SquareRoot

by masadow
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.33
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.25
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.05
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.61
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.48
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.10
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.61
Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.79
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★100%
You are the square, move to the finish on each level and discover how colors affect you. Beat the game and be happy of that :D

Easter potategg !

*SPOIL*
Some people are a bit confused about the red shapes. It affects the keyboard input by rotating it. ;)
*/SPOIL*

Commands:
WASD/Arrows keys: Move square
+/-: Adjust audio level
ESCAPE: Go back to level selection

ps: A big thanks to your comments, I'm very proud and pleased to see how much people enjoyed it. I will do as a sequel an even more complete game after based on this concept !

screenshot

Comments52

Gustera29 Apr 2013, 10:21
The last lvl is EPIC hahah
Masadowauthor29 Apr 2013, 10:22
Were you potatonuked ? :D
FredericRP
FredericRP29 Apr 2013, 10:23
Minimalism and a lot of levels, that's a right combo !
The music can be a little annoying as it starts from the start in each level, but that's a detail, good game !
ella guro29 Apr 2013, 10:33
i was totally confused by the level selection screen, but it figured it out eventually =P. i feel stupid but i can't get past screen 5. don't know how to get past the red zone. what i've seen seems a little rough around the edges, but i also really like it in a lot of ways!
grimpunch
grimpunch29 Apr 2013, 13:11
I found it frustrating. :P Good job.
eShredder
eShredder29 Apr 2013, 13:13
The graphics are minimalistic, indeed. Each colour alone shows their function in the game. Good job there.
The overall look on the game is, again, minimalistic, following the theme of this Ludum Dare. Full score.
The gameplay is simple enough to learn without any tutorial. Twas a great idea to add one new colour at a time to let the player get the hang of it.
Overall. Purdy job.
errorage29 Apr 2013, 13:13
Quite a nice game, however this may work better with an analog input tho. I found myself in the situation a few times where I couldn't quite fit in a narrow gap, but knew that if I tapped the arrow key in the direction I had to move in, it'd overshoot and hit the wall. An analog input device could make it possible to increase movement precision (IE Move in the direction of the mouse, how far away the mouse is determines the speed) - Just a thought.
Stiju29 Apr 2013, 13:13
Level 8 was great!
YM
YM29 Apr 2013, 13:14
Really like the idea that each colour does something different, controls felt just a little too slipery for fine control and wall-avoidence but overall very nice. :)
arnaudmolle29 Apr 2013, 16:55
I love this game simple but totally fun. The music is a little bit aggressive.
neight29 Apr 2013, 17:13
Thanks for playing PHILIP KLAS. Square Root is pretty killer.
Casino Jack29 Apr 2013, 17:30
Lol I love the tutorial text :D I'm guessing you possibly wrote that near the end when you were tired and couldn't be bothered?

OH LORDY I HATE THE RED PARTS ARGH!!!
Masadowauthor29 Apr 2013, 17:38
@Casino Jack No, I wrote it at the beginning since I was in a hurry. I started very very late and didn't have much time :D

Anyway, instructions must be minimalist, no ?
igrowbeards
igrowbeards29 Apr 2013, 18:15
A very solid entry :) The controls were too sensitive for my tastes - but other than that it was a lot of fun.
DST29 Apr 2013, 18:16
Great idea and well implemented! :)
bastiandantilus
bastiandantilus29 Apr 2013, 18:17
Wow do I hate the level in the screenshot. Always sliding into things... Needs more sound effects I think.
HeyChinaski
HeyChinaski29 Apr 2013, 18:19
Excellent work! Suited the theme perfectly and was very fun to play. One of my favourites so far. A few simple mechanics can go a long way. Great pacing of the main guy.
Felix20
Felix2029 Apr 2013, 18:20
Nice game, it was fun and the music is good. The art is certainly minimalistic, but the only graphics I really liked were the level select screen.
Overall pretty good entry.
Also POTATONUKED!!!
iamorim29 Apr 2013, 20:45
Thanks for your comment about my game! :)

Nice game you have here. It's the kind of game that you want to keep playing even when you lose and get angry XD
jerombd29 Apr 2013, 21:48
30 levels is not enough: I want MOAR ;) Overall a nice/little/pretty/solid entry!
lightsoda
lightsoda29 Apr 2013, 21:50
Man, really need to be on top of the keys to not overshoot some of those edges. Pretty challenging sometimes, a lot because of the overshooting problem I guess, but also decent puzzle design.
Galvesmash29 Apr 2013, 22:31
Great puzzles! Cool game!
Jacob
Jacob29 Apr 2013, 23:33
Solid entry! Quite difficult for someone with no patience like me.
Could benefit from a bit more feedback on death, tuning of controls (acceleration/deceleration) and polish (PARTICLES AND SCREENSHAKE! OMG)

Awesome audio, really loved the music. Some SFX would bring it to the next level of awesome.
Hyaku29 Apr 2013, 23:45
LOL I have laughed with the unexpected ending. ^_^
netguy20430 Apr 2013, 00:07
Very terrain modified motion mechanic. It turns what doesn't look like a puzzle into something that feels fun, tricky, and kind of like a puzzle. You should build on this!

I laughed when I hit the red terrain. You taught me instantly how it worked by the way you designed that puzzle and my approach and you did it without frustrating me. Well done.

The music was good. The graphics need polish (I think a more careful color scheme and more consistent dimensioning of objects would do the trick.)

I'd love to see the interplay of terrains in this game. Also, would love to see objects that push but don't kill. Those could combine into some interesting scenarios. Objects that I can push that also interact with the terrain would be very interesting.

Well done. This is cool now and on its way to something quite cool.
cwilloughby30 Apr 2013, 05:27
Cool. Super minimalist. Liked the different color elements. Some were definitely more frustrating than others. Narrative was good too.
Andy Go30 Apr 2013, 11:27
I've been potatonuked...
Good job :)
Dir3kt
Dir3kt30 Apr 2013, 11:30
Wow the best entry I played so far! The color affecting the player is such an amazing idea and being potato nuked made me laugh :)

The red is a bit frustrating at the beginning but once mastered it's quite funny, especially when switching between red and non-red.

Good job.
tonic30 Apr 2013, 16:32
Controlling is a bit too slippery/twitchy/fast, so it's pretty hard since touching gray area always respawns to beginning. Some of the levels/ideas are quite nice though.
Masadowauthor30 Apr 2013, 16:34
tonic: That's what I wanted, a kind of hardcore game :D
nintendoeats30 Apr 2013, 20:22
I really really like this. Unfortunately it's a bit too massocore for me (the level in the screenshot was just more than I could handle). That might partially be down to my keyboard, but I just couldn't manage that level of precise movement. I think you have the makings of a really good game for that audience though!

Also, excellent music and visual style.
pighead1030 Apr 2013, 21:04
Couldn't complete that level in the screenshot! I found the fast movement and non-instant stopping time REALLY difficult to work with. It's a shame, I really wanted to play more of the game but the levels were locked. Soundtrack was great. Graphics were... minimal.
PsenFilip30 Apr 2013, 21:35
Definitely minimalistic visuals. Interesting music.

Core mechanics are solid but the controls feel too slippery for me. I had a hard time trying pixel perfect movements, making the overall experience very hard.
That seems to be what you wanted, so good job on there.
qdowngames30 Apr 2013, 21:53
Minimal graphics- but that's the theme! Annoyingly the 6th level was off the screen so I couldn't beat it. Nice work though!
Masadowauthor30 Apr 2013, 22:14
qdowngames: Can you bring a screenshot ? Did you run it in a very small resolution ? Your issue seems weird for me
TheMaster9930 Apr 2013, 23:14
Definitely broke away from the typical "get from point a to point b without hitting the walls" genre with several different mechanics. Awesome music! Enjoyed playing the game.
Cryovat
Cryovat30 Apr 2013, 23:33
The different floors are a great concept, but the controls were a bit too much on the slippery side for me. I second the suggestion for analogue controls! :)
jhrrsn
jhrrsn1 May 2013, 00:16
The constantly changing mechanics were very enjoyable
MaxguN
MaxguN1 May 2013, 01:23
Nicely done and enjoyable. I like the mechanics.
whilefun1 May 2013, 13:11
I was potatonuked! That isn't nice. Very original idea, I thought. Catchy music too. Good work! :)
bentog1 May 2013, 18:55
Potatonuked, weee :)
netmute
netmute1 May 2013, 21:06
Beautiful idea going on here :)
Gama11
Gama112 May 2013, 09:51
Really liked the concept. However, it gets a bit frustrating because hitboxes feel off - for example, you don't die immediately when touching a wall, but rather when you're already half into it. Also, circles uses squares as hitboxes that are bigger than they are. Consider the use of FlxCollision or decrease the size of the hitboxes.
In general, the movement speed of the player seems a little too fast considering the amount of precision required to complete a lot of the levels (or at least in the pink areas).

Being taken back to the level select screen after you complete one really breaks the flow of the game, because you are forced to pick up your mouse again in a game that is keyboard-based entirely. Just take me to the next level! :)

I liked the menu music more than the actual in-game music. I'd consider switching them.
deepnight
deepnight2 May 2013, 20:16
Takes some time to get used to, but it proved to be an excellent game :)
Everything is pretty intuitive. And I hate orange.
Rafael Sales3 May 2013, 21:18
Simple but fun. Cool game. Congratz!
euwaku5 May 2013, 07:50
Simple but powerful!
klianc0910 May 2013, 14:48
The red color is really annoying. The level select screen music is nice though.
ethankennerly
ethankennerly12 May 2013, 17:45
Inducing the rule of each color interested me. Each level gradually introduced new rules and increased the accuracy required. If you continue to develop this, I was less interested in timing of key presses and more interested in inducing rules. So the orange and black circles were exciting yet with my slower reflexes, I wanted to focus on anticipating the influence of color.

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