Ludum Dare #41compo

Line 'em Up

by mao

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.79

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.85

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★4.04

Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.06

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.16

Description

Line 'em Up is a block-sliding shooter game! Shoot blocks into lines of three or more, and use the Destroy, Swap, and Paint guns to get out of tight spaces.

WASD to move - 1-4 to select weapon - Q and E to cycle weapon - Mouse to shoot - *N to switch to dark theme*

Notes

Please don't be afraid to give me criticism! If something felt awkward or was poorly taught, I gotta know to improve on those things in the future.

This relatively small game was written in Scratch, with all physics and gameplay code written from scratch (heh heh).

A link to a Phosphorus version of the project is also included, which runs faster and looks nicer. However, due to an unfortunate bug with Phosphorus, mouse input will not work in Firefox or Chrome if you have a touchscreen. It might work in Internet Explorer, thanks to IE's poor standards compliance.

Tags: #blocks

Genres: action, puzzle

Comments30

23 Apr 2018, 02:33

(This comment is by @mao, published anonymously to test how it works)

jshaffer9424723 Apr 2018, 03:42

Nice combo! I had a hard time remembering which weapon was which. Fun to play.

John Darrington23 Apr 2018, 04:03

I sucked at this game - but not because it was bad. It was actually a big challenging to me and I enjoyed that. I'm very very very glad you made some tutorial screens :)

FussenKuh23 Apr 2018, 04:17

Two Words: Very. Cool. That's such a fun concept and such a hectic game! I'm not sure how you could get the moving controls to work on a phone, but, if you could, I'd probably be playing this game all the time. Great Job!

Hello142323 Apr 2018, 06:20

This was fun and challenging! I could see someone getting really good at this game with all of the power-ups.

maoauthor23 Apr 2018, 06:40

@FussenKuh That is high praise! I actually did think about a mobile version while testing it with Phosphorus, perhaps it could be a post-compo project?

Memel0623 Apr 2018, 07:13

Daaamn man, this is really hard!
Loved the game mechanics, played it quite a bit!
I agree with @mao , this deserves a mobile version.
Nice entry, that's a good work!

ditzel23 Apr 2018, 07:14

Nice Game! +1 for using scratch. I would die if I had to use it :smile_cat:

Mazzletov23 Apr 2018, 07:21

Haha cool. This was a fun game! Check out my game if you have any time and leave a rating / high score

maoauthor23 Apr 2018, 15:42

While designing this, I noticed it was possible to survive indefinitely with enough practice. I tried to "fix" that before submitting it, but I couldn't find a way. However, realizing that games like Tetris have the same property, I've had a change of heart...

Enjoy Hard Mode at your own peril!
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/218130061

jeplmr23 Apr 2018, 23:55

The mechanics are great, but I don't know which genres were mixed up here. Solid entry, nonetheless.

maoauthor23 Apr 2018, 23:59

@jeplmr The genres are Block-sliding puzzle game and Survival shooter. I probably focused on the block-slideyness more than the shooterness, but oh well.

OscarTrevejo24 Apr 2018, 00:00

Nice work lads! We also did a very original too, ye mid check it out?

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/hype-time

JezPez24 Apr 2018, 01:26

Awesome work. I played for about 40 seconds before I realized I could move :P
An interesting idea that was fun but I didn't like the controls.

NateTheGreat24 Apr 2018, 01:58

This is really challenging! The first time I played I only got 2 points and thought it was impossibly hard but somehow the second time I got 77 so it takes some getting used to but was a lot of fun after that. Good Job!

Wugbor24 Apr 2018, 02:01

Very different than anything I've played so far. Was a lot of fun, great job!

Angelbait24 Apr 2018, 02:36

I agree with most of the people here! This concept is simple and excellent, more than a great use of the theme it is a pretty sweet game to end up with. Thanks for the game!

chainedlupine24 Apr 2018, 04:26

Very cool concept. You were able to do a lot more with the match-3 system in your game than in mine. I do like how you have to be frugal with your ammo for the various moves, makes it challenging. Good work!

Apples_mmmmmmmm24 Apr 2018, 04:27

Fun game. I sucked pretty hard though haha. The spawn rate was a bit too high for me, though I'm sure it'd be fine as I played the game more and became more familiar with it.

Tikikala24 Apr 2018, 04:39

this needs a casual mode. it got chaotic a little too fast, especially when i dont even know why would i need to rotate weapons cause im panicking :P

GameDevMumin24 Apr 2018, 06:17

Nice ! :D If you added screen shake and sounds it would be awesome :D An it is not always about player but about RNG (sometimes you just can't do any proper move). But I really liked it and it has potential! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/remember-or-die Play my game if ya want! :D

creepyounguy24 Apr 2018, 11:10

I really enjoyed this, the central game mechanic really works well. The only change/addition I would make is making scroll wheel change colors as a I think it feels natural for a twin stick shooter. If you get some sound design and maybe a nice background track for the game I think this game could be a satisfying time killer.

JSD24 Apr 2018, 18:20

The screen kind of filled a bit too fast but overall the gameplay feels great. It certainly does a great job as a way to procastinate while doing things on the computer, I could see myself getting hooked.
Great job!

pparadigm24 Apr 2018, 19:30

I played the HTML5 version, and the graphics were a bit blurry in the instructions. I also had a hard time remembering which gun was which, and my left hand was starting to get tired with so many controls on it. I would've preferred to cycle through the guns with maybe a right click? I just don't play a lot of games with multiple weapons, so maybe this is more intuitive for someone who does.

maoauthor24 Apr 2018, 19:52

@creepyounguy @pparadigm I'm aware that the left hand controlling both the movement and weapon select is awkward. Unfortunately, Scratch does not support capturing the mouse wheel or right clicks, so those weren't an option.

Thank you for your feedback!

LMB25 Apr 2018, 00:35

I am not a puzzle guy, but I can recognize you achieved something nice here! Nice mechanics, nice implementation. Here are some thoughts that might help to improve: first, this game has a very high mental load, so to speak. There are four radically different weapons, action is reasonably fast-paced, you have to walk around the playing field, aim and fire... it is a bit too much for me (but then, I not a puzzle guy). Another point: I personally tend to hate those controls in which you move with the keyboard and aim with the mouse (works nicely in FPSs, but not in other genres, in my opinion). Perhaps aiming with the keyboard (I mean, shooting in one of the eight directions you can face) could work better (as bonus, would reduce the cognitive load on the player a bit).

maoauthor25 Apr 2018, 03:33

@LMB Good suggestion! Early on, I briefly considered having the IJKL or arrow keys fire the weapon, but I thought that would be too limiting in a wide area. Once the map gets crowded, though, 8-way controls start to become a lot more practical.

lukbebalduke25 Apr 2018, 13:51

Great mix of action and puzzle!

The main mechanic was pretty easy to understand, although I had a really hard time getting used to the swap one ( mostly because it is complex in different ways: recognize the situation where I should use a gun or another, remembering the gun cycle, swamping, using it and getting back to push gun).

I am under the impression that you had only two guns ( the push one and the color changer) the simplicity of the control would have created a more depth/solid gameplay.

Overall I really enjoyed the game! Keep up the good work!

niterich26 Apr 2018, 02:12

Your game is well done and very fun to play! It's just a lot to take in at once. The hectic spawn rate and the four separate weapons with completely different mechanics but little visual difference were my main problems. A slower buildup of blocks and a clearer indicator of which weapon you were using (like your player changing colour and shape) would help ease the player into the game. And I personally liked the variety of weapon choice, but I think @lukbabalduke is into something with his two-gun suggestion

Papaver9 May 2018, 20:55

Great game, but whoah, that was difficult! After a few tries, I got to 105 points. It would be nice to see your score during the game, to see how you are doing and how many points you get for a combination. I liked that I could do different kind of things. Changing weapons + steering with left was a bit stressful. Maybe steering with arrow keys, shooting with space bar, and changing weapons with some letters & numbers would be more natural for me. Overall, well done! :smiley:

Other games by @mao

★3.67

★3.48