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[jwaap]

SUPER SPACE EXPLORER

This is an experiment I just wrapped up.

Fly around, discover all the planets, and name them. Planet locations are shown when landed.
Arrow keys to fly or pick ship color, keyboard to type, space to enter hyperspace.
f4 for full screen









DOWNLOAD

please listen to your favourite music while playing

[mr. podunkian]

just repeating what i said to you earlier about the game, just for future reference:

i think that the beauty of procedural generation really comes from complexity arising from simple algorithms, and moreover, being able to create an algorithm that approximates/fakes intent. by this i mean that a random level generator that can create a level that is always completable is infinitely more interesting than a random level generator that is clearly doing things completely randomly.

the problem with your game in it's current state is that the mapping between the random number generator and what you see is way too clear -- the only difference between planets is size, color, and location. when i set off from one planet towards another, i know off the bat that once i reach the other planet, it will always be round, and that from that other planet, i'll probably find another that is similar to it.

what you really need to look into is refining your algorithm. try to figure out either some way to create some logical connection (maybe meaningful w/ respect to gameplay) relationship between the random number generator and the planets it creates, or to make it random enough that it'll always be interesting.

maybe planets that are close together might share some properties? if you gave players the incentive to seek out, for example, blueish planets, the player, upon reaching a blue planet, might feel more of an incentive to search around any blue planets it finds. a real basic (and in my opinion, effective) example of this idea is minecraft, where certain materials (coal, ore, etc.) tend to be around other materials, so that once you find a material, you are much more inclined to search around it.

[Inanimate]

The basic idea is neat, and a fun thing to do for a bit. It didn't feel very deep, but it was nice and relaxing. Some kind of radar (a pulse that shows the directions to any nearby planets?) would be nice, and some other things that go on. I wouldn't suggest enemies, but what about stars that are dangerous to get near? Or gaseous giants that pull you in? Or asteroid belts that can destroy your ship? Etc.

(I named my planets after Incan deities, by the way. )

[Arkitekt]

It actually had an endgame!  I'm impressed, it took me a minute to figure out that I needed to actually be on the planet in order to see where the others were   even though you said it in you op.

Once I figured that part out though it was pretty fun.  I somewhat agree with Podunkian, however my first question before sticking by his thinking would be to figure out what you had planned it to be.  As a simple exploration, find all the planets game, this was pretty stable.

One thing I would suggest in the wake of Pokunkian's thinking however would be to possibly have two or three planets orbiting a star of some sort.  I suppose then you could incorporate Inanimate's suggestion of having some sort of inhibitor (ie. stars kill joo).

Overall though I thoroughly enjoyed the experience!

e: grammar

[Hangedman]

I would also throw in my two cents to say that the planets will be even better with just a little more variety, in design, in shape, etc, with growing patterns expanding outwards so you can go a distance to find new things or simply set about exploring and naming the brown planet system after varieties of scotch.

In any case, this strangely enough gives me a Noby Noby Boy vibe, as in the sense of achievement gained is entirely unique to the player.

EDIT: also: making landing a bit more complex will add a bit of spice to the game to prevent me from simply smacking into planets. I know it tones down the simplicity, but a bit of Lander would make finding and landing successfully to name the planet more fun.

EDIT EDIT: Also, tiny flags that appear where you land.

[Arkitekt]

set about exploring and naming the brown planet system after varieties of scotch.

This sounds like a game in and of itself

EDIT: also: making landing a bit more complex will add a bit of spice to the game to prevent me from simply smacking into planets. I know it tones down the simplicity, but a bit of Lander would make finding and landing successfully to name the planet more fun.

I agree, the landing seemed a little..out of place to say the least.

[jwaap]

I got rid of details on purpose, to see if I can motivate players without much extras. But I guess it didn't work very well.

[Batmanifestdestiny]

I like this!  It reminded me of a 2D sort of Noctis.   After a bit of trying to find some really far out planets and getting bored with thinking that the technolights were actually planets, I managed to form an almost perfect orbit around a planet that I lovingly called Pinkland, since it was pink.