Ludum Dare #30compo

Gravitous

by maesk

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.15

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.13

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.90

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.38

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.05

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.13

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.04

Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.76

Coolness★★★★★★★★★★71%

Welcome to Gravitous! Travel through planets gravity fields, while avoiding empty dark space!

Your mission is to destroy the evil robot empire, pressing the huge red panic button on their home planet "Potato Salad". Good luck.

Controls:
Arrow Up = Engine
Arrows Left and Right = Direction
Space = Shoot!
R = Reload stage (available after death)

*Use this map below if you need it. Be careful with gravity!
*Note: There is a hidden powerup in the galaxy...
*Oh, and there are save points (green bases) over some planets' north pole. Use them to remember your coordinates and respawn there!

----

Whoa, that was close. I barely made it. I had close to no time this weekend to create a game for Ludum Dare, but I managed to improvise something in roughly 8 hours between these two days. Headache included! :<

I hope you enjoy the game!

EDIT: Protip: If a planet's gravity its too strong, try to abandon it by a spiral trajectory (left or right, then up little by little). It will be easier than fighting gravity head on (only upwards) :D

EDIT2: A gif!
EDIT3: Change of picture order

Genres: action

Tools: Unity

Comments24

eatsleepindie25 Aug 2014, 03:16

This was the first entry I played, and it's got me psyched to keep going. Fun mechanic, great music, retro sound effects all make for a great experience.

Andrew Adams25 Aug 2014, 21:19

Black holes... we need black holes. Oh and asteroids/moons.

MaesKauthor25 Aug 2014, 21:35

Thanks for the suggestion! I'm afraid dark holes didn't make the cut on time. Maybe they'll enter on Director's Cut version (or an evil DLC) :D

Mmm moons and asteroids, that might have been great!

vandriver25 Aug 2014, 21:55

Man, that was really fun. I love the gravity wells combined with that style of turn and jet gameplay. Kind of wish the field of view was a bit larger, but otherwise really well done. Great use of the theme as well.

aGoodPointPoorlyMade25 Aug 2014, 21:59

Those are some wild physics! I found myself lost a few times, but the map really helps. The visual effects and chunky sounds were nice.

ReddogStone25 Aug 2014, 21:59

That's a fun game, but hard as hell, at least for me ^^
It's particularly tricky to get away from the big red sun!

shimage25 Aug 2014, 22:04

Nice concept! It seems to a little strong gravity, but it feels the power of nature to me. And good music.

andrewkennedy25 Aug 2014, 22:28

The gravity felt a little too strong on some of the planets, but overall it was pretty fun to fly around. I liked using the planets gravity to slingshot the spaceship across the map :P

vctr_seleucos27 Aug 2014, 10:05

Love the concept, a game really funny as well as hard xD Maybe the gravity is a little too strong in some planets, and a in-game minimap would be nice. Keep the good work and nice entry!

jimmypaulin27 Aug 2014, 19:58

Really fun experience, thoroughly enjoyable blast. Particularly satisfying setting up orbits to exactly collect the power ups. Liked the balance between aiming and thrusting and how you couldn't do both in the directions you want to simultaneously. Definitely nailed the theme and the music was great, enjoyed it

ChuiGum30 Aug 2014, 00:13

Great graphics, fun gameplay too!

noffle30 Aug 2014, 17:28

Man, this was tough. I wasn't able to beat it, but I really enjoyed the mechanic of sling-shotting yourself out of the gravity of the larger planets to get some great speed. One thing I would have liked to see was a health bar or how close my ship was to destruction -- I found myself dying quite suddenly from a stray shot. Overall, good music, good use of the theme, and what feel like the beginnings of a really fun game.

arzi31 Aug 2014, 22:03

I think the basic idea was quite original, but it was nearly impossible to go where you wanted after the first planet.

Will Edwards1 Sep 2014, 06:38

Gravity worked very well; the concept is excellent and fun. It could be developed a lot further.

I always think these asteroid games are easier when the player is always centered and pointing up.

OhFiddleDiddle2 Sep 2014, 15:40

Really cool little game, I would suggest also making WASD work for movement (with Unity that's easy) and maybe a slightly clearer overall objective next time, but otherwise this was a really fun game. :)

Ventura2 Sep 2014, 21:59

Lol, i really love the idea of the game and the mechanic. I didn't know that when you go out from the gravity you lose life, I didn't like because it didn't make sense. When you crash with enemies at high velocity should cool that you destroy them and you lose a little life because otherwise you stop in the air and crash with the planet. I liked a lot the game and it looks quite interesting, good job!.

Nooner Bear2 Sep 2014, 22:07

While nothing really stuck out for me, I did enjoy flying a ship in the orbital gravity of other planets.

Fazz2 Sep 2014, 23:27

Nice idea. Really hard to control the spaceship.

Colapsydo3 Sep 2014, 14:28

The attraction is a real cool mechanic in this game.
The difference of graphics between pixelated units and textured planets create some strange mood.
I found the same opposition between the cool music and the harsh sfx.

Maybe it's lacking a bit of power up, it could have been interesting to get them from the destroyed sentinels.

Just seen you did it in 8 hours, great work.

DvanderAart3 Sep 2014, 18:21

The planets gravity seems a little but much but I like how this plays. And the audio is pretty good! Well done

jukimv19866 Sep 2014, 03:44

Great job for 8 hours of development! You even got audio on it! First time I played I got stuck on the surface of the red planet, but then I saw your map and indications which helped clear my confusion. Well done!

ChristianEugenio9 Sep 2014, 03:19

very nice