[HN Gopher] Show HN: Rocket Drone, a lunar lander type game for ...
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Show HN: Rocket Drone, a lunar lander type game for the web
Author : crispisulcans
Score : 49 points
Date : 2022-08-13 18:59 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (rocket-drone.lol)
(TXT) w3m dump (rocket-drone.lol)
| onion2k wrote:
| The controls get stuck on my Android phone. It'd be much more fun
| if that didn't happen.
|
| The fact you have to land fully in the 'landing pad' is also
| immensely annoying. With a more play testing and better controls
| it could be fun.
|
| I'm really tempted to make a clone in React.
| remram wrote:
| Had no issue on my Android phone, Firefox Android 103.
| crispisulcans wrote:
| Hmm I don't have an android phone to test. I hope it's an
| isolated case..
| crispisulcans wrote:
| Hi all, thanks for all the great feedback so far! Here is a bit
| more context: I (also go by wavy) made this game while taking a
| break from my work project. It was inspired by the old-school
| lunar lander games as well as drone racing. I wanted to build
| something that illustrates the difficulty of drone flight. It was
| made in p5.js over the course of several weekends. I never really
| intended on publishing it until I showed it to a few friends who
| kept on encouraging me. I'm glad some of you are enjoying it!
| jonwinstanley wrote:
| I can't get anywhere on this. Instantly lost 20 mins of my life!
| pvwj wrote:
| Great job with the feel and aesthetic!
|
| But it's way too hard for me: I couldn't get past Level 3 of the
| tutorial :/.
| svnpenn wrote:
| controls are way, way too sensitive.
| bullen wrote:
| There is something very frustrating with the spin inertia, almost
| impossible to regain control when things start rotating...
|
| Here is a tip for a recent C64 game that uses one rocket like
| lunar lander:
|
| https://csdb.dk/release/?id=201753
| crispisulcans wrote:
| I tried it just now (took me a while to figure out how to run
| this). From what I'm seeing this game has what is equivalent to
| attitude control on autopilot, meaning you stop spinning right
| away when you release the input. It is definitely easier to
| control, but removes one of the main challenges of drone
| flight.
| elteto wrote:
| Crash and burn. Constantly. Why do you do this to people?
|
| I'm trying again...
| captaincrunch wrote:
| After trying this for 30 minutes and not landing... I noticed the
| .lol domain extension.
|
| I hate you
| satyrnein wrote:
| At least it's fast to try again!
| junon wrote:
| The thrust being so sensitive you have no control, and then when
| you have enough speed, you have no power. It's literally
| unplayable.
| [deleted]
| mkl95 wrote:
| This is a pretty solid game. Two thoughts:
|
| - It is so hard to maintain control that it feels unfair rather
| than challenging on tricky levels.
|
| - The game should reward the player to give them a sense of
| progress - this will prevent many of them from quitting after
| struggling for a few minutes. A leaderboard could work.
| fouronnes3 wrote:
| Awesome! Great work. Reminds me of Landing Confirmed on android
| on which I have extensive flight experience, but this particular
| tuning of the physics feels more difficult.
|
| Is the acceleration constant or does it dependent on fuel
| remaining like real rockets?
| crispisulcans wrote:
| Thanks! I didn't know about Landing Confirmed. It looks pretty
| cool too. The thrust is constant. With both sides firing it has
| a 2:1 thrust to weight ratio.
| fouronnes3 wrote:
| I see, great! I'm having a lot of fun still after many hours
| on Landing Confirmed. I think the auto generated levels are a
| great touch. I would add a threshold for collisions, so that
| under a certain low speed, collisions cost no health. Either
| that or add landing legs :) You could also easily have
| different types of vehicles by just varying the thrust and
| the distance between the two engines. Would make a easy
| variety being able to pick a spacecraft. Also you can easily
| make different "planets" by just changing the background
| color and the gravity value :) and on some planets add an
| atmosphere of various thickness which adds drag!
| crispisulcans wrote:
| There is already a collision threshold, but very low. I
| might have to increase it to be noticeable. Otherwise great
| ideas all around :)
| fisherjeff wrote:
| This game is terrible, I will not be playing it again.
|
| _[47 long years pass, my family gathers solemnly at my
| deathbed]_
|
| Fine, okay, one more try. But then that is _it_.
| [deleted]
| porcc wrote:
| Classic problem of the game is too easy for the developer because
| they've been playing it for so long. The controls are unintuitive
| but fun if you're willing to take a beating for a while. Even
| after a long time learning tho there's a strong lack of control,
| a little bit of rotational friction tending to keep the ship
| upright would go a long way
| fouronnes3 wrote:
| I have many hours on a similar game on Android (Landing
| Confirmed), and although the particular tuning here is
| different, the general physics is the same. I'm having a lot of
| fun and it's still very challenging.
| Kaibeezy wrote:
| Modest success using African drumming patterns on the thrusters.
| Always knew that class would be useful one day.
| iamandras wrote:
| Wow, this is a very hard game :) Five tries to even go away from
| the first platform :)
| melony wrote:
| Looks perfect for use in RL tutorials. Does it have an API?
| crispisulcans wrote:
| I hadn't planned on that use case, but check back in a few days
| where I might share the source code. Perhaps you or someone can
| build around it.
| knolan wrote:
| Lots of fun. Works surprisingly well on mobile too.
|
| The Astro's Playroom tech demo for the PS5 has a level like this
| where the DualSense triggers are used for the thrusters. The
| force feedback is incredible and really gives you an edge in
| feathering the thrust. It's also a lot easier!
| someweirdperson wrote:
| First couple of free play (random I guess) levels were easy, then
| I ended up with one where there was insufficient fuel to complete
| it. It might be solvable by going balistic through some section,
| but I lost patiens, then couldn't find the random id for a retry
| later.
|
| Highscores for the daily (and yesterdaily to check where you
| ended up) would be nice.
|
| On mobile it shows controls in lower left/right corners, which is
| a little inconvenient. Luckily, touching anywhere on the
| left/right side of the screen works.
|
| Possibility to zoom out would be nice, to avoid the possibility
| to fly into a dead end.
|
| Also, I'm somewhat confused. This is HN and noone has yet posted
| some js that calculates/plays automatically? Iirc that was the
| case for the NASA docking simulator. Or did I dream this up?
| crispisulcans wrote:
| Thanks for the feedback! The level generation probably still
| needs tuning to avoid those kinds of levels. Daily leaderboard
| is a great idea!
| someweirdperson wrote:
| Reading the other comments I tried the tutorial (who plays
| tutorials?!). They did feel faster (and thus relatively more
| difficult) than the random levels. Is inertia and gravity the
| same on all levels?
|
| And tutorials 8 and 9... they are intended for someone to
| implement automation, aren't they?
| crispisulcans wrote:
| Inertia and gravity are the same on all the levels. I don't
| know why it would feel different... Yes, levels 8 and 9 are
| meant to be more challenging. you might encounter obstacles
| like that in the random levels. Each level of the tutorial
| is meant to give you practice tackling different kinds of
| obstacles. I would love to see what automatic inputs can do
| for some of these levels :)
| someweirdperson wrote:
| If its not the physics then its the simulation. Free play
| is a lot slower than the tutorials, time feels like it is
| running at 50% speed. Android tablet, firefox.
| crispisulcans wrote:
| oh I see, yes it could be performance-related. I will
| need to decouple the game update loop from the rendering
| loop. Will do soon.
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| How do you implement a leaderboard that can't be spoofed with
| REST POST calls from curl or postman?(Genuine question for my
| own JavaScript game) doesn't need to be perfect just a
| barrier that makes it painful to spoof easily
| someweirdperson wrote:
| Include the complete inputs for the solution, and verify on
| upload.
|
| Then don't accept dupes and make the leaders winning
| flights watchable.
| fouronnes3 wrote:
| This requires deterministic physics.
| crispisulcans wrote:
| Yes this is what I'm thinking. The replay links already
| include the full input. I would then just have to verify
| it and show the link for each entry. For example this is
| my flight just now for today's daily with a time of
| 12.97s: https://rocket-
| drone.lol/?level=5550594399&replay=IIgmIUWAJB...
| someweirdperson wrote:
| Ooooh, replays already exist. I didn't notice the button.
|
| https://rocket-
| drone.lol/?level=9&replay=IIiKIUWARAOBhYBzAQg...
| crispisulcans wrote:
| nice one!
| someweirdperson wrote:
| sub-10s. feels like cheating with slowed reality of
| course.
|
| https://rocket-
| drone.lol/?level=5550594399&replay=IIhSIUWBhB...
| crispisulcans wrote:
| a little downward boost at the beginning, trading away
| some health for time, love it!
| [deleted]
| dvh wrote:
| Even if you use procedurally generated levels, first few should
| be hand picked to be easy.
| thedrbrian wrote:
| why not use the arrow keys?
|
| It's bloody weird using both hands to try and control the ship
| crispisulcans wrote:
| I avoided arrow keys partially because the drone will generally
| not move in the direction you press, but I'll consider adding
| alternate key mappings :)
| [deleted]
| bagels wrote:
| Most of the challenge comes from bad controls.
| rishikeshs wrote:
| Just a small suggestion, make the initial few levels easy!
| crispisulcans wrote:
| Thanks! I intended for folks to start with the tutorial. They
| are easier than any of the free play levels but still
| challenging until you get used to the dynamics.
| aplywi wrote:
| Definitely want to learn more about this!
| born-jre wrote:
| Try Crossing Hand, Right hand on Q and Left hand on P.
|
| It will help a little bit, not much.
| NickSingh wrote:
| Holy shit this game is hard. First few levels, maybe a bit of
| extra health?
| declnz wrote:
| Agh so good but so annoying :)
| born-jre wrote:
| You are a sick person, crispisulcans, why would you bring misery
| to the world ? :D
| wazoox wrote:
| Absolutely unplayable. I spent 5 minutes on the "tutorial" and
| can't do anything but crash after 2 or 3 seconds. Looks like
| trolling, not a game :)
| [deleted]
| throwoutway wrote:
| Wow. This game is hard, and kind of addicting. I haven't even
| gotten to land safely once.
|
| One feedback: on mobile, if my phone locks or I navigate away
| from the browser, it freezes when I come back. I can't click
| reset. (IOS)
| captaincrunch wrote:
| I want to swap P&Q doesn't feel natural. This is hard as hell :D
| MPiccinato wrote:
| Agreed! Even after getting used to it a little bit, really
| hard.
| crispisulcans wrote:
| which keys would feel more natural for you?
| captaincrunch wrote:
| Make P=Q, and Q=P (swap the keys)
| bagels wrote:
| Two adjacent keys so the same hand can be used. Consider
| having introductory levels with lower acceleration rates.
| frfl wrote:
| This is brilliant. Spun out of control into a fiery crash.
|
| Any chance you could, if you're the creator of this, share the
| source code?
| crispisulcans wrote:
| Thanks! Yes I can consider sharing the source code. Check back
| in a few days :)
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(page generated 2022-08-13 23:01 UTC)