Ludum Dare #49compo

Libra City

by djee

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.06

Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.85

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.46

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.94

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.50

Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.63

Humor★★★★★★★★★★1.38

Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.60

🏙 LibraCity - city planning on a needle!

LibraCity is a city planning game on a needle. Literally. In this puzzle game, the entire city rests on a base plate at equilibrium over a needle. Adding buildings destabilizes the entire city. Complete each level by laying out the required buildings while keeping the stability of the entire city.

How to play

The goal is to place all buildings available in the inventory while keeping the base plate of the city at equilibrium over the needle (the center of the plate). Each building has a weight, making it tilt the plate more or less. Buildings further away from the needle also "count" more toward tilt (level effect).

Controls:
- W/A/S/D or arrow keys to move cursor (the dark grey cube)
- Q/E or TAB to change current inventory slot
- SPACE to place a building
- R to reset a level and retry
- ESC to exit game at any time

Once all the buildings in the inventory are placed, the game evaluates the solution, and if correct moves to next level. Otherwise, use R to reset and try again.

Buildings

Hut

Weight: 1.0

The building of choice of ermits and other isolated souls.

Chieftain Hut

Weight: 2.0

A larger, heavier, and more imposing hut marking the superiority of the Chieftain of the village.

Techs

Made in 🦀 Rust with 🕊 Bevy Engine.

Post-Compo Edit

Added web version via wasm, for easier accessibility: https://djeedai.github.io/libracity/

Tools: Bevy Engine

Comments18

djeeauthor4 Oct 2021, 11:10

0.1.2 release on GitHub is the final one released for Compo. Somehow the ZIP file was not showing up anymore today in Assets, and the GitHub upload page was showing an error. Re-uploaded just now (no change), and this should be fixed.

Wuppos4 Oct 2021, 15:31

Nice little puzzler! I think balancing things is a very intuitive real-life puzzle which everyone has done before, and this game uses that intuition really nicely. Some basic physics education helps as well :)
The puzzles themselves were nice and often had me thinking for a bit. They are not extremely hard, but I think not all puzzle games need to be.

The game could use a bit of extra polish and game feel, but I get that you probably ran out of time for those :D Anyway, I enjoyed playing a lot! Great job!

Its_Capp4 Oct 2021, 16:02

pretty cool, some instructions on screen would be nice but I enjoyed the few levels that it had.

djeeauthor4 Oct 2021, 16:57

Thanks for playing! The UI in Bevy gave me a headache, so I had planned to put those instructions on screen but had to fallback to the LD page instead. Well, next time I'll know. :)

Tohmis6 Oct 2021, 20:16

I love the idea. I was kinda disappointed when i saw that the game was already over.

foxtrot-roger6 Oct 2021, 20:25

Really nice puzzle game, I wish there were more levels and some sound/music.
Good job!

essarrgee6 Oct 2021, 21:30

Neat idea for a puzzle game! Only downside is that there's just 3 levels :(

FabDynamic7 Oct 2021, 12:57

Wow this is fantastic! I love the aesthetic and the controls and the puzzling. for the next version consider putting a little "you beat the level" pause when you beat the level so the player can revel in their success. I would have enjoyed playing 10 more levels today and 100 more in the next version. This is fantastic. nice work!

xlambein7 Oct 2021, 15:11

Ohh I like the concept, too bad the game is pretty short. Would love to see more levels!

djeeauthor7 Oct 2021, 22:09

Thanks everyone! Yes this is pretty short, for lack of me following my own advice never to learn a new engine during a Jam... But hey at least I've got plenty out of it for next time! I had more ideas of game mechanics to make things more complex, which adds potential for a lot more levels. Maybe I'll find some motivation and add them post-Jam.

djeeauthor7 Oct 2021, 22:21

Ooohh @fabdynamic you made Sir BaLancelot?! That's so far my best game for this LD49!!!! ❤❤❤
And I just tried Chevalchemy, it's also excellent, one of my top 3 direct @xlambein :)

Deathhound13 Oct 2021, 23:19

Clever balancing puzzle game

sslees16 Oct 2021, 17:16

This was a neat game, and I like how you made the theme about huts in a village. I wonder if there's a way to make random-generated levels, though maybe not all of them would be solvable? Love the music too!

Barrier21 Oct 2021, 08:51

It was a cool game but way too short!

aplite21 Oct 2021, 18:55

This was a fun short game. Would have enjoyed an additional couple levels.

yopox21 Oct 2021, 19:16

Nice entry! This is a really cool concept, I liked that you implemented multiple weights :thumbsup:

Great to see another game made with Bevy engine :handshake: :heart:

crazyrems21 Oct 2021, 19:26

That’s nice you made this with Bevy.

That’s sad there isn’t a lot of levels, I can easily think of many more puzzles but I guess you run short of time.

Skleembof21 Oct 2021, 19:41

Solid puzzle game, but it seems like its way too easy. Just evenly distribute buildings and you win every time. I think the game would be more interesting and challenging if the platform wasn't square. Each level could be different shapes like letters/numbers, or some abstract asymmetrical shapes to make it much more challenging.
Also i think you would need to add some visual indicator of the tilt so the player can narrow down where the buildings need to be placed

Other games by @djee

★3.41