Xtreme Crop Duster Simulator '82 is a Commodore 64-style side scrolling flight simulator, made in 48 hours for Ludum Dare 34.
Controls are just up and down arrows on a keyboard, or up and down axis on a gamepad/joystick. Even though the in-game text all refers to keys, it's the most fun with a joystick.
This is my first compo entry - while I've done Ludum Dare three times before, each time I overshot my planned timeline and had to submit for the jam.
------------------------ UPDATE 1: 12:52AM EST 12/14/15
Had keyboard sensitivity wrong - must have made the edit in Unity in play mode so it didn't persist. Uploaded a fixed version.
------------------------ UPDATE 2: 3:30AM EST 12/15/15
Unity project settings were causing the default resolution to be 640x480 despite allegedly being set to default to native resolution. Should be resolved now, but either way the game should be resolution and aspect-ratio independent.
------------------------ UPDATE 3: 2:15AM EST 12/17/15
Linux and Mac builds now available! These are not as well tested as the Windows build, but have both been confirmed to launch and be playable on at least one system. Please let me know if you have any difficulties with them.
------------------------ UPDATE 4: 7:05PM EST 12/28/15
Launch script in Linux build didn't check architecture properly, resulting in "unknown architecture" error on some 32-bit machines. This should be resolved.
It's feels entirely like playing on an arcade machine! I wish I had a joystick, but this game is a rare gem either way. 5/5 and I hope you win!
J
Jstank14 Dec 2015, 10:06
Oh man this game is awesome. I am surprised you even put it here because it would have done really well on steam (with more levels) You have the Super Amazing Wagon Adventure aesthetic down to a T. Well done SIR! I am definitely going to be saving this one on my hard drive to play more of later. GREAT!
Right on! This is a nice all-rounder compo entry. The gameplay, graphics, and sound are all strong.
I love the stall mechanic that creates this tension between wanting to fly slow to see what's coming, vs not having enough airspeed to quickly climb out of the way of trouble.
The classic graphics would be good on their own but the TV effect pushes it over the top and really capitalizes.
It's difficult, so good thing you had the quick retry and continues. I wouldn't have played nearly as long if it was full GAME OVER every time.
My brain can't handle inverted flight controls in a non-first-person POV, so I was really hurting for the lack of a flip option. Until I realized I *did* have a flip option and turned my keyboard upside down to play. Of course, then I hit down instead of up and restarted instead of continuing, but only once or twice. ;)
Nice job and congrats on making it in for the compo. I remember playing your old trench warfare game, this one is a nice step forward because it's fully realized.
This is excellent. Easily the best entry I've played so far! Such a great job setting the mood and marrying the gameplay with the visuals and sound. Well done!
I had this very same idea for my entry (to control a plane with up/down and fertilize crops)! Although, I ended up doing something different. I loved this, I don't think I would have done better. Great gameplay and very complete. Well done!
R
refreshgames14 Dec 2015, 21:44
Yes! Very nice game, cool music to go with it also, I love the old CRT effects going on there, CBM font and, well, I want to dust off my old Commodore Plus 4 / C16 now! Very cool, made it to level 5 I think, will see if I can get further later on.
Love the art and visual effects like the CRT monitor curve, the music was nice too. The game itself was really hard tho -- only made it to level 2 once and then got game over soon after haha
Really great job simulating the commodore-64 style! The mechanics were fairly inventive, music catchy. It's hard to tell when landing is safe, but otherwise pretty good.
The windows build doesnt seem to work. it just downloads a .exe file and when you try to run it says that there should be a data folder alongside the .exe
Yikes, sorry folks! Have been trying to get Linux builds working and noticed the resolution issue, must have packaged it up wrong once I resolved that.
I'll get a fixed build up later tonight when I'm back at my PC.
The graphics are great! I really like the old-school aesthetic, although the music sounds a little bit out of place for some reason (it's good though!). You might want to make the controls a bit more responsive, and maybe make it a little bit less likely to stall. This was really unique and I liked it a lot!
Nice C64-style game. It takes me back, and I don't have to wait minutes for the 1541 drive to load it. My only problem was knowing if I was going to crash on the runway or be ok. I was never sure. Well done!
Thanks for trying to get it to work on linux, but don't be too worried if you can't figure it out, cuz it's been running fine in WINE for me all this time.
batmanasb, glad to hear it works well in WINE. While there's been no particular demand for a Linux build, I'm a big supporter of game devs releasing for Linux so figure I should do that myself.
Bad news is that the latest version of Unity seems to have some frustrating quirks with how builds work on Linux. The good news is, I think I've got them sorted out - should be a Linux build (as well as a Mac one) along very shortly.
Awww, C64.. was my first "computer". Awesome game which brings back memories. <3 I really liked your attention to detail - like those 4th wall screen artifacts - brilliant! Amazing entry! :)
Was wondering for a brief moment if left/right arrows wouldn't be a better option instead of up/down.. but than again - I guess you wanted to mimic an actual control yoke..
Fun game overall. I'd have loved to have seen some more feedback when pressing up or down. I thought the only way to move down was by pointing your nose for a lot of it, so it was ultra hard because there's no feedback for when you're just descending with a single down press.
LD games are always so damn difficult, I feel like a very inadequate gamer :p
Great job with the C64 stylings on this. It's pretty effective! You even got the music right! The game is pretty fun with interesting mechanics, though I found the controls a bit slow and weird to get to grips with. I think its the lack of feedback of exactly which direction the plane is going, but then a C64 wouldn't have been able to do smooth rotation very easily, so its sort of understandable in this case. Nice work overall though!
Nice Game :D This was a great game! It held my interest for some time. SOme Things I want to note: -Music was great -Textures looked nice -The overlay on the screen and sounds gave it a nice NES kind of look
One think was that the version of the plane that went UP, it looked kind of squashed.
It's retro, that's for sure. ..but nostalgia alone is not enough to satisfy... The game is very basic, and the two things that stand out are the bent screen look and the music. It's fine for a three day game jam.
Thanks for leaving a rating and commenting on my game! I included your game in an episode of my Let's Play Ludum Dare 34 series to show my gratitude! :D
Fun little game, but the controls threw me off a bit, as I'd often end up pressing the opposite key as to what I wanted. Was also a little confusing as to how high above the crops was acceptable.
Loved this. The music was perfect as were the C64 style graphics. Game was also a lot of fun, and very challenging. Could easily have been a shipping C64 game :) Great job.
Quite challenging to master, nice graphics though! I included it in my Ludum Dare 34 compilation video series, if you’d like to check it out :) https://youtu.be/lBXur6KZCzs
Comments54
I love the stall mechanic that creates this tension between wanting to fly slow to see what's coming, vs not having enough airspeed to quickly climb out of the way of trouble.
The classic graphics would be good on their own but the TV effect pushes it over the top and really capitalizes.
It's difficult, so good thing you had the quick retry and continues. I wouldn't have played nearly as long if it was full GAME OVER every time.
My brain can't handle inverted flight controls in a non-first-person POV, so I was really hurting for the lack of a flip option. Until I realized I *did* have a flip option and turned my keyboard upside down to play. Of course, then I hit down instead of up and restarted instead of continuing, but only once or twice. ;)
Nice job and congrats on making it in for the compo. I remember playing your old trench warfare game, this one is a nice step forward because it's fully realized.
folder next to the executable"
I'll get a fixed build up later tonight when I'm back at my PC.
Serves me right for trying to upload a fixed build at 3:30 in the morning.
Bad news is that the latest version of Unity seems to have some frustrating quirks with how builds work on Linux. The good news is, I think I've got them sorted out - should be a Linux build (as well as a Mac one) along very shortly.
I really liked your attention to detail - like those 4th wall screen artifacts - brilliant! Amazing entry! :)
Was wondering for a brief moment if left/right arrows wouldn't be a better option instead of up/down.. but than again - I guess you wanted to mimic an actual control yoke..
LD games are always so damn difficult, I feel like a very inadequate gamer :p
Every time the game starts I switch the up and down and have a terrible death.
Like a proto farming simulator. ;)
-Music was great
-Textures looked nice
-The overlay on the screen and sounds gave it a nice NES kind of look
One think was that the version of the plane that went UP, it looked kind of squashed.
It's fine for a three day game jam.
Below is a link to the post with details, and you can find out my opinion of your game in the video as I play!
http://ludumdare.com/compo/2015/12/26/lets-play-ludum-dare-34-episode-03/
As one comment said, a trick system could bring even more challenges to the game!
Great work! Congratz!
I would have rather had the controls inverted though; it makes more sense to me to press up to go upward instead of downward.
Either way, I got used to it. Very solid game. Good luck!!