SPACE COMPACT - A Game for Ludum Dare 42 (48 hour Compo)
CONTROLS: (if nothing is happening, click in the game window to refocus)
up arrow: accelerate
down arrow: repulser shield (this also acts as a brake)
left and right arrows: rotate ship (or move left and right inside space station)
spacebar: shoot and dock at stations
You're an outer space entrepreneur! (spacetrepreneur?) Use your pitifully small cargo hold to deliver crates from station to station. Try not to get crushed by totally-original-and-non-copyright-infringing asteroids, and avoid getting shot down by space pirates. Use your lasers and repulser shield to defend yourself. Survive for as long as you can and make bank! After every 5 full deliveries, you'll get a free hull point repair to help keep your ship in the fewest number of pieces possible.
At first having the shield rather than slowing down felt kind of clunky, but activating the shield and then stopping by crashing into a meteoroid actually feels really good. I noticed that you can actually take more than 8 boxes on board?
I liked this. It reminded me a lot of a game I used to love, Subspace : Continuum. Really simple idea, you're a space trader, but there are enemies and asteroids. I think this has a lot of scope for future growth.
The idea is well implemented. The controls could use a bit more tweaking to help make combat a bit more fluid. For example maybe changing the shield to a different key so it is easier to move around, shoot, and shield simultaneously. Having to let go of the thruster key in order to shield makes it a bit clunky. Other than that, it was fun exploring and the hyperspace was a neat feature.
I think the graphics could have been a bit larger (especially when you go inside the space stations). Controls are solid, and I love that you show the lines to the space stations, but it would be nice to have some idea of how far they are - either by resizing the lines or showing the distance with the number. The ship really goes once it gets going so I overshot the stations almost every time.
Also, it doesn't seem to handle it well if you pick up from multiple stations without dropping off.
I like the concept, and as I said, the Asteroids-style controls work really well.
I really like the signposting to the stations and that they seem to recalculate when I travel. The enemy ships were very, very fast. I seem to be the only one who couldn't find cargo. I stumbled on one by accident. The interlude on docking at the cargo pickup seemed unnecessary. I also don't need the word "pew!" coming out of the ship along with the sound effect; one or the other would be fine. Or the sound effect could be a person actually saying "pew!" I did enjoy the retro feel of this game.
Comments15
I noticed that you can actually take more than 8 boxes on board?
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/space-compact gameplay at 46:31
Stations direction better keep on borders of window.
Also, it doesn't seem to handle it well if you pick up from multiple stations without dropping off.
I like the concept, and as I said, the Asteroids-style controls work really well.
Here's a video of my play: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/298011771