Star Control by Tortoise

[raw]
made by Tortoise for LD34 (JAM)
Left and Right arrows or A and D to move.
Defeat the space things!

Ratings

Coolness 51% 3
Overall(Jam) 3.31 533
Audio(Jam) 3.17 431
Fun(Jam) 3.13 542
Graphics(Jam) 3.33 575
Theme(Jam) 3.88 325

Feedback

Neonlare
17. Dec 2015 · 04:09 UTC
An Ilwrath, Umgah, and Supox walk into a bar...

Name aside, the game's actually pretty fun, I wish there were some explosions after killing ships, the bomb upgrade seems slightly too short of range and doesn't offer a lot of coverage with it's explosions against the homing missiles and machine gun. Pretty fun actually, surprised this hasn't got a review yet, hopefully more check this out soon :).
Firellon
17. Dec 2015 · 06:18 UTC
Nice game, but it actually lack new ideas.
Paul Sinnett
30. Dec 2015 · 18:14 UTC
I loved the use of auto fire to allow the simple control. Nice sprites and music too. Flying into the start button to start the game was a nice touch.
Gipzo
30. Dec 2015 · 18:31 UTC
Interesting game, but too difficult
jackrugile
30. Dec 2015 · 19:59 UTC
Hey, I had fun playing your game. I love the art and audio style. The homing missiles were super satisfying.

The difficulty does ramp up pretty fast since your starting weapon is so weak, you can't move fast, and the enemies can dash across the screen. That could just be my opinion, but the difficulty pacing felt weird.

Other than that, I'd love to see an indicator that an enemy is getting hit. Even just a flash of white or something like that. As I am dodging enemy bullets, it's hard to tell if I am hitting anything or not without an indicator in my peripheral vision.

Anyway, it's a solid space shooter and I had fun. Nice work!
Sourtrance
30. Dec 2015 · 21:25 UTC
The music and graphics are great. However, I think it would be a lot better if the player's bullets were MUCH bigger. The fact that the enemies' bullets are bigger than mine makes them feel more special than me. Having small bullets also means that enemies are harder to hit and, indeed, I end up getting swarmed very quickly.
gallerdude
30. Dec 2015 · 23:17 UTC
Simple and fun.
Aaranos
31. Dec 2015 · 03:29 UTC
I like the genre of space shooters but not being able to move forward of backward limits the ships ability to dodge anything. I found myself stuck in a corner and then blasted down just about every game.

I think given a different theme it would of done much better, as the other gameplay elements are great.
Paco
31. Dec 2015 · 04:15 UTC
That name... brings so many memories...
I like the powerups logic, and how you kind of "level designes"-ish with what you had... Also the difficulty scalated quickly
Andy Gainey
31. Dec 2015 · 04:42 UTC
Everything works smoothly, cleanly implemented, and the graphics, audio, controls, and such all felt consistent. But boy does it get difficult quickly!

Given that enemy bullets can come in at angles, but movement is limited to a single line for obvious reasons, dodging feels like it could use some assistance. Faster ship movement, perhaps acceleration, double tap for a "dash" or popping up a half second directed shield or something. Faster player bullets too, as a compensation for the fact that they can't be angled to aim directly at enemies the way enemies can do at the player.

Also, I wasn't expecting the powerups to be time-limited (and at first didn't notice the expiring icon at the bottom because I wasn't looking for it). Maybe it's just because of my expectations from similar games, but I kinda felt a little cheated when my machine guns ran out. I want powerups that I can feel like I earned, and then I want to be able to keep them if I earned them.
Gordy
31. Dec 2015 · 10:33 UTC
Good ! ;)
NoWandStudios
31. Dec 2015 · 10:35 UTC
Space shooters never die. It's a difficult game but a solid entry. You've done a good job
publicidadeba
03. Jan 2016 · 21:09 UTC
I loved it! It you made it procedurally generated level and more types of weapons it would be a BOMB on the mobiles stores!