In Solar system depths by gbegreg

[raw]
made by gbegreg for Ludum Dare 57 (COMPO)

I'm going on a journey to the depths of the solar system. You can explore this solar system in 3D. As you approach a planet, you can fly over it and explore it in depth!

I'm developing everything myself using Delphi and my opensource GBE3D components. https://youtu.be/sZ9Cu5O6NM4

Ratings

Overall 254th 3⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 271th 2.667⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 199th 3.06⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Theme 208th 3.25⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 218th 3.12⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Humor 218th 2.217⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Mood 237th 2.957⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Given 23🗳️ 22🗨️

Feedback

Tristam MacDonald
07. Apr 2025 · 09:32 UTC
I like the ambition here, but I'm experiencing pretty severe input issues on the Mac (ARM) build. The keyboard input is being treated as if it's textfield entry, which means the cursor keys are triggering the system error beep, and holding down any of the letter keys pops up the accent-entry popup.
ImmortalFox
07. Apr 2025 · 10:14 UTC
Love the space theme, and the LD57 theme is hit as well. Great experience, but could be done better!
🎤 gbegreg
07. Apr 2025 · 16:53 UTC
I don't have a Mac ARM to test...
During the jam, I only tested under Windows and quickly the Linux version.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll have to improve Mac support (but without a Mac to test...)
Helagos
08. Apr 2025 · 18:48 UTC
I love space games so i like it.
It's a simple concept but it work and it's not so easy to make in 2 days.
Graphic are really simple but it makes the game "cartoon" and it works, good job overall !
LDJam user 280624
09. Apr 2025 · 14:52 UTC
It's a small game, but it somehow captures the vastness of space. Great game!
baknik
10. Apr 2025 · 02:52 UTC
Nice exploration. I found the ship a bit difficult to turn (it didn't seem to want to turn right away when pressing the button). Thanks for the game!
silkworm_sweatshop
10. Apr 2025 · 21:13 UTC
Woah, this is a neat little space sim. Made we want to land on planets and explore :sweat_smile: but I think it's ambitions enough as is. For fun I backed away from the solar system which ultimately gave me a bit of a surprise.
🎤 gbegreg
11. Apr 2025 · 06:40 UTC
I'm not using any game engine, only code I wrote to be as "from scratch" as possible. That's why there's no controller support, and I had to find a way to steer the ship. I'm aware it's not great ;)

Initially, I thought I'd allow landing on planets and move on to a shooting phase a bit like "Space Harrier" or "The Light Corridor," but it was too ambitious to do alone in 48 hours. Likewise, I didn't have time to make sounds.

I wasted a little too much time managing collisions and enemy fire...
atsh
12. Apr 2025 · 07:39 UTC
Really impressive that you did it in delphi. I liked the graphics, though mixing the 2 texture styles was a little jarring, but they were both good

The game felt a little slow and clunky (e.g, aiming was not smooth, but moved on a grid), and I didn't understand why Q is left and not A (and also why you need left/right when you can just steer with them mouse)

All in all, cool space shooter
🎤 gbegreg
12. Apr 2025 · 11:17 UTC
Thank you. I'm french and I developed the game with an AZERTY keyboard ;)
Eugenik
14. Apr 2025 · 05:06 UTC
Astounding!!!.
LittleGamer
14. Apr 2025 · 13:41 UTC
Impressing on a technical stand point and relatively fun at the begining. However the game gets boring when you have to find the last ships ; it's too hard to spot them in such a big space without any information. Still liked this entry !
INCD021
15. Apr 2025 · 10:34 UTC
I wasn't able to kill any of the enemies as I wasn't able to fire while orienting the ship with the mouse. :(
I don't know if your keyboard layout is different from qwerty, but found it really hard to figure out the controls.
Linux build was appreciated :thumbsup:
🎤 gbegreg
15. Apr 2025 · 16:28 UTC
Yes, I use an Azerty keyboard.
Normally, you can use the arrow keys or Z, A, S, D, and the space bar to shoot. You can use the mouse by clicking on the gray circle, holding down the keys, and moving the mouse slightly to orient yourself (and direct the shots).
gdman
15. Apr 2025 · 21:38 UTC
This is very cool idea for a game! Reminds me old DOS game Netwars.

At first I was frustrated with controls, but then my retro-airsim experience kicked in. I set comfortable 15 speed and aimed with careful mouse movement.

Then, I don't know, either I picked some power up, or game glitched after several restarts, but my shield was invincible, and I was able to beat game. Sorry if that's cheating, but it was still hard! But not impossible-hard as if I'd need to evade enemy fire.
(I know only about purple box giving ammo, and that's good there are plenty of them, I waste too many missing targets)
![space.gif](///raw/24e/f3/z/6c3b9.gif)

Congrats on writing all from scratch and in Lazarus!
Now if I may advice. There is always question what to reuse. Actually LD rules don't forbit reusing simple code like controllers.

Regarding AZERTY. It seems Lazarus has limitation and don't support detecting layout (Or something like MapVirtualKey into physical). May be you could add selection like in old games, where player chooses between QWERTY/AZERTY/QWERTZ.

Another thing is to add some smoothing to mouse. I forget about this myself everytime. But adding smoothing is usually couple lines of code, either lerp or ease-in ease-out or interpolation of some kind.

What would be great addition to game is some kind of radar or arrows pointing off screen.

Good luck! I've enjoyed your game!
Itskdog
22. Apr 2025 · 15:13 UTC
I'm impressed with the 3d space game. I do think the controls are a little odd. I'm not sure why the mouse wasn't used for aiming your ship. But, I did have have flying.
🎤 gbegreg
22. Apr 2025 · 19:41 UTC
Thank you for playing ;)
I don't use a game engine. This is only code that I made myself in 48 hours (no third-party dependencies). I also made the graphics (and I'm not a graphic designer). I didn't have time to make sounds. I tried to respect the constraints of the composition as best as possible: alone and as much from scratch as possible.