Planet Xpress by Retrific

made by Retrific for Ludum Dare 53 (JAM)

Use your space ship to deliver as many packages as possible with the limited fuel supply you have. There are a more planets waiting for deliveries than fuel in your tank.

The game "ends" when you are out of fuel. Afterwards you will be stuck in space or on your planet.

RMB - Enter/Exit Rocket or hold down to Interact/Pickup packages
LMB - Move/Accelerate
Mousewheel - Zoom in/out
R - Respawn

The universe is randomly generated, except for the home planet. Planets will act with gravity and atmosphere on your spaceship. You can get out of your space ship in space, but there is no reason to do so since I didnt add any content there yet.

This is a one-man project. I did not have any help. Only the fonts are not my own. Unfortunately this game did not get quite done in time. There is a lot to improve. I spent to much time with unncessary stuff like camera and physics. Sound, tutorial, a lot of effects and end-game content are missing. This is my first Ludum Dare and my first game jam since a while. Got a bit rusty I guess... I hope you still see the potential :D

Update 02.05.2023: - Fixed not having enough packages and fuel available on start

Dropbox Mirror	https://www.dropbox.com/s/d31ax97zhem8qcl/LD53Game.zip?dl=0
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/53/planet-xpress

Ratings

Overall	390^th	3.75⭐	32🧑‍⚖️
Fun	277^th	3.767⭐	32🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	251^th	3.75⭐	32🧑‍⚖️
Theme	241^th	4.233⭐	32🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	275^th	4.15⭐	32🧑‍⚖️
Humor	622^th	3.019⭐	28🧑‍⚖️
Mood	491^th	3.638⭐	31🧑‍⚖️
Given		37🗳️	37🗨️

Feedback

NuiN

02. May 2023 · 09:16 UTC

love the tiny pixelated art. Flying the rocket is fun but I couldnt figure out how to pick up the packages, RMB didn't seem to work

catbutt

02. May 2023 · 09:16 UTC

I couldnt figure out how to pick up a package? Does the character walking pick it up or the space ship? i tried both but kept just jumping out of the ship.
I flew around a bit looks good has a lot of potential.

🎤 Retrific

02. May 2023 · 09:25 UTC

Only outside of the space ship you can pick up and deliver packages. You pick up packages from the conveyer belt (or the rocket if it has any packages loaded in) by standing in front of it and holding down RMB. (takes half a second before he starts picking up packages one by one)
If you drop spare packages somewhere you can pick them up again by simply moving over them.

NuiN

02. May 2023 · 09:37 UTC

Nice detail that the planet changes color every time

Sodoj

02. May 2023 · 10:00 UTC

I gotta admit, I have ignored the game rules since I couldn't figure out how to deliver packages and just had a lot of fun flying through space and ramming into planets. Thank you for the good time!

🎤 Retrific

02. May 2023 · 10:10 UTC

I knew I shouldve added a tutorial or interaction popups.
Glad you still enjoyed it^^

Here's what delivering packages looks like (When you see me picking up packages what I'm doing is holding down the right mouse button. To deliver them I only have to move into the targets while carrying them)

![gameplay.gif](///raw/9b5/94/z/5a874.gif)

Space_Games

02. May 2023 · 15:14 UTC

I enjoy how you made a simple idea really fun! Nice job!

Ismael Rodriguez

02. May 2023 · 15:18 UTC

Getting a "Not found" from the link.

LDJam user 336996

02. May 2023 · 15:22 UTC

I get an error when I try to download :/

🎤 Retrific

02. May 2023 · 15:27 UTC

Not sure why. Thx for letting me know! Maybe ldjam.com has problems? I've added a dropbox mirror

Aeoncl

02. May 2023 · 15:29 UTC

I really like the retro DOS game aesthetic + space exploration goodness 👌

Emaigualmc2_art

02. May 2023 · 15:51 UTC

Great job, especially for being your first Jam. I found the movement of the character very funny XD, that the rocket had life seemed like a very good idea to me since it crashed into the ground many times jaja! Congratulations!

mitur

02. May 2023 · 16:02 UTC

Dig the art style! The physics are definitely polished, I can feel where the time commetment went :)

Cole Hutson

02. May 2023 · 19:39 UTC

This is crazy if not a bit too ambitious for a jam! I thought the physics worked well and the graphics were cool to look at! The arrow that points to the next drop of point could be a little bit bigger I think.

nandelind

02. May 2023 · 20:50 UTC

Nice little game! Good job making the physics. One thing I would like to see is how to find home when I run out of packages. A bolder color on the compass might have been easier to read. I appreciate the scientifically accurate sound track: the silence of space!

Ethernal Tech

02. May 2023 · 22:48 UTC

The only problem is the lack of information/tutorial. Apart from a tutorial, some feedback to locate the deliveries on the planets...
Except that, the mechanics of flight, gravity, screen rotation... is great.
But it is a masterpiece! I hope you continue to add content, because the game has a lot of potential if you keep it on the right track. Congratulations!!

TEEJIO

02. May 2023 · 22:55 UTC

I like the art style of the game, all the particale and camera moving with the mouse made the game feel really polished! Flying feels really smooth too. Sometimes i got a lil confused of which direction the compass was pointing, maybe the compass could have an arrow? either way 'twas very fun!!

Hare Software

03. May 2023 · 09:01 UTC

Love the style of pixel art, good concept for the theme and the execution is solid considering what type of simulation you made. Really appreciate the minimal UI by putting it all on the rocket!

🎤 Retrific

03. May 2023 · 09:57 UTC

Thanks everyone for the great feedback! All very valid points. Maybe I will update the game some more to get closer to what I had in mind when I started working on it.

Yaroslav Kravtsov

03. May 2023 · 10:56 UTC

It takes time to learn how to land on the planed and how to use fuel efficiently. Thank you for making rocket indestructible. My best moment is when I smash to the land on the high speed, get kicked from the ship and now flying among the stars. Romantic of space!

klausklapper

03. May 2023 · 16:07 UTC

Difficulty was definitely there, but after a few attempts, I did get the hang of it. Art style is very well done and follows through quite solidly. Other than that, most of what's missing we can chalk up to running out of time, as you said in your text. I'd say the potential is definitely there :)

Wild-Babou

04. May 2023 · 08:18 UTC

Amazing pixel art! Very cute and simple game to play.

Welsharess

04. May 2023 · 17:50 UTC

Soo nice! good job! lovely concept with pixels

Grommit

06. May 2023 · 14:29 UTC

Cool game, I'm a fan of the art. Controlling the rocket is actually really pleasing and I like how everything you need to know can be seen on the rocket itself (intra-diegetic!). Very nice!

Ixniyevonn

08. May 2023 · 23:02 UTC

Loved this one. Controls were tricky for first minutes, but I haven't read any tutorials to be honest, my bad. Spaceship controls feeling great

someone

08. May 2023 · 23:31 UTC

Nice game. I like the pixel aesthetic and the movement feels good.
The compass was tricky to see though, and there was not quite enough contrast on the crates against the ship.
Some interaction help text would have been useful but I managed to figure it out, One thing I wasn't clear on for a while was how to get the crates off your ship.
I managed to deliver 23 packages before running out of fuel, then randomly crashed into another planet and could deliver another 6. That planet did not have enough vertices for its size so the character was running quite a way above the surface most of the time.