Quickshot Yellow: The Quest for Green Flags

by phlip45
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.38
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.38
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.19
Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.81
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.62
Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.91
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.88
Made a puzzle game this time!
screenshot.png
Instructions: WASD or ↑←↓→ to move, 1 2 3 switch abilities. R resets current level.

Theme doesn't come into play until last two levels but there are only 10 so hope you make it there! Have fun!

Edit: Changed the layout of a couple levels to make it a bit less unweildy. Crux of the puzzles are the same, just making it less key presses to get to the exit after solving.

screenshot
Genres: puzzle

Comments44

candlesan13 Aug 2018, 03:20
Wow! Lots of original puzzles. I dig the music too. I liked the unique ability swapping mechanics. The controls were a little bit awkward to get used to but they worked.

At first I wasn't sure where the theme was going to come into play - but then with the last 2 puzzles I really did find I was "running out of space.
mrnyarlathotep
mrnyarlathotep13 Aug 2018, 16:19
Nice entry, but as you mention kind of a stretch for the theme. Its a solid enough puzzler that it gets away with it though.

FYI, I had to disable uBlock Origin to run it in Chrome if anyone else just gets an image when they go the webpage instead of a playable game.
Frank Gevaerts
Frank Gevaerts13 Aug 2018, 16:25
Nice game. The theme link was subtle but there in the last few levels (but then the first levels were mostly there to introduce mechanics). I'd have appreciated an undo button.
Phlip45
Phlip45author13 Aug 2018, 16:40
@mrnyarlathotep Moved the game to Itch.io to fix the uBlock thing hopefully.

@frank-gevaerts Will have to look into how I would implement an undo system for the next time I try and make a puzzle game. A lot of the code I have is a mess so a little more planning next time would be good too I think =P.
Purrfexionator14 Aug 2018, 01:59
Cool game! The puzzles were fun, despite being pretty easy and not quite fitting with the theme at first. I think that it was a really unique concept with pretty good execution! I actually got stuck on the last level for a bit. Well Done!
shellbot
shellbot14 Aug 2018, 03:55
@mrnyarlathotep @phlip45 might have been just me, but I still had to disable uBlock for itch..

Anyway, puzzles on this one were well designed! The jingle was cute at first but got a bit :grimacing: after a bit.
T8kk
T8kk14 Aug 2018, 11:44
Hey Phlip45, nice small game! First I struggled to understand what's up with the slots below and was hopping around the level until i understood I have several moves I can perform. Soon I was passing through the puzzles in no time! The tunes were nice, puzzling was well done and very functional and well executed overall game when you get hang of it. Nicely done!
neontropics
neontropics14 Aug 2018, 21:24
Nice game! The puzzles started out easy but got harder nicely, and it was fun thinking up solutions. It took me a little bit of time to figure out how to clear the spikes at first, but I got the behaviour after a little bit.

Fun little music and sound effects too. Graphics could stand to have a bit more flash.
Phlip45
Phlip45author15 Aug 2018, 01:17
@shellbot Hmm the ublock thing is weird. I didn't use any special libraries or anything. It is all straight up HTML 5 Canvas. Sorry about the inconvenience. Sorry the music wasn't so hot for you, but glad you liked the puzzles!

@purrfexionator Thanks glad to hear not all the puzzles were cake walks =P

@t8kk Thanks! I agree that having a splash screen with an instructions page probably would have helped a bit, but ran out of time ^^; Next time!

@neontropics Graphics are always my weakest point. I know I should spend more time on them, but I don't actually find that bit very fun so I just slap something together and tell myself I'll get to it if there is time (spoiler: there is never enough time) Glad you liked the game.
Nick Rafalski15 Aug 2018, 03:01
Great game! Some of the puzzles were super tricky. I love the concept of having to turn down accepting an ability, wait on top of it a turn, then swap out the wait for the new ability. Gave me a 'mind blown' moment for sure.

The audio was also really cool, and fit the pixel-art vibe. Great job!
GuardHei15 Aug 2018, 03:02
I really like the whistle for waiting! The sound effects are great. Design for spikes is somewhat innovative. But the theme is a bit loosely connected. Keep on working!
AwiX
AwiX15 Aug 2018, 05:58
Great graphics and the audio really helps you get into the game.
Necromic
Necromic15 Aug 2018, 15:30
Fun game, I liked the changing abilities system. Voices are hilarious.
Zeriver
Zeriver16 Aug 2018, 01:28
A really well made puzzle game with pretty innovative mechanics. Levels are well designed and don't take too much time to complete. Mechanics might take a moment to understand but once you grasp them, gameplay has a nice flow. The graphics are simple but decent, the music in the background isn't too intrusive.

I got stuck on this level. I need both jump and sprint, yet i need to give one of them when i want to pick up the blue card. Unless there is a way to change to what slot the card goes when you are on it's tile, i don't know how to beat it.

Anyway the it is pretty fun and really pleasant puzzle game.
Phlip45
Phlip45author16 Aug 2018, 02:53
@nick-rafalski that is why puzzle games are always nice, for those 'aha' moments!

@guardhei Yup I agree that the theme isn't super strong. Realized too late I should have limited the player to two abilities but already made the puzzles and didn't have time to reimplement.

@awix I'm always wary about music but I figure better some music you can mute as opposed to no music and it is just a barren wasteland of sound.

@necromic Mouth sounds are my specialty

@zeriver You might want to read the comment by nick above to get a hint on how to beat that one (it is the last puzzle too!) ;)
karlipoppins
karlipoppins16 Aug 2018, 03:54
Very cool little puzzle! The voice acting was a nice treat on top of well designed small levels which increase in difficulty really well. Those became quite challenging and rewarding when finished. Overall a really cool entry!
AfroAnt
AfroAnt16 Aug 2018, 04:55
Wow, great mechanics for a LD entry! I was surprised at how much variety and thinking I had to do. If the art was polished, maybe even 3D, I could definitely see a full game here. The last two levels were top-notch level design. Good job!
NDHR Productions
NDHR Productions16 Aug 2018, 04:59
Love the sounds! I made it to the theme eventually, but I agree with what you've said about limiting the abilities. Great game though!
Endurion
Endurion17 Aug 2018, 17:10
Great little game!
Looks like I also gave up on the last level, but now that I read the comment it's clear.
Really well done!
PS: Also had to turn off uBlock for it to work.
Flaterectomy
Flaterectomy17 Aug 2018, 19:37
I just had a go at the game after seeing Joshua McLean's stream. It's definitely a clever puzzler, I hope you do something post-compo with it. The art could use work, and the music got a little meandering eventually, but the core of it is very solid. Nice job!
yayapipi
yayapipi18 Aug 2018, 07:04
This game is absolute interesting and brain burning. The 'yes' sound is really satisfied me ~ Good job!!!
jcwelgemoed18 Aug 2018, 10:55
Took a few rounds to get the hang of it but I really liked it. Makes you think. well done.
Suchista
Suchista18 Aug 2018, 12:01
YESSS Very good game :)
dimesto52
dimesto5218 Aug 2018, 13:30
I am rather happy to have already known this little headache because the levels are well thought to nour want to see more
wolderado
wolderado19 Aug 2018, 07:16
Cool game! Good job. I'm stuck at the blue key level
Carlos Giraldo19 Aug 2018, 07:28
Really liked the puzzles. Controls for switching to them and how it auto switches is a small source of frustration on an otherwise great compo entry!
Zeusx21219 Aug 2018, 11:40
Really fun game. The "yes" sound alone forced me to give you a 5 stars in humor category :laughing:
Phlip45
Phlip45author19 Aug 2018, 17:06
@wolderado Hint: You start with 3 move abilities but you only need 1...

@carlos-giraldo The controls are a bit clumsy and I have since figured out what I would need to do to fix it, but it would definitely change some of the current puzzles. If I work on this in the future I would make it so that when you go onto an ability terminal that you actually do swap your ability with that terminal and it won't prompt you.
Stefan Jovanovic
Stefan Jovanovic19 Aug 2018, 19:04
Original idea with interesting gameplay! Only thing that bothers me is the weird control scheme especially controls for changing current state! Keep up the good work! :smiley:
LeviDSmith
LeviDSmith20 Aug 2018, 01:22
Seems like a nice puzzle game, but I couldn't figure out how to get past the part with five spikes in a row. I liked how you can pick up different movement abilities.
Phlip45
Phlip45author21 Aug 2018, 04:24
@stefan-jovanovic Yup yup, I would change that if I work on it further but will also have to change the puzzles around (for the later levels which require using it)

@levidsmith One of the earlier levels (I think level 3) was supposed to teach you that sprint can get you over rows of spikes. If I make a post jam version I'll have to make it a bit more obvious that is what you have to do for rows of spikes.
Hegemege
Hegemege22 Aug 2018, 14:32
This would be much more fun if the controls were a bit more responsive, I had to constantly tap the ability keys multiple times to switch to them. Audio effects were in place so it was clear when the inputs worked though. Music track was catchy but not too annoying. Puzzles were a bit easy, not many ways to solve them, I had to think a few of the solutions in reverse
Andrei922 Aug 2018, 23:06
Really nice game design here ! :thumbsup:
Phlip45
Phlip45author23 Aug 2018, 01:26
@hegemege Controls definitely are the weak point. I'm going to be converting the game over to the Phaser engine as practice and will be changing them to something that hopefully are a bit more intuitive and less micro manage-y. Not sure why it would take multiple button presses to switch to an ability though, just the having to switch to different abilities from what I know. Is this what you meant or did you press '1' and it not switch to the first swap every time? Would appreciate the feedback so I can see if that is a bug or not.

@andrei9 Thanks!
Danilo Chiarlone
Danilo Chiarlone23 Aug 2018, 03:44
Just managed to reach the end! I see your point that you should have decreased the number of player abilities to two but I liked the game nonetheless!

Keep it up!
Hegemege
Hegemege23 Aug 2018, 05:34
@phlip45 Yeah, sometimes when I tried to quickly swap between abilities, it wouldn't let me. Also, none of the controls worked on Chrome for me so I had to use Firefox. I'd guess switching to Phaser that manages the input for you would make it more robust, yeah. Good luck!
Renier27 Aug 2018, 19:27
wow I loved this , the visuals the puzzle elements it's definitely a (game winning voice) YESS !!! from me hehe
27 Aug 2018, 20:53
Great entry, I had a lot of fun playing it, but it didn't fit the theme very well.
CristiHKJ
CristiHKJ27 Aug 2018, 21:37
Great game! Very cool and interesting! :D
rjhelms28 Aug 2018, 02:57
Well done! The balance to the puzzles is spot on for Ludum Dare - just the right difficulty curve to keep things moving, but still put up a decent challenge by the end of things.
HuvaaKoodia
HuvaaKoodia2 Sep 2018, 14:37
A solid puzzle, after some digging. The tutorializing is excessive, would have liked more proper levels instead.

I think you actually need more than two ability slots to make compelling enough levels. I would start with two slots and then keep adding them (up to 5-6, why not?) when introducing more abilities and complexity.

The theme does not fit. Even in the last level the problem is about timing and ability set, not about space. With disappearing tiles (based on time, usage or manual activation) you could strongly tie the other aspects to the theme.

Yes, the controls are clumsy. Glad to see you already have that under consideration.

Good foundation for an expanded puzzle. Swapping out abilities is a rather innovative idea worthy of development.
Phlip45
Phlip45author2 Sep 2018, 20:40
@huvaakoodia Thanks for the honest feedback. I agree that I was a bit heavy handed on the tutorials, which is one of the reasons I should have limited the slots initially. I also agree that if I were to make a more fleshed out version of the game that adding more slots as the player progresses through would be the organic path to take.

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