Given some of the comments received, I included this set of tips and will be updating it regularly as more feedback is received (sorry for not being clearer inside the game). Note there are some slight spoilers:
* Moving: you can't actually right click on the bomb to walk to the bomb, you must click on the floor near the bomb. [spoiler]Same with the diagram[/spoiler] * Emails: this is a game I designed thinking the player would have to endure balancing the stress from the bomb ticking and having patience (waiting for Joe to send you the emails). I realize this can be frustrating for some and I could have included something else to do while the emails arrive or include "easy" and "hard" options. If you haven't received an email, wait a little bit more and use the REFRESH button to check your email! * Bomb ticking driving you crazy? Well, that's kind of the idea, but you can turn sounds off. Open your smartphone with TAB, go to Home, then Settings.
Introduction
WARNING: Playing this game might leave you mentally UNSTABLE for a little while.
As the CEO of genEnergy Inc., the top nuclear energy producer in the world, you have been taken by radical environmental activists and locked down inside your plutonium storage facility, along with a bomb. You have ten minutes to defuse the bomb until it's too late.
Unfortunately, you know nothing about the storage facility and nothing about bombs... Your only hope is the Plant Director, who you emailed just before being taken, requesting help. He will try to email you periodically with tips about how to survive, you'll need to use his advice in order to do it,
Controls
* Move by pointing and clicking with right mouse button * Interact with SPACE BAR. You can also skip intro and tutorials with SPACE. * Show/hide your smartphone with TAB. Navigate the interface with your mouse. * You can press ALT+ENTER on Windows or F on HTML5 to go full screen.
Mechanics
The bomb has three different modules that need to be disabled, and then you have to disarm the bomb in a specific sequence. Your only source of knowledge is Joe, your Plant Director - if you manage to overcome the unstable cell phone signal and download his emails!
* Interact with the components with the mouse. e.g. if you want to cut a cable, click on it; if you want to turn on the color pattern module, click on the flick-switch there.
You will also need to make sure the bomb does not become unstable because of high temperature.
Notes
* The game is loosely inspired in Keep Talking and Nobody Dies. * The game procedurally generates the bomb combinations for the three modules and the disarming sequence.
Credits
This game was created in 48 hours for the ludum dare 49 compo event. * Game design, art, music and sound created by me: * Engine: Gamemaker Studio 2 * Art: Aseprite * Music: Composed and played by me on my Roland GP 609. * Sounds: Played by me on my Roland GP 609, as well as Bfxr. * Fonts: All fonts downloaded from dafont.com and Google Material Icons font.
Hi, I like your game's graphics and audio. The idea is nice (multitasking and all) but I found very frustrating the need to wait for email instructions, because they are required to solve most puzzles (other than by chance)
Great game. I love Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes so naturally I was pretty into this game. Using the 'bad signal' mechanic and text messages to reveal the puzzles was good but I think it would have been nice if new texts became available after you completed the puzzle. My fingers got saw from cooling down the bomb while waiting for the next text.
I had a couple of issues at the start because the character got stuck on the walls and I didn't think I could interact with the bomb but once I got past that, it was good!
@aquachain thanks for trying it out! I'm sorry it wasn't clearer. Could you maybe give it another try please? I've included a "How do I play?" section here and on the itch.io page. Let me know if there is something else that is not clear and I'll make sure to update the section. It would really mean a lot to me if you could try it once more :) Thanks.
@blackquiltro Hi, thanks for playing my game :) I realize it can be frustrating to wait for the emails. If you played with headphones it can be stressful to hear the bomb ticking whilst waiting for Joe to send you the next piece of the puzzle. I guess I wanted to make it frustrating "by design", as it's the point of the game, but I understand what you say. Thanks again!
@human-writes-code Hey, thanks a lot for playing it! I'm so glad you liked it. As stated above, I understand the timing can be a little bit frustrating. Another option would be if you had to do something else while the email arrives, since you can be 30 seconds to 1 minute waiting for the next piece of the puzzle.
Strange about the character getting stuck as the movement is minimal and uses the default GM pathfinding algorithm, I'll check that one out.
A well put together and rather intense room escape. Kinda wish I didn't have to wait so long between inputs from the email, but 100% mood and flavor for having the other emails come in and feeling like this was an actual person... trapped by an actual nuclear bomb :D good job!
That was fun. I like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, and your game was nice to play too.
As others mentioned. There was quite a big portion of the time I spend just waiting for emails. I think cutting the bomb time and making emails arrived quicker will improved the game a lot. Beside that everything else was ok :) Good job!
Well, I definitely needed the hints but I was able to complete it. Had to turn the music off though. Good little game, as long as you know that being tense and frustrated is part of it.
Really Fun Game. I didn't find much point in moving around since I could just stay at the bomb and be on the phone the whole time, but the gameplay loop was fun and made a just high enough level of stress. Great game, keep up the good work
Wow, you did a great job! Loved the haunting feeling you give with the audio - headphones definitely recommended! :)
Agree that it would be nice to have something else to do while waiting for emails - perhaps being able to reply to the other two senders? It might also be interesting to leverage the "balancing act" aspect between the emails and bomb defusing a little more by forcing the player to move away from the bomb to get reception, especially since they wouldn't be able to manage the "needy" module at the same time.
@thehansinator So cool, thanks :) I agree and the reception idea would have been great. I just spent a lot on the phone UI stuff, I think it took away time to think that through. Thanks :)
What an experience! I failed the first one because I wasn't sure I was disabling the modules in the last bit so I clicked the same button several times. So I played it again and I could beat it this time. Pretty fun game for only 48 hours of developing. Great job!
I liked this game a lot. The beeping of the bomb and the music make for a really tense mood. I also play a lot of KTANE, so I was familiar with the whole concept - however you managed to make an equally tense single player game out of this idea. Very nice!
The only issue I had was with centering the antenna. I would have liked some kind of visual clue as to which button I would need to press to get back my signal, but I guess this was part of the intended gameplay.
So, to summarize: this game is AWESOME! Thank you for making it!
This game requires some patience to go through but I like the idea. The time until the first time the bomb gets too hot and causes game over is a bit short since you are getting used to the controls and have to read a lot. The bomb audio beep is absolutely atrocious, if it wasn't possible to mute sound effects and get rid of the beep inside the smartphone settings I would have quit the game early without giving it a proper chance.
@juanlu Hey, thanks a lot for your kind comments! I'm so happy you liked it. I agree there is no feedback for the disarming buttons and that can lead to confusion. Cool that you beat it!!! :)
@jonas-michael Thanks so much for your input! I'm so happy you enjoyed it and that you found it fun to be tense :D I agree having the game show the keys needed for the signal booster (and for the bomb cooling mechanic) would have been better than cramming it in the starting tutorial. Thanks again for playing it :)
@lakrits Thanks so much for your critique! I'm sorry about the bomb beeping, I felt it was a nice way to up the tension. Others have made similar comments, so I think I went overboard - maybe a "clock ticking" sound would have been better. Fortunately I put the Sound toggle in the smartphone :) Thanks for playing it through :)
The mood is super well done. There are a few things that are solved too complicated for my taste. But I'm sure with more time and playtesting they would have been implemented more elegantly. For me it is important in such a game that I get feedback when I do something right or when my action triggers something. Great game. Congrats.
@puppetmaster Hi and thanks for playing it :) I agree on the feedback, it's super important and I didn't have time to implement it. Also, playtesting is paramount... Thanks for your comments and good luck!
This is the first time I played a bomb defusal game and it was quite the experience!
There are a few bugs with lights flickering, audio stopping, footsteps continuing in the background. (chrome 94.0.4606.71 - mouse doesn't work at all in FF).
If there was just a little more feedback for how/your success rate works when getting an email (it seems to be random? based on time?) This experience would be rock solid.
I was stumbling around a bit at first but I think that's part of the experience. Perhaps putting a glow on the refresh or pulse to make it more attractive? After that the game was smooth sailing.
@crefossus Thanks so much for playing the game! I'll check the audio stopping bug. The lights flickering is actually a feature (:D), if you run the game again you will see the lights that flicker are determined automatically (each one has a probability of 0.6 at creation time). It was meant to increase the ambiance of a bunker.
I agree completely on the feedback and pulse ideas, I ran out of time but it is definitely an important part of a good game.
The emails arrive at set timings, it was hard to calculate without much playtesting when would a good moment be for each one to arrive.
A really mind-engaging game with fitting mechanics; maybe you could have used the enviroment a bit more than just for the piece of paper ( maybe some keys on a shelf or smt )
The most stressful game I've played during the jam so far. The atmosphere is very well built, and the music is great, though everything is a bit too loud, and I had to drop my volume to about a third of normal when playing. The control scheme was also a bit finicky, and something like moving with WASD, interacting with Left Click and opening the phone with E or Right Click would've made me feel more at home. Though perhaps the unusual controls are a way of making the player feel less in control and fumble around when stressed, which is what happened to me more than once, and it's quite clever whether intended or not. Very nice work!
@zsharpfire thanks so much for your kind comments :) Yes, completely agree. The original idea was to have a procedurally generated dungeon, then I reduced it to having to unlock the door to the plutonium room first and then I reduced it again (such is life :S). Thanks again,
@lazyseal sorry about that! Hopefully you could give it another try, checking the complete intro as well as the tips on the game page? Thanks in advance :)
@eyedromeda Thanks so much for your awesome comments. I agree totally on the movement - at first it was going to be a bigger world to move on, so the mouse control was ok, but given the small size of the final bunker, it would have made more sense to use WASD. Hopefully you had fun as well as being stressed :D
great little game, I liked the minigames. You have to put in a little patience to get through it, that's cool. It would improve the movement a bit, but it's not bad either. Great atmosphere and sound!
Nice work. I enjoyed Keep Talking, and this does a good job of replicating the atmosphere. The email is a good addition. Spamming Z/X for the temperature was a bit unreliable for me, but I didn't explode from it
@xeke-death thanks for your comments :) I agree about the spamming, it actually needs to be done in order (so ZX or XZ instead of ZZ or XX) and relatively fast (the faster you do it the faster it cools down the bomb). Thanks so much for playing it :)
Crazy amount of content, and very well made! It was a little confusing the first minute but then I got it and really enjoyed my time. Perfect interpretation of the theme as well! I really got stressed :D. Nice job!
I had a lot of fun with this game. I was constantly on the edge, trying to balance all these things and then the damn connection breaks up!
I was able to disarm the bomb with less than a minute left. Felt intense!
I think this is a really solid entry, good job!
One thing I got into was I had the bomb still open but walked away from it and couldn't dismiss it. It took a bit of time to get back to it and close it.
@arya-s thanks for your great comments and your feedback! Really glad you enjoyed it. I agree on the observation about the bomb still being open despite you being far away, I forgot to implement auto dismiss. Thanks again :)
This was so fun! I felt stressed out. I didn't realize at first that I had to refresh the email so I was sitting there like "Where are my emails! I've been doing such a good job with the antenna!" And then I had like 10 emails lol. Great work.
A very suspenseful game, though I wish I didn't have to wait and spam the refresh for the next steps. It was fun getting fed up with emails from all over the place, and in the end I managed to just barely keep the bomb from exploding in the end. Nice job!
@rjmarzec Thanks so much for playing it! I'm glad you enjoyed it. It would have been more fun to be able to do something else while the emails arrive. Good luck :)
Comments56
I had a couple of issues at the start because the character got stuck on the walls and I didn't think I could interact with the bomb but once I got past that, it was good!
Well done!
Strange about the character getting stuck as the movement is minimal and uses the default GM pathfinding algorithm, I'll check that one out.
Thanks again!
As others mentioned. There was quite a big portion of the time I spend just waiting for emails. I think cutting the bomb time and making emails arrived quicker will improved the game a lot. Beside that everything else was ok :) Good job!
Good little game, as long as you know that being tense and frustrated is part of it.
Agree that it would be nice to have something else to do while waiting for emails - perhaps being able to reply to the other two senders? It might also be interesting to leverage the "balancing act" aspect between the emails and bomb defusing a little more by forcing the player to move away from the bomb to get reception, especially since they wouldn't be able to manage the "needy" module at the same time.
The only issue I had was with centering the antenna. I would have liked some kind of visual clue as to which button I would need to press to get back my signal, but I guess this was part of the intended gameplay.
So, to summarize: this game is AWESOME! Thank you for making it!
There are a few bugs with lights flickering, audio stopping, footsteps continuing in the background. (chrome 94.0.4606.71 - mouse doesn't work at all in FF).
If there was just a little more feedback for how/your success rate works when getting an email (it seems to be random? based on time?) This experience would be rock solid.
I was stumbling around a bit at first but I think that's part of the experience. Perhaps putting a glow on the refresh or pulse to make it more attractive? After that the game was smooth sailing.
I agree completely on the feedback and pulse ideas, I ran out of time but it is definitely an important part of a good game.
The emails arrive at set timings, it was hard to calculate without much playtesting when would a good moment be for each one to arrive.
I hope you enjoyed it :)
A really good job, Keep it up!
I was able to disarm the bomb with less than a minute left. Felt intense!
I think this is a really solid entry, good job!
One thing I got into was I had the bomb still open but walked away from it and couldn't dismiss it. It took a bit of time to get back to it and close it.