FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD57 → Hyperspacedive

Hyperspacedive

By marudziik

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall5263.4366
Fun3283.5366
Innovation5183.1166
Theme7073.0666
Graphics3923.7766
Audio4143.2464
Humor6342.2058
Mood5533.3864

Comments

manuel-cabrerizo 2025-04-08 02:33

nice game, love the style

ferit 2025-04-08 03:18

Nice Game!

I made it to level 7, its weirdly addicting lol.

ohjuliego 2025-04-08 03:20

circles hurt the eyes a bit. especially the brighter white ones. really like what you did with the perspective of the ship!

koolruz 2025-04-08 04:16

Woah, these are some extremely cool visuals - I loved the dithering and genuinely got mesmerized by level 7 or 8 and died while trying to pick apart what I was looking at 😅

Great job!

mamboman 2025-04-08 06:47

Well done! That hyperspace is hypnotic =)

python-b5 2025-04-08 07:07

Whoa, this is mesmerizing. I might recommend adding an epilepsy warning to the page, but these are some insanely cool effects. I might have to look at the code to see how you managed that at some point.

As for the gameplay, it's alright. I wasn't able to quite complete the game - my best was level 9, which I got to a few times. I'm not sure if the difficulty is supposed to increase as the game continues; while some levels were definitely much easier than others, that difficulty change did not seem to correspond to the level number. Some of the later levels were some of the easiest, while some of the earlier levels were some of the hardest. Generally, if I got hit, it was because the game had me pinned in with no choice _but_ to get hit. I can tell if I'm going to get hit multiple seconds before I do, and there's almost never anything I can do about it. I'm pretty sure the correct strategy is to weave in and out between the bubbles such as to pass them before they grow too large to dodge, but some levels spawn bubbles quickly enough to make that strategy impossible (or at least, close to it).

I do like how the player controls, though. The way perspective is used is neat and adds to the unique feel of the game. Maybe it would be nicer if there was a slightly larger range you were allowed to move in, since that would make more tight situations escapable.

marudziik 2025-04-08 07:20

@python-b5 Added the epilepsy warning to the page - that is a great suggestion, thank you!

I am very grateful for all the feedback I'm getting, thanks!!!

joseph-tan 2025-04-08 07:49

Well done! I have been stuck at level 7 for who knows how long, hahah! I really liked the 8-bit art, the colors that are showing up on the screen is really really cool. It took me some time to understand how the player grows/shrinks when going close or far away from the enemy (not really sure if it is an enemy), it felt a little hopeless for me at first (though that could just be a skill issue from me) but after figuring out how the player size works it suddenly became really fun. Perhaps doing a very very short tutorial would benefit the more clumsy players (me me me) so they wouldn't get too lost when they first start the game.

aly-name 2025-04-08 07:58

Nice entry! love the style.

I managed to make it to level 10. Is this infinite or does it have an ending?

marudziik 2025-04-08 09:06

@aly-name Well done! You were very close to the ending - there's 11 levels in total, but then they loop back. I playtested it so that it should be very, very difficult to get past level 11 (though not impossible - there's RNG factor to it). Thanks!

xorfe 2025-04-08 10:10

The visuals and music are very good. The controls could have been better, and there could have been health regeneration during gameplay. Overall, it's good.

cr-nch 2025-04-08 11:06

I love how the ship looks 3D despite the limitations of PICO-8! Super impressive stuff!

philocode 2025-04-08 12:25

The style is absolutely mesmerizing, I love it. And while the controls are simple, the game definitely isn't. Even though you mention that the final stages are reachable, they definitely are not for me :D

stratcat66 2025-04-08 12:57

Thank you for your game! I am also a big fan of the PICO-8 System, therefore I know how impressive your graphical effects are here. The controls are a bit tricky (I needed a moment to understand, what I am actually doing). I only managed to get to level 7, but I like the overall atmosphere. Especially the death jingle at the end.

nonumbersgames 2025-04-08 13:35

Mesmerizing experience with simple but solid gameplay, cool stuff, thank you for making it! (is there a way to reset the game without refreshing browser? haven't found it yet)

marudziik 2025-04-08 13:42

@nonumbersgames Thanks! As with most pico-8 entries, you can press ENTER and pick "RESET CART", which will reset the cartridge.

boboneoone 2025-04-08 13:55

Very cool visuals. I liked how despite the repetitiveness, the color scheme change ups made it feel fresh as you went along.

resty 2025-04-08 15:01

failed at level 10 twice, gameplay is fun. may be better if player could move faster or have a smaller hitbox, to make less scenario that feels unable to deal with.

leorean 2025-04-08 15:20

Pico-8 games are always so smooth <3 great job!

notnasiul 2025-04-08 16:20

I suck in this kind of games, as I am never sure how close I'm to enemies! I usually end up adding a shadow on the ground, but then players only look at those shadows, because that's where the info is! Tricky :D

Anyway, I ended up squeezeing through circles just in case XD Made it to level 6! :D

2025-04-08 17:43

This is so cool! The visuals have a Wipeout Zone mode vibe. In my first playthrough I thought the projectiles were timed with the music, but realised after replaying that I'd been imagining it. I think that could be a cool idea though! The rhythm might add another layer of strategy as you can predict gaps in the stream, and as you got to new levels the rhythm could get more complicated. Really great work as-is though!

vinnnie 2025-04-08 18:23

Very pleasant to look at. Movement is very smooth and becomes natural after about level 4. A few power-ups and you could play this game for a loooong time.

kali 2025-04-08 19:19

really cool visuals!!! i'm always amazed by what people manage to squeeze out of PICO-8, the 3D feel and color patterns are just amazing. made it to level 11 by just hanging back in the middle until I absolutely *had* to reposition, then immediately going back to the middle as soon as it was safe. if you wanted it to go infinite, you could add some health pickups, and if you wanted to encourage riskier play, you could add score pickups, but what's here is plenty of fun already and looks *amazing!!!*

a0405u 2025-04-08 19:42

Oh, the Earth Worm Jim space races!

oinkle 2025-04-08 19:47

A very fun and addicting game! I love the 8-bit style and how depth plays a role.

jester1454 2025-04-08 19:50

brilliant pico 8 game! reminded me sonic special stages from megadrive :smile:. very cool art style and arcade gameply, cool!

anchry 2025-04-08 20:03

Looks and plays really nice, shame about missing the compo deadline but a great entry nontheless!

jhandsy 2025-04-08 22:43

super pretty visuals.

michael-parrish 2025-04-09 03:26

This is really awesome! The fact that you're able to achieve this kind of visual depth with a limited color palette and resolution is really incredible. Admittedly because the circles were green I thought the goal was to get as many as possible at first, but I quickly realized what I was doing wrong. Great entry!

pres2300 2025-04-09 04:50

Wow, really great visuals! I was jamming to the tunes as well. This was a simple game but a lot of fun. Definitely gave me some nostalgia. Nice work!

tugaryn 2025-04-09 08:30

Really cool, like it

tikotey 2025-04-09 08:44

Nice game, like the visual, reached level 9))

jhax 2025-04-09 13:10

Really visually interesting and a good difficulty, the spaceship design's cool too!

airgameboys 2025-04-09 13:29

Somehow it doesn't let me rate the game :/ But it's nice! Reminds me of Super Hexagon

caer 2025-04-09 13:55

I loooooove seeing how people create interactive experiences in highly-constrained settings like an 8-bit engine; this game is no exception! I really like how the sound and visual design work together, and it was fun trying to make it to the final level (I...did not). My only point of confusion was that the avatar wouldn't move anywhere past halfway-up on the Y-axis; I wasn't sure if this was intentional or not, but it felt a little frustrating at times...

mayrakissa 2025-04-09 16:05

Nice time killer and really cool design! Well done.

is-a-hatbox 2025-04-09 18:41

Made it to level 9! Fun game, love the simple mechanics

tois 2025-04-09 19:07

Pretty ok, but it is initially slightly confusing that orbs are green rather than some "dangerous" color.

fancyreckless 2025-04-09 19:25

Trippy game, love the graphics and sounds. Movement range seemed a bit random and sometimes I feel like there was no way to avoid the bubbles.

baturinsky 2025-04-09 20:11

Using Jam to motivate oneself to learn some new tool is a reasonable idea. I have used new tool this jam too (LittleJS lib). As for gameplay, it's fun, but I'd remove the black holes (ones that you hit), so they do not keep damaging you.

field-of-king 2025-04-09 20:33

Awesome. Very cool looking. I love the aesthetic. Gameplay is also quite fun.

whateverdat 2025-04-09 21:01

Always love a good pico8 game!

kveg 2025-04-09 21:24

HELL YEAH love pico 8. Very neat very cool. Love the pseudo 3d feel. Colors are sick. Feels great to play. Well done.

johnnysix 2025-04-09 22:14

Very cool - really loved the chip style sound effects, reminds me of making games in gw-basic back in the 90's :smile: .

I was trying to play it like the Sonic 2 bonus stage , but don't think I figured it out, I didn't know if I had to hit or avoid the balls :confounded:

verbante 2025-04-09 23:55

loled at "not even for a start menu", good job!

mavvy 2025-04-10 00:16

Hyperspacedive is just that, a dive through hyperspace. Complete with trippy colors, gigantic orbs to dodge and the sweet retro vibe of PICO-8.

Despite the colors going nuts with the effects, it's quite readable thanks to the outlines on the orbs and good use of contrasting colors in the HUD. The soundtrack is this booming rumble, my headcannon is that, that's the sound of whatever is firing the orbs.

inferno123 2025-04-10 02:11

Fun little game! I wish there was line at how far up the screen I could go tho. I ran into that invisible wall more than once

olsonexi 2025-04-10 02:14

Very fun and addictive gameplay!

2025-04-10 05:12

whoa oddly hypnotic

aynu 2025-04-10 06:01

Graphics are Amazing

jk5000 2025-04-10 07:14

A pretty fun little game. Well done.

freamdev 2025-04-10 08:32

Dammit I was 20% from level 11! Pretty fun game, gave me a slight epileptic attack but had a great time! Amazing how fun can such a few simple shape be :smiley:

Edit: Can't rate for some reason, idk if thats intented but if not ping me and I shall return.

cryfish 2025-04-10 09:01

The DA is great and the gameplay works well. Would love some more gameplay feature tho. Great job!

hdvr02 2025-04-10 10:27

Really like the color schemes used in this game

farzher 2025-04-10 10:35

lv 9 82% gg

locke8 2025-04-10 10:42

I completed the final level. The game has simple graphics and artstyle, which feel pretty polished. I'd say its biggest weakness is the fact that there's only one bullet pattern, it changes a bit depending on the level but it never really becomes something different. Otherwise, dodging the bullets is pretty fun.

marudziik 2025-04-10 10:52

@a0405u, @airgameboys, @aly-name, @anchry, @aynu, @baturinsky, @boboneoone, @caer, @cr-nch, @cryfish, @fancyreckless, @farzher, @ferit, @field-of-king, @freamdev, @hdvr02, @inferno123, @is-a-hatbox, @jester1454, @jhandsy, @jhax, @jk5000, @johnnysix, @joseph-tan, @kali, @koolruz, @kveg, @leorean, @mamboman, @manuel-cabrerizo, @mavvy, @mayrakissa, @michael-parrish, @nonumbersgames, @notnasiul, @ohjuliego, @oinkle, @olsonexi, @philocode, @pres2300, @python-b5, @resty, @stratcat66, @tikotey, @tois, @tugaryn, @verbante, @vinnnie, @whateverdat, @xorfe

Guys I am really sorry to spam you, but for whatever reason during my submission I must have clicked to opt out of the scoring, which is not what I intended to do. I in fact do not mind it, and I think it's only fair that if someone played my game, they get to rate it, as it is part of the LD experience for me as well.

If I could kindly ask you to rate the game if you haven't done it, I would be eternally grateful, even more so than I already am - thank you all for leaving comments! As a bonus I have added a link to the [post-mortem](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/hyperspacedive/hyperspacedive-postmortem-and-afterthoughts) if that's something that might interest you. Cheers!

tugaryn 2025-04-10 10:56

@marudziik rated man

cr-nch 2025-04-10 11:01

@marudziik I don't mind at all! I thought it was odd there was no rating and thought it was deliberate, I've left a rating!

bene-labs 2025-04-10 11:04

Very fun game with cool retro graphics and a great psychedelic atmosphere! The sound effects got a bit grating after a while tough and the invisible wall was a bit annoying.

jhax 2025-04-10 11:04

@marudziik No problem! Have now rated it!

sbeif 2025-04-10 11:19

The gameplay is a bit trivial but the graphics are really interesting

thomas-bringer 2025-04-10 11:20

Super cool one! Love the colors and how mesmerizing this is, super addictive! sound design is fun too, very 8-bit, love it!

kamuniaft 2025-04-10 11:27

Didn't understand that I'm not allowed to move onto upper half of the field at first, thought I faced some control\collision bug. I got it pretty quickly, but, anyway, still think it may worth it to mark the zone where you are allowed to move somehow. Overall - solid retro experience, nice solo work!

euler-moises 2025-04-10 11:28

I LOVE Pico8. You caught my attention right there!

It reminded me of the ATARI days, when the only goal of a game was to go as far as possible. Very simple.

Congratulations on the game and, especially, for having done it alone.

PS: I couldn't get past level 9 at all.

mega-marlon 2025-04-10 11:42

Could only make it to level 6 but had a blast. Really like how the damage mechanic works, makes it easily accessible. Great stuff!

j-rara 2025-04-10 11:45

Very nice retro feel! Took me back to arcade days :smile:

arasander 2025-04-10 12:09

Cool retro game !

resty 2025-04-10 12:16

rated, wish you have a fun jam experience

freamdev 2025-04-10 12:32

@marudziik I have returned and did much worse then last time, rated!

koolruz 2025-04-10 12:34

@marudziik No problem at all, I just left you a rating! :) I thought it was odd that you had opted out because of how polished and high-quality the game was, but I figured you had a reason for it so I didn't mention it during my review!

mavvy 2025-04-10 12:38

@marudziik Hey! No worries here, I was actually wondering why you opted out of ratings myself! You now have 1 more rating. :smile:

python-b5 2025-04-10 15:07

@marudziik I thought it seemed strange I wasn't able to rate this! Went ahead and did so just now. The submission page does have a whole lot of checkboxes, so it's an understandable mistake.

3ssthejammer 2025-04-10 17:56

Nice tech prototype, but not enough theme covering IMO. Yet, good job!

johnnysix 2025-04-10 18:31

I rated dude, glad you could opt-in again!

gargantuan-janitor 2025-04-10 23:37

Big fan of pico 8 here, nice little game. I felt it wastoo easy to get hit by orbs that were lingering "behind" the player, made it a bit frustrating.

shadyshade 2025-04-13 15:21

Funny little game, good job! :heart:

piero-pbes-studio 2025-04-13 18:22

hey pico 8 lover ! good job, it's very impressive technically..

ammonit 2025-04-15 06:18

I enjoyed the sounds so much))) Awesome pixel art! The green bubble are eating me — aaaaaaa, it's tough!

egor-iv 2025-04-15 07:15

nice retro game!

mod-wiz 2025-04-16 11:55

Is nice, I only was able to reach level 7 so far. Web version is hanging up for me after a loss, though.

kaba 2025-04-21 07:01

Very cool! I haven't made it past level 7 yet but I really like this. The minimalistic thumping music really adds to the atmosphere.

sinclairstrange 2025-04-22 18:27

Great little gameplay loop, reminds me of Andy Asteroids from Earthworm Jim which is a plus! Really simple gameplay but solid and most importantly fun to play. Had a nice feel of the old Atari arcade days, simple audio, simple gameplay but fun. Enjoyed the graphics too, this had a lot of charm. Overall great stuff highly enjoyed!

marudziik 2025-04-26 23:28

@3ssthejammer, @a0405u, @airgameboys, @aly-name, @ammonit, @anchry, @arasander, @aynu, @baturinsky, @bene-labs, @boboneoone, @caer, @cr-nch, @cryfish, @egor-iv, @euler-moises, @fancyreckless, @farzher, @ferit, @field-of-king, @freamdev, @gargantuan-janitor, @hdvr02, @inferno123, @is-a-hatbox, @j-rara, @jester1454, @jhandsy, @jhax, @jk5000, @johnnysix, @joseph-tan, @kaba, @kali, @kamuniaft, @koolruz, @kveg, @leorean, @locke8, @mamboman, @manuel-cabrerizo, @mavvy, @mayrakissa, @mega-marlon, @michael-parrish, @mod-wiz, @nonumbersgames, @notnasiul, @ohjuliego, @oinkle, @olsonexi, @philocode, @piero-pbes-studio, @pres2300, @python-b5, @resty, @sbeif, @shadyshade, @sinclairstrange, @stratcat66, @thomas-bringer, @tikotey, @tois, @tugaryn, @verbante, @vinnnie, @whateverdat, @xorfe

(I hope that's everybody)

Since the voting has ended, I'd like to thank you all for taking the time and playing my game. I am very grateful for all the comments you wrote, and for your votes as well! You are awesome! I hope to see you all during next LDs! Good luck with the ratings! Cheers!