LudumData

Constellations by pmarincak

[raw]
made by pmarincak for LD 42 (JAM)

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I wasn't expecting to do this game jam, but I wanted to try out some new stuff this time around. Instead of pixel art I used vector shapes this time around. I also made all of the music and sfx too. This was my first time using garage band and I guess making anything close to music to hopefully it sounds alright~

The theme was "running out of space". The interpretation I went for was "space" being stars and such and not a physical/digital "space". So in the case of the game, you're "running out of space" as you fill the sky with constellations.

Everything was created during the jam! I hope you enjoy it!

Credits

  • ART/PROGRAMMING/MUSIC/ETC: http://twitter.com/paigemarincak
  • SPECIAL THANKS: ​http://twitter.com/ciemarincak​ for helping me with the idea

Technical Stuff

  • ENGINE: GameMaker Studio 2
  • ART: Photoshop
  • MUSIC: Garage Band

How to Play

  • Use the left mouse button to click and drag on stars to create constellations!
  • Constellations must have 3 stars or more!

Scoring Guidelines

Your score is a combination of all of the scores of the constellations you have made. Each constellation gets points as follows:

  • 10pts for each star
  • 10pts for each line
  • 2pts * 500 / distance of each line (i.e. shorter lines get more points)
  • 0.1pts * the angle between two consecutive lines (i.e. the larger your angles the more points)
  • 10pts for each loop

And from this total value, you lose 50pts for each star that could’ve been in a constellation but wasn’t.

HTML5 (web) https://atemly-games.itch.io/constellations
Windows https://atemly-games.itch.io/constellations
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/constellations

Ratings

Overall 312th 3.654⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Fun 695th 3.135⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 310th 3.48⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Theme 737th 3.327⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 306th 3.865⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Audio 90th 3.889⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Mood 29th 4.173⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 24🗳️ 1🗨️

Feedback

gamepopper
14. Aug 2018 · 12:37 UTC
This game is nice and peaceful, I love the sounds of connecting stars.
Jesús González
16. Aug 2018 · 00:26 UTC
Very nice little moody game. Great sound, graphics, mood, but the gameplay was too much on the simple side. Still a good rating from me.
Luca1152
16. Aug 2018 · 00:30 UTC
I like the music, simple but fits the game. However, I don't really understand the gameplay. A tutorial would be really helpful. So what I did so far was that I connected more stars, about 3. At first I was just clicking on them, and since I was receiving some audio feedback (the sounds you hear when you tap on a star) I thought I was doing something right. Then I saw that I can drag on stars, but I did not understand why I can connect some stars whilst I can't connect others. :)
JLV
16. Aug 2018 · 00:35 UTC
I really enjoyed the relaxing mood of the game ! Great work !

Pros :
- Crystal-clear controls and gameplay
- The music, and the way it articulates with the stars' sound, is absolutely amazing
- Clean graphics
- Relaxing gameplay makes for a fun and puzzle-like experience

Cons :
- Having to move the camera is a little annoying at times
Echo Team
16. Aug 2018 · 00:38 UTC
Very soothing and spacy, the only gripe I have is that the star sound is a bit too loud for comfort.
Amba
16. Aug 2018 · 00:45 UTC
Peaceful game. Nice graphic and sounds as well. Great mood too! Didn't understand the game first. It would be great if there's more feature and content. The game run smooth.
🎤 pmarincak
18. Aug 2018 · 00:37 UTC
@ everyone: Thanks so much for your feedback \o/

@luca1152 There was a brief tutorial but I suppose what it taught wasn't clear enough;;;;; To clarify: You can only make constellations with 3 or more stars. You click down to start a constellation, and drag to create it. There are limits to the distance that you can connect stars, and also the number of stars you can add to the constellation (15). Lines also aren't allowed to cross. :)
JustinMullin
18. Aug 2018 · 01:05 UTC
Love the atmosphere! No pun intended! The musical sounds connecting stars together really made it feel great to draw constellations. =)
devharts
18. Aug 2018 · 01:08 UTC
Cute art style and clever take on the theme! At first I thought the goal was to make a specific shape such as the constellation symbol in the upper right -- that might be an interesting puzzle mechanic to explore if you ever decide to expand on this idea further. Nicely done in any case :)
Pennycook
18. Aug 2018 · 01:10 UTC
The art and music are really nice, and it feels like a complete game.

But like @luca1152 I couldn't really work out how to play: even when I'd figured out how to make constellations, I couldn't work out how to get a good score. I think a little bit of text on the itch.io page -- or in the game itself -- that says "Try to make as many constellations as you can" or "Try to make the largest constellations you can" (I don't know which it is!) would likely be very helpful to new players.
geekdrums
18. Aug 2018 · 08:39 UTC
I love the mood of this game, and nice music. Randomization of star sound is good, but it makes more sense when these sounds are on some musical chord or musical rule. (for example, moving up tones one by one, or making phrase depands on what color of the star you start, etc) Nice work!
🎤 pmarincak
21. Aug 2018 · 00:11 UTC
@pennycook Thanks for letting me know about the score stuff. I'm going to be updating the descriptions in a bit but in summary:

Your score is a combination of all of the scores of the constellations you have made. Each constellation gets points as follows:
- 10pts for each star
- 10pts for each line
- 2pts * 500 / distance of each line (i.e. shorter lines get more points)
- 0.1pts * the angle between two consecutive lines (i.e. the larger your angles the more points)
- 10pts for each loop

And from this total value, you lose 50pts for each star that could've been in a constellation but wasn't.

The score was something I figured out after looking at a bunch of constellations to figure out what "good looking" constellations look like.
SecondDimension
21. Aug 2018 · 16:19 UTC
Hey I really liked this! My best was score was 1418.52, is that good? It was pretty smooth to control, which helps the experience, and I also like the glockenspiel sounds for the stars (I am a fellow Garageband user!)

I would have really liked a zoomed out view without the need to scroll. That would have given me all the info about the level, and then the fun would have been planning the best approach.

The overall mood was great though, found it quite relaxing to play. Nice work!
Coda Highland
23. Aug 2018 · 03:03 UTC
Very peaceful! I agree that a zoomed out view would help, especially when playing with a trackpad.
lekkel124
23. Aug 2018 · 23:32 UTC
I got around 2060 after playing it five times. It is really relaxing drawing constellations and figuring out what you can or can't do, trying to maximize the amount of stars and of lines in your constellations.

The only downside was the camera. It would have been nice for instance to move it around with keys instead of having to move the mouse, unwillingly linking your constellation to stars. Or at least, make the camera move more slowly.

Otherwise, I really enjoyed the game. Good work ^^
jeplmr
24. Aug 2018 · 03:09 UTC
I get an error when trying to play the web version on itch :(

![error.png](///raw/697/6/z/1a6d9.png)
Lex
24. Aug 2018 · 03:52 UTC
Yea, I guess the think I would improve is the camera control. Maybe a zoom out? Anyway, cutest game so far. Congratulations!
🎤 pmarincak
24. Aug 2018 · 23:22 UTC
@jeplmr Try again? If there's still a problem it might just be an itch problem, in which case you can DL the game :(
jeplmr
24. Aug 2018 · 23:35 UTC
It's working now @pmarincak. I'm short on time right now, but I'll give it a play later tonight!
jeplmr
25. Aug 2018 · 17:29 UTC
This game is incredibly relaxing. I love the art and sound design! Nice work!!
Jupiter_Hadley
03. Sep 2018 · 13:09 UTC
Cute, relaxing game. I included it in my compilation video series of the Ludum Dare 42 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/CqHeG7NJrrQ
DDRKirbyISQ
03. Sep 2018 · 16:33 UTC
Nice! I scored 1721.60 with my 9 constellations (tried to focus on the loop bonus). There's a solid idea here and it feels like this could be a super relaxing game. As mentioned before scrolling the camera takes away from the flow a bit; I also feel like there could be set levels instead of randomized stars, so that there is some sense of progression / completion. The music provides a nice ambience although I wonder if something closer to a lullaby would be fun too.
MateusBoga
03. Sep 2018 · 16:43 UTC
I really liked this game. The gameplay experience is solid, very well put together. The concept is very simple but fun and challenging. I felt like the camera movement was a bit weak though. Overall realy cute game :)
Noxbuds
03. Sep 2018 · 17:14 UTC
Really liked this. The music and sound effects, while a little loud, gave the game a nice relaxed mood, like you're doing this while falling asleep. Very unique idea, and a nice implementation.
Ice Maker
03. Sep 2018 · 22:02 UTC
Very interesting and unique, I liked the style of graphics but found the gameplay confusing at times; the audio was also a bit too loud and subtracted from the experience, but otherwise I really enjoyed it!
nolanfa
04. Sep 2018 · 08:36 UTC
really nice game, I love its laid back atmosphere. I concurr with the others though: seeing only part of the screen at a time is frustrating (especially since you can't cancel what you've just done). Maybe allow a fullscreen mode on the web version? (I haven't tested the downloadable one)