Pico Planets by brianshaler
Pico Planets is a auto-orienting 2D puzzle game where you have to jump from tiny planet to tiny planet to get to your goal before your oxygen runs out. Our intrepid explorer doesn't have any thrusters, so after you leave the surface of a planet, you have no control! If you jump too far, you may escape the gravitational pull of the planets around you and drift into space forever!
Three levels take you from learning the basics to avoiding hazard (a sun) and then finally requiring you to slingshot around the sun to get to the other side.
Ratings
| Coolness |
48% |
651 |
| Overall |
3.43 |
169 |
| Audio |
1.45 |
710 |
| Fun |
3.39 |
137 |
| Graphics |
2.64 |
563 |
| Humor |
2.32 |
375 |
| Innovation |
3.07 |
373 |
| Mood |
2.60 |
492 |
| Theme |
3.21 |
336 |
Feedback
Would be great to see more levels and a bigger playing screen.
Just imagine if I had time to make an animation for the astronaut.. Arms and legs flailing like crazy.. actually, maybe I'll try (after compo) cycling through the existing sprites and see how that looks. Sound effects would've helped here, too. Even a simple "Uhh, Houston, we have a problem," would be hilarious.
> Would be great to see more levels and a bigger playing screen.
Very much agree with this! I would've made more levels if I had time. It's a bit time consuming to make good ones, so I should make a basic level editor..
It can be hard to keep orientation sometimes I think some sort of compass always pointing north or something would be great. Another cool feature would be to have a reset level key for guys like me who end up in the middle of nowhere routinely and have to wait til the oxygen runs out :)
> more levels
Without a level editor, making levels is pretty time consuming. If I had more than 48 hours, I probably would have built a level editor to speed up that process.
> some sort of compass always pointing north or something would be great
Neat idea! I think it helps to have the green arrow pointing you in the right direction, but I agree, a compass or a mini-map would probably help a lot more. Also, I could probably smooth out the camera rotation a bit to make it less jarring.
> reset level key
Either that or detect that you're A) not within the gravitational pull of any planets and B) not moving toward any planets, and then automatically reset..
> I drifted off second jump every time
I hope you tried repositioning your character on the planet before jumping the second time! It wouldn't hurt to have extra planets for early levels to help people practice.
BUT PLEASE ADD A RETRY BUTTON FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! My guy would constantly jump into oblivion and I had to watch him die in quiet desperation...