Use mouse and keys down/up (when required)
Follow all the steps and get to the space! I tried to do a full trip to mars, but.. timeout! :)
Chrome and Headphones recommended.
In mobile devices is runnable, although not tested and not really playable :/
Done thanks to the amazing CanvasQuery library. Thanks Rezoner!
SOURCE CODE: since it's an html+javascript game, you can view the source directly, with the "view page source" option in your browser :)
Downloads and Links
Ratings
 | Coolness | 80% |
| #4 | Graphics | 4.68 |
| #4 | Overall | 4.29 |
| #6 | Mood | 4.46 |
| #8 | Audio | 4.15 |
| #67 | Theme | 4.23 |
| #72 | Innovation | 4.01 |
| #75 | Fun | 3.77 |
Comments
I love this! This game is amazing! The best I've seen so far! I hope you finish it. Great job!
NO i WON'T FORGIVE YOU, WANT MORE NOW 10/10 amazing haha
For the critiques, maintaining the pitch in outerspace feels odd, the same with the planet showing right below the ship all the time
Gorgeous and incredible feeling! I got past the moon but then orders stopped coming, I guess you just got until there?
Great anyway!
The moment when you start the engines makes the game - literally. It would be a sin not to add some adventures now.
The art in this just blew my mind. I kept on wanting to drop pitch, one to feel the shake, and two to see the beautiful planet ;) Stellar work!
I love it so much... the cockpit with all the details, dials, and glowy bits. Brings me back to the glory days of space sims. Thank you for making this!
I love it. This is one fantastic compressed to 1 screen game! I´m not sure how this awesome cockpit has been painted in only 2 days but your game is awesome!
I have to play it on chrome (ff don't work), but it was simple AWESOME! Never feel so much in the space. Voice from radio reminds me about all the train stations, where it's hard to understand single word:D
Nice game. Note that this game won't run with Firefox, use chrome to test it!
Great concept, atmosphere, sound and graphics! Took me back to the old Tie Fighter days. Good stuff.
That's AWESOME! Good you haven't finished it, because it would go out of AWESOMENESS scale! ;) Just kidding, I wish could land. You reached with this game my little inner me who is dreaming about lots of switches to switch on board of spaceship.
Graphics are beautiful, and amount of buttons make great feel. I enjoyed it, but got bored after 10 minutes, and that's fine because that's how I imagine space travel!
Thank you guys! I know it's not a complex game, but I'm very glad you share this little trip to the stars with me :)
I'll take a look to the issues with some browsers..
This is huge... Hope I'll on my way to mars soon :) Great entry!
Wow, great entry. Really loved the atmosphere. Wish there was more of it, would love to land on Mars :D
Incredible. I am really impressed. Had a ton of fun with this. excellent work.
Great great game!
This is what Ludum Dare is for.
Please continue it.
Screens do not turn on for me in Firefox. It works with chrome though.
Wow. I'm blown away on this one. Them atmosphere is perfect on this one. Gameplay might be simple but it fits the game very very well. the graphics are also very good. This is one of the best entries I've seen so far. Great Job !
Wow, I'm impressed with what you were able to get done in 48 hours. The cockpit graphics alone look like they would be time-consuming. As a fan of KSP, I really enjoyed this experience, and I liked having to fiddle with all the different controls - it felt like I was actually prepping for a launch. I'd love to know how you did the radio noises. Felt very authentic (well, other than seeing the Earth's atmosphere when I'm half-way to Mars ;)) But please continue working on this - it was a fantastic experience and I want to see more.
Wow, this was brilliant immersion-wise. The moment when the countdown finishes felt truly epic.
Great job! The graphics were great! I'm really impressed with what you were able to do in 48 hours.
Great experience. Lots of stuff to do, only the launch was a bit tricky to do at first. Played it almost 3 times in a row, loved it so much. I really got sucked into the experience. Great art, great sound effects. Lovely absence of music. If you had time to improve some things, make all the gauges and levers inside the cockpit, the menus pull you out of the immersion.
Thank you guys! I appreciate the comments. I worked hard into the mood and immersion of the game, it feels good to know that it works somehow.
fleegle2000: thanks! All sounds and music are hand made (audacity, bitwig). The voice in the radio is my own voice with my nose closed and distorted, heh
Random Abductions: Thank you! Its a good tip, would be great to have all kind of levers, knobs and buttons in the cockpit to play with. I did the menus thinking of adding more kind of "minigames" in them, so it would have some more gameplay, but I had no time to do more :( but that would be less realistic, and it seems that people like the 'simulation' part of the game, so your tip could be great indeed!
Krisjet: passing near the moon, use its gravity to reach mars, and land on it could be amazing, uh? Yeah..
5 stars for the graphics, beautifull game, looking forward for the next versions
Ok, your game is just awesome.
I loved everything, from the graphics to the sound.
The immersion is amazing, good job :)
I was off to a great start and then I think I got a memory leak a few minutes in. OSX Yosemite, Safari. (Safari seems to have memory issues itself right now, may not be the app.)
What a really cool idea! The sound, the graphics, just wow! I'd have loved to make it all the way to Mars and well beyond!
Really hope there will be a post-compo version!
I totally loved this game. You did your research on space terminology. Too bad LDs are so short that you couldn't finish it. The visuals are stunning.
http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-31/?action=preview&uid=8733
Definitely a premium entry!
awesome game, i love how well all the buttons respond to everything
This was lovely! I can't honestly say the game is "fun" but it was definitely a great experience. I can't believe the graphics, they're so great.
A few things, though:
Why is the planet or something always visible? The S shape to the right seemed to say I'm flying that path?
The game crashed just a little while into cruising, not sure why... The graphics stopped updating but the game still went because I could hear alarms go off when I left it for too long, and then I pressed up or down and it would go away again. Was weird.
Tuism: thanks! The planet is visible because I thought it would make the experience more enjoyable than looking to a black empty space :) but is funny how some ask for a more scientifically accurate experience :)
About the graphics error.. You may turn the rocket way far up or down and exit the sky sprite. At that point you should get a game over screen, but you didn't.. Sure it's a bug! :P
rnlf: yes, i did! Well, before starting anything I spent a couple of hours researching about the actual orion and the shuttle take off sequence, and stuff like that. Thanks! :)
This game is great! I love the details on the cockpit and the retro style graphics. The atmosphere is amazing!
Amazing. WHY ISN'T THERE MORE.
The graphics are incredible, and while the gameplay is incredibly simple I couldn't help but reach the end.
Lovely game. Amazing job. Congratulations. :)
Ok it broke in Safari and Firefox on OSX, but I got it to work on Chrome. Great experience! Felt anxious as the countdown began.
Amazing concept, really interesting approach to the theme. The graphics were amazing, the sound effects were good and the gameplay was fun, nice game!
No idea how I popped the URL to your game into my comment. Probably because I was C&P'ing it into IRC and accidentally put it here too... Weird...
How really impressive, one of my favorite entry as so far. great sfx!
The theme was a bit special on this LD (imo), but your entry used it in a very clever way. Well done :)
It's amazing how much mood you can create with such a static view!
That's really cool. I love the look and the foley work on the switches is really nice.
Fantastic! Would really love to see this idea taken further (at least until Star Citizen is released)
This is absolutely outstanding. My only gripe is that my heart fell when I reached the end and realised it was all over. Lovely artwork, so so very atmospheric. :(
Wow....just wow. That was awesome, and I'm awestruck that you got all this done in the time frame. Phenomenal graphics, audio, and easily the best atmosphere I've ever seen in LD.
Bravo.
Absolutely astonishing! 10/10 AAA :D I really enjoyed those 5 minutes spent on your game. My favorite so far! Waiting for more <3
wow! I literally felt like I was in a spacecraft. Fantastic!
Really amazing job. My only gripe is that I would have liked some cool sound effects during some steps like the separation steps. Amazing game though.
Really beautiful, amazing atmosphere for a game created in such a short time!
I just wish you could extend the game for a loooong full flight. The game is simple, yes but this is not a problem because the experience is fantastic. I hope you will finish the game one day :)
Really nice! I was really absorbed by your game, looking for all those button! I was sad when reaching the end :( Good job!
cxsquared: oh man, fuck! Your're totally right! I thought of playing some sfx on the separation phases but with the rush I completely forgot! Damn :D
Thank you everybody! You are very generous :)
It worked fine as far as I know in firefox. But after the part where the order was to relax and enjoy the view either I didn't know what to do or it stopped giving orders.
Also, I think fighting the pitch was a little too extreme. It was like you barely hit the one where you have to adjust 4 bars and before you finish the first bar it is already shaking.
Really cool!!! the feel this game gives is superb. To bad the end was lacking of content. But great job!!!
Fantastic visuals and atmosphere, although the game itself is somewhat lacking!
Has the same sort of appeal as playing something like Euro Truck Simulator or Train Simulator - a fairly relaxing experience that immerses the player. Sadly, constantly having to manage the pitch feels like something of a conceit, tacked-on so that the player has something to do during the flight.
Apart from that, a fantastic effort! An amazing accomplishment for two days work.
This is really an incredible entry, I am in awe that this was done in such a short time span!
Yeah, you are totally right about the Pitch thing.. I didn't have time to polish the gameplay any more, and it ended quite silly :P
Really fantastic, all around. My favorite so far, and not just because I'm a nut for space exploration.
Bravo sir. Bravo.
Wow, awesome! Cockpit simulations are really neat, I just wish you had time to put in more content! Great audio and visuals, and great atmosphere. Even though the game's on a single screen, I felt like I was on a trip to Mars. (Apparently it's very close to Earth. ;) )
Just super cool. Like this with some more action would be amazing.
The cockpit looks great, and the sounds fit really well. Nice work.
Very good idea and fun to play. Love the mood, sound and graphics. I want more.
Great game, I really felt like I was in a giant space ship, and somehow pressing all the buttons didn't make me explode =P Great execution I love the art style, the mood, the sounds, ...
Epic graphics, physics and game in general!
I found it a bit long but really fun if you have the time
very pretty, congratulations! Is this all based on actual steps, or is it made up?
The game froze just as I was taking off :( I could hear it all happening in the background but couldn't see anything change on screen. I was running it in Safari. Loved what I saw though.
JoshuaBurr: yes, something odd happens in Safari.. Chrome is the recommended browser, if you can test it in it.. sorry! :/
panda: hmm.. I researched for 2 hours about launching sequences, so some steps and terminology is actual stuff, but many is made up.. and also, I don't believe that the astronauts have to press many buttons on take off, I suppose everything is automated and controlled from Launch Control, don't you think? dunno, really.. :D
Thanks everybody again! :)
This is fantastic! The initial take-off was AWESOME. Great job and with only 48 hours!
Just wow! Really loved the sound and feel of the buttons.
Game freeze every 6 seconds with firefox and does not work with IE.
Really great game! The instructions are a little unclear at first but once you pick them up it's smooth sailing (or launching as it were). Great art, great sound, I can't really think of anything bad to say (except the end, but that's understandable). Really Good work!
I loved the graphics in this, great job!
I loved the combination of trying to drive, while also making sure everything is set correctly.
Seriously, can you please finish this game?
Definitely one of my favorites I've played this LD! I love the concept and the execution is just amazing. And the ending! Haha, It's Desert Bus in space!
Outstanding graphics. The liftoff part just make the game. Great job !
This is so beautiful and awesome and other banally praising sentences! Loved your take on the theme and the clickiness of it. Would be great if you developed it more after the jam :)
love the retro style, and the camera shake effect is coool.
Wow... With the OST of Interstellar, it will be very awesome :p. Great experience !
Between Interstellar and kerBal Space Program, i needed this game, awesome job dude, the mood is just perfect.
The experience of LD31.
I mean, I can count at least 8 screens in that interface, so I'll have to rate you 0/5 for Theme.
Just kidding (ha!). This is ace! Well done on creating such a polished and engaging experience in only 48hrs. I wish there was more of it, which is always a good thing to hear about a LD game!
OK, I think this is the first LD game that I scored five stars in each category. Wow.
Awesome work, feel like that good old games. Make it longer, please!!
Thanks to your game I have achieved my childhood dream, all from a laptop at my dining room table. That was really atmospheric (if you'll forgive the pun). I liked it a lot.
Spectacular experience for the feel and mood. There's not much actual gameplay here, but I have never had so much fun with so little gameplay. Brilliantly executed. =)
LOVE THIS! I made a game similar a while back celebrating the space shuttle: http://www.travischen.com/DISCOVERY
Very atmospheric game. This is just the beginning of a great space adventure game! :-)
Amazing ! I think I have no critique to make. This is a perfect take on the theme. :D
This is by far some of the best set of visual and audio production I've seen.
As far as gameplay goes, however, I feel like there could be more to it.
Luckily this is Ludum Dare, and this is simply fantastic for a compo entry.
I'd be happy if the entire jam was all games like this. Love UI-heavy simulator-likes (Steel Battalion, Spaceteam, Artemis). So far I've only found your entry and "You Have the Con".
Really pretty pixel art. The rocker switches in particular look great. The screen shake and blur effect is perfect and the soundscape is very complete. I do wish you'd had time to finish the mission to mars, or have the goal be to achieve stable orbit.
I played in Firefox for OSX, but the game would be perfect for touch devices.
This game is so good, and even more impressive as a compo entry. I had to check this out after @LarryChupacabra's highlight video. Very well done. This is my favorite entry so far.
Reminds me of Steel Battalion, trying to get a grasp on what all the buttons and switches do without dying. I failed the first time because I spaced on the countdown, but luckily I knew where everything was the second time so it didn't take nearly as long to get started.
I was expecting something to go wrong near the end of the trip, after I was told to relax. I'm glad it was smooth, but it would have been a nice test to see how quickly I could hunt down whatever button I needed to get out of a bad situation.
So so so amazing. I would have given you ALL of the stars, if I'd been able to reach Mars. Still, this is wonderful.
wow, amazing entry! The graphic and sound immersion are awesome, congratulations for this :)
Graphics work so well with the audio, was fun to play but would have been nice to have seen a planet at the end. Definitely understandable that there wasn't one with the time, I know how it is. The mood was the best I've seen so far in an entry, you really set it well with the opening tasks. Hoping you expand upon this.
Really good. This should be made into a full game with actual planet backgrounds :P
Lags bad in Firefox and will not load at all in IE. Game looks cool from what little I did play in Firefox. :)
I want more! This looks amazing! Clever gameplay, simple at first but I was pretty sure I was gonna crash once I had to keep pitch and press buttons at the same time :P Bummer I have to wait for the sequel to see Mars! Great game!
Best game I've player so far in LD31. Amazing work, congrats.
Wow, that was fantastic! It's like a singleplayer realistic version of SpaceTeam, and that's amazing. Great work!
The page isn't loading :( I will come back and try again but I only rated the graphics for now from what I see. Can't wait to play it.
One of the best I've seen this LD. Surprisingly compelling game even though I'm following instructions and looking for buttons. The graphics, sounds and overall atmosphere really sell it. Nice work!
Ah so cool, was able to play it now and that was just as much as it looked! excellent work!
Incredibly well done. I think this is my favorite of this LD. The only thing I wish was that it wasn't so linear and I could screw up the controls intentionally and see the consequences. I hope you will continue developing this and fully flesh it out because I will play the dingus out of it.
Amazing that this was done in 48 hours, one of the benchmark entries.
WHy so hard!!
I forgot to start the engines and Kaput...
But, is very very nice game, Innovation, Theme, Overall one of the most different and nice game I played in this LD
GOOD WORK!!
Amazing graphics with a great atmosphere to it. A shame it was so short.
Awesome game, and smart use of the theme. Shame you didn't have time to imeplement more.
Wow awesome game!!Love it! Great graphics, great mood and great sound! One of the best games I've played so far.
Something I forgot to say: I have an unplayable framerate in Firefox (1-3 fps), but it's fine in Chrome.
One of my top 5 games this Ludum Dare! Brilliant art and audio, the tone of the whole thing is perfect. Keeping the ship steady while finding the next control is challenging without being too difficult. It'd be nice to see this taken further!
Nice mood and nice screenshake feedback when the pitch is off!
Wow, this was awesome. I really enjoyed it, felt like an astronaut for a few minutes...lol. Great job :)
Do a barrel roll fox!!! Hint. You can't do a barrel roll. I tried.
This game is fantastic! I would love to see a bigger version of this game where you have to control all the little knobs and switches. It's deeply satisfying to me.
Loved it. This was my favorite out of all the ones I've played so far. It's a great little experience.
The effort put into it really shows.
I don't think it's weird that people expect science or realism. We did a game that had strong roots in biology, and people loved that part of it. They loved that realism. Finding that perfect line between fantasy and realism can sometimes be a challenge, especially for simulation games like this. You've done a great job so far though.
Okay, now it's time to put in more content :P Nice game otherwise ^^
Great concept. A bit stuttery in Firefox. You should make this into a non-browser game, and people would probably love it. :)
I've rated hundreds of LD games in seven compos and this is the best looking and feeling one. Amazing job!
pretty awesome!, especially for a compo game. Hoped for more, I guess it's better to let know that there's nothing more instead of letting someone fly for 2 more minutes without anything :P
Like the mood of the game. Pretty good graphics and audio
Interesting idea, I crashed because the value input was cocky.
So amazing. I would kill for a space sim game of this style.
Really nice atmosphere, but dat ending! :p I was hammering the radio thinking MAYBE THEY WANT TO TALK TO ME MORE...
Very interesting and atmospheric game! You got a good thing going on with this idea, I hope you develop it further!
Great game. It crashed for me at about stage one separation. The audio continued but the graphics froze. Good stuff though.
Loved the idea and the level of detail, I made it to "mars" :-)
It felt a bit boring at first, but after take off it gets a bit more challenging. Loved the idea. Good job!
Damn, this game is so damn cool...
Well done! I love everything, graphic, sounds gameplay! Great work!
Everyone wish to beeing an astronaut, and with this game we can. :D
Intensely atmospheric, immersive, and even romantic in a kind of way. This was a pretty damn cool experience.
You should keep working on this after the compo, it's fantastic.
Awesome experience! I have seen game with similar idea, but there I feel like a space monkey, and here I feel like a pro astronaut. Great work with the mood.
I don't want to be THAT guy... but this is listed as a compo entry and you didn't provided the source (and looking at you previous entries, it's not the first time)
Also I am pretty sure I heard some of those sounds on freesound.org
Hey good job! I did something very similar with my entry, but yours looks way better
Dagnarus:
Since it's html+javascript, you can check the source code by right clicking on the page, and choose "view source code". The main game code is in that js1k.js. (The same applies to my older entries but NONEX, which is Flash and for which I provided the source)
Don't know if there are similar sounds at freesound.org (maybe you could point those out), but all I can say is that all sounds are made with my microphone, audacity and bitwig. I have some original WAVs but not all, for I work very unorganized with sound.. :P
I'll try to stream my ludum dare next time X)
Thank you everybody for the comments!!
Great art and sounds here, and overall excellent work in setting the mood and selling the scenario. A good, gritty flight sim is hard to find, and for a LD project this was very well done.
As an experience this was very cool, though it didn't feel quite like a game. Something more sandboxy, with more oportunities to misclick buttons, or do things wrong (maybe more complex or less direct orders), would have been nice, say deactivating the Radio and activating Orbital Radio when you needed orders from Mission Control, and if you didn't you'd miss a critical update on your trajectory. More options for failure due to precision or misinterpreted orders, less immediate failure (possibly your lack of precision cost you points?) and less "you took too long to hit the button" failures would have been nice ways to build on the experience, I think.
Excellent work on your entry!
Oh this was amazing, really nailed the atmosphere. Great use of the theme too
Ha ha ha ha! Ok I really like this one. Quite funny because me playing it is like someone hired an unqualified idiot to fly the ship. Here we have a smart AI that doesn't let you screw up that much, now mash the buttons till you become a spaceship pilot. Quite fun, including the situational humor.
You _have_ to continue this game.
Georgeous graphics that set the mood perfectly.
Very well done! :)
love it. impressively engaging. and thoroughly enjoyed the launch sequence.
Awesome job! LOVE THE GRAPHICS! One of the best games I've seen so far, very fun!
Excellent audio and graphics. I loved all the switches and stuff. One thing I found is that the windows that came up with the rocker/toggle switches closed to fast after the last switch was thrown. It would be neat if the last switch clicked the same as the others and there was a brief pause. I really enjoyed the screen shake and radio chatter effects. The mission itself was a bit misleading, as I thought once I reached near the red planet I would have to press the other buttons and do some other sequence of things. But I made it to the end, and it was pretty cool. Intermediate events requiring additional action (with radio chatter) would add a lot here I think. Overall excellent entry, very nice look and feel. Good work!
I had a very nice experience with this one. The graphics were lovely and cohesive -- the colors were really great, a nice space-age palette. Not too modern, not too old-fashioned. Though, it did remind me a lot of playing Wing Commander for some reason.
Even after I'd preformed all the required actions in the game, and there was basically no real gameplay but to "reach Mars" (aka, travel to the red dot) -- I still found myself casually playing. I loved the look and feel of the game. The sounds, the way it controlled. It was really smooth and peaceful. I wouldn't mind sitting for awhile and just enjoying the sights (a-la spaceship simulator).
It didn't even really need things going wrong to be entertaining. I loved switching all the switches and pressing the buttons. Really aesthetically pleasing. I liked it a lot. :)
Neat concept and atmosphere for a game, fantastic art as well. The sound was great and really fit the game.
Although I found the separation of first and second stages quite annoying since it was almost impossible to click the buttons with the ship shaking around. That caused me to lose and I didn't want to go through the slow start again just to reach that point.
What an innovative idea, but right know it's mainly just pressing random buttons(mainly in the beginning), so that's not really fun, but other than that great game! Everything else is great!
Holy crap, everything about this entry is just amazing from the detail of the cockpit to the sound and really fun to play as well. You should definitely port this to VR devices like the Oculus Rift as that would be even more amazing (Also you're right in that Chrome is recommended as I tried it first in Firefox and it crashed as soon as it started).
Runs really bad in Safari, with gameplay stuttering every few seconds, making the timing for the countdown absolutely impossible (tried three or four times, much frustration) - downloaded Chrome, worked fine in that.
Really impressive graphics, though.. the planet being there all the time is certainly weird =P
Not much interaction once you get into space and jetison the things, probably needs some kind of "oh no the thing is overheating, do the coolants" "there's a problem! radio Huston and they'll tell you what to do" kind of disaster or the like. Ideally some randomised things of that nature to really keep people engaged through several playthroughs. Obviously you wouldn't have had time for that here, but as you're considering working on this further, then those are suggestions I guess :P
Sorry, I meant runs really bad in Firefox. Don't know why I said Safari.
Then end is a bit disappointing but it's a great little game overall !
This... is... Awesome !
Certainly the best entry of this LD31.
I would like to know what is the use of the random button ?
Wow, this is REALLY impressive. I wouldn't be surprised if this won. Really relaxing, the only place I could fault it would be lack of content, but even that's not really an issue for a good 10 minutes of gameplay. The amount of controls was great. Not sure why you opted out of humour, I found the "Random button" hilarious :3
Good job, look foward to seeing more participations,
There's no source link though, I believe it's in the rules that compo games require source to be submitted?
Wowww, all the stars for you. :) This is amazing. So immersive. And cool. Although you don't really do much, it's surprisingly fun. Everything looks georgeous. Played almost 80 LD31 games now, this one takes the cake!
Thanks again guys! :D
Alyphen: since it's an html+javascript game, you can view the source directly, with the "view page source" option in your browser :)
Really impressive work on graphics. The game is really good when we have stuff to do. Sad the end was so long for nothing. I hope you can continue the development of your game !
This is a super cool looking and cool feeling game, and one among my highest rated entry!
I love this! It reminds me of a space shuttle game for the atari 2600, except way better graphics. :) 10/10
Great atmosphere Loved playing this one! it was a shame near the end though :( when the cockpit stopped talking to you I wish that there was more gameplay! Great entry!
super amazing game! It really portrays a beautiful feeling and atmosphere. It doesn't come off as fun per say - but it was a great experience nontheless!
Your timing with a game like this is so PERFECT now with all the Interstellar hype going on around the world.
Source code not available? It's mandatory to publish it in the compo, but maybe you are so happy with this game you'll take the disqualification and keep working on it? (thats fine by me, just wanted to point it out!)
Wow this is a great game! Quality interface/graphics. I eventually just went off trajectory to see what would happen... lol. Well done!
Taviandir: since it's an html+javascript game, you can view the source directly, with the "view page source" option in your browser :)
This style is incredible. What an awesome concept. The only thing I hate is to start over from the beginning ;D (it lags with Firefox btw).
A bit disapointed by the end but the journey was nice.
Nice mood.
Really nicely built atmosphere and I like the brief feeling of confidence it gave me when you're tasked to turn a couple of switches on in a row.
Sort of makes you feel like you have all of this vast experience because you're THAT pilot you see in movies that flips a couple of switches effortlessly to get a ship going. And then the countdown sequence started, and all sorts of doubt went through my mind. "I'm definitely not qualified for this, I was just following on screen instructions... I'VE ONLY DONE THIS IN VR TRAINING LET ME OUT". Then everything is okay because the launch ended up going alright, confidence restored.
I think the main thing that did end up taking away from my enjoyment was how direct and controlled the whole experience was. The only part that I truly felt like I had direct control over was the pitch, everything else I turned on or off because of the plainly obvious instructions. There wasn't any experimentation, I never really felt like I learned how to do anything or that I had to learn in the first place. The game led me with a carrot at the end of a stick the whole time, and even if I wanted to try to flip some other buttons on/off I couldn't. I can't, say, turn the engine off mid-flight like an idiot, or turn the radio off and pretend I'm going AWOL. It's just not allowed and that really breaks me from the experience.
Another bit of criticism was how the game ends (both when you succeed or fail). If you try to crash, you get this really sudden and static "game over" screen. It was just way too sudden, and a quick fade to black/white with a crash sound would have probably gone a long way to help with the consistency of the rest of the game. Actually even just a slow fade to black as you enter the fail state would have been a pretty effective transition by itself (then fade the game over screen in).
The "win" screen was pretty much the same, a smoother transition would have gone a long way to help reinforce the mood of the rest of the game. Of course, I understand that stuff didn't make it because of time constraints. It was just sort of disappointing to leave such an atmospheric experience on a flat note.
Overall, it's a really nice atmospheric experience which is excellent for Ludum Dare. 5 stars in graphics, audio and mood. But it sort of drops the ball a bit as an engaging interactive experience, so that aspect would need to be addressed more if you continue work on this.
Hoqjed: thank you so much for sharing your ideas and feelings. I will take all that into account if I go on with this :)
Its a very simple game at the moment, but this opens up a variety of larger, post-compo games you could make with this basis.
This is pretty great! The graphics are awesome. The idea is sound, and it's got room for expansion. Now, if only if you could get rid of the lag that happens every five seconds or so...
Good graphics and audio. After all the button pressing was done, it felt like a space version of "Desert Bus".
Incredible! Art and sound are perfect and create an amazing atmosphere. Playing it for the first time felt quite tense (in a good way), not knowing what to expect and so many controls to familiarize with.
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NOT LOGGED IN?: If you get a message about not being logged in, even though you are, it’s because your web browser cached the non-logged in page. You can fix this by either refreshing your cache or clearing your cache. CTRL+F5 in many browsers. Chrome is a bit more work. Press F12 to enable Developer Mode, then you can right click on the refresh button and select “Empty Cache and Hard Reload”. This option is unavailable if you are not in Developer Mode.
PORTS: Ports to other platforms can be done after the deadline. That said, the sooner you finish your port, the sooner people can play your game, improving your chances of placing in the final results. For best results, provide a Web version of your game, or a Windows version with no dependencies. Also be sure to rate about 20 games to improve your visibility.
MY GAME DOESN’T SHOW UP: If you can’t find your game, it’s usually because the URL to your downloads are missing ‘http://‘. Fix your URLs (http://mysite.com/mygame.zip) and you will show up. Alternatively, if you just posted it, wait a minute. The cache may not have refreshed yet.
MY GAME CRASHES, IS UNBEATABLE, OR I MADE A TYPO: We allow you to fix crash or win condition bugs after the deadline (in a sense, like “porting” to support more players). We also allow “typo” bugs. I.e. A true that should have been a false, a word that should have been a different word, very tiny changes that you would have caught if you had more sleep. We leave this open to interpretation, but generally speaking your game should be identical to the game you submitted. No new features, just things you messed up last minute. Typos.
great concept. lovely cockpit and sounds