Gravity Express
A downloadable game
Buy Now$9.99 USD or more
In Gravity Express, you battle gravity while transporting cargo through abandoned mines.
Clients will demand speedy delivery, fuel economy, and won't be paying for your funeral. You better find your way fast while avoiding the rocky walls, magnets and cannons that spell your doom.
Features
- A Playdate First: Full Motion Video cutscenes and level-previews
- Explore 25 levels, with 3 challenges to complete for each level
- 7 hazards; such as cannons, magnets and one-way gates
- 5 pickups like keys, turbo and fuel
- No loading screens, anywhere. @Guv_bubbs: "This... this feels snappy!"
- Unique levels with their own characteristics: maze, speedway, zen, easy and hard
- Fully customizable button mapping, physics and graphics styles. Want to turn gravity upside down? Go crazy!
- Tilt your playdate to rotate the ship (enabled in settings)
- Choose between crank, tilt and button inputs
Switch it up!
Gravity Express allows you to switch between crank, tilt and button control schemes during gameplay.
Together with re-assignable buttons - another Playdate first -, this leaves the choice of how you want to play the game firmly in your hands.
What others are saying about Gravity Express
Status | Released |
Release date | Jan 19, 2023 |
Rating | Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars (21 total ratings) |
Author | Nino [Gravity Express] |
Genre | Platformer, Action, Puzzle |
Tags | Arcade, Gravity, Playdate, Sci-fi, Space |
Average session | A few minutes |
Accessibility | Subtitles, Configurable controls |
Purchase
Buy Now$9.99 USD or more
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $9.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Gravity Express 1.3.1 13 MB
Development log
- Creator's Day Sale - August 25thAug 25, 2023
- Gravity Express 1.1.0 releasedFeb 25, 2023
- Gravity Express: Out now! (play to win š)Jan 20, 2023
- Gravity Express will be available January 20th!Jan 01, 2023
Comments
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The game is absolutely stellar. Picked it from the Playdate Catalog and I had an absolute blast. Was totally obsessed until I've beaten it.
Glad to hear it!
The game requires some perseverance, but can also feel very natural when you get in the groove. Itās all the more rewarding for it when you finish it.
For those that do, I bet you will love my upcoming game Wheelsprung (working title, probably this year). It uses a physics engine for all kinds of small puzzles. Itās mostly inspired by Elasto Mania, Trials and a bit of Hillclimb. Follow me to find out about it once Iāve got more to share!
i picked this one up disastrously late for it having released a year ago, but i've gotta say that this is pretty much one of the must-buy titles on playdate. i'm only up to level 7-ish so far, but i know that this game's gonna keep me entertained for a while — the difficulty curve has already got me struggling, and i've already been coming back to the other levels in a pre-emptive attempt to grab all the achievements haha.
the controls are wicked precise and very fun to dial in; i die a lot but it's definitely more accurately-attributed to my own skill level as opposed to the game being unfair or poor to control. absolutely worth picking up if you're up to the challenge!
Thanks for the praise!
Itās good to know that there are extensive settings available, including an option to give yourself 90 lives, that will surely be enough š. When you see the game over screen three times in a row, an option to skip the level is offered. But thatāll surely be below your achievement-collecting standards, I think.
I also recommend trying crank, buttons and tilt controls for 20 minutes each.
For those who wander: press the menu button to bring up the map and find unexplored areas.
currently i've been trying out six lives, because i just HATE winning i guess LOL. i've been playing pretty much solely with the crank controls up to now but i'll be sure to give the others a shot — if the tilt controls are as good as in skew, then i'm on board haha
Hi there !
I love you game, it's really awsome.
But I encounter a crash several times after exploding my ship.
It happend in Level 11 only for the moment and I can't point a way to reproduce it 100%.
The error log is :
/lua/gameViewModel.lua:346: attempt to index a nil value (field '?')
stack traceback:
/lua/gameViewModel.lua:346: in function 'DecreaseLife'
/lua/game-explosion/GameExplosionScreen.lua:41: in method 'update'
/lua/playdate-navigator/Navigator.lua:109: in method 'updateActiveScreen'
main.lua:50: in function <main.lua:46>
Hope it'll help !
Hey there, glad youāre enjoying the game.
Thanks for the bug report, havenāt heard of this one before. I will look into it soon.
In the meantime I tried a bunch of crashing into obstacles in level 11 but (un)fortunately could not reproduce the problem, sorry!
If you have a more detailed description of how to trigger this issue or a video, feel free to reach out to me through email or discord and I can give it another go.
Hey there,
This game is also available on catalog and to keep things simple itās best to keep the base price the same. Playdate games donāt typically lower with price there when they are older. I think the game has enough quality and content to justify the price. Definetely a few hours of gameplay in there.
I am open to participating in bundles and sales on Itch.io though. I expect to participate in the Creatorās Day sales this year. Be sure to press the follow button so you donāt miss these 1-day events. I can also create a blogpost so you are aware in advance.
First things first: This is an excellent game.
For people who like 'Star Sled' and 'Rocket Bytes', this is just bliss.
In short, it combines the cruisieness from the former with the preciseness from the latter. I do agree that the production value is high, but all things considered, there are still some points that I consider not ideal and feel like odd omissions from a game design/UI/UX point of view:
Those were the points that annoy me a bit, but let me re-iterate that this is a great game overall that plays and feels great! The rest is just feedback for areas that could be improved from a UI/UX enthusiast's view point, but they don't bother me personally that much:
So TLDR:
Wonderful game that plays really well, all things considered I think it is worth the asking price. I consider the fact that it makes me want more, a good thing. Some small design choices that leave room for discussion if they should not have been tweaked differently. Interested to see if there will ever be some kind of expansions, considering the basis is that solid. Otherwise, interested to see what the dev puts out next.
I originally purchased this game on here. Is it possible to get a coupon for the Catalog version? I know they are more or less identical but it would be nice to be able to have automatic updates etc. I think the Catalog version has a map which mine does not.
Hey there, Iād like to help but unfortunately there is no way for developers to create catalog keys. I have not planned any updates tho, so if you use the latest from itch now, you should be set. The files are the same in both stores.
Catalog allows keys now
This has quickly become my favourite game, a week into having my playdate. It's so fully featured and doesn't feel like it would be improved on a more capable console.
Finally, or unfortunately, I have completed the game 100% (75/75 Achievements).
Something I would possibly improve is that you hide the checkpoint text, otherwise it's sometimes a bit difficult when you're in a field of fire.
Here's what I mean : https://ibb.co/BcZPFRL
Otherwise, there is absolutely nothing to complain about, absolutely perfect in my humble opinion. :)
Wow, this is incredible. It might be a unique achievement. I myself have never seen the 75/75 score. I played all the levels a few times to set the achievement targets of course, but for the survivor challenge, that is not needed because the goal is always 0. Well done!
Very humbling that someone considers my game so enjoyable that they would 100% it. Iām sorry I donāt have a special badge for this added to the game. I hope you enjoyed the endgame after level 25 at least (no spoilers, ;-)
If you want an additional challenge, set background color ātrippyā in the settings and try to complete a few levels. But if you value your sanity, I wouldnāt recommend that.
Thank you so much for playing, and I hope you enjoy your Playdate a whole bunch more :-)
Yes, I was secretly hoping for a special award. :)
Yeah, the outro was nice, but the Level was a little bit short and easy. (73 Sec) <edit> just improved to 54 Sec. :D
Omg, trippy just gives me a headache. :D
I hope more and more people discover how good the game is and support it, so hopefully we'll see a sequel. :)
The community is still growing and I hope that there will be a few more quality games like this.
Super fun! The crank and gyro controls are super responsive, I'm excited to play through all the levels :)
Great stuff, keep on space truckinā!
Hi Nino,
I am hitting a bug where sometimes the controls will switch to e.g. the crank from button controls and I don't find a way to switch back to button controls afterward anymore. Any advice or legitimate bug?
Otherwise I *really* love this game, the controls are so fun when they work. ;)
I was playing some kind of internet version of it in the end of 90s/early 2000s with friends a lot on perhaps Windows 98 or XP. If you have any idea what the game was, let me know, haha. Been looking for it recently again, Gravity Express has sure filled that gap amazingly though :)
Hmm, havenāt heard of it before, unfortunately there is no option to ignore the crank when it is out.
If I had to guess, maybe your crank sensor is faulty?. You can test this with the Input Test app in the system settings. Leave the crank docked and then wiggle it a bit. See if it detects your crank to be undocked even when it is still collapsedā¦
Another way might be to play using your computer. The game plays really well with the arrow keys in the simulator.
Iām happy you are able to enjoy it at least!
Hi - I am still enthusiastic about the game and wonder if the update is worth it. Is there a changelog of the version numbers and is it possible to update without losing my progress of the game?
Hi there!
Updating to any version is fine, you wonāt lose progress.
Changelog is here: https://github.com/ninovanhooff/Crazy-Gravity-Playdate/releases
I consider the game complete and very stable, hope you enjoy š
Oh my goodness, you remade my favourite Atari ST game Grav and made it even better ā¤ļø This makes me want to buy a play date and buy this game!!
Just completed this game and it has been my favorite game for the Playdate yet! Please make a sequel and take more of my money!
Excellent controls and gameplay.
I was concerned when I bought this that the game would be frustrating and difficult to control but I was very wrong.
The controls are incredibly precise and while some levels can be tough, the gameplay is very fair and offers a number of settings you can change if you do get stuck.
The levels are just the right length to be a challenge but never too long that you get frustrated when you run out of lives.
The music and the presentation are excellent.
Thank you for the high praise! Iām glad you enjoyed it.
Which controls did you use? Tilt, crank or buttons?
Crank to steer, B to move. I just finished it tonight. Love the "not" Final Countdown theme on the last level.
Unfortunately, the version I just bought keeps failing to download at 99%. Is this a known issues?
Hi there, thanks for buying the game!
Stuck at 99%, thatās no funā¦ First time I hear of it. I checked some forums, Discord and my e-mail. Doesnāt seems to be a known issue.
I re-enabled v1.1 of the game for download, which is known to work.
Iāll send you an email so we can see what exactly the problem is.
Re-starting the device did work for me. After the re-start the download went smooth. thank you!
This is a winner. Excellent.
I just beat the game. Loved it. Such a great take on the asteroids like game. Landing on platforms is so satisfying every time and some of the precision flying needed in the later levels really put me to the test without being overly frustrating. I only wish for more levels! Thanks!
Thanks!
Part of the satisfaction may be that the landing sound is pretty nice in itself, and itās volume depends on how hard you land. Did you notice?
Would love to buy it if crank support will be finished and tested!
It IS finished and tested, and everything works perfectly fine š
Hey there, version 1.1 is now available, in which crank support is finalized. Very few issues were found since the initial release, which were also fixed.
You should be good to go š
A brilliant game with even better music reminiscent of the amiga era. Highly recommended!
Thank you for this great game!
I hope for many supporters so that we will see many more games from you for the Playdate.
Good Luck!
Such a fantastic game! Easily my favorite game for the PlayDate so far! And the crank controls were super smooth and intuitive. After having completed the game, I'm looking forward to playing with different gravity settings.
First Playdate game I purchased here and it's worth it! Dankjewel Nino!
Bedankt makker! Are you Dutch?
Quite an honor! Glad you enjoyed it!
Haha! nope! I just happen to have a lot of Dutch friends here in South of Spain!
Fantastic game, very tight controls and feels as polished as any game with a similar scope I've played. Gravity and the ship's acceleration feel perfectly fine-tuned to feel ānaturalā. The full motion video is a bit gimmicky but is fun and adds extra onto what would've already been great game. Highly recommended, certainly worth the asking price.
Despite the crank controls currently being āexperimentalā they're fantastic, far more precise and intuitive to use than D pad controls IMO.
Hmm, one thing I've noticed is when you hit ārestart levelā it seems to not fully reset the level (e.g. the auto-moving barriers) which makes it hard to quickly complete levels via muscle-memory. For instance on level 7, these screenshots are directly sequential runs, but the barriers are in completely different positions: Run 1 (freshly entered level), Run 2 (hit ārestart levelā once)—note that I would've made it through the second time if the position had also reset; or perhaps the start position is the same but the sequence of movements is random every time which has the same result
Can confirm.
However, since some rods move randomly anyways and the rodsācalculation is suspended when offscreen, it would not be very effective to reset the position on a level restart. So, this is mostly by design
Yeah, I figured I was treating it a bit too much like Super Meat Boy, and Gravity Express isn't meant for speedrunning levels without pausing lol
Crazy Gravity was one of my favorite games as a kid. Definitely excited to check this out.
Yep, it stuck with me ever since.
You should definitely try the Classic setting for audio and graphics š
One of the best games on Playdate. Impressive presentation, satisfying gameplay, and perfect crank controls. Thereās full motion video! I canāt recommend it enough.
Thanks! Are you hunting for achievements or just enjoying the ride?
I blasted through all the stages first, and now Iām going back for achievements. Iām already up to level 11. I canāt put it down.
Guys! Definitely sideload the "beta" version. It's "experimental" just in the name, the crank works perfectly, not a hiccup whatsoever.
Plus, you can always switch controls between controls (dpad/crank), so you can't go wrong!
Nino is the best!
Thank you! Yeah Iām a perfectionist for sure.
The changes I still want to add to the 1.1 crank release are really minor:
So indeed, everyone can just go ahead and use the beta already :-)
Just pulled the trigger! Installing now!
Just bought at zero hour! Sideloading now!
Very impressive. Nice work!
Hey there! Thanks! I just noticed when scrolling through the sales reports that your comment is totally legit; you were the first one to buy Gravity Express. Thank you!
Alright! I'm happy to support you. Pretty great game!
Absolutely loved play testing this. Great game, it clearly shows the effort put into it, congrats on the release in advance!
Beyond excited to play this! I lost a big portion of my childhood to āLunar Rescueā on my old black-and-white Mac, and this looks like it share some DNA with that classic. Canāt wait!
Super hyped!
I WANT THIS! :-)
YOU WANT IT AND YOU WILL GET IT!
JANUARY 20TH
YES I WILL HAVE IT SOON!!!
DO YOU HAVE IT YET?
YES! I HAVE IT AND LOVE IT!!!
canāt wait for this …. Looks amazing
So hyped!! Been following the devlog and can't wait for my PlayDate to arrive to play this :)
Nice! Just a little while longer until the release @ January 20th :-)