To the Stars and Beyond!

Hey, this is a pretty fun and simple game. I found it because I was looking for space-themed games, and while this isn't exactly what I had in mind, it gets some of the color palette aesthetics right. You play as a little emoji that rolls and rockets itself along an endlessly sloping, rolling landscape. You build momentum by pushing your mouse button when you're on a downward slope or (rare) flat surface, then you release it on the rising slopes to launch yourself. You get a nice little bounding action going, and collect coins while you go through the air or roll on the ground. Hit the ground too hard, and you lose all your momentum, ending your run. There are some downsides, but they're mild. In my twenty-or-so minutes of playing it looks like this really does seem to be most of what the game is about, and while I think that's a strength, people looking for more game beyond that could be disappointed (on the other hand, the game's pretty up front with the fact that that's all the game is, no need to get fancy). As you accomplish certain things in the game, you can unlock new emoticons to represent yourself, or new color palettes for the background sky or the ground below you, but that's about it. Also, the game seems to have arbitrary heights in mind for things like "the stars" and "the moon" and "beyond the moon", and I'm not sure how to tell where those things are while playing, I just know that sometimes the game tells me I've done something multiple times in a round and that I've earned a new thing because of it, and that's cool, but I don't have a lot in-game to tell me when I've earned them. But as far as complaints go, that's about it! I don't know if the other "players" you see in the game are just computer generated things, or if the game might be showing you how other people are doing (I suspect the former, but it'd be cool if it was the latter, though I don't know that the game is well known enough to have as many other active players as I saw. I could be surprised, though!) Either way, if you're looking for a relaxing, fun-little time waster that does require some skill, but doesn't really punish you for messing up along the way (sorta like how Super Meat Boy had really rapid restart times), then you can't go wrong with this game, especially if it's on sale. Good luck shooting to the Stars and Beyond!