Connected Pylons

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.49
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.44
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.40
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.22
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.55
Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.00
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.38
Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.71
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★61%
Puzzle/Action made with Unity3D

Use the arrow keys to move the green character.
Push the blocks to create an enlighten link from the light pylon to the dark pylon.
Avoid the bad guys or crush them with blocks.
Enjoy ;)

Note: Linux and OS/X build provided but not tested (feedback welcome)

Comments62

PapaCheech
PapaCheech25 Aug 2014, 01:15
this is such a good concept played this for a while! Nice job
shico25 Aug 2014, 01:40
This game is pretty amusing, it isn't really hard (at least not for the first 6 levels anyway which is all the farther I went before commenting). The enemy AI is extremely simple (they follow the wall) so you don't have to worry about them that much. I wish the game would give you a score or a timer though, after you've been pushing blocks for about 10 minutes it starts to feel a little pointless and some method of gauging how well you are doing besides what level you are on would probably help a good deal in that regard.
matthias_zarzecki25 Aug 2014, 02:29
Nice idea! simple and efficient
Xenolupus
Xenolupus25 Aug 2014, 02:43
Really fun, just needs some better graphics.
StencylTuo
StencylTuo25 Aug 2014, 03:15
I liked the concept. It did fit the theme. I found that if I just went around and killed the baddies while moving as few blocks as possible allowed me to then easily make the path to the end.
thedeadlybutter25 Aug 2014, 04:14
Didn't understand until a few seconds in, then fell in love with the idea. Well done!
Miziziziz25 Aug 2014, 04:43
dang, this is really cool. Like thedeadlybutter said, didn't understand from the description, but once I started playing, realized how cool it was
Beard25 Aug 2014, 04:44
I liked the idea, and found the game fun and entertaining.
mrexcessive25 Aug 2014, 05:14
Excellent. Best circuit/wiring game I've seen. Nice sounds too, everything just right. Good job!
kblaney25 Aug 2014, 05:47
Really neat idea for a simple puzzle game. I could see this being fleshed out with more enemy types and a timer, for a score attack type of game, or more puzzles and maybe multiple "energy" types that need connecting for a deeper puzzle experience.
suyoku25 Aug 2014, 05:56
Great job, the idea is amazing and the simplicity is great. I really enjoyed the graphic representation of the two sides and the transition between floors. I did feel like there was too much of the same between the levels (I got to level 4 and stopped). I really wish there had been some music (even something generated from autotracker-bu), just having the wall collision sound is annoying
pusheax25 Aug 2014, 07:51
Good style, I like the transition between levels. Mechanics are simple but effective.
katjap25 Aug 2014, 08:40
Cool game. Watched my gf play it for several hours. When she got to level 46 though, something seemed to break down algorithm-wise though as there's not enough blocks left to complete the level. Picture uploaded here: http://imgur.com/QEQfBuh (assuming i'm allowed to post links)
lspires25 Aug 2014, 08:47
I really liked this. It's a puzzle without a lot of stress. It gets harder as the levels go up, but it's largely just learn the strategy and kill the baddies or pen them off and connect your pylons. I liked that there was no scoring or anything, just solve and advance.
Macocco
Macocco25 Aug 2014, 09:00
Solid game but gets boring really fast. Try increasing the skill-curve or adding optional achievements (e.g.time).
Pcholt25 Aug 2014, 09:25
Brilliant. Got to level 36 before I gave up. I'm sure I'll play this for more than 48 hours it took to write it... WIN!
Tarian
Tarian25 Aug 2014, 09:42
Excellent, brilliant concept, well executed!
nonetheless25 Aug 2014, 09:53
Quite nice game, good execution. Great job!
NuSan
NuSan25 Aug 2014, 10:25
Cool game, once you understand how wiring and enemy works it's fun. I would love more difficulty though, maybe a level with just enough blocks (got to level 13)
PixelMind25 Aug 2014, 10:35
Took a while to get the idea.
After the initial confusion this one turned out to be a great little game. Graphics could use some more love though.
ratking
ratking25 Aug 2014, 11:16
Nice and simple, I love it!
Next time try to invest a bit more in the visuals, the game would be worth it!
zapaman
zapaman25 Aug 2014, 11:24
Really interesting concept. I do love this one!
SirJson25 Aug 2014, 11:32
Cool concept!
Franklins Ghost
Franklins Ghost25 Aug 2014, 11:46
Simple concept done well. Liked the satisfaction of seeing the blocks light up.
Vallar25 Aug 2014, 12:47
That is a really cool concept and game. I liked the idea very much. You had me there playing for a long time trying to figure out things.

I am amazed that it had so many levels too. Its simplicity perhaps is contributing majorly to its fun :).

I like how the enemies have predictable paths so you always know where they are going and can plan properly (except the orange ones sometimes have random paths).

Well done and very good take on the theme.
Split82
Split8225 Aug 2014, 13:22
One of the best puzzles I played :) Great job!
thecolorhacker25 Aug 2014, 13:24
I liked this game, it was fun to play and it connected well with theme.
SaintHeiser25 Aug 2014, 14:07
Not bad! Game mechanics is looking very interesting. But game isn't fit the theme on my opinion.
Are there procedural generated levels?
mataguiris25 Aug 2014, 15:47
Great game, realy funny, congratulation...
MaddeStudios
MaddeStudios25 Aug 2014, 15:53
Took a second to figure out what I was doing, but a really great game and cool concept!
Ixeno25 Aug 2014, 16:17
Well done and easy to understand game!
I even started to get strategies! :P
kikito
kikito25 Aug 2014, 17:00
Well done. The only thing I found a bit weak was the sound.
Lokiman
Lokiman25 Aug 2014, 17:13
Really simple idea behind this game but it works perfectly!
43iscoding
43iscoding25 Aug 2014, 17:22
Very interesting concept! Liked this one very much!
DragonXVI
DragonXVI25 Aug 2014, 18:13
Quite a neat little spin on the box pushing mechanic. Like how each level is connected too :D
psychomonster
psychomonster25 Aug 2014, 19:02
Cool its like a hybrid of pacman and pipes! Like it. Needs some more polishing at the graphics and sound.. Like the gameplay very much.
shimage25 Aug 2014, 19:25
Very fun! I like the confortable control.
Dabuuker25 Aug 2014, 20:00
This is a fun little game. I managed to get to level 10. Get some awesome graphics and nice sound effects then you have an awesome game :)
primaerfunktion25 Aug 2014, 21:00
That's really cool. Although I am terrible at those box pushing games. :D
SaxonRah
SaxonRah25 Aug 2014, 21:07
Really neat idea. I liked it allot. Good job!
maad925 Aug 2014, 21:13
Cool game! Simple and fun.
MattThePie25 Aug 2014, 22:07
Really nice game, orginal and addictive! Just some background visuals and music needed to be utterly awesome
John Drury25 Aug 2014, 22:27
Fantastic! Loved the puzzle aspect. The enemies were a nice touch and really added value to the gameplay as I had to think and figure out my next moves!
uberscientist25 Aug 2014, 22:45
Yet another comment of praise, well done!
Bozwellox26 Aug 2014, 00:08
This is really cool concept and all the maps are designed very well, I also love the transition between maps. I wish there was some music though
mactinite
mactinite26 Aug 2014, 01:59
Really fun concept. Good pacing. :)
nikki93
nikki9326 Aug 2014, 02:06
Nice game! Smooth graphics. The idea is cool! Could do with some sweet art.
hazzahazzam
hazzahazzam26 Aug 2014, 08:02
Not going to lie, favourite game of LD30! I really love it, better player model maybe might make it better, keep working on it, might be a good mobile game.
Pat AfterMoon
Pat AfterMoonauthor26 Aug 2014, 14:44
Hi all, thank you for the kind comments.

My initial goal was to procedurally generate the levels, but I haven't got the time, so there is a set of predefined patterns, and only the bad guys placement is procedural, their quantity is related to the level height.

@katjap: level 46... wow!!!!
Before the submission, I have only tested until level 8. In theory, you can finish a level like this one by being faster than the bad guys spawn and you can use their blocks for creating the link. Look at blocks blinking when the level starts: 1 blink = spawn after 5 sec, 2 blinks = 10 sec ...etc. But I admit I've tried this level 46 today and so far, I wasn't able to finish it.

Now the deadline was reached, and while looking at the result and your comments, I am motivated to improve this game and maybe publish it on web game portals, and why not, tablets / mobiles…
Lissar
Lissar26 Aug 2014, 20:13
That was pretty fun! Could be a cute puzzle game with more polish.
Citsua
Citsua27 Aug 2014, 10:56
Really nice concept, too bad I'm just too stupid for this kind of games^^'.
Tosic28 Aug 2014, 19:20
Really nice, quite funny and with cool graphics, I lol'd when I saw :) On a character!
I like it! :D
yodamaster29 Aug 2014, 18:58
Very interesting puzzler. Reminds me of Zenji.
Pat AfterMoon
Pat AfterMoonauthor30 Aug 2014, 17:21
Just to say, I've beaten the famous level 46 ;)
Do not be discouraged, be quick, and finish the level before all bad guys spawn!
ATesh1 Sep 2014, 19:08
This reminded me a lot of Rodent's Revenge. I really enjoyed it!
vividhelix
vividhelix6 Sep 2014, 20:38
Solid puzzler, spent way more time playing this than I would have expected :) Great job!
Yword
Yword7 Sep 2014, 14:09
Very interesting and challenging! Well done!
Dietrich Epp8 Sep 2014, 03:22
It's a great game, and I'd never have thought that I would say this about a Ludum Dare entry, but there are too many levels! Well-executed, though. Love the puzzles, and the difficulty is just right.
Pat AfterMoon
Pat AfterMoonauthor8 Sep 2014, 20:25
@Dietrich Epp: In fact there is an infinity of levels, my initial goal was to create them procedurally with an increasing difficulty. But due to the lack of time, there are only four blocks patterns that are repeated in loop. Only the bad guys are added procedurally in an increasing quantity.

But my algorithm was wrong. Every block has a probability of "level" percent to become a bad guy (capped at 50%). The error is here, at a given percentage, with bad luck you can have near all the blocks to be bad guys, or on the other side, if you are lucky, you can have near zero bad guys.

A good algorithm to define the number of bad guys could be Min(level, nb total of block / 2), and then, to spread the bad guys randomly on existing blocks. Using the "time before spawn" according to the level of difficulty could also be a good option. Currently, there are only 4 case with equal probabilities 5, 10, 15 or 20 seconds.

With the enhanced version that saves progression, I have currently reached the level 62. But the level 46 was the harder because it is the only level that has not enough blocks to link the pylons if you wait until all bad guys spawn (a bad luck case like described above).

Other games by @pat-aftermoon

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