # game at http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=11003

screenshot

Comments25

nintendoeats29 Apr 2013, 03:20
I don't quite understand how to bounce, and the "throwback" button chucked me into infinite blueness. I like the LSD-ness of the aesthetic though.
TaleLore29 Apr 2013, 13:27
Cool graphics.
Are29 Apr 2013, 13:29
I wasn't able to bounce, but sure the graphics are original!
Fabien Porée29 Apr 2013, 13:48
I'm afraid I really don't understand the controls :)
All I can do is rise up into the air until the game ends.
Graphics are beautiful though.
metadept
metadept29 Apr 2013, 14:24
As others have said, there doesn't seem to be a way to bounce, so I just enjoyed the ride. Nice aesthetic.
egos29 Apr 2013, 14:25
sorry . i think i understand the base but after 4 tring i didtn see any difference just a arrow growing .

nice trip
Michcioperzauthor29 Apr 2013, 14:28
Throwback is actually a time slowdown to help with precision. LShift pushes you to the ground. WASD pushes left/right/forward/backward. Speed is shown as a vector.

By bouncing I meant just crashing with the terrain :)
Michcioperzauthor29 Apr 2013, 14:29
Also, gravity is minimal to give player almost full control of speed.
JaJ
JaJ29 Apr 2013, 14:40
Like others have said, music and visuals are really interesting, but I couldn't figure out what to do
Michcioperzauthor29 Apr 2013, 14:48
Try holding Space for a while, quickly braking with Q and then holding LShift to crash with the terrain. That should give you some points. (Score is shown after time is up)
Cake_Catastrophe29 Apr 2013, 17:27
I am also confused. I was able to bounce, I think, but the game ended with what looked like an error message. Although that may have been a score in units I didn't understand. Looks nice though.
Michcioperzauthor30 Apr 2013, 05:41
There are no errors in-game GUI shows. It was a score window, containg a 42 reference written with binary numbers, and your score written in hex numbers.
Michcioperzauthor30 Apr 2013, 06:45
Added the description and a video.
KilledByAPixel
KilledByAPixel30 Apr 2013, 07:31
Best use of the theme so far! Maybe unintentionally though because it seems like the controls don't work. Nice visuals though.
biscuitdough
biscuitdough30 Apr 2013, 07:32
This is one of the most confusing experiences I've had, if that was the intention, great, but yeah, some interesting graphics, even with your video, still not sure if it's a kind of joke or something.
Michcioperzauthor30 Apr 2013, 07:35
There is no joke. That's the 3rd Ludum Dare I joined, but the 1st I finished. Confusion is an unintended side effect. I hope my next game to be better.
Kix30 Apr 2013, 07:50
I had no idea what was going on, but i liked the graphics
EdoMiyamoto
EdoMiyamoto30 Apr 2013, 08:00
Like the others, i find this game really hard to control, even after reading everything and trying a few times ! But that's a nice overall design !
Leginar
Leginar30 Apr 2013, 08:01
The game looks interesting but the controls don't respond... Things seem to move very very slow...I was able to move down quickly once.... but moving any other direction has been impossible.
Michcioperzauthor1 May 2013, 09:11
Moving is a problem with the jME engine. Bullet physics aren't synced with graphics updates. I tried to run it in parallel thread, but it didn't work well. As these are deep bugs, I'm going to fix it for a post-compo version.
Jeremias
Jeremias1 May 2013, 11:30
As the others said: I tried to follow the instructions but I can't get the thing crash into the terrain. But I will have a look at the post-compo version if you made one and Ludum Dare rating ends :)
DaanVanYperen
DaanVanYperen1 May 2013, 12:34
Wish the controls were a bit easier to use.
PsenFilip3 May 2013, 21:10
I understand the instructions but controls are unresponsive. You sure can go up and down but in 30 seconds all I manage to do is to 'bounce' once. Best case.

The graphics are pretty original, to say the least. Very trippy color scheme on there.
HelkeGames5 May 2013, 19:14
Nice game, i like the concept and the art! Well done :)
MinionStudios
MinionStudios7 May 2013, 15:47
Very strange game. I ran into 0 FPS on my decent GPU. Love the colors!

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