Ludum Dare #54compo

Room

by noya

Overall★★★★★★★★★★2.94

Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.77

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.29

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.61

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.66

Audio★★★★★★★★★★1.29

Humor★★★★★★★★★★1.91

Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.50

Room is an experimental sandbox game about being creative in a tiny space with a limited set of tools.

Best enjoyed with friends and strangers.

Have fun! 😊

Features

- 🏡 Your own room to shape to your heart's content
- 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Online multiplayer (the game let's you create an invite link)
- 🎨 Pixel editor for designing tiles

Tech

Minimal: JavaScript & HTML for the game, Python for the (multiplayer) server. All graphics were produced with the in-game pixel editor.

I've released a bug fix on Oct 3 and Oct 6, refactored the code for security and maintainability on Nov 12 and archived the jam version at a new URL on Dec 18.

Thoughts

This was my first Ludum Dare, I created the game live on stream and had a blast. Also, I'm very tired now. I'm pleased that the multiplayer part worked out in 48h. Originally I wanted the player to be able to create interactive tiles by combining two (e.g. closed door changes to open door, possibly with a condition, like there must be a key tile in the inventory) and would be very curios what rooms players would come up with. Well, maybe in a future release. 😊

Comments36

kasmilus3 Oct 2023, 06:46

It's an interesting and innovative idea. Would be nice to have a more varied and evocative set of initial tiles to get the player started.

LordDaniel3 Oct 2023, 10:58

It is an interesting take on the theme but barely any gameplay.

noyaauthor3 Oct 2023, 12:54

Thanks for the feedback @kasmilus and @lorddaniel. I'm glad you both found the idea interesting. 😊 I agree that the initial tile set should be a fair bit larger. And yes, I wish I had spent more time on interactive tiles, which would have gone a long way in terms of gameplay.

spacecadet5 Oct 2023, 13:45

A bit unclear what am I supposed to do. Maybe adding some instructions would help new players.

noyaauthor5 Oct 2023, 20:13

Hey @spacecadet, thanks for the feedback. 😊 It would help me a ton if you could quickly describe what you did when trying out the game, so I can get a better understanding of what was unclear.

spacecadet5 Oct 2023, 20:44

Sure @noya. I placed some tiles and moved around but I meant that it was unclear what was the goal of the game. Why am I supposed to put the tiles? Will something happen? It felt like a level editor instead of a game. I didn't try the multiplayer though.

stmate036 Oct 2023, 13:27

We did a little tomfoolery and managed to duplicate our players by opening the game in a new tab, but we had 3 of us testing: me, K, and E, I like this game and multiplayer is hilarious, I actually invited K for a quick test, E came along and broke it with the duplicating players, I will mark their opinions here too: K: It goofy, E: *legends say they are still trying to break the game* They are also sending their regards, they are a bit upset because the player is 1 pixel misaligned with the bg

Tankou6 Oct 2023, 19:55

Fun little sandbox game!

Pegasus6 Oct 2023, 19:59

Cool little sandbox experience, very impressed that you managed to get multiplayer working - especially since it's your first LD. I can think of a few cool ways you could implement what you have into a fun little game. Maybe something like designing your own fortresses and then fighting your friends from them.

exofrenon6 Oct 2023, 20:15

Naturally, the first thing I tried out of human instict was to draw a huge d*ck. I am not gonna post it here, but after a while, this is what I ended up with:

This was more fun that what I expected it to be at first. One thing I would note is that the cursor moves way too slow and it feels unresponsive. It would feel snapier if it drew instantly on the spot that the mouse is on when you click without having to wait for the cursor to move there. Also, it took me a while to figure out how to select tiles, the UI at the bottom left is too small.

Other than that, I don't have much to say. It would be nice if it had any actual gameplay, but I know how hard it is to get anything done alone in two days. Congratulations on managing to make an online software (I didn't test it tbh, but others say it works) and welcome to Ludum Dare!

noyaauthor6 Oct 2023, 20:20

Thanks for your additional input @spacecadet! It's actually quite cool that it "felt like a level editor", that's what I was going for. 😊 I think of it as a pure sandbox game (sometimes "Creative Mode" in other games), so there is no given purpose, just goals you set for yourself (e.g. build a castle with a friend). I will update the description and images to make that more clear.

noyaauthor6 Oct 2023, 20:29

Your post had me laugh out loud @stmate03. 😂 I'm glad you, K & E had a good time. Great pool! I will now have to decide if duplicating players is a bug or a feature. 😄 And I'm now also upset that the player is 1px off, I will fix that for sure!

noyaauthor6 Oct 2023, 20:43

Thanks @pegasys! I'm really glad I got the multiplayer working, it was a very close call. There are some gameplay mechanics I would still love to try and I like your fortress idea; I could imagine this would also work well in co-op mode (build a fortress with your friends against some threat) 😊

noyaauthor6 Oct 2023, 20:52

Hey @exofrenon, I'm glad you had fun! 😊 Nice house, you even added shading to your flame tile! Thanks for the feedback, I completely agree that the responsiveness of the player movement and the scaling of the UI should be improved.

exofrenon6 Oct 2023, 21:07

@noya Well, I do love me some pixel art, and this is basically making pixel art with extra steps :laughing: .

MajoMirez8 Oct 2023, 13:55

I loved the idea, and since it's more like a chat room instance, it would benefit of some social interactions (like a emoticon bubble, just to say an example), and maybe different colors for each player. I personally would have liked an "edition mode" where I don't have to move to place tiles, just to let my creativity go wild

noyaauthor8 Oct 2023, 14:34

Glad you enjoyed the game @majomirez! 😊 Since the player avatar is just a tile, I played around with the idea to allow the player to draw their own avatar. The emoticon bubble is a great suggestion, and combined with the power to draw your own emoticons, I think it could be really fun. Thank you for that! 😄

Hakro8 Oct 2023, 18:29

I have not had friends around to play with, but I've mad a little structure, and I can see this being fun to play multiplayer :)

Nice entry, bonus points for its simplicity
GG

LCStark9 Oct 2023, 18:07

A nice tiny sandbox!

Well done on making multiplayer work well in such a short time. From what I can see it works great and there's surprisingly little delay.

I actually used the multiplayer feature for a slightly different purpose - I've opened a second window with the same world to use as a preview for when I edited the tiles. Works perfectly!

Tile editor is easily the best feature. One thing I think it's missing is the option to copy/clone a tile in the editor to create a new one from it - that would make creating entire tilesets much quicker.

LDJam user 27962210 Oct 2023, 12:29

welcome to the badcop town

Rincs10 Oct 2023, 12:30

It was so cool playing with everyone during Badcop's stream! :D I had fun!

noyaauthor10 Oct 2023, 22:32

Hey @hakro, glad you enjoyed the game and also its simplicity, I made an effort to make particularly joining the multiplayer simple and easy. 😊

noyaauthor10 Oct 2023, 22:42

Glad that you liked it @lcstark! Using the multiplayer to have a preview is a brilliant idea, I always went back and forth between the tile editor and the map. Great example of the player knowing better than the programmer how to play the game. 😅 And yes, the copy tile function is a good point. Also, great map, I love what you did with the floor! 😊

noyaauthor10 Oct 2023, 22:47

Thanks for playing the game on stream @badcop! And thanks for joining in @rincs! 😊 It was a blast to see everyone work together to create this little gem of a map! 💜

Harmadillo12 Oct 2023, 19:02

Made a house for my person. And some flowers for a garden. Was fun to play around with the sandbox. Editor is good. I would have liked an indicator of which pixel you are above for editing.

StormSword13 Oct 2023, 13:20

Its was a little hard to place blocks on certain tiles but its pretty cool x)

noyaauthor13 Oct 2023, 13:55

Hey @harmadillo, glad you enjoyed the game! Good point about the pixel editor, I should probably add a grid. 😊

noyaauthor13 Oct 2023, 14:01

Hey @stormsword, thanks for the feedback and glad you liked the idea! 😊 If you could share why tile placement was cumbersome for you sometimes, it would help a lot for future improvements. (as others have said, player movement is a bit slow / unresponsive at the moment, that's something I will tackle soon)

HolySparks13 Oct 2023, 20:37

That's a very cute idea! With online multiplayer! Look at the little scene me and a friend made

HelloImBenjamin13 Oct 2023, 21:32

Very interesting idea! Would love to see more come of this :D

StormSword14 Oct 2023, 19:05

@noya Here you can see the "ok area" where it's easy for me to place a block. But outside of this area the tile does not lighten, so even if I click, nothing happen. Hope that can help u :D

noyaauthor15 Oct 2023, 01:24

What a cute little town by the river @holysparks! 💜 Glad you and your friend had a good time making it! 😊

noyaauthor15 Oct 2023, 01:32

Hey @helloimbenjamin, glad you like the idea! I started working on a post jam game update last Thursday live on stream. 😊

noyaauthor15 Oct 2023, 01:39

Thanks for the additional feedback @stormsword! You can actually move (and then place tiles) outside the red area by touching / holding the mouse button down at the position you want to go to; but I see that I have to make that way clearer in the interface and also more responsive! 😊

noyaauthor15 Oct 2023, 01:39

LaserPanzerWal19 Oct 2023, 18:16

Interesting idea. I'm not sure this can actually be considered a game or rather a creative tool, but it is definitely an unique entry to the jame. I'm not sure why the blue dot has to move close to where I want to place tiles, I supposed it's supposed to be the player character, but as it's not really obvious it's probably just a bit confusing. I think it would benefit from more pre-made tiles for quick creativity before you start drawing your own, but I suppose that was a matter of time :D