FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD26 → Coder

Coder

By realyuniquename

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Coolness1100
Humor763.53
Innovation1973.62
Fun2173.40
Audio2213.26
Overall2313.52
Mood3093.19
Graphics4163.24
Theme10223.00

Comments

axcho 2013-04-29 03:30

Ha, I'm delighted to see someone actually make a game about refactoring. I have to say, though, the blocks being different colors really threw me off - I was trying to match colors the entire time my first try until I realized it was probably more like Tetris. As far as being minimal, keeping all the blocks the same color would make a lot of sense and also make the game more understandable. Another thing that would help is to make sure the player gets a successful line-clear early on, so they know what they're going for. I wasn't really sure what "success" would like look at first, and I ended up guessing wrong. If you have time, it might be worth prototyping a version of this where blocks disappear when four or more of the same color are touching.

realyuniquename 2013-04-29 04:46

Thanks for detailed comment. I'm not sure if LD48 rules allows to modify such things after compo is finished.

aduros 2013-04-29 04:51

Loved the voice overs!

zillix 2013-04-29 06:03

really neat idea! does a great job of evoking the frustration (and fun!) of refactoring

sol_hsa 2013-04-29 06:04

RealyUniqueName: you can always make a post-compo version that doesn't enter the competition itself.

sparkleswirl 2013-04-29 06:04

Oh hey, I think I recall seeing you talking about this game on Twitter. I'm glad you finished it because it's amazing. I definitely did not expect a "Tetris derivative" to be so much fun and refreshing. The mechanic, the story, the voiceover and the execution were all top notch. Definitely one of my favorites this LD48 so far!

chman 2013-04-29 07:31

Really interesting take on the Tetris concept, very fun to play actually ! And it's not often you hear a voice-over in a flash game... :)

d_durham 2013-04-29 11:44

Good fun. I agree with the previous comment about the colours being a little misleading. But overall I enjoyed it.

loxo 2013-04-29 12:54

This is such an unique idea and a great combination with a known game concept! I think this would work on a touch screen very well. I had much fun to play it.

goulding57 2013-04-29 19:33

Great idea. Fun game! Tight controls.

neight 2013-04-29 19:35

I like this idea. It was pretty fun.

edocentrique 2013-04-29 19:41

Okay this is very good to play !

zinfandel 2013-04-30 12:41

Entirely agree with the first comment - I was trying to match colors for a while too.
I like the concept a lot, might want to start off with smaller levels/slower speed.
Great job overall!

mushbuh 2013-04-30 17:24

confusing at first but once I figured it out it was cool

lonestranger 2013-05-01 04:10

It isn't really minimal, but it's a good idea. I agree with others, the colors not meaning anything threw me off. It seems pretty well polished.

daniel2357 2013-05-01 05:05

Quite Hard. Nice sounds ( especially at the ending ). i liked the game :).

tcstyle 2013-05-01 09:37

Great idea. The inversed Tetris mechanic works pretty well. The story is also pretty funny. Sound totally fits the game.

HelkeGames 2013-05-01 18:15

Love the concept, very cool and minimalist ;)

zombierockparty 2013-05-01 18:40

Has a real polished feel. Interesting to see a new take on a classic. That it's a variation threw me and it took me a while to figure it out (that you only need to fill a line regardless of color). Great effort!

miharbi 2013-05-01 19:04

Really awesome take on the theme and fun game.

morgawr 2013-05-02 17:24

I'm sorry I cannot play this game because it's in Flash (I don't have Flash). Not your fault of course...

just wanted to drop by to say that I thought the image, from the preview, looked like a penis. Cheers!

realyuniquename 2013-05-02 18:10

Ok, i've deployed to html5. Hope you'll enjoy it.

Never thought my finger can look like a penis. I'll keep screenshot as is, maybe it encourage more people to try my game :)

granada 2013-05-02 19:01

Nicely frustrating ^^. Good job.

kyru 2013-05-02 19:04

Neat game, I like the presentation and "story" of it and it's a fun take on a well known game.

tankete 2013-05-02 19:13

Great, original concept. Liked the style. And the audio was funny. Nice job!

bernhard 2013-05-02 19:14

Hilarious! Loved the sounds and Finger UI transitions :-)
Both modes were quite hard but a very fun and interesting twist on an old (but still awesome) game idea!

johnnysix 2013-05-02 20:35

Took a while to figure out what to do, as I was mistakenly trying to group the colours into blocks. A unique take on a familiar theme.

nambew 2013-05-03 01:06

I find the concept interesting, all the taunt during play are great for the mood and the graphic fit well. I find it a bit difficult, but you have a good game.

madball 2013-05-03 18:04

Now I'm thinking you just made the best advertisment of you game... :-B
The game was actually very fun. Here is one complaint though: on later levels the line disappearing effect was in way sometimes.

colapsydo 2013-05-03 18:18

It takes some time to break the Tetris automatism.
Cool idea and the game is well polished.

goerp 2013-05-03 18:58

What a great idea. I actually like this more than tetris, there is more strategy.
And the background story is funny and adds someting to the game.

I'm not sure if there would be a copyright issue with tetris, but I whink this would be a great game for tablet or phone. But then it would have to respond to touch (you move the layer where your finger is).

And then you could add maybe some more faces of the boss where he gets angries all the time.

realyuniquename 2013-05-03 19:04

Yeah, i'm already making a tablet version ;)

bvanschooten 2013-05-04 00:01

Very interesting take on the Tetris theme. The presentation looks good, only I think having the instructions permanently inside the playing area does not look so pretty.

jellycakes 2013-05-04 15:15

Probably the best example of code refactory i've ever seen in my entire life. Pretty fun to play too. GOod job!

tiago-ling 2013-05-06 19:51

Very interesting idea! I think the game is hard, maybe it needs some balancing. I played it 3 times, and in all of them i could get only one line eliminated, with the time almost over.

realyuniquename 2013-05-06 21:04

Post-compo version was balanced. It was beated several times by different people. I'm satisfied with current difficulty :)

gokuhd 2013-05-07 02:21

Clever idea!, I wouldn't imagined it, I like it. Btw you used the same framework I used, it's nice. Grat work!.

ghostinthesoft 2013-05-07 17:17

nice alternative tetris like, it's fun to play

huvaakoodia 2013-05-07 20:44

Well as a Tetris derivative, I'm going to have to compare it to the real deal. Tetris wins. Here is why:

On slow speeds the game is too easy as there is enough time to move every row optimally (this is partly true for Tetris as well), but when the speed rises above a certain, not that high, level, planning flies out of the window and a frantic disaster of a defeat ensues.

This is because to succeed in refactoring one would have to utilize the core mechanic which, in theory, offers limitless reconstruction of the current terrain, to a high degree.

Attemts at this are foiled by the keyboard controls which add another layer of complexity to the game.
You'll have to think about the incoming block, the current situation and the current position of the selection, in a too small of a time frame. This is made worse by the fact that every new block spawns into a random position with no indicator of said position.

So, there are too many variables to think about when time is nigh and one of them is even based on luck.

In the original Tetris one only needs to think about the next tile and to which positions it fits on the relatively slowly changing terrain.
This data can be attained with a swift glance and maintained vigilance over the terrain and speed, allowing for a more flexible difficulty curve and thus a more enjoyable experience for me.

huvaakoodia 2013-05-07 20:54

An here are a few suggestions to boot:

To combat the issue raised by keyboard controls try the mouse. Dragging and dropping a row would work especially well on a touch screen, but it would significantly boost the speed at which a player can react on a mouse as well.

Gamemodes based on maximal refactoring, rather than block usage, timelimit or increased speed, would also help.

realyuniquename 2013-05-08 05:25

I completely agree with you about complexity. But with mouse controls game in current state becomes too easy. I just had no time to think about implementing smoother complexity curve.
However, i like the core mechanic and i'm trying to adopt it for mobile platforms and to fix complexity issues )

sestren 2013-05-09 11:16

I like the unique spin on such a well-known game. A lot of fun to play. Great job!

klianc09 2013-05-09 15:33

Really great game I liked the sound effects, but as others already said, there is a problem with the controls. A simple solution would be, to be able to move the incoming block left and right, or to be able to move all the rows at once, this would make the game much easier to control.

xanjos 2013-05-09 21:59

Cool and unique twist to the already familiar Tetris gameplay. The game is very addictive plus the voiceovers were really nice.

hd408 2013-05-12 14:18

Made me laugh, what a hilarious way to describe the game mechanics! Instant fives for everything.

sylvain-p 2013-05-15 19:09

Nice concept, really simple but good idea

aestheticgamer 2013-05-20 01:53

Solid entry, liked the voice acting touch, reverse tetris was fun though the lose conditions I don't think were always clear. Still, had a bit of fun with it.

jonrb 2013-05-20 09:10

The instructions weren't terribly helpful as to what I was supposed to be doing but I got the hang of it, and soon loved it. Spent more time playing it than I expected, great job!
T'is a bold man who uses vocals, but I think it paid off!

adventureislands 2013-05-20 20:55

Ooh it took me a moment to get what I am supposed to do. The colors were confusing because they didn't matter at all. Pretty good game, the instructions were not terribly clear though.