> Ludum Dare 48 - Watcher Patrol 4

Watcher Patrol 4 - "Deeper and deeper"

In this jam we kept the slower pace of the previous ones but in a different setup.

The player is in control of a spaceship that must land on the surface of a foreign planet.
The ship is pulled down by gravity, but the threats needs to be dodged.
Thus the player can activate numerous modules on his ship to help him reach the landing zone.
He can :

• Activate thrusters
• Fire seeking missiles
• Activate/deactivate shields on the side of the ship
• Turn on/off the radar sensor
• Activate a laser beam

There is a limited amount of energy available in the ship and the player needs to choose which module to use in order to survive the descent. Space in the ship is a circle on which its possible to move Left/Right, or Up to reach the opposite side of it.

The world gets more and more dangerous as the player gets closer to the ground. Enemies spawns are random and thus the game is not so well balanced. This is a part of any jam that is really hard to get right: balancing can take a huge amount of time.
It's either too hard or too easy and the best strategy seems to be full throttle towards the planet and activate both shields with the sensor active to steer Left/Right and dodge the threats. Sadly this makes the game not fun as nothing in particular is to be done by the player.
Thus the game design itself is not that much of a success, even though the core idea is working but the mood worked decently.

SCHNIBBLE STUDIO

Wanna check out the game? Here it is!