Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• Was fun to play, but found I could complete most levels just using two planets. On the UI escape and space I would say were backwards (escape to quit, space to resume). Also you could have taken time into account, if you are on a really fast machine (64 core thread-ripper), pressing the arrow keys makes the planets move too quickly. If you use a time or frame counter instead to control the speed it would then not depend on machine speed.
• Cool idea! I really like the core concept you've come up with. I feel like the ship might be a little too large when compared to the planets, which kind of limits the number of realistic configurations which could reach the final point without colliding with a planet. If expanding on this in the future, maybe consider a smaller ship with a larger separation between the planets, and planets themselves having a more massive and wider range impact on that trajectory? That way might feel more like you're properly slingshotting than applying just a slight bend. You seem to apply a distance squared gravity force falloff between the planets. This is realistic, but keep in mind that since your scale isn't realistic it can ben beneficial to experiment with different falloffs, or using a non-linear falloff ramp you can tweak. UI/UX wise I think there's a few areas you could look at improving. One issue I had was it is hard to tell which ring is the active one. A bigger visual difference than just the planet rotating would have helped. Perhaps the ring itself could have changed colour? Being able to use the mouse to select the planet also would have helped a lot. I also think it might have felt nicer if you selection would loop. The addition of the ship trajectory preview line is a really nice touch. To sum up, a few areas to improve but a solid concept for a game mechanic.
• Great job on making a small polished game despite not having much experience with DirectX and C++, you should be very proud of what you've accomplished! I enjoyed playing this game, and kept trying to get more stars. I think the gravity aspect is very creative and builds upon the existing rings very well. It's also great to see you testing and fixing bugs in your documentation
• The premise behind this game is really neat. However the execution is a little lacking. The control scheme doesn't really work, the highlighting states of the planets isn't obvious enough. There's no explanation behind the score awarded at the end, how does the player improve to get that 3 star rating? Overall it's just a bit bare bones, but it's a good concept that could be pushed to a higher level. Even something as small as randomising the starting position of the ship and wormhole would have made it a bit more interesting.
• Clean release ZIP Nice game premise Controller controls and the analog stick is arguably more usable than the mouse/keyboard Takes a while to get used to planet selector Was able to get three stars after some experimentation Good job on both the player and development documentation.
• The project is an excellent achievement considering the time constraints the student had to work with. In particular, the documentation and planning for the project is impressive. I especially like the section about other reference projects and mechanics, which clearly shows good knowledge of the field and research capabilities. Some explanation of the controls and how the star mechanics works would been nice inside the game as well as some sound. The plan in the document clearly shows that the participant already had this and other improvements on their mind. The order of features was prioritized value and the project is already a presentable prototype despite the time constraints. Overall a well chosen, planned, executed, and documented project. A good demonstration of being able to work on a professional level.
• Really interesting mechanic and realization, inputs could be more intuitive and some sounds feedback would be great!
• Nice concept, just needed more player levels and progression/purpose