Very nice entry, but I am curious why making the movement left right up down in an isometric grid based ? it does not feel really intuitive I think ? but anyways, relly cool entry well done :)
Play game
Astral Bloom's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Audio | #12 | 4.174 | 4.174 |
| Overall | #18 | 4.032 | 4.032 |
| Enjoyment | #42 | 4.058 | 4.058 |
| Visuals | #43 | 4.471 | 4.471 |
| Gameplay | #61 | 3.802 | 3.802 |
| Theme | #108 | 4.033 | 4.033 |
| Innovation | #144 | 3.653 | 3.653 |
Ranked from 121 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does the game fit the theme?
You land in a strange world, but it's not just the environment. You have to build a relationship to the Place itself, and it rewards you in strange, unexpected ways. You also meet unusual friends.
The strangeness is accentuated by unusual colours - like purple grass/trees and blue wood.
[Spoiler Alert]
As you rebirth, you discover there are multiple strange places, to match the theme being in 'plural'.
The story's about how it's like to be an 'outcast', feeling like you're an alien in a strange place which connects to the theme narratively.
What code and assets did you not make from scratch during the jam (if any)?
Wrote all gameplay code. Drew all the wish icons.
Did majority of 3D models and lighting/post processing effects.
Except base models of: Bush, Flower, character models, VFX and UI sprites, which were modified to fit the game.
Music from Purple Cat. Sounds externally sourced.
External packages for boilerplate systems like Settings System, Save System, Inventory System, Grid System, were used.
How many people worked on the game?1
Comments
28 days ago(+1)
Hey there Ben, that's a good question!
Regarding the movement, my thought process was that it isn't a purely grid-based game in that your position is snapped to a grid. I suspect that movement type is more common for action combat games, whereas here I wanted to align it with the camera, so that left really means left. Especially as you expand to a huge flat space, the grid becomes less and less relevant.
The other reason is that I plan to allow the camera to be rotatable in an upcoming update that also allows camera zooming, so the camera will no longer be fixed to isometric angle.
I did consider your feedback though as I wondered the same thing! :)
Ahh my bad, I was not expecting the map limits to be reached! The original plan was to have multiple levels of worlds so you would build a new layer after hitting the limit but I kept it simple for a jam.
In the next version, I have made it possible to delete blocks by selecting them, allowing more designs but also allows you to then build the rocket!
34 days ago (+1)
Thanks so much for the kind words Anthony! Was indeed a labour of love. I decided to make it into a full game on Steam thanks to a friend's support. I will be posting more about it and putting out several updates once the jam is over~
Nice game you have too, very soft and poetic title and I do love me some pixel art! Edit: I've just played and will leave my thoughts shortly!
34 days ago(+1)
Heya, thank you so much for the kind words! Glad you liked the various mechanics. I am looking to add more features so if you really like it and have suggestions for what you want to see, please let me know!
Also just got the steam page up if u wanna check it out :)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4464970/Astral_Bloom/
34 days ago(+1)
This is one of the coolest comments I've read so far, it made me feel so warm inside HAHA
Thanks for playing and i can totally imagine your alien walking around just collecting things :)
I'll be adding more stuff to the game after the jam ends so feel free to share more cozy ideas if you have them, and I will add them to the game~! (I also just got the Steam page up which I'm quite excited about!)
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.