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Distress Call's itch.io pageHow does your game incorporate the theme?
The player powers up components of their ship in order to interact with them.
What bonus challenges did you complete?
Single pack
Mouse only
Did you use any sort of AI during the development of your submission?
No
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Comments
Great game ! Loved it :D
Let's trade feedback! I submitted a project too.
UI Interface: Well-done use of UI packs and turning module-management into a full game. Some button areas should be bigger for more flexibility in clicking and dragging. The Lift support draggers have to be pixel perfect to pull up even when my mouse is on top of them.
Mechanics: Very well-done overall. I'm glad there was not a death-state. I actually did all the power but saved the Life Support System for last since that had the most dials. This is a very interesting game play concept.
Audio: Pair user actions with more audio cues and it'll be 5x more immersive! Examples: Closing the airlock each time would give the air pressure steam sound. Powering up the Shields would give a energy bubble burst sound. Each Overcharge would give a electrical static sound along with maybe an AI saying "systems overcharged, warning". Cooling the engines should give maybe a frosty sound effect. Lastly starting the Warning Signal might initial a voice-over audio playing of asking for assistance and an radar signal sound to immerse me in the use of it. SO many ways to enhance the experience with sound since the space visuals are not there.
Future Enhancement: Addition of events.
For example when turning on shields and then boosting them, at some point an event cue could be "asteroids detected" "missiles incoming" or "prepping for asteroid impact, shield at 100%" sort of moments to give weight to having my shields up.
Another example: Keeping the air lock open for too long, can trigger an "Invader detect in airlock" event, which makes the air lock harder to close. And then a "Purge Subsector Airlock" buy option appears for you to use. It costs 100 points which could have been spent elsewhere. But since you ignore the air locks, now in invader is on the ship. This type of scenario (as an example), gives a consequence for ignoring something for so long.
Last example: Cooling the Engines didn't seem to have any effect. If you ignore cooling the engine, then the sound cue of the engines humming gets louder; eventually it could lead to another sound cue "Engine heat at 58% warning"; then a visual cues might kick in---the UI turns redder and redder in hue. Maybe some cracks in the UI panels appear. If we continue to let the engine overhead, we lose the option to start a Power Surge in UI. One consequence leading to another, even if just sound cues and immersive triggers. Maybe a new option appears with warning option "Reset Power Core for Engine" which you have to Buy if you've ignored the engine long enough.
This is awesome! I had a similar idea before realizing I wouldn’t know how to execute it well. I’m glad someone did it though! This is very fun, I liked not knowing exactly what everything did, but most things were all very self-explanatory. It’s also quite funny, and the sound effects are on point. An absolute blast.
Sound effects were one of the last things I implemented, and I think they add a lot to the experience! Glad you liked them!
This is so cool, really impressive! Was a bit stressful/confusing at times but I think that's part of the difficulty curve. Overall really liked it :)
Super cool concept! Kept me at the edge of my seat for 12 minutes. Very engaging. Loved the atmosphere and trying to fix this broken machine to get out.
This would be a fantastic part of a sci-fi themed Escape Room. Just a thought :-)
Great job!
Well done building something so engaging with so few assets! Nicely polished as well.
For me, gameplay was too difficult. First go I unlocked everything as quickly as possible and had no idea what was happening. Second time around I took my time and did better, but still had too much stuff happening to really understand what was going on. It may be easier if some modules could just be "completed" at some point, so you have fewer things to worry around. E.g. an option to weld the damn airlock shut after closing it for the five hundredth time. There would still be escalating difficulty as the modules get more complicated, but it would make the end more manageable for the average player I think.
Awesome game! Made it to the end. I myself was thinking of making a purely UI game, but was struggling to figure out a game-loop. This game made it, it was fun trying to figure out the ship controls and learning as you go. Well done!
Very good game! Felt somewhat like a reverse incremental game, where the more power ups you gain the more stuff you need to do!
It was extremely polished and the balance was top notch. It never felt underwhelming, although there seemed to be no failure state of sorts!
Incrementally more things to worry about :D
And yep, having a failure condition on top of the chaos felt a bit too punishing for the jam, so the only way you really "lose" is closing the game without sending the SOS Message :)
And from the range of times I've seen it take people to beat it, I think that was the right call haha
Great simulator! It will be great if you would add a brief description of the panel control when the player hovers over it~
Very well done. The only criticism is that it doesnt have an actual end (or i didnt find it) but amazing game overall for what it is
It's a bit of a puzzle to find! You just need to press the "Send SOS" button on the Comms module to win! It's one of the last ones you unlock :)
(But you'll have to finish the Navigation module to get that button enabled!)
I went to play it again to try and finish it and this time it was quite easy (less than 5 minutes), i didn't finish almost any modules (i think i only finished the System Control really) so that might have been a bug. But last time i finished all of them and it was VERY satisfying, even though i never managed to finish the game, so i feel like i did everything even though it wasnt in a single playthrough.
I actually played twice just now, on the first time there was a bug with the Air Lock where it said it was closed but i couldn't rise my life support knobs, so i restarted.
Again, Great game and so well thought of when looking at the assets, reminds me of "Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop" which is a very good game.
Love the concept!
This is fantastic, great job!
Beautiful!
Really cool game and concept, the layout of everything is very clean and it's nice you used an asset pack most people would think of for a game :) Well done!
good or im not have vin( Im not understend Hov?
Incredible
Really enjoyed this one, I like the variety of stuff you have to make, either pressing or holding button, ui is also quite nice and sfx are on par with it overall
Really amazing game set up. Managing the entire menu is a really nice challenge by itself.
I really loved the different gameplays in different components---especially the numbers authorization menu. Really nothing to complain about.
I don't know the lose condition though, since I had basically nothing met at the life support system at the start because I didn't know how it works.
Great job!
Haha, I actually turned off the loss condition(s) in favor of a time-based result screen because I felt like it was too punishing. Puzzling out what actions to take in the right order to keep all of the modules happy is a challenge on its own!
Glad you liked the authorization questions! I had fun writing those :)
This kind of game is tricky because it's hard to balance, but in your case, you did it so well. It's one of the rare games I've completely finished so far!
awesome, love the music