It's actually pretty simple/dumb. I just tinkered. It only takes 3 steps:
Just pick some random positions for nodes. Any position is valid as long as it isn't too close to an existing node. The number of nodes you choose to add is proportional to the area of the map.
Connect every node to its nearest neighbour node. And have a 50% chance of connecting it to up to 2 more nearby neighbours.
Now you've got a random scattering of nodes, some connected in clumps, you want to join these "islands". So for every node, find all the nodes it can reach via connections, then find the nearest neighbour that ISN'T in this set and connect to it. Repeat this process until there are no separate sets.
That's it!
That said, the output isn't actually that great imo. I have played with more intelligent generation rules. I've got a local version I've been trying to polish into more of a complete game. But finding more mechanics that feel fun, and find a way to balance it better is tricky, so it's not felt good-enough to push up yet.
Nice! Controls and presentation are good, game all works well and the hack location reveal at the end looks nice (looks really cool in green, that space feels nice).
I wasn't quite sure what to do at the beginning, as it looked like enemies were constantly respawning and couldn't all be killed, so I instead I wandered off looking for the release node. An onscreen counter or something of remaining aliens to kill would fix this - it needs an indication that killing them is progressing toward a goal. Or, even just a sound effect could help sell this - something that sounds like a positive pickup sound when you kill them would also indicate positive progression. Also a mysterious reveal sound playing when the node location was revealed would feel good too - give that player a feeling they've accomplished something, and a hint there's something new to investigate.
All looks good so far. Nice beginnings to a cute little game and technical stuff all working.
Cute little game. Presentation is nice. Ending to wrap it up is nice (although a little simple with just a sudden cut). Some more interesting puzzle objects as levels progress might be nice to spice things up (maybe scenarios where you have other objects you have to blow up to defeat enemies or objects you have to laser through or bounce off to change the colour to hurt certain enemies?). Art and music is very cute.
And oh, only made in 6 hours! Okay, I take back the bit about too simple, that's awesome for just a few hours. Nice cute style, your stuff is cool.
Fun little game. Being constantly moving with just the left/right makes for good fun controls. All presented nicely. Nice jam! Some kind of powerups you collect or abilities on top would make for good additions.
There are quite a few overlaps, but then there's also like a bazillion jams happening so it's not really avoidable; There's always gonna be awkward overlap :S
Fun puzzle game, awesome presentation. The puzzle concept is simple, so easy to approach, but still manages to become (very) challenging. Also the linux build is very appreciated - This is rarely seen :]
Two tiny points of critique:
The game could maybe do with some initial guide as to what the puzzle is and how you solve it; While obvious to some, it may not be for others.
Accessing the menu by clicking the up arrow wasn't at all obvious. If the game instead started on the menu, and you had to click the down arrow (initially labelled "Start Game") to begin, it might be more obvious you could click the up to return to that menu. Also, this would mean you could use the board credits area to more clearly explain the rules before starting (and maybe swap it out for credits if you then return to it later?)
All in all though, a great game for 48 hours. The puzzles kept me playing, and the presentation was awesome.
Juuust needs a win condition at the very end, and some more collisions, and something to guide the player forwards at the start in case they go in the wrong dir, but otherwise looks frickin awesome - Love it!
Soo close, like it's long enough.. just a light that comes on when you go in your hole at the end and then a fade to black with a message would be enough. That would wrap it up and make it feel as a conclusive experience (even if it's short and lacking other objectives). It still looks lovely and I definitely feel that's enough.
World feels nice so far, and it feels like a good beginning to a game.
What was going on and how to play unfortunately wasn't communicated that well. I got stuck in a hole eventually and couldn't get out :(
So it's okay so far. It hints at some kind of explorable world, which is neat. That needs just a little more pulling together (and some reason for me as a play to take risks and play against) to take advantage of it.
Needs just a bit more love, but feeling good so far o/
Might be nice to also play with some future mechanics - maybe something like the original legend of zelda where screen edges lead to other areas. Maybe with powerups or health to find.
Generally though, plenty of fun so far, and all nicely polished and presented. Grats on polishing a finished game!
Art and presentation (or what there was so far) was great. I wanted to keep playing, but unfortunately couldn't work out how to get the second key. A shame.
Played great so far. Liked the interactive story nature. Wanted to see where it went.
Control a little clunky in places, and the game felt broken in that I couldn't proceed.
Would be nice to see this continued after the jam and taken further.
Nice idea; I liked the atmosphere. Music worked well to enhance the feel too, and the bright entrance/exit in the distance made a nice instinctual goal for the player, given the claustrophobic dark feel.
It unfortunately suffered from some poor communication to the player, which is actually only a minor thing. I think if that was corrected it would actually make quite a nice entry.
The fires were a nice idea; These should have been emphasised more - I think these should have been visible in the distance, perhaps fading into view when within a certain distance, so the player had these to aim for.
The slow rate of ammo is good. To make this clearer to the player, and give them something to balance gameplay against I would have shown this count onscreen (maybe just as a stack of arrows on the side), with some kind of progress bar as they regen (perhaps a circle that slowly arcs in as each replenishes). I'd then probably tune the difficulty so that they only had just enough arrows at any point in time. I'd want them to really get surrounded at times, and arrows come in at barely a fast-enough speed to keep up. If they miss a shot or two I'd want them to really feel that desperate tension.
And maybe as a final idea get rid of the arrow replenishing altogether, but instead have illuminated arrows in the distance, like the fires, that you can collect - that way the player has more goals to clamber for in the dark, while they're slowly getting surrounded. Do they make a rush forward to the next fire or exit, but with limited ammo, or risk darting past those enemies to grab some more?
Of course, also need to find the time to do all of that >.>
All in all though - a good idea. Some more communication and extension of what was there would have really enhanced it. I think it suffered from being a bit too obscure. But really like the idea and feel.
Hopefully you're able to grab a full license and export properly to windows.
A neat idea. The menu and presentation is nice. Tis a shame the rest hasn't reach fruition in time, but props to you for putting it out there anyway. You do seem to have a solid plan for where to take it, and looks like it would be really good; I hope you keep working on it.
The funny method of interacting was actually really good.
The downside was that communicating this to the player was tricky :S This can be an awkward problem with really creative ideas, unfortunately
The main menu wasn't obvious - maybe it should have said "Press ASDF SPACE to move your fingers" on the menu screen so that it also helped teach controls, and had options jiggle when you were pointing at them so there was a hint that that would be the interaction.
Hitting enter when you'd made the shapes wasn't obvious either, as this wasn't really communicated clearly. I'd likely remove this altogether, and just have it proceed when you held the right shape for a few seconds.
The second game mode of time trials was actually a lot more fun imo. This felt like your strongest foot for the game, but unfortunately it was locked behind progression.
Not meaning to be negative though - your game is actually one of the most creative I've seen so far; The graphics and presentation were really nice, and the controls were goofy but entertaining, with fitting sound effects. Creatively it was really neat, game-wise it just needed some streamlining so players weren't so lost.
Having to move the mouse around to look around edges and stuff with the candle felt really good. I think it could have benefited from being a bit longer; Not at the end - I felt that was hard enough, but maybe some simpler play at the beginning - some really obvious/easy stuff just so people could get used to the controls and idea.
My only critiques would be that not knowing where the mouse cursor was when the light was off or it was being geometry felt awkward. I feel like it's position should still have always been known, so I could have prepared more when using it sparingly. It was quite tricky in parts, but I think that was good. It could have benefited from some easier intro stuff at the beginning though so people could better understand the concepts before coming across the trickier platforming.
Yeah that is definitely something I'll likely change afterwards. I liked the idea of the paddle bouncing, but in actual play it does create awkward scenarios like that and feel a bit rubbish :S
