(Unnamed) LD46: Keep It Alive

My submission for Ludum Dare 46: "Keep It Alive" is a space combat game where you can steal spaceships and blow stuff up.

I didn’t get all of the features I wanted into the game, and I didn’t have time to add any sound at all, but I still feel like I accomplished a lot in 48 hours!

My goals at the start of this project were to have fluid-feeling movement and combat for your ships, to give the enemies satisfying flocking and steering mechanics while they fight and chase you, to make stealing ships satisfying and rewarding, and to really give the game a sense of scale: your starter ship should really feel tiny compared to the larger ships, and once you are in a bigger ship everything else should feel tiny in comparison to you. While a ton of features and ideas were cut due to time constraints (like sound… oh well, there’s no sound in space!), I really think I succeeded at all of my most important goals.

I am really happy with how the game turned out.

Mechanics

Complete the objectives of the room to move on to the next one. Objectives can be seen at the top left of your screen.

Get larger ships below 25% hull to cripple them.
Crippled ships take damage over time, and with every tick of damage they have a chance to become disabled. When a ship is disabled it will stop moving and you can fly over to it and press [E] to enter it. If you capture a ship, when it explodes you eject back into your small starter ship.
When your starter ship dies the game is over.

Difficulty scales up over time, but I didn’t have time to balance it well. It might be too hard in the beginning, and too easy later on. You can see the current difficulty rating at the top right of the screen.
Your ships get bonuses to hit points, speed, damage, rate of fire, etc. as you level up. You can see your current level at the bottom left of the screen, next to your health.

Controls

W, A, S, D to move.
E to perform an action (use an exit, or enter a ship)
Left Mouse to fire.

Tips

Keep moving. Dodge incoming fire. Ships are fragile, but deal a lot of damage.
Capture ships. Stealing ships helps you survive longer.
If you’re having trouble finding the exit, it always spawns on the right-hand side of the room, right of the center.