This is a really full-featured game for a game jam, and the mechanics are well implemented. I ran into a few frustrations, like the placement of the ladder key, and having to wait for new ladders to get out of my (perhaps foolishly placed) hellevator. I also felt that holding right-click would be convenient instead of having to click each dig. On my initial play, I didn't understand the necessity of building a mine you can easily climb out of, and found myself in a cycle of just waiting for ladder CD. You might be able to indicate a good mine shape to the player by having a partially pre-dug mine next to the start, so the player can see an idea of what they should be doing. I know the difficulties of scope creep in game jams, though in a full release it could be nice to have upgrades for the pickaxe to allow mining different types of rock, which would allow you as designers to set a sort of "tutorial path" of mineable rock in the upper layer without limiting the player's eventual freedom to mine everything. All in all a really well done game with a lot of potential for expansion!
Viewing post in Celestial Miner jam comments
Thanks for the detailed feedback. The game needs lots of work to feel more convenient. As we have stacked it with features, it was really hard to make it clear for the players. Without the final day changes, it would be even more frustrating. I was worried players would struggle even more, but glad it is mostly positive. Planning to improve it further, considering all the comments, including setting the key "R" for laddeR. Thank you again for point it all out.
I have noticed my partner skyrocketing out somehow. I have tried it and could execute it successfully sometimes. I think it is W + SPACE keys getting pressed barbarically. Then the astrominer sort of flies out of the hellevator. It is a fun little feature right now, but I am not sure if we should keep in a more improved version or just reveal it fully and make it a clearer feature.