Ludum Dare #44compo
Bartleby in Space
Bartleby, intrepid intergalactic explorer extraordinaire, has a bit of a problem. His ship broke down and now he's stranded in the middle of an asteroid belt. He needs three components to fix his ship: fuel, a new hyperdrive module, and an asteroid shield. The strange inhabitants of the asteroid belt may have the things he needs, but they come at a high price: his precious oxygen which is already ticking down. Can Bartleby fix his ship and travel home before his air supply runs out? His fate is in your hands.
(I recommend playing the downloaded version so you can play it in a higher resolution, but the WebGL should work too!)
Controls
- Left Mouse Button...........Activate Thrusters
- Right Mouse Button........Open Map/Inventory
- Space....................................Interact/Repair Ship
Bartleby's space suit is equipped with zero-gravity thrusters. Just hold the mouse button down and Bartleby will rocket away. The further the mouse cursor is from Bartleby, the faster he will accelerate.
Bartleby's map is his most valuable asset. It shows key landmarks in the galaxy. Search near the landmarks for characters who want something from Bartleby. If its not in his inventory, they'll also tell him where to find it. Follow the chain of requests to get the items Bartleby needs to fix his ship!
Bartleby has ten minutes of oxygen in his tank. If you install one of the key items (fuel, hyperdrive, or shield) into his ship, his oxygen will refill. Use this to stay alive!
This has been my fifth Ludum Dare (fourth time finish), and also my first time streaming my process, which was a lot of fun. I felt really good about how everything went: I had a good scope from the outset, I adapted my initial idea to work with the theme, and I had a lot of fun with the art and writing, which is more my forte than programming. And I didn't work *too* crazy hard, so all in all, one of my best LD experiences!
Please leave any and all feedback, and if you run into bugs I will try to track them down. Looking forward to playing everyone else's games!
- Engine: Unity
- Code: C#
- Art: Photoshop
- Music: FakeMusicGenerator
- SFX: bfxr
4/29/19 -- WebGL version added
4/29/19 -- Linux version added (untested, let me know if there are issues -- preferably play in 16:9 if it doesn't force it)
Comments31
Team Kelly30 Apr 2019, 04:37
My favourite game of the jam so far! Super fun writing with cool references. Just wooshing around feels really fun. Very cute style too.
aevek30 Apr 2019, 05:00
Loved the look, sound, and feel of it. Really impressed you were able to create such a complete and enjoyable experience in the time frame. Great job.
Synedraacus30 Apr 2019, 05:44
@carlsonandpeeters Any chance of a native Linux build?
CarlsonAndPeeters30 Apr 2019, 05:54
@synedraacus just added a linux build; I can't test it because I don't have a Linux machine, just built it from my Unity project. Hopefully it works!
Synedraacus30 Apr 2019, 05:58
@carlsonandpeeters Yep, I'll check it out when I get home. Probably in four hours or so.
Dennis Jeong30 Apr 2019, 06:07
interesting game! it was hard for me to read people's dialogue because I would keep wooshing past, as well as hard for me to remember who wanted what.
kuviman30 Apr 2019, 06:23
Love that drawing style :)
shp30 Apr 2019, 06:54
Nice visual style and music, a bit hard to travel through the space but that adds to the experience
Cubicode30 Apr 2019, 07:13
Very very nice! I really like the mechanics and the sound as well as the idea.
This is my favourite until now. I will certainly come back to play this more.
This is my favourite until now. I will certainly come back to play this more.
Luis J. Benitez30 Apr 2019, 07:21
Nice Music and controls. I find the map very handy! Wrost thing: the interactions i didnt feel like i was doing something or any progress even going all around the galaxy! Good Job overall! ++ for having Web build.
Synedraacus30 Apr 2019, 11:36
Linux version failed to launch under optirun (Mint 19, 64-bit), but it's probably something with my drivers. The `Player.log` is below:
```
Desktop is 1366 x 768 @ 60 Hz
Unable to find a supported OpenGL core profile
Failed to create valid graphics context: please ensure you meet the minimum requirements
E.g. OpenGL core profile 3.2 or later for OpenGL Core renderer
Vulkan detection: 0
No supported renderers found, exiting
(Filename: Line: 590)
```
```
Desktop is 1366 x 768 @ 60 Hz
Unable to find a supported OpenGL core profile
Failed to create valid graphics context: please ensure you meet the minimum requirements
E.g. OpenGL core profile 3.2 or later for OpenGL Core renderer
Vulkan detection: 0
No supported renderers found, exiting
(Filename: Line: 590)
```
FatCrow30 Apr 2019, 18:07
I absolutely love the art in this game it makes it super unique and interesting! Great writing also, the story was so fun and well written. It took me a while to figure out the thrusters also used the mouse direction but once I did it was super fun zipping around space working through the story!
Eduardo Yukio1 May 2019, 03:01
The art is simple and beautiful! The music fits the game well too. The gameplay works fine, it really feels that I'm controlling some astronaut in space, he keeps spinning, even in place xD.
Funny texts too, just thought that it didn't combine well with the theme, because you are limited on time, which gives an anxiety to find things quickly, so reading flavour texts goes against that. But overall it's really good!
Funny texts too, just thought that it didn't combine well with the theme, because you are limited on time, which gives an anxiety to find things quickly, so reading flavour texts goes against that. But overall it's really good!
tater-hater1 May 2019, 03:50
I loved the art style here. It had a direction and was uniform throughout, something that is hard to do in 48 hours. especially when you decide you need assets last minute.. I digress... the music was also very fun. Definitively not the usual 'space pad' style you would expect from a game with space controls. Speaking of controls, they worked well. after binging KSP the 0 g control felt pretty natural.
Amerigo Gazaway1 May 2019, 08:21
Really cool game! Love the art/concept and some of the character/objects I encountered had me cracking up. Was a little hard to get used to the controls at first but once I got zipping though space it was totally worth it. Would be nice to have a definitive "brake" button of some sort but I guess that's the whole thing about space travel haha . Great work!
Instafluff2 May 2019, 00:33
So cool! I love how cute the graphics are!!
Lexyvil2 May 2019, 05:41
Interesting game! I really loved the mood and the text, it made it worth getting to all the points aside from getting the items needed.
xand2 May 2019, 08:53
The graphics are sooooo cute! The thrusters have a nice feel to them, and the interactions with the places/people/animals/things is very well done. Great job :)
TonyTugger2 May 2019, 09:01
Good fun. Was a bit tough to figure out what to do at first
lesinvisible2 May 2019, 10:53
Though I really hate these confusing controls the game itself feels wonderful. Overall graphical and design style reminded me a little bit of Little Prince. To me it's a kinda of fun execution of the one of the most cliche theme "stranded in space".
Tamail2 May 2019, 16:14
Oh, I liked this game so much! I loved the graphics, idea, sounds, controls, everything! It worked together so well!
cheesepencil2 May 2019, 22:20
5 stars for humor but by the time I found penelope she wouldn't give me the next macguffin because I didn't have enough oxygen... guess I'll die?
LMB2 May 2019, 22:49
One could say that the gameplay is shallow, but it doesn't have to be deep in this case. To me, this game is all about firing up your thrusters and discovering a fascinating world!
Beautiful game, not only visually (but, sure. *also* visually). Great writting, too. One of the most satisfying Compo entries I ever played!
Beautiful game, not only visually (but, sure. *also* visually). Great writting, too. One of the most satisfying Compo entries I ever played!
Ransom3 May 2019, 02:44
Goofy little game! I liked it. Bartering with your remaining time is an interesting mechanic. I missed a bit of the character dialogue because I had to really rush to refill the oxygen, but the humour added a lot to it.
I think if you were able to get your oxygen back in smaller amounts, instead of one large amount every time you put a piece into your ship, it would keep the player on the edge of their seat more.
Nice work! And thanks for streaming and reviewing my game!
I think if you were able to get your oxygen back in smaller amounts, instead of one large amount every time you put a piece into your ship, it would keep the player on the edge of their seat more.
Nice work! And thanks for streaming and reviewing my game!
IanLux3 May 2019, 16:27
Great humor, nice dialogues and cool artwork.
Overall, fun game!
Overall, fun game!
cppchriscpp5 May 2019, 01:02
This is a super impressive compo game! It felt very complete and polished, and actually got me to laugh a good few times! (You got my highest score thus far in humor) The controls were a little out of the ordinary and I quite liked them. The music was also extremely good for a compo game.
I try to give constructive criticism whenever I can, and the only thing I can really think of is that the field of view was rather small. (This might be because I used webgl, though I did fullscreen it) Once I figured out where the map was it got easier.
This is among my favorites from this compo so far; very nicely done!
I try to give constructive criticism whenever I can, and the only thing I can really think of is that the field of view was rather small. (This might be because I used webgl, though I did fullscreen it) Once I figured out where the map was it got easier.
This is among my favorites from this compo so far; very nicely done!
hutchings905 May 2019, 01:57
It's a lot of fun to control that floating character. Very creative residents and interactions with them. The only thing I ever got was a saw from Otto...
vulpineblazeyt5 May 2019, 03:06
Hardest game this LD. I was terrible at this game in the 90s and I'm terrible now lol
Awesome execution, graphics and sound were on point! Good job!
Awesome execution, graphics and sound were on point! Good job!
Skoggy5 May 2019, 07:41
Really good entry! Very hard though.
Good job!
Good job!
Yorsh6 May 2019, 12:21
That's a very smart take on the theme, and incredibly well executed :)
also, great artwork!