I think this is a really fun concept and I like the art. That being said, I wish I felt like I had a little more agency as the player. I know the theme was "out of control", and the way it's implemented with only one button can work. However, 90% of my deaths were because the ship didn't move fast enough and/or spamming the button didn't give me an arrow that would get me out of the way in time. So, most of my deaths weren't because of my skill as the player, they were death by game mechanic (ship speed) and luck (random arrows). That didn't feel very good to me. Despite that, I think the concept can work, the player just needs more agency.
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Galactic Distancing's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Originality | #1154 | 3.474 | 3.474 |
| Overall | #1801 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Presentation | #1843 | 3.105 | 3.105 |
| Fun | #2188 | 2.737 | 2.737 |
Ranked from 38 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
Spaceship moves unpredictably
Did your team create the art for this game during the 48 hour time slot?
Yes
We created all art during the game jam
Did your team create the audio for this game during the 48 hour time slot?
Yes
We created all audio during the game jam
Comments
Interesting concept! I had a few very tense moments there when I had to wait for a ship to pass and then hope the next controls would be useful. Great entry!
Submitted
Sneeze FireNice job! The gameplay felt nice and "Out of Control" because it went in random directions. Well done! :D
Submitted
Suspicious SheepI really like the gameplay concept, it adds a constraint that really makes the whole thing more stressy. The audio suits perfectly the game. Very good idea !
Though I would have liked some kind of goal other than just survive as long as possible (maybe reaching some planet ? Though it should be hard since the movements are random).
Also I think adding more variety in enemies would be a very usefull. Not just on the number of different sprites, but on their capacities. They are all just moving in a straight line. Maybe some jumping patterns ? Weapons with a definite cycle ? Or size variations ?
I think adding more content to it and a small goal would clearly make me want to play it a bit more than just giving it some tries.
Submitted
OverscheduledThis game is... Fun?? Strange?? Discutible?? I don't really know how to describe...
I don't want ot reapeat what others (Mainly Xascoria and IrrevelantQ) have already stated many times about how the "one button controls feels", so i won't... Instead what i will say is that the game feels strangley strategc, and i mean strangely because this game is purely random witch is the complete opposite of strategic, who knows how much more fun this game can become if we have, let's say 2 random keys, instead of one??? Also, i REALLY like the art and the music...
(Yeah, sorry if this comment wasn't the most meaningfull/helpfull one... i really tryed to come up with something usefull, but i just can't... Sorry 😅)
Submitted
Cuby Rescue BotNo, I think I understand what you mean. Unlike other straight-forward one-button games, this one requires a bit more thinking and planning as you play. When I plaaytest my game to get a high score I have this general strategy that I follow. Essentially we want to move as much as we can while being as safe as possible. So I'm always pressing the button whenever the opportunity arises I also need to pay close attention for when I'm in a pinch and spam to get out of the way. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. And when it doesn't, I know I can always try again quickly to try to achieve the dream run.
Having two random buttons sound nice, but also difficult to implement with the chaos. The spaceship faces the direction it's going to go, so if it instead has two direction that it can go, it's not possible to clearly indicate that based on ship rotation alone. If I include an alternative hinting, like an arrow on the top right of the space ship that is the same color as the alt-button, it could work. But I think it'll be more confusing for new players. Worth a shot though.
Thank you for your feedback Marxy! Glad you liked it :D
Fun game but the randomness of 1 key takes away too much control from the player atm so you're kinda just hoping for the best. I usually died when they come from above me, lacking time to hit multiple keys.
Wondering what would happen if you would make this turn-based giving the player more time to plan out his moves.
Also good job on the game page: graphics and social distancing joke gave me a good vibe before even trying out the game. The help page was also really clear and fun.
I like the concept, but the execution could need a bit of work. Because the only key you can use is purely random. you are pretty much doom the moment an enemy come straight at you and you got two same keys in a row. I would suggest implementing using a random generator similar to Tetris's, where they generates a fixed sequences (In your game's case, would be up, down, left, right) but in random order every time the user run out of direction in the queues, that way you can balance the frequency of directions showing up, and making the game fairer.
Submitted
Okay.I never thought about something like that. What I had in mind when expanding the game is that you could have a few slots where you could save moves. You could never go over those slots, but you could always save a move if you had one empty.
Say you had a right but you don't need it right now. That's fine, save it for later in 1 of our 3 extra slots. Oh, I need a right? Cool, I saved one earlier so I'll click on that saved move so I can move right. I don't have a left? I'll throw what I have into my save slots to quickly try to get a left.
The idea of having a preview of the future rolls... pondering on the idea, it would give the player a lot less agency over the idea above. However, because of that, the player does definitely feel more out of control. And even if they could see 3 moves ahead, if it rolls wrong you're still screwed e.g. left, right, up, down... asteroid incoming right; the moment you see it, it would take too long to get up or down to move out of the way unless we balanced specifically for that interaction. That doesn't even take into account the other spawns of particles.
Needless to say, thank you for the suggestion! And thank you for testing :D
This is such a fun interpretation of the theme. I love how you have taken the idea and used it to make a simple control scheme for game which actually has a fair amount of depth. Good job!
Submitted
Ice Cream Boy and the Magic BulletNice game with a simple mechanic and easy to understand. The art and sounds are soo well done!
Submitted
Stranger WitchThis was really easy to understand right off the bat, you did a great job of making it intuitive and user-friendly. The music was nice, though when you click a button and it does kind of a vibrating/ping repeating type sound I did a smol panic because I thought my computer was acting up (maybe it was acting up, I don't know if the noise was intentional or that was just me). The minute movements really racked up the excitement of being able to dodge enemies, it was fun. I think the background could've been a tad darker to help your colors pop more. Overall this was a good game! I would really appreciate it if you could rate ours too!
Submitted
JumBean's Great EscapeNice game. I would like if we got move than one block movement. Maybe clicking continues moving in one direction for 5 seconds and then we get a different direction or something. That would be challenging. Nice game nonetheless.
Submitted
Duplicating AdventuresThanks for checking out the game WrathTitan. We did have this idea in mind as we were brainstorming, but had decided to have it change per button press. We didn't really think about why at the time since we had been brainstorming for a while, but thinking about it now, it would feel terrible if it chose right and you were locked with it for X seconds while a projectile came directly towards you from that direction. Having it as it is now would allow the player a chance to move once to try to get a direction perpendicular with the small time they have.
I enjoyed the excitement of the near misses. Having the movements so slight, I feel pretty strategic by barely escaping. Unfortunately, playing this way just makes the unfortunate collisions feel a little more frustrating. The aforementioned upgrade system could be a fun approach. In any case, good work, this was a fun game!
Submitted
The 12:17 Fairway ExpressIt's great that you had moments where you felt strategic by barely escaping, but at the same time that introduces moments where you were really close, and you think you should've been fine but you weren't. To make this happen we made hitboxes lenient. We'll look into making it more lenient so long as gameplay doesn't feel too wack and out of tune. Thanks for the feedback on that!
I got a kick out of this one! The music is really nice and the overall concept is strong! I feel like the presentation could maybe be a little bit stronger, but then again with a jam game that's not a big deal. I could see it being a little less frustrating if you could hold down the button instead of just clicking it, HOWEVER: I like the jank of it, I think it gives the game character. Plus, it fits the theme really well: that little bit of jankiness helps sell the "out of control" feeling. Well done!
Submitted
SUPER SIM FIREFIGHTThanks for the feedback! Glad to see that you appreciated the jank. This was more or less intentional, as we wanted to rely on the RNG of spawns to stress the player out. There will be times where you absolutely can't survive and you will be hit, but with instant retries, you can try again until you get the dream run for high score.
I will take note of your hold down button. In the future, if this ever continues, I was thinking about adding an upgrade system with the ship. So pressing down and holding to move, and then re-rolling the direction could be one of those upgrades.
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