ALYVE

by jspacek
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.79
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.67
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.69
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.64
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.74
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.63
Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.34
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.61
You're an intern in a biological research lab on the moon. You've been hired with a simple mission: whatever it is they're making here, keep the thing alive.

(Controls on PC web browser are Z to confirm, X to cancel and advance text boxes, arrow keys to move cursor.)

screenshot

Comments20

gamebuilder
gamebuilder23 Apr 2020, 01:38
I made it to Sunday. It took me a while to figure out the controls (I couldn't find any instructions), but once I learned how it works, it was fun. Thanks for making this.
Nefrace
Nefrace24 Apr 2020, 15:05
A very nice tower defence game, i really like it.
However, after "You kept yourself alive for sunday", the game frezes and doesn't respond to any controls, only music is still playing. I think it's game over :smile:
AdamV28 Apr 2020, 03:29
Cool tower defense game! It took me a while to figure out the controls though.
congusbongus
congusbongus28 Apr 2020, 03:31
Nice simple TD game. The twist ending was interesting! A great entry in the pico library
mhykah28 Apr 2020, 03:35
Fun game! Made it to Sunday. It took a while for me to understand what was going on but once I did it was good. Really liked the twist.
Isiah Brighton28 Apr 2020, 03:41
I really enjoyed the ending. Especially since it was a mechanical twist as well as a narrative one. I only wish there was a way to see the cost of upgrading the highlighted unit (if there was I just didn't see it).
meelo28 Apr 2020, 03:47
This was fun - I beat it my first try, and decided to go back for another run. The controls were really confusing at first - I had to basically push all the buttons on my keyboard until I figured out the controls were Z, X, C + Arrow keys (and the first run through, I found them awkward - I couldn't get turrets down fast enough to save my test tube buddy/monster). There's definitely some balance issues to work out, though - the Pulser far outpaces any other weapon in terms of damager per second per $$$ - and you can get a perfect score (on my third attempt, hehe) up until the final day with just un-upgraded Pulsers:

(I nearly killed the boss too; had only two segments left when it got to me). It might need some rebalancing. I really dig the graphical style and the audio is simple, but fun. Very nicely done.
aeveis
aeveis30 Apr 2020, 04:25
Had fun playing the game! I like the narrative you got running through the different waves, with the thing you were protecting becoming the boss becuase it broke loose. I had some trouble with the controls at first becuase I kept pressing z or x instead of the other. Nice job!
OldeTobeh
OldeTobeh30 Apr 2020, 04:33
Very impressive considering this is all running on PICO-8. Maybe needs a little re-balancing, was a bit too easy. Solid tower defense game.
frosty
frosty30 Apr 2020, 07:12
My first time playing a PICO-8 game. A really nice, solid little tower defense. Great entry!
Probe31
Probe312 May 2020, 05:10
I love PICO-8. The color palette and the pixel art are awesome.
paul-sinnett3 May 2020, 22:20
This is the ideal game style for the theme.
ZipLockBagMan3 May 2020, 22:24
Nice tower defence game. I found the controls a bit confusing and it was quite easy, but it was fun!
marcusnystrand3 May 2020, 22:26
First time I ever played a tower defense game using arrow keys and it was super fun! A bit hard to control at first though, especially when choosing and placing towers.

I don't know if this is on purpose but I kept all my towers after loosing?

Anyhow, well done!!
Danilo Bezerra
Danilo Bezerra4 May 2020, 22:06
At first I had a hard time understanding, but soon after that I was able to enjoy the game a lot!

I also loved the plot twist at the end! I really didn't expect it. :laughing:

Very polished game, nice work!
Evan Minto
Evan Minto7 May 2020, 06:21
I also had trouble understanding the controls at first (I know the Pico-8 X/C thing, just couldn't figure out which button was the one for placing a turret vs. canceling, etc). Once I figured them out this was pretty great. Love the simple but really vibrant pixel art. Great world-building in such a small project too! And a fantastic twist.

I'll also note what someone mentioned: when I died I kept my turrets from the last run, which made subsequent runs much easier. Seems like a bug but I’m not sure.
frenchie
frenchie7 May 2020, 07:27
Nice little PICO-8 game! Managed to beat it on my first try (after a quick restart where I figured out controls :wink:)

Took a quick peak at the code - was surprised to see the biggest function was around cursor handling! The devils always in the details :smile:
vfqd7 May 2020, 08:27
Really solid TD, also loved the twist at the end :D
kjscott
kjscott7 May 2020, 11:06
Glad to see another fellow PICO-8 developer out here! One bug I came across, if you lose and start again the towers remain from the previous game making the second play through super easy in comparison. After I won the bottom left showed "[nil]" and I wasn't able to restart the game without resetting the cartridge.

Overall a really well polished game, very enjoyable and I would love to see an expanded post-jam version so I could play more of it.
drprettypatty
drprettypatty11 May 2020, 23:10
this was great! i thought it was really polished, great graphics and sound, fun dialog (the corruption at the end was cool) and you implemented a full game. really impressive for your first game jam imho. on my first try i lost on tuesday (i think), and everything I placed stuck around, which is a bug I think -- but it was still a lot of fun and i was happy with the easier difficulty that it gave me. awesome entry, i hope you keep doing LD!
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