Comments on: God-like powers, at last

God-like powers, at last

MrMoonPie — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:39:28 -0800

Flash Friday Fun! Excellent, physics-based game wherein you control the sun, trying to grab planets and keep them in orbit. Any game that includes the admonition not to "go hyperbola" is OK by me.

By: Cool Papa Bell

Cool Papa Bell — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:49:27 -0800

Awesome. And hard!

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:53:34 -0800

Level two why must you vex me so!

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:57:23 -0800

I had problems with two, also--note that you can just skip a level, if you feel like it. And your orbit doesn't have to be stable, just stable enough to run out the clock.

By: WinnipegDragon

WinnipegDragon — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:00:54 -0800

Yeah if you can't make it through the ten tutorial levels, the difficulty level might be just a tad too high...

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:03:04 -0800

Yeah, once I realized that you just need to run the clock it's easier. Also, if you make the sun orbit the planet you can sometimes just get the planet to sit there. Drawing a perfectly circular orbit is hard tho.

By: Tomorrowful

Tomorrowful — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:04:52 -0800

Seven's when I started hitting the wall. I feel like I just need to learn The Trick to handling double-orbits and I'll be good...

By: chillmost

chillmost — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:08:47 -0800

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

By: owtytrof

owtytrof — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:09:28 -0800

Glad I'm not the only one encountering difficulty problems. *shakes fist at level 8*

By: Tomorrowful

Tomorrowful — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:09:46 -0800

Y'know, I really wish it didn't tell me how many times I've failed. I'm trying to build a skill, here! I don't need to be reminded that I've destroyed half a star cluster.

By: hue

hue — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:13:19 -0800

Level five is pretty cool. I never thought about the path of the moon relative to the sun. It makes sense now, but to see it sort of hang for a second on the far side of the planet it was orbiting was nifty.

By: Stunt

Stunt — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:20:13 -0800

If anything, this game has reassured me that my decision to not become the center of a solar system was a good career choice on my part. Fuck you, level two.

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:21:04 -0800

♪ I just don't believe it! I don't believe it! The things I can do with my solar mass!

By: milarepa

milarepa — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:22:03 -0800

This is great, but level 20 makes me sad.

By: twine42

twine42 — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:22:03 -0800

I'm assuming that at least some of you are sober. Cool... that means I that it's not my fault that I can't complete level two and the alcohol in my system has absolutely nothing to do with my inabilities to beat this damned thing... That said, there's something quite satisfying about luring a planet to the edge of the screen and then slingshoting it off the other side at incredible speeds...

By: Stunt

Stunt — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:31:33 -0800

OKAY. Something is amiss. So, a friend (who apparently is more suited to this solar bullshit than I) tells me to check out level 4. Cool, level skipping. So I reopen this demon of a game, skip to 4...and beat it on my first try. FUCK. Now I might have to try this game again. I was so much happier when I sucked at it and still had a friday afternoon open.

By: never used baby shoes

never used baby shoes — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:36:43 -0800

If the goal is making the planets collide, I am awesome!

By: punkbitch

punkbitch — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:38:54 -0800

use the force (of gravity) luke. i rock and so does this game.

By: xchmp

xchmp — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:42:23 -0800

It gets easier as you go on. It may help to think of it as trying to stop any of these objects from reaching the edge, rather than getting things to orbit you.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:08:41 -0800

The less I do the better the result. This is just like my day job!

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:14:45 -0800

This game is 12 kinds of awesome.

By: bjrn

bjrn — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:23:38 -0800

This makes me think of when I used to play with those Spirograph things. Only, this is better.

By: Shutter

Shutter — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:35:19 -0800

I like how the completely impossible levels are bracketed by trivial levels with no discernable rhyme or reason. That makes for a fun experience. I also like how my phd in physics was of no help.

By: an egg

an egg — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:43:46 -0800

Thanks for that. I needed something to accelerate my hair loss.

By: crapmatic

crapmatic — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:17:22 -0800

Made it to level TWO, baby! Can't get to level three, but I'm kicking ass and taking names on level two!

By: crapmatic

crapmatic — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:18:02 -0800

btw, how would Wesley Crusher solve this game?

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:29:30 -0800

Lord Sludge -- Destroyer of Planets, Reaper of Souls

By: Cool Papa Bell

Cool Papa Bell — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:43:17 -0800

btw, how would Wesley Crusher solve this game? I don't know how Wesley would do it, but Kirk would hack the server and re-program the Flash script while that green-skinned alien hottie gave him a hummer.

By: Orange Pamplemousse

Orange Pamplemousse — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:53:30 -0800

Alright, I failed the victory lap!

By: DanielDManiel

DanielDManiel — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:24:07 -0800

Finally gave up on twenty, but it was fun while it lasted.

By: WCityMike

WCityMike — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:21:11 -0800

I have become death, the destroyer of worlds.

By: forforf

forforf — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:37:05 -0800

Note: This technique may spoil some of the fun of the game. I've found that if you focus on just slowing the planets down to a crawl, that you can usually run out the clock. Just get close up behind a planet until it barely moves then quickly move on to the next planet. Once you got all planet's crawling, move your sun to a far off region of space. It's a bit trickier with moons, but still a generally workable strategy The bad part is that you have no cool spirographs to admire :(

By: a robot made out of meat

a robot made out of meat — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:05:19 -0800

The victory lap sucks; I found that I could just barely make it work by jittering the sun around the middle so that no one moon got a continuous dose.. I suspect that linux flash slowed it down and made it easier.

By: box

box — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:15:23 -0800

If you like this, and you like Japanese Game Boy Advance games, you'll love Orbital.

By: Quonab

Quonab — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:05:21 -0800

This makes me think of when I used to play with those Spirograph things. Only, this is better. posted by bjrn at 4:23 PM on August 15 [+] [!] Well, the spirographs of my youth at least had the potential for being recorded for posterity's sake. *shakes fist at self* Why didn't I think of my future!?

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 03:07:39 -0800

This game makes me think about how fragile this solar system is. Why didn't the planets bang into each other early on in this sun's life? The odds that Earth would be as it is today by pure chance have got to be staggering.

By: electricinca

electricinca — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 05:00:09 -0800

Moons! Why did it have to be moons? Level 7 had me stuck for ages and then when I finally managed it I steamed through the next dozen levels but level 19 is a nightmare.

By: electricinca

electricinca — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 05:05:28 -0800

Okay forget that last comment I just tried it again by staying well away from the planet and moons and that worked. Be not an interventionist God.

By: autodidact

autodidact — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:37:34 -0800

I don't think I've ever been worse at a game...

By: cj_

cj_ — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:52:35 -0800

WTF? I couldn't get past level 2, and I made a reasonable effort.

By: _dario

_dario — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:05:36 -0800

The level with the giant planet owned me. On the other hand, there's a partial moon eclipse out here at the moment. Whoever of you was, STOP IT RIGHT NOW.

By: Pronoiac

Pronoiac — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:20:56 -0800

Okay, finished, 31 levels, 43 "faults," & ... it was keeping a score, separately? What?

By: Stunt

Stunt — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:05:26 -0800

ha HA! After being stalled out at level 23 for a few days I finally managed to beat it just now. Then, onward to victory! Although I still technically never beat 2 and 3. Fuck you, level 2.