Stargazers by Cake&Code

[raw]
made by Cake&Code for LD26 (JAM)
"What do you see when you look up to the heavens?"

"Stargazers" is a simple game of drawing in the heavens. Use the stars to
quickly draw paths and fill your gallery of artwork one constellation at a time.

We approached the theme "Minimalism" through simple gameplay;
you click on a star with your mouse and click on another star to create a path.
Your final score will be based on how fast you draw and how accurate your
drawings are. A perfect accuracy score will reward you with a special entry in
your gallery log of constellations.

-------------------

Coding and Audio Editing: Zeik
Art and Visual Design: Cake

Special thanks to...
Music: Apiarist

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 3.98 23
Audio(Jam) 3.65 76
Fun(Jam) 3.51 84
Graphics(Jam) 4.50 18
Humor(Jam) 2.94 106
Innovation(Jam) 3.54 91
Mood(Jam) 4.04 18
Theme(Jam) 3.34 245

Feedback

kyru
29. Apr 2013 · 23:21 UTC
This is a really charming game, I liked it a lot. Great music to go with it.
netguy204
29. Apr 2013 · 23:27 UTC
This is very nicely polished. You guys did a really good job making this a shiny product. Well done. That's no small feat.

The mechanic was unique and fresh but aged poorly. It needed to be spiced as the levels progressed. The difficulty ramp was good with the increasingly challenging patterns... but the interest ramp was flat since nothing about how I would accomplish the patterns changed.

So, what if some stars moved left and right or up and down. If I incorporate them into my drawing then I win once they achieve proper alignment. This forces me to think about more than just points as I draw.

What if I had the ability to create 1 star. Now I have to imagine the picture but with a missing point that I can insert myself. Potentially a big difficulty spike.

The music loop was too short--I think--at least, I was annoyed with the music within a few levels.

The graphical style and cohesion was fantastic. Your presentation on all levels was top notch. Well done.
Nangie
29. Apr 2013 · 23:47 UTC
Can't believe you did this in 72h, it's fantastic, and i love the reference ! really really great job
wallmasterr
29. Apr 2013 · 23:48 UTC
A lot of nice references and a high level of polish. And just when you think its to easy it gets rely hard
caranha
29. Apr 2013 · 23:53 UTC
I was looking forward to your game! :-) It looks lovely, and play very very smoothly! I liked the little details such as the comments in the gallery and the moon timer.

One comment (just not to say that I didn't make any): I think there could be a small "twinkle" sound when you click on the stars during gameplay.

Thanks for the lovely game!
noa
29. Apr 2013 · 23:57 UTC
So oniric game, I love it ^^
mes
30. Apr 2013 · 00:07 UTC
good polish, bad game :/
Bear
30. Apr 2013 · 00:17 UTC
This game really does look beautiful. The level of polish and finesse of the minimalistic gameplay mechanics and graphics really make this a worthy game.
rkim
30. Apr 2013 · 00:17 UTC
This game is super adorable and it flows so smoothly. And when you consider this game is made in 72 hours, its really quite something. The art kinda reminds me of the game Dixit... And I'm not ashamed to admit it, this game is a bit difficult in the later levels. Anyways, great job Cake&Code~
Zampi
30. Apr 2013 · 00:23 UTC
Good game, badly so short :(
nice level design flow
nhmllr
30. Apr 2013 · 00:38 UTC
Gorgeous game! Beautiful music! Funny references! It seems simple but some of the later levels are actually quite hard.

Very well done.
Monxcleyr Productions
30. Apr 2013 · 04:50 UTC
Fantastic art - I dropped in on Cake's stream a couple times to watch some of that in progress, and it turned out really well.

The gameplay itself was alright. It had a good difficulty curve, and I loved the references made. Felt like it was a twist or two away from being a genuinely fun puzzle game though - I like some of the ideas proposed in this comments section.
Keep up the great work!
CNIAngel
30. Apr 2013 · 09:20 UTC
I could not find anything wrong with this game at all. It looks beautiful, has a great mood with music that compliments it, and programmed perfectly.
AirRider3
30. Apr 2013 · 09:41 UTC
I got a bit stuck in one of the levels. I like challenge though :] Top notch presentation, and I love the tiny details, like the character's hand following the mouse cursor.

I agree with @netguy204, one or more gameplay aspects should be added to make it more challenging!

Great team work, as usual. :)
Typedeaf
30. Apr 2013 · 09:43 UTC
Really good! I liked the art and the audio really much! And it was also pretty funny to find all the references in the constellations ;P
YM
30. Apr 2013 · 09:55 UTC
Wow really nice!
JigxorAndy
30. Apr 2013 · 15:26 UTC
That was beautiful! The graphics were absolutely stunning and the mechanic was really fun. Overall, a really nice atmosphere and a great game. Well done guys!
Puzzlem00n
30. Apr 2013 · 17:41 UTC
I like it, I like it, even if I don't get all the references.

The tutorial guy feels a little out of place, really. I feel like the instruction text could be better substituted by something more visual, like an arrow pointing to one star, then the next after you click the first...

The visuals are just as good as always, and the gameplay feels nice and relaxing. Good job!
Beldarak
30. Apr 2013 · 18:08 UTC
Beautiful ! I like the graphics and the music, really put me in the mood
Farfin
30. Apr 2013 · 18:30 UTC
Great polish, art is amazing especially the characters and fonts. I wish the stars had some sort of sound cue when I went over them/clicked them though. That and the hint to what I was drawing always on would have made it more fun though I think.
Dew
30. Apr 2013 · 19:29 UTC
Wow what an amazing experience!

The music suits perfectly with the ambience, a great game.

Too short sadly! :p
kidevil
30. Apr 2013 · 20:11 UTC
Beautiful work! Music fit perfectly with the game, and the little touches like the changing moon and stargazer's waving hand really brought it to life. Really polished product.
Griz
30. Apr 2013 · 21:34 UTC
Simple gameplay-wise, addicting thanks to smartly put-together references. Just wish it was a little longer.
Purplescape
30. Apr 2013 · 22:06 UTC
Wow, this is a beautiful game! It feels clean and polished. It's a creative concept and very well done.
xdegtyarev
30. Apr 2013 · 23:41 UTC
Loved it! References hidden in the constellations are a very nice touch! Great game.
Dmitrix
30. Apr 2013 · 23:43 UTC
Great! The graphics are nice as always. The music was also a nice touch.
Captain_Genial
01. May 2013 · 12:58 UTC
A bit easy, but Wow so beautiful game !
Great job
WiseGAMER
01. May 2013 · 13:16 UTC
well polished , great graphics , and good game play , I liked the gallery and the comments in it , But I don't know if it's accepted to use resources from Journey , unless you are it's developer or you took permission :)
dapierce
01. May 2013 · 16:28 UTC
Beautiful polish and lovely ambient music. I love the theme of stargazing and astronomy at work here. I like that it gets very open ended at the end; I'd end up with completely different looking constellations that still looked cool.
Blizzil
01. May 2013 · 16:33 UTC
Love the art style and the overall mood of the game, some really good work!
MinionStudios
01. May 2013 · 16:42 UTC
Sweet idea, love how you built it, very endearing
GreenPixelDev
01. May 2013 · 16:46 UTC
Beautiful music and art style! Very effectively sets a somber, puzzle-solving mood :D
siondream
01. May 2013 · 17:08 UTC
VERY polished game, good use of the theme. It can be a great one for kids, well done!
SenorDiablo
01. May 2013 · 17:12 UTC
beautiful game. Thank you so much
YsenGrimm
01. May 2013 · 17:15 UTC
This game has everything, great art, great audio and a rally interesting gameplay.
dcarogame
01. May 2013 · 18:51 UTC
Me gusta mucho esa temática, se ve hermoso
Volute
01. May 2013 · 21:24 UTC
Lovely !
plash
01. May 2013 · 21:49 UTC
Notes:

- I like the menu music. *Listens a while longer.* Okay, this might get annoying.
- Much better. Really like this.
- Very well polished. Bunch of detail put in. Character is pointing to stars (the cursor), a moon used to show the passing of time.
- Journey!
- More nice music! Beat seems a bit schizo, but still liking it.
- There's a gallery. Nice. I have only unlocked 7/10.
- Went back and got all 10.

Things I would change:

- Add variation to the main menu music.
- Make the menu hover sound trigger as soon as the mouse is within its bounds. It feels delayed.
pereubu
01. May 2013 · 22:33 UTC
a good lookin' game that's for sure D:
Sylvain.p
02. May 2013 · 01:09 UTC
Very nice sounds and graphics (atmosphere in general).
It's too bad that the game is so short. Levels are sometimes a bit too simple, and we'd like to see more.
But good job overall!
SaintHeiser
02. May 2013 · 03:38 UTC
Ohwow! This game is so beauty and relaxing =)
I like your audio as a visuals and game mechanics!
Well done, man!
kbm0
02. May 2013 · 08:46 UTC
Very good work. Lovely aesthetics and concept!
EdoMiyamoto
02. May 2013 · 09:03 UTC
Beautiful !
Angerus
02. May 2013 · 14:13 UTC
Charming!I wanted to have multiple design to draw in one time but charming anyway!Love the "easter eggs"!
tinytouchtales
02. May 2013 · 19:01 UTC
Yes, liked the visuals bigtime!!!
lekochen
03. May 2013 · 03:58 UTC
Absolutely fantastic.
mildmojo
03. May 2013 · 16:25 UTC
Very polished. The art is fabulous. I particularly like how the stargazer waves her hand at the stars as you draw constellations. The moon waxing and waning makes a really inventive timer, too. I appreciated the game references and the art gallery. That seems like a really advanced feature to have in an LD entry.

Replicating those constellations, especially the ones with crossovers, was difficult! I think it took me four or five tries to complete the origami killer.

Playing with a touchpad, I really wanted to be able to just drag between stars and have them connect the dots as the cursor went over them. That would be nice to add.

I think the game would play beautifully on a touch-enabled device. It could be interesting as a two-player tablet game, where players sit on opposite sides and draw constellations competitively or make designs that merge together in the middle.

I think the music could've been softer or perhaps sparser to fit the mood of the game.
SonnyBone
03. May 2013 · 19:39 UTC
Awesome game references! Nice time attack challenge with great art and music!
amodo
03. May 2013 · 19:48 UTC
Beautiful. Very well done, everything fits nicely together.
TheBenjaneer
03. May 2013 · 21:03 UTC
Great Game! This has some serious polish. Congrats on a well done entry!
RealyUniqueName
03. May 2013 · 21:26 UTC
Wonderful game.
I wish there were more levels and gameplay mechanics.
jacklehamster
04. May 2013 · 03:53 UTC
I loved both the gameplay and the discovery after you solve a puzzle. Nice and simple game.
Gungnir
04. May 2013 · 07:01 UTC
Lovely atmosphere, charming idea. Love to see you guys take it beyond compo.
paulmcgg
04. May 2013 · 10:28 UTC
Really pleasing aesthetically, a concept that would work perfect on a touchscreen. I've been obsessed with stars and constellations in games lately, so this is nice. Great job.
Dohan
04. May 2013 · 18:39 UTC
Let's see... 1 - LD potato theme, 2 - Braid, 3 - Pac-Man, 4 - Super Mario, 5 - Adventure Time, 6 - ?, 7 - Heavy Rain, 8 - Final Fantasy, 9 - Journey, 10 - Harry Potter.

The description in the gallery makes me think that 6 is Minecraft.

Beautiful game!
matthias_zarzecki
04. May 2013 · 21:31 UTC
Ohh, this is lovely.
kurrik
04. May 2013 · 21:40 UTC
I love it. I think a tablet version would be a lot of fun and accessible to a big range of ages. The music did get a little repetitive but that's such a small nit considering the incredible amount of polish showing here. The artwork was beautiful! I loved that the hand moved as you draw! Tons of little details like that which make all the difference.
🎤 Cake&Code
04. May 2013 · 22:03 UTC
Thanks everyone for all the wonderful feedback! We feel the same way many of you do that we'd love to add more mechanics and more levels but because of the LD time-frame and the theme we just couldn't add any more to the game. We hope to do so in a post-LD version for sure!!

@netguy204: Thank you for the indepth critique! We really appreciate it~

@caranha: We too wanted to add more sounds but we're not the best sound engineers and we kind of ran out of time! If we get some time to make a post-LD version we'll definitely look into something that. Thanks!

@Monxcleyr Productions: We'll be sure to add twists and turns! :)

@Puzzlem00n: Yeah, the tutorial could definitely be more demonstrative than narrative, that would've been a million times more thematical... darn. Thanks for the comment!

@WiseGAMER: Haha, oh no!

@plash: Thanks for the stream of consciousness! Very interesting to see the though process at work :D

@mildmojo: Ahhh, yeah. We didn't consider an actual touch screen having drag controls rather than tap... or a two player experience... we'll keep it in mind for the future!! Thank you~

@Dohan: Nice list! #6 was not meant to be a Minecraft reference but wow, I can definitely tell why you'd think so! It was supposed to be referencing another game that is very much about fire and burning things :)
PabloAlexandre31
04. May 2013 · 22:46 UTC
Cute. The art style and Soundtrack are very beautiful, and the gameplay is very fun. Great Job!
tzamora
05. May 2013 · 01:34 UTC
nice game. Try it hard.
Ragzouken
05. May 2013 · 08:41 UTC
In some ways it felt calming, but the time pressure works against that. I like the graphics overlaid on the constellations when you finish the drawing.
Cyboot
05. May 2013 · 14:04 UTC
Good game. maybe a little too easy
Jod
05. May 2013 · 15:08 UTC
Very cute little theme. This would do very well on a tablet, I think.
QXD-me
05. May 2013 · 16:26 UTC
Good game, although ascribing a numeric score to my attempts seemed somewhat unnecessary. Firstly because I never really looked at my score, but also because it added absolutely nothing to the experience.
Rose
05. May 2013 · 18:04 UTC
This is a cute idea! I like the graphics and the little descriptions of each shape.
CloudiestNights
05. May 2013 · 20:48 UTC
Loved all the references :) The graphics fit perfectly alongside the concept and gameplay. Really beautiful!
Tom 7
06. May 2013 · 00:46 UTC
Very slick, even with the gallery and everything. It was a good challenge to remember the drawing, though not that hard to find the right stars in the sky. Length was right. Enjoyed it!
Rabbits...
06. May 2013 · 01:49 UTC
I always look forward to playing your games, great job this time around, the cleanness of the entire game was incredible
sP0CkEr2
06. May 2013 · 04:35 UTC
i really liked this game alot -- similar to ideas i have had in the past -- hope you continue with it. -- great effort!
joe40001
06. May 2013 · 05:49 UTC
I really wished there was some secret puzzle for getting perfects on all of them, I really liked this game though. Simple yet charming.
lotusgame
06. May 2013 · 06:42 UTC
A well polished game with a simple concept. A little too short, but very charming. Congrats :)
GSM Productions
06. May 2013 · 10:21 UTC
Wow. The game feels very, very polished, and in addition the gameplay is fittingly minimalist. Presentation is really great, and the gallery was a great addition. Not only was it neat to catch the references you missed, the writing was very well done. Congratulations!
Husky
06. May 2013 · 15:10 UTC
Pretty cute!
I love this game!
Good job! :p
Ryusui
08. May 2013 · 07:18 UTC
That was brilliant. Some of the later levels were actually pretty tricky. Also, I loved all the references - the only one I didn't get was "Neighbor."
jimday
08. May 2013 · 17:07 UTC
wow, smooth graphics. very nicely done.
JonathanG
10. May 2013 · 18:51 UTC
Charming and sweet little game. Could do with a longer music loop in the menu, but that's pretty much the only flaw in this game. The art is great, it has funny references, the audio is good quality, and the gameplay is solid (that it calculates a percentage accuracy is clever). Although simple, it is completely polished and could easily go straight onto a flash portal as it is. The only thing I would add is more levels, and probably a new mechanic or two to extend the gameplay a bit. I haven't got many ideas off the top of my head - maybe if the drawing was more freeform rather than joint-the-dots in later levels, or if you had to spot between a few different constellations in the same set of stars.
SuperDisk
11. May 2013 · 03:16 UTC
Fun puzzle game. We beat it completely.
pythong
12. May 2013 · 09:10 UTC
i like how the arm of the stargazer is moving, but the music really got annoying :)
ethankennerly
12. May 2013 · 23:26 UTC
Tracing shapes to the airy music enchanted me. If you continue to develop this, oftentimes I did not realize I had to click and release on a star to start a line. Sometimes I would hold the mouse down and drag a little off the star, and then a line would not start.
kill0u
13. May 2013 · 12:36 UTC
Nice mood :)
Zim the Fox
16. May 2013 · 05:13 UTC
First of all, thank you so much for commenting on my game <3 I have continued work on it, will be posting updates soon :3

I love the references. (Finn <3 And I've been watching Harry Potter again!) The artwork is great, the music is greater. The gameplay feels a little too... 'sniper-y', which I do play a lot of in Team Fortress 2 :P

The accuracy metre is a little off. In killer, I only made a triangle and I got 31% accuracy. Only thing that needs work, And maybe increase the resolution.
acro
17. May 2013 · 00:02 UTC
Impressively feature-complete, slick, and very charming. Quite a few entries seem to have taken 'minimalism' to mean 'simple gameplay' which I'm not at all sure about, but apart from that this is truly impressive. I can see a lot of care and attention went into all the little nuances, like the tangrams-like character and pattern designs, the little guy pointing toward the mouse; the moon phase showing the time passing. What amazes me is that you had time to pay attention to things like that in the time frame.
hgouveia
20. May 2013 · 12:58 UTC
i loved this game, the star puzzle got me! ,very fun and challenging game, good material to Mobile game too
AdventureIslands
20. May 2013 · 18:16 UTC
Really nice idea, all the shapes being references to something really added to the game, made me want to keep going just to see what the next object was from. Great job! Only thing I didn't really like was the music.