I enjoyed the story you told here, and the "memory focus" segments were unique and interesting. I did get a bit frustrated with navigating the spaceship -- I wonder if a turn left / turn right / throttle / brake control system might work better? The audio got a little repetitive but it was soothing and fit the mood of the story. Overall, great work!
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Remember Upon A Star's itch.io pageResults
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
Audio | #4 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
Theme | #14 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
Concept | #16 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
Story | #16 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
Overall | #17 | 3.431 | 3.431 |
Graphics | #23 | 3.167 | 3.167 |
Enjoyment | #27 | 2.917 | 2.917 |
Ranked from 12 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Did you use any optional theme? If so which one?
What game engine did you use?
Unity
Comments
The atmosphere is so captivating, I love how the graphics, the story, the music and the gameplay create a mood of loneliness. I really empathized the main character, worried about him and wondered about those tiny pieces of memories he tried to recall. And these 3d graphics fit here unexpectedly well! They create unique and quite interesting vibes.
The gameplay was confusing for me at first, took me some time to understand what to do (both in "emotion control" parts and in space scenes). And in space scenes I got lost periodically, just drifting in nowhere. At some point the game seemed a bit too repetative... On the other hand, it fits the mood pretty well, so maybe that's alright. The storyline had my interest all the time, so it wasn't that hard to get through repetative parts (though it felt a little bit like clicker game).
I'm also glad the story has happy ending, I really felt with Pat. Was relieved to see him happy :>
Overall, great project with unique mechanics and capturing mood! I also like that you've picked sci-fi setting and managed to fit "magical realism" theme into it. Nice job :)
Thank you so much! I'm really happy that you enjoyed the atmosphere and empathized with Pat so strongly.
I've seen several people mention that the gameplay was confusing, so that's definitely something I'd like to improve after the rating period. For example, I'm thinking about showing hints for where to go in space, and turning the first emotion scene into a tutorial. Fixing the repetitive parts will probably be trickier, but maybe I'll find a way.
Really solid entry! Liked the 3d art and the kind of story board design. Very interesting and engaging story line too. I was a fan of the emotion mechanic and it mixed up the game in a good way. I was a little confused on some of the ship portions but figured it out in the end. Overall good job!
Pros
- Great atmosphere and setting. So mysterious and lonely but also beautiful.
- Well written storyline and characters.
- I liked the visuals and how you mixed 2d sections with 3d.
- Very interesting mechanics.
- The music is fantastic, I absolutely loved it, it really suits the mood of the game.
Cons
- The space scenes were a bit confusing, especially right before you remember the two pizzas, and I felt kind of lost.
Overall: amazing game! It was a great experience and it really made me feel like I was in a spaceship, lost and lonely in the confines of space. Great work!
The music is really great, made me feel in space and also helped get in the state of mind of the protagonist. I think you're aware the non-space sections need a bit of a tutorial or something, I'm still not quite sure what did I do to beat them haha. Also maybe going 2D with the characters could make the game have more personality and not just lifeless 3D, since we're so used to 3D models having animation, the perception of 3D not moving can be a bit uncany in certain situations. The parts where you control the spaceship were really great, it made me feel so small in the openess of space. Congratulations on making this game, hoping to see you expanding on it :)
Thank you very much for your feedback! I'm happy that you enjoyed the music and the vastness of space.
Yes, better instructions/tutorials are on the top of my todo list. I'm taking notes of what people found confusing, so hopefully I can clear things up in the next update.
Good point about the 3D looking lifeless at the moment. I did experiment with a toon shader, but I didn't get it to look good so I dropped that before I lost too much time. That's another thing that I'd like to look into again after the rating phase. I've also spotted some neat postprocessing effects on the asset store that I'd love to try out, to give it a more painterly style.
I really like how you incorporated the optional themes! I got a bit lost in space, not sure what I was looking for after I did the first dialogue section. The stars were really cute!
I love the concept behind this game! Memories and the vastness of space and stars. The space travel aspect is super fun, right off the bat. For some reason, I expected inverse controls, but I have no idea why. I also really liked the music immediately too, I think it set the exploration, but poignant mood.
I do think that more background or instructions going in would be really helpful, or even just a quick explainer of some kind of story. The eye focus puzzles were confusing, but with instructions they could be a really cool challenge and I would like to see them as a finished puzzle in the game. They're intriguing and they make me want to know what's going on. (My first thought was focal seizures, as a sufferer myself, which would be so cool to see represented in a game!)
Overall, I enjoyed playing! I think the narrative is going in a fun direction, I just feel like there needs to be more of it so that I can understand even the littlest bit of what's going on. Right now the game mechanics are enough to intrigue me, and I feel like you've worked in the optional themes! I've followed so that I can see how this turns out so I can hopefully play as it develops!
Thank you very much for your kind words and all the helpful feedback! I'm happy that you enjoyed it and are staying around to see it develop!
Yeah, I agree that more explanations would be good - I'm still not sure about the best way to work them into the game. I was rushing to get the story finished on time for the submission, but now that I have some more space to breathe, I'll think of something. I would definitely like to polish the game some more after the rating is done.
The focus puzzles are supposed to represent being overwhelmed by emotions and needing to center oneself. I'm suffering from depression, and I tried to capture the aspect of being so caught up in distressing feelings that it's almost paralyzing. I'm glad that you found them intriguing, even if they confused you! I hope I'll find a way to explain them better in a future update.
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