Ramspace by sigfig

[raw]
made by sigfig for LD26 (COMPO)
The Confused Spaceman

Trapped inside a little box
Strange gadgets around the room seem to have no purpose at all.
There is no sound but the ticking clocks
and the engine's quite buzzing from back behind the wall.

The small window before him looks into the void.
the buttons and controls are blank and give no clues to their function.
But as he clicks and flips the panels and begins to grow annoyed,
the engine roars to life with a thunderous combustion.

The ship begins to twist and swing around like a spinning top.
The moving window shows an unknown landscape.
With a crash the craft comes to a screeching stop,
and slides along the surface with horrible scrape.

Through long hours of practice he becomes master of his ship.
And for all of the long while he curses its design.
When he is ready to travel far among the stars.
He's sick of that dumb shit.

Ratings

Coolness 35% 1636
Overall 3.22 501
Audio 2.79 498
Fun 2.43 1032
Graphics 3.88 113
Innovation 3.30 411
Mood 3.81 57
Theme 3.96 188

Feedback

TaleLore
29. Apr 2013 · 04:30 UTC
Nice graphics, I liked the style.
voxel
29. Apr 2013 · 05:32 UTC
Still havent quite worked all of this out but I can easily see this being my favourite game of the compo. Love it
KristianGibson
29. Apr 2013 · 07:38 UTC
I quite liked it, never figured out the purpose or anything but I still liked it :3
JonRB
29. Apr 2013 · 07:46 UTC
I like it. It's minimalistic, and yet I am completely incapable of figuring out what to do. Nice graphics and more immersive than I expected.
howieV (binarygirl)
30. Apr 2013 · 00:23 UTC
^ i cant figure out what to do either (maybe there isnt anything heh.. really nice atmosphere and gfx .. dont know why but most unity things and games in general the sensitivity seems sooo high even on my lowest dpi (which i normally use all the time) anyhoot good job man :)
TheSheep
30. Apr 2013 · 00:27 UTC
I like the setting very much. Naturally reminds me of 2001: A Space Odyssey. And the idea is quite innovative. Nice!
josefnpat
30. Apr 2013 · 00:28 UTC
RAMSPACE: A GAME ABOUT QUESTIONABLE CONTROL INTERFACES

Seriously though, maybe it's just the linux version, but the mouse and WASD are semi inverted.

Mouse up is up
Mouse down is down
Mouse left is right
Mouse right is left

W is backwards
S is forwards
A is strafe left
D is strafe right

I'm not sure if that was done on purpose, but it drove me nuts. Enough to push some buttons, and call it quits.
🎤 sigfig
30. Apr 2013 · 00:36 UTC
Thank you everyone!
howieV: i'm using the default mouse input provided by unity. if it's too high, your OS sensitivity may be too high and your drivers are compensating somehow. try setting your OS cursor speed down!
josefnpat: you started the game with your camera upside down. it happens sometimes. moving the mouse vertically can right yourself. i left the camera unconstrained to manage the issue. i could never figure out why it happened to some people.
Cosine
30. Apr 2013 · 21:09 UTC
Like the sound of it a lot, started it up, but couldn't really figure it out very well (compounded by the fact I was running on a very light computer.
jhonpi
30. Apr 2013 · 21:14 UTC
I love the atmosphere and graphics. Maybe would help if the interactive elements (like buttons) have a mark or something to recognize them. I like the idea and good use of theme, really minimalistic. Well done!
Masadow
30. Apr 2013 · 21:16 UTC
I did not understand the purpose of this game. But I stay more than 30 minutes in it... Good job !
JohnnySix
30. Apr 2013 · 21:22 UTC
I just wiped a longer comment hitting the back button, so I'll be breif - atmosphere was good, sound design was nice, but the lack of feedback and some hint of what to do killed longevity of the game play and I bailed after 5 minutes of button pushing and watching the lights on the wall to see if something new happened.
Jens Nolte
30. Apr 2013 · 21:25 UTC
I think the last paragraph of the description is a wonderful is a wonderful explanation how you feel once you have figured out how to fly around :D
It was an interesting experience, thank you!
🎤 sigfig
30. Apr 2013 · 21:44 UTC
JohnnySix: confusion is intended :D the interface is a puzzle to be solved and it's ok if you didn't want to
glbs
30. Apr 2013 · 21:51 UTC
Sorry I can't play your game, there's something in the camera movements that makes me feel I'm on a boat and I get sick (well is it a feature??). No worries it did the same to a friend with antichamber. Nice atmosphere though
psychomonster
01. May 2013 · 18:02 UTC
Atmospherical riddle game... never solved it... what do I have to do ;) If I put the Buttons in the right way will I have answers?
Hume
01. May 2013 · 18:32 UTC
This game made me love it and hate it, probably not for the reasons you intended.

Supposing you figured out the ship flying controls within about 2 minutes. What then?

I wanted more, but I was pretty convinced there wasn't. Or maybe that was just another level of meta...obscuring the goals too, and not just the interface.

Almost loved it. Wanted to love it. Marks will reflect that. Humor points added for your poem.
🎤 sigfig
01. May 2013 · 19:15 UTC
hume: there is more! the goals are indeed obscured but not impossible to decipher
MinionStudios
06. May 2013 · 03:59 UTC
Very nice. Still have not figured it out. Keep trying.
DST
18. May 2013 · 22:46 UTC
Lovely experience ^_^
stqn
18. May 2013 · 22:57 UTC
This could be interesting but based on the description it seems there is not much to do. The game starting fullsceen, using wasd (qwerty only) instead of the arrow keys, and grabing my mouse pointer thus preventing from doing anything else at the same time, was slightly annoying. Still, nice graphics and atmosphere and seems to suit the theme well.