Drill18: The Mars Project

by quill18
Overall★★★★★★★★★★4.33
Fun★★★★★★★★★★4.23
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.72
Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.10
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.51
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.43
Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.10
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.64
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★54%
Drill18: The Mars Project

=========================

You'll really dig this game!

Goal: Run a profitable mining operation and dig your way to Mars' diamond core (this is a real thing, right?)

Controls: Arrows/WASD to move the screen, mouse to dig tiles, place rooms.

Features:

- "Infinite" map size (though lack of optimization limits things in practice)

- AI workers with needs that must be met, or you face complaints from the powerful Union of Martian Miners

- 7 different types of buildable rooms

- 4 different careers: Builders (who dig and repair rooms), Drillers (who extract ore), Refiners (who improve your ore-to-money exchange rate), and Scientists (who increase the work & movement speed of all workers)

- 3 difficulty options (although the game is balanced to be pretty easy, to facilitate reviewing for Ludum Dare)

- Cat-based sound effects

- Really awesome big-number rollovers if you opt to continue playing well past winning.

========================

Created with: Unity 3d, Photoshop, Audacity, and abundant-music.com.

The Post-Mortem post: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2014/05/01/358770/

Big huge thanks to the thousands of people who came to watch my livestream, and an extra special thanks to all of my subscribers who help to support the channel. I'm sorry I turned you into workers in my hellish mine.

-- quill18

[email protected]

http://youtube.com/quill18 -- Game Commentaries/Reviews

http://youtube.com/quill18creates -- Unity 3d Tutorials

http://twitter.com/quill18

http://facebook.com/quill18

screenshot

Comments107

arturo18228 Apr 2014, 00:42
I watched this game being created during this weekend, quite impressive. It has potential to be continued/tweaked/released after the compo.
liqwidice28 Apr 2014, 00:43
10/10 would nominate for a VGX.
deathseeker28 Apr 2014, 00:45
10/10 would play again
Muffinhat28 Apr 2014, 00:46
Jeez. Lot of depth (pun intended) put into this game in 48 hours. Awesome game.
Depod228 Apr 2014, 01:02
10/10. This game has the potential to be spectacular if built upon after Ludum Dare 29 is over.
CivvyThePandaTM
CivvyThePandaTM28 Apr 2014, 01:08
Great game, especially in 48 hours. 10/10. And a nice name too.
RaveRapture28 Apr 2014, 01:59
I enjoyed playing both the final compo and all of the sometime hilariously bug filled builds leading to it. 10/10!
Sim00n28 Apr 2014, 03:13
It's a really nice creation. I hope you continue working on it. There's still a lot of potential here. I kinda reminds me of Prison Architect. GG.
harko12
harko1228 Apr 2014, 03:18
I was watching you build this while I was working on mine. I am shamed. This is a great job for all the more time that it took. I hope to at some point get good enough at this stuff that I can turn out something of that quality in that timeframe.
Kino333
Kino33328 Apr 2014, 03:41
Way too addicting! I liked it.
Give it some polish and some refinement, maybe add more things to it, and you'd have a pretty great game on your hands.
nxT28 Apr 2014, 03:47
This is really fun, and an impressive feat of programming for only 48 hours.
ZQMony28 Apr 2014, 04:03
Lots of content. I can see myself playing this in the future.
microapple
microapple28 Apr 2014, 04:05
Watched the stream of this games creation. Love the theme / implied background story. Gameplay is quite enjoyable. Mechanics are all solid. Polished for a 48hr game!
xevozfighter28 Apr 2014, 04:53
I enjoyed the game, but eventually found a point where it didn't seem I had to do anything anymore. My workers had everything they needed and I was making millions of credits every time the shuttle came in. This was fun though. Are you going to add on to it when the competition is over?
JustinAkaDeadstuff28 Apr 2014, 06:24
how do i vote
Slader16
Slader1628 Apr 2014, 06:44
BEST GAME OF LD29!!! Can you upload a Windows build so I can play forever? (Yes, forever 0_0)
Artylo
Artylo28 Apr 2014, 07:34
The concept is really nice. Animations and art are amazing. Gameplay is solid. The AI can be strange at times, but it works fairly good.
Overall, I think this is a very well made compo game and you'll probably get a really good score for it. Best of luck, Quill.
SkyWolf28 Apr 2014, 08:15
As always "the Quillzord" amazes with his capability to deliver FAST. Amazing.
DeadM828 Apr 2014, 10:50
An AMAZING game! Very good game, and the fact it was made in only 48 hours - amazing! 10/10
Karmalis
Karmalis28 Apr 2014, 12:40
Very nice work. I've been watching your streams and progress since your first time on Ludum dare. You have made and still are making a huge progress. Congrats.
[email protected]28 Apr 2014, 12:57
Amazing game really fun would love to see a full version.
One massive problem I have with it is the fact I got
one trillion,
one hundred fifty-five billion,
four hundred sixty-nine million,
Dollars in a short period of time. For 48 hours it's amazing but needs to be balanced XD
I would love to see this game on a kickstarter
CyberEngineDes28 Apr 2014, 13:14
I have watched stream and you sir did a very good job! GREAT GAME!
NuvlearGames28 Apr 2014, 13:21
Well done, espically since he took a relaxed approach to the game by using a relaxed schedule
Jed T.28 Apr 2014, 14:02
What an incredible game made in 48 hrs! There is a major bug though where I can just click the drill downwards as long as I like.
Ping7828 Apr 2014, 14:10
I watched a bit of the livestream(while making my own game), but playing this game was more fun than I expected.
Dramentiaras28 Apr 2014, 14:47
Great game! Enjoyable to play overall!
Anti28 Apr 2014, 14:48
Very good game for 48 hours! Needs some extra work but for 48 hours this is amazing. Very addicting!
TheShadowsouled28 Apr 2014, 14:55
Watched the steam and tried some of the builds. Solid game and would play more 10/10
Hypnohustla
Hypnohustla28 Apr 2014, 15:13
Really impressive for 48 hours! It was fun to watch the workers work. Reminds me of an ant colony. :) Really great game.
Kep28 Apr 2014, 16:16
Very impressive complexity for a weekend game, and it's fun. Well done!
I expanded to fast my first time playing. This time will be better...
PapyGaragos
PapyGaragos28 Apr 2014, 18:05
Those small details and animations everywhere are what makes you love games where you inevitably have to wait a little : it's so satisfying to watch everyone being busy; and it drives you to build even more.

Great entry, bookmarked.
recursor
recursor28 Apr 2014, 18:37
I enjoyed this and my riches when I hit the diamond playing in hard mode. There is surprisingly a lot of stuff in here for a 48h game. You should turn this into a full experience with more yummy upgrades, play balancing, etc.
Strandmullen28 Apr 2014, 18:38
Great work put into this. Even though the game doesn't take a long time to finish, it's a lot of fun getting there. Also, I reached level 37!
atterday28 Apr 2014, 19:44
At first I thought "Wow, the cost for drilling further down increases exponentially.. I will never finish this game". But then my economy snowballed and I reached the diamond core with over 800 million credits left. Very interesting game. Well done!
Keyguyperson28 Apr 2014, 19:56
10/10, the ability to continue playing after the goal is really nice to have in this kind of game, and all of it in 48 hours! This game is great already, and still has a lot of potential!
Aske28 Apr 2014, 20:14
I gave it an extra star for the awesome MIDI soundtrack :D
Crawler Studios28 Apr 2014, 22:35
Didn't watch the stream had no clue what it was about, playing it now though, its awesome. The gameplay flows very nicely and is very well done. The music is very quiet though. Still, great job!
ryebread761
ryebread76128 Apr 2014, 23:23
Great game. I really enjoyed playing it. Fun to see the workers go so fast!
eteeski
eteeski28 Apr 2014, 23:44
Wow, this was really great :) Very impressive for 48 hours! it's a lot of fun :) The UI could use a bit of work, but it works once you understand it. Still, very very good for 48 hours :)
Bevilacqua
Bevilacqua29 Apr 2014, 01:39
This blows most of the other games out of the park. I watched this get made... paint me impressed.
IAmSpencer29 Apr 2014, 01:43
Really fun and easy to pick up. Would like to be able to drag to select places for digging, but it is addicting non the less. Well done :)
KunoNoOni
KunoNoOni29 Apr 2014, 01:45
At this point in the game (its still running while I type this) I'm at 66 trillon. This is such a fun game. I watched your feed a little after I finished my game. You really should continue development of this game after the compo is over. You have something really special here!
lightsoda
lightsoda29 Apr 2014, 05:46
That was fun, a nice assortment of rooms and jobs to work with. The only nitpick I have at this time is that I placed rooms where I didn't intend to a couple of times.

Very nice work!
JustinAkaDeadstuff29 Apr 2014, 05:54
GJ 10/10 Quil awesome game but a little to easy
adamwoolridge29 Apr 2014, 10:43
Pretty in-depth for the timeframe, nice job!
marccspro
marccspro29 Apr 2014, 16:41
Really nice game us usual ;) Well play
tomvert
tomvert29 Apr 2014, 18:24
Oh my god the addiction, if I continue to play this game I will not be able to play any other !!! Anyway good job on making such an addictive game, you could win money :)
dusho29 Apr 2014, 18:58
amazing, if I wouldn't see your stream doing it, I wouldn't believe you made it in 48h, impressive job
improvement ideas I had was just maybe tool tips for room buttons, use right mouse button for panning + mouse wheel zooming (controls)
also game is too easy even on hard, there should be miners limits for kitchen/entertainment rooms, also some dust plagues that kill your workers
aaronjbaptiste
aaronjbaptiste29 Apr 2014, 22:17
Amazing how much you were able to accomplish in the time frame. I love me a sim game, this is great.
Noah Ratcliff
Noah Ratcliff29 Apr 2014, 23:19
Great game! Lots of content for 48 hours. Nice job!
kristof30 Apr 2014, 05:50
Very cool entry. I watched your stream a few times when I needed a break from my own game. Nice to see that it turned into such a polished game!
Morco30 Apr 2014, 10:59
wow
in just 48 hours
:|
SK16Games30 Apr 2014, 13:04
Hahaha, very interesting game, and really fun to play :D would like to see more things to buy ;)
javifugitivo
javifugitivo30 Apr 2014, 17:29
Impressive is the word. I really love the mechanic and the style of the game, very very complete. Congratz!
zkenshin
zkenshin30 Apr 2014, 17:49
Fantastically fun. Great entry, would love to see it expanded upon. :)
dcolgan30 Apr 2014, 19:09
I finished with several hundred trillion dollars. Woo! Awesome game for a weekend!
Dreii
Dreii30 Apr 2014, 19:53
Wow! this was the first game I played after I was done rating it, its really well done fantastic! on a side note Im subscribed to you on youtube so thanks for helping me learn unity! :D
CoderMusgrove
CoderMusgrove30 Apr 2014, 22:26
Complete 5 stars. I've been playing it for god knows how long.
oxysoft
oxysoft1 May 2014, 00:09
Interesting game, I could definitely see it having some success outside of ludum dare
dkkarate1 May 2014, 01:12
ending up with $1,000,000,000,000 LOL!
TeamInCharge1 May 2014, 06:04
You made me very happy! I feel like playing SimTower all over again :D Thank you also for showing abundant-music... it is very sweet. First superaddictive game on this compo! :D thx
Tifu
Tifu1 May 2014, 12:19
This is so awesome. Would be nice if it showed how much a drill extension would cost before you click it, and if the different workers wore different coloured hats or something so you know who is running around.
Things do escalate a little quickly, could be more challenging with rooms costing more money to build in deeper levels, or drill rooms running out of ore to mine and having to be moved around, but this is really awesome for the 48 hours :O
Cash1 May 2014, 13:05
I can't find anything wrong with this game. I think this might be one of the best entries in the competition
Muciojad
Muciojad1 May 2014, 16:08
Piece of a very solid work, congratulations for do it in 48h ;]
Dominator_1011 May 2014, 17:30
Holy crap, nice!

It was awesome watching my workers zip around at like mach1 because of all the science labs I had.
ArcturusDeluxe1 May 2014, 17:37
Nice game! A surprising amount of depth (no pun intended) for an LD game. Pretty fun stuff. I feel like the music didn't quite fit in with the game, but otherwise great!
BrothersT
BrothersT1 May 2014, 18:31
Fantastic game. Really love games where you can create your oown little microcosm. and definitely impressive for the time limit. Graphics were purely functional which I also liked. no time wasted :)
Ryan up in here
Ryan up in here1 May 2014, 23:16
Solid 5 stars all the way down. I can't help but like any game that allows me to make 260 trillion dollars.
Oye Beto
Oye Beto2 May 2014, 03:20
I won, it was fun :)

There's too much stuff going on, at first I didn't know what I was doing and I never understood the right down window information. There was a guy sleeping there but it said 0/1.
Wertle2 May 2014, 05:00
This had really great pacing ramp-up. I loved how at the end everyone was frantically scurrying around. It felt great! Nice work :)
PixelFeet2 May 2014, 15:00
For a game you made in less than 48 hours, this is simply brilliant.
TobiasW
TobiasW2 May 2014, 23:44
Since this game seemed cool and I wanted to provide a running commentary (which is hard to do in text with only one monitor, haha) I decided to record myself playing your game! I'm not used to do that, hence the crappy commentary, but maybe you'll still enjoy watching somebody play your game. (I also accidentally didn't record system audio, which is why you can't hear your music/sfx. Grr.)


I don't sound very passionate when I'm concentrating, but I really liked your game! It feels extremely polished. The graphics are a bit on the simple side, but work well and are still pleasent to look at. The music is fantasic, as are the sound effects! And multiple difficulty levels are really perfect for the LD.

You did a great job there, and all that in 48 hours! :D
microwerx
microwerx3 May 2014, 00:27
Super duper! It sucked me in...
Garris3 May 2014, 00:48
I found the music very catchy : D That's in addition to how well put together the rest of the game was. I'll be coming back to play this more.
runvs
runvs3 May 2014, 12:30
Hi there,
Nice game you finished. Two points you could improve: The music does not fit to the setting very well (it would be better for theme park or something like that). Also there is the balancing that needs to be adjusted.
Lee1121
Lee11213 May 2014, 12:34
I had a good time playing this game :)
SuperPokeunicorn
SuperPokeunicorn3 May 2014, 12:38
Amazing! It's like a non-shit version of Tiny Tower.
ArDi3 May 2014, 19:43
Amazing game, Quill. Now playing and can't stop. 10/10
paps3 May 2014, 21:09
Full star for me. One word amazing
Gunn3rboi4 May 2014, 02:11
great concept and really fun strategy game.
sP0CkEr24 May 2014, 04:32
how about that - an almost perfect score - awesome job
rfgpfeiffer4 May 2014, 15:58
There is no Data folder in the linux zip! This should be easy to fix.
rfgpfeiffer4 May 2014, 16:30
I copied the data folder from the windows version and took the mono.dll libmono.so from from another unity game. That worked.

The game is tense in the beginning, but after I got over $200000, everything compounded really fast and I quickly got to $5 billion.

If you make a post-compo version, please fix the capacity of the bunk beds. It always showed 0/0.
MrBlade
MrBlade4 May 2014, 17:31
Rats. There is an end. This is in my top three games I have ever played for a Ludum Dare. It is one of the most fun, compelling, and all around well done. The art is good, the sound and music are great, the mechanics just work. In a way, this sort reminds me of Cookie Clicker or something, where you are just always upgrading to get more cookies so you can upgrade to get more cookies so you can upgrade to get more cookies so y- Well, you get it. But it works in this case! Even my biggest gripe with this game is very small. The workers are kind of stupid and slow. Big whoop. I love the building a colony sort of thing and watching them all run around. Very very very good job. (The humor in the beginning is some of the best LD plot I have ever read. Into the sun.) If you polished this game and put it up for sale, I would buy it.
HybridMind
HybridMind5 May 2014, 00:39
Pretty cool! I managed to reach the diamond core! Sim games are always fun. The joy of watching your little crew run around performing tasks. The little theme song was catchy too.
Clavus
Clavus5 May 2014, 18:52
Quite amazing for just 48 hours! Very addictive, even when my funds exceeded the global GDP of mankind :P
GreatBigJerk
GreatBigJerk5 May 2014, 22:06
Fantastic! Amazing accomplishment for a 48 hour game. Please do continue development into a full game.
sandeep_toor6 May 2014, 05:25
Great game Quill!, I had a lot of fun playing it, this has great potential, love the idea and concept
joe40001
joe400018 May 2014, 21:20
So, uh, quill18, I kinda loved your game:
http://i.imgur.com/QQXcxyL.png

Though you should know it gets laggy when you keep playing long after you've won. :P

There is nothing I would change about the game, sure if you had a big team where somebody could do slick art and a tiny bit better sound that would be better, but who cares the game is so fun, it looks and sounds pretty dang good. And it's crazy crazy fun. Well done!
NightShadow0
NightShadow09 May 2014, 16:54
This is really fun, reminded me of the drilling bits in XCOM, would love to see an expanded version. A zoom out feature would be very useful too. Impressive work!
NiceAlexanderAS9 May 2014, 23:13
WOW impressive game :D its very VERY FUN!! :D GREAT WORK :D you should keep making this game :D
soy_yuma11 May 2014, 18:13
I found it very enjoyable! Specially when the mine started to give me 10k per each of my 10M ore chunks. I was hoping to overflow the counter, but that never happened. Good game!
NathanBrower14 May 2014, 04:13
Great game, really. I played through this twice. Solid AI, pretty solid graphics, solid audio.

I let it do it's thing for a couple hours and came back to literally over 1,700,000,000,000,000 credits. While this is cool, I think it's also a problem. Once you have the basics set up, you can afk until you have enough money to win the game. Also, the moods of the workers never really came into play as soon as I built one cafe and one bar, so I think that perhaps there should be a limit to how many workers a room can accommodate. And lastly, it would have been really nice to see the workers in different outfits based on their profession.

But all in all, well done. :)
Josisen14 May 2014, 15:24
10/10 very good indeed! Loved it, and played it for hours!
It has a very big potential for re-development the game could last a little longer - but overall it doesn't matter!
- This is the best game created on 48 hours!
lolisamurai30 May 2014, 02:23
Simple yet addicting concept. Had me hooked for a good hour, this could become the new cookie clicker.
I actually kept playing until the framerate dropped so low because of all the tiles that I could barely scroll. Managed to dig down to nearly level 50 http://puu.sh/974ti/28d8382c4f.png
Rustam8 Jun 2017, 07:59
From IBA Games: A ROCK STORY A story where music decides everything. http://studentki-moskva-tube.ru This book is one of the older classics, its language and humor make it an easy, can't-put-it-down read.

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