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(+1)

Okay, I finally made it, I reached Earth! ๐Ÿ˜„ It was awesome!

Once you know what you're supposed to do, it's actually a really atmospheric experience. I have a few thoughts, though.

I think the red reboot button on the left could use another second or two before it explodes. Most of the time I died because I had the Caesar cipher window open when the left reboot alarm suddenly went off. When several problems happen at once, it feels like I die too quickly, and it's almost always because of that left button.

The Caesar cipher itself isn't a bad idea, but the only way I could solve it was by opening an online decoder in my browser and typing the code there. That pulled me out of the game completely. It might be nice to have a clever in-game manual for it. For example, you could include a page that lets players figure out the cipher themselves. That would give them something else to interact with, keep them immersed, and probably make them feel smarter when they solve it. I don't think many people can mentally rotate a Caesar cipher while the left reboot alarm is blaring at them. ๐Ÿ˜„

Also, the Caesar input field looks quite different from the rest of the UI. If I'm not mistaken, it's using a native input field. It could use a custom in-game keyboard. Or, if you ever decide to replace the Caesar puzzle, maybe a numeric input puzzle would fit better instead (just brainstorming).

Reaching a station feels like such a relief. I think that would be a perfect moment for a cozy little minigame that you can't fail. For example, loading supplies onto the ship. It would make progressing feel even more satisfying.

It could also be nice to have a few little Easter eggs at each planet, maybe a notebook or journal left behind by previous scientists describing what they discovered there. Something small that players can flip through to help them get more immersed in the world.

Those are just my first impressions. Overall, I really enjoyed it, great job! Please let me know when you add more gameplay content. I'd love to come back and see how it evolves.

One more thing: it might help to have some kind of visible countdown before each disaster happens. Or maybe a progress bar showing how close you are to failing if you ignore a particular problem.

For example, the Caesar reboot could have a countdown timer, while the red reboot button on the left could use a progress bar. That would make it much easier to prioritize which event to deal with first.

Oh, and I noticed a couple of bugs.

When I reached the first planet, I was in the middle of entering the Caesar code. Before I could press Enter, I arrived at the planet, but the Caesar panel stayed on the screen, so I couldn't really see the planet. ๐Ÿ˜„ I think you may have forgotten to hide that UI.

Also, at the very end, the game asks for my name and then displays a message addressing me. However, even though I entered my name, it didn't show up, it just left a blank space where my name should have been.

To the part where you said your name doesn't show, it is because the text engine I made only displays lowercase letters. I'll see what I can do.

And as to the Caesar menu staying up even after a voyage, I'll get right on that. Thank you so much for playtesting my game and enjoying it even despite it being unfinished!

Love all these ideas. I'll try to find a way to implement each of them in any way I can.