itch.io

Thanks, and I pretty much agree with all of your points.

If you’re using the crank you can control the start direction. Perhaps you’re starting with it pointing towards the wall? When the crank is docked the start direction is always the same (a sort of south-south-west direction).

Cranking is a simple alternative to left/right button. There is a small dead zone so you need to crank for a bit to get it to register any turn at all. I managed to get used to it, but it’s far from ideal. Buttons are easiest I find, cranking is generally quite difficult with this game. If you’re crashing just let go of the controls and you will bounce back into the middle.

Turning involves angular momentum, so after turning the craft will slowly stop turning. I’m not sure this was the right decision. It’s cool, but makes things more difficult than need be.

The ship speeds up (to a maximum) on the white area, and slows down (to a minimum) on the black area.

All these things seemed like reasonable choices during the burst of development but in the cold light of day after a good night’s sleep I would probably do it differently. :)

To contrast with the development of YOYOZO: I played that solidly for almost 2 weeks fine tuning the gameplay. With ICARUS, I did not have the luxury of time as it was done in only 4 days. So I’d say it’s too difficult as it stands.

I will keep working on it and release in improved, easier, and more accessible version at some point.