I think the game plays quite well, however I've run into a fairly gamebreaking issue for me - clicking out of the window when using the left click. I pressed every F1-12 button, checked the settings, the game description, looked for a readme, and still couldn't find a way to make it full-screen. Seriously, I kept pressing stuff outside the game window and one time barely missed a report button... Then I tried using ctrl to shoot but it felt way too unnatural. Is there a way to make it full-screen and avoid that? please tell meeeeeeee
Anyway! That issue aside, the gameplay felt quite interesting and skill-based. I only had a few smaller issues:
- There was no life counter anywhere. Description says you have 4 lives, but often I had no idea if I lost a life or not. The ship flashing on hit is not very visible, and I had no clue if going out of bounds took a life or not. At the very least some feedback on player hit, like a small explosion with a sound effect or somesuch, would have gone a long way for me
- During the dialogue part, pressing Z made it skip before it even got finished. The text speed being a tad slow, my expectation was for it to immediately finish after pressing Z and then proceeding to the next line when you press it again.
- The force of gravity pulling the ship down felt... weird. Aren't we supposed to be in space..?
Overall - quite a few neat ideas and fairly well presented. Putting work into the game page's design deserves extra points IMO. The main character's portrait also reminded me of someone from a game called Omori. Congrats on finishing the jam!
Play game
Moonlit Solitude's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Visual | #17 | 4.100 | 4.100 |
| Theme | #37 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
| Audio | #37 | 3.533 | 3.533 |
| Overall | #89 | 3.133 | 3.133 |
| Fun | #137 | 2.533 | 2.533 |
Ranked from 30 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Did you use any third-party assets or skeleton code?
https://deep-fold.itch.io/pixel-planet-generator & https://foozlecc.itch.io/void-fleet-pack-1 , everything else was made during the jam
Comments
Loved the art and creature designs, the music can get a bit intense xD
Wow such cool art! The moving background in the downloaded version is much better than the web one for sure. The control style is really unique and pretty fun (albeit really difficult haha). It lacks some feedback though as I wasn't really sure of when I got hit or how many lives I had left etc. Pretty cool game though, well done :)
It wasn't too obvious when I was getting hurt. Maybe making the character flash white or just a more obvious SFX would have been good.
The opening intro was cool. Two nitpicks with it would be 1. right click is kind of a weird input for a dialogue system and 2. clicking would ideally finish writing the text then clicking again would skip to the next. I accidentally skipped past some text just out of habit trying to force it to finish writing.
The move/shoot mechanic was a really cool idea. I do however feel the gameplay was brutally difficult. I think it would have been more manageable, however, if there was a full screen option; I kept pressing off the game when trying to click near the edges.
The music was cool. The art was visually pleasing. All round had a cool space themed, light-hearted, atmosphere.
The graphics are absolutely amazing. I wish there was a sound effect or some indicator for when I get hurt and some way to tell how much health I had. Not very clear if the goal was to survive or kill enemies, but definitely a unique way to control everything
Thank you! There is a sound that plays when you lose health in the installable version. That version has bug fixes and difficulty adjustments that were not reflected in the WebGL version. I didn't finish the health bar in time, that's true. The goal was to survive for 5 minutes, as the description says. Thanks a lot for your comments! We are happy that you like our mechanic.
Lovely art, and a really polished dialogue system in the opening section. The controls for the ship in the bullet hell section are very interesting, but take some getting used to. I kept accidentally clicking off screen, and my ship would fly off the sides. I also couldn't quite tell if it was an actual goal to shoot the enemy ships or not? But I feel that with some play testing and iteration, you could refine this into a really solid game!
Nice game! The controls were pretty difficult to get used to as other people have mentioned just because they are a little unusual, but I know that was kind of the point. I wasn't able to beat the first level because it was pretty difficult, but I did get to the two and a half minute mark once! I found using a real mouse for movement, and control to shoot worked best for me, because I kept accidentally clicking outside the game window when using the left click option. I also liked the art and visuals a lot.
Thank you for your kind words and feedback! We're glad you enjoyed the art. As for the gameplay, we agree that a tutorial section and better difficulty curve could improve the overall experience. We appreciate your suggestions and will keep them in mind for future updates or projects. Thank you again for playing!
I found the recoil movement interesting but really hard to control. Overall though it was really nice! Good work!
The limitation on the movement could be interest but I think the gravity of the ship make it very hard to control (one missile upward is enough to make you go outside the map without time to catch it back). I think removing the gravity might make it more controllable, as the start of the games feel very hard (I didn't think I lasted more than a minute ... Also you mentioned collectibles, but I didn't so any, they might need to be more visible or different from the bullet.
I actually thought the same, but the game becomes really passive and easy once there is no real motive to constantly shoot. The movement is kind of hard, but you actually get used to it really quickly! Thanks for the feedback. I will try to make a smoother introduction to the movement system. The collectibles were never planned and aren't present. It was mentioned that the objective in the story was to collect the parts of the ship to repair it. It may be a bit confusing in the description. Thanks! I will check it and fix it because it's truly misleading. Thank you so much for your feedback! It really helps a lot, and I will try to fix those errors after the jam!
I found the controls interesting, but the bullets are really big, and there is no indication when you take damage, so I ended up dying a lot without knowing what hit me. I has the potential to become a great game with a bit more polish !
The actual hitbox of the bullets is only the glowing blue part. They aren't really that big; they only give that impression, but it would surely be clearer with a smaller sprite, like a literal circle. Thanks for your feedback. I will look forward to changing some of the sprites to give a better indication of the bullets' true size.
The indication of damage is the sound that plays in the installable version. The webgl version removes it, but it is truly a shame that time didn't give me the opportunity to finish the lifebar system for the player. I think the same about the lack of indication, and it's the first thing I want to fix. Thank you so much!
I loved the dialog and vibe of the little intro part, the shooter part is really hard and I couldn't get too far. thanks :)
Now that's a hard game, I love it. I got close to the 3:00 mark once.
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