NOTE: Because of the Theme tie, we allowed everyone to pick either Theme. Using both was optional. To keep things simple, there will still only be one Theme category. Every category in Ludum Dare voting is an opinion, so you’re welcome to rate them as you see fit. But we encourage you to be fair in your scores to people that chose only one Theme, and not both.
ALSO: Itch.io has an experimental game downloader over here. You may find it useful.
You are Sanctuary Station.
As a benevolent AI you travel the subspace folds, listening for emergency broadcasts.
Where needed, you jump in and assist; and your station grows ever larger...
--------------------------------
Controls:
View
*Zoom view* Scoll wheel to zoom in or out
*Move view* Drag with right mouse button, or use WASD keys
Actions
*Move pod* Drag with left mouse button from pod room to to desired location.
*Summon pod* Click with left mouse button on the central hub. (blue diamond) Use this to speed up your game if you are ready for more pods.
*Close/open airlock* Click with left mouse button on an airlock. (only usable on connected airlocks - and at the moment purely cosmetic)
Downloads and Links
Ratings
 | Coolness | 93% |
| #18 | Innovation(Jam) | 4.18 |
| #51 | Overall(Jam) | 4.01 |
| #77 | Mood(Jam) | 3.95 |
| #111 | Fun(Jam) | 3.74 |
| #231 | Graphics(Jam) | 3.96 |
| #284 | Audio(Jam) | 3.43 |
| #284 | Theme(Jam) | 3.93 |
| #367 | Humor(Jam) | 2.90 |
Comments
Great concept, too bad it's so short. I'd love to play an extended version of this.
@Jod unfortunately my WebGL build is very slow for some reason... trying to fix that. Meanwhile there is a Win/Mac native, or you can try the WebPlayer in firefox.
I like the idea very much. Games like this are not common, 5/5 innovation! The weakest point would be the time it takes to get a room to move around another... if it hits something it loses all of it's force. Overall great game though.
Pro:
+ Very interesting concept
+ Very innovative
+ Cool graphics and sound
Con:
- Pods moved a bit slow
Obs:
o I didn't understand what the summon pod and close and open airlock really do
Awesome job!
Really nice idea.
The pod movement was a bit slow, and the lack of real pathing on them made things a bit frustrating.
I enjoyed this game a lot - if the movement & pacing were tightened up a bit, there's the makings of a really innovate RTS here.
Did the tutorial and couldn't figure out how this was going to be fun.
But then played the first actual level with the timers, boy was that stressful and fun! Good job!
Great challenging game. Sadly I lost many because too many pods spawned at the same time. Would have been better to leave option to open/close airlocks out of the game, because it's not needed.
Interesting game idea. Gameplay reminds tetris =) Can't fugure out what I should actually do, but game is very fun! Good work!
Wow! Spectacular game, please make a standalone version that can be played for more time! Really love the idea!
One of the best game I've discovered in this ludum dare :)
It only needs a little tutorial but the player figures out pretty quick how to play ;)
Great idea, great execution! Relaxing base building game that's a pleasure to play, good job!
Definitely feels like it wants to grow / be developed further, but this is a great little prototype! FTL (or Space Colony) + Tetris is a fun concept, and the drag/snap controls work well.
Minor complaint: I wish the arrow keys doubled for WASD for moving the view around.
All in all, nice work!
Awesome concept and very innovative. A bit dificult to understand how to play. Great work!
As other people have commented, this is a REALLY cool idea, and quite a bit of fun! It feel polished in graphics and interface (I especially liked the little indicator/gizmo for showing which chunk is going to which space). However, there are a few nitpicks:
-The pods had way too much momentum, and I found myself getting frustrated when a pod just wouldn't do what I wanted it to in time and died as a result.
-Similarly, I think basic pathing would do wonders for this game. Having to navigate pods manually around corners, in combination with their slow acceleration, was extremely annoying.
-Audio could have been better used to cue when pods were close to death. The "new pod" sound could have been more noticeable.
-Some more visual cues about when a pod is connected and how close a pod is to death would have been cool. Think something like the redness in FTL to indicate no oxygen.
These are fairly minor things, though (besides the momentum/acceleration issue), and overall this game is just fantastic. Great work creating something truly fun and interesting.
I loved this. I loved the inertia to the pods, I liked the little people jostling around, and the tension of the timer as it ticked down just a few metres from docking. Great work!
Nice game! Found it a bit too hard when loads of stuff spawned at the same time, but the concept is really neat. Music and visual system create a great atmosphere.
I. loved. it.
Everything was perfectly fit together, just like a nice working rescue. Premise, Controls, Visuals (I liked how the little people dots bounced around), difficulty. I only wish the second level would have ended with no more pods appearing and a proper ending instead of a dialog that forces me to quit the level. There was one with only 30 seconds of life support left!
Further awesomeness improvement ideas if you ever make this into a full game:
* Undocking if all doors are closed, so I can rebuild in case I accidentally covered all ports in one direction and can't find a pod that provides them.
* The stopping was weird. When I said "move there" while they still moved, they slowly changed direction. When they reached a destination, they just stopped even in mid space. This was very annoying when I needed to move a pod to the other side of the station quickly. I think the more unrealistic version of "stop when direction changes" would make the best game here. Alternatively increase acceleration and add proper breaking to normal stops.
Growing Theme nicely fit. Tetris as space station builder. How awesome is this!? 5 Stars, really wanted to play more of this. It felt very polished, only needed more levels.
Very interesting game play. I would prefer to be able to see a bit further. I had to scroll around so much it made me loose overview, also I got slight motion sickness.
Please, continue this work, I really loved the gameplay. I really hope to see this game better developed in the future. Keep up with the awesome work!
Short but (bitter)sweet. Super annoying when you get a 15 second timer and the thing doesn't align properly for whatever reason.
This was very unique. Great Job! I do wish I could rotate the pods a bit. (Also one of the export options includes "no context menu" so when you right-click the menu doesn't show up. At least it used to have it.
Fantastic work! I really felt compelled to save these little squared from suffocation.
It has potential for expansion, perhaps with pods that have various functional benefits.
Thanks for the game!
Gorgeous! This has to be one of the most inventive games I've played this Dare, and slapping base sections together is just so much fun!
I see a few people commenting that they'd want the pods to move faster, but personally I really enjoyed the feeling of ordering them to build up momentum while I went to handle something else. I would like to see pods snap a bit easier when you push them together, but otherwise I really enjoyed it!
The only letdown for me was the music, which is a bit harsh around the edges, and a little short. Thankfully, you remembered to include a mute button, so I didn't have to let that bother me.
Interesting take of the theme, and nice graphics. Well done !
This was fantastic. I like how the first level was giving you the basics and teaching you what to do and that second level realllyyy amped things up. Very good job. I wish there were more levels!
The game looks interesting, but I couldn't play it using the linux version, only get a blue screen and some music.
I like the concept a lot and could definitely see this on a mobile device but the slow space physics kind of makes some of the levels impossible to pass.
5/5 for innovation. I wanted to know the story of those tiny beings. I think you will do good on the innovation rank :D
Nice tetris-like game, though I didn't understand what to do until I looked carefully at the screenshot :-)
Thanks for leaving a rating and commenting on my game! I included your game in an episode of my Let's Play Ludum Dare 34 series to show my gratitude! :D
Below is a link to the post with details, and you can find out my opinion of your game in the video as I play!
http://ludumdare.com/compo/2016/01/02/lets-play-ludum-dare-34-episode-5/
Was very confused at first, but after frantically clicking everything I finally saw what I had to do.
Thank you for putting in that mute music button, that was highly appreciated.
I like the gameplay about connecting the pods to grow a space-ship, but moving them around was very tiresome.
It was annoying that the pods move so slow and I can't set waypoints to navigate them around the ship or around each other, and I always tried to move the camera with the arrow keys.
Linux version is broken, and Wine .exe does not show text i think. Don't know but feel there should be text there. -bob
Very nice and invoative game design! I also love the visuals.
The pods move too slowly, though (too much momentum), and there could be more variety.
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As someone that misses base building RTS this is pretty sweet. Run well, the only thing I would say is that after the first big was in the second level I found it slowed down a little too much. Other then that I love it.