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A jam submission

EnceladusView game page

Rescue is waiting just a geyser away.
Submitted by Shannon Moeller (@shannonmoeller) — 1 day, 23 hours before the deadline
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Enceladus's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Innovation#153.8333.833
Gameplay#273.7503.750
Overall#513.5833.583
Graphics#973.5003.500
Theme interpretation#1143.2503.250
Audio#3951.3331.333

Ranked from 12 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

GitHub repository URL
https://github.com/shannonmoeller/enceladus

Theme interpretation
You've crash landed into Enceladus, a moon of Saturn. You're 9.5au from the sun, trapped under 20km of ice. A rescue ship is waiting in orbit. To reach it you must travel to the south pole and be shot out of a geyser.

Taking on this project at all was a personal moonshot in that I built it in my limited spare time as a husband and father. This time constraint means the game isn't quite finished, but I'm looking forward to continuing development by getting it to a winnable state, adding music and sound, and adding a story mode.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

nice game. though it took a while for me to get it. But really nice idea.

Submitted(+1)

I had a lot of fun playing your game, congrats!

Is there anything on the left side? because the distance was negative when I tried to go there from the start, but maybe there's some kind of easter egg. If there's nothing there, you could try to focus the player to the right (because the start was the tough part for me, I didn't understand the controls and mechanic until I die a few times). 

Maybe you could try adding a small tutorial before the game (with even just the player in a sandbox to understand how everything works).

Anyway, it's a great idea and an awesome execution.

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Nothing to the left, no. I plan to add a story mode with a tutorial. You’ll be in contact with the rescue ship and the dialog will contain pointers, both early on and later when you encounter some new mechanics or have trouble with some big jumps. Thanks for the kind words!

Submitted

That sounds great, keep working on it!

Submitted(+1)

Innovative mechanic- well executed with nice graphics. I had a fun time perfecting my bobbing :)

Submitted(+1)

Love this idea! The mechanic is well polished and the story concept is great - would work well with a hint of horror :D

Very keen to see a story mode - maybe some landmarks or other changes to the environment along the way to draw the player forward?

Submitted(+1)

What’s really interesting here is that this game almost felt like an “inverted platformer”. Definitely, a unique and innovative design and I really like it. I do hope the obstacles can be more diverse and a bit more indication about my direction. This game has a very snappy control but I often find that the momentum is changing direction too quickly.

Overall loved the creativity!

Submitted(+2)

Bonus points for innovation here!!  And the graphics aren't bad either!  Was there sound, though?  I saw options for it but didn't hear any.  I'm using chrome on linux, maybe that's the issue.  So, a few suggestions.  One, the game is a bit difficult at points.  I wonder if maybe having a health bar would be good to be a bit more forgiving.  And maybe a way to replenish the "breath" (at least that's how I interpret it).  This could give the player options to explore - maybe choose a different path.  Also, I'm reminded of a jam game from someone a while ago where they told a story of sorts as you dove down into an underwater cave and discovered the remains of previous divers.  Could something like that be used here?  But then sometimes game are more about the mechanic than anything else (I'm imagining Bit.Trip Beat - though honestly I never played that one - so what do I know?).  Anyway, it's a very good start, and like I said, I like the innovative gameplay here.

Developer(+1)

Thanks! There is no sound at the moment, but I plan to add it. The level design is actually derived from the notes of Clair de Lune by Debussy (an easter egg moonshot interpretation) and I intend to add some ambient synth music based on the nearby notes. It's all coming, just wasn't able to find the time before the jam ended.

The game does get difficult. I also plan to add a story mode which will introduce you to a bouncing technique. You get bobbing in the water and hit the thrusters when you're as high in the air as you can get. Allows you to dive much deeper and makes progressing easier. Thank you very much for the feedback!

Submitted(+1)

This game is great. Perfect controls and theme interpretation. I will rememebr this one. Nice Job!

Developer(+1)

Thanks!

Submitted(+1)

really like your theme enterpretation.

game is joyfull.

Developer(+1)

Thank you!