Balance of Power

by genteel

Overall★★★★★★★★★★2.84

Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.76

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.40

Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.53

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.53

For this event I struggled to think of a game idea. The idea I settled on was a puzzle platformer in which power is transferred between the player and obstacles to progress, with the idea being that your power level would be unstable, and would need to be balanced to keep it from getting too high or too low. I think the core mechanics worked well but I was let down by my lack of level and puzzle design skills. The game can be played on itch.io at the below link.

Unfortunately the post-processing effects I had implemented don't appear in webgl, and I didn't have time to figure out why and fix it.

Genres: puzzle

Tools: Unity

Comments13

Aquachain4 Oct 2021, 08:41

Interesting idea.

AppoxGames4 Oct 2021, 11:41

Would like to know the story behind the rat, robot it needs to follow and the frog that tries to destroy them, seems like it would be very interesting. Only feedback I have is perhaps the controls, but I also enjoyed the simplicity of being playable with only the mouse so not sure about it.
Either way, well done!

Barrier4 Oct 2021, 12:00

Can't figure out how to do the first level. So I charge the door, it opens, I charge the thing at the end of the room and nothing happens? I must be missing something obvious.

Mogaiskii4 Oct 2021, 16:03

Cool idea! I think it could became a good puzzle game after some polishment

shp4 Oct 2021, 17:36

Managed to beat it, other than the charge direction being a bit buggy it was a nice simple game

Cyber Puffin4 Oct 2021, 19:02

The game mechanic is fun, but the control scheme made gameplay difficult. Perhaps adding a color difference between the push and pull particle effect would help to differentiate the action. A visual warning before hitting the under-/over-charge state would be helpful.

OllieOA6 Oct 2021, 14:11

It's an interesting concept for a game, and some pretty cool art, but yeah, the controls and feel are a bit off and that affects the fun. I think it would make sense to have powerflow be a toggle, and have some kind of UI element such as a flipping arrow that shows the current flow, it would be more friendly to the user.

Let's not forget, though, that this is the compo challenge! Huge effort and great work with respect to the constraints you were put under. Thanks for submitting!

LDJam user 22602711 Oct 2021, 11:39

It's a good start for a puzzle game I think. The mechanics are pretty easy to learn thanks to quite clear graphics. Connection to the theme was not very strong.

VeryGenuineCraze13 Oct 2021, 22:33

Nice idea. The idea of stability is perfect with this battery gameplay.
With more juice and visual feedback, it can be a nice little phone game.

kleinzach13 Oct 2021, 22:40

Cool concept.

AMastryukov13 Oct 2021, 23:22

The concept is interesting and worth exploring. I'd say the biggest downsides of this game are the glitchy Unity movement mechanics (you can try to fix it by raycasting in the direction of movement to check if there is a wall there and prevent movement if there is), the lack of on-screen UI feedback (the controls, what the current flow of direction is, etc), and a lack of music/SFX, in that order. Aside from that, this is a solid compo entry. Good work!

ZuhairGhias13 Oct 2021, 23:35

I wish there was more. You have an interesting idea. The last level really had me thinking.

aplite18 Oct 2021, 02:45

I like the idea. A few more levels would have added a lot to the experience. As others have mentioned the character controller was problematic. One thing which can help is using physics materials to reduce the friction on the side of objects and your character to 0.