People usually hesitate to share something when they see its flaws. From what I can see, you were brave enough to take the first step. It's a great idea, and you've managed to convey it well through the gameplay. Great job!

As a fellow first time dev, I want to congratulate on your first game. I think you did a great job within the confines of a 4 day jam, and you have a really cool premise that you have a lot of opportunities can build upon, if you intend to update this game after the jam. 

I think one of the easiest ways you can add a bit of variety to the gameplay is by fixing what I assume to be a bug. The number underneath a commodity  name in the shop screen, which I'm pretty sure is the amount of the commodity available on that planet, is able to go into the negative, as shown below. 

I think that if there were a limit on the amount of any given commodity you could buy on a planet within a short timeframe (I imagine the planet inventories could restock at the same time that the commodity values change), that alone would be a big improvement, because it would force the player to plan the most efficient route between several planets, rather than flying between the same two planets until the commodity values change.

Aside from that, I believe that, as other have pointed out, the game could benefit from adding something to do in space between planets (My mind goes to pirates that attack you and try to steal your cargo), and also I think a slightly more detailed UI (Maybe showing the values of commodities on planets, rather than just whether they're up or down [Although that may make the UI too cluttered, like I said, I'm a first time dev too, so I'm hardly an expert]) would be beneficial.

Hey Joe, congrats on finishing the jam and completing your first game!   I really like the idea here, merchant sims are super fun.  Three quick pieces of feedback for you:

For your next game, definitely look into getting some sound effects!  Sound is the most bang for your buck you're gonna get on game feel.  I nice sound effect on buying and selling, or starting your ship from a standstill would be great!   I think you could probably lean into a sound effect for the ship moving while you're in a planet, but once you get to space cut the sound out.  

I think you should start the player inside a planet where a shop is already.  You don't start with the map open so it might be a little confusing what the player needs to do at the start.

It takes quite a bit of dev time, but an in game tutorial walking you through the process of buying and selling would be great too!  Systems games like this really live or die depending on how well you teach the player to play it.  My GMTK23 entry was a merchant sim and I had the same problem, my systems worked but I didn't teach them to the player well!

Awesome job, can't wait to see more from you!

It's a nice polished game but it feels like it lacks some more depth. It gets repetitive really fast.