Complete the astral pilgrimage of sound to discover the seventh wonder of space through planetary music.
Pilot a spaceship with a beam antenna tuned to the sound of the planets and hear the Songs of Orpheus.
Created by Alnis Smidchens in 48 hours for Ludum Dare 59.
Tools, code libraries, and fonts used: Godot Engine, Garage Band, Google Pixel 6a + Photos + Drawings, Noto Serif Font, Noto Sans Mono Font. Everything else was created by Alnis during the game jam, including photography and music.
Hearing what you did with audio in this game makes me wish I focused more on audio. Strong use of the theme, feels very fresh/innovative to me. I did a space game as well with similar movement controls, I like seeing how you did things here totally differently than how I did things (I might take some inspiration for next time)
Very cool one. You required me to do the thing I was hoping I would be (but ultimately wasn't) required to do in Outer Wilds - line up planets and listen to the signals stack up.
What let it down for me was the movement, which while realistic, is too floaty and unresponsive for a game as I would constantly be drifting past where I wanted to be. Getting around is quite painful. I think one quick fix would be to have an (unrealistic, I know) "brake" key that would slow down the ship's velocity towards zero, so if I am about to get an alignment I can slow down.
I managed to get one alignment and that was enough for me, but it was a cool moment. Thanks!
I don't think a "parking brake" is necessarily going against realism. Obviously it isn't literally a brake on an axle, but it can be presented as a ship computer applying thrust to match velocity with whatever celestial body is the current frame of reference. (In your case I think the bodies are all static, so in practical terms this is just zeroing out your velocity.)
Doesn't Outer Wilds have a match velocity button which helps you "slow down" when near a body? (It's been a long time since I played it.)
Yes, it has a "match velocity" button that fires the thrusters to stop the ship relative to the body. Argh, I really should have added this. Thanks for the feedback!!
It's really cool and vibe and chill. But it's hard to tell the planets apart. They're all pretty much the same size and color, so it's hard to keep track of them. It would be great if this aspect were similar to *Outer Wilds*.
I wasn't sure what I was to do exactly, but I could not control the ship, the acceleration is very slow and the max speed is not and I just kept waiting and overshooting the planets.
Fun game that I wish just had a few more QoL features and adjustments. Others have mentioned the outer wild "match velocity, but the ship itself just feels very heavy, which makes the main challenging component of the game not overshooting the planet you're heading towards. I wish I could have hidden the introduction text as the window felt surprisingly restrictive when spinning around searching for planets. The skybox also has the occasional wisp that looks just enough like a planet to fool me for a second before I look closer. I really liked the sound combinations, so I was a bit sad I didn't really get to listen to the last combination before I won the game and was kicked out, being able to listen to unlocked combos in the main menu would have been nice. Finally I wish I could know which planets I've already scanned and "locked in" so as to not waste time with them again, maybe a different color of light. Overall nice game that I really enjoyed the atmosphere of!
Oh this is such a good use of the theme. My only two criticism is that the ship really needs a brake function. Not super space-ship like I know, but that would have been easier.
But the positives FAR outweigh that, the use of combining planet signals to create a song is incredible. The music really helped how great that was, plus the use of the window of the ship and the lighting is awesome.
The sound effects of the game are amazing! I think it's very interesting to present the theme of signals from this space perspective. It gives a sense of communicating with outer space. However, if the control performance of the spaceship were simpler and more convenient, I think it would enhance the playability of the game!
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But it was super interesting, congratulations to you
What let it down for me was the movement, which while realistic, is too floaty and unresponsive for a game as I would constantly be drifting past where I wanted to be. Getting around is quite painful. I think one quick fix would be to have an (unrealistic, I know) "brake" key that would slow down the ship's velocity towards zero, so if I am about to get an alignment I can slow down.
I managed to get one alignment and that was enough for me, but it was a cool moment. Thanks!
On the ease of navigation...the brake idea totally makes sense, and I even added a "parking brake" but took it out at the last minute since it broke the sense of spaceflight for me. But then again realism does not equal fun, and I need to remember that for the future, so thanks for the feedback!
https://github.com/AlnisS/astral-pilgrimage-of-sound/blob/e104f3d13ddb73784f0b53189490ee7681582946/objects/ship/ship.gd#L171-L175
Maybe this could be done as an autopilot so it isn't literally a brake, something to fire the thrusters to slow the craft down...
In any case, I am so glad it was enjoyable and that the feeling came across the right way :-)
Doesn't Outer Wilds have a match velocity button which helps you "slow down" when near a body? (It's been a long time since I played it.)
I went through it to the end. Thanks for game!
But the positives FAR outweigh that, the use of combining planet signals to create a song is incredible. The music really helped how great that was, plus the use of the window of the ship and the lighting is awesome.
However, if the control performance of the spaceship were simpler and more convenient, I think it would enhance the playability of the game!