I had a few ideas popping in my head as soon as I saw the theme, this is the one I settled with !
The goal is simple : do not let the white line escape its racetrack.
- Two gameplay modes - Minimalist mechanics (one-button game, very simple rules) - Minimalist graphics - Minimalist ambient track (it's called "Silence", because I'm good at composing silent music) - Minimalist game size (<64kb, online leaderboards & analytic included) - MINIMALIST
About the two gameplay modes :
- Challenges : a set of 20 levels with progressive difficulty (score: lower is better, follow the racetrack precisely to get a better score). - Infinite Run : randomly generated level (score: higher is better).
The game file size could have been way smaller if Haxe didn't break it with dead code elimination, but hey, 64kb is good enough. Have fun, and don't forget to submit your best scores to the online leaderboards :]
Controls: Any key (one-button game) R - Restart Esc - Menu
Very stylish and elegant! Crippled somewhat by inaccurate keyboard input. It seems I have to let go of all keys before a new one will register, which goes against the typical method of always triggering on the next hit regardless of held keys. I managed to beat challenge mode, but almost gave up on the last two levels where I'm convinced I would have had less difficulty with snappy response. Could be more fun with increased "actual" difficulty balanced by spot-on control.
Very cool! I refused to read instructions so it took me a while to realise it was a single button game (I had been pressing directional arrows up until about level 16), but it was a great challenge. Definitely matches the theme!
Just to add to that - infinite mode is great, but it would be even better if I could press a single button to retry rather than having to move back to my mouse - it's lazy, I know, but I feel like taking my hand of the keyboard messes with the flow.
Love the slick minimalism of the graphical style. This is a clever use of one-button input.
Millisecond timing is clearly an important part of this...if you haven't already you might want to look at ways to reduce latency in the input loop. Are you polling or using event driven input? Checking for the key down or the key up?
Excellent game. Got a bit frustrated around level 17, but managed to complete the challenge mode. Could do with a way to pause between levels, or may be press a key to start. I like the way they flow together but needed a break without it killing my score.
I like the color scheme and the angle. The two modes (challenge and endless) are a good idea, I think my game needs this too. This would be my favorite, if it had sound.
I really liked the graphic design and game mechanic. Very addictive. I saw that you've been improving the responsiveness of the controls, but I still think it could be improved a bit. There were a couple of instances where I felt like blaming the game for my loss, because the line didn't change directions until it was too late.
I like the concept and I like the execution even more. Because of the continuous nature of the game, I'd have thought a pause button would make sense, though. The visuals look nice and clean. It's a shame about the lack of audio, but a polished version of this has got great potential to do well on mobile (like I know you're planning)!
OK... so you want to teach me about frustration... Very good game... completely not for an old git like me... argh... my nerves are twitching, I will have nightmares about white lines. Very innovative, like a music playing game without the sound.
Very nice! I would have liked to be able to control the line to turn left or right, to add to the difficulty. This works better with as a minimalist game though. Would work nicely on mobile devices, too! :)
Well done! I liked this a lot. Almost made it through all 20 levels.
Also, it's strange that I care, but I think I liked this more because all the levels are at that odd 15-degree angle. Somehow that makes it feel "artsy".
I was able to cheat at some intersections by pressing multiple keys in quick succession.
I completely missed the one-button part, so I spent my first play-through actually hitting the arrow keys to change direction. :-p Very nice work; one of my favorite games of this LD.
Sweet, this is fun adn looks cool. It fits the theme very well. Some music would be nice. It gets really hard to beat at the spot that the purple screenshot shows. And then I broke it by right clicking. The line just went straight past the screen and got stuck. Anyway great job!
I like the game, but as somebody said the controls got a bit delayed (at least on my computer). I usually end up crashing because the input is recognized around 0.2 seconds later :(
Nicely done! Seems like I've played several similar flash-based snakelike games this time, and had a really hard time with the quick timing in all of them. Maybe I'm just bad at it? Great presentation in any case. All it needs is for the direction changes to be timed with some bumpin' chiptunes soundtrack and you'd have a modern rhythm classic.
Super simple but not easy. I love the concept and actually enjoyed it more than I thought I was going to. You just need to add some kickin' music, sounds, and poppin' visuals and this game will be perfect. Great job.
Very cool - neat concept, perfect for the theme. Some of the levels were very hard - I had to give up after about 25 tries on Challenge 14. Free play mode is fun too. Very nice work.
Simple, clean and visually interesting, loved it. Would have liked a key mapping for the Retry option so I don't have to switch between keyboard and mouse every time.
Fantastic game. As others have said, it's only marred why weird unresponsiveness. i found myself having to use multiple keys because rapid key presses weren't being registered as distinct. Other than that, great visual presentation, and great embodiment of the theme.
Oh man. This is EXACTLY the kind of game that I look at and think "Why didn't I come up with that idea!?"
During challenge mode, I was thinking "This would be even better if the score went up more the closer you were to the center of the line", but you pretty much remedied that in infinite mode with the bonus points. My only gripe is that I think infinite mode should have mimicked challenge mode in the types of turns and loops you came across. It was also kind of disorienting being able to see the line generating ahead of you.
I'm happy that you could play with any key, because using the arrow keys, instead of one key, helped me to be more precise.
But yeah, I can totally see a spruced up version of this getting a sponsorship. Good job.
Maple: actually, in challenge mode, the score is linked to how close you are to the center of the line (+ death) ! The lower, the better (it's basically "distance from center in pixels * 10" on every turn). A perfect run without death would give a perfect score, 0. Good luck with that :]
Actually pressing right arrows helped me play the game. Too bad there is no sfx and music. It would really add to the game (as it does to every game). Good job!
I didn't get the any-key at first, was playing it as a more snake like game then figured it out an it made my game much easier. I think something like that should be expressed more within the actual game, I didn't see it in there standing out enough for me to figure it out earlier! Got really difficult on the purple levels! But just one, more, try..
Great visuals and addictive as hell. I think you could turn this into a great rhythm music game if you hooked up a beat as your player is moving and trigger sound effects when you turn. This would also help the player get the timing correct.
Quite addictive and looks really cool.... I'm thinking of writing a bot to play it automatically because it seems like it wouldn't be too hard
L
Lev_Astov1 May 2013, 03:25
I'd really like to try this, but nothing happens. It doesn't respond to anything I do except R to restart and Escape to go back to the menu. In infinite mode it ends instantly with a score of 3.
Awesome! One of the best games here. Sadly, there was no sound, wich would've made it even better. But anyways, good job! (I didn't know it was a one-button game, always played with arrowkeys)
Wow, nice game! The gameplay is so simple, but still challenging. It fits the theme really nicely. I like the slight angle of the game, this makes the game look more playful and fun. :) Well done!
I didn't get it was a 'one button' game the first time and tried to play with arrows :D You game become very frustrating around levels > 10 It was a great time though, you deserve to win.
The absence of audio is ok *maybe*, I was actually playing by pressing strongly the space key! it almost became like a rythm game :D
Minimalism/Simplicity is hard to reach, this game show how a simple game can be efficient and powerful, good job!
Wonderfully simple and well presented and most of all fun. It took me a while to realize that any of the arrows would suffice to turn the line. Here I spent the first ten levels trying to steer the line like a chump! I only realized that I wasn't steering the line when I tried to deliberately turn off the prescribed path. Anyway, would really love music in this game!
Very nice. I'm a sucker for leaderboards :) Only way I can fault this is by saying that the really fast turning sections in the main game are impossible to do normally, it's not responsive enough to do it accurately. The only way to complete it is to just mash the keys when you get to a complicated corner, and it just does it for you.
The perfect minimalist game. Stylish, based on a single rule however very fun to play. Compliments! The only thing it lacks is badass background music ;)
I started using the left and right arrows, then realized you could use all 4 arrows, then realized it didn't matter what key you were pressing. Heh. Should've read the instructions.
Very nice art style and color palette. I had a helluva time beating "Almost there" in challenge mode. =) I like the way you can see the level being drawn ahead of you in infinite mode. The whole game reminds me a little of Sophie Houlden's Swift*Stitch.
I think some low audio tones would be great when you're navigating each level.
I liked the mechanic, fun and simple :) Also the graphic style is clean and minimalistic. I don't know if it's me or the controlls aren't 100% accurate. I wish it had sound.
Very elegant visuals; they fit well with the theme and I instantly knew how to play the game. The mechanic was fun, if familiar, and gave me 'one more try' syndrome.
Timing the turns to trace the path interested me. If you continue to develop this, sometimes my timing was off and I was not sure if the frame rate was consistent. Have you considered music that is cued to the turns?
Very stylish game! I can easily see this becoming a hit on a mobile store, you should give it a shot. Just a shame there's no audio (yet?).
M
Martin_Monosys15 May 2013, 19:11
First, i played it with the arrows like snake and didn't notice I was doing it wrong until I read in the description about it being a one button game... LOL! Nice game, but keyboard entry seemed a slight bit laggy, which is deadly for a game like this. Otherwise, really cool game !!!
Super fun! The subtly angled line creates an interesting perspective, and the design variation and progression of difficulty in challenge mode are great!
Good luck in the contest :)