Space Oyster Mining Company by irwatts
Welcome to Space Oyster Mining Company!

Strap in, space-shucker!
You’ve been hired by the galaxy’s most "benevolent" corporation, known for their charmingly aggressive obsession with metrics.
Your mission?
Shuck, clean, and bin space oysters as fast as you can—or risk a "motivational" message from management!
As you carefully scrub the space muck off these bivalve beauties, keep your eyes peeled for mini space oysters hiding inside, each one holding a precious space pearl that might just earn you a bonus... or a sarcastic memo.
It's time to shine in this galaxy where the real pearls are tiny, but the corporate expectations are astronomical!



Controls
Keyboard
• Space: Start / Confirm
• L: Activate shucker
• K: Activate cleaner
• WASD: Select bin for pearl
Controller
• Start: Start / Confirm
• Right Bumper: Activate shucker
• Left Bumper: Activate cleaner
• D-Pad / ABXY: Select bin for pearl
| Link | https://irwatts.itch.io/space-oyster-mining-company |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/space-oyster-mining-company |
Ratings
| Overall | 821th | 3.262⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 839th | 3.024⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 728th | 3.071⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1000th | 2.786⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 577th | 3.619⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 437th | 3.333⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 652th | 2.833⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 928th | 2.976⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 29🗳️ | 24🗨️ |
Feedback
derllie
08. Oct 2024 · 13:35 UTC
i love it, theme of space is one of my favorite, and you did a great job!
PeterLeBagarreur
08. Oct 2024 · 13:51 UTC
Nice game guys, loved the graphics and the theme!
NOPER
08. Oct 2024 · 15:06 UTC
The styling was great, the audio made the shucking process addicting, and I wish I had 3 eyes for keeping track of every process. I liked it.
captainzo
08. Oct 2024 · 15:07 UTC
Very nice game ! A little bit hard at the beginning but very funny ! Good job !
Alejo Salvador
08. Oct 2024 · 15:08 UTC
I love the look of the game. It gives me papers pleaese vibes!! I think it could be a full fledged game with an overarching narrative
Cassreads
08. Oct 2024 · 15:08 UTC
Fun idea! Pretty graphics, but my computer definitely chugged a bit with it and it made playing a little difficult.
David Soriano
08. Oct 2024 · 15:38 UTC
Very interesting topic, the mechanics are fun although a little overwhelming for me, I have little coordination to do so many things at once
Pimping
23. Oct 2024 · 21:42 UTC
Great game, nice matching with theme, keep going
TheLastSlowpoke
24. Oct 2024 · 02:23 UTC
Looks unreal ^^ I like the little touches like the "fifteen minute break" on pause. Nice!
adhesion
24. Oct 2024 · 02:31 UTC
Nice concept and pretty satisfying to play, there's a level of polish that makes the game quite fun to interact with, especially the sound design. Felt pretty hard at first though - things are moving way too fast to parse the sorting mechanic at the beginning. At the end I realized I could just mash the shuck & clean buttons and just focus on sorting at the end, but maybe that tanked my efficiency or score somehow. I'd definitely recommend doing something like introducing the sorting mechanic gradually (ie all small pearls, then add medium and then large) rather than having the player do everything right off the bat, and probably reduce the starting speed as well. I feel like this would be really fun once you get good at it but the initial experience is pretty overwhelming. Also the fact that the sorter reset on every failed sort was a bit weird and just made things more confusing. Still this could be a very solid little game with some balancing and tweaks, nice work!
FireFalls
24. Oct 2024 · 03:06 UTC
The pause screen was very funny. I didn't wait to find out if something would happen if it goes down to 0 - satisfy my curiosity, will you? :)
Nobongo
24. Oct 2024 · 04:37 UTC
Pretty fun overall! Started out very fast but I quickly got a hang of the button flow and was able to start making my quotas. The sound was a bit loud at the beginning, having a volume slider might be worth looking into next time. Overall good stuff I hope you guys get enough ratings! You've earned em!
Creeper Nade
24. Oct 2024 · 15:08 UTC
The gameplay instructions could be clearer if they were added inside the game. Despite this, fortunately I've checked the LDD page and figured out how to play! The game is genuinely fun as it tests your responsiveness, and your hands cannot rest as the difficulty is increasing. By the way, the pause menu is really interesting; it makes the game much more immersive. Great job!
LCStark
25. Oct 2024 · 08:56 UTC
Pretty fun little game! It takes a moment to get into the right rhythm of if, with having to manage the three parts of the conveyor at the same time, but once you do it gets pretty satisfying to watch the oysters come in and get processed. The graphics side feels way too overwhelming, with lots of different effects all trying to distract you from doing the job you were assigned to do. The controls feel pretty responsive, though I had a weird issue with the bin selector - it felt like sometimes it wouldn't move at all, but then it would move on its own after a pearl got caught, like it only registered the keypress after the next pearl. Pretty cool music, great for putting you into this meditative flow you need to play a game like this. Well done!