Gravitas

by elemel
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.08
Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.79
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.38
Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.74
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.38
Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.94
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★45%
Gravitas is an interplanetary cave flyer. Can you wake the dead planets?

Run the game with LOVE: http://love2d.org/

Comments26

wolfmother
wolfmother25 Aug 2014, 05:33
For those that missed the download instructions, you have to rename the .zip to .love, then download Love here:
https://love2d.org/
Then drag one onto the other.

Graphics aren't too bad but it isn't immediately obvious what's going on.
No sound.
Gameplay very challenging, I can see some people playing to achieve mastery but only once there's more going on in the game.
Not really getting the "connected worlds" vibe from it.
honestcritic25 Aug 2014, 08:46
too hard lol
elemel
elemelauthor25 Aug 2014, 10:35
honestcritic: Thanks for playing. :-)
elemel
elemelauthor25 Aug 2014, 10:35
wolfmother: Thanks for clarifying the download instructions, and thanks for the review! I agree that the game needs more love, it doesn't feel finished at all. Regarding the theme, the game is about gravity, the force that connects worlds.
FineSpun25 Aug 2014, 19:26
Kinda difficult. But I think it's part of the game. Good Job though :)
little-burrito25 Aug 2014, 19:29
I don't understand what to do or how to control the player.
phi
phi25 Aug 2014, 19:29
This game is impossible for any animal species that I know of. What kind of alien are you? :O
kyru25 Aug 2014, 19:32
Good looking game with a good idea but it seems very hard right now, might need some further explanation of the controls.
owyoow25 Aug 2014, 19:34
The game is too hard for me
elemel
elemelauthor25 Aug 2014, 19:38
Controls: Left/right arrow key to turn. Up arrow key for thrust. Thrust power depends on the zoom level, so be conservative or you'll get lost in space.

Hint: Planets spin in order to nullify gravity. Match their spin to get a nice orbit.
Cake_Catastrophe25 Aug 2014, 20:28
The concept for the gameplay is really cool, but I found it impossibly difficult. Unless the goal is to catapult yourself a trillion miles out of the star system, which I managed one time.
elemel
elemelauthor25 Aug 2014, 21:14
Cake_Catastrophe: Easy does it. But thanks for giving it a shot!
elemel
elemelauthor25 Aug 2014, 21:16
phi: I'm Swedish.
Windmill Games27 Aug 2014, 08:52
At first I found it incredibly difficult, then I read your post about trying to get into orbit and then it because a little bit easier and much more fun. The idea is unique and cool and it is executed fairly well. Visually it is also quite nice, even with its fairly simple graphics. Well done!
elemel
elemelauthor27 Aug 2014, 12:43
Windmill Games: Thanks a lot! I'm really glad to hear that you enjoyed it.
DvanderAart
DvanderAart27 Aug 2014, 23:11
I like this concept a lot although it will need slight tweeking. Still I enjoyed this challenge even though I did not get very far. I will probably try this one again tomorrow :) Must get it eventually.
blurryroots
blurryroots27 Aug 2014, 23:24
I love the concept and i enjoyed playing this. The controls are very hard, but steering that little live carrying ship has something satisfying. I wish it had some sound effects though!
elemel
elemelauthor28 Aug 2014, 06:27
DvanderArt: Yeah, it still needs tweaking. The thrust should ease in/out, it's completely binary now. The camera should probably auto-rotate a bit slower as well. Basically, everything should feel smoother. Glad that you enjoyed playing it, though!
elemel
elemelauthor28 Aug 2014, 06:28
Sorry, that should have been DvanderAart, not DvanderArt.
elemel
elemelauthor28 Aug 2014, 06:39
blurryroots: Thanks for your kind words! I was a bit sloppy and omitted sounds. I guess the vacuum doesn't transmit them... I think I'll continue improving the game after voting has ended.
FrozenCow29 Aug 2014, 19:40
Very interesting concept. It was really hard to control and the camera was annoying sometimes, but I really liked the sense of scale. If it would damage instead of kill you upon touching walls it would've been doable for me to finish the big planet.
elemel
elemelauthor30 Aug 2014, 21:26
FrozenCow: Thanks for playing and commenting! I agree on the controls and camera, they need to be smoother. The camera rotates so that gravity points down, but it might feel less twitchy if e.g. the rotation speed was capped. And the thrust and turn controls should probably be eased in/out. Fatal collisions were mostly for ease of implementations, this could be revisited.
vividhelix
vividhelix31 Aug 2014, 00:38
Agree controls are really hard. I tried this a second time after reading the comments and managed to orbit a planet twice and almost got to its center, that part of the gameplay is what you should try to make easier to get to as it was genuinely fun - getting there was hard though as I kept overshooting the planets :) Good job!
Gaeel31 Aug 2014, 09:38
May I suggest having some kind of non-scaled indicator of the player's orientation. I managed to transfer my orbit to a different planet, but only once, and through sheer luck.
My character (who when zoomed in could be pointing in any three directions, since it's a triangle), only appears as a single dot most of the time, so to determine my direction, I need to thrust, and that sends me right off course...
elemel
elemelauthor31 Aug 2014, 18:52
vividhelix: Thanks for playing, and thanks for the feedback. Hopefully the interplanetary navigation and the cave flying can both be fun if I manage to streamline them a bit.

Gaeel: There's supposed to be a thin line extending from the front of the ship. Maybe I need to make that more visible.
porglezomp
porglezomp10 Sep 2014, 22:41
Beautiful and brutal. "Can you wake the dead planets?" I cannot.

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