I've been experimenting with the gameplay some more and put up a new version (post-jam, above).
- More intuitive, less twitchy controls!
- High scores!
- Time limits!
- Combos!
- Infinite levels!
- 100% less random crashes!
Obviously don't vote based on this one, but feel free to try it out and let me know what you think, or post your high score (I've gotten to 1092558).
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Update 2:
I just found a bug I'd introduced at the last minute that was causing things to be randomly deselected (and making selection in general particularly annoying).
Windows and Android are fixed now, the rest coming soon...
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Update:
32-bit linux and windows builds are now up:
- Windows is rebuilt for 32-bit, which should run on either
- the linux download contains both 32/64 bit executables
So if you were one of the people who tried on XP and wanted to try again, it should work now. (and, thanks for reporting it, @infinitedog and @AMSmirnov)
Some tips, having watched a couple people play it now:
- Try to keep your blobs mostly one color. If you're getting 'dead pixels' and don't know why, it's because you're mixing too many different colors.
- You need to collect a certain count of each color to advance to the next round, watch the numbers at the top to see what to go for next.
- If you've got something selected and you just want to look around, click off the current selection first (otherwise you'll end up throwing it).
In general, I think the goals need to be simpler and read better, and input needs to be more predictable. I also have some ideas for how to possibly turn this into more of a puzzle, and remove some of the frustrating bits.
I will be iterating on this idea to try to turn it into more of a complete, polished game, and hopefully taking it to the app stores. If you're interested in seeing what becomes of it, you can follow my company at:
First Ludum Dare, and I'm using an engine that was built from scratch (no middleware) over the last month. I'm pretty happy with what how much I was able to accomplish from where I started.
The connection to the theme is tenuous, near the end the gameplay evolved from what I was originally planning to something a bit more 'gamey' for the sake of trying to be fun. And there's a lot of polish and tuning I didn't have time to get to, but I'm happy that it's fairly complete.
I think this plays best on tablets (most of the development was done on a kindle fire), but it should run on any android phone as well, or pc.
This is my first time as a pixel-genetic engeneer, the control with mouse and camera are smooth, thanks for the entertaiment :) I would like to make more "visible" the generated pixels, good job
Cthulu: Thanks for letting me know; I figured there weren't many people still using 32-bit linux, but I'll see if I can do a build (downloading Ubuntu 32 now).
Xaychru04/juaxix, agreed on both points -- the camera makes it easy to lose control, and there isn't much feedback on the pixels you've generated. I'll probably do another version in the next couple weeks to address those and add some more polish (and some other problems I had with it, the goals aren't very clear, and the 'dead pixels' mechanic doesn't work very well IMO).
Thanks everyone for playing, and thanks for the feedback!
Smooth gameplay on my Android phone. Pixel look always works for me. I did have to force-quit the application. I wasn't always sure when dead pixels happened. I think this could easily be sold as an app.
Playing via PC, Had a really hard time playing this game. Control of throwing the pixels was very difficult. I did really like the idea and it was definitely different, which is good.
@Zelen3d -- it might depend on glew, you could try an 'apt-get install libglew' to see if that fixes it. Other than that ... it requires OpenGL 2.1, maybe your video card doesn't support it?
I'll try running tomorrow on a clean install to see about removing or bundling any external dependencies ... too tired right now.
This was interesting and could have been very fun, but the controls were clumsy. I think it would be a lot better if the molecules didn't jitter as much without being interacted with. I'd like to see it with more polish though!
Played on PC, took a sec to get the hang of deselecting a 'pixel' but really fun. I REALLY wanted to a score screen showing all the 'finished' pixels I'd made (and their 'purity').
Really interesting mechanic, and quite fun to play around with, although the controls could be slightly fiddly at times (wasn't sure how to deselect anything). I liked the way the game progressed, although the layer levels were a bit of a strain on the eyes on my smartphone.
On windows, it's quite difficult to play because of the click and drag mechanics which is not working well. But I love the graphics, and I can feel it could be better on Android! So I'm gonna try as soon as I can on a tablet
The idea is there, but like others said, I had trouble with the game confusing my camera movements and moving the squares around. It works great on my phone though, and with some polish this could be pretty fun, so good work for 72 hours!
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I would like to make more "visible" the generated pixels, good job
Xaychru04/juaxix, agreed on both points -- the camera makes it easy to lose control, and there isn't much feedback on the pixels you've generated. I'll probably do another version in the next couple weeks to address those and add some more polish (and some other problems I had with it, the goals aren't very clear, and the 'dead pixels' mechanic doesn't work very well IMO).
Thanks everyone for playing, and thanks for the feedback!
A novel idea.
I'll try running tomorrow on a clean install to see about removing or bundling any external dependencies ... too tired right now.
Gotta get my dad to download it!