Pioneer, Arecibo, Voyager

2026-04-22 21:48

I liked the theming, and I thought the overall presentation was really captivating. I found myself wanting to keep going just to see more of the text because it was so well presented.

That said, I was pretty frustrated with the gameplay. Controlling the rotation of the satellite while it has a lot of momentum felt difficult, and it was hard to tell visually where the signal was coming from. The sound design was actually really well done, and it ended up being the main thing that helped me find the signal.

acartlidge 2026-04-22 21:59

I agree with the other comment! I love space stuff and the opening text got me hyped, but the controls were quite difficult. I would also argue they didn't support the "fantasy" of trying to find these extraterrestrial signals since I would associate searching for signals as methodical, needle in a haystack, carefully tuning a radio knob kind of work, not this mechanic where you need reaction times and to fight inertia. I liked the graphics and audio and what I could see of the storyline a lot. Nice work!

jamieok 2026-04-23 18:48

@beastpanda and @acartlidge Thank you so much for the feedback! I fully agree with you both about the gameplay. I was hoping to get a bit more depth in the 'catch and decode signal' part of the game, with more mini games to decode, translate, etc after catching the signal. Alas, didn't have as much free time to work on the jam as I'd hoped. You know how it is :smile: Thanks for playing!

discomorphine 2026-04-26 20:18

The game is extremely moody, it's even a bit scary in the end, like WOW!

Everything work on atmosphere: visual, sounds, story!

Three little moments: why did you set the timer on intro text instead of "press any key" and why didn't you add arrows controls? Also, satellite antena's collider is not obvious, so it's hard to focus it on signal...

garaptic 2026-04-30 20:22

It's a pretty fun game, and controlling the satellite feels cool. I did have a funny moment, though, when I caught a signal while the satellite was spinning really fast. Overall, I'd say it's pretty atmospheric, and I enjoyed it. Good job! :]

oller125 2026-05-01 21:56

Cool take on the theme. I liked the sound design. However, keyboard controls would have improved the experience a bit.