I really like the idea of this. It took me a while to work out how to travel without using up all the fuel, but it has a nice feel to it once you work it out. That said, I do think it's too difficult overall, as I only managed to get to open space once out of many tries, and when I got there I was doomed because I didn't have enough momentum to cross it fast enough. The severely limited fuel also meant that I gave up on using any upgrades very early on because I couldn't afford to spend the fuel on them. One thing that might help is if you could store say 10k fuel instead of 1k (but still start with 750), so that you can save up a bunch and then use it on upgrades or crossing open space. I still enjoyed the game though and the visuals and sounds are solid. Nice work!
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To The Star - VimJam 3 Submission's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme/Limitation | #14 | 3.882 | 3.882 |
| Overall | #49 | 3.353 | 3.353 |
| Music/Sound | #50 | 3.235 | 3.235 |
| Technical Implementation | #51 | 3.294 | 3.294 |
| Fun/Design | #79 | 3.176 | 3.176 |
| Graphics/Animation | #80 | 3.176 | 3.176 |
Ranked from 17 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game implement the focus, Multi-Use?
Ship thrusters propel player and mine asteroids. Fuel used to power ship and purchase upgrades.
Team Size
Completeness
What tools did your team use to construct the game?
Unity, Paint 3D, Piskel, Audacity
Which art and audio did you / your team NOT create?
Basically all visual and graphical Assets, although substantial, transformative changes were made to many of them.
Which art & audio did you / your team create BEFORE the jam started?
I believe None (although I have used some freely available assets used in this Jam in a previous Jam).
Comments
Very neat Idea! Having to manage between expending fuel and gaining it made for some really tough decisions. I think you did a fantastic job making everything work together.
There's an awful lot to like here. The graphics are crisp and consistent. The navigational aids (minimap, full map, compass) are all very much appreciated. The front and back thrusters make for an intriguing approach to ship control.
Unfortunately, I found moving too difficult. I always felt that I either had too much momentum (in which case I was sure to crash into an asteroid, with no ability to steer away from it), or not enough (in which case I was just floating aimlessly).
I really liked the game, the idea is cool and can even became addicting. One thing i noticed though is that engine thrust might be very underpowerd: going fast is not really that important and stronger thrust can even be negative because it pushes you away from the asteroids you are mining quicker. Going fast is also dangerous because it's easier going against asteroids. I would also probably have prefered if there was only a button to use engines, on the left mouse button.
Btw really cool game ;)
Would you mind trying my entry too? Thanks!
Thank you for the feedback. I'm glad you liked the game.
I considered putting a toggleable that makes it so that your ship automatically slows down (it would have to be toggleable, otherwise later stages of the game would be impossible). However, I was low on time and was worried it would introduce more complexity.
Your suggestion that the engines be controlled using the mouse is good.
Finally, I'm happy to try your entry too ;)
Cool concept, but I have to agree with the other commenters that it is too hard and you don't really feel like you are progressing. Nice work for the short time period though! Nice background music too
I think your comments about the game being too hard and it not feeling any progress is being made sum up the biggest problems with my submission quite well. I plan on releasing some updates after the Jam has ended, and those two areas will be where I focus my attention.
I'm happy that you like the general concept though.
Thank you for the feedback. It is very helpful!
Love the idea.
But the game is, I think, way too hard. I barely left the asteroid belt. and every upgrade I chosed didn't seems to increase my chances to make it that much.
The controls are a bit confusing too. pressing backward to shoot is not at all intuitive. and I ended up screwing myself in a bad situation by mixing the controls. I thinking shooting with the mouse & keeping the recoil would have been more intuitive.
All in all. I think with a bit more balancing, & some rework, you have a pretty cool game here. good work ! :)
The game is alright, it's just a bit confusing that W fires your rear thrusters and S your front. I know it's because they move you that way, but when you're constantly turning around, it's very confusing. Also, buying the upgrades is very difficult since the fuel is constantly draining even if i'm doing nothing. Since turning isn't entirely centered, it means I end up firing to the side and miss most of my shots, then when I need fuel because I used a lot missing and have been sent off who knows where, I end up with few asteroids around even when i'm in the belt and am stuck drifting hoping i get close enough to one before my fuel runs out. it would be better if you didn't start passively losing fuel until buying your first upgrade and there were something in open space to keep you from drifting without having upgrades
Hey Causemufins, thank you for taking the time to provide all the constructive criticism/feedback.
I'll be rebalancing the upgrades and controls in a post-jam update. I agree that passive fuel drain is excessive at the moment.
I like the idea of not using any fuel until you buy certain upgrades. I will consider adding that in the next patch.
Thanks again!
Interesting idea!
It felt weird at first but it actually didn't take too long for me to get the hang of the controls. If you can get into a cluster of asteroids so you are always hitting something when you move it becomes easy. I like how there is a lot to explore with multiple biomes, although the game crashed for me when I got to the asteroid belt outskirts.
Really well polished game overall, I am impressed!
It could maybe use is some balance of the upgrades and fuel consumption rate etc. Some of the upgrades basically just cancel the others out.
Also a damage indicator on the ship, even just flashing the sprite red, to indicate you are taking damage would be good. I didn't realize I was getting hurt until I died from it.
Hi, thank you for playing the game. I'm glad you liked the controls and inclusion of multiple biomes.
I'll definitely look into the crash problem and see if I can spot anything to fix.
I agree that upgrades need more balancing. I also agree that a damage indicator (with sound) would be benefitial.
Thanks for the feedback!
What I liked:
- Asteroid like
- Mechanic is interesting, a sort of space billiard
- UI
What could be improved:
- Did not understand how to get fuel at first. The blue particles are too subtle and seems like blue flame.
- Some sort of intermediate destination could add to the pace.
- I think that fuel must not decrease if you don't use any thrusters. Or just a bit if you significantly rotate.
Hope it helps
Thank you for all the feedback and constructive criticism. It is very helpful.
I like your "space billiard" analogy.
I'll look into improving clarity on fuel gain, and how the star system is laid out when I released a post-jam update.
On the fuel decreasing passively, that is a core part of how the game is designed. However, I will most likely add in normal and hard modes. In the normal mode, passive fuel decreases will be significantly lower.
Thanks again for the helpful and though provoking feedback!
The overall mood and flow of the game is pretty great! You're alone in space, a very chill and nice soundtrack is playing and you blast through asteroid fields. I like that!
Using your thrusters to navigate works pretty well, although having a forward and a backward thruster led to situations where I used the wrong one and this can be pretty deadly in an asteroid field :D
It's also pretty great that you use the temperature as an indicator of how far away the star is. This totally fits the space and heat them and is a nice detail.
Overall a pretty good experience. Well done!
truly an excellent experience its truly a good game , the idea behind it is cool and its very polished and some effort went into making it , I have no complaints really maybe small ones that are already mentioned but so far I like it , I also like the amazing artstyle solid rating from me!
Thanks for the positive feedback. Happy the work paid off.
I feel I should mention that the majority of art assets in this game are actually open source (with some modifications by me), and made by a guy called Kenney. You can find him here : https://kenney.nl/assets. He's got a lot of cool assets for GameJams and I definitely recommend him.
It took me some time to "get" the game's flow (namely, you have to take your time, and don't go burning your fuel all at once) but once you're started it's a really enjoyable and almost zen experience. Fuel being a mining tool at the same time is clever and really ties well to the jam's limitations. Well done !
Fun game, and well made. It feels a bit difficult to get ahead though, because most of the upgrades feel like they have more downsides than benefits.
Fun game, and well made. It feels a bit difficult to get ahead though, because most of the upgrades feel like they have more downsides than benefits.
This was a fun one, I wish fuel decayed at a slower pace so we had more time to explore/manouver
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