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Space Whale's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Originality | #10 | 4.094 | 4.094 |
| Theme | #46 | 3.563 | 3.563 |
| Overall | #48 | 3.313 | 3.313 |
| Fun | #52 | 3.281 | 3.281 |
| Audio | #56 | 3.313 | 3.313 |
| Accessibilty | #56 | 2.875 | 2.875 |
| Graphics | #76 | 3.406 | 3.406 |
| Controls | #100 | 2.656 | 2.656 |
Ranked from 32 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Godot Version
4.3
Wildcards Used
N/A
Game Description
Space Whale creates planets and cultivates civilizations
How does your game tie into the theme?
Planets undergo metamorphosis through various stages of development
Source(s)
https://github.com/plexsoup/GWJ77-Metamorphosis
Discord Username(s)
plexsoup
Participation Level (GWJ Only)
22
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Comments
What a beautiful mess I made as a whale in space. 4/5 in fun and originality for sure.
I really don't like the controls. Felt like I had barely any say into where I'm going, or where the stuff was going to end up.
But overall it was an amusing experience, though I never figured how to make a civilization :/
Sorry wanted to stream it today but life got in the way.
Notes while playing: Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee spiiiiin
Cool I can sunbathe in the sun directly
Woah cool terraforming mechanics
Woaaah what happened with the blackhole thing
Nooo why am I hurting lil green alien 😢
Camera feels way too zoomed in.
oh I made a huge tree on a tiny planet
Struggled a bit to make the civilizations but got it in the end. At some point the swimming mechanics become a bit frustrating when you’re just trying to terraform. My whole screen became a bit too much of a chaotic mess.
Not fond of the music and imo it’s a bit too melancholic-sounding compared to the game in itself. Sounds are alright and fun
But there’s a nice fun concept in there, with some refinement you could find a good loop between both gameplays
Very nice execution ! I did find the zoom and controls a bit unintuitive but the graphics were very nice and the concept is really unique I enjoyed playing it a lot
Love the idea! Also, the whale art was so polished. I didn't expect such a havoc in so little time xD
Nice work! While it is obviously supposed to be chill game, I desperately wanted to hear Gojira's "From Mars to Sirius" due it's awesomeness and thematic appropriate-ness. Totally love the whale art, I saw the cover and had to play it immediately.
Had a ton of fun zoomin' around space and making planets! Controls remind me of an old school SEGA game Ecco the Dolphin. Nice job!
I thought this was really cool. Reading through some of the comments surprised me. I really enjoyed how the game did not hold my hand and i had to figure things out, that exploration of the mechanics was the whole draw for me. I also thought the controls were good and that is how i would have expected a whale in space to move around, drifting like a boat
A clever way to interpret the theme—such a lovely game! Controlling the whale was a bit tricky, but overall, it was a fun
I had a fun time creating planets and watch them grow. There's something very special in seeing how your actions change the envorinment, it's awesome to see clouds, birds, lakes appear the more trees and lakes you grow! And choosing a space whale as a main character is very symbolic. Very solid game!!
Looks like I forgot to include any instructions for the mouse-controls. The Space Whale's acceleration is determined by the distance the mouse cursor is away from the whale. The whale will try to face the mouse cursor, but it's intentionally slippery. (Hard to turn in space.)
Some people are saying the camera is too zoomed in. It zooms out more, based on the speed you're moving, but the default zoom may be too close, making it hard to look around.
Original idea, and cool mechanics with the orbital gravity. It took me a while to get it, but once I did, it was nice to play! Chill sounds too, overall great experience.
very cool idea! so this means floating around and shooting some dirt/seeds/water around is the actual origin of the universe? Who knew!
I agree that the whale movement isn't too easy to control, but the way the game works, this is a non-issue.
Nice!
Thanks for playing!
I liked the vibes and the aesthetics! I also liked the idea, but the controls and goals were a bit confusing. It felt like the gravity screwed up my movements a lot of the time, and I kinda didn't understand why am I going one direction and not another.
I also didn't quite figure how to create civilizations? It would be cool to have some guide or recipes, even if outside of the game, in the game description.
Nice submission overall!
Thanks for playing!
I struggled with how much guidance to provide. Initially I had a bunch more levels with each step spelled out explicitly, but I felt like it was too much hand-holding, like a series of fetch quests which turned into a chore, inducing players to just do the thing as quickly as possible to get to the next level. So I took them out and made it more "do whatever you want."
Perhaps a happy compromise would have been to provide occasional hints or achievements.
Fend off an alien, protect a city from asteroids, etc.
Also, a lot of intended content was cut due to time constraints, fear of introducing new mechanics at the last minute, and developer sanity.
Yep, totally understandable concerns :) Fear of breaking everything the last minute in attempts to improve the game is very real in jams :)
SPACE WHALE
This is pretty awesome
Didn't expect to be playing as god
Darn aliens need to stop messing with my humans
I had a whale of a time.
I created so many first whale'd (world) problems...
Seriously though, fantastic concept, really enjoyed making my little planets, and the movement while floaty gave me a good giggle trying to control him.
Music is nice and chill too. Well done!
Well, this is an original concept that I did not expect haha. The controls were a bit hard to get used to initially and that subtracted from some of the fun. The entire idea of having planets, aliens, and a space whale was insane. It was a nice ambient/sandbox game
This was a pretty neat game! I love being a space whale. When I have kids I will tell them that this is how the universe was created. Also the space whale animations are dope.
Glad your kids will be receiving the best possible education. Don't let anyone tell them otherwise.
Radish: It was really fun. Building planets with dirt is addicting much like in agar.io!
Squirrel: Help! I have created 500 planets! But I finally got to cultivate civilizations :D. I am now well established space whale. Controls are a bit wonky, but manageable.
Well done making so many planets! I agree the controls feel a bit slippery. You can switch to mouse controls by clicking the button in the bottom right corner, but those are even more slippery. I prefer WASD.
Very interesting, and I liked this approach to metamorphosis. I would have liked to have seen a little more guidance/tutorial on the civilization level -I didn't ever figure out what a civilization was, or how to make one (I was assuming it was something to do with birds at the time, but reading the comments it seems it had to do with aliens which I hadn't encountered in my civilization level... so perhaps I was doing something wrong). Also I really liked the cozy vibe with the space whale, the music, and the construction, but I feel that somehow the gravity and the physics engine (sometimes being crushed at the center of a gravity well) worked against that in some way - maybe if whales have some intrinsic ability to phase/ignore gravity when a button is pressed that might ease back into the cozy vibe?
Phase or boost to get the whale out of a jam would be a nice addition. Great idea!