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Stellar Trials's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Presentation | #34 | 3.800 | 3.800 |
| Enjoyment | #51 | 3.100 | 3.100 |
| Concept | #59 | 3.300 | 3.300 |
| Overall | #64 | 3.050 | 3.050 |
| Use of the Limitation | #99 | 2.000 | 2.000 |
Ranked from 10 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Team members
A total of 2 people worked on this game, DVelt (lead, programming, design, art & sounds) and DYDTW (art, tile sheet + boss)
Software used
Unity, Aseprite, Photoshop, Visual Studio 2022, Audacity, BFXR
Use of the limitation
The limitation "Written in alien language" is integrated onto our game in an abstract way. The story of the game is based on an alienated dungeon, and the mobs' looks reflect that as well. Additionally, the tiles have "cryptic alien hieroglyphs" on them, and the gameplay loop is based on mystery (like which door to open next etc.)
Cookies eaten
Around 200g of sweets (sour candy mainly)
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Comments
I thought the music design was great (especially the defeat sound), along with the art! The first level was doable, but I accidentally took the key and went straight to the 5th (?) level which was way too hard, and then no keys left to enter a lower lever first unfortunately!
Thank you for your feedback!
The game was updated just as you posted your comment, and it contains numerous improvements to make the game progression feel more balanced (such as dialogue that I should honestly have included in the jam build). You can try it out if you like, and if you do decide to play it, don't let it affect your ratings because they should still be based off the older (jam) version.
Very fun game to play
I didn't really understand how the limitation factored into the game? And I found the overall gameplay somewhat frustrating. Really didn't like how the enemy bullets were both fast and homing, kind felt unfair even when I was in the right rooms. Maybe a dodge button, or a reflect could have made the combat more engaging? Just felt like there could have been more. Also wasn't a huge fan of the fact enemies just spawned in out of thin air. But I really enjoyed the presentation, and the music! I love the art style you've got going, it's pleasing to look at and easy to read!
Hello!
Thank you for playing the game and giving feedback! We're also really proud of the game's presentation and final looks!
I'll be honest here; the game was originally supposed to be put on TriJam where the theme was "Remove limits", but because we realized we'd need a lot more time to finish the game, we decided it'd be best to join MiniJam instead. As a consequence, we had to roll with the game we already had and incorporate only what was possible to during the 1 ½ days we had left, leading to the gameplay feeling kinda not suitable for the limitation.
Had we designed and developed the game for this jam from the beginning, we would've probably had time to integrate stuff like hieroglyphs on each room that show which door would be the most suitable to open next. Or perhaps even a dialogue system, with the sentences decrypting as the player got further in The Dungeon, leading to a more interesting playthrough overall.
You're right about the balance of the game; it is somewhat all over the place. We only had 2 people testing the game, and it was past midnight when we were fine tuning the values. Both of us like bullet hell style games as well, so not much variety there.
The features you suggested; blocking enemy attacks and dashing, were actually on my todo list, but because the clock was ticking I had to ditch them and focus on getting the game's balance at least somewhat right.
Thought this would've only been a short reply, so apologies if this text kinda resembles a postmortem 😅.