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Tractor Beam in an Asteroid Field's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Originality | #2141 | 3.104 | 3.104 |
| Fun | #2223 | 2.750 | 2.750 |
| Overall | #2621 | 2.757 | 2.757 |
| Presentation | #3294 | 2.417 | 2.417 |
Ranked from 48 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
You're ship is joined to the "P.L.O.W." by a tractor beam. You have to not let that connection break for too long.
Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 48 hours?
Yes
We created the vast majority of the art during the game jam
Did your team create the vast majority of the music during the 48 hours?
Yes
We created the vast majority of the music during the game jam
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Comments
If seen a few abstract puzzle games so far but yours might be the first abstract score chaser! I really like the whole "early 90s rendering" vibe and could imagine it could gel really well with fitting soundscape. The P.L.O.W. being just as deadly as the asteroids is a great mechanic, that will very well with more risk/reward mechanics.
I agree with others that the beam could feel a bit more "beam-y". Maybe a some flickering or a wavelength effect? Adding controls for repulsion and attraction might also be good mechanics to experiment with. Anyway, you've got a great concept and solid design foundation to build on. Well done!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it! I'm not an artist and was very much doing the best with the skills I have. Would love to make the beam feel more beam-y and I even had a build about 2 hours before the jam ended with some major post processing on the beam but it was buggy with the screen resolution so I had to revert to an old one. Maybe I'll go back to it some time!
Nicely fits the theme. Would be cool if the beam connecting you and the ball could destroy the blocks, but still fun to play!
I really like the theme and idea behind it. Control should be more easy and user friendly. Also string connecting plow should be more strong and springy. With more effects and visuals it will be an interesting game. Good job on completion.
This is interesting, at least in concept. The idea to have your influence over the plow be gravity based is interesting. My intuition says that the control should be spring-based (i.e. becomes stronger with distance, not weaker), and I kept dying due to it. Once I got a better hang of it, I found it quite interesting, but I still didn't feel like I had a good handle of it.
Yeah I get that. I intuitively coded it as a spring initially but think this is more engaging but maybe needs some more signposting. Thanks for playing!
I really like this idea! The connecting being something that you have to actively make, being connected to something that can kill you, and trying to pick up after the PLOW's destruction is really engaging! I do agree with some of the comments below that the current physics has the PLOW moving a bit unpredictably, but fixing that and adding some slick sprites or something could really elevate this into a great game!
Thanks so much! Really glad you enjoyed it :) I think you've picked up on what I thought was really fun about this idea so glad it has come across!
Tractor beam could use some tweaking. Interesting take on the joined together theme and nice to see you completed the game within the time limit. Cudos for that.
cool idea, a unique take on the two objects and a chain idea, it was prey satisfying to slingshot the plow around the screen but I felt like I lacked a little agency in where it went . nice simple presentation easy to read visually
Cool game although the physics could be a bit more polished out. But since we only had 48h we can't really blame that can we
Thanks for playing! Anything specific you didn't like about the physics? As far as I know the game correctly does what I set out for it but that I was probably too focused on realism rather than fun.
oh yeah I see that
It just feels like you dont pull the ball at all if you're too far, that's like the only thing about the physics I meant
Thanks! Good to know :)
Nice concept! I wish the gravitational pull is a little bit stronger. But overall, good job!
Thanks for playing! Yeah it's a good point. As I said below if it's much stronger then it becomes totally unmanagable at close distances. But that means I should probably be less precious about the physics being correct and more focused on what makes it fun!
Tractor beam was a little too weak, you had to be pretty close to the PLOW to move it towards anything.
Thanks for playing and for the feedback! Yeah, I wanted it to have propper inverse square gravity physics, but that means the force can be really strong when you get close or really weak when you're at all far away. If I go back to it I'll probably try and find a way of doing the force that feels better but less like real world physics.
Tractor beam was a little too weak, you had to be pretty close to the PLOW to move it towards anything.
It was fun to play and the concept is great cool game !
Thanks for playing!
Fantastic game! Cool to see such a unique spin on the classic asteroids kinda game.
Thanks for playing! Really glad you enjoyed it!
I really liked this idea! It was kind of hard to get the hang of it at first but after a few tries, I was able to get the mechanics of the game. I think the way the two objects are joined together is quite neat and the gravitational feel adds to the flavor of the game. Good job!
Thanks for playing! Glad you liked the mechanics, I orignially had it working like a spring but this felt much nicer to me!
Its a really neat idea, but it misses some kind of elaboration on the concept to truly take it to the next level. E.g. Speed increase over time, or multiple plows are added into the mix. Congratulations on finish a game though, you did well!
Thanks for playing! Yeah definitely. I had a long list of additions I wanted to put in but just didn't have time in the end.
That's a really neat idea!
That's a really neat idea!
That's a really neat idea!
Thanks for playing!
Man, this game is hard, but what a cool concept. I think it might be more fun if you didn't have to collect the pickup to get points and instead just got points when the asteroids get destroyed. Good job!
Thanks for the feedback! I wanted to have the pickups to give you an insentive to move away from the P.L.O.W. but I do want to tweak the difficulty.
Very nice! I got 5 points
Thanks for playing!