Dead Stars by ImmanentDeath

Outlive the impending end of the universe by depleting its last remnants.
Dead Stars was made for Ludum Dare 50 and its theme "Delay the Inevitable." It's inspired by several ideas and concepts about how the universe will end. Your goal is to survive to that end by collecting as much energy as possible.
Play on Itch.io | Play on Newgrounds
How to play
- WASD/Arrow keys = Select
- Enter/Space = Confirm
- Esc/P = Pause
Here's a guide on how to play the game, with an in-depth explanation of its mechanics.
Changelog
v1.0.2 - Fixed a bug where the game would end at a random time after 500 instead of 500 exactly, subtracting more energy from the final score - Fixed a bug where, if the ship travelled before the game ends, energy lost over that travel time was doubled
v1.0.1 - Fixed a bug where the page scrolls when pressing the up or down arrow keys
Thanks to jazz_horse for helping me test the game.
Screenshots

| Itch.io | https://immanentdeath.itch.io/dead-stars |
| Newgrounds | https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/838694 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/dead-stars |
Ratings
| Overall | 1294th | 2.881⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1390th | 2.167⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 955th | 3.024⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 691th | 3.65⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 931th | 3.333⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 358th | 3.658⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 396th | 3.763⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 18🗳️ | 5🗨️ |
:high_brightness:
Some highscore list will be cool to have to compare my gameplay to others.
The vibes were perfect though!
Very good atmosphere. The feel of the music combined with the dark foreboding aesthetic worked a treat.
Hit the theme on the head. Even the growing numbers, so bleakly and unsympathetically indicating the lack of hope.
All in all a decent entry. Well done.
A unique and interesting entry.
Your guide seems more or less essential to grasp what's going on here, which I think is okay - I'm not sure how you could get it across within the game itself. Having turned to that pretty quickly, I feel as though you've really got the theme down here. I love the graphics too - the way the portion of the ship you can see drifting by looks like a big toothy mouth. It does a lot with very little, and the soundtrack fits too.
The main thing I reckon could be tweaked a bit is the ending: the game just sort of stops, when presumably what's actually happening is that there's no more energy available in the universe and what supplies have been gathered just sort of dwindle away. I'd like to see that play out on screen rather than immediately be given a score. Or rather, I think thee score should maybe be "time survived" with the final sequence of the game showing that time tick up as stored mass/energy is used up. It could also perhaps be a little clearer that the object "identified" after choosing to farm radiation is the same one you were already at (if I'm correct in thinking that it is).
Definitely one of the highlights of the event for me, though! Of all the things I've seen so far, I think this one best matches the theme (despite there being no shortage of other contenders).