I really enjoyed this and I could see how you could relate it to evolution

I've updated to Java Version 7 Update 6 and it still doesn't run, even in the command window. I'd tell you what the error but is disappears faster than I can click the new window.

I liked the style a lot, especially the missile targeting. The AI could use some work but I really liked everything else in the game.

MrPhil: What is your system? If you are on Mac OS - I don't know if my executable works, I don't have a system to test it on. If so, try going to the directory and running:

java -Djava.library.path=native/macosx -jar data.jar

Very fun game. I managed to stay alive and beat the 'boss' :D. Blaster battery ftw.
One suggestion though: also bind Z or X to shooting. Many people (including me) cannot press space+up+right, even though space+up+left works fine. I guess it's a PS/2 limitation. Z doesn't have that problem.

I really like the smooth controls and vector graphics, plus the music gives it an atmosphere like a mix between those strange secret starfox 64 levels and an updated 1980s arcade game.

It's pretty satisfying to barge through a group of enemies hoovering up their coins as you go!

Awesome game. Love the visual style, and it's a fun, old-school arcade shoot-'em-up. Difficulty definitely needs to be tweaked post-dare. I made it through the whole game without a single re-spawn. That's my only complaint, though!

Really good, I liked this a lot even if I did accidentally hit 'Q' and exit the game and start raging :)

Can't play game. It throw an error: "Could not find main class..". (Win7, Java installed)

Same problem as MrPhil. Too bad as it looks really awesome.

You've really achieved something great with the visual style - the bioforge looks really cool :) The game is fun to play, and I like the progression in it.

This was really fun. The controls were really nice.

For the people having problems - could you open a command line and type "java -version"

I think that the issue is having Java 1.6 installed - my game (apparently) requires Java 1.7, so you'll have to upgrade to get this to work. I'm going to see about compiling a version that doesn't require such a late version of Java - bear with me, this is the first time I've released a Java application into the wild. Thanks a ton for all of the feedback so far too!

Really fun to play. I actually forgot I was playing a Ludum Dare game while playing this.

I'm on Windows 7

I uploaded a Java 6 version of my game - if the submitted version gives you a version issue, grab the Java 6 build from here:

http://ma.rtin.xxx/downloads/kinetic_dream_java6.zip

This is the same code as the one I originally submitted, however I didn't know that Java had such strict version requirements. Live and learn, live and learn.

Okay, java -version reports: 1.6.0_30 but according to my Programs and Features I also have:
Java 7 Update 6
Java 6 Update 31
JavaFX 2.1.1

I found the directory for Java 7 and forced the command path like this:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin\java" -Djava.library.path=native/windows -jar data.jar

That got it running. I suspect this has something to do with my Windows 7 being 64-bit or something silly on Java/Oracle's part not changing the path when updating to 7.

Awesome MrPhil. Thanks for taking the time to figure it out, I really hope that the game was worth it!

Great game! I enjoyed it and found it challenging. Impressive work considering the time.

I like it, though tbh until the double rockets most of the weapons arent even as good as the starting one. the ambient music just works perfectly with this game, and the vector art while simple works REALLY well and give it a overall very clean feeling, about my only real complaints would be the way the enemy simply rushes and circles you even if the station is right there and they basicly never fire on the station so it's impossible to lose.

I was having a lot of fun for 10 minutes, hit escape to pause, and it quit :( I guess that's a good thing so I didn't spend forever playing it :P

I really liked your simple but pretty particle effects. I didn't like the weapon you start with, because the first projectile doesn't collide with the enemies. That means you always have to stay at a certain distance to hit them. Nevertheless it plays really nice and has a lot of working features. Good job!

very enjoyable game, i really liked getting to the end, t'was awesome. The graphics are pure and aesthetics, it serves, with the comments, a nice mood that remembers me weird and loud ambiances like in the first portal.
Really, great job for a compo D: !

@timtipgames: Ahh... you weren't supposed to see that gun. That was originally going to be a plasma cannon or mine or something, but I guess I compiled the wrong version in my haste to get a Java 6 version out. The corrected version is out now.

Thanks for the reviews guys, it really means a lot :)

it's actually pretty funny, that first gun we werent supposed to see is the one i'm talking about that after figuring out i actually thought was the most useful gun out of all of them even until the end :D

Awesome game! Graphics styling is simple, but very smooth and nice looking. It felt challenging at first, but when I realized that there was no penalty for respawning, it took away a bit of the fun. Still a really great game, though.

Wow, I really enjoyed this game. The text popping up occasionally reminded me a little of giygas, though... :)

This is really good. :D

Very, very nice. Could have told me this was a Jam game and I'd believe you. The sounds, music, graphics... The graphics were very simple, yet being vector graphics/basic shapes made it look quite elegant. Plus, the motion and framerate were very smooth, which is a rarity in Ludum Dare games. Game play was nice, and mostly balanced; if anything, it was a bit too easy. Only complaint is that the sound sometimes got really loud as multiple sources played over each other. Great game, over all.

I liked the clean art style. Accidently hit Q few times a quit the game.

Very well put together and quite challenging. I like the clean graphical style as well.

Lovely graphics, nice mood. I like seeing incoming red dots on the minimap, makes me feel like a cool starfighter >:3

Interesting experience. Looks polished too. Only in terms of gameplay, there is not much of a challenge.

Was pretty fun overall, but the missiles seemed rather useless as they were often too slow to make any difference.

Really atmospheric and fun. Liked the visual and sound direction

Controls were really hard but very nice programming! :)

Best.

Not a good jam game but a fantastic compo game! Very polished for a compo game. Had lots of fun with it.

@raarlac, I'm a bit confused why you compared it to a jam game, but I do agree that it's a stellar comp game. :) Nice work and very fun, mdkess.

I like these kind of games - I suck at them though. Very good minimalistic graphics. The music isn't fitting in my opinion. You need something faster and harder for this action to get the right mood.

The space bullets are okey but you don't have so much time to use them facing the way the enemies are. I know that is why we get homing rokcets. Well they can't really make it to the enemy because they turning in a too wide radius.

All in all it could be a fun game if you think through it again and add some entertaining features and some interesting missions.

Lots of nice elements brought together here, but I think the music really let it down

I really enjoyed this one, played it for longer than a lot of the games I've tried. The minimalist style worked well, I thought the mood was good. Fun shooter overall, very nice work

Holy cow, I liked this one. Graphic style was great. Music was nice but a bit off mood, and the game play could just use some tweaking to make it perfect (e.g. wish the player could shoot faster).