What a coincidence! It's really cool to have an expert in the field play my physics game, and even more so that you enjoyed it! I couldn't resist adding that last three body system xD.
The last level is quite the challenge indeed. I myself, have gotten a stability around 0.9, and I definitely believe it's possible with further tweaking, though I haven't gotten to that yet... You can find a tiny preview of an attempt sent to me, with the setup it's built upon, in the game page description. It's definitely very finicky. However, the initial velocities aren't actually 0, they're, respectively: (1.0; 0.0), (-0.7, +0.7), (+0.7, -0.7). I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed the game!
Hey thanks for the feedback! I got a suspicion of what might be going wrong with the improper level progression, and after trying it out, it seems that you can select invisible planets in the main menu, effectively skipping otherwise required levels to reach that one. So that's an unfortunate bug - sorry about that one! I believe the same thing is going on with your progression not being stored... More feedback and polish is definitely needed too, for sure. I'm happy to hear you liked the game nonetheless!
I suppose I'm obligated to respond with an email of my own now xD.
Thanks for the thorough review & feedback! It's always nice to see people go out of their way to help someone improve.
As for the physics, it's a standard classical mechanics (newtonian physics) simulation. Basically, all objects (with mass) pull other objects with a certain force determined by the mass of the objects and the distance between them: F = (G * m1 * m2) / r^2. It was quite interesting to develop, seeing as it is pretty close to how gravity in our own Universe functions.
As for the level design issue, I totally agree. Solutions to levels should build on a breakthrough - learning something new about how the game functions - not pixel-perfect precision. It's sort of the same problem when you combine a platformer with a puzzler. It doesn't quite work out well.
On the topic of a tutorial, improved difficulty scaling and polish, these are definitely things that could turn this, as it is now, experimental project into a game. I definitely want to continue building off this project, and give thought to how to turn this physics simulation into a game.
I'm glad you liked the idea, and it's very inspiring to hear that you think there's great potential. Thanks again!
I meant the music resetting. It’s just minor nitpicking though. The full-screen mishap is quite common among the Unity games - a bit of an unknown thing.
Thanks for your feedback! I totally get where you're coming from, and you're not the first to miss that more planets could be moved - that's a mistake on my part. Like you said, I probably should have done an introductory level where you have to move two independent planets, before the one with the fixed positioning. And some of the planets got a bit too small. I'm glad to hear that you liked the idea and design, despite the confusion.
A very well polished simplistic game. Everything seems complete really, and that's impressive for such a short game jam. The visuals are perfect, and the distinct shapes and colors enables the gameplay. The UI is incorporated nicely too, and I like the fact that the main menu and tutorial are interactable previews. The sound effects are very satisfying and clear. The difficulty ramping is done well with the level system. I can imagine this would make for a fantastic mobile game. Well done!
Simplistic game with simple mechanics, but done well! Audio is good, and although there's room for improvement for the visuals and gameplay they're still good for such a short game jam. The resolution is a quite tall, almost as if it's a mobile game (which it'd probably work nicely as by the way). However, what I would do personally is increase the width of the game, and make the bowl move faster to compensate. Additionally, the game is forgiving when it comes to collecting the bad loops - three then you're out - but when it comes to missing a loop, you lose directly, so maybe that's something to reconsider. Overall well done!
The minimalistic style is done really well in this game with the post processing effects and the visual polish. The consuming effect was really satisfying. Audio was also done very nicely, and fits perfectly with the visuals and gameplay. The foodchain is also a really interesting game mechanic and a unique interpretation of the theme, and the fact that the environment acts without the player too is a really interesting dynamic. Overall a very well polished and thought out game. Well done!
A simple but nice game! The graphics and visuals are good, and fit nicely. The idea fits the theme nicely too. Some minor nitpicking would be more visual indicators (such as a gas tank) and continious music playing (I'd recommend Unity's Object.DontDestroyOnLoad). Additionally in the "Edit Game" section, I'd recommend turning off the full-screen button option (which you can safely do, just don't alter the builds), because your Unity build already provides one. Overall, well done!
Looking through the jam games, I am always amazed at what people can create in just 96 hours. And your submission is the perfect example of this. This game, or perhaps more fittingly experience, is a work of art. The audio and visuals are top notch, and combined with the unique gameplay form this amazing narrative. Thank you for making such an awesome game.
It's very satisfying to drive, and especially to boost with those speed effects. Very good visuals and post processing; I like the camera effect a lot. Audio fits in nicely too, and overall there's a very cohesive game feel. Unfortunately I only managed to get about half way up the loop (there's definitely some work to be done on my boost-management xD). Well done!
I really like the mechanics of this game. Swinging around and grappling to enemies, and shooting down picking away at the enemies vertices. Lovely retro visuals and audio, fitting well together, and great feedback. I do however find that it can get quite hectic, and it's very easy to lose control. I think perhaps the game could be zoomed out more, to show more of the environment and give more control to the player. Well done!
(PS, I do believe there is some resolution bug. Before scaling to full-screen the menu is offset and doesn't quite fit. After scaling it's still a bit offset. Not that it changes gameplay; it's probably something to do with your Unity canvas set-up.)
Hello! I used this awesome tool of yours in my recent GMTK submission - probably my best looking game to date, and I accredit that success to you and your tool. A lot of nice things have been said about the visuals, and I made sure to credit you. Thanks for making this.
I always love some good shader graphics, and in this game it was done very well. Gameplay wise, I like the movement and encircling mechanic which fits the theme nicely too. The linked civilizations which are out to cut you in half is a very nice addition too, and makes you think carefully about how to approach them. As has been mentioned, I think there's potential in expanding the story element here - the game feel itself is very cohesive. Well done!
I am honored to be in your top 3, and thank you so much for your kind words <3. Good nitpicking too; those are things I'd definitely change were I to return to the project.
Thanks for the feedback and kind words! The difficulty ramping is definitely to be refined, I totally agree with you and others on that point. As the level designer, you always think the level is easier than how it eventually is received by the audience - accounting for that is something I need to work some more on, for sure.
This is taking game audio to the next level; well done! Having a music track that the player themselves generated in their playthrough and the randomisation to make the track unique is an interesting and unique take. It's also really satisfying with the enemy/obstacle spawning being linked to the music. I did find it a bit confusing that the notes that display the recording-period were the same sprite as the interactables. Overall, well done!
Glad to hear you like it! Physics can lead to chaoticness quite easily, evidently, so much so that when I was doing level design I found a lot of my ideas to be outright impossible xD. As for the planets, they are very beautiful indeed. I have to give credit to where credit is due: Pixel Planet Generator by Deep-Fold is an awesome tool, and with the planets in this game I barely grazed the surface of the tools capabilities.
Glad to hear you like the game and thanks for the feedback! I unfortunately didn't have a lot of time to make contet, so the result is that the difficulty ramping isn't rather smooth. Also, I should've probably added a zoom-out for when planets go off screen as to give some sort of clue as to what is going on.
Thanks for the feedback! I definitely agree on the lack of guiding direction in playing the game; this was something I unfortunately missed in the development process. And the last level is very hard indeed :)
Thanks for the feedback! There is definitely a lack of guidance when it comes to navigating and playing the game, and these are definitely important aspects that I would have considered more carefully had I more time.
Interesting to hear that you were brainstorming something similar. I’ll have to look at the game you landed on!
Thank you for your feedback and kind words! I can see, now in hindsight, that the difficulty ramping is a bit too slow. As for the game not fitting your theme, that could absolutely have been done better.
I used a tool called Leaderboard Creator by Danial Jumagaliyev (https://danqzq.itch.io/leaderboard-creator). It's aimed at Unity, but I believe it can be implemented for other game engines too. Here's a tutorial on setting up the leaderboard by the developer:
