Poor little Pluto's been absolutely miserable ever since being demoted to a mere planetoid. O humiliation! O shame!
The entire solar system (accursed Earthlings!) is laughing at you, or so you feel--nay, know, in your sad planetoidary mind.
What will become of you, Pluto? Where will you go?
WHAT TO DO:
Slingshot yourself out of orbit and out into deep space.
Absorb the energies of space junk such as space potatoes, astrocats, the Hubble Space Telescope and both Voyager missions!
Avoid energy-draining waste fired by a legion of strange toupee-headed robots that seem to be polluting the universe with negative energy.
The solar system mocks you.
Take it. It's yours.
CONTROLS:
Left-click+drag with mouse to operate the space slingshot (Pull back the directional circle in the opposite direction that you want to go! Sounds about ten times more complicated than it is.)
Small movements will make Pluto feel more agile.
Works even better on a touchscreen! Just pull and release.
NOTE: Since it was requested that we open the audio category for voting, and Mike seems to be okay with this, we have added it -- just vote on the music instead of the SFX, although half our SFX were composed and the use of Soundsnap SFX is really marginal anyway (the horn instrument, and cat's meow, maybe a thunk. So they probably count as 'instruments'.)
There are a few things we'd like to tweak, obviously, but they'll have to wait till the post-jam version. :)
Android version also available, though there might be some quirks! <-- Double-tapping or tapping the tear to start will work, swiping doesn't start the game for now. Sorry about that!
If anyone is having trouble running the Android apk (Parsing Error), please enable 'Unknown Sources' in your security settings as otherwise Android won't really download the app.
whoa, @bwalter, thanks a tonne! :) we're all exhausted now :)
F
falloneus19 Apr 2016, 02:06
It so lived up to the hype I was giving it! haha Really great game, a pleasant casual experience with funny dialogue, really nice visuals, and a surprising amount of moodiness (the music really amped that end up!). Great work, Kestrel :)
I liked this game, it wasn't bad. Some constructive criticisim: It would have been nicer if it ran in full screen, and if the game zoomed out as you got bigger. -- When you got so big that you took up half the screen, it became really hard to play.
Great mood in this one, I thought the music was excellent. I did wish I could've played full screen, but the mac version wouldn't allow me to unfortunately. Also really wanted a way to be able to zoom out a bit to see my surroundings, but other than that enjoyed it quite a bit. Well done guys!
Hi, thanks for rating and commenting on Squirm, since responding on the same page is as useful as shouting at a lake: I've now enabled the innovation category.
thanks for the kind comments all! Really appreciate it. Agreed on a lot of suggestions, we'll release another build post-jam :) @tentacode: Sorry about that. Maybe try tapping the tear instead? What kind of device did you use? It runs on a few devices as I've been told so far, I promise. :)
Cute Katamari-like. It took me a while to realize time paused while I'm aiming - maybe you should add some kind of visual indicator of which direction objects are moving?
I really liked this game. The satisfaction from eating everything (including the jab at Trump, very nice ;) plus the pretty graphic aesthetic and pleasant music combined to make a very entertaining game! Plus the controls were nice ( i was using a mouse) just had to flick pluto around for a bit! Good job!
Very solid work, guys. I had a little trouble running the android version, but I made it to the end. Funny, enjoyable, and cute. Hope to see more from you guys.
I tried again on android and it works all good ! Fantastic game, cool gameplay, long enough. Only criticism I got is that it's hard to find planets as I don't know my solar system, perhaps order them by position in solar system rather than sizes ?
thanks all! :) we had to choose between size of planets and order of planets for the HUD because of time constraints (ie, panic) and went with size so that people could see which planet they should aim to eat next. kinda figured people would be less likely to know sizes than positions -- not sure :) minimap was going to go in, but ... ran out of time :) POST-JAM VERSION! :D
This is amazing. The art is beautiful, as is the sound. And the writing just kept making me laugh so much. The Trump robot... Everything about this game is incredible, thank you for making it.
One of the few entries with some storytelling from I've played. Love how you make Pluto get revenge, even though the tone is quite sad :( The gameplay is not that exciting, but it's like Flow and Katamari. We play mostly for their graphics and atmosphere, and that works for you entry! I really wanted to see how it will end :) Well done!
When I first tried this game I hated the controls. Then I really got the hang of it and it became quite addictive.
The idea here is great-- what with pluto not being a planet anymore (actually I heard they might change thier mind on that again) but this really would have fit best with the 'grow' theme in LD34 than the shape-shift theme.
Still this was alot of fun and very outside the box thinking.
Great entry! I found myself hooked pretty quickly as I hungered after more space junk. The moment I could eat other planets, I squeed. Nice take on the theme!
Wow, amazing game, and it made me sad a little) I felt bad for pluto, as it seemed that all his actions were motivated by mockery from other planets, so he turned crazy and started eating them all =) Nothing to improve here, it's perfect)
Wow, this is awesome! The gameplay's really fun (even when I was wandering around trying to remember where different planets are, it was super engaging :D) and the aesthetics are great. I liked the bittersweet ending for poor lonely Pluto!
Very fun and cute game! Loved the mechanics, music, sounds, implementation, and characters. This would be a great game to have young ones play to teach about the planets and space debris. Good work on this one!
This is really nicely put together. Love the art - the gameplay is a little repetitive, but it doesn't wear out its welcome. Great attention to detail too; I liked Charon and the other particles circling around Pluto.
This was pretty cool. Really good idea,it gets a bit chopply sometimes when you slingshot. Kind of an evolution of Angry Birds, but so much more fulfilling. I am become Might Pluto Ruler of Worlds.
Love it !!! Just so you i did have a runtime error on android. Restart the game fixed it, I got the error when i touched the screen during the speech at the beginning. Other then that : Your game is definitely on of my favorite !
Awesome work, fun to play and love the Solar System theme :) Your song is fantastic, it's a pity you can't enter the audio category. Indeed, I've seen a couple of entries with 3rd party music entering that category... so not everybody is taking the rules correctly... You're very honest by making that sacrifice.
Insanely polished for a three day jam. :) Very nice artwork, the music fits perfectly and the gameplay is unique and fun. I tried to install it on my Nexus 5 but I got a "Parsing Error" (no more info) when trying to open the .apk. I have a touchscreen laptop so I could still play the game as it was clearly meant to be. :)
Very enjoyable experience. It also has educational value in teaching the planets of the solar system and that eating radioactive waste is bad for your health. Nice graphics, the controls work well, relaxing to play. Nicely done!
Glad to hear you've finally entered the audio category! Scoring it 5/5 right now! :D
Also, I'd like to thank you for your comments. "Unconventional" and "original" are the best words anyone can say about my tiny game :) I will take into account all your constructive suggestions. It's for people like you that this first LD is being extremely enriching for me.
Actually, we made a similar game (eat-everything-to-get-bigger-until-you-eat-the-Sun) for LD33 last August. It's called Have a Cow. You should check it out.
One feature I would really like here is for the camera to zoom out whenever you level up. It might help movement be easier at bigger sizes, and add to the satisfaction of growth.
The writing and mood make this one of best entries I've played yet. Great game!
I ran the game on Android and completed it. Good, polished and finished looking entry! Gameplay itself is not very challenging though. As Pluto got bigger, it was no longer possible to see the crosshairs, which was a bit disorienting.
Lovely graphics, well made game. I included it in my video compilation series of Ludum Dare games, if you’d like to check them out :) https://youtu.be/bGsPoPIYpCs
Really cool little game! Poor Pluto, he's still at the end of my list of planets--couldn't forget him if I wanted to! XD Everything was really good (though Donald Trump invading almost every form of media at the moment is getting a little bit annoying) and my only criticism is that, after you get bigger than the guiding circle around Pluto (the one that shows up when you click and the game pauses), it can throw you off that the game pauses and the circle is hidden. Perhaps make it grow along with Pluto?
Feel like there's a message in it and it is open to interpretation. Or maybe I'm reading into it more than I should. Well made.
M
Marius10 May 2016, 11:04
Hi, nice game and congratulations ! We're realizing a video with several winners of the Ludum Dare #35. Can you add your game on indiexpo.net ? (it's free) So we can include also your game in the video ;) p.s. write #LDJAM in the game's description
M
Molpe10 May 2016, 12:25
Cool little game x) Great idea, nice concept, nice!
Comments94
Id love your thoughts on my entry 'Titos Revenge'-
http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-35/?action=preview&uid=65699
I loved this game, it's one of my favorites on this moment =D
"Slingshot yourself out of orbit and out into deep space. " -> That's a perfect description, and as fun to picture it as your game
@tentacode: Sorry about that. Maybe try tapping the tear instead? What kind of device did you use? It runs on a few devices as I've been told so far, I promise. :)
The gameplay is not that exciting, but it's like Flow and Katamari. We play mostly for their graphics and atmosphere, and that works for you entry! I really wanted to see how it will end :) Well done!
The idea here is great-- what with pluto not being a planet anymore (actually I heard they might change thier mind on that again) but this really would have fit best with the 'grow' theme in LD34 than the shape-shift theme.
Still this was alot of fun and very outside the box thinking.
The text could've stayed longer (didn't have time to read it most of the time). Also some kind of zoom out would have been nice to find other planets.
some more gameplay mechanic would be good.
Nice game.
Great work! One of my favorite
Maybe zoom out a little bit while Pluto gets bigger.
Other then that : Your game is definitely on of my favorite !
I tried to install it on my Nexus 5 but I got a "Parsing Error" (no more info) when trying to open the .apk. I have a touchscreen laptop so I could still play the game as it was clearly meant to be. :)
I ran into a bug several times where Pluto would jump back to the position I last clicked, kind of weird.
Also, I'd like to thank you for your comments. "Unconventional" and "original" are the best words anyone can say about my tiny game :) I will take into account all your constructive suggestions. It's for people like you that this first LD is being extremely enriching for me.
Actually, we made a similar game (eat-everything-to-get-bigger-until-you-eat-the-Sun) for LD33 last August. It's called Have a Cow. You should check it out.
One feature I would really like here is for the camera to zoom out whenever you level up. It might help movement be easier at bigger sizes, and add to the satisfaction of growth.
The writing and mood make this one of best entries I've played yet. Great game!
Everything was really good (though Donald Trump invading almost every form of media at the moment is getting a little bit annoying) and my only criticism is that, after you get bigger than the guiding circle around Pluto (the one that shows up when you click and the game pauses), it can throw you off that the game pauses and the circle is hidden. Perhaps make it grow along with Pluto?
Overall, great job! :)
Can you add your game on indiexpo.net ? (it's free)
So we can include also your game in the video ;)
p.s. write #LDJAM in the game's description
I've made a let's play video, if you want to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz5ntMJYoMU