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A jam submission

Space ScoutsView game page

Restore your planet after a catastrophe
Submitted by Dmytro — 17 hours, 9 minutes before the deadline
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Space Scouts's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Adheres to jam theme#94.5264.526
Overall#263.9303.930
Presentation (visuals)#583.8423.842
Concept (gameplay)#853.4213.421

Ranked from 19 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Actual good use of the splat set for the fog of war! Simple loop but a good one. Well done!

(+1)

Beyond brilliant! I loved everything about this game but the fog mechanic was my fav. Defo deserved more reach!

(+1)

Beyond brilliant! I loved everything about this game but the fog mechanic was my fav. Defo deserved more reach!

Submitted(+1)

Great game, liked the design and exploration. But i might have broke a game a little bit. I had -10 Gems at the moment. Don't really have much to add, that would be different from other commenters. So i'll just wish you luck. Good luck in your projects!

Developer

This is the kind of comments I really need, as this helps a lot in the future to improve oneself. 

Submitted(+1)

Fun game

Submitted(+1)

This is really nice! The process of exploring the whole map and collecting resources was satisfying enough that it kept me going even when I had more than I needed. I really liked the visuals and the fog of war effect, as well as the cool "magnet repelling" borders around the edges and the map feature. I think it would be cool if the planets you unlock also clear the fog away from themselves without you having to manually fly around them. I'd also like to see some more challenges, even in a low-stress casual way--for example, what if there were asteroids flying randomly around the map that you had to avoid? They wouldn't even have to kill you, they could just cause you to lose some of the resources you'd gathered. Also, echoing puppetsquid's comment, it would be a nice polish to make sure items don't spawn outside the border of the map.

Anyway, good job with this. I saw your post about wanting to become a professional game dev and I think I'm on a similar journey, so on a personal note I wish you luck and hope you're able to make the things you want to make and get paid for them. :)

Submitted(+1)

Great job. I like the "fog of war" effect and music a lot. Collecting all the little resources was very satisfying.

Submitted (2 edits) (+1)

First, good work submitting a game to the jam - that's always the hardest part. From your post on the discord it sounds like you want real feedback so I'm gonna go ahead and be honest. Please note that this is all my own personal opinion and you can disregard any of it that doesn't fit your vision.

There's not much of a game loop other than collect every single item - generally i'd be looking for more of a skill test (either interesting controls or puzzlers) but you could do also lean this more into an idle/clicker game direction by just giving incremental rewards; having the planets give you some bonuses like speed/pull radius when unlocked or activating a nearby warpstar to take you into the middle of a new zone (that felt pretty cool when I first stumbled into one but it'd be nice to earn it). After I unlocked the first planet and saw no real change in the game I was pretty ready to clock out, but I played XKCD's space explorer game for hours despite the main loop being exactly the same (partly because I love XKCD info-dumps, but also partly because every single thing you picked up made the game easier to play and felt like I was making actual progress ).

Another direction you could explore is the basebuilder approach where you have to spend resources to make resources. For example having to drop resources off at a planet; upgrading your ship to hold more; colonising new planets to have more drop off points, etcetc. You would need to have more resources that way, maybe slowly respawning natural ones and generators you could buy for planets, but that does start to become just a different game at a point


Presentation; You have multiple input options set up and the ability to skip dialogue, both of which are hurdles i've seen countless devs fall at. The little help/info menu is also something more jam games desperately need. That said, the in-game menu buttons could do with a way to control them without the mouse (since everything else in the game is playable through just keys)

The sprites are well chosen and the fog of war is actually gorgeous. I like that the border of the world isn't a hard stop but it would be good to not have it be less rapidly bouncy and to avoid spawning items outside of it. The story was also cute and well presented.


In terms of theme, it does fit pretty well. I like that you can't play while having the map open, and the fog of war prevents you going places you've already been which is very gratifying in a collectathon. Hell, the XKCD game I mentioned didn't have that and if it had I might've fully completed it! If you wanted to lean more into it you could definitely look at 4X games like Age of Empires, which you already have the fog of war from, and look at different things that make the exploration in them rewarding (fog of war usually hides information, which is why clearing it and keeping it open is a core part of gameplay)

Again, overall, you've done well here. I'll try and check out some of your other stuff in the future if you don't already hate me for this small essay :)

Submitted(+1)

Also I should point out that I have and will continue to make games that don't live up to my own level of nitpicking, especially for jams. Just cuz I can point out things I think could be improved doesn't make it something bad, yknow?

Submitted(+1)

The game was pretty simple but fun. The story was pretty funny and I loved collecting all the resources, I also appreciated the teleports that encourage you to explore other sides of the map. The fog of war effect was awesome, and I loved that you can zoom out to see the entire map.

The invisible walls were a little confusing since there were resources outside the boundary. I also would've liked an extra element in gameplay, like ships or projectiles you have to avoid rather than simply collecting everything. I also would've liked more fanfare when unlocking a planet. 

Other than that, really good for something made in 48 hours!

Submitted(+1)

To be honest I didnt think much of the game when I clicked it but I got super hooked and collected every planet! It felt super clean nice work surprised

Submitted(+1)

Oh also a little speed boost button would be nice :D

Developer(+1)

Wow! Thank you for playing the whole game. I am really glad to read such a comment.

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Personally this is one of my favorite game of the jam. Fast, smooth and immediate. The small motion graphics are well done and accurate, even the audio part pass the right tension. The only negative note (if you can say so) is that the space travel concept was one of the most used in the jam and therefore it doesn't help you in the preview phase. But once you open the game, in my opinion it could very well be in the top 20.

Developer(+1)

Thank you very much for so kind and full feedback.

Submitted

I really liked the fog fade out animations and the map zoom in and out, combined with the sound effects it all helped give the game a polished feel!

Submitted

I love this game, the visuals are very impressive and the exploration is fantastic due to the fog

Submitted(+1)

That fog of war was great! Such a smart way to use the assets

Submitted(+1)

The fog is a great idea, and the visuals are well made.

Submitted(+1)

Nice work! I thought the fog reveal animation was quite good.

Submitted(+1)

i had was fun exploring the map you built, the zoom in/out for the map was a nice touch!