FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD31 → Orion

Orion

By feiss

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall44.29
Graphics44.68
Audio84.15
Mood64.46
Coolness280
Theme674.23
Innovation724.01
Fun753.77

Comments

2014-12-08 04:43

great concept. lovely cockpit and sounds

zanenga 2014-12-08 04:47

I love this! This game is amazing! The best I've seen so far! I hope you finish it. Great job!

kodmaster 2014-12-08 05:35

NO i WON'T FORGIVE YOU, WANT MORE NOW 10/10 amazing haha

For the critiques, maintaining the pitch in outerspace feels odd, the same with the planet showing right below the ship all the time

fonserbc 2014-12-08 05:41

Gorgeous and incredible feeling! I got past the moon but then orders stopped coming, I guess you just got until there?

Great anyway!

molecats 2014-12-08 07:40

Super Awesome!!!!

rezoner 2014-12-08 08:20

The moment when you start the engines makes the game - literally. It would be a sin not to add some adventures now.

mopz 2014-12-08 08:25

Looks fun, but won't finish loading in any of my browsers :(

jackrugile 2014-12-08 08:28

The art in this just blew my mind. I kept on wanting to drop pitch, one to feel the shake, and two to see the beautiful planet ;) Stellar work!

2014-12-08 08:30

Wow this is totally hilarious, enjoyed every second of it :)

nicotuason 2014-12-08 09:21

I love it so much... the cockpit with all the details, dials, and glowy bits. Brings me back to the glory days of space sims. Thank you for making this!

terraneola 2014-12-08 10:09

Really like the atmosphere.

ilikescifi 2014-12-08 11:06

I love it. This is one fantastic compressed to 1 screen game! I´m not sure how this awesome cockpit has been painted in only 2 days but your game is awesome!

wdebowicz 2014-12-08 11:08

I have to play it on chrome (ff don't work), but it was simple AWESOME! Never feel so much in the space. Voice from radio reminds me about all the train stations, where it's hard to understand single word:D

gre 2014-12-08 11:28

Incredible experience.

perecil 2014-12-08 11:29

Nice game. Note that this game won't run with Firefox, use chrome to test it!

2014-12-08 11:36

Great concept, atmosphere, sound and graphics! Took me back to the old Tie Fighter days. Good stuff.

tonasz 2014-12-08 11:46

That's AWESOME! Good you haven't finished it, because it would go out of AWESOMENESS scale! ;) Just kidding, I wish could land. You reached with this game my little inner me who is dreaming about lots of switches to switch on board of spaceship.

threef 2014-12-08 13:00

Graphics are beautiful, and amount of buttons make great feel. I enjoyed it, but got bored after 10 minutes, and that's fine because that's how I imagine space travel!

feiss 2014-12-08 13:25

Thank you guys! I know it's not a complex game, but I'm very glad you share this little trip to the stars with me :)

I'll take a look to the issues with some browsers..

psychomonster 2014-12-08 13:52

This is huge... Hope I'll on my way to mars soon :) Great entry!

lyxilion 2014-12-08 16:09

Great concept, great graphics, great game !

rabbeni 2014-12-08 16:09

Wow this was so good

krisjet 2014-12-08 16:15

Wow, great entry. Really loved the atmosphere. Wish there was more of it, would love to land on Mars :D

designernap 2014-12-08 16:16

Incredible. I am really impressed. Had a ton of fun with this. excellent work.

kalugny 2014-12-08 16:17

Great great game!
This is what Ludum Dare is for.
Please continue it.

degtyarev 2014-12-08 16:18

too short, but realy great entry

sprawl 2014-12-08 16:18

Screens do not turn on for me in Firefox. It works with chrome though.

Wow. I'm blown away on this one. Them atmosphere is perfect on this one. Gameplay might be simple but it fits the game very very well. the graphics are also very good. This is one of the best entries I've seen so far. Great Job !

fleegle2000 2014-12-08 16:22

Wow, I'm impressed with what you were able to get done in 48 hours. The cockpit graphics alone look like they would be time-consuming. As a fan of KSP, I really enjoyed this experience, and I liked having to fiddle with all the different controls - it felt like I was actually prepping for a launch. I'd love to know how you did the radio noises. Felt very authentic (well, other than seeing the Earth's atmosphere when I'm half-way to Mars ;)) But please continue working on this - it was a fantastic experience and I want to see more.

dminsky 2014-12-08 16:23

Awesome man! This is the best entry of #LD31!

anikki 2014-12-08 16:23

Man, i love this. I want to buy the full version right now.

ithildin 2014-12-08 16:32

Wow, this was brilliant immersion-wise. The moment when the countdown finishes felt truly epic.

mokosha 2014-12-08 16:33

Great job! The graphics were great! I'm really impressed with what you were able to do in 48 hours.

random-abductions 2014-12-08 16:35

Great experience. Lots of stuff to do, only the launch was a bit tricky to do at first. Played it almost 3 times in a row, loved it so much. I really got sucked into the experience. Great art, great sound effects. Lovely absence of music. If you had time to improve some things, make all the gauges and levers inside the cockpit, the menus pull you out of the immersion.

harsayhd 2014-12-08 17:56

10/10 - Would get into space again.

khahem 2014-12-08 18:33

Really good game, I want more !

feiss 2014-12-08 18:33

Thank you guys! I appreciate the comments. I worked hard into the mood and immersion of the game, it feels good to know that it works somehow.

fleegle2000: thanks! All sounds and music are hand made (audacity, bitwig). The voice in the radio is my own voice with my nose closed and distorted, heh

Random Abductions: Thank you! Its a good tip, would be great to have all kind of levers, knobs and buttons in the cockpit to play with. I did the menus thinking of adding more kind of "minigames" in them, so it would have some more gameplay, but I had no time to do more :( but that would be less realistic, and it seems that people like the 'simulation' part of the game, so your tip could be great indeed!

Krisjet: passing near the moon, use its gravity to reach mars, and land on it could be amazing, uh? Yeah..

benko 2014-12-08 18:45

LOVED IT

pjimmy 2014-12-08 18:50

5 stars for the graphics, beautifull game, looking forward for the next versions

frondeus 2014-12-08 18:59

Wow. This is so amazing. I'm really impressed.

meta-link 2014-12-08 19:28

Ok, your game is just awesome.
I loved everything, from the graphics to the sound.

The immersion is amazing, good job :)

amydee 2014-12-08 20:16

I was off to a great start and then I think I got a memory leak a few minutes in. OSX Yosemite, Safari. (Safari seems to have memory issues itself right now, may not be the app.)

mactinite 2014-12-08 20:52

Wow that was a really awesome experience.

markusfisch 2014-12-08 20:53

What a really cool idea! The sound, the graphics, just wow! I'd have loved to make it all the way to Mars and well beyond!

Really hope there will be a post-compo version!

po8rewq 2014-12-08 20:55

Nice !! I would still love to go to mars :)

rnlf 2014-12-08 21:24

I totally loved this game. You did your research on space terminology. Too bad LDs are so short that you couldn't finish it. The visuals are stunning.

http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-31/?action=preview&uid=8733

Definitely a premium entry!

izaacrogers 2014-12-08 21:31

awesome game, i love how well all the buttons respond to everything

tuism 2014-12-08 21:59

This was lovely! I can't honestly say the game is "fun" but it was definitely a great experience. I can't believe the graphics, they're so great.

A few things, though:

Why is the planet or something always visible? The S shape to the right seemed to say I'm flying that path?

The game crashed just a little while into cruising, not sure why... The graphics stopped updating but the game still went because I could hear alarms go off when I left it for too long, and then I pressed up or down and it would go away again. Was weird.

feiss 2014-12-08 22:54

Tuism: thanks! The planet is visible because I thought it would make the experience more enjoyable than looking to a black empty space :) but is funny how some ask for a more scientifically accurate experience :)
About the graphics error.. You may turn the rocket way far up or down and exit the sky sprite. At that point you should get a game over screen, but you didn't.. Sure it's a bug! :P

rnlf: yes, i did! Well, before starting anything I spent a couple of hours researching about the actual orion and the shuttle take off sequence, and stuff like that. Thanks! :)

eigenbom 2014-12-08 22:55

Awesome, well done :D

yanisvieilly 2014-12-08 23:12

This game is great! I love the details on the cockpit and the retro style graphics. The atmosphere is amazing!

lukz 2014-12-08 23:17

Awesome game! Well done!

ellian 2014-12-08 23:20

Amazing. WHY ISN'T THERE MORE.
The graphics are incredible, and while the gameplay is incredibly simple I couldn't help but reach the end.
Lovely game. Amazing job. Congratulations. :)

amydee 2014-12-09 00:07

Ok it broke in Safari and Firefox on OSX, but I got it to work on Chrome. Great experience! Felt anxious as the countdown began.

squirrel 2014-12-09 03:52

Amazing concept, really interesting approach to the theme. The graphics were amazing, the sound effects were good and the gameplay was fun, nice game!

judasbenhur 2014-12-09 06:39

Awesome! Please make this into a full game!

rnlf 2014-12-09 09:10

No idea how I popped the URL to your game into my comment. Probably because I was C&P'ing it into IRC and accidentally put it here too... Weird...

valandre 2014-12-09 09:15

How really impressive, one of my favorite entry as so far. great sfx!

thopis 2014-12-09 09:24

Soooo cool!An experience!

feiss 2014-12-09 09:51

I think the bug in Firefox and Safari is fixed now, sorry!

deepnight 2014-12-09 12:37

The theme was a bit special on this LD (imo), but your entry used it in a very clever way. Well done :)

It's amazing how much mood you can create with such a static view!

feiss 2014-12-09 12:49

thanks man! Yes indeed, the theme was pretty odd :P

dokthar 2014-12-09 13:43

Very nice game. I want MORE !

ysty 2014-12-09 15:11

That's really cool. I love the look and the foley work on the switches is really nice.

gungnir 2014-12-09 15:23

Very cool game. Really great sense of mood and space.

Thanks.

calavera 2014-12-09 15:29

Fantastic! Would really love to see this idea taken further (at least until Star Citizen is released)

hexagore 2014-12-09 15:33

This is absolutely outstanding. My only gripe is that my heart fell when I reached the end and realised it was all over. Lovely artwork, so so very atmospheric. :(

occamsrazor 2014-12-09 15:39

Wow....just wow. That was awesome, and I'm awestruck that you got all this done in the time frame. Phenomenal graphics, audio, and easily the best atmosphere I've ever seen in LD.

Bravo.

43iscoding 2014-12-09 15:40

Absolutely astonishing! 10/10 AAA :D I really enjoyed those 5 minutes spent on your game. My favorite so far! Waiting for more <3

arg-games 2014-12-09 15:40

That game is a blast!

robber 2014-12-09 15:47

Yes!! I Love Space..very nice style here!

codecranker 2014-12-09 15:54

wow! I literally felt like I was in a spacecraft. Fantastic!

cxsquared 2014-12-09 15:55

Really amazing job. My only gripe is that I would have liked some cool sound effects during some steps like the separation steps. Amazing game though.

harrs 2014-12-09 15:55

Really beautiful, amazing atmosphere for a game created in such a short time!

2014-12-09 16:06

I just wish you could extend the game for a loooong full flight. The game is simple, yes but this is not a problem because the experience is fantastic. I hope you will finish the game one day :)

radstar 2014-12-09 16:14

Really nice! I was really absorbed by your game, looking for all those button! I was sad when reaching the end :( Good job!

feiss 2014-12-09 16:15

cxsquared: oh man, fuck! Your're totally right! I thought of playing some sfx on the separation phases but with the rush I completely forgot! Damn :D

Thank you everybody! You are very generous :)

garethiw 2014-12-09 16:28

Very topical! Nice atmosphere as well!

kburkhart84 2014-12-09 16:28

It worked fine as far as I know in firefox. But after the part where the order was to relax and enjoy the view either I didn't know what to do or it stopped giving orders.
Also, I think fighting the pitch was a little too extreme. It was like you barely hit the one where you have to adjust 4 bars and before you finish the first bar it is already shaking.

adrianulima 2014-12-09 16:40

amazing game!!! congrats

rogberth 2014-12-09 16:53

Really cool!!! the feel this game gives is superb. To bad the end was lacking of content. But great job!!!

murrayl 2014-12-09 17:06

Fantastic visuals and atmosphere, although the game itself is somewhat lacking!

Has the same sort of appeal as playing something like Euro Truck Simulator or Train Simulator - a fairly relaxing experience that immerses the player. Sadly, constantly having to manage the pitch feels like something of a conceit, tacked-on so that the player has something to do during the flight.

Apart from that, a fantastic effort! An amazing accomplishment for two days work.

pancakecity 2014-12-09 17:17

This is really an incredible entry, I am in awe that this was done in such a short time span!

feiss 2014-12-09 17:17

Yeah, you are totally right about the Pitch thing.. I didn't have time to polish the gameplay any more, and it ended quite silly :P

6downstudios 2014-12-09 17:34

Really fantastic, all around. My favorite so far, and not just because I'm a nut for space exploration.

Bravo sir. Bravo.

doctor-broccoli 2014-12-09 18:10

Aww, I never even got to press the random button...

mutatedsoftware 2014-12-09 18:11

That was a lot of fun! Thank you.

31eee384 2014-12-09 18:12

Wow, awesome! Cockpit simulations are really neat, I just wish you had time to put in more content! Great audio and visuals, and great atmosphere. Even though the game's on a single screen, I felt like I was on a trip to Mars. (Apparently it's very close to Earth. ;) )

alvarop 2014-12-09 18:19

Wow, looks amazing!

qristofer 2014-12-09 18:28

Just super cool. Like this with some more action would be amazing.

alpha_rat 2014-12-09 19:50

Great graphics and audio, I really enjoyed it!

lightsoda 2014-12-09 19:53

The cockpit looks great, and the sounds fit really well. Nice work.

reverso13 2014-12-09 20:39

Amazing game and great graphics. Congrats!

2014-12-09 20:54

Awesome Cockpit design you have made. Great audio btw :D.

amour-maternel 2014-12-09 20:55

Very good idea and fun to play. Love the mood, sound and graphics. I want more.

bygmalion 2014-12-09 21:31

I love space, I love this game,I love you, thanks.

snipercommand 2014-12-09 21:54

Great game, I really felt like I was in a giant space ship, and somehow pressing all the buttons didn't make me explode =P Great execution I love the art style, the mood, the sounds, ...

aree-vanier 2014-12-09 22:30

Epic graphics, physics and game in general!
I found it a bit long but really fun if you have the time

panda 2014-12-09 22:31

very pretty, congratulations! Is this all based on actual steps, or is it made up?

rene-damm 2014-12-09 22:35

Wow, amazing concept and equally amazing execution.

joshua_burr 2014-12-09 22:47

The game froze just as I was taking off :( I could hear it all happening in the background but couldn't see anything change on screen. I was running it in Safari. Loved what I saw though.

feiss 2014-12-09 23:17

JoshuaBurr: yes, something odd happens in Safari.. Chrome is the recommended browser, if you can test it in it.. sorry! :/

panda: hmm.. I researched for 2 hours about launching sequences, so some steps and terminology is actual stuff, but many is made up.. and also, I don't believe that the astronauts have to press many buttons on take off, I suppose everything is automated and controlled from Launch Control, don't you think? dunno, really.. :D

Thanks everybody again! :)

okkolobr 2014-12-09 23:36

I. Was. In. Space !

THANKS !

jaymfernandes 2014-12-09 23:59

This is fantastic! The initial take-off was AWESOME. Great job and with only 48 hours!

andreaswitzen 2014-12-10 00:48

Just wow! Really loved the sound and feel of the buttons.

shadowtzu 2014-12-10 01:09

Game freeze every 6 seconds with firefox and does not work with IE.

boracho 2014-12-10 01:28

Really great game! The instructions are a little unclear at first but once you pick them up it's smooth sailing (or launching as it were). Great art, great sound, I can't really think of anything bad to say (except the end, but that's understandable). Really Good work!

quikding 2014-12-10 03:47

very laggy in firefox. cool concept!

sarahfrisk 2014-12-10 04:32

I loved the graphics in this, great job!

I loved the combination of trying to drive, while also making sure everything is set correctly.

Seriously, can you please finish this game?

catwheel 2014-12-10 04:58

This was really fun. I like the feel of this game :3

elvaq 2014-12-10 05:34

Definitely one of my favorites I've played this LD! I love the concept and the execution is just amazing. And the ending! Haha, It's Desert Bus in space!

ianh 2014-12-10 06:34

What a rush!

nuclearnapalm 2014-12-10 07:56

This...is...awesome! I'm speechless...

fergusontv_ld31 2014-12-10 09:20

Outstanding graphics. The liftoff part just make the game. Great job !

indigon 2014-12-10 11:48

Simply wow.

suppagumma 2014-12-10 11:57

This is so beautiful and awesome and other banally praising sentences! Loved your take on the theme and the clickiness of it. Would be great if you developed it more after the jam :)

delahee 2014-12-10 12:35

love the retro style, and the camera shake effect is coool.

ajopart 2014-12-10 12:43

Great experience !

tipyx 2014-12-10 12:44

Wow... With the OST of Interstellar, it will be very awesome :p. Great experience !

carduus 2014-12-10 13:01

Between Interstellar and kerBal Space Program, i needed this game, awesome job dude, the mood is just perfect.
The experience of LD31.

jhrrsn 2014-12-10 14:13

I mean, I can count at least 8 screens in that interface, so I'll have to rate you 0/5 for Theme.

Just kidding (ha!). This is ace! Well done on creating such a polished and engaging experience in only 48hrs. I wish there was more of it, which is always a good thing to hear about a LD game!

lekochen 2014-12-10 14:40

Wow, the graphics and atmosphere is just crazy.

maniulo 2014-12-10 17:14

OK, I think this is the first LD game that I scored five stars in each category. Wow.

carduus 2014-12-10 18:01

Rated! Shining staaaars everywere!!!

maurogik 2014-12-10 18:25

This is great ! It feels like your inside the ship ^^.

2014-12-10 18:33

Keep working on it please! +1 for Greenlighting!

elendow 2014-12-10 18:57

Awesome work, feel like that good old games. Make it longer, please!!

headmade 2014-12-10 19:02

Stunning visual and sound design. Incredible!

javadocmd 2014-12-10 19:11

I love this so much. <3 The only thing I want is more.

badlydrawnrod 2014-12-10 19:12

Thanks to your game I have achieved my childhood dream, all from a laptop at my dining room table. That was really atmospheric (if you'll forgive the pun). I liked it a lot.

justinmullin 2014-12-10 20:28

Spectacular experience for the feel and mood. There's not much actual gameplay here, but I have never had so much fun with so little gameplay. Brilliantly executed. =)

simonchauvin 2014-12-10 20:36

This hits all the right spot. Well done it's really really cool.

travischen 2014-12-10 20:42

LOVE THIS! I made a game similar a while back celebrating the space shuttle: http://www.travischen.com/DISCOVERY

puppetmaster 2014-12-10 21:07

Very atmospheric game. This is just the beginning of a great space adventure game! :-)

threstle 2014-12-10 21:28

Amazing ! I think I have no critique to make. This is a perfect take on the theme. :D

zambini 2014-12-10 22:23

This is by far some of the best set of visual and audio production I've seen.

As far as gameplay goes, however, I feel like there could be more to it.

Luckily this is Ludum Dare, and this is simply fantastic for a compo entry.

zyow 2014-12-10 23:00

Really cool! I love the atmosphere!

jupitron 2014-12-10 23:02

Just incredible! Amazing feeling!

mildmojo 2014-12-11 01:23

I'd be happy if the entire jam was all games like this. Love UI-heavy simulator-likes (Steel Battalion, Spaceteam, Artemis). So far I've only found your entry and "You Have the Con".

Really pretty pixel art. The rocker switches in particular look great. The screen shake and blur effect is perfect and the soundscape is very complete. I do wish you'd had time to finish the mission to mars, or have the goal be to achieve stable orbit.

I played in Firefox for OSX, but the game would be perfect for touch devices.

barryrowe 2014-12-11 04:00

This game is so good, and even more impressive as a compo entry. I had to check this out after @LarryChupacabra's highlight video. Very well done. This is my favorite entry so far.

virtuallycompetent 2014-12-11 04:05

Reminds me of Steel Battalion, trying to get a grasp on what all the buttons and switches do without dying. I failed the first time because I spaced on the countdown, but luckily I knew where everything was the second time so it didn't take nearly as long to get started.

I was expecting something to go wrong near the end of the trip, after I was told to relax. I'm glad it was smooth, but it would have been a nice test to see how quickly I could hunt down whatever button I needed to get out of a bad situation.

flyingbear 2014-12-11 06:24

That was truly amazing. That is all.

plauk 2014-12-11 10:25

So so so amazing. I would have given you ALL of the stars, if I'd been able to reach Mars. Still, this is wonderful.

gillenew 2014-12-11 12:18

wow, amazing entry! The graphic and sound immersion are awesome, congratulations for this :)

franklins-ghost 2014-12-11 13:06

Graphics work so well with the audio, was fun to play but would have been nice to have seen a planet at the end. Definitely understandable that there wasn't one with the time, I know how it is. The mood was the best I've seen so far in an entry, you really set it well with the opening tasks. Hoping you expand upon this.

nuno 2014-12-11 15:39

so cool!! how dare you not letting me finish my mission?? ;P

da_kid 2014-12-11 18:50

Really good. This should be made into a full game with actual planet backgrounds :P

sputnik 2014-12-11 21:10

Pretty good project. Really immersive!

zayron 2014-12-11 21:12

Lags bad in Firefox and will not load at all in IE. Game looks cool from what little I did play in Firefox. :)

kalaskrysset 2014-12-11 21:15

I want more! This looks amazing! Clever gameplay, simple at first but I was pretty sure I was gonna crash once I had to keep pitch and press buttons at the same time :P Bummer I have to wait for the sequel to see Mars! Great game!

ltyrosine 2014-12-11 21:19

Best game I've player so far in LD31. Amazing work, congrats.

absor 2014-12-11 21:22

More.

crocantidepollo 2014-12-11 21:27

Wow, that was fantastic! It's like a singleplayer realistic version of SpaceTeam, and that's amazing. Great work!

sebasrez 2014-12-11 21:28

The page isn't loading :( I will come back and try again but I only rated the graphics for now from what I see. Can't wait to play it.

ulydev 2014-12-11 21:35

Amazing experience ! Brutal ending though :(

arcturusdeluxe 2014-12-11 21:36

One of the best I've seen this LD. Surprisingly compelling game even though I'm following instructions and looking for buttons. The graphics, sounds and overall atmosphere really sell it. Nice work!

sebasrez 2014-12-11 21:52

Ah so cool, was able to play it now and that was just as much as it looked! excellent work!

doitle 2014-12-11 21:53

Incredibly well done. I think this is my favorite of this LD. The only thing I wish was that it wasn't so linear and I could screw up the controls intentionally and see the consequences. I hope you will continue developing this and fully flesh it out because I will play the dingus out of it.

paperweight 2014-12-11 22:05

Amazing that this was done in 48 hours, one of the benchmark entries.

hoyt-hoy 2014-12-11 22:16

WHy so hard!!
I forgot to start the engines and Kaput...
But, is very very nice game, Innovation, Theme, Overall one of the most different and nice game I played in this LD
GOOD WORK!!

recursor 2014-12-11 23:34

Nice atmosphere and sounds. I wanted it to keep going.

pegigante 2014-12-11 23:49

Nice game. It reminded me of wing commander. I loved it.

blackbulletiv 2014-12-12 00:00

Amazing graphics with a great atmosphere to it. A shame it was so short.

naoistheguardian 2014-12-12 00:33

Awesome game, and smart use of the theme. Shame you didn't have time to imeplement more.

zyxer 2014-12-12 02:33

Wow awesome game!!Love it! Great graphics, great mood and great sound! One of the best games I've played so far.

zyxer 2014-12-12 02:37

Something I forgot to say: I have an unplayable framerate in Firefox (1-3 fps), but it's fine in Chrome.

devark 2014-12-12 03:42

Great entry, really polished!

urbanlogicgames 2014-12-12 09:31

One of my top 5 games this Ludum Dare! Brilliant art and audio, the tone of the whole thing is perfect. Keeping the ship steady while finding the next control is challenging without being too difficult. It'd be nice to see this taken further!

gentlypub 2014-12-12 12:59

Nice mood and nice screenshake feedback when the pitch is off!

rantt 2014-12-12 13:20

Wow, this was awesome. I really enjoyed it, felt like an astronaut for a few minutes...lol. Great job :)

notnasiul 2014-12-12 17:12

I'm in awe. FTL from the cockpit perspective NOW XD

bushmango3 2014-12-12 18:04

Do a barrel roll fox!!! Hint. You can't do a barrel roll. I tried.

This game is fantastic! I would love to see a bigger version of this game where you have to control all the little knobs and switches. It's deeply satisfying to me.

intersectiongames 2014-12-12 19:04

Loved it. This was my favorite out of all the ones I've played so far. It's a great little experience.
The effort put into it really shows.
I don't think it's weird that people expect science or realism. We did a game that had strong roots in biology, and people loved that part of it. They loved that realism. Finding that perfect line between fantasy and realism can sometimes be a challenge, especially for simulation games like this. You've done a great job so far though.

rothens 2014-12-12 22:34

Okay, now it's time to put in more content :P Nice game otherwise ^^

orion_black 2014-12-13 01:10

Good take on the theme. Excellent execution. Good job.

gafblizzard 2014-12-13 05:18

Great concept. A bit stuttery in Firefox. You should make this into a non-browser game, and people would probably love it. :)

funkysquid 2014-12-13 05:33

So beautiful :D

ncannasse 2014-12-13 08:53

Just perfect

sanojian 2014-12-13 09:07

I've rated hundreds of LD games in seven compos and this is the best looking and feeling one. Amazing job!

agram 2014-12-13 09:12

Great game !

teameagle 2014-12-13 16:04

pretty awesome!, especially for a compo game. Hoped for more, I guess it's better to let know that there's nothing more instead of letting someone fly for 2 more minutes without anything :P

ghostinthesoft 2014-12-13 17:26

Like the mood of the game. Pretty good graphics and audio

kddekadenz 2014-12-13 19:49

Interesting idea, I crashed because the value input was cocky.

apiotrw 2014-12-13 20:01

Great cockpit

ottersden 2014-12-14 07:47

I reached Mars! Great concept! It was very enjoyable.

spotco 2014-12-14 10:13

Lovely pixel art :)

mossy-frog 2014-12-14 11:10

So amazing. I would kill for a space sim game of this style.

allurious 2014-12-14 13:18

Really nice atmosphere, but dat ending! :p I was hammering the radio thinking MAYBE THEY WANT TO TALK TO ME MORE...

keeperofbee 2014-12-14 15:08

Love the graphics!

albertosm 2014-12-14 16:31

Very interesting and atmospheric game! You got a good thing going on with this idea, I hope you develop it further!

oddballdave 2014-12-14 17:15

Great game. It crashed for me at about stage one separation. The audio continued but the graphics froze. Good stuff though.

lythom 2014-12-14 21:02

I... just flew in space. The mood was amazing.
Thank you !

mekuri 2014-12-14 21:16

Loved the idea and the level of detail, I made it to "mars" :-)
It felt a bit boring at first, but after take off it gets a bit more challenging. Loved the idea. Good job!

nikteddy92 2014-12-14 21:17

Damn, this game is so damn cool...
Well done! I love everything, graphic, sounds gameplay! Great work!

davidvisscher 2014-12-14 23:37

Just ... Amazing

victorljs 2014-12-14 23:46

Best game I've played so far, very good.

ludipe 2014-12-14 23:59

The atmosphere is awesome in this game!

lereveur 2014-12-15 00:05

Everyone wish to beeing an astronaut, and with this game we can. :D

watercressstudios 2014-12-15 00:32

Intensely atmospheric, immersive, and even romantic in a kind of way. This was a pretty damn cool experience.

devonoel 2014-12-15 02:44

You should keep working on this after the compo, it's fantastic.

uvwar 2014-12-15 03:40

Pretty cool as is, now just put in some asteroids and martians!

eforen 2014-12-15 10:05

Very nicely done! Good job!

leaden 2014-12-15 10:58

Awesome experience! I have seen game with similar idea, but there I feel like a space monkey, and here I feel like a pro astronaut. Great work with the mood.

Dagnarus 2014-12-15 13:12

I don't want to be THAT guy... but this is listed as a compo entry and you didn't provided the source (and looking at you previous entries, it's not the first time)

Also I am pretty sure I heard some of those sounds on freesound.org

papygaragos 2014-12-15 13:13

Hey good job! I did something very similar with my entry, but yours looks way better

feiss 2014-12-15 14:50

Dagnarus:

Since it's html+javascript, you can check the source code by right clicking on the page, and choose "view source code". The main game code is in that js1k.js. (The same applies to my older entries but NONEX, which is Flash and for which I provided the source)

Don't know if there are similar sounds at freesound.org (maybe you could point those out), but all I can say is that all sounds are made with my microphone, audacity and bitwig. I have some original WAVs but not all, for I work very unorganized with sound.. :P

I'll try to stream my ludum dare next time X)

Thank you everybody for the comments!!

todnut 2014-12-15 21:11

Awesome in every way!

solifuge 2014-12-15 21:20

Great art and sounds here, and overall excellent work in setting the mood and selling the scenario. A good, gritty flight sim is hard to find, and for a LD project this was very well done.

As an experience this was very cool, though it didn't feel quite like a game. Something more sandboxy, with more oportunities to misclick buttons, or do things wrong (maybe more complex or less direct orders), would have been nice, say deactivating the Radio and activating Orbital Radio when you needed orders from Mission Control, and if you didn't you'd miss a critical update on your trajectory. More options for failure due to precision or misinterpreted orders, less immediate failure (possibly your lack of precision cost you points?) and less "you took too long to hit the button" failures would have been nice ways to build on the experience, I think.

Excellent work on your entry!

seconddimension 2014-12-15 22:32

Oh this was amazing, really nailed the atmosphere. Great use of the theme too

jjevil 2014-12-15 22:47

Ha ha ha ha! Ok I really like this one. Quite funny because me playing it is like someone hired an unqualified idiot to fly the ship. Here we have a smart AI that doesn't let you screw up that much, now mash the buttons till you become a spaceship pilot. Quite fun, including the situational humor.

runvs 2014-12-15 23:56

You _have_ to continue this game.

Georgeous graphics that set the mood perfectly.

Very well done! :)

mrshoestore 2014-12-16 01:09

love it. impressively engaging. and thoroughly enjoyed the launch sequence.

chuigum 2014-12-16 01:55

Awesome job! LOVE THE GRAPHICS! One of the best games I've seen so far, very fun!

whilefun 2014-12-16 02:35

Excellent audio and graphics. I loved all the switches and stuff. One thing I found is that the windows that came up with the rocker/toggle switches closed to fast after the last switch was thrown. It would be neat if the last switch clicked the same as the others and there was a brief pause. I really enjoyed the screen shake and radio chatter effects. The mission itself was a bit misleading, as I thought once I reached near the red planet I would have to press the other buttons and do some other sequence of things. But I made it to the end, and it was pretty cool. Intermediate events requiring additional action (with radio chatter) would add a lot here I think. Overall excellent entry, very nice look and feel. Good work!

tmalicet 2014-12-16 11:53

5/5 for the immersion.

tsabanski 2014-12-17 08:19

I had a very nice experience with this one. The graphics were lovely and cohesive -- the colors were really great, a nice space-age palette. Not too modern, not too old-fashioned. Though, it did remind me a lot of playing Wing Commander for some reason.

Even after I'd preformed all the required actions in the game, and there was basically no real gameplay but to "reach Mars" (aka, travel to the red dot) -- I still found myself casually playing. I loved the look and feel of the game. The sounds, the way it controlled. It was really smooth and peaceful. I wouldn't mind sitting for awhile and just enjoying the sights (a-la spaceship simulator).

It didn't even really need things going wrong to be entertaining. I loved switching all the switches and pressing the buttons. Really aesthetically pleasing. I liked it a lot. :)

ryannielson 2014-12-17 14:28

Neat concept and atmosphere for a game, fantastic art as well. The sound was great and really fit the game.

Although I found the separation of first and second stages quite annoying since it was almost impossible to click the buttons with the ship shaking around. That caused me to lose and I didn't want to go through the slow start again just to reach that point.

job_ 2014-12-17 16:03

What an innovative idea, but right know it's mainly just pressing random buttons(mainly in the beginning), so that's not really fun, but other than that great game! Everything else is great!

xanjos 2014-12-17 16:09

Holy crap, everything about this entry is just amazing from the detail of the cockpit to the sound and really fun to play as well. You should definitely port this to VR devices like the Oculus Rift as that would be even more amazing (Also you're right in that Chrome is recommended as I tried it first in Firefox and it crashed as soon as it started).

infectionteam 2014-12-17 18:56

Brilliant, let's get this thing to mars!

canyon 2014-12-18 04:31

I can't even

tifu 2014-12-18 16:06

Runs really bad in Safari, with gameplay stuttering every few seconds, making the timing for the countdown absolutely impossible (tried three or four times, much frustration) - downloaded Chrome, worked fine in that.

Really impressive graphics, though.. the planet being there all the time is certainly weird =P
Not much interaction once you get into space and jetison the things, probably needs some kind of "oh no the thing is overheating, do the coolants" "there's a problem! radio Huston and they'll tell you what to do" kind of disaster or the like. Ideally some randomised things of that nature to really keep people engaged through several playthroughs. Obviously you wouldn't have had time for that here, but as you're considering working on this further, then those are suggestions I guess :P

tifu 2014-12-18 16:07

Sorry, I meant runs really bad in Firefox. Don't know why I said Safari.

5you 2014-12-19 14:02

Then end is a bit disappointing but it's a great little game overall !

priorblue 2014-12-20 12:41

Very deep atmosphere! I Like the concept.

crazyrems 2014-12-20 13:18

This... is... Awesome !
Certainly the best entry of this LD31.
I would like to know what is the use of the random button ?

Lucariatias 2014-12-20 15:26

Wow, this is REALLY impressive. I wouldn't be surprised if this won. Really relaxing, the only place I could fault it would be lack of content, but even that's not really an issue for a good 10 minutes of gameplay. The amount of controls was great. Not sure why you opted out of humour, I found the "Random button" hilarious :3
Good job, look foward to seeing more participations,
There's no source link though, I believe it's in the rules that compo games require source to be submitted?

shellfishgames 2014-12-20 23:22

Wowww, all the stars for you. :) This is amazing. So immersive. And cool. Although you don't really do much, it's surprisingly fun. Everything looks georgeous. Played almost 80 LD31 games now, this one takes the cake!

feiss 2014-12-21 10:27

Thanks again guys! :D

Alyphen: since it's an html+javascript game, you can view the source directly, with the "view page source" option in your browser :)

metalchouchen 2014-12-21 15:26

Really impressive work on graphics. The game is really good when we have stuff to do. Sad the end was so long for nothing. I hope you can continue the development of your game !

anael 2014-12-21 20:22

best game I played ! congrats !!

donovanwu 2014-12-22 00:03

This is a super cool looking and cool feeling game, and one among my highest rated entry!

kate-kligman 2014-12-22 02:49

I love this! It reminds me of a space shuttle game for the atari 2600, except way better graphics. :) 10/10

wooltech 2014-12-22 02:52

Great concept, I'd love to see it finished.

hundredhundred 2014-12-23 08:16

Great atmosphere Loved playing this one! it was a shame near the end though :( when the cockpit stopped talking to you I wish that there was more gameplay! Great entry!

npexception 2014-12-23 10:46

Lovely thing!

taviandir 2014-12-23 16:01

super amazing game! It really portrays a beautiful feeling and atmosphere. It doesn't come off as fun per say - but it was a great experience nontheless!
Your timing with a game like this is so PERFECT now with all the Interstellar hype going on around the world.

taviandir 2014-12-23 16:05

Source code not available? It's mandatory to publish it in the compo, but maybe you are so happy with this game you'll take the disqualification and keep working on it? (thats fine by me, just wanted to point it out!)

srakowski 2014-12-24 03:57

Wow this is a great game! Quality interface/graphics. I eventually just went off trajectory to see what would happen... lol. Well done!

originaloldman 2014-12-24 06:04

One of my favorites so far. Great job :)

feiss 2014-12-24 07:28

Taviandir: since it's an html+javascript game, you can view the source directly, with the "view page source" option in your browser :)

Jeremias 2014-12-24 12:28

This style is incredible. What an awesome concept. The only thing I hate is to start over from the beginning ;D (it lags with Firefox btw).

instant-noodles 2014-12-24 14:24

A bit disapointed by the end but the journey was nice.
Nice mood.

krisdevelopment 2014-12-25 11:35

Great work!

admix 2014-12-25 11:40

Amazing entry! Are we going to see a post-compo game? =)

hoqjed 2014-12-25 18:26

Really nicely built atmosphere and I like the brief feeling of confidence it gave me when you're tasked to turn a couple of switches on in a row.

Sort of makes you feel like you have all of this vast experience because you're THAT pilot you see in movies that flips a couple of switches effortlessly to get a ship going. And then the countdown sequence started, and all sorts of doubt went through my mind. "I'm definitely not qualified for this, I was just following on screen instructions... I'VE ONLY DONE THIS IN VR TRAINING LET ME OUT". Then everything is okay because the launch ended up going alright, confidence restored.

I think the main thing that did end up taking away from my enjoyment was how direct and controlled the whole experience was. The only part that I truly felt like I had direct control over was the pitch, everything else I turned on or off because of the plainly obvious instructions. There wasn't any experimentation, I never really felt like I learned how to do anything or that I had to learn in the first place. The game led me with a carrot at the end of a stick the whole time, and even if I wanted to try to flip some other buttons on/off I couldn't. I can't, say, turn the engine off mid-flight like an idiot, or turn the radio off and pretend I'm going AWOL. It's just not allowed and that really breaks me from the experience.

Another bit of criticism was how the game ends (both when you succeed or fail). If you try to crash, you get this really sudden and static "game over" screen. It was just way too sudden, and a quick fade to black/white with a crash sound would have probably gone a long way to help with the consistency of the rest of the game. Actually even just a slow fade to black as you enter the fail state would have been a pretty effective transition by itself (then fade the game over screen in).
The "win" screen was pretty much the same, a smoother transition would have gone a long way to help reinforce the mood of the rest of the game. Of course, I understand that stuff didn't make it because of time constraints. It was just sort of disappointing to leave such an atmospheric experience on a flat note.

Overall, it's a really nice atmospheric experience which is excellent for Ludum Dare. 5 stars in graphics, audio and mood. But it sort of drops the ball a bit as an engaging interactive experience, so that aspect would need to be addressed more if you continue work on this.

martial_cantarel_games 2014-12-26 01:08

)))))

feiss 2014-12-26 11:13

Hoqjed: thank you so much for sharing your ideas and feelings. I will take all that into account if I go on with this :)

dunin 2014-12-26 22:08

nice atmosphere. Too bad it ends so early...

dans17 2014-12-27 02:09

Its a very simple game at the moment, but this opens up a variety of larger, post-compo games you could make with this basis.

chaoseed 2014-12-27 08:03

This is pretty great! The graphics are awesome. The idea is sound, and it's got room for expansion. Now, if only if you could get rid of the lag that happens every five seconds or so...

knighty 2014-12-28 07:12

Good graphics and audio. After all the button pressing was done, it felt like a space version of "Desert Bus".

hazard 2014-12-29 12:17

Incredible! Art and sound are perfect and create an amazing atmosphere. Playing it for the first time felt quite tense (in a good way), not knowing what to expect and so many controls to familiarize with.

ozcr 2015-01-29 07:57

I really like the atmosphere of the game.

Great job.