Gravity Assist takes a real world trick for dealing with little available power and makes a game out of it.
Thereby, I mean so called *"Gravity Assists"* (or *Slingshots*), which are manouvers in space travel, where fuel is very limited and the gravity of different planets/moons/etc. can or must be used to get to the desired destination.
As this is my first attempt on a Ludum Dare Game (i.e. my first Game Jam at all), my time planning wasn't too good and I now think I should have prioritized things a bit differently, but now it is how it is – so:
:video_game: Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game. (Michael Jordan)
Further information
- Nearly everything is done completely from scratch – everything except fonts and the samples used for creating the music for this game. That's also why I didn't opt out any voting category except humor (as my game has no story). - When downloading one of the standalone versions (Mac, Win, Linux), you can even kind of mod the game, as the levels are defined in the *levels.json* file in the *Unity Streaming Assets Folder*.
Known issues
- Sometimes, the "power indicator bar" in the bottom left-hand corner isn't correct when starting the game, it gets corrected after the first shot, though - Bloom (The "shining") makes it hard to read the UI on some screens - It is very short (just three levels) – in the Windows, macOS & Linux versions, you can add your own levels by editing the *levels.json* file, though
Wow the brighness is strong with this one! I really like how you made a settings for the game where you can adjust the sound and stuff. Dont see it too much on ludum dare. I did not do it myself actually. I always like gravity games and you have pulled it off as well. The mechanics are very nice.
Great game, bit too short but great concept. Music was pleasing but visuals were a bit too bright. Maybe if you turn down bloom a little, it could be better.
I like the mood and the gravity system. I think that the first level could have a bigger stock of power as its quit difficult to anticipate the gravity at first. Maybe the stock of power could be feedbacked slightly differently to see the actual part that we're using directly on the stock.
Finished the 3 levels after some experimentation and got 6,480,000 points with 50% energy left. The music got a bit on my nerves after a while but otherwise a well executed game.
I know why I implemented the Slider in the Options menu to switch the music off (believe me, although I composed it myself, after hours of testing stuff, I know exactly what you mean with "got a bit on [your] nerves" :grin:)
Thank you for playing and for your constructive feedback.
I like the concept behind the game but Unity is a bit weird sometimes. When I play this on medium to ultra settings the particles move very slowly but going to lower quality makes the inputs move waaay too fast. If I could find a perfect medium where I can finely control the power and angle but also not have the bullets move as if going through molasses I think I would have found it more enjoyable. I will assume those are fixed for this comment though.
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Graphics were minimal but worked. Bloom/Brightness settings seemed to be off but it looks like that has been made clear from other comments. The music was nice at first, but there needs to be a kind of break in it cause after a while it turns from, oh neat music, to , please top the droning. Sound effects were good. The actual mechanics of the game are where it shine though. The idea that you have a limited amount of power and you only have a certain number of shots to line everything up is a good one. I wish the path indicator coming out of the gun was a bit longer for lower power shots though. Overall great job!
Gravity mechanics! Fun! I'm terrible at them though lol Music and sounds default to really loud in my opinion, but the music itself is actually decent.
Thank you for your constructive Feedback (the most extensive one I've got so far :thumbsup:)
I agree that Unity acts weird sometimes, I didn't notice this, but will look into it (I never really liked Unity's "premade Settings", but that sounds like something that can be fixed, I will look into it the next time I have a bit of spare time.
Thank you very much for playing and for your extensive and constructive feedback :thumbsup:!
Nice game, reminds me of angry birds the space version. I like the twist on the power since it require more strategic planning before firing. I like the bloom effect. What impressed me a lot was the music and sound effects.
Really fun idea, particle effects and lights are just awesome. The only thing that could be better is UI font color - black font on ligt green color is very hard to read.
Some gameplay stuff seems to be tied to framerate, which is no bueno! Don't forget to make use of Time.DeltaTime and Time.FixedDeltaTime for time-sensitive things, because right now lowering the graphics settings can make shot power move too fast to control.
Fix that and you got a solid game here. Limiting your total shot force does a lot to solve the "sniping" problem these games tend to have, since full-force shots just costs too much. So you're forced to use slower shots and think about how the gravity wells affect them, and that can get nice and tricky. It's always cool when such a simple twist changes things more than you expected it to.
Nice sounds and menu too, this is actually one of the most "complete" games I've seen so far.
As people have pointed out, the physics here is very well executed. The limited power makes it critical to actually think what power you need to use for what kind of a target. It's challenging but I feel with such short levels, it doesn't feel unfair.
I felt graphically it was a bit boring but everything (like the star's effect on the shot) was clear and that is the most important thing in a game like this. Good job!
Comments37
Thanks for playing and the constructive feedback :thumbsup:.
Yeah, the brightness was a bit off :grin: – thank you for playing and giving constructive feedback :thumbsup:.
Oops – I'm sorry about that (I knew it was bad, but I didn't know it was that bad…). Thank you for your constructive feedback :thumbsup:.
I think that the first level could have a bigger stock of power as its quit difficult to anticipate the gravity at first.
Maybe the stock of power could be feedbacked slightly differently to see the actual part that we're using directly on the stock.
Ah, yes – I agree (I struggled with the power system a lot :grin:). Thank you for playing and your constructive feedback :thumbsup:.
Thank you for playing and for your constructive feedback :thumbsup:.
I'd be a liar if I'd say it wasn't inspired by KSP :rocket::grin:
Thank you for playing and for your constructive feedback :thumbsup:.
Fun mechanics and the music fit the space-theme of the game. :thumbsup:
Let's just hope they don't use the WASD keys and the spacebar at NASA to navigate their space ships :joy:
Thank you very much for playing and for your constructive feedback :thumbsup:
I had a hard time a few levels in :D
Great entry!
Thank you for playing and for your feedback :thumbsup:.
I know why I implemented the Slider in the Options menu to switch the music off (believe me, although I composed it myself, after hours of testing stuff, I know exactly what you mean with "got a bit on [your] nerves" :grin:)
Thank you for playing and for your constructive feedback.
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Graphics were minimal but worked. Bloom/Brightness settings seemed to be off but it looks like that has been made clear from other comments. The music was nice at first, but there needs to be a kind of break in it cause after a while it turns from, oh neat music, to , please top the droning. Sound effects were good. The actual mechanics of the game are where it shine though. The idea that you have a limited amount of power and you only have a certain number of shots to line everything up is a good one. I wish the path indicator coming out of the gun was a bit longer for lower power shots though. Overall great job!
Music and sounds default to really loud in my opinion, but the music itself is actually decent.
Thank you for your constructive Feedback (the most extensive one I've got so far :thumbsup:)
I agree that Unity acts weird sometimes, I didn't notice this, but will look into it (I never really liked Unity's "premade Settings", but that sounds like something that can be fixed, I will look into it the next time I have a bit of spare time.
Thank you very much for playing and for your extensive and constructive feedback :thumbsup:!
Thank you, that's good to know.
Thank you for playing and for your constructive feedback :thumbsup:!
Thank you very much for playing and for your feedback :thumbsup:!
I know – the bloom is *"a bit"* high :grin:
Thank you very much for playing and for your constructive feedback :thumbsup:!
I have the feeling we're pretty much alone in liking the bloom effect :grin:
Thank you very much for playing and for your constructive feedback :thumbsup:!
Thank you very much for playing and for your constructive feedback. I'm glad you liked it :thumbsup:!
Fix that and you got a solid game here. Limiting your total shot force does a lot to solve the "sniping" problem these games tend to have, since full-force shots just costs too much. So you're forced to use slower shots and think about how the gravity wells affect them, and that can get nice and tricky. It's always cool when such a simple twist changes things more than you expected it to.
Nice sounds and menu too, this is actually one of the most "complete" games I've seen so far.
Ah, yes, I seem to have missed that in the controls – thank you for the hint.
Thank you very much for playing and for your constructive feedback :thumbsup:!
I felt graphically it was a bit boring but everything (like the star's effect on the shot) was clear and that is the most important thing in a game like this. Good job!
Thank you very much for playing and for your constructive feedback :thumbsup:!