Lights Out

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.94
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.30
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.33
Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.06
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.03
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.52
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.47
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.59
ldjam_cover.png

Description


Lights Out is a game about a heroic peon at an unnamed electrical conglomerate! The countryside has experienced a major power outage, and it’s up to you to re-wire the grid and restore power.

The game is essentially a basic math puzzle combined with a “pipes” style grid. You install and remove power lines and resistor towers to make sure the houses get the correct amount of power.

Controls


Mouse only. Select a tool using the bar at the bottom of the screen, click on the grid to place it. Click on an existing piece of hardware to remove it.

Goals


I wanted to make something simple and polished, or, as polished as a Comp entry can be. During my last LudumDare, I overshot and ended up producing little more than a tech demo with some minor humor. This time around I wanted to make sure I actually built something I could call a “game”.

It may not be the most imaginative or complex thing in the world, but it feels significantly more refined than my last entry.

Issues


Untested in Firefox, please use a WebKit or Blink based browser for now. Chrome recommended.

In some cases a power line can be placed in a three-way connection with two generators and a resistor. This often makes it look like the lines are leading to the resistor, but are actually ignoring it.

Linking a resistor in a loop to another resistor causes a power drain and drops them both to 0.

Tools


Game written entirely in JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
Graphic work was done in Photoshop and processed through CodeKit 3.
Music was generated with WolframTones.
Sound effects generated with Bfxr.

Screenshot


Comments21

Aterlamia
Aterlamia31 Jul 2017, 08:29
Cool idea and very relaxing music I did turn of the sound as they were a bit loud compared to the music
MajamiLTU
MajamiLTU31 Jul 2017, 12:17
Very good! Loved the visuals and puzzle designs
Swifttech
Swifttech31 Jul 2017, 16:48
Nice Game! like the graphics alot.
Vehem31 Jul 2017, 16:49
Great aesthetic, nice puzzler - nice one.
Simon Millard31 Jul 2017, 16:55
HTML5 link doesn't work for me (using Chrome) :(
krishnasism
krishnasism31 Jul 2017, 17:18
Loved the music. The game is quite challenging but rewards well! Good going. Looks polished! :) Graphics are amazing!
spacewarp2 Aug 2017, 00:27
Nice looking and with good puzzle ramping :)

Worth noting though: it refuses to run if you have moderately strict access rules in your browser. More specifically if it can't get at the localStorage for whatever that domain is.
Jones2 Aug 2017, 01:31
Enjoyed the music a great deal, the bot was a bit rude :yum:, really liked the general vibe of the game.
Kosmo
Kosmo2 Aug 2017, 04:38
It took me a while to realize that I couldn't connect multiple houses with the same power line -- the fact that it shows a unique graphic when you do that made it seem like it would work.

Other than that, an interesting and fun puzzle game. Thanks for making it!
randomphantom
randomphantom2 Aug 2017, 16:40
Nice and relaxing puzzler gameplay, the sound FX of winning was a bit jarring though. Nice artwork and the puzzles have a smooth difficulty curve and get quite devious later on. Great work!
Mengane
Mengane2 Aug 2017, 18:02
Wow ! I really love yours graphics and the ambience. Puzzles are very interesting and affordables, simple but effective. The music is so relaxing. Amazing Work !!!
Terribly Awesome Games
Terribly Awesome Games2 Aug 2017, 19:39
This is one of my favorite games so far. Simple, effective, and well executed.

Likes:

Aesthetics and sound design were subtle. Concept was simple and perfectly in line with the theme. It was remarkably polished for such a short jam too.

Could improve:

Not much! I agree with people saying the sound effects are slightly too loud, and also feel that the contrast makes the screen hard to see during the day.

Really great overall. Will return to play again!
AdroitConceptions2 Aug 2017, 21:10
Things I liked
- clean graphics
- clear puzzle game
- music

Things for improvement
- Item select sound sounds like a cancel
- powerlines being able to split
PabloDap2 Aug 2017, 22:35
Very nice graphics and music, so soothing.
Tyler Miller3 Aug 2017, 04:03
I really like that you took a step back from your last LD and made improvements. This is my first game jam but I hope to do the same! I really liked the presentation of your game (art/sound) and I found the gameplay to be challenging, but in a good way. Your goal was to create a simple well polished game and I think you did just that, thanks for the game!
oparisy3 Aug 2017, 19:25
Very relaxing music, great night-time design and a funny passive-aggressive bot too :)

Felt stupid in not being able to complete the last maps, but hey, my fault not yours.

Great overall polish, thanks for the experience. The "tool switching" sound feels a bit off; I thought I did something wrong.
Rakowu
Rakowu3 Aug 2017, 22:04
The presentation is great and the Style is realy nice. Great Job. First take a time for getting it but than it was fun :)
smbe19
smbe195 Aug 2017, 09:53
Awesome! The music is really relaxing and fits the mood of the game. The visuals are nice as well. The puzzles took quite some time to figure out but were very interesting. I especially liked the little drone with it's funny comments. Great game!
MaggardJosh
MaggardJosh6 Aug 2017, 20:29
Got stuck on level 6, but man did I love this entry! Simple but super polished. The puzzles were well designed, I had some difficulty figuring out the resistor towers, but I think that I skipped some of the tutorial dialogue on accident. Really good work! :smile:

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