Ludum Dare #46compo

Robositter Infernal

by phlip45

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.33

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.26

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.96

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.91

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.78

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.06

Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.20

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.10

Decided to make an action game where you are a robot protecting a baby. What better enemy then zombies!

Controls

- WASD to move
- Space to drop turrets
- Mouse to shoot
- Alt + Enter to Fullscreen

Goal

You are a robot. You have been charged with taking care of a baby. It is Friday the 13th and zombies have begun rising from the grave and they love to eat baby brains (because science).

Build turrets and blast your way through the horde to destroy the unholy churches spawning this menace. Collect metal fillings from the horde to construct more turrets. Collect relics from the infernal churches and return them to the baby to receive upgrades. Collect all 5 relics to win the game.

Our Heroes

Baby Herman - Awwww, isn't he just the cutest. Who could possibly want to hurt this lil' guy? Oh. Right. Zombies..

Robositter - This is you. How did you get here? Why do you have advanced weaponry? Why can you build turrets so fast? Unfortunately this game isn't really about you, so those questions will not be answered. Save the baby.

Turret - This thing is a workhorse. How does Robositter create so many bullets with just a hunk of metal? Who cares, more daka!

Enemies

Zombambos - Their thirst for infant brains is so immense they will usually ignore you and head straight for the little one. Get them angry and they will chase you down.

Zombobos - They were unborn with a thirst for circuitry. They will b-line straight for your weak electronic self and tear you asunder.

The Church of Unnecessarily Large Graveyards - Everyone thought it was a great idea to collect corpses from all over the world and keep them in this rural area. They were wrong.

Items

The Pacifier of Destiny - Grant your baby a purpose in life, bolstering its resolve and providing 9 additional hit points.

The Rattle of Justice - Keep your baby amused with this 'rattle' that will 'scare away' the horde.

The Titanium Diaper - Thank goodness that smell is gone, now that your robot sensors are a bit clearer you gain renewed hope of overcoming the unthinking mass. Also gain some hit points.

The Onesie of Warmth - Whoo, it was getting a bit chilly. Now that your baby isn't so cold it can focus all its energy on shaking that 'rattle'.

The Mini Sombrero - The ultimate in stylish baby gear. With this your baby has ascended to a higher plane of societal grace and can handle the rest of the hoard on its own. Your job is done. Rest well Robositter.

Kill unholy cathedrals and collect baby bonuses, then return and give them to the baby. Collect all 5 relics and win the game!

This was my first time implementing screen scrolling in a game. The result is smooth, but the behind the scenes are a mess. Not to do with the 'camera' but to do with how areas load dynamically.

Tools

- Atom (Text Editor)
- Aseprite (Graphics)
- BFXR (some sound effects)
- Audacity (more sound effects)
- FL Studio (Music)

Have fun out there!!

Changelog

- Changed start button to space instead of click to prevent accidental starts.
- Rewrote title screen graphic to have instruction actually legible

Tags: #robots, #top down shooter, #top-down, #zombies

Genres: shooter

Tools: Aseprite, Audacity, Bfxr, FL Studio

Comments17

plantleaf20 Apr 2020, 06:33

For some reason I actually really loved just spraying bullets on those zombies. The baby was kind of funny. I'm guessing the map is either procedurally generated or there are just some maps in which you spawn randomly. The change is a pleasant thing. The music was nice and definitely fitted the game. Things I would recommend are adding a restart button or key and adding some animations to the zombies. I wasn't to keen on the visuals as a whole to be honest but this keeping in mind that you only had 48 hours, I can understand that yu didn't spend too much time on the graphics. Overall I found it a fun little game to play for a couple of minutes.

Jeremy Ryan20 Apr 2020, 06:38

Nice work for 48 hours! The turret building mechanic was nice and felt rewarding as I surrounded my child with swaths of robotic firearms.

It would be nice if placing a turret had a sound effect; most other things do, but for some reason that was left out.

The artifact collection was nice as a goal and victory condition.

polegar20 Apr 2020, 08:40

The gameplay is fun and challenging thanks to the increase of difficulty over time !

Phlip45author21 Apr 2020, 03:18

@plantleaf Yeah the game procedurally creates 'sectors' and in each sector is an enemy spawner and some decorations. I focused on making the gameplay loop fun before I made any graphics, so didn't spend as much time on those as I probably should. I also don't particularly like making graphics so my heart wasn't too into that portion. As for the restart button, you are totally right.

@jeremy-ryan I swear at one point I thought of adding a plop noise for placing a turret, but I think I got distracted right after that and the thought was never to return during the 48 hours.

@polegar Wanted to make sure someone wouldn't just sit and spam turrets forever ;)

Ch4oticAU21 Apr 2020, 04:25

Nice work! Pretty neat game. I like that the zombies agro when they're hit, makes it that much more tense. :)

vulpineblazeyt21 Apr 2020, 05:39

I'm partial to tower defense, and I loved your take on it and the theme! I kept the baby alive fine, but ran out of life when it got hairy lol

Dimling21 Apr 2020, 06:26

Pretty hard, but really fun. I live the panic you get when you shoot a zombie and the speed increases.

japes21 Apr 2020, 18:19

Fun game! I appreciate the brutal difficulty, it kept me playing for quite a while!
I died immediately my first 2 tries, maybe ensure that churches can't spawn too close to the baby/player?
I feel like maybe the player's hit box is a bit big? Could've sworn I got hit a few times despite not visibly touching the zombies.

Great game though, fun to play :)

PlantProgrammer21 Apr 2020, 19:48

This game is super hard (okay okay, it's probably not meant to be played with a touchpad, I guess). I'm astonished, this has been written from scratch with vanilla JavaScript, not using a game engine. Great job.
What I like most in this game is that the zombies get agitated once you shoot at them and don't continue in their regular pace like other games in this genre.
And in case you haven't seen the reply in my comment section, thank you again for the awesome feedback

Pandakipu22 Apr 2020, 19:31

Addictive but hard, nice work :)

Phlip45author22 Apr 2020, 23:02

@ch4oticau, @dimling Yeah, I figured it would be a good way to try and protect the baby in certain instances to have them go after the source of what damaged them. Also left some room open for you to get better at the game by realizing that not shooting can be beneficial.

@japes The player actually doesn't have a hitbox, but a hit circle. The zombies attack if the distance between the player and the zombie is within a certain range (circle collision). I thought the range felt reasonable, but I suppose it might be a bit off.

@plantprogrammer haha yeah, I like understanding the things that are going on behind the scene, and JS is my jam so it was pretty fun to write. Probably should use a real game engine next time so I can focus a bit more on the graphics :P

Jvdwijk22 Apr 2020, 23:31

This was a pretty straightforward top down shooter with some added mechanics, I liked how you had to focus on the houses to win. Pretty challenging too

Kent Reese22 Apr 2020, 23:54

You really nailed the humor in this one, the game itself I found to be a bit jank at times, but nothing too bad. It's fun to go around and kill stuff as a baby! Hehe

Fizzget23 Apr 2020, 08:42

i found it quite simple to spam a load of turrets round the baby and give him an impenetrable shield, but then going out to collect steel became harder and harder. i then started going out to take out the graveyards and was finished off pretty quick. really enjoyed it.

Fatsheep24 Apr 2020, 01:12

Quick and fun, definitely challenging!

Blue Pin Studio25 Apr 2020, 20:42

Considering this was a COMPO game, its very well done! I love games that indulge the player and let them place or build a ton of turrets. We need more games that let you go 'all out' instead of limiting the player in a dozen different ways. Also this is one of the few games out of the dozens i've played so far that actually has a win condition, kudos for that!

blobo7 May 2020, 16:48

My only complaint is requiring the player to refresh the page to replay the game. A simple button to replay is definitely preferred. That said, I like the main mechanics of the game, and it controls well. And to top it all off, it isn't another endless survival game, there's an actual way to win this game. Great work!

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