Orbit by Ekke

[raw]
made by Ekke for Ludum Dare 54 (JAM)

PLEASE PLAY THE WEB VERSION IN FULLSCREEN

Orbitscreen.png

Goal

The goal of the game is to pack satellites into the orbit of the planet.

Gameplay

By clicking and holding on the planet you can direct the rocket. Release the mousebutton to launch the rocket.

With the sliders, you can control how long the rocket will fly before ejecting the satellite and the orbit speed of the satellite after it ejects from the rocket.

Ratings

Overall 212th 3.935⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Fun 195th 3.891⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 97th 4.065⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 40th 4.5⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 431th 3.848⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Audio 141th 3.932⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Humor 481th 3.071⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Mood 386th 3.739⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Given 13🗳️ 7🗨️

Feedback

Flancon
02. Oct 2023 · 23:03 UTC
It's great ! It works really well, the only thing I see is that you can't cancel the launch once you clicked and dragged. But honestly, it's good and pretty !
LDJam user 216538
02. Oct 2023 · 23:08 UTC
That was a really cool idea and a lot of fun
acousticAnalyst
02. Oct 2023 · 23:12 UTC
Rather enjoyed that
Fendri
02. Oct 2023 · 23:19 UTC
I absolutely loved the satellite owner's comments

Audio is cosy and chill, exactly what I needed at 1 a.m. Great graphics, nicely done.
Overall a nice polished game for a jam, simple yet impressive.
RyanWoods
02. Oct 2023 · 23:27 UTC
I really like this game!
Mehul
02. Oct 2023 · 23:32 UTC
Love the mechanic and the vibe. When one satellite gets bumps into another the resulting cascade effect it causes is a beautiful sight to behold. Tons of fun even when I'm losing the level.
mrs.wheelsx
02. Oct 2023 · 23:32 UTC
Great job on the physics. I cant get past level 3 but it is still fun and relaxing to play!
c-5po
03. Oct 2023 · 01:42 UTC
I really liked the idea, and the first two levels were nice. I would have liked it a bit more if the third level wasn't so hard. The music is nice and relaxing. Great job!
🎤 Ekke
03. Oct 2023 · 10:19 UTC
@c-5po Thank you for playing. The game only has 3 levels so we intended the 3rd level to be the most challenging to give the player a chance to really test their skills if they wanted to play longer. On average it took our friends about 10-15 minutes to complete level 3.
WilloXs
04. Oct 2023 · 11:24 UTC
Hey - fun idea! But nope, after like 10 minutes of trying i'll give up on level 3. I hope you didnt make an awesome endscreen i missed out on. On the other hand - im pretty sure i saw every popup of the owner complaining about me killing his satellites.

Anyway - i think i have some design suggestions. There are three factors that determine how the satellites launch: launch angle, satellite speed and rocket lifetime. As it is now, you have sliders for the latter two and direct game-like control over the angle. I know that for determinism the sliders are good, but as a game experience i would like it more if i would control them directly too. For the rocket lifetime for example you could charge it up with holding down the mouse at launch. I dont have a perfect intergration for the satellite speed yet but maybe something similar.
Jens G
04. Oct 2023 · 15:03 UTC
Nice concept and good job incorporating literal "space" from the theme. Would suggest making the launch mechanic more similar to a slingshot effect. You could still have UI elements that indicate what the sliders are pointing to, but it would feel more dynamic.
🎤 Ekke
04. Oct 2023 · 15:39 UTC
@willoxs Very fair. In retrospect level 3 should have been a bit easier. You didn't miss out on anything though. The popups were a very late addition so i am glad to see how many people like him. I do agree however that shooting the rockets could be a lot more natural. Thanks for the feedback.
🎤 Ekke
04. Oct 2023 · 15:44 UTC
@jens-g That is a very good idea, i'll remember that. We had something similar floating as an idea but never implemented it due to time. This project was actually made for a concurrent Jam run by our university where we only had 40 hours. We made slight tweaks before posting to Ludum Dare (the popups and bugfixes) but thats it.
Ezard94
04. Oct 2023 · 16:09 UTC
Great game ! The music, the satellites colliding in each other an crashing on earth and seeing all of your successful satellites flying in space make a satisfying experience.
In addition of what people above me to make satellites launch more dynamic, it could be great to have a simple preview of the beginning satellites flying, without taking into account others object so we don't launch satellites completely blindly.
Overall a really nice and satisfying experience.
Norah
04. Oct 2023 · 20:47 UTC
The idea is really cool ! I didn't succeed level 3 sadly :cry:
Mitch Miller
04. Oct 2023 · 23:37 UTC
Had to give up on level 3; found it surprisingly tricky (and a little frustrating in the end). Cool idea for the mechanics though! Love the physics based orbits and how you can offset them. Cool concept that's well executed.
LDJam user 261538
05. Oct 2023 · 21:54 UTC
LOL I love the guy who yells at you when you've lost too many rockets. This was really fun and chill to play. Cool idea with smooth execution. I kinda wished the satellites will explode if they crash into each other, but short of that I thought everything was highly polished.