FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD26 → A Game of Numbers

A Game of Numbers

By joedev_net

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall144.16
Innovation74.36
Fun54.10
Coolness275
Theme2243.90
Mood5842.84
Graphics7062.84
Humor9261.73
Audio10471.47

Comments

fueelin 2013-04-29 05:07

I liked this a lot. Simple/minimalistic math fun. I thought the screen shake effect added a lot too.

vona0041 2013-04-29 05:13

Man, this *looks* really cool... MacBook :(

joedev_net 2013-04-29 05:16

Hopefully I can get a Mac build soon enough. I don't have access to a Mac right now, but porting will be as simple as switching to the MonoGame libraries. I might be able to get one in a couple days.

nxsverigmail-com 2013-04-29 06:01

Nice! This game made me, a prospect Comp Sci major, feel stupid. I like the level design flow. Teaching the game, then getting harder, then teaching some more. After the "tutorial" levels, I found that some of them were like "4 paths, trial and error". But man did you have some devilish levels. I found myself sitting there trying to do my math, and I just couldn't see it because of the well planned juxtaposition of the blocks. Very awesome concept! It's a good brain trainer like a Sudoku puzzle or a Ken-Ken.

gregdevice 2013-04-29 06:09

Brilliant idea! I'll have to get my kid to try this. Well thought out levels.

brian-corr 2013-04-29 06:14

This game is *REALLY EXCELLENT*

wy477wh173 2013-04-29 18:07

Loved it, I hate math and I loved it. It's an interesting way to do a puzzle game, good job.

khananaphone 2013-04-29 20:15

This was pretty fun, the levels you made were quite clever.

reheated 2013-04-29 20:16

Really enjoyed this. Excellent idea and well thought-out puzzles.

jpcote 2013-04-30 01:21

Good game, puzzle are fun, hard and rewarding. Good job !

maloki 2013-04-30 01:35

I love that there's math in it! The last few puzzles were quite tricky. War of attrition took me a few tries until I had an "aha!" moment. Good job on the puzzle design! The difficulty scales well, too!

zim-the-fox 2013-04-30 02:11

The only problem I had with it is that, at first, I thought % stood for percentage, and it kinda missed an "enk" sound with the screen shake!

The number of levels was perfect, especially considering the little time one has. Great job :3

masadow 2013-04-30 16:15

Soooooo goooooooood ! Crazy idea here !

krisparsons134 2013-04-30 16:37

I love it! You see, this is the type of game I would like to see in schools, it requires the kids to use strategies to beat levels, and is still fun! 5/5

atridas 2013-04-30 16:43

Mathy, simple, fun. Really enjoyable!

joedev_net 2013-04-30 18:10

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Seriously, getting feedback (good or bad) is one of the most rewarding parts of the Ludum Dare experience for me, so your comments are very appreciated.

@Zim the Fox - Yeah, I had about an hour left and was deciding between adding sound effects or some general polish. It would have been a close call for the sounds, so I went with the polish.

I'm thinking I'll probably make a post compo version that has some addition puzzles (anyone have any good ideas) and will feature a level editor that you can use to make your own puzzles.

Thanks again for the comments!

jadams 2013-04-30 21:09

Brilliant game, nice level design.

nicealexanderas 2013-05-01 01:17

Wow i loved the idea :D AWESOME GAME!!!! :D I LOVE IT!! very mathematical :D

phocker 2013-05-01 01:18

this game is brilliant -- awesome puzzles and great use of the theme -- unfortunately cant give much for graphics -- nice work

zim-the-fox 2013-05-01 02:41

@JoeDev

Just had an idea for your game!
Functions: There is an input box and numerous output boxes, and depending on the number you are, you come out on a certain output.

cogcomp 2013-05-01 16:29

This is a really good game. You should make the graphics more child-friendly and release it on a site for kids educational games.

justinmullin 2013-05-01 16:42

Extremely cool. I think this is just about the right number of levels to get a solid feel for the game, and show what can be done with the mechanic. I would have *loved* to play more, but given the time constraints, and how hard good level design is to crank out quickly, what you've got is awesome. Nicely done!

depp 2013-05-01 16:47

Wonderful puzzles and great length of the game! They really got me thinking. I can only imagine how much of your time it took to just make those levels.

grouflon 2013-05-01 16:48

Awesome game! Really enjoyed it! It's challenging, a lot of different mechanics with very few element = medium economy = minimalism! The difficulty progression is also very well donne. Many 5 stars for me :)

andrewshouldice 2013-05-01 17:54

This is exceptionally clever, and surprisingly fun! You should totally expand on it with some polish and audio. Way to go!

luxorix 2013-05-02 01:41

Super pazzle)

sparkleswirl 2013-05-02 05:16

Great level design, and definitely a fun and challenging twist on the lock and key puzzle genre. Well done!

spiridion 2013-05-02 19:51

For the negative, it could have used some audio (sfxr/bsfxr can turn out something useful quickly, and XNA can play sounds very easily)

For the positive, I loved it! It's a great concept to teach math and/or logic. I can see this being made into a great educational game!

vona0041 2013-05-03 07:39

Hey Joe, you played my game and liked it (and I commented on here earlier saying I wish it was on mac)... I played the web version, awesome game! Great idea, I wish there were so many more levels haha really fun, makes you think. Please make a bigger version of this game?

joedev_net 2013-05-03 16:48

@AlecVonArx - Yeah, I'm thinking I will probably be making an expanded version of this in the future. The thing I'm struggling with is that the simple rules and mechanics are what works for it (at least I think). Without expanding upon the basic mechanics, how many more interesting levels can be made? The answer is probably more than I would think, but it will take me a while to find them.

One idea I had was a block (with a number) that can be pushed by the player. It has all the same properties and mechanics as the player (can use other blocks, must satisfy gate conditions, ect). These blocks would need to be used to solve puzzles. I'm really trying to figure out if this makes it too complex and if this addition would really add any more depth to the puzzle experience.

Thanks for the feedback, glad you enjoyed it!

ilovepixel 2013-05-04 03:43

Great game, the idea is just brilliant. This should be a game played at schools. With some music this would have been even better than already is.

threeup 2013-05-06 01:01

Great brain exercise. I completed all the levels! I think it could find more success on mobile platforms. Good luck

nimblegorilla 2013-05-06 05:01

Nice concept. I liked the levels where you didn't have to to calculate numbers in specific orders, but instead just had to get to various target numbers to pass through gate.

euwaku 2013-05-06 05:29

You should sell that to schools for billions of dollars.

siondream 2013-05-06 11:17

Brilliant idea and very well designed! Awesome game for kids too.

netguy204 2013-05-07 11:39

What a great idea to build puzzles on! And what expert puzzle design! I thought the tutorial puzzles were very well done and that the difficulty ramped appropriately. Nice work

alink 2013-05-08 00:09

Excellent math game. Fun and probably have good educative value. Good job on the level design too, I imagine there are not easy to create. Only lack sounds, but the shaking effect was a nice idea to make it less static.