Probed by ellipsis
The year is 2XXX. The moons around the planet Abyss are shrouded in darkness and mystery. Countless explorers have been lost, but now it is your turn. Crash your probe into the moons of Abyss to earn money for upgrades. Then, when you're ready, pilot your ship into the great beyond.
Controls: Your ship will automatically orient itself to point in the direction of your cursor. Use the spacebar or right click to fire the thrusters (be aware that you only have a limited amount of fuel, and the central planet has a strong gravitational pull). Visiting new bodies (by crashing into them) will generate money with which you can purchase upgrades for your ship. Use your mouse wheel to zoom in/out, click the middle mouse to pan, the R key to restart, and P to pause. Mute with M. Exit with Escape.
Goal: You will pilot your ship through the system until you either leave the system or crash. It’s possible to leave the system if you reach a distance of 500u from your starting point at a speed of 0.48 u/sec.
UPDATE (16 May 2021): An updated build of Probed has been added. This version adds a screen to inform users of the controls immediately after pressing play. In addition, the star field has been extended to cover a wider area. (This is a cosmetic change only.) The original upload remains available.
| Microsoft Windows | https://thephantomellipsis.itch.io/probed |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/probed |
Ratings
| Overall | 1431th | 3.211⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1374th | 3.026⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 578th | 3.5⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1491th | 3.132⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 1595th | 2.868⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 1155th | 2.735⭐ | 19🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 1273th | 2.206⭐ | 19🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 1320th | 3.184⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 30🗳️ | 8🗨️ |
Keep up making games!
I ended up a reasonable distance from the planet, but a bit stuck as the chances of crashing into anything went down.
I was initially very confused on how the game worked, even with the latest updated version explaining more things. It was not until I tried spending all my fuel to go in some direction that I hit one of the orbiting planets. That was when I realized this game has actual orbital mechanics that the thrust adjusts, allowing for all kinds of circular or elliptical patterns of orbit. The fun factor really kicked in then.
Knowing what I know, I only had to upgrade my ship from crashing into three planets in order to have enough power to leave the system and win. Good humor at the end too! Once the game clicks, it becomes a fun space orbital type of game.