i like the forced delay from how far away the ships are for decision making. was able to deliver a ship, satisfying!

interesting game!

I know it's supposed to be a feature but i really liked the game otherwise and found the input lag frustrating. I'd love this aesthetic in a faster-paced game with like more clean controls (mouse aiming instead of the keys etc.)

I think the input delay's a cool choice. Without feedback of seeing the ship move, I think more feedback of other kinds would be important, just to communicate something's happening (like, seeing button presses or something). Being able to pan or something would also be nice -- it was a little hard to see the side screens w/ the zoom.

Neat application of the theme, gives an idea of what it's like for NASA driving the Mars rovers! Great graphics, challenging gameplay. Feedback on the buttons to confirm I've pressed it would be good.

Good work!

Interesting idea of signal delay! Good job!

Amazing looking game with lots of potential. I was just confused with controls and the delay most of the time. (was the delay intentional??) overall cool game.

Cool idea, however was a little confusing at first. The input delay was annoying at first but is actually an interesting mechanic later on. Nice job

Great idea for a mechanic. I feel that the game suffered from the UX and readability. Reworking the input method and the way information is displayed to the player would help the signal delay and split-attention traffic control mechanic shine a lot better. Personally I think that ditching the first-person conceit and going towards a more static interface, making the displays larger on the player's screen, allowing keyboard/gamepad input, and doing a pass to make the asteroids easier to parse visually would help. It would also help to surface the signal delay amount more visibly on the HUD, and perhaps even show on the main view where the selected ship is.

Cool, I managed to deliver several ships. Is it possible to increase ship speed and decrease input lag?

@astraltraveller Thanks for playing! Glad you liked it.

@5n4k3 Thanks!

@richjbaron The frustration is understandable, but is the concept we wanted to explore for this game. That's also why we made the ships as slow as they are, so it's not overwhelming while dealing with the delay.

@reed-molbak A fair criticism. The buttons do make a sound when pressed. Physically moving the buttons was on the todo list, but we couldn't get it done within the jam window. Also agreed on the camera look + zoom combo. Were we to do it again I'd try for camera translation with mouse move instead of camera rotation.

@digital-bacon Thank you! That's basically what we were going for with the delay.

@nikaz Thank you!

@glitchproduction Thank you! Our 3D model maker did great work. Yes, the delay was intentional. We wanted the explore the idea of the delay you'd experience over very long distance communication.

@cloverfall Thank you for giving it a chance as a mechanic! We felt it had some depth to make it worthwhile in the face of the surface level frustration.

@mattlevonian Appreciate the detailed comment. We wanted the control setup to have some level of awkwardness so it felt like you were controlling them remotely rather than just simply piloting the ships. It's a balancing act in that way. I do agree that, while it is present, the delay information could have been communicated more clearly.
The first person perspective was again chosen to make you feel like the player 'character' is there in the control tower rather than at the terminal in the ship, but I could see how a static interface would make for easier control.
I will concede that the screens could have been a larger portion of the player's screen. When playing the game on full-screen (rather than on Ludum Dare's embedded web build) it's easier to see what's happening with the screens. The linked itch.io web build supports full screen.
Gamepad input would be great but wasn't in the cards for how much time we had.
What would you suggest for making the the asteroids easier to parse visually?
I agree that making the signal delay more prominent would be helpful as mentioned above.
If by the 'main view' you mean the window above the control console, that would be an interesting idea.

@artemget Nice work! We could have made the ships faster but we kept them slow to make the game not overwhelmingly difficult. The video feed delay is present by design to simulate the communication over long distances. As the ships get closer to you the delay decreases. And actually, as a peek behind the curtain, it's just the video that has the delay. Your commands sent to the ships happen instantly, so there's no delay in 'input' per se. In fact, if you watch the ships out the main window above the control panel, you can see them responding to commands with no delay.

@casualnothing got it, sounds reasonable!

It's a cool concept, although it's a little difficult to understand the controls.

Interesting idea, but the feedback for my actions is a bit hard to see.

Interesting entry! At first I didn't know if anything that I was clicking at was actually doing something. Then I noticed that there's an input lag. I know it's part of the mechanics, but without other feedback to the user it's really annoying. Nevertheless, game's idea is very interesting. Good job!

Very cool entry, i kinda wish graphics were just a liiiitle more polished, the obvious game engine scene is a little distracting for me

I liked the concept but the delay on the controls seemed to push the difficulty over the top for me, it seemed like it was plenty difficult without it. :thumbsup_tone5:

The delayed signal is a nice idea but I find it a bit hard to use.
I really liked the music though, well done :)

Such a cool idea, and also a tough one to pull off. How do you make controlling something with that much lag actually fun? I like your approach: switching between ships and juggling control signals.

You could think about ways to make the game feel less punishing. Or maybe it’s mostly about atmosphere.

If you add screen shake and the rumble of explosions, plus bursts of static after ships are destroyed, it would make things more engaging and you’d start to perceive the lag as a real part of a dispatcher’s job. Great game, congratulations!

Fun, addictive, and easy to learn.