This is really cool!
I can't believe you actually got decent lighting and line of sight mechanics in a game like this!
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Execution | #11 | 2.545 | 2.545 |
| Metroidvania | #13 | 2.273 | 2.273 |
| Overall | #17 | 2.227 | 2.227 |
| Sensory | #18 | 2.182 | 2.182 |
| Enjoyment | #19 | 1.909 | 1.909 |
Ranked from 11 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Engine
rot.js
Team/Developer
enegames
This is really cool!
I can't believe you actually got decent lighting and line of sight mechanics in a game like this!
The ascii art looks great here; it really sparks my imagination. It’s sad that it’s so short; I definitely look forward to seeing the final version of this game.
Glad you enjoyed it! I wanted to let you know that the full version is now released! https://enegames.itch.io/the-edge-of-known-space
I packed a lot into it, so I'd love to hear what you think of the completed game. And thanks for the early encouragement :)
Really cool idea, I’m sad it’s so short but as someone who submitted an unfinished game I totally understand. I love the concept, never thought of metroidvania elements in a genre like this but it works surprisingly well. I’m excited to see more, I’d definitely play the final version of this.
Thanks! It took some time, but the full version is now available! I'd love to hear what you think: https://enegames.itch.io/the-edge-of-known-space
Thanks for the heads up! I played some more. I feel like I’m so close to the end, but I got stuck:
I got up to the part where I have all 5 tools, and I have picked up someone in the EV, but I can’t seem to figure out what to do from there. I’ve found three energy crystals, but the EV seems stuck in the bottom right area. I don’t have the range to traverse the uneven ground remotely, and I also can’t use my light in the EV since someone else is in there (and I can’t disturb them), so I can’t get past the crystals in remote mode. Any hints? I’m definitely just missing something simple, but I’ve run around the map a couple times trying to figure out what to do from here (scanning everything as well). (I also left the map briefly, thinking that that was the solution, but I came back into the map after realizing that I likely wasn’t intended to leave it?)
Hi, thanks for sharing your progress. Congrats on getting that far, you are so close! If I understand correctly, it sounds like you are doing the right things. You are correct that you can't move the EV through the crystals. You are also correct that you should use your remote range to move it along the uneven path. You may need to reposition yourself in one or more areas so that your range can reach. With 3 energy shards you have the right amount of range, but not necessarily enough to travel the full distance all at once. Hopefully that gives you enough hints, but if you're still stuck let me know and I'll share more (also if you are still stuck it would help if you can include a screenshot of your map).
By the way, what do you mean by you "left the map." I didn't think that was possible, maybe it is a bug :) Oh, also, do you know about how long you played for? I'm just curious, I think most people would take about an hour but I'm not sure. Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it.
Ahh ok, so I think I ran into some kind of bug when I played the first time and left the map. The second and third crystal didn’t give me a range increase (except for the bridge) on my first playthrough, maybe because of the way I left the map:
When I left the map (I circled the exit in the attached image), I thought it was intentional, and the game was gonna break the 4th wall. I noticed that when I left the map, I could “pick up” the UI, including my own crystal from the Power UI. I thought “wow that’s so cool”, so I picked up my crystal “from the UI”, but perhaps that broke something because I never noticed my range on any of my tools going up (except for the ladder?) when I got new crystals. (To get back to the map, I had to repeatedly ‘pick up’ my crystal from the “Power” section of the UI all the way to the right side of the map, not sure if that makes sense but try exiting the map via the image I showed, and then go all the way to the left and pick up your own power UI).

When I played the second time, each crystal gave me massively increased range and I was able to pilot the EV through the final stretch. Finished it, that was great! I really liked all of the logs and the way the whole game was contained on one screen. The music was great for ambience too. I really liked how each crystal gave me increased range (at least on my second playthrough haha), it felt super good to pick up the second and third crystal and be able to scan so much of the map at once. The puzzles were all really satisfying to solve. Thanks for telling me about the full version, I’m glad I played this.
(My first playthrough took me a solid 45 minutes to get to the point where I got stuck.)
Oh, wow, what a crazy and unintended bug! Thanks for telling me, I'll patch that right up. It's definitely not intended, though it is an interesting idea, especially being able to pick up the UI. Maybe an idea for another game... In this case, it was an unfortunate bug -- during dev I had a way of toggling the 3 levels of crystals, and after 3 it would wrap around to 0, which is probably what happened to you. Oops. Thanks for telling me.
I'm so glad you enjoyed the full game! It was satisfying to make, and even more satisfying to know players enjoyed it and were able to figure it all out. Thanks for playing and thanks for bug squashing!
This is a cool idea for a game, I like the exploration and the map getting bigger on a single screen idea. I also think the ascii art style looks cool. Great job on this!
if this was finished i feel like it might have been one of my favorites of the jam. at the moment it just feels like there's not enough here to give much feedback on. i really liked the ascii graphics, i like the mystery that was being set up, i like the terminal and how it needs to be activated to see logs. i wasn't a huge fan of the way new areas were locked off until you read a log, maybe just putting something like a key with the log and a gate to keep the player from missing it. obviously a gate in a cave doesn't make much sense but you get my idea lol. i hope you finish it up, i'd love to check out the rest!
Wow, thank you <3. I'm definitely continuing to work on it. I'm going to enter it into the Super Metroidvania Month that goes until Feb and plan/hope to have it completed for that. Please follow so you can get updates and play it in full. (also, if you'd like to do an early play test that would be great!).
In terms of the gating issue, another player said something similar and I do agree. I've already made some (unpublished) changes to how that works and I think it is much better and leans into the "exploring the unknown" theme better.
Hi, thanks again for the kind words. I just finished the final version of the completed game, so I wanted to share it with you so you can get the full experience. And the unlocking of areas has been completely reworked. Check it out at https://enegames.itch.io/the-edge-of-known-space and let me know what you think :)
Game feels really good, got stuck after finding the dead body in the crystal forest and it said and end of content. Is there really nothing else. The bridge collapsed and I couldn't find a way around it. The crystal forest is so confusing and made me lost still good though. I would literally play this game for hour fr. Could use some images when interacting with items for visuals. The map becoming bigger, having items that give you access to places or hidden items, currently the visuals are unique. All really nice stuff.
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