Very unique game, it was captivating 😄 I didn't grasp everything but I still had a lot of fun playing, great job!
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The Von Neumann Project's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Originality | #39 | 3.706 | 3.706 |
| Graphics | #41 | 3.824 | 3.824 |
| Controls | #42 | 3.353 | 3.353 |
| Overall | #49 | 3.345 | 3.345 |
| Fun | #56 | 3.118 | 3.118 |
| Accessibility | #58 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Audio | #66 | 3.118 | 3.118 |
| Theme | #70 | 3.294 | 3.294 |
Ranked from 17 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Godot Version
4.5-stable
Wildcards Used
Autumnal
Cozy vibes and autumn-like atmosphere
Single Location
Use only once location
Game Description
Launch, Harvest, Replicate, Repeat
How does your game tie into the theme?
The Von Neumann Theory postulates exponential expansion of resource gathering and exploration. The entire game takes place on one space backdrop and the gameplay/pace and music should feel cozy. The colors and shaders used all lean towards reds,yellows, and oranges which I associate with Autumn.
Source(s)
https://github.com/a727891/vonneumann_expansion_gdwj85
Discord Username(s)
Soeed
Participation Level (GWJ Only)
1
Comments
Great game! The controls felt very responsive (although I never really had to use the strafe keys), and I really love the art and overall theme. I think the text could be bigger, I had to lean closer to my monitor to read it. I loved all of the sound design except the engine sound when moving the ship around, it felt very annoying to me. Overall, it's a very enjoyable game. I especially liked the little interactions with the aliens.
Submitted
Martian Bacteria Invasion!This was pretty cool, and had a fun concept. The controls and effects were very very smooth, and the art style and theming were very cohesive and fitting. I also liked that there were two different control schemes, and an achievement system.
- There are a few instances of contrast issues in the UI, this make certain parts of the game fairly difficult to read (specifically the yellow text on the gray paneling). Generally, a contrast ratio of 4.5 for text and its background is held as the standard, and there are other things you can do to improve it such as giving the text a border or backdrop. There are a few tools you can use to test your contrast ratio, such as this site: https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
- I wasn't too sure of what the color of the arrows around the ship meant. I imagine they had something to do with organics vs. inorganics, but couldn't really tell.
- I wasn't sure what the progress bar at the bottom of the screen was for
The VOD is linked below, and will be available for 60 Days:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2573434007?t=1h1m13s
Submitted
Let's Enjoy And FarmThank you for that feedback. You aredefinitely right about the text contrast.
The arrow colors designated the target type: planet or asteroid. For a small project like this, having the two types of resources org/inorg was overly complex. Planets and asteroids both give both types of resources, but asteroids award whichever resource is lacking the probe launch threshhold while planets are a 70/30% chance per harvest
The progress bar is a visual indicator of the score tick. The score text should have tweened to draw some attention to the change as well. I only added the progress bar so players would not question when the score would change. I'll definitely think on how to be make that more clear for future projects.
Thank you for the vod. That is a great help for real time playtesting.
Thank you again for the constructive feedback
This was a real joy to play. The movement feels genuinely smooth and responsive which makes a huge difference. Fluidity and game feel were the highest priorities on our own project so I really appreciate how much work it takes to get that right. You’ve done a great job making everything feel intuitive and satisfying to control.
The visual style is lovely too. The planets have real personality and the clean interface ties everything together without getting in the way. I really liked the retro touches like the window frame and the achievement popups. There is a lot of charm packed into the details.
I found the resource system a little unclear but I still enjoyed cruising through space and discovering all the little interactions. Pulling this off solo is no small feat. Very impressive work and a strong foundation if you choose to keep building on it.
Submitted
PopRocksVery unique entry, I really enjoyed seeing the moral choice mid planet harvest. Also I popped what I assume is an achievement but didn’t know where to find it! Love achievements so that was nice to see. Would have also loved to have the tutorial stick around for a little longer, I didn’t finish reading them before they went away. Otherwise a very polished and cute game!
Submitted
LoregrowThank you for trying it!
I made the UI hints hide after a few seconds of user input, but they return after a few seconds of no input. I left these at a rather long 2seconds delay though :)
The achievements only appear on screen once, but are also listed on the info panel. With more time they would probably have appeared out of game on the main menu though.
I used the kenney.nl planets asset pack and layered 4 different parts files on top of each other. The I wrote a shader that simply multiplies a tint color. The scene script is set so that I can specify frames and colors, or go full dynamic within a hue range.
I really liked the art on your planets too. They had a ton of character
Everything ties in really well. The visuals, the sound, and especially the movement. Feels very satisfying to fly and harvest. Almost as satisfying as receiving a bribe.
Submitted
Forest Ex NihiloThis game has really great visuals and audio! I like the idea of visiting different planets and making a choice on what to do with the planet. I found the resource gathering a little confusing, I didn't really know what I was gathering from the planets or what to do with the resources I was gathering. I also saw that I was spawning new ships, but because I didn't really get the point of the resources I didn't know why it was important to spawn new ships.
Overall it was cool to fly around and laser down the planets even if I didn't really see the benefit of it! I also enjoyed the achievement system, especially earning the achievement for "Eradicating Humanity" lol
Submitted
Fall of GooThank you for the kind words!
The resource are just a 70/30 chance on harvest to receive your "matter per harvest" on each healthbar depletion. When you recieve enough resources to launch a probe, it does it automatically. Threshold is the x/30 numbers .
Each score tick lets a percentage of probes be successful in also harvesting and replicating. Unfortunately the score logic in practice just depends on the universe probe amount, and matrer harvest upgrade on restart is just exponent in the 10^x part of the score. so not well balanced at all.
Tip for anyone reading this, just farm the benevolece event to rapidly raise the mph to launch dozens of probes off the first asteroid.
For my first game, I am content to have just finished and submitted. These comments are the icing on the cake
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