Star Wanderer is everything that I love about story-based or exploratory game such as this. The player feels as though they are in control, when they are actually being led along on a single path dictated by the creator. Although this means that the game is limited to being played once, maybe a few times if you return to it every few years, but it is still a strong game. Some of my favorite games growing up were games that could only realistically be played once before you knew what was going to happen and the uncertainty was gone. However, I have been returning to these games again, some 10 years later, and have been replaying them; I think this could be the same for this game.
I really enjoyed the varying environments and felt immersed as a space dweller traveling the cosmos. I especially liked the use traveling to the very end as every key shift changed the environment and as a result a different secondary color. The use of these different colors added to the feeling that you were going somewhere, not staying still, even if the background was the same and only changing colors. The use of space, secluded to only a few squares of movement, kept the game at a consistent pacing. The player was trapped, but these limitations weren’t restricting because the elements that they would want to explore closely are what progresses the game play. The use of different transitions, just like the use of color, also made the game feel otherworldly. It achieved a sense of animated transition that I have not seen in most of the bitsy games we have played.
Following the game, I am left questioning what it all meant; whether it is trying to tell us to slow down and admire the world, or if there is no encompassing message at all; This game was simple, but felt much larger than it was. If there were one thing that could be improved upon, it would be stretching the story even further, similar to that of the “How to be a Tree” game that we played this semester. Because of the fast pacing and limited exploratory nature on the part of the player, the game is over rather quickly. If there were a few more elements that the player could interact with or lead them down different paths, I think this game would be the best it could be. Like how “How to be a Tree” takes the player to the limits of the universe, this game does so, though, is missing what is keeping the player going throughout. What is at the end of the universe/beyond that we are moving towards? The uncertainty of the game is left unfulfilled by the end of the game play.