Fractulinear

by gungnir
co-authored: @marc-straight
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.82
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.62
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★4.01
Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.92
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.15
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.95
Our interactions with the physical world are guided by our perceptions. The many dimensions of our physical realm collapse when we experience them. Filtered down to what our brains can comprehend.
There is tension there, sometimes failure, sometimes beauty.

Sometimes, things that appear broken are actually whole.
And often, that's just a matter of perspective.

Can you cross dimensions and close the loop?

299.png

How to play:

Keyboard:

WASD (or equivalent positions) to Move.
IJKL (or equivalent positions) or Arrow Keys to Rotate.

Gamepad:

D-Pad to Move.
Face Buttons (YBAX or equivalent) to Rotate.

Goal:

Guide the player circle to the square goal to complete the puzzle.

Known issues:

Web player sometimes doesn't render lines. Using Fullscreen fixes the issue.

Game by:

Jerry Verhoeven https://twitter.com/JerryVerhoeven

Music and Audio by:

Marc Straight https://twitter.com/MarcStraight

Screenshots:


Thanks for playing.

screenshot

Comments49

Wyatt
Wyatt6 Oct 2020, 08:37
The graphics are really neat - reminds me of Deus Ex
Alasdair Hitchen6 Oct 2020, 11:11
I like the art style but found the concept pretty confusing at first.
Frederik Boye
Frederik Boye6 Oct 2020, 11:13
This looks very polished, the aesthetics are strong, and the game is a solid take on a classic perspective puzzler. Great job! The lines did not always appear for me, but only showed sporadically while rotating the level, which made it vastly more difficult but also felt unintended - i assume it is a bug :smiley: Nice chill soundtrack as well, well done!
TheKrane6 Oct 2020, 11:14
Unfortunately I got stuck on the second level. No matter what I do I can't go up. Any pointers? Would love to play some more of this.
satacat
satacat6 Oct 2020, 11:17
I was really fascinate by mechanics! Also graphics and background music are really pleasant
gungnir
gungnirauthor6 Oct 2020, 11:17
TheKrane - Are move and rotate both working? A screenshot might help or a more detailed description?
AppoxGames
AppoxGames6 Oct 2020, 11:17
Really liked the concept! But would have been nice to have clear pathways because the lines sometimes showed and didn't always "work". Not sure when it was possible to move and when it was not. Good work!
edomiyamoto
edomiyamoto6 Oct 2020, 11:18
Wow very good ! Graphics and effects add a lot to the immersion, soundtrack is nice, and mostly the puzzle part is really well done !
fachscahfttf
fachscahfttf6 Oct 2020, 11:18
(played the webgl version)
pretty cool design and visually appealing, music feels a bit creepy tho.
i kinda fail to find the jams theme "stuck in a loop".
sadly starting with the 2nd level, the connecting lines were invisible (some of them were sometimes visible while rotating; which is reducing the puzzle to somewhat of a trial and error)
Sol Roo
Sol Roo6 Oct 2020, 11:18
Very nice submission!
the visual polish is great, and the puzzles are interesting. I honestly brute force my way through it, except for the last level that required me to think.
A small issue: the lines are not visible in window mode, you should consider having a thicker trace, or at least recommending full screen.
Good job!
MikDionio6 Oct 2020, 11:18
Art, visuals, audio and the aesthetics in general were great! The mechanics were interesting but could have been implemented better. You could have some added visuals to help visualize the puzzle shape a bit more. There were also times where I could move to another point that wasn't connected in the current view, making the game feel kind of random.
gungnir
gungnirauthor6 Oct 2020, 11:19
@frederik-boye Can you tell me the resolution of your monitor and if you played fullscreen or not?
TheKingBarry6 Oct 2020, 11:19
I loved the atmoshpere, the music really brings you into the game. I had some troubles understanding the concept at first (you can move from one point to another if and only if there exist, in one orientation possible, a visible link between them, am I right ?), but the simplicity of playing, the absence of stress and the quality of visual/audio ambiance made me want to find out. And I did, and and had a lot fun aftewards ! Thanks for the experience !
CookieNoir
CookieNoir6 Oct 2020, 11:19
Awesome! Good sounds and graphics, fine idea implementation. WEB version doesn't draw lines since the 2nd level. But in Windows version everything is ok.
HolyPerceval6 Oct 2020, 11:20
Fun game, The line sometime seem to render only when rotating, is that on purpose or a glitch ? Some level are really hard (in a good way) ! Congrats !
ClassyBoganStudios6 Oct 2020, 11:20
I got a bit stuck too, but conceptually and aesthetically this is really promising. Loved the soundtrack, perfect slow and eternally building tension for a puzzler like this one. Very nice! [@hapticfabric for Classy Bogan Studios]
beardywombat
beardywombat6 Oct 2020, 11:21
This is really slick. I liked the mechanic but at sometimes it was not obvious that a move was allowed.
03gle6 Oct 2020, 11:21
Nice use of perspective for a puzzle. Not entirely sure how movement constraints differs between lines and dots, but managed to wiggle my way through it :D
Raiponz
Raiponz6 Oct 2020, 11:23
the concept is nice but it's not very clear, I can't see where I can move. the wire are not always dysplayed
unpronounceable6 Oct 2020, 11:24
Nice game. Ran into one issue where the lines you could move along weren't being drawn. It started on the second level and switching to full screen mode fixed it.
alpacalypse
alpacalypse6 Oct 2020, 11:25
Great style and execution for a puzzler, though slightly tenuous connection to the theme...
Aquanim6 Oct 2020, 11:28
I feel like I might have been a bit confused about the premise of the game if I had not seen another game with the same general principle in the past, but the puzzle design is pretty good and the graphics and audio are top notch.

I tried both the web and downloaded versions and all the lines draw properly on the downloaded version, but with the web version I saw the same lines-failing-to-draw issues that others experienced.
Seskon
Seskon6 Oct 2020, 11:31
Cool game, would be cool if the lines form a picture or something

sometimes the circle cant be moved directly, just after a few trys, even tho there is a connection
zanzavar
zanzavar6 Oct 2020, 11:36
Beautiful entry! Lines sometimes do not appear in normal HTML5 resolution but they showed fine in fullscreen. Loved the music and the aesthetics, would like to see how the mechanics could evolve in later levels. Can easily imagine it as a mobile/tablet game.
peeweek6 Oct 2020, 11:37
Wow wow! Excellent work and really polished execution! One of this jam's personal favorite! Blew my mind :)
Loig6 Oct 2020, 12:27
The graphics are really beautiful, giving a very nice atmosphere to the game.

However, the game in itself is a bit confusing (maybe a bug?) as sometimes one can move between two dots not linked with a line and sometimes one cannot. This made it, for me, mainly based on trial and error, which I assume
was not the intent.
gungnir
gungnirauthor6 Oct 2020, 12:34
@loig that sounds like a bug :( Were you playing in fullscreen on the webplayer?
Loig6 Oct 2020, 12:57
@gungnir I was not playing in fullscreen. Also, I think that, most likely the bug is that some links are not displayed (the levels I saw had very few links, I could maybe see 2 or so when trying all the possible level rotations, and they were sometimes blinking).

EDIT: I just tried in full screen, much more links are displayed, but a few are still missing.
gungnir
gungnirauthor6 Oct 2020, 13:09
@loig Damn, ok. I will investigate. Thanks for getting back to me on this.
Frederik Boye
Frederik Boye6 Oct 2020, 13:10
@gungnir Ah I was playing it in browser just in the window, taking it fullscreen fixed the issue. FUllscreen is 2560x1440 and there its fine, but in browser where the game window is 720p it does the bug I described.
gungnir
gungnirauthor6 Oct 2020, 13:41
@frederik-boye Thanks, that seems to be the common issue and I've now been able to reproduce it and am trying to fix it. First time making a WebGL build so it's a learning curve.
a_la_daria6 Oct 2020, 21:10
Wow, very stylish and beautiful! Obviously, it develops spatial thinking very good :)
Dodidouda
Dodidouda7 Oct 2020, 10:10
Beautiful game with a simple but great concept. Love it!!
Food Lovers
Food Lovers7 Oct 2020, 14:01
Great visual part, and dimesional-control-based core is cool, but while playing I haven't understand how topic of the jam connected to game… hope I'm just one, who didn't seen the connection.
gungnir
gungnirauthor7 Oct 2020, 15:08
@food-lovers I have to admit the connection is light at best. I figured connecting a start point to and end point creates a loop. And you're stuck in it until you figure out the puzzle :)
Doot
Doot8 Oct 2020, 19:20
Wow nice one!

Stunning graphics, ambiance music and sounds.
I love the chore mechanic, already seen in other games but brought here to its simplest form and perfectly well executed.
Also, worked well in full screen on a 21:9 screen.

Great job this is beautiful.
l30nard0_b9 Oct 2020, 12:58
Vey nice game, really liked the idea and the minimalistc grafics!!
shadowhaxz0r9 Oct 2020, 13:05
Nice game! Very nice visual style and audio and good design on the puzzles also, could add some more different nodes to spice up the gameplay even more. Well done overall!
jk5000
jk50009 Oct 2020, 13:10
The game look and sound amazing. I overall liked the idea. But I don't understand why I sometime can walk where there is no line. Overall a good jam game. Well done.
mar3k
mar3k9 Oct 2020, 13:15
Very nice concept, unfortunately quite short and can be beaten in few minutes, nonetheless I really enjoyed playing it and I think it's a great exercise for visualizing 3d space in your head! Well done.
Somogy
Somogy9 Oct 2020, 13:38
Great minimalistc grafics!!
Vivoubos
Vivoubos9 Oct 2020, 14:48
That an excellent puzzle game!
I love the audio.

You made a good entry!
KyonTyan9 Oct 2020, 15:08
I like the sounds and music, also interesting color choice and ineteresting idea of puzzles. Made to the end, wish there could be more stages) All in all - great game, thank you!
Thought Reactor
Thought Reactor9 Oct 2020, 15:28
This was a really cool mechanic. Love the minimalism - it works perfectly here with aiding in the gameplay. Great entry!
Animaster
Animaster9 Oct 2020, 16:04
Great graphics, and cool mechanics. Really great job!
nsadie
nsadie10 Oct 2020, 20:18
Excellent overall entry! The presentation was especially slick, and I enjoyed the puzzles, but found them a little bit easy.

I would be great to record the number of moves and compare them against the optimal amount, otherwise it is relatively easy to solve by just playing around.
gungnir
gungnirauthor10 Oct 2020, 20:39
@nsadie Hi, thanks for the lovely comment. Indeed this is one way I've been thinking about improving the game concept. I'm going to explore some more ways of constructing the puzzles, see if there's something interesting to find there but limiting moves could be a simple way to up the challenge for sure. Thanks.
icxon
icxon10 Oct 2020, 21:31
Completed in 1 minute on my first try! :smile: More levels would be nice to see and some moving platforms maybe?
Sometimes you need to tap twice to start moving. Great visuals and audio.

Here is my playthough:

gungnir
gungnirauthor11 Oct 2020, 09:39
@icxon Wow, haha. Nicely done! It's very helpful to see someone else actually playing. The input issue is an unfortunate bug in a Unity package I chose to use :(

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