Deep Space Nine Volts

by boxfort
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.54
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.43
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.23
Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.03
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.02
Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.90
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.31
screen1.png

Your whole crew has been murdered by space bounty hunters, so it's up to you to get home safe.
Take your 9 TeraVolt super batteries, charge 'em up, plug 'em in and keep yourself alive and moving!

This was my first Ludum Dare and i'm quite proud with how the game turned out. Gameplay might be a little bit difficult, but it is possible.

All of the code and assets for this game were made from scratch, and all of the sound effects were made by my mouth. The only thing I did not personally create was the music which was generated from Wolfram Tones.

#Play it here: https://boxfort.itch.io/deep-space-nine-volts

##Controls

WASD/Arrows: Move | Mouse: Look | Click: Pickup/Drop Batteries

Charge batteries by placing them into the chargers in the far left room of the ship.

There are 4 subsystems that you need to keep powered: Thrusters, Life Support, Shields, and Auxiliary. If the thrusters go down your ship will stop moving. If the Life Support goes down your oxygen supply will drop. If the Shields go down your ship will begin to take damage. If Auxiliary goes down you won't be able to see the status of your subsystems and it gets __dark!__

screenshot
Genres: strategy
Tools: Unity

Comments46

Togis
Togis31 Jul 2017, 21:38
What an hectic game! I wasn't able to survive until the end, lack of oxygen...

What I liked:

- Very fast paced run all around gameplay
- Exciting
- Nice GTA 1 style top down view
- easy and fast controls

What I disliked:

- Confusing beginning, the tuto screen is not explaining much.
- WASD forced, I have an AZERTY keyboard. You could also map the arrow keys in your case to avoid that issue. (I played web, maybe the windows version allow re-mapping)
- Too fast scrolling text. I'm not an native english, I don't read as fast as you do in that language.

But overall I had fun! Good work!
Anudin
Anudin31 Jul 2017, 22:58
Lack of oxygen killed me too. This is mighty impressive and not just because it's your first submission here. That thing is pretty complex! Now the balancing needs alot of love and you might want to rethink the level layout - there should be a more straight forward way to get to the charging room as you go there so often. But that's about it with negative gameplay stuff. Which is pretty solid! Of course you can improve with graphics / sound also but the time budget is not very big. Good job
internetpaulicy
internetpaulicy31 Jul 2017, 23:06
This is a really great use of the theme. I felt like a member of an FTL crew. I understood what I had to do right away given the amount of hours I have logged on FTL. I found the extra battery hidden in one of the rooms but man I always ended up dead. It would be nice if you didn't have to put down a fresh battery , take out the dead one and then put the fresh battery in( maybe just auto swap for the user). Anyways its hard to keep cool and switch batteries efficiently. I had a lot of fun messing up all the time. I found a few movement issues where I could get caught in the terrain (near the battery chargers at the back) but I was always able to get loose. Really impressive submission.
Sir Daniev
Sir Daniev31 Jul 2017, 23:19
Nice spin on a GTA + FTL + Resource Manager. The gameplay was outstandingly fun and fast to learn, but the tutorial kinda halts your progress a little in the beginning.

Nice game overall. Well done. :)
SurprisinglyShockedCat31 Jul 2017, 23:22
Great game, the fast pace really works well, it's intuitive to play and the controls were crisp.
junkdeck
junkdeck1 Aug 2017, 00:21
maybe i'm just really bad but when it gets hectic i had some trouble getting into the right position to swap batteries. other than that it was really fun, good job!
kevinworkman
kevinworkman1 Aug 2017, 01:34
This is a really solid start to what could be a bigger game, which is pretty much exactly what a Ludum Dare game should be. Nice work! It would have been nice to see some variety: maybe you have to take a different path because back because something is on fire, or maybe aliens come on board that you have to fight. You also might think about simplifying the controls, since it was a little cumbersome to have to click the mouse. I think the movement would be more fun if you automatically picked stuff up when you were near it. But overall nice work!
bombjack
bombjack1 Aug 2017, 09:20
really game fun. the controls are smooth. It's a nice game!
pfeyffer
pfeyffer1 Aug 2017, 09:44
Nice work! Moving around and handling the batteries could be a smoothed out a bit but otherwise a very solid idea and good gameplay.
mango-malarkey1 Aug 2017, 09:54
Nice game, really stressful and quite difficult. I enjoyed the graphics style and the choice of controls, it worked smoothly. I decided at some point to stop caring about the lights, and maybe that would give me a better chance with all the other systems, but it was really hard moving in the dark. Good mechanics there!
Shell Pirate
Shell Pirate1 Aug 2017, 10:01
Nice work on this one! The graphics had an amateur-ish feel to them, but it felt done on purpose and they had a lot of charm, especially the little drawing when you die. The soundtrack was simple, but effective, and I enjoyed the gibberish when then captain was speaking (both because I found it charming, and because it was a nice audible indication that some information is being given to the player). The controls worked as intended and the game was pretty fast-paced and hectic. If I had to critique, I'd say that a more straight forward layout would be nice, or at the very least a bit more time to familiarize yourself with the existing one. Some more time to read the tutorial text would have been swell also. Overall, great work! It was pretty impressive what you were able to achieve given the time limit.
Toulou
Toulou1 Aug 2017, 10:45
This in a cool concept and a pretty solid game. Musics and graphics are okay, controls are nice and it's easy to understand the game mechanisms. Only downside, I wished there would be some events on the ships, aside from changing the batteries. But good job anyway !
Pip Turner
Pip Turner1 Aug 2017, 11:34
Awesome concept. Loved the hectic resource management. Would have liked it if things were clearer - too much text explaining what was happening, it was quite hard to find some of the rooms. Lovely concept though, and some great design choices
AyyAmThe11 Aug 2017, 13:58
i had trouble figuring out what was what, i thought the life support systems were just a charger, as well as the thrusters. the graphics are okay, the music is a bit repetitive, but overall, its very original and the gameplay is smooth.
AyyAmThe11 Aug 2017, 13:58
i had trouble figuring out what was what, i thought the life support systems were just a charger, as well as the thrusters. the graphics are okay, the music is a bit repetitive, but overall, its very original and the gameplay is smooth.
Bogreen1 Aug 2017, 14:37
Really cool concept, it's look like single person FTL. Thanks for good game:)
Harrelix1 Aug 2017, 15:34
Awesome game, very impressive, I had a lot of fun playing it!
Harrelix1 Aug 2017, 15:34
Awesome game, very impressive, I had a lot of fun playing it!
herniewise
herniewise1 Aug 2017, 20:58
Just plain fun! Poor guy running around with empty batteries from point to point!
Virtual Turtle Studio
Virtual Turtle Studio1 Aug 2017, 21:00
It's really quite challenging, but a really great idea and use of the theme! It's such a simple concept on the surface but works super well. Good job!
Mathiouza
Mathiouza1 Aug 2017, 21:04
Cool game ! The game is not really beautiful, but the concept is cool ! Just a little too hard I think. Keep coding :)
BinarySpark
BinarySpark1 Aug 2017, 21:11
It took me a little while to figure out what was going on - I wasn't aware of the charging stations in first room - but once I figured that out, I started to enjoy this!

This was very nice. A simple game, mechanically, but pretty well executed and quite fun. There's never a dull moment, you always have to walk around and carry batteries. The art and tileset strongly reminds me of Space Station 13. Dunno if that is intentional, but that was kinda the look and feel I got from it. That's a good thing, btw. The music is nice, but it seems like the loop isn't that long so it kinda loses its charm after a few minutes.

One thing I noticed: you walk faster diagonally. You probably add the two movement vectors together and forgot to normalize.

All in all, I'm impressed. Nice work!
NoytroO
NoytroO1 Aug 2017, 21:12
Wow that's fun, and hard! I like the way you exploit the theme, it's a good idea.
I can't go until the end to, because of oxygen. It's a bit hard, maybe in order to reach the earth, few plays are needed.

I have some issues with the controls because you forced WASD on webplayer (just put arrow keys as second input, or ZQSD. I finally game with my controller for movement & mouse to take objects XD

Anyway, great job!

(Oh, if you can test and rate my game ;) )
Prince
Prince1 Aug 2017, 21:12
I actually had a lot of fun with this one
Noxalus
Noxalus1 Aug 2017, 21:32
Congratulation, it's a really nice game that we have here. It's kinda challenging though, I died due to the lack of power in the ship shield :O
DeadlyAlive
DeadlyAlive2 Aug 2017, 00:51
Very nice game, I enjoyed it so much. I finished it at first try but yet it felt hard and accomplishing. Good job.
Jason200101
Jason2001012 Aug 2017, 02:23
I liked it! It got a little repetitive towards the mid-point though. Maybe if your ship takes enough damage, the systems won't be able to do their job 100% efficiently, draining batteries quicker. That would also give an extra reason to keep that system up, changing the priorities!
lythom2 Aug 2017, 07:43
What I liked

__ + __ Musics and sounds, simple yet well adjusted
__ + __ Stimulating and fun game
__ + __ Design quality, after turning around once or twice in the ship, I understand how it worked very easily. Good point on design for that.
__ + __ The small details like automatic doors and objects on the floor

What imo could be improved

__ - __ Graphics, they aldready do the job, the next step is to get fancy with them :D
__ - __ Precision in the controls is correct but need some practise to get right, and I still made mistakes which felt frustrating because my management felt good. (I still managed to win so that's ok, but it could feel even smoother)
__ - __ Have a little crazyness. As stated, the gameplay is stimulating and fun, but it could be brought even further for a very unique experience. Not sure how, you may find this kind of things in your very own experience.

Overall

Very impressive first entry, fun to play and I enjoyed the experience alot. Thanks for the game !
jackyjjc
jackyjjc2 Aug 2017, 12:47
Oh my god this game is really stressful, in a good way I guess. I managed to win and I was quite happy. I needed a few trial and error get remember where everything is as well as figuring out how to use the charging station (I didn't know where is the charging station at first, would be nice to have big red arrow pointing to them in the beginning.) The music and sound effect works great with the game and the art style is simple but does the job. The challenge itself was great, it was a bit difficult but that was also what kept me on the edge my seat! Did you mention that this is your first ludum dare? WOW you've done an amazing job. I would have thought this is your 4th or 5th if you didn't mention it. Very fun game I like it, one of the best I've played so far. Thanks you for the game! :)
C0nst4ntin2 Aug 2017, 16:02
It was quite confusing at the beginning. I liked the audio and the Graphics.
Overall nice game!
h.attila
h.attila2 Aug 2017, 18:53
Whew, finally won! :) What a tense game, really great fun. Nice FTL vibes. :) I liked how all of the systems had some real effect on the gameplay, especially the rooms going dark if you lose the aux unit. Some things that could be improved:

- It would be nice to have some sort of indication when I'm in the right position to pick up/insert the batteries. Maybe a bit of glow effect. Right now I had to mess around quite a bit to be close enough and at the right angle, which is not nice in such a fast paced game.
- Not sure if I like the controls. I think it could work better with just arrow keys + some other key to interact instead of having to use the mouse.
- It's hard to tell how healthy the systems are just by looking at the color of their icons. I would've liked some progress bars more, like what you used for the oxygen/hull integrity.
- You don't get notified when the thrusters go down the same way you would for the other systems. That made me forgot about it once or twice.
- Once I threw a battery in the walls behind the chargers and then couldn't get it out. :(
- If I lost all my crew, then who is talking to me? :)

Nice job overall, one of my favorites so far!
Jannes Nagel
Jannes Nagel2 Aug 2017, 20:28
Oh god. That game just gave me PTSD. So 5 stars for mood defo!

Keep up the great work people!
gnerkus
gnerkus2 Aug 2017, 20:43
I'll not be able to get home at my current skill level, will I? I need to get back to the game but first...

+++ The mood and tension in the game were very well done. It was a exciting to learn where each system was and to keep track of their power levels. I especially loved how the systems had clear effects on the environment.

-- It was a bit difficult for me to tell when I'd dropped a battery so I often wasted time trying to confirm.

Excellent entry overall. Thanks for the great game.
dragonxvi
dragonxvi2 Aug 2017, 21:23
Pretty cool! Good base for a game, could see it adding more stuff happening to manage the ship (boarding parties, fires etc.). Liked how the systems all affected things (particularly the lights affecting status indicators). Only complaint was it did get a bit repetitive, but great work for a first LD game!
ALeal_Dev
ALeal_Dev2 Aug 2017, 23:10
Positive:
* You have to constantly move in order to manage the resources. It's exciting to play!
* Music and sound were nice!

Negative:
* You don't know pretty well what to do at the beginning of the game... it's a bit confusing.
* The controls are a bit inaccurate.

Great entry overall. Nice job!
Johngun3 Aug 2017, 01:32
Nice concept, but a bit confusing in the beginning. Like the controls, the gameplay, but the music got a bit monotone.

Nice work
elit3dgaming3 Aug 2017, 07:08
Fun game, nice concept although slightly repetitive. I died by not having shield up for a bit, I got over half way, super fun game though!
Hishicorne
Hishicorne3 Aug 2017, 08:31
Very cool game with great idea, I like the fact the controller of the spaceship talk to you to help you know the statut of the ship. However I think it's a bit hard to make it to the end... Also because I didn't understood what to do since the begining.

However the controlls are great, maybe making a but more space for the doors could improve it a lot !
mortus
mortus3 Aug 2017, 12:04
Quite cool overall, but a bit repetitive. Maybe some random events could make it more engaging.

Also, I recommend unchecking "add fullscreen button" in itch.io settings and increasing the iframe height, because Unity web player has its own fullscreen button which is not fully visible on the current game page.
Archimagus
Archimagus3 Aug 2017, 16:57
Very hard game, and a bit confusing at the beginning. I really liked it though. Great use of the theme. I do with the controls were a bit tighter. I had a decent amount of trouble swapping the batteries. Like, sometimes I could just click a full battery on top of a used one and they'd swap and other times they wouldn't and I'd just drop the new one on the ground only to pick it back up again. The graphics were cute and sufficient to get the point of the game across and the moth noises were pretty good, though the door one was loud enough to get a little annoying with it happening so much. Over all, great job.
Robber
Robber3 Aug 2017, 22:45
Very cool game, i was a little confused at the beginning, but the game explained itself pretty well. The Health - Ship stability bars are still a little confusing, perhaps a way to combine them with the O2 and Shields would make things a little better. For the battery's, It may be nice idea to give them a lot more power when you leave them in the charger for longer, this way there is a bit more strategy, using high charges for rooms that are further away, etc. Just some game design critiques really, game is build very well, great job for a first jam!
Wheffle
Wheffle3 Aug 2017, 23:46
A winner is me!

I have to say that is the worst designed spaceship I have ever seen lol. Very cool game idea! I can see how this can easily be expanded upon too, with random events happening and maybe more stations. Seemed very solid, had a lot of fun (even though that captain dude could have been helping instead of barking at me the whole time :P ). I think the UI could have been improved, maybe using power bars for the different rooms instead of icons that faded. It was hard to tell when one was going dead because they were all different colors. Maybe even if they were all the same color like white and all faded to black as they went dead, might have been easier to tell. Nice project, keep it up!
TheFlyingKeyboard
TheFlyingKeyboard4 Aug 2017, 17:29
Really fun game to play, very unique idea. My only complain is that sprites flicker a little bit, when camera is moving.
PixelProductions
PixelProductions4 Aug 2017, 19:55
Nice Game, I liked the Dialog sound ahahaha. The Idea is pretty cool man. You have my Five stars on all ;D
easy82
easy824 Aug 2017, 21:31
This game is really cool indeed! I had great fun while playing it :) The idea of recharging depleated batteries and swapping them to use in subsystems is superb. Thanks for making this game :) Now I rate it and I go back for another round...
SiegfriedCroes
SiegfriedCroes6 Aug 2017, 15:56
I liked this entry a lot even though it was really difficult. The graphics are nice and audio really fun ;) Maybe it would be nicer to have a ship layout with the charging room in the middle so it's just a bit easier to reach. Still well done :)
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