Very interesting idea, relaxing gameplay and by far my favorite combination of gameplay and soundtrack. Nice to see some love for science in this very fun way!

By the way, don't photons move in a waveform? ;-)

@king-kujito Thanks! well, they do, but they also behave like a normal particle. I've chosen to exclude their waveformness because it's a bit easier to program and a bit easier to play with. I'm aware of many other physics laws that I've chose not to implement because of the shear complexness of them and they would make the gameplay a bit harder :)

Playing with this game was a nice experience. Floating around as a photon in the micro space between atoms was fun.

Sometimes I felt that my control had very little effect on the trajectory of my photon. I was more able to steer it in general direction instead of really directing it. But this is probably a gameplay choice.

I was not able to reach the eye in my short playthrougth and didn't felt a sense of progression. I think adding a "distance to the eye" in number somewhere on the UI could help with that. This will also give a small idea of score and allow the player to know if he did better one time according to another.


(You can see me playing this game for the first time on the vod https://youtu.be/lXUmif8KKxM?t=12m45s )

This gave me great respect for the particles/atoms? that travel towards the eye! Look Togis mentioned, a good way to let the player know you are close is by having at least a bar at the top based on progression or a distance marker. I also would have liked a skip button for the intro but I did make it to the eye. Visually great game as well and plays well! Thanks!

This game feels pretty relaxing, but the controls are too hard to feel, there is a feeling that im not doing anything while controlling the photon :(
The song is so damn catchy though!!
Edit: Oh, so not you wrote music :( Okay, still a nice game!

As the others already said, the game is very relaxing, beautiful colors and a chosen soundtrack that fits very well. I did not reach the eye and wasn't sure it was possible since nothing indicated whether I was getting closer or not :/ Also I died very quickly on my first try because I did not understand what the arrows meant. But overall a very good job ! :)

Fun concept, but I'd like more movement feedback as mentioned above, and some indication of how far I am from the eye would be great too :D

It's an original idea, I've not seen anything quite like it (totally accidental pun). Great take on the theme, initially I found it difficult to control as I got caught by an atom and wasn't sure that my key presses were actually doing much but then I managed to break free. It was very satisfying skimming passed the atoms.

Visually it is interesting and has a nice feel to it, it was a clever idea to base it around spheres and that has allowed you to polish it nicely.

Improvements-wise it would be great if there was a bit more challenge to it, once you get in the flow it is quite easy. Also some more visual feedback when you press keys might assure the player that their actions are having the desired effect if they get caught in the pull of an atom. Others have mentioned adding visual feedback on the distance to the eye, and I agree with this.

Overall great work though!

THANK YOU ALL FOR FEEDBACK! @togis @sebasrez @volkoivan @quetzakol @rustybroomhandle @adamd

I had a lot of struggle to balance this game, and sadly I failed. If I give the player more control over his movement, it becomes too easy and unrealistic as in real life , photons have no way of moving themselves. Also, it should prevent you from going too far in the wrong direction.

I thought, that there were enough visual clues when I added a trail and the photon actually spins in the direction that you are controlling it (although, I admit, it's impossible to see when the camera is far away from the photon)

The distance to the eye as you've all mentioned is indeed a good thing to have. I don't know how did I miss that. Perhaps I'll add that soon.

But again, thank you all for great feedback( you'll probably never read this anyway :D )

I agree with everything that has been said. The concept is really good, the major problem is the little control we have over the photon. The game still nice and playable with this issue, though.

I dont think I actually had any control what so ever over the photon.
Edit: Oh I did, its just that little of an impact. And I was able to actually have hands off after the first minute for the entire rest of the game without hte need to even touch the keyboard. But it is visually pleasing and a unique idea!

Something that hasn't been mentioned yet, but bothered me a bit: When you die, you have to grab your mouse and click twice before you can play again. Space bar or enter would have made this easier.

Overall, nice game!

I love the idea of being a photon that is trying to get to an eye :slight_smile: It's very interesting usage of the theme.

Together with pleasant music, the gameplay is pretty relaxing. Actually, I've found two uneasy challenges in this game. The first was to lose the game, which I managed to accomplish on my third playthrough, and the second was to turn back in a halfway and return to the television, which I've accomplished as well (but I'm not recommending trying this to anyone) :grinning:

I enjoyed the game!

Nice work on the audio. Interest concept and really unique getting the idea formed for being a photon that has to get to an eye. Keep up the good work!

the music and graphic make a great experience!, i didn't reach the eye on my attempts but i definitely will give another try later! (yeah i like it that much!), some personal thoughts for improvement: some UI "distance" for track progress or maybe a "Camera Zoom Out" to see how much farther the eye are, some feedback of control movements, sometimes you feel like you do not do anything, "pause/restar button mid play" ...

so far one of my favorites for "Fun" and "Mood" and Music but was an Op-Out jejeje :smile: (sooo good music)

@alobker Yeah you're right. that hasn't been mentioned and it would be an improvement. however, it's not possible with the way I do things. but thanks anyway! :slight_smile:

@tommyno222 Thanks! that's the spirit! try and experiment with the game! The only reason I did it is to dick around with gravity :smiley:

@simple-blue Thanks, but I did not work on the audio it's *Up Above* from [Youtube library](https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music)

@rixud WOW, you like it that much??? you must've played some shitty games then :smiley: it's really not that good, but thanks anyway! I am going to make an update on the game using everyone's feedback, so thanks! :slight_smile:

Good job. It was a pretty interesting idea. Going really close to the atoms and flying past them was fun. Adding a restart button might have been a good idea because sometimes you would get stuck in the gravitational pull of the atom and have to close the game or wait until you lost.

Thanks for sharing!

Nice graphics, nicely chosen music, it fits the mood :)

I wasn't able to control the photon on the 64bit version when on fullscreen tho. The 32bit version windowed works fine.

You can watch me playing the game here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5x4fRX8yrw

Wow that is some nice graphics! It's impressive to see something that looks so good created in such a short amount of time.

The only thing I felt was that the controls were really slow, so making any sort of real adjustment took a long time.

Pretty game XD

Loved the graphics, colurful and bright, atoms and photon trail are beautiful. I'm also a fan of the chroma shifting shader, which I immediately noticed in the start screen already :)

As others said, you don't feel you're in great control of the photon, but I think it's right that you can only adjust the trajectory a little. I got to the eye in my first gameplay, and then retried 3 or 4 times without success. It was fun trying to escape the atom, but it lasted too long, and at the end I resigned.

Main reason I wanted to retry is because I was curious of the final picture you see on screen at the end: is it always the same, or you used something like Instagram APIs to pull a random image from your profile every time?

That said, very great entry, I liked a lot.

@stanov Thanks for the review and the stream! sorry that I couldn't make it. But I did see the video, and I can definitely say, that the controls were working as they should in the 64 bit fullscreen version. you just got unlucky and always hit an electron :smiley: anyway, as I've said many times, the controls are deliberately not as responsive. because first, it would be too easy if you had full control, and also, you are traveling at the speed of light, and rapid change of direction isn't really a thing at that speed. Also, when you were caught in the electrons gravity, you were doing the opposite of what you should do. you should increase the speed with the photon's movement and not try to go against it. If you go with it, after a few rotations, you'll get out of it by yourself. that's just how gravity works (the electrons have the Newton's gravity equation on them to do gravity) Maybe I should put a wikipedia article on gravity for everyone to read before playing the game :smiley:

@blaster391 THANKS!!! Although, I had the graphics done in like the first 5 hours. they are really simple to do in unity. just a few stock effect applied to the camera and that's it :smiley: but I am glad that you appreciate it

@lorenzos Thanks! As I've said they are just stock unity shaders. nothing special :smiley: anyway, yes, they are random but just between 5 pictures that are in the game. there's no Instagram API to pull them, but they are all from my instagram, so if you take a look there, you'll find them all and a lot more :slight_smile: thanks for the review!

@dejvo - I've never experimented with those sort of stock affects, I must try it some time if it makes it look that good. But still little things like that really make your game stand out

@blaster391 [Here's](https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/PostProcessing/wiki) pretty much everything, you need to know. Until 5.6 there were image effects, but they weren't this good. Now, they call it postprocessing, and you can create really nice things. I've used In my game glow, Depth Of Field, anti-aliasing and Chromatic aberration

@dejvo This looks great! Thanks for taking the time to show me this. I'm definitely going to experiment, and hopefully next Jam I'll have a very fancy looking game

@blaster391 :musical_note: *What can I sayyyy except, you're welcome, you're welcome* :musical_note: I am so sorry but I couldn't help it :smiley: I am sure, you'll make great graphics :slight_smile:

(if you didn't get that, i was a refference to Moana. If you haven't seen Moana the **GO WATCH MOANA** )

It's a cool concept, a little hard for me, and the music was a good choice. The graphics were very, um, neon, I guess.
I think an addition of a reset key (for when you get stuck in an atom's gravity) would be a good feature.
Good job!

Your attention to detail is very nice. Shaders, trails, particles...it's the small things that count! The difficulty curve could be tweaked and for the time you had, the graphics will do (however, I would love to see some polish). Overall I had quite a unique experience. Keep it up!

Quality and pleasant music, graphics performed very carefully, I like it! But why such a simple gempley? I lost only because I was distracted - does not the boss look what I'm doing

Visually beautiful although with a somewhat complicated control. The movements so slow create a good atmosphere but make it too simple. Anyway it is a unique experience and a very original idea. Great job!!

Cool game ! Very unique, I love the giant Eyeball at the end ! :smile:

Great work man! Voted 5 stars!

Physical inaccuracies aside, I love the gameplay. weaving through the atoms, doing orbits around those I did not manage to escape felt just awesome.

I missed the pupil, though. :sweat_smile:

I really enjoyed this game, even with the loose control of the photon. I did end up overshooting a little, and having to come back to hit the eyeball from behind, which I don't think is possible though ; P

On the whole, I had a great time here!

Well done. Weird aesthetic and fun gameplay which fits with the theme. Quiet mood which I like. Thumbs up!

Thank you for your feedback (about my project Abaddon). As written in my presentation (but noone reads the presentation - I know that), I would like to say that there is a health regeneration in my game - next time, you should pass through the blue dust when you kill a monster or a spider. There is no salvation. Do the best score and put your name forever in the hall of fame :)

Boy! You are right. I commented your game, but I forgot to rate it. Sorry. Done. Highly rated ++

Oh, a clever one ;)

Good job on conveying the scale. In my opinion general emptiness was just right - after all, that's a photon!
Mechanic is interesting, and after initial struggle (since the path changes slowly I was unsure if I'm steering correctly - but that's also not an issue, again - photon, though some kind of tutorial added post-jam could clear that up.

I like how in general meeting an atom is an event in itself. Drifting through nothingness, everything's fine, good course, straight to the eye, la la la, BAM OHMYGOD NONONONONONO NOOOOOOOO... <- my first playthroughs in a nutshell :D

It's a tough one to suggest changes, I think I must spend some more time with this game to really know if something needs re-balancing. For now, it's good fun, and a very solid jam game with nice visuals, clever concept and a good take on the theme.

Cheers, and stay awesome!

I unfortunately didn't finish the game, but you're onto something here. The sparse visuals convey the emptiness of subatomic space really nicely, and for some reason I feel like the sort of '80s power pop song really fits the neon TV theme. Like others, I found the game fairly relaxing, but I *do* wish there was more of a sense of progression and/or more to *do*. I ended up just mindlessly avoiding the blue arrows. It might be interesting if there's a risk/reward gamble to the atoms, like if getting close to them can help speed me up. A progress bar or other indicator would have made me less likely to give up on this. As it is I have no idea how close I was to winning.

OK - I'm not sure if I am being a bit stupid but I don't get it! I don't feel like I have any control over the photon at all. I tried both the 32-bit and 64-bit version but neither WASD nor the arrow keys seem to give me much (if any) control.

I made a video...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/370wx0s8hybul4x/Space%20Balls%20Controls.wmv?dl=0

In this video I am holding down the UP arrow from the very start and it doesn't feel like I am affecting the photon's movement at all?!?

Am I just expecting too much control over it or is this a bug?

From an idea point-of-view I really like it!

@richard-michael-smith no, you're not being stupid. I've watched the video and yes, you were in control. it's just hard to notice but enough to try and weave up and down between atoms. I've explained why I made it that way in previous comments (I think) but the best explanation is [here](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/space-balls/its-my-fifth-ld-but-my-first-post-mortem-smiley-plus-need-for-help)

I am trying to make a post-jam version but it's really hard to balance the controls. also, when you get caught by an atoms gravity, don't try to fight it, but instead go with it and it'll make you go faster. because you can't really fight the gravity and I think, that's why many people experience difficulties. because fighting the gravity only slows you down.

But thanks for the feedback. I will definitely make a post-jam (or better post-rate) version. so if you want, keep an eye on this in (hopefully) near future :slight_smile:

Thanks @dejvo for pointing me to your explanation. I have replied over there! :grinning:

Really love the idea of the game. The graphics are also nice and the music was well chosen. It would be nice if the controls were a bit more responsive. At first I thought they didn't work ^^'