The Jackasstronaut

The Jackasstronaut is a mouse-only game in which your shotgun is both your primary weapon, and only means of propulsion. Live out the last stand of the interstellar menace known only as the terrifying "Jackasstronaut" as you try and make whoever kills you as rich as possible for claiming the bounty on your head.

Originally built for My First Game Jam, Winter 2018, using Game Maker Studio 2, and reworked to be playable right there in your browser.

I never managed to get web implementation working correctly...

Controls:

Left click to fire shotgun at mouse cursor.

Hold right click to fire retro booster, if above .40 speed. Retro booster will slow you down, but can only be fired toward the direction of momentum. A laser sight will indicate if it is available.

Escape will return to main menu.

Developer's thoughts (written during the jam):

Joined this jam late on a whim after thinking at work how to make a minimalist control scheme game. I had been playing a lot of Tormentor X Punisher lately, so gamefeel and excellent shotguns were also on my mind. Came up with the idea of using a shotgun for both movement and fighting in a space themed game and couldn't shake it for the rest of the day. So I made it.

I love narrative games and those with deep messages, but my new year's resolution was to "make more garbage." I love trash games, slammed together, bizarre, and stupid, and I know there's others that do too. It's also what you're gonna make whether you like it or not when you're new, so might as well embrace it. Dreaming big and making intricate plans early on is a sure fire way to end up with abandoned projects and frustration at failing to do the impossible.

Ultimately, I only got to put 5 work days in on this, because I seem to have terrible luck with the timing of these jams, but I am very happy with how much I did on the days I did have available. I've gotten a lot better at keeping momentum when developing, and knowing exactly what can be tuned or worked on next. Game dev is fun. Game dev is hard.

Given more time, I would have made another enemy type that shoots a beam at you to take better advantage of the unique movement system and disincentivize passive play, but ya know. Maybe I'll keep working on this later on.

Thanks for reading this far, and thanks for playing. I <3 you.

Oh, and sorry about the slightly vulgar title. If I come up with a pun for my videogame to be named, I feel oathbound to take it.