The Return of Tom Lander

by rubentipparach

co-authored: @web-gnar

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.72

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.48

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.85

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.63

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.33

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.33

Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.07

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.63

4 Fusion Powered Rocket Thrusters.

Are required to lift the weight of his Massive BALLS!

You are TOM LANDER, disgraced King of the Moon.

An astonishing sequel to the 2025 summer hit blockbuster Lander's Revenge.

Get ready for an incredible adventure across the galaxy.

About:

A flight sim for a quad rocket vehicle. You must help defend the planet from an alien invasion by picking up and delivering resources.

The game was built with Alpha version of Picotron, a fantasy workstation.

The graphics and entire game engine was also built from scratch during the jam.

Follow the development: https://bsky.app/profile/rubentee.bsky.social

Features:

- High flying maneuvers
- Dangerous, edge-of-your-seat cargo collecting action!
- Epic battles
- Incredible state-of-the-art graphics*
- An unforgettable story
- Weird ass controls; basically QWOP flight sim.

*For fake 1993 Picotron console

WARNING!

This game is challenging! I know jammers like to play easy games because they got a lot to go through, but I highly recommend you check out the controls, read instructions on the screen, and play it through all 6 missions to really get the full experience!

Play Now!

The Return of Tom Lander

Genres: action

Comments24

gold.daniel6 Oct 2025, 21:32

The pixel art in this game is hilarious, almost like images were taken and the resolution reduced? The Models remind me of super early 3d art. The controls are pretty funny having to control each booster. I do wish there were some instructions figuring out what to do and how to play was not intuitive. I also wish there was some audio to match the almost surreal art. Good entry!

Kamilah6 Oct 2025, 21:32

Interesting and unique game! Story is cool and the art is amazing. Controls were a bit difficult for me but very fun.

rubentipparachauthor6 Oct 2025, 21:52

Ha I just uploaded it early to get things going, music and audio were just added now lol!

Sthor7266 Oct 2025, 22:37

Awesome!! The controls are challenging but very satisfying when you get it right. And the artistic similarities to SNES Star Fox are perfect.

dxk22947 Oct 2025, 01:30

This was really challenging! I think the controls are a bit unintuitive (but easy) for the arcade mode - I would expect some level of momentum. But the simulation controls were just impossible for me to use.

That being said, I really loved it! I had a lot of fun flying through the world, the aesthetic is great and kept me around so I could enjoy the art and sounds. The intro scene was also hilarious. Great job!

rubentipparachauthor7 Oct 2025, 02:04

yea I think there's something interesting about non-standard controls. I was definitely inspired by games like qwop that make use of a wider range of keyboard inputs.

Verbante7 Oct 2025, 12:14

very impressive! I like that the world is very big aswell

Jawdan8 Oct 2025, 04:14

The gameplay is fun, the art is amazing, and I'm impressed with the large world,, great work!!

Vadim Lyanka8 Oct 2025, 10:44

Cool concept and artstyle. I liked the game, well done!

Hymirth8 Oct 2025, 10:52

Very impressed with what you have here, especially as it is your own engine and you created this in such a short time

Amanon8 Oct 2025, 11:12

A very challenging and engaging game! The art style and sound design are both incredibly immersive — a truly great experience!

VPro8 Oct 2025, 13:54

This is a tough game but once you get a grasp of the controls it's very rewarding. It reminds me of the first 3D games from the Amiga 500 era, I really like the aesthetics. Impressive you manage to build that in just 3 days, congrats!

YurisCat8 Oct 2025, 15:20

I feel like I'm a little clumsy haha I can't control it well, this modeling and art style really appeals to me

Eugenik9 Oct 2025, 02:21

I love the graphics! Can't wait to try the game!.

rubentipparachauthor9 Oct 2025, 08:02

@eugenik link is in the description to itch.io its web build. So hope you can play soon!

Void49 Oct 2025, 14:03

This is a really impressive game for the amount of time you had (extremely difficult though). I eventually beat it only with the easy-mode controls, using the harder controls I'm not sure I would ever even have managed to make it past the first level.

rubentipparachauthor9 Oct 2025, 15:56

@void4 I haven't play tested the sim mode at all! Sim mode was my original idea, but @web-gnar talked me out of it. It's now just in there as a joke. Lucky for all you gamers!!!

LDJam user 3740289 Oct 2025, 22:20

Hey guys! I just want to tell you that this is an amazing entry. The retro 3D graphics are f*ing amazing! I'm in love. For some reason I was reminded of the old 3D farming simulator games (maybe it's the rain). The controls were pretty hard to get a grasp on but that's the charm of it, although it would have been nice to be able to rotate the lander around its perpendicular axis (the one that's neither WS nor AD) in order to rotate the WASD labels to be able to change direction but still keeping them visible in the same order as in the keyboard. I also think you could rotate the lander in ways its not supposed to due to the physical position of the thrusters? Regardless, you did a great job, congrats!

I also have a request if I may. Could you upload the soundtrack somewhere? Thanks!

rubentipparachauthor10 Oct 2025, 04:33

@andriybyelikov Thanks for your kind words! Yes it was a labor of love to make this game. To address the first point, yea yawing is probably a great idea, I had really mastered this mechanic when I made a 4 thruster cross in Mars First Logistics, and fell in love with the idea of a vehicle having such limitations (this is the Sim mode) which is truly horrendous unless you've practiced for hours! I wonder if anyone can play sim mode single handed! haha

secondly, I suspect you are referring to how it clips through the ground? This is intentional, because 1) it would be impossible to flip over lol 2) we only had 72 hours to implement physics in a game engine that was already complex and had literally thousands of lines! 😛

Soundtrack coming soon! I will ping you, we actually have many tracks left on the cutting room floor, plus an epic remix made by an awesome pictron discord member! This game might go on steam if I can get it to run at a more consistent FPS!

WormKingBoo10 Oct 2025, 20:32

I really love the graphics for this game! Really unique, while also feeling nostalgic. And it's beyond impressive that you made the game engine for the jam too. The controls were a challenge for me, but it was rewarding once I got the hang of it. Great game!

8BitCharlie12 Oct 2025, 15:53

I enjoyed playing the game. I have spent more than an hour to learn the controls and progress up to the last mission where I have no idea how to destroy aliens. Other than that, it is really impressive entry. Playing something like that on Sinclair ZX Spectrum 35 year ago (in vector graphics) would be something I would be able to spend whole day playing it...🕹️

Stratcat6617 Oct 2025, 19:12

Very cool game. And I think I missed somehow, that picotron exists...

sangheli21 Oct 2025, 02:31

I don't understand how to play, but the visuals are good

thegrottman21 Oct 2025, 17:36

Damn, what an entry! Kudos for making the physics, and the whole engine to make it! Tough as nails, I didn't get very far to be honest, but I enjoyed the hell out of it! Possibly I will return to it in a few days with more energy :D

Other games by @rubentipparach

★3.69

co-authored

★3.76