I haven't played yet, but is there some reason why the game link doesn't lead to a new window by default? Is this intentional?
I was in a computer lab and when I clicked on a link, it opened in the same window... now I'm at home and clicking links also opens in the same window. Is JIG changing to this link format? Just want to know, because if so, I just need to get in the habit of right-click/open new window.

No Joye, that was my oversight. I'll fix them. Thanks for pointing that out. =)

Cute game. Reminds me of tiddlywinks.

It's a rather straight-forward game that ends pretty quickly, but I enjoyed it once I got more control over the "jumping." I think this idea could be expanded by creating levels with platforms or trampolines.

I could even see taking this game-play to game designs with multiple planets and complex gravity fields between them...

The 3rd level is hard! I can't click the guy while hes bouncing around and he keeps running out of oxygen.

Ok! I've played the game now, and I liked the idea and thought the graphics were simple and cute, but I found it hard to determine just which spot to click on. On the later levels I only had success clicking as fast as I could, hoping that I would hit the sweet spot randomly and get him to jump up. Whenever I tried to aim, he would just keep skidding back and forth horizontally.

Maybe if there were a circle drawn around the astronaut to show the parameters of where to click, it would be more strategic. But that kind of visual wouldn't make realistic sense.

Gravity physics isn't the same as ball physics... Meh.

Well, it was an interesting idea, but it was very short, and once you realize the 'trick' as it were, you can pretty much breeze through the levels. Perhaps some obstacles would help make it a little more difficult?
I also agree, it contains very little ball-based physics. Not too bad though.

It's great to see so many different types of game in this competition. With the given theme I was expecting a few to be pretty similar.

This one is pretty cool. It's like those keepy-uppy games but in space. The different planet types were a nice touch. I did find it getting hard quickly though, a bit of a shallower learning curve would have been nice.

One thing I think would really improve it is if the guy was in some sort of bubble. Not only would that make it fit the theme a little more, but would have made knowing where to click a bit more clear.

Great effort though, nice little game.

Ali

Pretty short with just the four levels; also not much cause to go back to it again. The high gravity levels were initially frustrating because I was trying to play it like a 'kick-ups' game - impossible given the speed. Once I realized you can just click the very bottom to launch him very high it became a lot easier.

I'm with coldfrog - obstacles would add a lot, specially since you could then have levels differentiated by more than just the gravity setting.

Very easy if you just aim the mouse till the hand sign just appears at the bottom of the guy. That seems to blast him all the way up even on the last level.

Not a bad game though. Looks good and is quite fun.

I died on Uranus, lol. It was entertaining to watch the little guy bounce around.

There needs to be a border so I don't keep clicking outside the window accidently.

Nice "keep our solar system clean" theme :)

I thought it was extremely difficult as a keep-up game, until I realized, like everyone else, that you are supposed to wait for him to drop and then click for a super jump. It would be nice if the directions made that clear.

Everyone suggests that obstacles would improve this game, but I think I would like to see the guy bounce when he hits the ground. That way you can't just super-jump through every level, you have to time and aim every one.

Nice game. I kept getting that "Bummer - we've lost another one" screen; it would have been more fun if I hadn't had to keep repeating the earlier levels.

Sadly, this one didn't hold my interest.

Once you got to Uranus, it was very hard to control the astronaut. A single jump wouldn't even get him halfway up the field, and he moved too quickly for me to click him again while he was airborne. Very frustrating.

(Also...where are the balls?)

I was wondering if anyone would do the outerspace theme, but I do have to agree, gracivity is not ball physics. I can kind of see where they were implemented, but not really. If the astronaut bounced off of things other than just the "planet" that would really showcase the ball physics instead of just the gravity physics. But I do like the concept of combining the two.
I really had trouble controlling the astronaut. Because in the later levels he moved so quickly, i couldn't keep up with him to hit that sweet spot. It was too small! It is one thing to have specific pixel content on the stationary escape the rooms, but in a moving object, that is just down right mean!

Physics is a little wonky. I don't know why higher gravity should make you go faster.

An easy way to get a good launch on Uranus/Jupiter is to let the spaceman stop completely, then put your mouse under him. Move the mouse up slowly, and as soon as the cursor turns into a hand, click. You'll get the strongest possible jump that way.

Not much game here. And - to my mind, "ball physics" doesn't have to have balls bouncing off of each other, but it should at least have balls...?

Lacks any ball physics whatsoever and the gravity physics are totally out-of-whack.

I am updating the game from the original.

There are now ten planet-levels (including Eris, which is 97 Astronomical Units away from the Sun). The difficulty curve is slower. I've added obstacles that get progressively harder including a pesky little comet), and a little instruction graphic showing the "sweet spot" on the astronaut.

Thank you guys so much for the criticism. I think even if I don't win anything in this competition, the game is a fairly good one, and I learned quite a bit. I finally figured out how to make an obstacle. That was interesting.

Thanks for playing the game, thanks for the comments, and thanks Jay for the competition and the very wonderful site.

jorge

And as far as "ball physics" go, I think I maybe confused everyone with the gravity thing. The astronaut is a ball. I thought this was fairly obvious, but I guess I hid it too well. It's totally a ball bouncing around inside the bounds.

Anyway, enjoy the update.