One of the coolest games I've played all jam. It feels super satisfying solving such open-ended puzzles that allow so much creative expression. There are definitely some quality of life features that others have mentioned that would improve the experience, but those are all things that can be fixed with work. The core concept of this game is super interesting and you did a great job making it FEEL good to pull off a correct solution.
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Rube's itch.io pageResults
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
Creativity | #1716 | 3.523 | 3.523 |
Overall | #2581 | 3.144 | 3.144 |
Enjoyment | #3004 | 2.864 | 2.864 |
Style | #3061 | 3.045 | 3.045 |
Ranked from 44 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?
Building Rube Goldberg machines to solve interconnected puzzles
Development Time
Comments
Very nice concept for a game and an execution in this limited game-jam time is also note-worthy. I couldn't finish any of the three puzzles in the second room, but I was close to finishing the sink puzzle once. However, the physics seem not to be deterministic, because the first time I ran the experiment, I put the toaster at the 45 degree angle and the ball changed the direction by 90 degrees as intended. The next time I tried exactly the same with the toaster turned 45 degrees, the ball didn't turn by 90 degrees, but more like about 60 degrees. Then the next time it went completely nuts and turned like 120 degrees. I couldn't make it to turn by exact 90 degrees anymore, I had to quit after that without any ideas on how to improve the layout.
And of course not being able to reset everything to where it was before my test run is super tedious, but you know that already :).
Nonetheless, kudos for making such a polished looking game in such a small amount of time!
Thank you for your feedback! I tried my best to leave the game open ended with the lack of direct mechanic introductions with different elements, but of course this leaves just as much room for confusion and/or frustration which I probably could have counteracted with more playtesting and dev time in general. Also looking back, I believe that posting a game walkthrough would have helped though, as I could actually add something like that to the game page even after submissions close. Nonetheless, I have been keeping track of these things and hope to improve upon them next Jam! Thanks again for playing my game!
I really love the concept of this game and so far it's the most creative entry I've tried. Sadly I couldn't keep playing due to poor performance making the experience bad (I could only play this through a Windows Virtual Machine). But the game's fun otherwise! I do appreciate some QoL stuff like saving the orientations of the items, but I also didn't know I'd be able to bump items into items and made a mess with the dominoes and had to pick them up haha.
Like the concept and the puzzles seem really fun, however I gave up after the first one, having spent way too much time making it work, I just didn't feel like solving way more complex ones. Controls feel a bit tedious, resetting the elements when you hit the reset button would be a great improvement, slowly replacing dominos didn't feel really good. That said, I'm not much for construction games like this in real life, I don't have the patience. Maybe others would find that this recreates the experience just fine
Thanks for your feedback! I agree that it is definitely frustrating to set stuff up over and over, I really just didn't have the time to add everything. As for the puzzles, I made sure that most of the puzzles can be solved with only dominoes as a sort of a way to emphasize the need for highly creative solutions that use more mechanical elements, such as the toaster. In hindsight, ideas like this could probably be inspired through a walkthrough video or something. Nonetheless, your feedback is extremely helpful, thanks again for playing my game!
While the controls were initially overwhelming, I understand their necessity for such a complex project. It was a relief to discover that the transformations save when objects are picked up. The working save system is also impressive for a game jam. My only suggestion is to add some sounds. I realize time was tight, but with some chill music and unique sound effects for each item, this game would be even more satisfying. Excellent work!
Thanks for your feedback! I agree that I should have used a bit more mouse-based controls, but I wasn't sure what I really needed as I lacked sufficient time to playtest a lot of things. As for the music, that is one of my only regrets; not allocating enough time to setting even just some background music, I really did think that I would have extra time to towards the end, but I think I focused too much on making in-depth puzzles. Thanks again for playing my game!
This is a really fantastic entry, I love the open ended solutions! At first I was overwhelmed by the controls since there are so many, but I realize you need that in order to accomplish something like this. Once I realized the the transform you give the object gets saved and it's put back when you pick it up I was so relieved. It's really cool to see a working save system in a game jam as well!
My only piece of feedback is this game needs some sounds. I realize you were on a time crunch as a solo dev and I love all the work that's gone into making this a fantastic project already, but if you continue to improve it give the game some chill music and each item their own sound effect and you'll have one hell of a satisfying game!
Amazing job!
Thank you for your really in-depth feedback! I too wish that I had the time to add sound, I honestly could have if I was actually able to fully utilize the 96 hours, and it was on my list of objectives. Approaching the deadline though, I realized that I only had time to finish the puzzles. Thanks again for playing my game!
Really cool idea of the escape room vibe of using rube goldberg devices to unlock puzzles, and then still have the pieces reusable.
Wow amazing game and I really value puzzles that can be solved with different approaches. Seeing Rube machines at work has always been entertaining, so getting to build one was a lot of fun (without the pain of cleanup)!
This game is a gem! The puzzles are really clever and kept me hooked. I loved the art style too—everything just fits together so well. Great job! 😊
I wasn't expecting the depth of the puzzles in this game. Very fun and enjoyable to see structures that I spent a while to craft works as intended. I wish we could rotate the objects with gizmo like game engine but that might just be me being used to it as a dev. 🎉
I liked the system where you weren’t allowed to mess with the physics once the run had started. Also found all the easter eggs for previous themes :)
The game felt less like building rube goldberg machines and more like guiding a rolling ball down a path. I feel like the dominoes were a good start but would’ve liked to see more interesting pieces to use.
The rotation controls took a little getting used to, I feel like mouse control and the scroll wheel would have been more intuitive.
It was also way too long for a jam game, I don’t think many people are going to finish this one.
Thanks for playing my game!
I tried my best to make puzzles diverse, but in the end it mostly came down to a lack of time to develop! I certainly have a lot more ideas for this concept, I just wish I could've made more in such a short time limit! As for the game's length, I finished development knowing fully well that very few people would actually have the time/patience to fully play through the game, even though there are only 10 puzzles. I believe if I had more time to playtest than I could've refined most of these things.
It's a really clever puzzle game! I wish there will be more utilizing of the mouse wheel or right mouse button, reduce amount of keys to handle and simplify the controls of the main mechanic. Also, return elements to their place when restart experiment. So, controls was my main concern in this game.
But art style is consistent and nice, levels are cool, sandbox style puzzle room looks very cool!
So all my feedback was not because I don't like the game. But because all other elements were so good what controls seems to be the main obstacle to enjoy the game.
Thank you for playing my game!
Your feedback is extremely helpful!
I get these concerns a lot, and this was a big thing on my mind during the game's development. I was more stuck on the question of making the game more thematic by having you set up everything manually every run, or to save item locations. I tried my best to do the latter, but in reality it was not something I had time to finish. As for the controls, I wish I could've had more play testing time, but as a result of being solo & shorter on time the controls are less refined and puzzles 8&6 are kinda messed up. I will keep these in mind next time though!
This was a neat game to play, felt like the initial tutorial was enough to get started. I felt the controls were a bit tedious to work with but the physics were so satisfying I would power through.
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