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A jam submission

Martian SolsView game page

Explore the surface of Mars and expand your base by collecting and creating materials.
Submitted by The P.A.L., Evelina — 9 hours, 33 minutes before the deadline
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Martian Sols's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Gameboy Soul#354.2864.286
Interpretation of the Secondary Theme#694.0714.071
Graphics#833.9293.929
Overall#873.7143.714
Soundtrack/SFX#1223.4293.429
Gameplay#2082.8572.857

Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does your game match the theme?
This is a gameboy game made on GB Studio. The space theme matches with both the fact that it takes place on Mars (in space) and that you need to upgrade your base to have more space to live and prosper on the planet.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Game's got a nice touch of humor.  I did enjoy setting up the base, slowly but surely.

I would of liked more actions to go with the collecting, but that's about it.

Good game mate.

Submitted(+1)

Game's got a nice touch of humor.  I did enjoy setting up the base, slowly but surely.

I would of liked more actions to go with the collecting, but that's about it.

Good game mate.

Submitted(+1)

The art is awesome! The dialogue system is also pretty cool too. Nice work!

Submitted(+1)

I really enjoyed this game! I loved the art and simplicity, and I felt very motivated to open all the rooms. I will say I did find it started getting repetitive, especially when I knew exactly how many rocks would be there every day. I wish there was some luck involved in how many would spawn and that the rooms unlocked could assist your work in some way. Great work :D 

Developer

The repetitive farming is an issue we'll deal with after the jam ends, but I don't think we thought about adding some tools or stuff to make farming quicker and easier... So thank you for the suggestion, and thanks for playing too!

Submitted(+1)

This is a nice resource gathering game!
It'd be cool if the placement of the resources gets randomized when starting a new day.

Nice presentation, congrats!!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

I like the idea of the game, it was very similar to the original intent of my team’s game in terms of building up accessible space by gathering resources. I also really like the sprite work and palette.

The repetition really got to me as the game went on though. The prices of unlocking new areas and repairing ladders seemed quite daunting for how much you get daily. While I get there needs to be some length of time to make the game more substantial, combined with rock locations not changing, it made collection tedious after the first few sols. I understand it’s hard to get many creative events and world changes in the time frame though (especially given what you’ve said about your team).

Also of note, you can pick up the R+ on the edges of the ladder-blocked areas without needing to open them, which seems to be a bug. It has the unfortunate side effect of making some unlocks even less satisfying, when you only unlock another 2 rocks to grind from for example.

All that said though, I did enjoy the concept, and what was completed was still cool to experience! I’d be interested in playing an updated version some day!

Developer

Thank you for such a detailed review! We initially planned to make some minigame that you need to finish in order to actuall collect the material and eventually to even add some events every few sols, but again, it was hard to make all of it when only two people worked out of five...

We also found out about the R+ collecting glitch (after the submissions ended though), but we're planning on working on an updated version that should look more like what we imagined in the begining of the jam, and hopefully make the "farming" more enjoyable and with more rewards than just "Hey, you have a new room!".

Glad you enjoyed it this version :)

Submitted(+1)

Unique idea, it was kind of addicting gathering rocks to fix the ladders. I like the color palette you went with too:)

Submitted(+1)

This was very adictive! I played until the end. Loved it

It gets a bit tedious near the end, but cool nonetheless

Submitted(+1)

Very cool idea. Loved the art style and that's a very cool color palette! Some more sound effects could add a lot to this, but at least there's a nice song playing in the background. Feels good to repair some ladders! :))

Submitted(+2)

Mars>>>>>Australia

Submitted(+1)

A mesmerizing game. The ending wasn't very satisfactory, but I guess that's the point. Putting up the help stand was a cool way to give instructions.

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Thanks for checking out our game!

We didn't have a lot of time and ressources to make the game as we initially wanted (we were two people out of five to actually work), but after seeing a few people playing the game I must admit that besides some jokes there wasn't any reward indeed for progressing. We'll try to fix that after the gamejam have ended.  Thanks for your comment 👍

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

I really love the music in this one, it fits the contemplative mood of picking up rocks. Collecting [spoilers] for [TOP SECRET] was maybe a little harsh, though the jokes were fun. I'm still wondering just how much power the base must require~!

Developer

Thanks for playing! I'm glad you enjoyed the music and the jokes, although could you tell us what was a little harsh for you? We can't change the game for the next two weeks but we do have planned to make it (at least a little) bigger and better after the gamejam ends, so maybe we could change that harsh part too 👍

Submitted(+1)

Ah no worries, I had a great time playing. The harshness was just that I could see that it would take several more sols of doing the same task to open the last room, and it felt a little repetitive. It would be less so over a few different sessions though I was so invested in seeing where it was all going :)

Developer(+1)

We noticed this only after we saw a few people play the game, but we'll definitely change this so that is doesn't feel as repetitive as it is right now and that you have different events happening to make each Sol a fresh start. Thanks for the help :D

Submitted(+1)

A fun game!  I really like the main song.  The story is fun too.  I made it through 9 days and unlocked 2 of the rooms.  At this point the repetition was really getting to me.  After unlocking the bathroom not getting much reward and then seeing that it would take me another few days to unlock the final room I wanted to give up.  Maybe I'm not cut out for space.  :P

Developer

Thanks for checking out our game!

We planned to add more content and more story to give some sense to the farming, but only two people ended up working in our group of five so we had to cut a lot of content... I can also see why you wanted to stop the game, but I'm glad to know you still enjoyed some of it!

Submitted(+1)

Intriguing setting, and I like the art style, but now I've spent 5 days picking up rocks and I still can't open the first locked room.

Am I doing something wrong, or is the game a comment on the futility of space exploration? That it's all just rocks up there.

Makes you think.

Developer(+1)

Thanks for checking the game! You should be able to open the first room (the right one) when you get enough materials (you can see how much you need by interacting with it).