Hey, this is a really interesting idea! I haven't seen anything quite like it this jam. I did find positioning to be frustratingly slow, and when I had to go back and forth to turn the laser on, it got a bit cumbersome. If you keep working on this, I would consider removing the on/off switch and just balancing the game to compensate!

I'd love it if you gave our game Einnsámr a look as well :) https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-2019/rate/463168?after=20#post-876146

What an odd yet very original game. Controls could use some work since it took too long to set up the laser in my opinion and I kept accidentally getting killed by my own laser. Other than that, it's really cool to see something really unique in the jam. Great job on adhering to the theme too!

Would it be possible to use spacebar to pickup/drop and push the button? I kept mixing up the mouse buttons, which made it really hard to play. At one point I got 5 sticks on the screen. Is that supposed to happen?

This is cool. Love the aesthetic. Controls are difficult though, would it be easier for the character to auto follow the mouse and then just use left click to move the poles / activate the barrier or do you think the game would lose something from this? The design decisions in this game seem so strong that I hesitate to question them despite my difficulties! Cool game!

This is quite the original game! Took me a while to get used to the controls. Otherwise, great submission overall. Well done mate :D

Love the concept! While I agree with most commenters, that the controls are a bit awkward, I'm a) unable to pinpoint why exactly and b) think, that's part of the game's overall charm. :) The art style is definitely far from beautiful, but I really like the use of colors. It's especially found it clever to invert enemy colors while they're in the black part to make them stick out. Would have loved some visual indicator for how far away one can place a stick. Also I found the toggling of the individual lasers once you have more than two sticks a bit unintuitive. I think the game is hard enough already, would have kept this as the simple on-off-switch it is during the first part. The idea has great potential though!

My game: https://njamster.itch.io/wonkey (playable in browser, not mobile friendly)

Fun and unique idea! I'm going to enjoy it a lot once I master the controls. Although, a part of me really wants to just drag the sticks with my mouse.

Such a sweet idea! It really scratches that itch for games that make you feel frustrated and satisfied at the same time.

I don't know if it fits into the abstract aesthetic, but I think that a way to track score would make the game even more addicting. Oh, crazy idea: maybe an in-game button akin to the laser switch, that lets you track the killcount manually?

Unique and difficult. A bit more feedback on when you are close enough to pick up the sticks would be very helpful.

The idea is very original, but the controls are quite hard to grasp.

This is wonderfully brilliant. Certainly an original idea by my knowledge as I've never really seen a game do something like this before. If there weren't so many submissions then I'd send more time playing this for sure. 

Something like this could add a really interesting dynamic for multiplayer games and is certainly something I'll keep in the back of my mind. Hope you don't mind XD

Well done!

P.S.

Shameless self plug. I don't think mine is as creative as your's, but I'd love to have some feedback for it! It's my first time and I went in solo: https://bigfraudbigfraud.itch.io/gmtkjam2019

Nice idea for the game, the controls make it pretty hard though :)  Could be an asbsolute gem of a mechanic.

Took a bit of time to figure out controls, but once I understood it was no longer a problem. I think it's a very interesting concept for a strategy game. I think you can improve it with some more polished art, but game design is great!

Clever idea, but I had some troubles to understand mechanics. Anyway, good job!

I played with a touchpad so that was really hard but I really liked the concept ! Good job doing it in one day :)

Pretty complicated controls. Really felt like they could've been a lot simpler.

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Hey, we made a GMTK game too. Check it out!