Ludum Dare #49compo
Unstable Space
*First jam! This game is playable but difficult to finish, play as long as you want to :)*
You're a self-replicating AI in deep space, your mission is to build, replicate and expand...
That is, until an unstable part of you deviates from your programming...
Your ship generates some power, but you'll need to build mines and solar collectors on planets to get more.
There was a lot of things I didn't end up getting to add. I would have liked to make it more appropriate to the theme than as is. I also wanted supply ships, a fuel mechanic, asteroid belts, and more of a story. I think an RTS was a bit ambitious for me scope wise but I'm happy with what I got done for my first jam. Partly inspired by books such as 'Three Body Problem', the 'Bobiverse' trilogy, and playing too much Stellaris.
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Please note that crashes are likely as keeping with the theme and a terminal lack of time to playtest.
Changelog: I've fixed most of the crashes. The old version is still available.
Cheats (if you want to mess around):
F9: Infinite resources. (Note this gives the AI infinite resources as well.)
F3: Spawn Fighter ship
F4: Spawn enemy fighter ship.
HTML5 Logo by World Wide Web Consortium
You're a self-replicating AI in deep space, your mission is to build, replicate and expand...
That is, until an unstable part of you deviates from your programming...
Your ship generates some power, but you'll need to build mines and solar collectors on planets to get more.
There was a lot of things I didn't end up getting to add. I would have liked to make it more appropriate to the theme than as is. I also wanted supply ships, a fuel mechanic, asteroid belts, and more of a story. I think an RTS was a bit ambitious for me scope wise but I'm happy with what I got done for my first jam. Partly inspired by books such as 'Three Body Problem', the 'Bobiverse' trilogy, and playing too much Stellaris.
----------
Please note that crashes are likely as keeping with the theme and a terminal lack of time to playtest.
Changelog: I've fixed most of the crashes. The old version is still available.
Cheats (if you want to mess around):
F9: Infinite resources. (Note this gives the AI infinite resources as well.)
F3: Spawn Fighter ship
F4: Spawn enemy fighter ship.
HTML5 Logo by World Wide Web Consortium
Comments32
Yeah I wish i had more time to playtest and iron out the crashes. Definitely something I want to improve on. But it makes me happy to know you enjoyed what was there :smile:
No sure exactly how it relates to the theme - but rated the other categories non-biased :smile:
Very good job :thumbsup_tone1:
:purple_heart: :dart: :frog:
@purpledartfrog That's a fair assessment. 4X game is probably a more accurate description like N.O Games said. Thanks for your kind words on the art, I think the simplicity helped me out a lot here.
@digitaldude555 Thank you :grin: I think that depth came at a cost to stability haha.
@pvp That means a lot. I was worried it would be a bit too much and get confusing. I tried to make the controls fairly intuitive but some ship selection options and ease of use tweaks would have gone a long way I think. Oh well, lessons for next time :sweat_smile:
I wanted to flesh out theme more with the enemies being the result of the players unstable systems, but ran out of time unfortunately, so that's a very valid critique :smile:
I really like the idea behind this one (Alien: Covenant vibes). I was quite impressed with how full the star system and mechanics were. There's a fair amount of logic and consideration in what you've constructed, but I feel the experience was a bit of a let-down in how unguided it was. Some kind of narrative thread of mechanical progression would have gone a long way in keeping my interest beyond exploring 3-4 stars. Minor issues with UX and communication could be alleviated with a little more time. More visibility over the system definitely would have helped (perhaps more feedback in the visual design of planets to indicate their resources, for example). In general, I think teaching players how to play tends to be a challenge for technical games for LD.
Outside of this, I like the minimalist art style and the attention to adding some animated graphics and colour-based feedback. What you've made is really ambitious and impressive, I think you could easily justify spending more time on it post-jam.
Thanks for the game!
My biggest issue though, was the fact that my spaceships started killing each other. It made 0 sense at all, and didn't really seem to serve any purpose. Idk, maybe something's supposed to happen with that, but to me I just didn't like it.
I would have liked a tutorial. The first few minutes I played was just pure confusion until I figured out you could move with wasd.
I think the game is a little bit too long for a game jam game. Most people aren't willing to spend a lot of time on a game. (This is a good problem to have btw, not a bad one). My point is that the game would be better as a full release, so I think if you have the time and motivation, you should definitely try that!
But overall you had an amazing game, and I liked how it was unique.
(+) nice variety of improvements & shiptypes
(+) 2 resources gives the player to think about the economy, without being it to much
(-) the scrolling (switching between galaxy & starsystem) is one of the games enemy, disrupting player control
All of these are fixable with more time and play testing so I'd like to play this again when it is more developed.