You are totally correct, giving them AI would defeat most the fun and would result in just a spherical version of those 2D side on castle defense games where you just keep sending troops after troops, I guess it just felt like it would be nice since the game was so hard, but again I understand why it was difficult and i like how you are making the player choose when they leave, giving them that guilty thought to deal with, poor block people.
One thing i would consider when you re-balance the game, although it may take away from the whole idea of having to leave, but forgetting that the theme is leave something behind, it doesn't feel satisfying when you leave, maybe relaxed since you can take a break but I didn't feel like i accomplished as much as i could, of course this games intention is to leave so maybe this style of game just isn't enjoyable for me, but it was interesting how it made me feel when I "finished" a round etc. I dont know just some food for thought.
In the end it was a wonderful submission and still enjoyable, considering how many people actually submitted compared to the amount that joined, I appreciate the effort you made to submit this game, +1 from me and I am excited to see 1.1 :)
Viewing post in Planetary Evacuation Force jam comments
Huh, yeah, now that you mention it, it does feel anti-climactic to be leaving the planet... The game has this sort of defeatist cloud hanging above it, with how you can't win, even if you saved everyone. Problem is, I don't really want to change the gameplay to something positive, where you liberate the planet at the end, so I'll have to think of some other way of making the evacuation more fulfilling for the player..
Thanks for drawing my attention to this, and I'm glad you've enjoyed the game :D