BuriedAstronaut

buried-astronaut-preview.png

A fragment for Fragment Jam 2019 (WIN PRIZES) as they say https://itch.io/jam/fragmentjam

Waft about and see some boney trees grow. There are triangular birds above and grave-like pillars that swell and shrink below. You are in a sort of box but you can go out if you want. No objectives, just a place to visit.

Originally abandoned after procjam 2015. For this "release" I stole some bits from a couple of other released projects and stuffed them in, also cleaned up a little.

Event Created For: 
Made For: 
An event

Comments

bpseudopod's picture

Poor choice of controls

It's a beautiful little place, to be sure, from the waving grass-pillars far below to the bone-trees to the boids floating in the air (boids make everything better <3).

I think the big thing holding this back is the controls. You have no control over your speed. The most obvious problem with this is that there's no way to slow down or stop. I think this is the kind of game that really calls for a "stop" button, one that lets you sit back and relax and really watch that bone tree grow in real time, or steal a vantage point to watch two flocks of boids merge and split again. The controls compound this. The WASD controls are almost too snappy, making it hard to steer in general and to orient yourself precisely in particular, while the rotation is sluggish, making it hard to make quick, precise turns. On the other hand, you also can't speed up. How am I supposed to chase the boids when I can't even keep up? What fun is weaving between the undulating pillars when you can't use them to test yourself?

I could see myself spending a while in this little terrarium you've built, but I found the constant struggle with motion to be more frustrating then I was willing to put up with.

clyde's picture

I think the title does a

I think the title does a good job of themeing the game for me. I think of the scene as some sort of astronaut-hallucination/realization during a moment of serve and permanent abandonment.
The design-decision I find most interesting is that you move slower than the flock. When I was playing, I progressed by examining all the scare element-types and examined them. The flock was the thing I felt most attracted to and I tried to move with it. As I was doing so I wouldn't be able to keep up so I started to craft this story where I am in an alien place and having an undeniable need for belonging I choose to find the phenomenon most similar to me; incapable of keeping up with their abilities I'm reminded that I am not actually one of them, but still they are the most similar and so my most likely place. It was kinda sad. I love it!