Horizons by Joseph Benton

[raw]
made by Joseph Benton for LD 38 (JAM)

HORIZONS

Play online at https://annaholmes.github.io/

A game of planetary exploration

Screen Shot 2017-04-23 at 10.37.05 PM.png https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utuypy_b978

FIGHT GREEN ENEMIES

Screen Shot 2017-04-23 at 11.05.05 PM.png

AVOID BLACK HOLES

Screen Shot 2017-04-24 at 7.11.26 PM.png

USE A GRAVITY DETECTOR THAT KINDA WORKS

gif link https://gfycat.com/BlissfulHeavenlyIrrawaddydolphin

We did not create all of the assets for this game, so don't vote for us if you like our stuff! Check the credits and thank them!

Ratings

Overall 286th 3.533⭐ 17🧑‍⚖️
Fun 301th 3.313⭐ 18🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 257th 3.375⭐ 18🧑‍⚖️
Theme 414th 3.375⭐ 18🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 600th 2.818⭐ 13🧑‍⚖️
Audio 255th 3.273⭐ 13🧑‍⚖️
Humor 348th 2.692⭐ 15🧑‍⚖️
Mood 321th 3.333⭐ 17🧑‍⚖️
Given 11🗳️ 24🗨️

Feedback

Giardi
25. Apr 2017 · 00:34 UTC
I really liked this game. Good work!
drazil100
29. Apr 2017 · 00:48 UTC
This game was really freaking interesting. You managed to take the easy game idea that 1/5 of the participants of this game jam had and managed to make it very unique. I really loved the physics of jumping between planets and it felt very solid. The difficulty was a little much and it could have explained better that blue planets are slippery but all in all it was a fantastic game. Thanks for showing it off in my stream!
camilo
30. Apr 2017 · 18:56 UTC
I really liked the gravity mechanic! and I loved the music.

As feedback, level 2 is too complicated, there are some jumps that are really hard to do.

Apart from that, very cool game!
npatrick96
01. May 2017 · 03:12 UTC
Your game is really good. I really like the music and the graphics.

I also like the tutorial and how the info about the the game was presented one piece at a time.

One thing that can be improved is tuning the difficulty of the levels. Some of them are really hard!
mundell
01. May 2017 · 14:40 UTC
Jumping between planets felt very smooth, nicely done!

I didn't realise bombs push you until level 4, it was a nice addition to help movement.

I think having gravity effect the normal shots would have been cool to enable some skilled around the planet kills.
Tat2Tim
02. May 2017 · 18:49 UTC
Despite being racist towards green people ("I recommend shooting them") it was a cute and fun platformer and i really enjoyed the gravity based gameplay!
gcoope
02. May 2017 · 19:27 UTC
I liked how the gravity worked with bigger and smaller planets, a very cute game!
ToonTeamJ
02. May 2017 · 19:46 UTC
Playing around using the gravity of planets was fun.
Rother Games
02. May 2017 · 19:46 UTC
It took me about 3 minutes to understand how to leave the first group of planets. The jumping physics were good, but I think the tutorial wasn't 100% logical (at least for me). But you did a good job!
ratking
02. May 2017 · 19:47 UTC
A good game, there is a lot of gameplay value and most of it works well, although I often jumped by accident. I don't mind if you got the graphics from somewhere else, but you should try to make the stuff more coherent; right now some assets don't fit to the rest.
Mars
02. May 2017 · 19:52 UTC
I absolutely love the music in this game! I don't even need to play the game, I could just sit here and listen to the music. It's so soothing and spacey and absolutely perfect to set the games mood.

The gameplay itself is alright too. The controls feel intuitive, and the thresholds of the gravitational pulls become familiar and recognizable over time. But the game still doesn't turn into a cakewalk, and offers a challenge like you'd expect from a platformer.

The graphics aren't amazing, but they're good enough to not be a distraction from the rest of the games aesthetical presentation.

The biggest complaint I have about the game is probably the sound when I die. It's louder than I expect every time, and it cuts out the soothing music, leading to a very jarring experience. Dying in the game is bad enough, no need to completely annihilate my immersion into the mood as well.

In the end though, that's most of the critique I can offer, so I can confidently say that I find this game to be a well made one. Good work on your jam!
fatPenguin
02. May 2017 · 20:10 UTC
first of all no loading issues here ;) I think it is really cool that you managed to create so 5 levels plus and even had the time to make a tutorial. The level design is good and clear and especially the fifth stage was pretty challenging.

The character slips sometimes around and doesn't stand stable on the planets, which sometimes caused the problem that he just floated away without me clicking the jump button^^
In Summary great game, keep going :wink:
zotapianola
03. May 2017 · 00:52 UTC
Great game, very challenging, but lots of fun! For a while, I felt like playing an old atari-NES title (I kept losing in the last level, but I still wanted to get to the end. Congratulations. I really loved the music (the loop stops after a while, btw).
Kylie
03. May 2017 · 03:39 UTC
This is a really well put together game! The graphics, the mechanics, and the background music all mesh together in a nice way. It feels very complete, and reminds me a lot of Super Mario Galaxy. Also, I like the menu system and the way you implemented the tutorial level.
Ryan Rose
03. May 2017 · 04:08 UTC
The game is really well put together and well organized. It feels like a complete game! It had a significant super mario galaxy feel.
huynhem
03. May 2017 · 05:46 UTC
This game is super neat! I liked how relatively polished it looks and feel for a ludem dare game. This a well done platformer!
g12345
03. May 2017 · 23:46 UTC
I like the game and I replayed level 3 a lot. I didn't finished it because I hit another black hole again for the xth time.

Anyway, very nicely done and well executed idea... also took me a while to realise there are bombs in the game.
Veralos
19. May 2017 · 13:24 UTC
I don't know how much I should be complimenting you on the presentation, but the graphics are cute and the music is quite nice (it creates a good "space" atmosphere). The gameplay is enjoyable when it works (I really like using bombs to propel the character towards planets). Unfortunately, there's a lot of waiting for planets to move which slows the game down too much for my taste.