Ludum Dare #31compo
Snowbotron
Update 2014-12-16 Added a post-compo version that fixes the spawn camping bug and adds some better sfx. I'm planning to keep working on it so keep checking back to see what's new and improved!
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The bastards have landed!
Evil aliens from planet Krampus VI have invaded the North Pole.Their plan : to steal Christmas!
With his elves unable to withstand the tide of hostile extra-terrestrials, a desperate Santa unleashed his ultimate weapon.
Experimental combat droid Snowbotron X47.
Equipped with the latest in high-powered snowball cannons, Snowbotron is all that stands between our world and total devastation.
Are you a bad enough dude to save Christmas?
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So yeah, in case the name wasn't enough of a clue, it's a twin-stick arena shooter. Should work with most dual analogue stick control pads, which is the preferred control option.
If you're stuck with keyboard only, use the arrows to move and WASD to fire (sorry alternative keyboard layout peeps, I didn't have time to make the controls configurable)
Have fun!
===================================
The bastards have landed!
Evil aliens from planet Krampus VI have invaded the North Pole.Their plan : to steal Christmas!
With his elves unable to withstand the tide of hostile extra-terrestrials, a desperate Santa unleashed his ultimate weapon.
Experimental combat droid Snowbotron X47.
Equipped with the latest in high-powered snowball cannons, Snowbotron is all that stands between our world and total devastation.
Are you a bad enough dude to save Christmas?
===============================================
So yeah, in case the name wasn't enough of a clue, it's a twin-stick arena shooter. Should work with most dual analogue stick control pads, which is the preferred control option.
If you're stuck with keyboard only, use the arrows to move and WASD to fire (sorry alternative keyboard layout peeps, I didn't have time to make the controls configurable)
Have fun!
Comments26

OldPeculier8 Dec 2014, 21:31
Freezes for me on the opening screen. Looks promising!
bobombe8 Dec 2014, 21:36
Sound is q little harsh, but the game is fun. It would have be good to send an infinite number of bad guys waves !
Oh and controls are cool, i would like to try with sticks.
Oh and controls are cool, i would like to try with sticks.
qleonetti8 Dec 2014, 21:54
Had fun here :)
Beerman8 Dec 2014, 22:04
I'm not sure why, but occasionally the game seems to lose track of how many enemies are left alive. If you find yourself stuck on a screen after you've killed everything then something's gone wrong and you'll need to reload to try again.
Beerman8 Dec 2014, 22:05
Also, it doesn't work in Internet Explorer, because Internet Explorer. Will see if I can figure out what's wrong with it...
Donutttt8 Dec 2014, 22:19
I liked this entry, out of interest, did you ever play blitter boy on ps1? It was an obscure net yaroze game with very similar gameplay. I loved that and I loved this! Nice work!
Gread729 Dec 2014, 03:53
I .... LIKE IT ... well donw
Beerman9 Dec 2014, 13:57
@Donuttt - I've not played Blitter Boy. Looks cool though, and I can see the similarity .Mine's pretty much a straight up Robotron 2084 clone.
WatercressStudios9 Dec 2014, 20:03
Good fun and a good concept! Only problem I have is that when you die, it sort of snowballs (heh) and you continue dying until you run out of lives.
inkeystring9 Dec 2014, 20:05
loved Robotron, loved Snowbotron...also loved finding out HTML 5 has controller support...that I did not know :o

Louisload9 Dec 2014, 20:06
The game is fun! a little music would be a very good addition

chrisamaphone9 Dec 2014, 20:12
Pretty fun for a couple rounds, though that bug is pretty annoying! And is there any actual incentive to rescuing elves? (And really, your game company is called "beer cave" games? Thanks for contributing to that image of the game industry. :P)
Beerman9 Dec 2014, 20:59
Hey, I'm Beerman - where else would you find me but in the Beercave? :D
You get extra points for rescuing elves - I had a whole idea about having Yetis that capture elves and turn them into zombies (which drop exploding parcels) but didn't have time to implement it.
You get extra points for rescuing elves - I had a whole idea about having Yetis that capture elves and turn them into zombies (which drop exploding parcels) but didn't have time to implement it.
zompi9 Dec 2014, 21:38
3150... not bad and not good xD
Simple mechanics, quite buggy (once it didn't move to next level), sometimes I can't respawn because robots are in the center and kill me instantly and sounds hurts my ears.
But it was few minutes of fun and joy, which is cool... and feel the christmass atmosphere :D
Simple mechanics, quite buggy (once it didn't move to next level), sometimes I can't respawn because robots are in the center and kill me instantly and sounds hurts my ears.
But it was few minutes of fun and joy, which is cool... and feel the christmass atmosphere :D
5T4MP59 Dec 2014, 22:27
I liked the look of it. The shooting works ok, but on keyboard mapping shooting to WASD and movement to arrows is confusing. Movement on the left and shooting on the right is pretty standard. Sound was a bit harsh, and I couldnt get a second wave to spawn. Not bad for a few minutes, but needs polish. Good work.

thatwhichis9 Dec 2014, 23:02
I played this for a lot longer than I should have.

gre10 Dec 2014, 12:02
Cool concept.
Fun to play.
Fun to play.

harley7711 Dec 2014, 21:31
Excellent job, and fully destructible enviroments!

grid9612 Dec 2014, 17:09
You should try to disable that spwancamping of the robots.

BoxedMeatRevolution12 Dec 2014, 17:20
Liked:
- Difficulty curve. Not too easy, not too hard, just right
- Sprites. Easy to see them. Easy to know what their hitboxes are
- Story. Unfortunately, I did not end up being a bad enough dude to save christmas :(
Disliked:
- Controls. Why could I move diagonally but not shoot that way? (on a keyboard)
- Respawning. I always ended up losing because I'd respawn underneath enemies and die instantly
- No powerups. Gameplay felt stale after a while, powerups would clear this up I think.
- Difficulty curve. Not too easy, not too hard, just right
- Sprites. Easy to see them. Easy to know what their hitboxes are
- Story. Unfortunately, I did not end up being a bad enough dude to save christmas :(
Disliked:
- Controls. Why could I move diagonally but not shoot that way? (on a keyboard)
- Respawning. I always ended up losing because I'd respawn underneath enemies and die instantly
- No powerups. Gameplay felt stale after a while, powerups would clear this up I think.
Paisley Games13 Dec 2014, 01:24
Wish there was a bit more. The elves are a tad glitchy too. Other than that it was very fun and I love the ay the score counter looks.

wademcgillis14 Dec 2014, 22:52
───▄██▄─██▄───▄
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As soon as you get hit once, you repeatedly die over and over again at the center of the screen.
─▄██████████▄███▄
─▌████████████▌
▐▐█░█▌░▀████▀░░
░▐▄▐▄░░░▐▄▐▄░░░░
As soon as you get hit once, you repeatedly die over and over again at the center of the screen.

TheMeorch15 Dec 2014, 18:13
This was fun! A solid shooter that I kept playing for a long time, nice work!
Chaoseed17 Dec 2014, 00:23
Well, if you're going to remake a game, might as well choose one of the best games ever. ;) This was pretty fun, the graphics are cute and I like the retro sound effects. I just had two issues; first, the controls were sort of backwards, in the sense that usually for this type of game you move with the left hand and shoot with the right (that's how the arcade version does it, after all!). So I had to cross my arms to play. The second thing is that it doesn't really get any harder...I was able to play through about a dozen levels and just keep going. Ultimately I just kinda got bored. Still, pretty good for LD. ;)

sweenist20 Dec 2014, 14:42
Pretty fun game. Doesn't end when you rid the robots and collect the elves






Great animation for the snowman!