Through the Dark Forest

Love the pixel art style. I wasn't sure how to tell which are the bad planets, although I guess that's the point :)

at first i felt the instructions were unclear. if something feels off? what does that mean. but then i saw it and i understood. nice work.

@trav thanks! I tried to make them look less like regular stars, but yes, main point that you can't be sure

Really love it when staring at the starry sky. Like the idea and art.

the game has a really nice art style, and I really like the telescope gameplay!

A bed, a computer, and a telescope - that’s all a real man needs

Lovely style and fun idea for the theme! Truth be told, I was more intriqued by reaching the game over state than successfully reporting stars and whatnot. :D

It was a bit difficult to tell which stars to skip (I skipped one that reminded me of sauron's eye, but that was probably ok :smile:) Simple but nice game loop. Liked how you included the tutorial as notice in the game world. Though having to wait for the new Coordinates felt a bit unnecessary :smile:

Interesting game. A little bit grindy. But nice graphic! I wonder what the bed does tho. :-)

@jan-sate just rest a little (for fun :D)

Nice idea. I do think the balance is off: I managed to win easily, then on a second playthrough I wanted to see the "bad" ending so I signalled every star and still won, and finally got the bad ending on my third playthrough by deliberately skipping all the neutral stars. I think it's harder to lose this game than to win it, which is kind of a shame because I think there's thematic value in seeing the bad ending.

I'm also not sure what the harm is in skipping a star - presumably there's a "bland" ending if you didn't signal enough.

I didn't really get the idea of sending signals, like generally why are we sending signals towards these stars? But it does offer kind of minimalism quirky space vibe, sort of like PapersPlease kind of feeling but stars, or that space movie by Andrei Tarkovsky.

Also associate signal to the Dark forest hypothesis is kind of a nice entry, good work!

Overall nice game. I liked the gameplay loop and different celestial bodies. Reminded me the game Voyager-19. Also loved how "Like a star" doesn't count as a danger. At least the is something good among the stars.

But I want to highlight some things to be improved just in case.

-- When you scan the object shouldn't it be already known what exactly you scanning? I mean, you scan a star and then send report "Yep, that the star named Gliese".

-- Thanks to random I was able to scan several things sequentially and won.

-- I liked anomalies due to all possible implications, but I think report should give you a better payoff in case of mistake. Not "something terrifying", but maybe more detailed info, maybe this thing sent signal back too.

@matt-giuca yep, that's the third ending. Thanks for feedback. I changed a balance in the last moment to make it more easy to win and didn't test it well.

@ne-aquilon thanks for feedback too :)

I love the space exploration theme — you really nailed it!

I wasn’t quite sure what to do when I noticed something strange though — did I miss something?

@fassenberg thanks! You have 2 actions - "send a signal" and "skip a report". You need to avoid sending signals into strange stars :)

@tweekus Hmm, how do I skip? I found something strange, but there's only a 'Send' button on computer. I thought the 'Sleep' action might work, but it didn't.

@fassenberg oh, no. You need to skip in "telescope" when you focused on the star)

great exploration of the theme, i liked the graphics and overall aesthetics of the game. i'd like some atmospheric background music to enhance the atmosphere.

it was a bit boring at times while waiting for new coordinates, but I enjoyed it.

@tweekus oh, I didn’t notice that! I’ve completed the game now.
One question though — what’s the purpose of the bed?

@fassenberg I kept it for fun. I thought to allow skip "loading" between from gettings a new coords with it, but I didn't have much time to implement it )

Solid little entry. I kind of forgot what the game was called until after I intentionally reported the unnatural objects XD

Hello from XK discord!

Nice little game. Some stars are very funny and unexpected!

Cool game, love the pixel art!

nice game! i love the feeling when searching the sky and find unexpected stars

Yay I finished the game!

Cute little experience, had some fun playing it!
The visuals and sounds were minimalistic but pleasant.

It was a nice experience! Some stars made me laugh, and others were interesting to learn were actually threats. I would’ve liked more variety or mechanics. Overall, very well done!

Super awesome game here, I was very unsure of what it meant by stars that don't feel right, but then I see the eye of sauron, lol. Great pixel art, some nice audio, love the little messages. Each star had me questioning whether it was an actual star or not. Also the idea of making sure that the beings of the universe don't know that we exist is such good cosmic horror. Peak game :D

At first, I wasn't sure what I was doing wrong, but when I lost for the first time, I immediately knew what to do :D. Overall, it's a good concept, but I'd like to be able to look for signals on my own and have a few more activities available.

The art is nice and feels polished

love the idea, eye felt spooky, fits the theme well!

Love the pixel art and "Papers, Please" in space vibe, especially finding weird stars like the Eye of Sauron. It’s a bit easy to win and waiting for coords gets grindy, but the minimalist exploration and aesthetic make for a really solid and unique experience

At first I didn’t understand it - I came across celestial bodies that seemed safe to me and got 3 errors. On my second run, I understood what I was supposed to do when I ran into the eye-shaped star. A nice charming game - minimalist and tasteful.

It's funny, of course, but I don't understand the gameplay of this game. How do you choose when to send a signal and when not?

@kremlebot if you think that star looks strange - you skip)

Great game idea!

Seems like this game is about intuition — and a bit of common sense too. I mean, if there's a Dyson sphere around a star, it probably didn't just pop up out of nowhere =) Also nice to be reminded of Liu Cixin once again. Thanks!

I did it as well, I scraped through on star 11 I think, it was getting a bit close and I was worrying I might have skipped too many, but it all worked out and humanity progressed. The only one that got me was the star with the rings, looking back, avoidable, but that was a dang cool star even if dangerous, I had to report it.

Very cute game! Looking into the sky and vibe checking new planets was fun. I liked that the mission statement was a bit more vague, I feel it kept me on my toes, especially in the beginning, and it didn't feel unfair, like after a while you figure out that "yeah it's probably the stars that look like they aren't real stars" and that's neat when you figure it out, I like that. The art is cute as well, I like the look of the main scientist. The ability to get a little rest in the bed was cute as well, that was a nice detail. Very well done game, great job!

nice art style, clear goal, place for sleep - it's a very cool game!

The art is pretty cute! I got both the good(?) and bad endings, but the good ending I got completely through luck --- I won before I even saw three bad signals.

Quite fun, the star made me chuckle.

Not bad, but I think SPACE shouldn’t automatically move you to the object.

Great take on the theme and concept!

A very meditative game. Nothing feels unnecessary. The pixel art style is pleasant, and the overall experience is clean and focused. The only thing I felt was missing was some music to strengthen the atmosphere even more. Still, it’s a good work.

Turned out great! I made a game with a similar concept for Ludum Dare 47, so I enjoyed it even more. Great work!

@ottobroccoli wow, thanks, I'll try it!

It's a cool game, I didn't quite understand how to distinguish anomalies from normal stars, but I still won.

Really nice concept and beautiful pixel art!!! Loved it, great job!

Здорово, очень атмосферно. Механика простая.

Great idea for the theme. Nice gameplay loop, and I enjoyed exploring the different star types. At first I was a bit nervous, then got used to normal stars, and saw something like OH BOY DON'T SIGNAL THAT THING. And got the 0/3 victory ending. Graphics were solid, but especially good for the space objects.

So of course then I had to reply and rat us all out to the Eye of Space Sauron.

Nice thoughtful entry!

cool game, I liked the ability to move around the room and interact with objects, but the focus on the telescope wasn't very clear the first time that you have to first wait for something to appear. It also lacks obstacles and the story is very short.

I like this minimalist style!