God, this is difficult. I've been at it for 10 minutes, and I haven't collected a single fuel container

Very difficult! I did have fun slingshotting around and trying to get further. Quite relaxing when you zoom out and let a burn take you towards your target.

It's very difficult but I love space games. The concept is simple must be so complicated to implement.
Good work :clap:

Really tough game but I loved trying to slingshot myself around the sun.

@timujin @liam @verygenuinecraze @indigowolf
Yellow line is your speed vector and Blue is gravity that accelerates you. You can use it for controlling ship. It's not very hard, you just need some practice.
And also don't forget to use "-" and "+" (or L1 and R1 on gamepad) to change zoom. It allows you to plan your trajectory. When fuel container is not far, try to calculate the intersection point of your trajectory and trajectory of container and fly through it. Don't use all fuel, probably you will need it to correct your trajectory when anomaly will be close.
Time to time press the "M" key to see where the planets are located and where you and how are you moving. Don't forget that planets will change your trajectory. Also use "N" key time to time (try different zooming) to see the direction to targets.
I will add tutorials in future updates after jam (and music too). I just didn't have enough time for it.

When you spawn at game beginning, press "-" to decrease zooming. It will allow you to see Earth and Moon on screen (at bottom, blue circle, you can see it on map). Accelerate to it's direction and then try to orbit or collect fuel container. It will give you some practice.

Really hard game! I've restarted around five times, but never manage to catch fuel. I either float around until i'm out of fuel, or crash into a planet.

@last-angle When you spawned, you see the blue line. It shows direction of your current gravity acceleration. Accelerate into this direction (yellow line will point to same direction as blue). Sun will catch you, and change your trajectory into the direction of anomaly. When it will happen accelerate into this direction and Sun will let you fly. Use "-" and "+" keys for change zooming to check your movement direction and correct it if needed.

I just checked. It is possible :)



Gameplay video:

https://youtu.be/G5bUvtnTz5E

@robotex, despite your comment that it's "not very hard," I have to disagree... my ship keeps crashing into planets ;) Though, I'm sure with a bit of practice and following some of your tips, I could get the hang of it. You've packed a bunch of neat concepts into a Compo game and, despite my lack of flying skill, I had fun playing it. Side note. I didn't hear any music/sound effects while playing the game. Am I supposed to hear things or is my computer acting up?

@fussenkuh I don't know how to create music and sfx and I didn't have enough time to make it. Sorry :(

@robotex That's the problem with these jams. There's always so much we all want to do and never enough time to do everything ;) That said, there's always next Jam!

Tricky to get where you want, but really fun to play with using the gravity from planets. Great job!

A very interesting and difficult game, but the physics system was really well done! Well done on this game!

@timon @jvdwijk
Thank you very much. I have nice ideas how to make game better. Will update when will have free time.

Gotta love space games :) I liked the way you visualized the different force vectors.

This game is very well done: gravity is super realistic and quite difficult to navigate. It reminds you why people always refer to rocket scientists to describe highly complex situations!

If your intention was to make a realistic simulation, I would say mission accomplished. If however your objective is to have more people enjoy the game more easily, then I would suggest giving a bit more power to the thrusters for a much faster acceleration curve and amplified feeling of being in control.

Nevertheless, it's quite fun even if it's really hard! :smile:

This is a pretty difficult game, as many others have stated, but I will say it feels rather right. The slingshot effect you get off of gravitational bodies feels good, even if I don't feel I can control anything effectively. It's a nice little game. I didn't have any sound whatsoever when playing (web version) so I can't rate audio. You seem to have audio in the video, but that might just be something playing alongside it. In any event, good job!

A pretty reasonable interplanetary navigation simulation!

That being said, not a lot of people are really familiar with orbital mechanics. It's pretty simple once you understand the basics (on my third attempt I was able to reach the goal without touching a fuel can). The game could really benefit from a tutorial.

The other thing is, the background really made me dizzy while I was playing. An option to keep it static would be nice

It's a neat idea, and an interesting take on the theme. Just needs a little more polish

Hi and congrats for submitting for the compo! I think the main issue I have with it is that it's really hard to find the fuel. The concept is good and you can grow it, just a bit rough for a game jam. I would suggest you make an easier game for next jams.

Nice simulation, I manged to win, it wasn't too hard and I didn't need any fuel tho :D.
(I think you need to opt-out the audio category since there is no audio)

really cool game.

Cool game, I like the "hard-Science" aspect... gravity, no drag, our solar system...

Difficult to manage, but a good game!

I am terrible at this game, but I enjoyed playing it :smile: Once I figured out you could zoom out and in it got a little easier. Good game!

Very neat as a physics simulation, but I found it a bit unbalanced as a game. It seems like the best way to get to the end is to avoid the entire solar system, all the fuel, and just go straight there. I think making the solar system more dense, reducing the gravitation pull and giving you less max fuel but a more powerful rocket would solve this issue.

Also as a side note I had no idea what the victory area was on the map until I looked at screenshots of the ending of the game. A little animation of it pulsing or something might back that more clear.

I like the way you implemented the gravitational pull UI for the planets and your current speed. That was really smart.

Honestly.. no idea what I was doing. Seemed like an interesting concept

I'm glad you posted the video, so that I can "cheat" and see all that the game had to offer :smile:

love the physics in this!

@binroot
> I’m glad you posted the video, so that I can “cheat” and see all that the game had to offer

But you will not feel it. People, who just watch the video usually thinks that this game is easy.

I've played Kerbal Space Program a fair amount so I didn't have much trouble beating this. Close orbit around a big planet, pick up 1 fuel can in orbit, then one big burn at high speed toward the target and then it's smooth sailing. Well implemented but being able to skip most of the content means I didn't get to see a lot of it.

@healthire I had only 19h for this )
(there is full devlog https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLTlPgYgRYOc7RiboHE-fSqDh7wwxaZOnY)

And this is my first jam ;)

I will polish this game, add new levels and tutorial, some quests and trading. And magnetic gripper for catching fuel, of source, I believe a lot of people will be glad to see it) I think this idea has some potential.

@robotex Oh sorry if I came off as overly critical. Very well done on the game, especially if you had an even more limited time frame! It was fun, I am a sucker for orbital mechanics hahah. It's very tricky to design a game like this so that it's challenging but not extremely difficult.

@healthire

> but not extremely difficult

haha, challenge accepted )

I will add Hard Mode with timer ;)

I'm pretty bad playing this kind of real-world-space-physics games hah, but it feels pretty good!

I would try to make things easier at first (somehow) to flat the difficulty curve.

@kotzi there should be tutorial with easy levels but I didn't have enough time. I will add it later

Orbital mechanics are pretty fun and the physics seem good. Gave it a couple of tries, got a bit further each time but never quite made it. It seems hard but doable. Maybe making the fuel tanks bigger would make things a bit easier without sacrificing the realistic physics.

@silkworm-sweatshop
I think about magnetic gripper

I'm pretty bad at the game, but enjoyed it! Unfortuntly i didn't get any audio through for some reason. Great little game, pretty unique take on the deeper and deeper from what I've personally seen. Great job! ;)

I liked it because it was really hard and felt like the hopelessness of actually being stranded in space. Played a dozen times until I could finally gather two fuel capsules. Had fun!

Yay! Made it, without ever picking up a fuel tank :D

Cool game! I love space stuff!

I never read instructions when I play games. I expect the game to teach me everything I should know. I think it's a good practice to help see how well the game teaches the rules and such. I understood the momentum and gravity part well enough. But I didn't know where to go. I just kept flying into the sun. I found the earth and moon, collected some fuel, and then what? I thought it would be nice to zoom in and out, and it turns out your game does have the feature, but I had to leave the game and read the instructions first. The zoom feature made ALL the difference, as well as understanding the objective wasn't about finding fuel, it's about reaching the "anomaly". I would recommended putting all of the instructions and rules in the game!

Once I understood everything, it only took a few more tries to win the game. It was actually pretty fun, using planets to slingshot and trying to avoid gravity, while making adjustments toward more fuel.

I'd also consider slowing the background speed. We definitely need it to move for that sense of speed and movement, but it feels like it goes TOO fast, especially when zoomed out. It's not very friendly on the eyes.

Overall this is a good game, that could use just a little bit of polish to make it a little more user friendly.


Cool orbiting mechanics. I could not land on a single fuel container but I managed to get to the anomaly. Zooming, map and other navigation helps were very helpful. I wish the map would show the area all the way to the end. Nice idea and well done.

@ismael-rodriguez @boclow
I will polish this game. Will add tutorial, mission explaining and better navigation

I love the deep space theme but this game is very hard, first few goes i found myself floating in deep space without any indication of where to go. The minimap and the navigation aid helps but the thrust of the ship seems a little ineffective. With some strange sci fi music, sounds and some cool graphics this game could be really good.

@deadmanjw Yes, mission description is a problem. Unfortunatelly, I didn't have enough time to make it (uploaded game on last minutes of countdown). Currently, I'm adding the quests system, so, I will able to make a lot of quests: not only anomaly reaching but also cargo delivery (with planets landing), orbiting, etc.

It's a bit difficult for me, but good quality. Good job !

neat! very similar to our game, but way harder. Good job with the fuel packs, I think they are a more interesting mechanic than our refuel on planets system. Nice job!

during my first couple of playthroughs the game felt very unfair, like it was completely random. but after getting to grips with the momentum i felt like i was ice skating across a solar system. i dont know if you've seen The Expanse tv show, but the game evoked similar feelings as this scene (mainly the 1:20 to 2:00, also CW theres a pretty gross part at the end you may want to avoid):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oATT8mKoILE

@radmccool It's my favourite tv show )

Hello fellow space gamer! I enjoyed hurtling around the solar system you built -- I think I managed to get myself stuck in orbit around the sun which was fun :)

As others say it is quite difficult, especially with the fuel restriction, small gasses and the lack of training. I think I could get better at it, but it would definitely take quite a while.

Thanks for including the maps / navigation, they were really useful feature :)