Hail Mary

Wow, this is legitimately cool. Great vibe, great sound, great look. I was just honestly kind of confused by what was going on. I know this is game jam game, so not everything is figured out. I would just love more clarity on what I'm supposed to do. I figured out that I needed to press A, but I didn't really understand what manually aiming was for. That said, this is really interesting! Nice job!

@serendibity-efreet thanks for your feedback! we wanted to stay close to the theme but the main idea is to fly by each planet and use gravity assists to gain enough speed to leave the solar system. doing all planets at once is the grand tour which was the original goal of the voyager program before the window was missed. future ideas for the game include more modern craft and more ways to explore the distant systems.

Yay, I finally managed to fly out of the solar system! 🚀 At first, I was a bit scared by the number of controls, but I got the hang of them pretty quickly. Really cool concept, and it fits the jam theme perfectly! Too bad you’re not in the Compo category, I would’ve loved to take a look at the source code. :)

Hey @sanechekz, thanks for playing our game! Happy to hear you had a successful escape! Now lets see if you can make it to Alpha Centauri 😎

A good addicting space theme gam, I like the simple retro UI. Really good challenge! I couldn't quite get past jupiter too much other than crashing into and flybys but more plays i might get the hang of it!

Man, this game is incredibly cool! I love space, and this game really resonates with me! Turning orbital calculations into gameplay—that’s just awesome!

Thanks for the ratings @tenthousandfireants && @imod! Keep in mind you'll want to trail as close as possible to Jupiter to get that gravity assist, also helps to boost just before (even though it may seem like you'll impact the planet). Challenge increases after the initial tutorial as you launch from adjacent universes in which our planetary system has randomized starting positions.

I found this game surprisingly meditative. I genuinely spent half an hour playing around with the orbits, and the pleasant sound design and cute, minimalist visuals really add to the experience. However, the amount of text makes it a little difficult to understand what you're supposed to do at first. Overall, a very charming and unique game

@mediandev, thanks for playing! We had some deliberation about the text volume but felt that its verboseness was reflective of space programs in general. I do think it could benefit from a setting/toggle that allows the user to pick the feel.

If we end up going the extra mile and shoot the moon (lol) with a full release, your advice will have steered the launch!

That's TRULY a novel Idea.

The first thing I notice is the music, color adjustment and the way you graph the background. I don't know if my description is proper, but that really looks like a classic universe documentary while looking at the satellite moving further and further.

After playing around a little bit, I'm really surprised by how actually playable it is. You guys really managed to add several distinct target and elements in three days, and it actually worked!

Cool concept but I got a bit overwhelmed with ui

This is a genuinely clever take on orbital mechanics - turning gravity assists into the core gameplay is such a cool idea. The retro UI and ambient sound design make it surprisingly meditative once you get going, and escaping the solar system feels really rewarding. I’ll admit I was a bit confused at first about what to do and how much manual aiming mattered, so a little more onboarding or a text toggle would help. Still, for a jam game this is really impressive and has a great vibe. Nice work! 🚀

nice, got outside at 2nd attempt

Great game with gravity mechanics and a really helpful tutorial. Special mention goes to the overall relaxing meditative atmosphere, which is enhanced by the music and the UI design. Thanks for making this!

Solid jam experience! Simple, intuitive, and very well put together. Left full ratings across all categories!
We’d really appreciate it if you could test out our game too when you have a minute! Keep up the great work!

The UI is a little hard to understand, but the concept is really cool and the execution is really cool.

Awesome, your game is magnificent! I had a blast playing it, really cool stuff

a probe launched with nothing but gravity assists is such a great fit for the old tech theme, and the voyager 1977 inspiration gives it a really strong identity. the vibe and sound do a lot of work too, it feels like a proper little space mission. was the gravity assist system hard to tune so the route stays readable? nice work.

That's actually cool! Maybe you noticed that I like planets, don't you? 😄

The gravity assist is over a century old, but still used today. Voyager 1 & 2 used gravity assist from the giant planets (Jupiter and Saturn by both + Uranus and Neptune by 2). Not only to accelerate the probe, but also to slow it down (the case of Parker Solar Probe that used Venus as gravity assist).

It's genuinely hard to do multiple gravity assists the way that NASA does of course, but we don't calculate kilometric equations! Nice concept, great game!

Really solid game! I was surprised at how deep the game goes into the concept.
I'll only add that I found it a bit overwhelming, I think it would benefit from introducing the mechanics more gradually. But I am sure anyone that sticks through the learning curve will have a fun time!

Very cool concept, probably with more time can be a really interesting game!

Quite a lot for two people to produce in 72 hours. A less crowded interface and clearer guidance on steering would make it easier to get started. Well done.