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A jam submission

Break to ScaleView game page

A puzzle game where you break apart blocks and use them to make a path forward.
Submitted by CutieMonica (@CutieMonica) — 7 hours, 24 minutes before the deadline
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Break to Scale's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Overall#2234.0694.069
Enjoyment#3073.9083.908
Style#3574.2534.253
Creativity#4364.0464.046

Ranked from 87 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does your game fit the theme?
The theme of Scale courses through the veins of this game. The main mechanic is breaking down large boxes to make smaller ones, you're exploring a massive factory as a tiny robot, blocks get bigger the further you go, and the dialogue implies a grander narrative than you can see in game.

Development Time

96 hours

(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
Key art by Rand0man

Music from Chris Logsdon

SFX from Chris Logsdon and David Stearns

Shaders from c64cosmin and GNamimates

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Comments

Viewing comments 20 to 1 of 69 · Previous page · First page
Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Alright best game of the jam I've played so far, perfect ratings from me. It makes me so absolutely sad that the WebGL build is broken since I know so many people won't bother downloading the working version... cause this game is honestly amazing. Long review incoming:

What I loved:
- The gameplay loop is so satisfying and well done. It's a super smart way to implement the theme into a puzzle platformer, and it's executed so so so well. The use of non-grid based system in a grid-based looking world actually creates so many great interactions and sneaky ways to solve rooms that are a bit unconventional. It's great and I'd play a full release without hesitation.
- The game is so clean and polished. Like so so clean. I have no idea how you did this in four days, because man does it feel like a full complete game. There's a bit of jank here and there yeah, but it's nothing impactful.
- I wholeheartedly completely and totally disagree with some of the reviews I read here that the level design gets repetitive. I think it was a more than interesting variety for the length. For a full release, maybe some more mechanics would shine, but for its length, I think it struck a wonderful balance.

Because I loved the game so much, a bunch of feedback too:
- This game would benefit so much from hotkeys for resets and going back to the editor. I also didn't realize until halfway through there even was a "back to editor" button that didn't reset everything. I realized eventually though.
- I think a really good QoL for this game would to make the smallest blocks not have a hitbox when dragging them. I noticed for some of the later levels, not being able to drag bigger blocks through gaps (though they kinda looked like they could fit) seemed like intentional level design, but for the smaller blocks, it seems they were always meant to be able to go anywhere. It would make it so much smoother if I could drag those blocks without navigating whatever course I'd already made or walls or the sometimes janky hitboxes for tight squeezes. On the note above too, maybe for the gaps where it looks like a bigger block would fit perfectly through but they don't, making it more clear they won't fit would be nice too.
- Small blocks are OP. I know I praised the level design, but this point is a double-edged sword for me. Using smaller blocks to create tiny edges and stairs on each other was wonderful to me, and I feel the mechanic was introduced subtly well (I think it was the third level?). However, it did eventually get to the point where I was essentially just trying to figure out how I could make the most amount of these OP tiny blocks to clear levels. I think it didn't get repetitive because of the length of the game, but any more and I could see this OP solution making the puzzles fall flat.

Anyways, this was the best game I've played so far in the jam. Amazing job!

Developer

Thank you so much! For one, I will try and make the web version at least kinda better after ratings close, not sure how since most of the issues are exclusive to it, but maybe I can find a way around certain things.

- Thank you! I kinda felt that I didn't play with scale enough to be honest, but I'm glad to hear you felt it was well incorporated.
- To be honest, the fact I've made a (still mechanically very different) puzzle platformer before means I had some framework and experience to build off, still was quite the challenge to put everything together almost entirely by myself tho, my terrible sleep schedule certainly helped

- I'm glad, I added the biggest blocks fairly late but they were the plan from the start, since I feel they give you a lot more choices and make you think more carefully about your decisions. I still would've liked to implement more unique blocks that aren't just bigger, to be honest, but four days is four days.
- Yeah probably, wouldn't be too hard to add either, I just didn't think of it in time. 

- That would be pretty doable, I was focusing most of my energy on trying to make small blocks collide with eachother while dragging I hadn't even thought of that lol. And I thought of indicating spaces where blocks couldn't fit, I just didn't have time to sprite a new thing for it. Maybe next patch!

- If I were to continue development (which I'm still not entirely sure of, outside of a few patches for extra polish), I'd probably restrict the usage of small blocks to around four blocks a room usually. There's some puzzles like the second to last level that absolutely require them, but I think it'd make for better level design where the environment is used more than the blocks.

Thank you very much for the feedback, I genuinely appreciate it a ton!

Submitted(+1)

Very impressive! Love the simplicity and how well polished it is

Developer(+1)

Thanks! We love tiny robot games

Submitted(+1)

cool mechanics! 

Developer

Thank you!

Submitted(+1)

Unique mechanic and difficult puzzles! great game!

Developer(+1)

Thank you!

Submitted(+1)

Great puzzles and a nice idea. my only problem is sometimes i cant grab anything. i had to restart multiple times to let me grab something. but overall nice game

Developer(+1)

This is an issue with full screening the browser version I believe, not sure why

Submitted(+1)

Great puzzler! The music really puts you in the mood too.

I got stuck on level 1 due to the lower half of the screen not responding, but refreshing the page solved that. Some fullscreen thing probably. After that I got through all of it!

I would love to see how it'd play out if you had to choose to split blocks either horizontally or vertically. That way you'd have a lot more decisions to make with limited hammers.

Developer (1 edit)

Yeah that's an issue with the browser export, no clue why it happens but there's quite a lot of jank with that version in general lol

(edit: I have found out that it doesn't happen if you select borderless or exclusive fullscreen in the game's settings, it just happens if you fullscreen it on itch, woops)

Your idea with the blocks is actually pretty great, and now I regret not having thought of that 48 hours ago 

Submitted(+1)

Loved it!

(+1)

really enjoyable game with very nice visuals and music, the intro tutorial is very nice and a great introduction to the game. The boxes were a bit jank at times but overall it was a blast to go through and solve each level and its very well put together!

Developer(+1)

Thank u!!! one day i will learn how to fix box jank

Submitted(+1)

This game oozes style, from the intro to the art and lighting. Really well put together game, enjoyed playing this!

Developer(+1)

Thank you! I'm really glad people enjoy the intro, it genuinely took hours to make cutscenes lol

Submitted(+1)

Super enjoyable game with interesting concept, also I love the artstyle!

Developer

Thanks! I'll be honest, I did not think I was cooking with the style till I added a CRT filter lol, glad to hear people enjoy it!

Submitted(+1)

A very, very satisfying experience! It looks more like a finished product than a game for a jam.
Narrative, atmosphere, intereting puzzles and cute robot. It's all there!

Developer

Thank you!

Submitted(+1)

A lovely, polished gem! The levels are well designed once you get the hang of it. The progression also fits the theme well. 

Encountered some issue with the web port but nothing breaking (also appreciate the notice)

Developer

Yeah, if I knew how to optimize the web port I would lol, maybe eventually.
Glad you enjoyed it!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Fun little puzzler! Definitely a well-implemented and interesting concept, and I liked the back-and-forth creating a path with the boxes and testing the level with the robot. Overall, great entry!

Developer(+1)

Thank you!! Robot box game makers stay winning

Submitted(+1)

It has some jank in it to be sure, but there is a lot that it has going for it as well! The style, presentation, and continued guidance was all absolutely fantastic, and this has a ton of potential to grow into a full game!

Developer

Thank you! And yeah, I wish I could've eliminated the main jank providers (boxes) before the deadline, but alas, here we are


Don't know if it'll be a full game just yet, I'm pretty satisfied with what it is, but I'll consider it!

Submitted(+1)

Oh yea, my own (far less polished) game has be very familiar with jankboxes. Seems to be a running theme for people this year!

Submitted(+1)

Nice, I like the design and the player experience of this game. There are some issues on dragging the block being undraggable but other than that, this game is solid. People might not noticed it but the game feel is on point in this game. That's why its pretty fun. 

Developer

Thank you! I spend quite a lot of time trying to make the blocks not get stuck but to no avail, I may patch it in if I figure it out after the voting period lol.

(+1)

this truly is built to scale

(+2)

It's a big joy to play through this game! Simple and to the point, fun and creative, simply a really good quick puzzle platformer from start to finish! We do be scaling with this one!

Developer(+1)

Thank u!!

Submitted(+1)

Cute game with a really nice coherent art style. I wish the puzzles evolved more, I felt like I was solving the same puzzle but just longer for most levels. That said, still enjoyed it and there were definitely satisfying moments. Great entry!

Developer

Thank you! And yeah I definitely felt that too, but just getting the blocks I got to work took long enough that I felt ideas for blocks I had in my head couldn't really come to fruition. 

Submitted(+1)

Yeah we found that when making ours too, definitely a project to consider carrying forward because you have a really solid base, and the presentation of the game is amazing.

Developer

I'm probably gonna do something similar to what Celeste does and have it be accessible via a computer terminal in my other game Blade Bounce, and I'll probably rework some stuff when I do that. Thank you!

(+2)

nice jump and run with guessing which crates to destroy and where to put them. Fun is a given.

Submitted(+2)

a pure pleasure ,congratulations !

Developer(+2)

Thank you!

Viewing comments 20 to 1 of 69 · Previous page · First page