The idea is that the player is flying a satellite into a space station to be repaired.
There are 5 levels in total, and you start in space and then fly into various areas of the space station. There are variations in the mechanics as you progress through the levels, for instance the presence of drag in the pressurised portion of the space station, and in the final level, the presence of gravity.
Hope you guys enjoy and let me know what you think!
Hey crazygamesfan,
This is really good, and the use of 3d models (properly modelled not cubes) really helps. However, I found the floaty controls and not being able to stop easily a little annoying, however, it is still a good game.
-Jack
Enjoyed playing this. Having the satellite instead of a rocket is a refreshing change and makes the game quite interesting. I like what you’ve done with the rocket and the asteroids also.
Some thoughts for extras;
the satellite could be destructible, e.g. it breaks into smaller pieces when it collides
the rocket could be destructible also
subtle particles could be used to show space dust on collisions, including landings
alternating flashing/glowing lights on the ends of the satellite (maybe red/green?) would add some additional lighting effects
playspace lighting seems a little bright, if darkened a little and using the lighting suggestion above you could have some nice effects on the asteroids from the satellites lighting
I can fly out of the playspace for quite a while before I hear a collision
the level with the rocket - the landing pad is slightly out of the playspace (z direction) which makes it a little more challenging
writing on the signs - I like this idea - if you were to make the images bigger and then scale them down, the writing would be a little clearer
landing pad serves a purposes but I don’t think it fits with the higher level of visual effects for the rest of the game, perhaps this could be a swirling wormhole (collider with particle effects) or a stargate or something else space related. Again, consider the lighting on this, if for example if was donut shaped you could place lighting one the edges and have them turn on/off so that it looks like a progress swirly on a webpage.
the level with the 3 vertical columns and the gravity, this was a good challenge, I noticed that each column was the same width, so for me, there was no incentive to try the middle or last one. You could consider making these different widths, so the first one is a lot more narrow, the last being the widest, the player would then be more compelled to perhaps move further in to get to the wider column.
some occasional, seemingly randomness would be lovely to see, for example, on an asteroid you could have a little astronaut and a flag, just standing there, but little subtleties like that would be nice additions.
different types of satellites, some bigger/smaller/faster/slower
much like the landing pad suggestion above, I would replace those default particle effects also, on the rocket and successful landing, with something more consistent with the other higher resolution visual effects
if you were to model a little astronaut, you could have a level where you have a space station and tethered astronauts, they sway around a little going about their astronaut business, and you have to dodge them for example
other than the above, I think adding the standard mechanics would be nice;
menu system, perhaps incorporating some player choices (satellite type for difficulty for example, increasing the speed of obstacles etc), audio volume, some background music may be a nice addition
fuel / score - “Complete the game with as much remaining fuel as possible”, store each levels remaining fuel levels, total up at the end, display to player.
timer, perhaps there is a “mission bonus” if you complete a level in a time frame
with the timer suggestion, you could also add something to encourage the player to move more quickly, for example, perhaps after so long some enemies start to appear and attack (Atomic Bomberman used to do this in multiplayer mode by filling in the edges of the playspace so that the area you could run around in got smaller and smaller)
Enjoyed playing your game, well done, the above are offered as some constructive criticisms and suggestions only
Thank you for playing through my game and the feedback! My idea at the start was to try and make the game feel like flying around in space, but I can see how it can get annoying. Hope you still enjoyed it!
Wow thanks for the super in depth feedback Rob! I really appreciate it! To address some of your points:
That’s a great idea, surprised I didn’t think of it myself!
Yeah this is a problem with the game now since I just added cubes outside the level for the satellite to collide to. I suppose perhaps I can implement some script to automatically destroy the satellite once it exits certain coordinates.
This is true, I was thinking of learning a bit of 3D modelling through Ben and Michael’s Blender course before maybe coming back to upgrade the models and the visual style of this game. The wormhole is a really interesting idea though!
Yeah good point, I thought of this while I was playtesting it, but I didn’t manage to come up with a way to incentivise players to try the other 2 columns. I’ll definitely get this implemented!
As a matter of fact, my original idea was an astronaut on a jetpack flying back to the space station, but I realised that I had no idea on how to create a 3D model . I’ll most likely implement this once I learn a bit of Blender!
All in all, thank you so much for taking time off to play through my game and write up such detailed feedback! Hope you had fun
You’re very welcome Stephen, my apologies for the delay responding.
I like your idea of flying around as an astronaut, you could always have both… a few missions in the ship, then land, then have a few missions as a flying astronaut. Will be great to see any other updates to this
I had a lot of fun playing this! I love the different level designs. I would have liked having several chances to complete a level before getting put back at the start.
. I’ll most likely implement this once I learn a bit of Blender!