Welcome to Lacus Opportunitas
Venture the lake, perform tricks, and build a trading empire in this submission to Games for Blind Gamers 4.
System Requirements
Lacus Opportunitas is best experienced with a gamepad and headphones.
Real-time synthesis is an extremely CPU-intensive process. It will attempt to run on any machine that meets its minimum requirements; however, you may experience stuttering or drop-outs when running below the recommended requirements.
Minimum system requirements
| CPU | SSE2 capable (64-bit) |
|---|---|
| RAM | 2 GB |
Recommended system requirements
| CPU | 3.5 GHz Quad-Core (64-bit) |
|---|---|
| RAM | 8 GB |
| GPU | WebGL2 compatible |
Browser support
The HTML5 build of Lacus Opportunitas is intended to be played in an up-to-date Chromium-based browser such as Google Chrome. Browser extensions that alter page behavior are not recommended. Other browsers must support modern JavaScript features such as Web Audio, WebGL2, and IndexedDB.
Accessibility
Lacus Opportunitas is designed to conform with WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.2 at Level AA. Its menus are fully operable with a keyboard and screen readers such as NVDA.
Controls
Lacus Opportunitas supports a variety of input devices. Although remapping of controls is currently not available, alternate control schemes have been provided where appropriate.
Gamepad controls
Lacus Opportunitas is best experienced with a gamepad. For best results, please use an Xbox controller. Other controllers can be configured with a utility like x360ce:
| Action | Gamepad controls | |
|---|---|---|
| Accelerate | Left Stick | Right Trigger |
| Brake | Left Stick | Left Trigger |
| Turning | Right Stick | |
| Vertical Look | Right Stick | |
| Target | A | |
| Next Target | Right Bumper | |
| Previous Target | Left Bumper | |
| Trick 1 | B | |
| Trick 2 | X | |
| Trick 3 | Y | |
| Pause | Start | Select |
| UI Confirm | A | |
| UI Back | B | |
Haptic feedback
Vibration can be reduced or removed from the Settings screen.
Keyboard controls
The keyboard controls support play with one or both hands:
| Action | Keys | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accelerate | W | Up Arrow | Numpad 8 | ||
| Brake | S | Down Arrow | Numpad 5 | ||
| Turn Left | Q | A | Left Arrow | Numpad 7 | Numpad 7 |
| Turn Right | E | D | Right Arrow | Numpad 6 | Numpad 9 |
| Look Up | Page Up | ||||
| Look Down | Page Down | ||||
| Target | F | Space | Enter | Numpad Enter | |
| Target Next | Tab | Numpad Add | |||
| Target Previous | R | Numpad 0 | |||
| Trick 1 | 1 | Numpad Divide | |||
| Trick 2 | 2 | Numpad Multiply | |||
| Trick 3 | 3 | Numpad Subtract | |||
| UI Confirm | F | Space | Enter | Numpad Enter | |
| UI Back / Pause | Escape | Backspace | Numpad Decimal | ||
Menu hotkeys
Additional hotkeys have been provided to quickly jump to screen elements. Press numbers 1 through 0 to focus the element at that position. If the desired element is already focused, then it will be clicked.
Mouse controls
The mouse may be used for an immersive first-person experience:
| Action | Mouse control |
|---|---|
| Accelerate | Mouse 0 (Primary) |
| Brake | Mouse 2 (Secondary) |
| Turning | Mouse X-Axis |
| Vertical Look | Mouse Y-Axis |
| Target | Mouse 1 (Wheel) |
| UI Back / Pause | Mouse 3 (Back) |
Touch controls
Lacus Opportunitas does not support touch input beyond its menus. A gamepad is strongly recommended for best results on mobile devices.
How to Play
Lacus Opportunitas is a trading simulator set on a circular lake in the center of a lunar city. From a meager ten credits, and an entrepreneurial spirit, you may grow that exponentially by buying and selling commodities between its diversity of ports.
The game includes an interactive tutorial which explains its mechanics as you play. This section expands upon them in greater detail. Proceed at your own risk.
Buying and selling
You begin docked at an agricultural port. Try buying some essetials from the Buy goods screen with your ten credits. When you're ready, Undock to discover your first customer. Nearby ports will buy what they need from the Sell goods screen.
Inventory
Initially you can carry up to four units of cargo across the lake. Your current credits and cargo can be viewed anytime from the Cargo manifest screen. Your cargo capacity increases automatically as the lake thrives.
Economy
The ports which encircle the lake have unique supplies and demands which vary over time. However, they fall into these general types:
- Agricultural. Produces essentials and consumes waste.
- Extraction. Produces raw ores and generates waste.
- Refinement. Converts raw ores into bars and generates waste.
- Manufacturing. Converts bars into equipment and generates waste.
- Luxury. Produces unique rare goods and generates waste.
You are guaranteed to always make a profit. Perhaps there might be an optimal route, for buying low and selling high in some loop, but don't stress any suboptimal results.
Ports level up automatically with each transaction. This creates additional supply and demand in their markets. Invest into their economies for the greatest returns.
Excursions
While undocked, the lake is explored in first-person. Turn and Accelerate to apply thrust in the faced direction. You'll continue in that direction until you Brake or apply counter-thrust.
Target a port to track its position. You will automatically dock any port that is approached, and slow down to avoid running ashore.
Bottles
You may occasionally find bottles floating in the lake. Recover up to three per excursion to earn bonus credits. The credits they raward increase with your progress.
Jumping
The lake is known for its large waves. Let go of the controls to perform a jump at their crests automatically. Approach the biggest waves, head-on at top speed, to achieve the biggest jumps.
Tricks
While jumping, tricks can be performed for bonus credits. Press, hold, or rapidly tap Trick 1, Trick 2, Trick 3 in any combination. The sound of tricks can be manipulated with directional controls.
Credits are awarded after each jump for the overall trick count, duration, and diversity. Their rewards also increase with your progress.
Fast travel
Discovered ports are listed in the Luanrspatial memory screen. Select a port to set it as a target, or ask your crew to take you there automatically.
Beware that traveling from this screen will advance time signficantly. It's always more efficient to travel there yourself, collecting bottles and performing tricks along the way.
Support
Please direct all support requests through your preferred platform:
Credits
The following typefaces belong to their respective owners:
- Fira Code by Nikita Prokopov
- Hybrid Bold by Beyond Design
- Roboto by Google