Fix the bug that causes damage across all your save games and I will give it 5 stars. Until then only 3 I'm afraid as it cripples gameplay.
Reviews for "Star Dust I"
Well, this game is pretty good and has quite a bit of potential.
my only problems with the games is that asteroids kill you way too fast and that there is no other way to get materials. also this game would be a a bit funner if there was more than just the standard ship battle thing like if there was a free roam.
Very enjoyable, thought not without flaws. As mentioned elsewhere, the learning curve is a bit sharp, and resource distrabution isn't ideal. Foes are quite tough until you learn the tricks to deal with them. But once you hit top teir equipment, is almost like hitting a 'win game' button.
The graphics are good, and suit the game well, and the music and sound effects both add to game play. Control gets a little sticky at times, but that's more my computer's resources.
I enjoyed playing, and look foreward to the sequel.
Overall this was an excellent game. There were many qualities that I liked, as well as several that could use improvement.
The Good: Resources were balanced and I liked the changin economy. I also liked seeing the change in resources as you expanded further. The upgrade system was very well balanced in many respects, and the weapons and ship upgrades seemed well balanced. I liked the back story a lot to this.
The Bad: All ship upgrades required only credits, I would have expected a resource based system there as well. Some resources, like gems and tungsten, were very hard to get in large quantities. Asteroids moving towards my base seemed to level to the point where there was no choice but to intercept all of them, and the defensive gun was borderline useless against pirates. Also, there was a bug that did not allow the resupply powerups during battles against base threatening asteroid groups. Pirate raids were very difficult to fend off, to the point where when I saw one coming, I basically banked all of my money into fighters and upgrades and then ignored the pirates to keep from losing another ship. Maybe there could be an option to "pay off " the pirates to keep them from attacking?
Also, it should be possble to manage multiple fighter operations at once. If I have three fighters available, I should be able to send them on three missions at once, or even bank them to have extra "lives" against pirates and such. Sometimes the frequency of raids and asteroid collisions was just too often, you as the player would begin to feel completely unable to gain any headway towards making new upgrades for fear of being destroyed by rogue asteroids or lose all of your resources to space pirates. I also would have liked to see a more detailed explanation or purpose to trade routes. I also agree with many others about the early warning system for pirate attacks and asteroid bombardments. If I make a pass at an asteroid field three days before it hits, why can't I make additional passes before it actually hit my base. Also, the base is in space. . . why not just move the base out of the way of the approaching asteroids? That's what NASA does with its satellites.
My apologies if it seems like I'm just rambling about all of the flaws with this game, it really was an excellent game that kept me occupied for quite awhile. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK and I look forward to seeing the second chapter!
Takes a little while to learn how to manage the resources and which zones have the necessary elements for growth. The second reactor that uses uranium is a little bit of a block because it expensive to purchase and doesn't drop frequently from the early zones. The Copper Way and The Black pass do drop it but the black pass needs resupply module. Getting past that issue then the game gets less frustrating. You can sell two of your light fighters at the beginning to accelerate the growth of your base. Always check the report log before you fly out to a mission, I ignored it a few times and the base got blown up by an asteroid shower. Pirates just steal your stuff. Make sure to buy a few experimental fighters for the last boss because you get to use those extra ships if you blow up.