Space Cassanova

"Two angry partners. Two magnetic fields. One scummy pilot's vain attempt to stay out of reach in a desperate bid to escape."

... Cringey I know.

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Quick TL;DR: Incase you don't wanna read the great bill of game rights below:

Space Cassanova is a physics-based action-survival game developed in 48 hours for the Tiny Game Jam (built around the theme "Out of Reach" ).

Players control Cassian, a two-timing space pilot trying to escape his two furious partners whose flagship are  pulling him toward the hazardous hangar walls.
To survive and reach the escape planet, you must balance your ship's magnets to dodge falling asteroids and stay out of reach of their grip across a 30-second Normal Mode and an endlessly scaling Infinite Mode!

Built on the  PICO-8 virtual console, the project features 100% hand-drawn assets in Aseprite, with several cut-content illustrations preserved below in the main description.

[DISCLAIMER]: Some AI was used in the code to make the music. Just want to be transparent... you know... in case it sucks.

Sorry for the not so short TL;DR - in case you can read more - Keep scrolling!

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Meet Cassian (or "Cass" for short)—a smooth-talking, chronically unfaithful space pilot who has finally run out of luck. Caught two-timing in the worst way possible, Cass is currently trapped in a narrow interstellar corridor between the flagship vessels of his two furious partners: Scarlet (the Red Silhouette) and Beatrix (the Blue Silhouette). ...Yes, Yes, I know I went a bit too deep into the lore... I know ok?!

Anyway - Armed with weaponized electromagnets, both Scarlet and Beatrix are actively trying to drag Cassian's ship into their respective hangars to give him a piece of their minds. To survive, Cassian must use his experimental polarity shifter to counter their pull, navigate a deadly asteroid field, and keep himself out of reach (... Haha! You Get it right? ... Cause it's name of the TinyGameJam Theme? ... No? ...  ...I..I'll show myself out) until he can reach a safe planet to escape to.

But now that the.. Ahem.. Questionable lore is over here's what - you actually get in the game: 

• Normal Mode - Survive the magnetic onslaught for 30 seconds to safely reach the coordinate threshold of your escape planet.
• Infinite Mode - [Unlocked by completing Normal mode] Survive as long as possible as gravity, speed, and hazard density escalate to impossible heights! NOTE: I swear I tested this for as long as could - BUT THIS CAN DEFINITLEY BREAK... well, I mean... If you're actually good at the game survive longer than me... Haha.. Good luck.

And there are custom game screens - Main Menu, Win and Lose Screens, Tutorial Screens all that jazz. And talking of jazz, there a FEW SFX and Music Tracks in the game, though granted it's probably not too good since it's just me trying to code music into the game since I just didn't have time to understand the SFX Editor and I just well.. sorta brute forced it through code [NOTE: AI WAS used for this - I'd rather not hide it.]

Getting to the actual gameplay  - the controls are pretty simple:

• Left & Right Arrow Keys: Toggle your ship's left and right "electromagnets" to pull yourself away from or push yourself toward the boundaries.
• Action Buttons (X / C / Z): Used to confirm selections and navigate menus.
• The Gravity Trap: I mean, it's not really something you control - but, If you fail to utilize at least one magnet, or accidentally trigger both simultaneously, you will lose control and uh.. well ping-pong into a sudden, explosive end!

There are a few different external obstacles (Other than the electromagnetic walls) as well - Wait no... this is pretty bad news if you're the player .. Muhahaha... ha.. I need to go outside more.

• Regular Asteroids (Magnetic Debris): Standard space rocks fall naturally but are actively pulled and swayed by the magnetic fields of your exes' and your own ships'.
• Red Asteroids (Fast Projectiles): Unaffected by gravity, these high-speed rocks drop rapidly down the screen.
• Green Asteroids (Passive Obstacles):
  The "stationary rocks" that float calmly in space. They act as static road hazards you must steer around.
• Blue Asteroids (Magnetic Anomalies):
  These are magnetically charged, icy hazards drift QUICKLY laterally across the screen, actively pulled toward whichever magnetic field is currently active. I hated these while playtesting - believe me.

And.. Uh - I guess that pretty much describes the whole game... Huh.. Thought I'd done more than that across the past few days... Gamedev is hard man!

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Extra Developer Notes:

This game was developed in exactly 72..ish hours as an official entry for the Tiny Game Jam, built around the theme "Out of Reach"... And it'll probably SUCK because I have made a game or even explored this industry from the product-MAKER Point of view and boy.. This ain't no walk in the park!  ... That reminds me I have to go touch grass!

ANDJUST IN CASE this game's theme is misconstrued:

"This project is strictly a lighthearted work of fiction and comedy. The creator holds absolute respect for women... and any resemblance to actual galactic relationships is entirely coincidental."

...Sorry about the last line.

But now - On a serious note, thanks to the People Hosting the TinyGame - GameJam! I'm honored to be able to talk part in your jam which inspired me to make my own game for the first time!

Regardless of how I do.. Thanks for being a motivating factor for me to actually make something and get out of my chronic depression! Here's to more games I (hopefully) make in the future!

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Here's a Gallery of some extra scene's I wanted to add before I realized that PICO-8 had a memory limit... Man that devastated me! But, I also love how the current screens look so... I guess silver lining? :D

-- Screens Where Cassian Gets Slapped by... uh.. his exes?

Originally, crashing into the side walls was not meant to result in a standard explosion. Instead, these 2 cut illustrations showed what happened when Scarlet or Beatrix dragged him aboard to give Cass a good 'ol slap.

-- The same screen but where Cassian Explodes... from...uh the asteroids...

Low effort... Yes, Yes - I know.

-- "The I won and can continue living like trash without consequences!" screen:

Yeah, in hindsight - I'm glad I didn't use this screen.

-- The Tutorial Screen (I doodled a bit on this - my bad)

(In my head - this was the original, crude sketch Cassian scribbled down on a bar napkin to plan his escape before launching his ship... when he got the time to do this.. who knows)

... And that's a wrap folks! Thanks for the visiting! Enjoy your stay and I know I need to see a mental health professional - You don't need to tell me after reading the long wall of rather cringey text above!

- Much Love,  A damn drowsy and sleep deprived bear.