Halcyon Game Jam 2023  submission : Space explorer


An auto-shooter space exploration game.

For now, the objective is to reach the Snow stellar system and to liberate it.


Gameplay


Stellar system map:

  • Defeat the waves of enemy
  • If they reach you, they hit you
  • Make sure to loot the equipment near the star

The encounter on the first map is a bit short, the only gameplay information is:

- two first numbers on the HUD are the health and shield

- blue dots : fuel

- purple dots : experience

- gold dots : money

Same icons in the HUD and to loot them.


Galaxy map:

  • First time you load it, do not move, do not click on "Enter stellar system"
  • "Enter stellar system" : you will enter the stellar system that you are on
  • To move : it's the same movement system (rotation with the mouse, movement with Z/W/Forward arrow key)
  • Do not waste fuel, or you will run out of fuel (starting maximum value is 40)
  • You can mouse over the stars to see their difficulty (and name, and planets) (the number is the enemy count of each waves unit)

If you reach the Snow stellar system and liberate it, you win.


Feel free to retry a stellar system if you need more upgrades or fuel.


Feel free to use the "level up" cheat (see below) if the game is too difficult. It's the same thing as a difficulty modifier.


I did not put any parallax (following recommendations) in the stellar system level, the background is static, it can be annoying for the eyes :  I found out that staying close from the center (star, planets) of the map make it less annoying


Make sure you have read the known bugs at the end of the document if you do not want to be surprised.


Controls


You can use the Z/W key to move forward, or the forward arrow key.


That is the only control necessary to play the game.


There are two cheats:

- L to win a level

- M to trigger the level up prompt


Remarks


Be careful with the level up bonuses:

  • Some upgrades will pass a certain limit (capped) but still be pickable
  • Or they are not capped and it might make the game buggy

For now, you can reset the state of the game by leaving it.

In the web browser, it might be closing the tab or opening it in another window.


Main menu options:

  • Play: start a new game (but you will keep the bonuses)
  • Continue: restart as the last saved place (it should)


I would've had this features If I had time:

  • Merchant to use the coins
  • Inventory system
  • More enemy types
  • Control key to skip the dialogues


The planet spawn is a bit difficult to implement, so they are close by the star.

It supposed to be fixed, but you might encounter buggy planets (the texture is a line).


Credits


I apologize if I forgot anything :).

Also, I had to translate everything from Markdown to Itch.io's format, hopefully there won't be any typos.


Music


Credits to HalcyonicFalconX for his contribution to The Open Bundle.

  • Part of the The Open Bundle you can find here
  • Songs:
    • Entry scene: Searching
    • Galaxy level: The Stage is Set
    • Stellar system level: A Light in the Darkness of Destruction

Credits to ansimuz for Mystery Music Collection Pack 2

  • License : "You may use these assets in personal or commercial projects. You may modify these assets to suit your needs. Credit is not required but appreciated it."
  • Songs:
    • Snow stellar system: Magic Fx 6

Generators (not "AI")


Generation of the background images (1280x720, borkfest for the main menu)

Credits to deep-fold for Pixel Space Background Generator

  • License MIT



Generation of the planets and stellar objects:

Credits to deep-fold for Pixel Planet Generator

  • License MIT

Disclaimer: I've worked on this one recently, though I did not used the work I've done on it (attempting to pass it to Godot 4)

  • All the stellar objects should've been made during the jam



Generation of the portrait (and we love portraits):


Fonts


Credits to ggbot for it's pixeloid-font

  • License SIL


Ships


Credits to foozlecc for:


SFX


Credits to Richy Mackro for Byte Man SFX 1

Credits to Kenney for Sci-Fi Sounds

Credits to rubberduck for 60 CC0 Sci-Fi SFX


Effects


Credits to Sinestesia for 2D Explosion Animations | Frame by frame

Pick ups


Credits to Cassius/zrghr for pixel-art-loot-pixelliverse


Known bugs


Some time, the destruction animation of the enemies won't play.

Enemies will follow the player after being destroyed, but before the destruction animation ended (they should continue in a straight line).


When running out of fuel in the galaxy map, the next time you load the galaxy map, you will respawn there.

You were supposed to respawn at the first level, the least difficult.

If you run out of fuel, but did not clicked and "Main menu", I suppose you will respawn far away from the main stars : either use the cheats to have more fuel, or close the browsers tab (that will restart the state of the game, upgrades included)


When restarting, you were supposed to restart with all your stats resetted to the starting values (but you would keep the upgrades) : it's not the case, only the health is put back to it's normal/starting value



More information

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