Stardust

Overall★★★★★★★★★★2.83
Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.55
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.72
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.79
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.86
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.00
Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.76
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★56%
A chilled game where you use your orbiting satellite to position the Hydrogen and Helium molecules into the centre circle. Collect enough and get the right balance to give birth to a beautiful new star. Only thing I ask is that you plat it at least twice.

For my first Ludum Dare I tried to stick with just the one theme, but ended up doing both anyway. Thinking of having just two button controls I didn't want to tie either them to movement so the next thing that came into my mind was having one to attract something towards you and the other to repel it. This made me think about gravity and how in space molecules will come together and form stars. This also fitted within the theme of growing as the more you gather the bigger your star shall become.

P.S. Remember to get the molecules into the CENTRE CIRCLE. I wrote it in flashing letters on the title screen but from the feedback I had some people still miss it.

screenshot

Comments15

Jstank14 Dec 2015, 09:24
May have had promise but I can't get over how painful it is every time an asteroid comes by. That was slowed way too much.
prymidion14 Dec 2015, 11:22
An interesting idea here... I like the design, but I found the controls hard to use. It's tough to do such an exact task -- like pounding nails with a sledgehammer! It might be easier if the chemicals drifted around randomly a little more, so you had better odds of finding them outside of groups.

Good stuff!
rockford
rockford14 Dec 2015, 18:09
The funny thing is that is the game I spent the most time... but not able to understand how to play :))) I like the visual so much, and the idea to create a star... so I tried tried... Nice like playing a ZX Spectrum game without the manual :)
aamatniekss14 Dec 2015, 18:10
Nice idea! The particle effects are very pleasing. That asteroid is pretty frustrating though. :D
pkenney
pkenney14 Dec 2015, 18:14
Cool mechanics and a nice chill vibe. Not sure I've seen a game's instructions warn "BE GENTLE" before, but I liked the careful touch required. Soundtrack really added to the feel.

Nice work. My best star was Grade B.
DifferentName
DifferentName14 Dec 2015, 21:25
At first, I found it incredibly difficult to get anything in the center, and I was confused how the target percentage worked. So I got zero points.

I tried a bit more, and felt like I was doing well getting stuff into the center, then an asteroid came along and threw everything out of the circle! So I got zero points again. Wtf. The asteroid defeats the purpose of doing anything.
chriiis88
chriiis8814 Dec 2015, 21:34
Very cool idea, although it took me around ten rounds to understand how to really play. Also the random asteroid is quite unfair.
walaber
walaber14 Dec 2015, 21:43
interesting idea... although the controls being so indirect make it very difficult to actually control specifically what does in and what stays out. and the asteroids are annoying :)
gallerdude14 Dec 2015, 22:49
Simple and fun. Great music, good graphics.
MrDave
MrDave14 Dec 2015, 22:54
A good idea for a game. Its well put together with good music.
Finestep15 Dec 2015, 06:23
The asteroid was an... interesting design choice.
sathorn19 Dec 2015, 11:08
Interesting game idea but i found it a too difficult to control what goes in the circle, and then comets come and mess everything up further.
Geti
Geti21 Dec 2015, 01:22
Yeah the asteroid coming right through the middle really messed things up pretty often. I like the idea though and the particle spam was top notch ;)
Tommislav
Tommislav27 Dec 2015, 16:37
I managed to make a star on my first try, but it was very difficult to position the particles inside the centre circle. Would have been great to get some kind of feedback when you are doing something correct.

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