Little Orbits is an Arcade Shooter that takes inspiration from icons such as Spacewar! and Asteroids. You can play a web version here.
The game was submitted as part of the "GMTK Game Jam 2022" and needed to follow the brief "Roll of the Dice". I interpreted the theme metaphorically, as I wanted to make a game that would stand out against the sea of dice-themed games.
I therefore interpreted "Roll of the Dice" as the odds being for / against the player. The player must try and 'improve their odds', essentially attempting to 'control fate' as they stop the orbiting asteroids from crashing into each-other and plummeting into the planet.
Random Effects
To take the theme further. I added "Dice-Shaped Clusters", extra game objects that completed flybys of the planet. If the player managed to hit one of these, one of the following effects would take place:
1: A gravity pulse tightens all asteroids' orbits.
2: 50% of damaged asteroids regain their health.
3: Slow down time for 10-15 seconds.
4: Set lasers to "high-damage" for 10-15 seconds
5: Gain immunity for 5 seconds
6: Clear all asteroids from the screen.
The effects are completely random and not tied to the particular number shown on the dice cluster, as this would mean that players could simply choose to avoid the detrimental clusters and shoot the beneficial ones.
To balance the randomized gameplay, where multiple asteroids can come plummeting towards the planet at once, I created a "shockwave" mechanic, where the player can press 'G' or 'Left Shift' in order to release a 360 degree shockwave that grows away from the planet and destroys all asteroids in the vicinity.
The 'default' shockwave has a 15 second reload time. However, because it seemed rather unfair to have the player always lose if they encounter multiple plummeting asteroids in a row, I added a 'last resort' mechanic – where the player could use the shockwave before the reload had finished as long as they timed it right with an asteroid that was about to crash into the planet.
Having received a large amount of positive feedback on the game, I am now continuing the project, tweaking systems and controls, and adding progression such as: different weapons, upgrades and challenges.
The weapon that features in the Game Jam version of the game is the as-yet-unnamed “Bonus Gun”. It has an average reload time and has no special additional mechanics, but every time a laser hits an asteroid, the score multiplier increases by 0.25 (and resets when a laser misses). This added an extra reward for players who became more skilled – not only are they preventing a build-up of asteroids but they’re also getting more points in the process.