I released Orbits last week as part of The Friends Issue, and I love it. You should probably stop reading this blog post and just go play it instead, but since you’re here, let me tell you some reasons why I love Orbits so much.
- No instructions necessary! The title screen serves as a perfect tutorial.
- There’s enough hidden gameplay to make it replayable. On some of my games, I feel like you play through them once and you’ve got it. With Orbits, it’ll probably take a few times to plumb all the depths, and I love that.
- My senior of college, for my and a friend’s birthday, we went to a gong bath at a nearby Zen center. I had no idea what a gong bath was, and it was exciting. We had to drive off-campus! Rare! I loved it. I slept through the entire thing. Orbits reminds me of that.
- The depth effect in the star-field. It was a total last-minute addition, and it worked out great.
- The color of your planet is one of my favorite colors by itself, and I especially love how it looks against the background.
- Even with no “goal” or score, the ending feels satisfying.
- Some of the color scheme is completely randomized each time, yet it still feels cohesive.
- There’s more sound design in Orbits than in probably any other game for Wide Open Games so far. It feels like growth for me in that respect.
- Orbits isn’t too long, and it isn’t too short, either.
- The game says what I want it to say.
- The game has no words.
- Orbits is relaxing to play.
So that’s why I love Orbits. Give it a go yourself and let me know what you think of it!