After getting used to the operation method, it really feels like being in the universe. And the background music and atmosphere are very very amazing! Even you can sense an extra sense of loneliness in the game.

with some gameplay expansions or shortening it because the slightly repetitive mechanic there is a lot of great and potential in this :)

At firs i felt that this game is just very polished unfinished game but then i got to fight and this was awesome

The first wave of enemies came in hot and nearly took me instantly out, but I loved hearing them crash into the asteroids as I deftly flew through the asteroid field. Really interesting esthetic and lots of potential.

I do feel I was looking for a bit more agency, especially when there was a lot of dialogue to go through to choose Y/N on the mission, I generally just went with whatever option I got to first vs. backing out and trying to compare the options. While I'm usually one for seeing how long I can go without shooting sometimes in games, I did feel like I was missing something, maybe even just a limited boost option. I needed my ship to have a bit more weight to it, even if it was just a flame out the back when I had the accelerator on.

On one hand, especially for the title, the long-haul emptiness of space vibe was interesting, but on the other hand, there was a bit too much of it. It'd be useful I think to have some of the earlier missions be shorter, and also for each mission to have at least something "interesting" about it, whether it's an asteroid field, enemies, or something else. Some rewards/upgrades and making the choice of mission more impactful too will help.

It was a bit hard to see where the theme really came into play into the game itself vs. just world building around the clients. In the future, some sort of reputation/faction system where doing different jobs made you friendly to some and enemies to others over time that could change (and that you could recognize the different ship types of) could be interesting.

In either case, this is a phenomenal jam game you've put together, and it's a great start to something bigger!

Absolutely love the visuals, the music, the chat, the intro! It’s great!

In addition this game would probably make a very good full game, so let me be a bit constructive if you want to go that route.

The gameplay currently is just “press W” and “return to the same exact location every time”. You could probably guess, this gets pretty boring.

Nothing unsalvageable, there are always some good, elegant ways to solve these kinds of issues.

For example you could locate the different mission-giving ships in different parts of space that have different areas. Like a mission ship in the middle of an asteroid field or asteroid belt. One nearby pirates. One nearby police or something. Just to break up the locations that you go to.

To fix the “press W to win” mechanic, there could be ship boost, where the enemy is faster than you normally, but you’re faster with a boost, and you have to conserve it.

In addition i found the asteroids to be no challenge. It would be good if later on obstacles get a bit more interesting, like odd-shapes or locations that do something to you. Or adding more floaty ship inertia when you have cargo so you think about your rotation a lot more. The main point is to just break up the straight-line movement and make you actually think about what you’re doing, how you position the ship and where are you going.

I also got no hint of the money system, some missions said contracts granted money, but nothing. Would be cool if we could buy more boost fuel or upgrades from somewhere.

There was barely a hint of the theme to “trust no one” when a mission wasn’t what i expected. They said it’s a long haul with threat and i got a short haul with no threat. Would love to see an element where one mission ship gives you proper missions and throughout dialogue or experience, you learn that other mission ships aren’t so trustworthy, some less than others.

Hopefully this helps!

Amazing style you put into this game. Love the idea and the execution. Could see this being a full-release for sure. Great work with the music too, perfection!

Was shocked when I read this was your first soundtrack because it really sounds professional. 
The art is amazing and the shader to make the screen warp is really cool to. 
My only suggestions would be to hide the stars when they are behind the asteroids because I feel it detracts from the experience a bit. It would also be really satisfying if the user could unlock little blasters to use on the rebel ships, though I understand that it was probably impossible within the scope of the jam. 
Really great job on this one!!

This is so beautiful. I honestly can't think of a thing that would make this better and yet fit a game jam, lol. I would want so much more of this. With a longer story. All that. Amazing job!

Cool game, I really enjoyed the first few. I thought it was weird because I only ran through asteroids at one point and they were all gone on my way back. I got a few of the references, that was cool too. I felt like the game immediately escalated to unbeatable around the third job when tons of enemies would spawn and catch up to me and no matter what I did I couldn't outrun them. There was no cover to hide, I tired a few times but it just kept playing out exactly the same. I liked the way the game looked and sounded and handled.

Overall very cool game, but the execution fell off insanely hard. It might have been better to start off with a couple of enemies or gave me ways to deal with them, unless I misunderstood something.

The audio was really nice and sets well the mood, congrats !

Very atmospheric game, the music was especially fitting and epic!

I'd like to see this fleshed out more, one of the missions mentioned getting an upgrade, but then nothing happened, so I assume upgrades didn't make it in time for the jam.

Really nice use of the parallax effect for space as well, quite a soothing meditative experience :)

Ok, this game is awesome. By far one of my favorites of the jam. I love the dedication to the old school Asteroid vibes-- literally felt like I was playing on a old arcade cabinet. I like that you took a simple concept but really made it interesting. And this game is way more polished than most of the other games, you can feel the attention to detail. The music was awesome-- one of the only games that actually bothered to use good (and fitting) music. I was so mesmerized driving around in space I forgot I was on a delivery mission.  

Also, personally, I love all little things: the naming homages, the bits of humor, and dialogue, the delayed film-like title screen etc. Can't even remember the other stuff I wanted to mention because there was so much. Beautiful work! 

Maybe you want to make some real time space battles for our game? ;-)             

Edit: Dude, I had to come back and edit this, I just realized you actually made the music for this... incredible! Seriously. 

The space drama! ☆ Just finished playing the game and wow, it's addictive! One of my favs for this jam, for sure. 

Space looks really pretty with how simple the sprites are, and the music was absolutely beautiful. 

Kiting the hostile ships into the asteroids was lots of fun x)

This game is really awesome, honestly. The minimalist design, the gameplay, and the style that feels like you're  watching an old TV. It's really good.

An absolute masterclass in solo game development! The core gameplay loop of luring pirates into asteroids during cargo runs is brilliant, and the smooth ship controls make it incredibly fun to play. That main theme track is an absolute banger, and the dialogue brought so much charm to the world. Striking visuals, excellent mechanics—awesome job!

OMGFG. I'm the artist of the team, and i FUCKING love that experience. The way you enter in with the music after the first mission accept and the title and everything, it definitely sell the universe. And i really like that kind of parallax effect which sell well the universe.

WELL DONE.

Feel free to test our game !

At first I was afraid of the asteroids, but then I learned that they are my only friends in the vast nothingness of space. 

This game is a vibe, man. Fantastic ambient music, cool retro visuals and minimalist ship designs, and fun sci-fi references. Awesome intro, too! 

As was already mentioned, I can very much see this as a full release. Upgrades are the obvious go-to, but I would also just love to see more of the setting, characters and factions. I do love the fact that you're just a starhauler and can't fight back in the traditional way, so it would be very interesting to see how the game could evolve and become more complex later on while sticking to that aspect.

Anyway, great job, man!

I totally agree with my fellow developer from our game. This is a fun throwback. Loved the music and atmosphere and you got me personally smiling severel times with all the references in the chat to stuff like Alien and Cowboy Bebop.