Play game
Stargazer's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Presentation | #583 | 3.930 | 3.930 |
| Creativity | #1210 | 3.442 | 3.442 |
| Overall | #1233 | 3.341 | 3.341 |
| Enjoyment | #2538 | 2.651 | 2.651 |
Ranked from 43 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
The player is bound by a time limit that progresses each time with the roll of a set of dice.
Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 48 hours?
Yes
We created the vast majority of the art during the game jam
Did your team create the vast majority of the music during the 48 hours?
No
We used pre-existing audio
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
A fun game, though (in my opinion) it doesn't have much connection to the theme. I love how every star has a unique description. There isn't really a goal besides recording as much data as possible before the time runs out. I really hope you make a upgraded version (although you may want to remove the dice entirely)
Yeah, unfortunately, I wasn't able to go as far as I wanted in the time allotted. Should've really included a more comprehensive guide on what the player is looking for (the capitalized words in each description was meant to clue in the player, but it's not that useful without a guide haha). I'll definitely be trying to make the goal of the game much clearer moving forward.
As for the dice, I agree that they were nothing but a glorified randomizer, but I hope that I can add some more functionality toward them such as something triggering on doube 1's or 6's
Ah, wasn't quite sure what the capitalization was for. I hope that everything goes well!
I really loved the ambiance for the game! Hard to figure out what to do at first, but even that kinda its the mood and feeling of the game.
I liked the aesthetics/background music and text-based gameplay. I agree with the other commenters about the UI. Since this is sort of mocking up a computer terminal, I think that adding a 'help' command or some other similar thing to display the possible commands would be a nice touch (that actually was the first thing I tried to type in before I went to the comments to figure out what to do).
The artwork is stunning, and the objective is really interesting. The music really adds to the atmosphere too. I'm not sure the dice adds to the experience, I felt like because it was out of my control it didn't affect how I was playing. If you took this further I wonder if there's a way of tying together the players actions to the timer, maybe with fuel based on distance travelled in one nav?
Fiki's comment is super comprehensive on the UX but these were my thoughts on the other parts
Great job!
MMm I really like that idea, seems like it'll make the player strategize some more. Will have to look into how to rig the dice without making them feel too predictable. Thank you for playing and glad you liked the art^^
This game is beautiful - the background art, the minimal but sophisticated-looking UI and the gorgeous palette all work together so well. Add in the perfectly chosen music and the atmosphere was incredible for some quiet exploration of the galaxy :)
Fiki's points in the comments are great, I'd add that ensuring commands are not case-sensitive would be great - definitely not a big issue though
Loved my time with this!
Thank you^^ Will definitely fix the casing issue, not sure why I didn't consider it during the initial development since it's such an easy fix rip
Neat idea. Looks very great and polished.
This game is really cool! A very creative Idea, I like the options you have and the commands, and just the concept in general is unique and cool. Also the art is really cool! Overall a really interesting game! Good job!
The games pretty nice! The art is great + its a concept I haven't seen yet in the jam. Was going to suggest some stuff but Fiki covered most of it so ill just say the new things. The star names can sometimes be a bit annoying to type, especially the ones that are just a bunch of characters. While realistic it does not feel good to be forced to type out. Something like an id for each star in your current peek area that you can use as a shorthand would be a great solution to this or having some way people can copy the star names by clicking, etc.
I get what you mean, I'll definitely try to add more names rather than have them autogenerated (kinda got lazy there on my part), but the id system sounds like a good idea, so I'll be sure to try to implement that going forward. Thank you^^
I have revisited the game after knowing the command window, and I have to say, the game is absolutely stunning!
The game is simply beautiful. It reminds me of Firewatch because of the mysterious atmosphere and the exploration. The music is really great and fits the aesthetics of the game. I ended up playing it for like 20 minutes. It was very calming and gave me a feeling of relief. I loved the aesthetics and concept of the game, and loved the fact that each time you restart the game, the stars change.
I would also like to give you some points of feedback that would imo improve the UX a little bit.
-When the game ends, there wasn't an option to restart. I had to reopen the game.
-Once I enter any command in the text box, I have to click on it again. It would've been nicer if the focus was always on the text box since the game is about writing on a console.
-As it was previously stated, the command window is not easily found. Maybe it could be open by default at the start and toggle with tab button or something.
-maybe also you could add some pointers in the game's page on itch and polish it up abit maybe even make a web version of the game would be really cool.
I'm not sure if it's possible to find signs of life or not, but that mystery was a great objective for me to keep playing. The game is really pretty, and I personally would love to play a released version of it with a bit more content ♥.
Ahh thank you so much for giving it another go^^
Definitely going to implement a lot of your suggestions, especially with the replay (first time developing a proper game and game states just slipped my mind, so that's gonna be the first big change I make haha).
I'll spend some time digging around to see if I can keep that focus on (I found that entering the spacebar also focused on it again, but that's not rly a fix).
Actually originally wanted to make it a web version, but I dunno if it was my browser or how I built it, but it didn't really want to work, but now that I'm not under a timer I'll be looking into it :D
Definitely the most unique game I've played yet! I think the dice could have affect gameplay in more ways than just a timer, but I enjoyed the vibes!
Haha I tried to make it a little different (mostly cuz a game dependent on ui meant that i had to learn less for a first attempt), but I can see what you mean by adding more functionality to the dice. At the moment, they're just decor for randomizers, but I'll definitely try to incorporate them more :D
This game looks interesting, the cover art and the game itself, I was not sure what I was doing but if you can reply back I on how to play I can check it out again.
Ah, sorry about the lack of proper instructions. There's a button at the bottom right-hand corner that pulls up a list of commands;;
Beautiful aesthetics, nice old school exploration themed game.
Glad you liked it^^
I love the art, but sadly I had no clue what to do and why.
Also, for some reason I could not move away from the left-most column.
Some tutorial would be nice as the instruction on the right is not enough (at first I tried to type "help" as a command but that did not yield anything)
Sorry about the lack of clear instructions. By the sounds of it, though, you were able to find them? I'll definitely try to make it more clear, and maybe add in help as a command as well. I'll also try to fix that issue with the columns, if you could give more detail about what happened, it'd be really helpful, so I can track it down^^
Sure, basically, when I typed "nav C2", it moved me to A2
Ah, okay I see--I didn't account for capital letters. Sorry about that. I guess because of the grid labelling, it isn't that clear. I'll definitely get that fixed!
I love the aesthetic, but I have no idea what to do.
Ah yeah, I'm sorry about that. There was a button at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen that pulls out a list of commands. In hindsight, terrible place to put it. I'll be sure to change it and make instructions more clear (╯▽╰ ).
The aesthetic is great and same thing for the ambience, but a help menu would have been greatly appreciated.
Yeah,, I realized too late that the positioning was not the best and kind of hidden. Will be fixing it tho ^^
Really fun to explore the map, very cool way of doing so too. I like the use of dices here it doesnt feel too forced. I also love the sense of mystery and wonder this game has built around it.
aaaaa glad you had fun ^^
Very neat. Like many others, I enjoyed the aesthetic. I think you give the player a little more of an indication on what to do without taking away the mystery.
I agree, I really could've added more when it comes to direction---a lot of things went unexplained or purposeless. Good to hear the aesthetic was nice tho :D
Presentation is top notch! Love the aesthetic!
Like others said, it's a bit hard to figure out the commands until you find that menu, but otherwise an interesting narrative experience. I found myself constructing my own story about this world as I went along.
Haha thank you^^ Great to hear you were able to make up a story and immerse yourself,, I wanna add more of that in the future. Definitely will fix the confusion with the menu tho
I really like the art style! But I found it difficult to find the Commands/Notes menu. Maybe start with the bar open or print all commands at the top of the console. But apart from that good game!
Thank you :D. Yeah, that wasn't a great decision on my part. I actually had it right beside the input box before, but thought it looked too cluttered;; Definitely will be making the bar more clear moving forward^^
Show post...
The art is really great and relaxing. The concept is also unique. The gameplay for me sound like I am learning how to write code in cmd. I suggest the game should contain some tutorials.
I'm glad you think so! Yea I went with a written command centre since I didn't rly like the idea of clicking a bunch of buttons haha. I agree tho, I didn't really have time to put in a tutorial which was a shame.