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Archaic Aliens's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Originality | #9 | 4.217 | 4.217 |
| Overall | #13 | 3.609 | 3.609 |
| Audio | #15 | 3.391 | 3.391 |
| Fun | #18 | 3.435 | 3.435 |
| Theme | #20 | 3.783 | 3.783 |
| Controls | #22 | 3.304 | 3.304 |
| Graphics | #22 | 3.522 | 3.522 |
Ranked from 23 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Godot Version
3.2.2
Source
Yes
Game Description
A tale of a planet
Discord Username
Dhandehela#9956
Participation Level (GWJ)
Beginner. First Jam
Jam Time!
Yes
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Comments
I think that’s actually my favorite game so far! Despite it does not fit the theme so well to me? Maybe you could explain your vision about that.
Anyway I like the quite unique art style, the level design is super creative.
I think there’s a small bug, I have to fire the laser 4 times to change the level. Also a bit frustrating if you die during that (or destroy vegetation by accident), but maybe that’s a feature?
Annoying that the music loops from the start at every death. It would be better if it went on.
To make it even more challenging you could make weirder orbit-like trajectories for the obstacles, i.e ellipses that are not perfect circles. They could also progressively change in time so you can’t stay safely on one spot.
Thanks a lot for playing the game.
The theme is called tiny world. In the game we are in a UFO that's quite large and our perspective from UFO makes the earth ...a tiny world.
I thought I would make a clever way to change levels, hence the introduction of celebratory beams. I initially had the idea in mind to make all the obstacles stop once the main objective is clear. then I was like maybe I can add this as part of the objective. Like in after a mission, to be truly over, you sometimes needs to go to the helipad. So I left it as.
Regarding music, I learned music the day of submission. So I didn't know much about it. Now that it has been pointed out to me. I will fix it in the next game.
There has been already a ton of complaints regarding it being too difficult. when I created the level. I initially had in mind to spawn asteroids randomly as well. Regarding making the rotations skew, I simply didn't know how to do that and did't have time to experiment with it.Then I was like it might be a bit too difficult with random spawn points. So I was like I will make it predictable. Hence the last level is all about prediction. however I still got a ton of complains about that being difficult. In the last level, you fetch one rectangle. then wait. then continue fetching. but if you try fetching all in one go. that will be very difficult.
Anyway, Thanks a lot for playing. I am really glad that you consider this as one of your favorites! :D
I understand better the relationship to the theme now :)
About the difficulty, you could adjust it by adding some health bar. Like you get hit 3 times before being destroyed (with some invincible frames). You could have a different sprite to see a half-broken ship before exploding too!
I’m a pretty “HC gamer” and I think the first level took me the most tries, mostly because I was learning the gameplay.
Anyway if you think about expanding that game it could work really nice as a mobile game too. Feel free to hit me up on Discord (VikFro#4956) if you want more feedback / help in the future :)
Cool & fun challenging game. I like the simple art style and nice music. Nice concept of adding a mini-game in between levels. Great work for your first game jam.
Pretty cool little game. Gave me the same type of tension I get from bullet hell games. Was challenging but not overly frustrating. The music gave me an X-Files vibe too. Nice work!
This is a very fun game that serves a challenge!
Really enjoyed it, Nearly gave up on the last level after finishing it dying before I could press the next level combo several times but glad I stuck with it. Graphics worked well for the style.
Enjoyed playing the game.. Story evolves and complexity increases with number of obstacles..
Also loved the music..
I really enjoyed playing! it was tough, but not TOO tough (especially when I realized I could use a controller. I'm no good at precision controls with arrow keys). As for whether you should have stuck with abducting cows vs trying to help shepherd the creation of Earth... why not both?
I actually really enjoyed the little 'mini-game' aspects wrapping around a neat little science/astronomy educational nugget and it kept me engaged wondering what the next mini-game would be or which 'fun space/earth fact' would be next.
Feels like the right scope for a gamejam game and I've bookmarked it in case you decide to add more to it one day.
Thanks a lot for playing. I actually didn't know it can be played using a controller. That's good to know. An educational mode and a fun mode seems like a great idea. . Also I didn't know there is a thing called bookmark until now. Thanks for bookmarking. Now I definitely feel like adding more content to it.
Thanks a lot!
This is good. It's very challenging but you can always retry. Keep this one going!!
Thanks for playing.
I win! I made the DNA! Oh man, I did not think I was gonna be able to do that one lol. Overall, fun little concept. I think you did pretty darn good for a solo dev. And for a first Jam! My only real issue is that it felt like the hitbox for the ship was pretty tight on some parts. Which is theoretically correct, but it leaves the player feeling like they don't have any forgiveness when moving around.
Thanks for playing the game! Really appreciated. Well done with the completion. In level 3 the basic strategy is to wait. Get one. Wait. It will keep coming up in the same pattern. So wait, get one. Then wait. Get another. So on and so forth.If trying to get all in one go. That would be very very tough.
Now thats a very good feedback regarding making the collider smaller. Will be utilised in the next one.
Also not DNA, RNA. Two RNA strands makes the DNA. It will be what needs to be done in level 4 if I had more time.
Thanks
Oh! Well thanks for telling me. Got to play a fun little game AND learn something new! And about the collider or hitbox, only a little smaller I think. When you play a game and something just barely is about to hit you, and it doesn't kill you, it can give you a lot of stress AND you didn't die. Win, win!
Liked the idea, good style but the game seems a bit punishing. If there were lives implemented it would be great. Even if you make the fragile UFO invincible after the level mission is accomplished would be fine. I died several times because of the falling meteorite on level 3 :D
Thanks so much. The trick to level 3 is waiting. Get one. Wait. Get another wait. If trying to get all in one go. Will be very difficult
I will be implementing lives in the next one.
This is really good! I can picture a lot of kids flocking around playing this game in the science museum or planetarium.
Keep going! I really want to play the final version of this game 😍 (especially if it has the mobile version, in landscape orientation maybe)
Thank you so much.. I haven't actually considered developing it further. But now that you have painted a pretty nice picture, considering it now.
Abducting the cows was my favorite part! Great pick on the music, it was very soothing and set the tone well. I do wish that I could fullscreen the game where the graphics would scale up. I tried the Linux desktop version and maximizing the window didn't change the size of the sprites. I don't know how to do it in Godot myself, but a bunch of games submitted figured it out somehow. Might just be a button in the project settings somewhere?
Thanks for playing.
Initially the idea was to call this game the Ultimate troll. The objective will be to basically mess with humans. So I was thinking of levels like abduct a cow, put it on a roof. Make crop circles. Avoid getting caught by star gazers and men in black. That is why initially, I made it to abduct cows as tutorial. And then later adapted this astronomy storytelling approach. I think ultimate troll could have been more enjoyable.
Not sure about the full sceen side of things. Itch. Io lets game go full screen in browsers. For it to go full screen as a standalone app. That would require some godot magic I guess. I am glad you were able to play on linux. I had no way to test for Linux and mac.
Anyhow . Thanks a lot for playing
I loved this idea. Fun game! If you develop this further it would be great to see more storytelling (around the aliens creating life on planets). I thought the difficulty was just right. Maybe it would also be nice to have lives so you don't have to start from the beginning of the level every time? Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for playing. I had a lot of levels planned in mind. Well atleast upto humans. A basic idea.
After the RNA level.
Then the deadline be like nope.
Haven't thought about an extra life. That's a good idea too.
Anyhow, thanks a lot for playing
Sounds like it'll be a lot of fun! I'd definitely play it :)
Wow, nice game, I love the minimalist style. Gameplay is so simple but the variety of levels made it a fun experience.
With a little more polishing it can become a really fun but addictive game. :D
Thanks a lot for playing!
I wasn't expecting somethig like this concept, I really like it! super original. Cute graphics and the audio is really good
I died a lot, tho and I had some difficulties seeing some asteroids change their elevetaion
Apart of that, I had a good time playing you entry ^^
Thanks for playing. :D
It's a very cute game with a cute art style. The concept is very cool, however this may need a wee bit more polishing.
The music was very nice and soothing, but it was kindda disappointed when I realized that it restarts whenever I die, and I died A LOT.
Maybe the movement of the objects could've used some smoothing too.
Other than that, it's a nice and challenging game. And it's a good opportunity to teach people about astronomy and how earth came to be, so I really do reccomend that you develop this more.
Thanks for playing . music and sound effects I learned the day of submission to the jam, will get better in the next one. And will improve smoothing side of things.
I guess I can look into developing it furthur as an educational experience.. it's tough though since each level has an entirely different gameplay mechanics. will have to come up with a ton of ideas and stuff. I guess..Maybe..Let's see
This was fun! I did find it annoying the number of times I got close to winning, then got struck by something at the last second haha. And there was a minor graphical glitch where the tractor beam would go upwards when orbiting the first planet. Awesome animations on the planets colliding!
Thanks a lot for playing. . And nice find. Will fix that in the next update. Animations did take a ton of time. Could have used more frames I guess. Glad you liked it
I absolutely LOVE this idea - you play as an alien influencing the creation of life on earth? You should totally make this into a fill fledged game - It has so much potential. Even at this stage it's very attractive. Great job!
A well executed cool idea. If I'd change something then controls could need a bit more "mass" and perhaps tone down the difficulty a bit*?
(*I admit I did not get past the RNA level)
Thanks a lot for playing. I will definitely add some smoothing later
The trick to get past RNA level is waiting. You have to pick 4 color rectangles indicated in bottom corner. Bide your time and beam one. Then wait. The rectangles will come up again always in the same pattern. So you will get an idea of where to wait. So beam the next rectangle. So on and so forth. Attempting to get all in one go would be very difficult.
Do let me know the approach you used.
After experimenting I got through the RNA-level by first memorizing it (like you suggest), then rushing for all the RNA pieces in quick succession.
I think there's a ton of potential in this game, and it's super cute! It was just...far too challenging for me to get far with all the moving parts. If you were thinking of developing this further, you might want to amp up the difficulty a little more slowly and get players used to the movement first.
Alright. Next time, Thanks for playing! :D