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[Syrion]

I can basically agree to what everybody else said so far. I've only played until level 5 which seemed pretty hard if there's really no way to avoid being shot but being quick. But maybe I missed something, I'll definitely go on playing, anyway.

I really hope you either go on developing this or someone else picks up this idea. I think it would add much to the game if you didn't have the static minimap but only the slower radar, and some kind of bulk eye to look at the area around you (like in videos of grounded ships, hardly being able to see anything but the few meters in front of the shipusing some kind of spotlight), still retaining the gameplay and especially feel there is now. Probably with looks similar to Noctis IV. I could imagine a really amazing alien planet exploration game or so working like that.

Anyway, this is already great in itself

[Melly]

The only time I used the middle radar was in very tight corridors when the top map didn't give me the info I needed.

Like it's been said though, this it pretty fantastic. I feel that if it was a bit darker with brighter, more constrasting instrument lights, it'd feel even more claustrophobic. Maybe if you made the top map a bit fuzzier, or slower to update, people would rely more on the middle radar.

I also felt very much compelled to get to the end, to see just what the person talking to me was talking about.

Good job. 4 thumbs out of five. 

[increpare]

aaaah it's so hard >_<  i can't get past the red dots...grrrr....

i like the sound a lot; i think that it could do with some grittifying (and maybe unifying ( visually (maybe make the rest of the display fit in with the green video display).

[muku]

Like it's been said though, this it pretty fantastic. I feel that if it was a bit darker with brighter, more constrasting instrument lights, it'd feel even more claustrophobic.

That's something I've been very worried about; at one point I even felt that the version I had for the original deadline which was mostly black (see old screenshot) would have worked better, atmospherically. But it's very hard to just throw away one week of polishing and not feel bad about it. There was also this issue with my laptop screen being much brighter than my CRT, and I had to try and keep everything visible on both of them, which hurt.

@Stephen:
I'm sorry it's too hard; I did think about making it a purely exploration-based affair, but then I chickened out and thought that most people would want some challenge. Also I now quite enjoy the tense moments that being chased can bring to it. In most cases it's enough to move quickly and make sharp turns left/right every now and then to shake them off. Also, very mild spoiler: if you really can't be bothered to struggle through it, I'm sure you'll figure out how to tweak data/progress.dat to your liking; the last two levels are almost challenge-less and where most interesting stuff happens, I think; I'd love for you to see them regardless.

[increpare]

I'm sorry it's too hard;

that's not something you should ever apologize for : )

[muku]

I'm sorry it's too hard;

that's not something you should ever apologize for : )

Oh, I'm not sure. There are some game makers which I have had disproportionately hard feelings against because of their too damn hard games, while still being unable to stop playing I never intended to become one of them, but it seems both this and my LD entry feel quite hard to many people. (Hell, I even got a "Shopkeeper Vs. Demon Award for Making Me Swear At My Screen" award for The Triumph of Time :D ) Seems I have trouble getting the difficulty curve right...

[moi]

I got stuck at the level where you encounter an adverse current. Too frustrating for me, (and the statrup is a bit too long)

[muku]

I got stuck at the level where you encounter an adverse current. Too frustrating for me, (and the statrup is a bit too long)

Even if you stay at the middle of the path, you still move forward a bit. It takes a bit longer to get there, but you do make relatively safe progress that way.

I'm not sure what you mean with that parenthetical remark... is the acceleration too slow for you?

[moi]

Yeah I know it's moving, and it's just very slow.
What I meant is that the level is very long, and the time to reach the start of the "action" is also rather long, so that doesn't really encourage me to start again when I've lost many times.

[muku]

Ah, I see. I didn't expect people to actually die a lot in that level, I thought it would just take them a while.

Oh well. You can still cheat your way to the last level, if you wish.

[Syrion]

I've just played through the game yesterday. I think it's a good idea you added the enemies and especially that chase was really tense. It was actually the only time I had to really use every instrument in the cockpit. The map to see where the enemies are, the radar to be able to quickly tell if I am moving towards or along a wall and that rightmost screen to evade the "shots", while still constantly fiddling around with the throttle. It wasn't easy, but I liked it
The same counts for the level with the current, as I had some trouble staying on course without driving into a wall when the "ship" constantly shakes and rumbles

My main problem in these cases was controlling the throttle, as under pressure I felt it was too hard to turn quickly without oversteering, and I constantly messed up the whole movement by accidently not grabbing both levers, but only one of them, thus spinning out of control and having to readjust again.
I'm not quite sure how that could be avoided. As someone else already said, it would of course be awesome to have real levers on the desk :D But maybe, while a bit confusing at first, it could work to use one mousebutton for each of the levers. So, if you hold the left mouse button, you'll only control the left one, if you hold the right button you only move the right lever, and whenever you press both buttons both levers will be moved simultaneously.
Anyway, the control scheme obviously didn't ruin the game or anything, after all I managed to beat it without really getting frustrated

[moi]

On these two levels you mentioned (enemies and pressure) I just set the two throttles at the max then drop one or the other down for turning.
 Makes things easier

[agj]

This was great! I finished it. My favorite entry. Also, it wins the prize for best use of the cockpit: all the displays were useful in some way (well, maybe not the numbers, since I didn't figure out what those were for). The controls are simple and intuitive, despite all the cockpitness. It also communicates a pretty nice sense of discovery.

But maybe, while a bit confusing at first, it could work to use one mousebutton for each of the levers. So, if you hold the left mouse button, you'll only control the left one, if you hold the right button you only move the right lever, and whenever you press both buttons both levers will be moved simultaneously.

I like this idea. Either this or making the sliders bigger could go a long way to making the experience more accessible.

[muku]

On these two levels you mentioned (enemies and pressure) I just set the two throttles at the max then drop one or the other down for turning.
 Makes things easier

Yup, that's what I always did myself, and expected people would do too

I like the left/right mouse button idea. I'm bad with interfaces...
But keeping it mouse-controlled was a conscious choice so that the rumbling would actually affect how precisely you could control the vessel.

[muku]

Thanks for the feedback! Again, sorry for the difficulty; maybe an easy mode would be a good idea for those struggling with it.

what would have been cool, was to make the gameplay kind of "multi phase". read where to go on the text screen. receive new logs/insructions depending on position. drive on the map screen. stop. shoot/defend/use tools on an other screen. scan areas for items, treasures, enemies on another... so that the player really has to switch screens/gameplay style along the way. probably that was the idea, but i had problems to play it like that... that only as honest feedback, tough...

What you describe is basically what I had in mind when I first planned this game. I really wanted to have many more screens with more diverse functions, and above all more interaction. The gameplay as it stands now is just the result of ruthlessly cutting back everything that I didn't find absolutely, strictly necessary so I could get a finished game out before the deadline. Had I known earlier that the deadline was extended by a week, I might have done more, but alas. When I learned about it, my mind had already made its peace with the game, so I couldn't bring myself to add anything fundamentally new to it.

It's not all bad though: the extra "free" week allowed me to do some polishing which I couldn't have done if I had gone crazy with new features. Besides, I have to say I'm growing quite fond of this "reduce to the max" design philosophy.

In the end, I'm very happy that I made a complete game with a level progression, narrative and all that stuff that is a definite step up in scope from my previous (finished) efforts. Without cutting so ruthlessly, I guess I wouldn't have made it.