Here’s a marine biology fact: starfish can grow their arms back if they lose them. Normally this is a slow process, but in Superstar you are a special starfish, with acrobatic and regenerative abilities far outstripping your peers. You find yourself in an aquatic laboratory, with only two goals: traverse and survive.
You’ll lose a few limbs along the way, of course—but sacrifices must be made.
I’m pretty happy with how this turned out—wish I’d had time to do sound and music, but I think the visuals and gameplay are better for it. The difficulty curve is gradual but it does get hard; let me know what your high score is!
Notes
- Some people have hit a bug where when you fall off the bottom of the screen you don’t respawn at the top. I haven’t been able to get this to happen—if you fall and don’t come back, please try restarting the game. - More people have hit a bug where they end up going sideways at a ridiculous speed. That one I have seen, but I never figured out what was going on with it. Physics engines are fun!
I have to admit: Out of all the games I've played thus far, I think yours has the most beautiful graphics. The game is also pretty peaceful, I like it a lot!
Kind of nice. But I was not able to grab on to the greenish things because my cursor was not showing up, am not sure if its a problem with my computer or the game. A little touch of sound would really add up to the atmosphere.
Creative and unconventional; quite humourous and a unique concept. The floating/water mechanics are also excellent! I found, however, that if the starfish falls below the window that they can attain quite an unexpected speed and be impossible (in my testing) to slow down(see GIF below)
Thanks everyone! @sarwin, you don't use the cursor to grab - while you're holding down the grab button, any of your arms that touch something will grab onto it. @carlpilot, yeah, I'm afraid there are a couple of physics bugs - I never managed to track that one down :(
The graphics are nice but they are some physics bug ... Who make me really laugh ^^ If you want update, why not a bit of LD : go top or down, some movements or else could add a lot
The graphics, lighting the visuals effects are really nice! However, I think the current gameplay is a little bit too simple, If there are some goals for players to reach like climbing up to a certain point or just simply set a target score can make players feel better! Also, I really think you should add some kind of respawn mechanism like "R" to respawn,
everytime I fall into the hole, it's almost impossible to get up and I need to restart the whole game!
Thanks @goldranger. It is meant to reset you when you fall out of the world—you’re not the only one that that’s happened to, but I don’t know why it happens on some machines and not others. Impressive high score, though!
Lovely graphics! The color choices make everything very readable the lighting is pleasant on the eyes. The floppy arms added a nice whimsical feel. Controls worked pretty well, though I also hit the acceleration issue when you go below the screen. Being able to restart would be a plus. Well done!
Really neat concept! I included it in my compilation video series of games from the Ludum Dare, if you’d like to take a look :) https://youtu.be/1t-6rdylBrI
this starfish is really beautiful ... the idea for the mechanics is outstandingly good! With perhaps some extra features this could be a nice mobile game
The swinging is pretty fun, and the loss of limbs is a great use of the theme. I did experience a bug where the starfish occasionally doesn't loop back to the top, and the game gets stuck in one place.
What a beautiful game! Visually very appealing, and the mechanic (for the most part) works really well. The not-respawning thing seemed to happen to me after disconnecting a tentacle. The starfish just falls and WASD makes no difference so I wonder if it's happening earlier on? Anyway, great work!
I loved the interesting and unique implementation of the theme and underwater vibe. Art direction is fantastic and the mechanics are pretty creative. The only cons I could think of are that the physics and controls need to be a bit improved. Keep it up!
This is really cool! The graphics are gorgeous, and this is one of the most innovative entries I've seen. However, the fact that you can freely swim in all directions kinda undermines the rest of the gameplay. There's no incentive to grab onto any of the handholds (armholds?) if I can easily get points by just swimming to every regeneration orb that I see. This would be more interesting to play if the rules somehow *forced* the player to swing from the handholds (for example, if the starfish could only move left or right, or if the regeneration orbs didn't give you any points).
Very cool mood and graphics, and I had some games where the gamefeel was actually astonishing - really felt like spider-man, throwing my squishy arms towards mines and enjoying my momentum. However this was not what happened most of the time due to bugs :/ The way the grab mechanic works is a bit confusing as I stil have no idea when or if I'm supposed to hold, release, or simply press. The little timer above what I call "mines" was top-notch. Congrats on the overall !
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If you want update, why not a bit of LD : go top or down, some movements or else could add a lot
If you have time, come see our game
However, I think the current gameplay is a little bit too simple,
If there are some goals for players to reach like climbing up to a certain point or just simply set a target score can make players feel better!
Also, I really think you should add some kind of respawn mechanism like "R" to respawn,
everytime I fall into the hole, it's almost impossible to get up and I need to restart the whole game!
But its not necessary to win at this time just push up button and never failling
i notice the speed and failling bug
anyways good jobs i had fun to test it
The physics of the starfish were really well done, and it was fun trying to reach out for the next holding before I lost my last few limbs.
Maybe a cap on momentum would be useful though. I was usually always holding right, which would send me FLYING in a lot of the more open areas.