FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD26 → Minimal Blocks!

Minimal Blocks!

By messiano

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Coolness1100
Audio3743.00
Theme7223.37
Humor7481.97
Fun8822.63
Overall9142.83
Innovation9512.57
Mood9842.43
Graphics10702.33

Comments

2013-04-29 03:28

The game is starting on the 13th level... I think you can fix it under the "typo" rule described on the bottom of the page ;D

messiano 2013-04-29 03:37

Fixed, thanks!

sampotasz 2013-04-29 16:26

I really liked the music! The controls were a little too "loose" for me, which made the game really really difficult. Thightening these up and giving a clearer sense of the player's boundaries (indicating when they will fall and when they wont) would be a big help :) Thanks for sharing.

messiano 2013-04-30 02:21

Thanks for the comment, I don't have great expectations on my ratings but I would be happy if the music gets well rated, even though that was by far the quickest thing to make.

Hint: don't ever stop holding the run key :).

kaphonaits 2013-04-30 03:08

I liked the music, however the controls weren't great. :(

phocker 2013-04-30 03:10

sorry -- could not get it to run on Windows 8 -- any ideas?

otoris 2013-04-30 03:12

Can't uninstall? There isn't an uninstaller?

thenmal 2013-04-30 03:20

Unable to start game on Win7.

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: Minimal Blocks.exe
Application Version: 1.0.0.0
Application Timestamp: 517de9a4
Fault Module Name: KERNELBASE.dll
Fault Module Version: 6.1.7601.17965

richtx 2013-04-30 03:32

I like the concept of a top down platform/puzzle game. It's a bit difficult especially when you have to keep the player character moving on moving tiles. Overall, it fits the theme well. Good job.

maxszlagor 2013-04-30 03:38

Fun! Enjoyed the different types of jumping platforms and interactions. I wish the character moved with the platforms while you are standing on them to make jumps easier to time. Also, jump does not work when you are holding two arrow keys at the same time (in a diagonal).

messiano 2013-04-30 04:07

Otoris: see if you can uninstall from the control panel, as far as I remember that's how it works with XNA.

Thenmal: Not sure about the crashes, I'm sorry. Can you run other XNA4 games?

MaxSzlagor: Could that be your keyboard? Mine does that sometimes. See if using the alternative key scheme works (keys instead of WADS and jumping with space.

cybearg 2013-04-30 04:08

Very interesting experiment. There's reason why we don't tend to see top-down platformers, but I won't fault the attempt. It was innovative, at least!

A couple things, though. It was odd that the player doesn't move with the moving platforms that were being stood on. It just made for a lot of frustration when I would over-correct and fall off while trying to keep up with it. Also, some of the levels seem to be set up in such a way that the puzzle forces you to stand and wait for it to be ready for you to act. Now, there's nothing wrong with a puzzle that requires you to pause a moment before continuing, but forcing you to stand still for a few seconds at the very start or else everything will be off-sync kind of grinds the nerves after a while.

But still, overall a solid attempt at a rare gameplay style. Kudos!

onlyslightly 2013-04-30 04:39

Love the aesthetics and feel of the game. It definitely gets challenging. Great job!

pinkerator 2013-04-30 11:56

It's pretty hard, but truely minimalistic :-D

corofides 2013-04-30 11:57

Nice game. Pretty fun and definitely gets challenging.

messiano 2013-04-30 17:59

Cybearg: thanks for you thoughful comments, I hardly play any video games so these are great lessons for me, I'll take them for my next attempt.

nseward 2013-05-01 05:23

Good game. I found it very challenging.

ecool377 2013-05-01 05:47

great game, glad to see awesome games like this one

gmaker 2013-05-01 06:03

very interesting and fun ) i like it

tehskull 2013-05-01 06:29

This is SO HARD. And it's a MASSIVE game for how simple it is. 60 MB? Also, I can't seem to jump diagonally to the top-left. The platforms moving without the player was VERY awkward.

depp 2013-05-01 06:43

This game is just way too hard... I got over thirty deaths and never beat the third level. That diagonal platform is just impossible to stay on.

messiano 2013-05-01 06:51

Dietrich: hold RUN all the time, otherwise you'll be way too slow to do anything (note to myself: running shouldn't even exist, character should move faster!)

TehSkull: It's massive because of the soundtrack, XNA doesn't compress the sound by default, so there's about 50MB of wave files.

the-jack 2013-05-01 08:21

Congrats on finishing your 1st LD.

aeveis 2013-05-01 08:27

Controls could be tightened up, but the visuals for jumping up I thought were pretty good. The music is nice, reminds me of portal.

shellfishgames 2013-05-01 12:26

Cool game, although it really is rather frustrating. I only got to Level 5, but from what I can tell so far the concept is great, and its execution as well, for the most part. The only weak point seem to be the difficult controls.
The graphical style is convincing as well. Clean and simple, yet nice and unique.

thevideogamemechanic 2013-05-01 23:13

Could not run it on Windows 7. :(

justinmullin 2013-05-01 23:38

Looks like I'm mostly repeating things that have been said before, but my main gripe was just that the player didn't move with the moving platforms. Other than that, this was pretty fun, and the music was pretty cool.

jellycakes 2013-05-02 01:42

Good game, but really difficult to the point where I had been tearing my hair out. Didn't even manage to beat it but it kept me hooked despite dying so many times (200).

messiano 2013-05-02 02:00

Sorry for the syphilis Jellycakes, and thanks for playing my game on your channel.

mattperrin 2013-05-02 02:38

Little tricky navigating the moving platforms, neat idea though.

dapierce 2013-05-02 05:13

Clever concept doing platforming from this perspective. The disappearing platforms gave me Mega Man flashbacks. The angles you have to run and jump between many of the platforms screams out for analog stick gamepad controls.

udrian 2013-05-02 17:34

It was a nice game, but very annoying that i had to run with the moving blocks. Overall pretty fun :) Good job!

cardboard 2013-05-02 23:41

I don't think my keyboard wanted to let me run and jump at the same time, which made things more difficult. Neat game though, I like the concept of jumping "out of the screen." Oh, I also like the player's animations ;)

sonnybone 2013-05-03 19:46

Had a blast watching jellycakes get to 200 deaths in this. Great challenge and nice top-down platforming action! You really nailed the theme from an aesthetic standpoint!

tankete 2013-05-04 05:16

Fun game. Liked the idea and music. Wish the moving platforms carried the player.

Congrats on your first Ludum Dare! (It was mine too!)

wrongcoder 2013-05-04 05:54

This is quite refreshing-- it's simple, well-executed, and surprisingly fun!

m0n0quartz 2013-05-04 08:57

This game looks cool but I can't play, I'm on Mac...

someone 2013-05-04 18:31

Runs in Wine, but far too fast to be playable.
Managed to get past the first level somehow with about 80 deaths...

arkazon 2013-05-04 19:50

Nice idea with the top down platformer. As others have said though it's really hurt by having to move in order to stay on the moving platforms, this is made worse by having no indication that they are about to change direction.

ghostinthesoft 2013-05-05 07:36

Nice concept, perfectly in the theme. I agree with some comments telling the character should move with the platform.

messiano 2013-05-05 15:40

Uploaded a post-compo version with two minor changes: RUNNING doesn't exist anymore, character runs by default. Also, in this version you don't have to move with the moving platforms.

Please rate the 48h version though.

tinydrakkarstudio 2013-05-05 16:57

It is fun for first time ... i like

adipson 2013-05-05 17:53

Good job and nice concept

commanderstitch 2013-05-05 18:58

i played till level 12. that one will take a lot more effort to finish it. lol. those moving platforms i keep expecting my guy to "ride" the platforms, but then it doesn't work like that. i loved the music! the top down 2-d jumper was neat. good work.

lightnarcissus 2013-05-09 03:34

Few issues with controls aside,I think I really enjoyed this entry. Props for the excellent music!

lonestranger 2013-05-12 05:12

Not a fan of having to move to stay on a moving platform, and the diagonal movement is kinda hard on keyboard, but it's an interesting idea and fits the theme very well.

sylvain-p 2013-05-14 17:42

Good, but the jump is hard to predict.

spelchan 2013-05-15 19:59

An interesting perspective on the platform game, but I found the controls needed more work. Having to walk/run when on a platform just to stay in the same spot was counter-intuitive.

rawbits 2013-05-17 19:09

Nice for minimalism. I would expect moving blocks to take me with them though - I saw it fixed. Level design is good and it hardens just fine. (That's what she sad.) Maybe some z-ordering would be good so the guy isn't shows under the blocks - gives more feel of height.

All-in-all it's ok, but please never make a game fullscreen by default again!