Astro Gourmet by XGN

[raw]
made by XGN for Ludum Dare 58 (JAM)

Updates on Oct. 8

Several adjustments to late game were made:

  • (Hopefully) fixed the late game sound glitches. It is still recommended to turn down the volume before playing (it is not possible in the game)
  • Added a late-game stage indicator that will displayed after entering late game to indicate there be dragons.
  • Fixed a bug that stars are displayed in the same size in late game.

You were born as a cluster of evil substance that was gifted the ability to absorb the stars and copy their characteristics. The person or organization who created you is forgotten, nor is his/their initial purpose understood. But from what you could “remember,” your sole purpose is to absorb the whole universe and complete “the collection of stars.” Approach and swallow the weak, and break apart the strong. Collect all abilities from all kinds of stars and conquer the universe.

Features

  • Realistic physics
  • 8 different abilities
  • Unlimited mass growth (Well actually there is a limit of float upper bound)

How to play

  • Use WASD or Arrow Keys to move.
  • Click on ability names to see detail and spawn information.
  • By approaching other stars, you can absorb smaller stars and break apart larger stars.
  • Absorb some special stars to gain their abilities! Try to collect them all!
  • Maximize your mass until the game crashes! (lol)

Borrowed Items and More

Some images (stars) are generated by AI

Please check the itch page below for more.

Ratings

Overall 368th 3.545⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Fun 93th 3.879⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 234th 3.531⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Theme 352th 3.727⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Humor 475th 2.783⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Mood 360th 3.594⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Given 63🗳️ 16🗨️

Feedback

Nash
Oct 06th · 13:27 UTC
Wow, that was some wild mayhem!

The graphics and UI design were super sleek and visually appealing. However, it’s a bit challenging to to find time to learn what abilities actually do. It’s easier to just keep playing and let the abilities work for you. Maybe some adjustments to the flow could be made, where you have a moment to check out your abilities.

Overall, it’s a really solid jam entry!
evgenii-petrov
Oct 06th · 13:35 UTC
A lot of fun when stars grow up a bit and some real chaos begins!
Abilities are a bit hard to grasp, as there is no time to look at the descriptions; but it works fine anyway.
Akuta Zehy
Oct 06th · 14:03 UTC
A wild, invincible version of classical planet-fusion game!

Love the music and it's a leisure to play without using brains.

The only problem is the game crashes too fast, a solid entry, good job!
Accardo
Oct 06th · 19:33 UTC
Didn't know what I was doing the first time I played but still had a lot fun! I really love the vibe, kinda reminds me of good ol' Spore. There're some sound glitch happening later into the game though.
alpaca-041
Oct 06th · 20:40 UTC
That's insane! Hold shift and charge on screen! That's how I do it!
mc shopot
Oct 07th · 08:24 UTC
This gameplay reminds me old game "Planetinello". So fun and dynamic xDDD I absolutely love this! The sound effects fit the setting perfectly!
Ira Baciu
Oct 07th · 11:26 UTC
Such a pitty u used AI, because the game is really fun
tweekus
Oct 07th · 16:04 UTC
Very funny, I love it!
Spike Owens
Oct 07th · 19:14 UTC
Sweet game. Hard to grasp concept of size as you grow and the background shrinks. But very fun in the earlier stages.
PoshDan
Oct 07th · 20:15 UTC
The volume violated my ears upon the start, I had to quickly close the tab. I did give it a go with my headphones muted after. Not sure what to recommend to address this but I had to mention it.
I like a game with no lose condition, nor the stress of losing progress, so it had some appeal to me. The abilities kind of just got absorbed before I understood what was going on. Player agency seemed a bit limited, so to speak.
Phoenix Fireflower
Oct 07th · 21:50 UTC
That was absolutely chaotic in the best way possible. The visual spectacle is immaculate. My only gripe (apart from the game crashing) is that some of the sound effects of the abilities can be pretty annoying if they glitch.
Radjax
Oct 07th · 23:28 UTC
Pure chaos, loved all the stats you have available to you. Neat sound effects, great work!
RazerLazer
Oct 08th · 00:38 UTC
fun game, a little confusing and MY EARS
ProtoHere
Oct 08th · 01:33 UTC
no idea whats going on!
6Knowledge
Oct 08th · 07:33 UTC
The initial impressions were extremely good, but by the mid-late game the mass kinda felt weightless as the camera kept zooming in and out, and every other object also kept changing in size so there was a weird sense of never really growing while everyone else felt bigger. The abilities being in a list on the side made it kinda difficult to interact with in the chaos and probably would've been better as an ability bar with the keybinds somewhere on screen. An audio slider would've been nice as well. Overall a good short asteroid busting game.
LDJam user 158571
Oct 08th · 16:48 UTC
Very catchy power-fantasy. Great approach on the theme, I would not have thought about agario-like space game. Balancing needs some work tho. I didn't even finish reading what do abilities do and I was already at the late-game stage. Game progresses a bit to fast in my opinion. Apart from that, great job. Certainly a pleasant and fun experience.
Grummelchen
Oct 08th · 20:47 UTC
Very violent in a good way. Nice Game!
LDJam user 381180
Oct 08th · 21:08 UTC
Very nice entry! I'm pretty sure that's what happened right after the Big Bang. Satisfying gameplay and explosions, reminded me a .io game
Anachrone
Oct 08th · 21:15 UTC
good, fun ! maybe some fx are loud ? but anyway had a lot of fun playing it
logicalinsanity
Oct 09th · 04:42 UTC
I loved it! Big fan of agario and space! lol
quadtree
Oct 18th · 17:48 UTC
Initially I assumed that colliding with larger stars was bad, sort of like Spore, but breaking them apart was pretty amusing. It did seem like after the 4 minute mark things started getting a little frantic and the physics engine couldn't quite keep up.