Unstable

by sharks

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.12

Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.85

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.77

Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.78

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.25

Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.75

Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.73

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.42

Notice: The Web build of the game may appear to hang around 75% of the way there. This is just the way Unity WebGL functions (I hope :joy:), please leave the tab open! Native builds for MacOS and Linux coming soon... No major bugs have been reported - have fun!

*Unstable* is a short story driven moody puzzle/stealth game about exploring a government laboratory on Pony Planet.
It should take you around five minutes to complete, potentially a little more depending on how well I've designed the puzzles ;)

*Controls:* I've attempted to make the game 'teach you' through it's level design but in case your missing the basics, yeah you use WASD to move.

I implore you to try and figure this out on your own-

-Since it will be more fun that way, but if you get stuck then here's a little 'cheat-sheet' (Copy paste somewhere else if it's too small to read)
###### Avoid the dashed red lines, crates can block guards from getting past a location, use the grey squares to unlock doors by holding down 'E'.

Pretty Pictures (Kinda)

*Say hello to my little friend, programmer art*

*What, thought you were going to get more than one picture* 😂 *try again tomorrow-aka never at this point!*

Comments23

SuperGamersGames27 Apr 2021, 03:32

I didn't get far, but the fact that you are horse doing a heist is funny.

Sharksauthor27 Apr 2021, 03:36

@supergamersgames Still playing through or got stuck on a part? Also darnit "Horse Heist" would have been such a good name!

SuperGamersGames27 Apr 2021, 03:54

@sharks Not stuck, more of annoyed that it bumps you back a section when, which I guess give incentive but I'm really wanting to play too far being bumped back. :)

Sharksauthor27 Apr 2021, 18:20

@supergamersgames Yeah Im thinking about having some ways for players to configure stuff like that as a way of managing difficulty.

manio27 Apr 2021, 20:10

Good job on the programming art! The horses are funny.
I didn't like the slow movement or how long the computers took to update.
Sound effects really improved the mood though! :)

Feraligatr27 Apr 2021, 20:13

Hey @sharks, its me from NidavellirGamesStudio, I have been streaming the days and we had a nice chat during the stream :)

So I have played through your game and I am saddened by the tragedy happening at the end :( I liked the programmer art and a nice effort you put into it! What I didn't really like were the hacking times and the hand-in-hand difficulty, it was sometimes demotivating when you made it to level 5 and then just got thrown back to level 3. But overall the mood was harmonious and I still enjoyed playing through your game :) Also playing a horse is a refreshening experience :D

Sharksauthor28 Apr 2021, 01:16

@feraligatr Thank you! Also it sounds like there may be a bug somewhere... 😂 You should only go back one level. But yeah I had some live playtesters today and resounding feedback: It's too hard. I'm glad you liked the mood, I didn't quite get it to the level I had hoped in the time I had but there's always LD49!
The hacking times are purposefully long as I didn't want people to be able to cheese a puzzle if they had fast enough reaction times and in the first few levels I wanted to drill in that you have to run away and come back to finish it: In short the hack times are long because I didn't have time for proper level design ;)
I'm glad you were engaged in the sort of story enough to have it evoke some form of emotion!
Thank you for playing, I enjoyed hanging out on the stream!

Sharksauthor28 Apr 2021, 01:44

@manio Thanks, I defenitely see how the movement could be too slow. It irked me a lot during development but along with the computers I was worried about increasing them too much for fear that it would make it too easy to cheese puzzles without even realizing it.

Webox29 Apr 2021, 02:29

Hey nicely done!! The art reminds me A LOT of jason steele, which I really like because I love that style (not sure if you're familiar with his work, look it up on youtube). As for the game mechanics, it's very interesting, the main complain I have is that movement is a bit too slow, not sure if it was intended, but each time you lose you go back 1 rooms, that was a bit off for me, I stupidly went back like 3 rooms in 2 seconds xD. I love the setting of the game, and the interpretation of the theme, you should keep polishing the game!! It has some potential, Congrats!! Keep up the good work!

breadstick29 Apr 2021, 02:40

The concept of the game is pretty amusing, but, as other people have mentioned, death is probably a little too punishing--I died to a horse patrol, spawned in a previous room, walked forwards, died again immediately as I hadn't realized I'd been sent back, and was launched back to like the third room in the game. With how slowly the computers power up, and how slowly the main character walks, it felt as though the game forced me start back over again. It might be worth instituting some sort of checkpoint system where if you die on room 5, it sends you back to room 4--but deaths on that room 4 keep you on room 4. Once you reach room 6, the furthest back you can be sent is room 5, and so forth. Something to give the player just a little bit of a sense of permanent progression

IllaBom29 Apr 2021, 02:44

I love the art style and animation! One time I went through one of the doors and the guard horse was right in front so I lost instantly. Also should make the hacking of the computer a little faster. Overall really really great I love the idea of the horse !

Bamallama29 Apr 2021, 02:44

I love the idea, but the game is sooooo slow, and death is way too punishing. I couldn't bring myself to hack the computer again after how long it took the first time.

ursagames29 Apr 2021, 02:46

Hello! Your game was played on stream ( https://www.twitch.tv/ursagames/videos ) on 4/28.

You can find the timestamp of when your game was played here: tinyurl.com/LDJAM48-ursa

Sharksauthor30 Apr 2021, 01:47

@ursagames Awww no I can't believe I missed that!

@illabom @breadstick @bamallama Yeah I can see how the movement speed and computer hacking can be slow. And death can be punishing. Permanent progression sounds like a great idea!

@webox Thanks a bunch for all the commpliments! I really didn't have a lot of confidence in this entry so hearing words like that is always nice!

As soon as life calms down a bit I promise to play all of your games :heart: thanks a bunch for checking out Unstable!

Meenakshi30 Apr 2021, 04:49

I like the game idea! Faster movement would have worked better.

Krassenstein1 May 2021, 01:07

This was cool! I would have loved a way to move faster and hacking the computer in the 4th? room was actually pretty tedious.

Excellent job!

Sharksauthor1 May 2021, 01:13

@krassenstein Hey thanks for playing! Yeah I've heard a lot about computer hacking time and difficulty in general it's been quite a learning experience, let me tell you!

PiJaMar1 May 2021, 02:04

Ok, I'm a pony, hacking a computer. That's why game jams exist, thank you :laughing:
I love the puzzle design, the "programmer art" and the humorous mood of the game. The slow gameplay is also kinda funny and it wouldn't bother me if the game wouldn't go back a level when dying (I think simply restarting the current area would be enough of a punishment), but I understand the design choice behind it. Great entry, congratulations!

ropedog1 May 2021, 02:57

Really cute way of displaying the horse by having it sort of a 2d paper cutout that "flips" when changing direction. The in-game tutorial/layover was really helpful, and it shows a level of polish that many games don't have in a jam. If games show you controls at all, they're usually on a single screen with text.

I did think the the hacking sequences took a little too long to complete as they slow the game's momentum a fair bit. I also found that you could often trigger things with "E" multiple times in short order, like opening and toggling doors. This only seems to trigger the sound multiple times in quick succession, but it could potentially introduce bugs if certain actions can be repeated.

I was definitely not expecting this to turn into a stealth-style game, and it's hilarious that you're some kind of sneaking hacker horse that has turned off the power. This was a pleasant surprise!

Gno Evenimente1 May 2021, 08:42

It is a fun little game. One thing I would change is the checkpointing system. Especially as a game jam game, I think it would be better to restart on whatever the current screen is when you fail. Good job!

JUSTCAMH1 May 2021, 17:17

Hey matey, thanks for submitting your game to stream! I enjoyed playing it, here's the vod, I hope the feedback helps!

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1007237865

Trexxak1 May 2021, 20:39

Ah, a horse, of course. Enemies also horses, yes sure. Mh.

Super fun idea for a game, though the movement speed felt a bit too punishing at first. Hacking the computer near the beginning of the game also felt a tad too slow. Other than that though, I admire the absurdity of this game! Well done :D

johnryanaudio5 May 2021, 13:26

I love the idea but the loop after getting caught was so slow I couldn't finish. I liked the animation, the story, and the concept. Tbh I really want to know how it ends :anguished:

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