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The Two-Dimensional Universe
The Two-Dimensional Universe
By zathnic
View on Wayback Machine
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Overall | 180 | 3.52 | | |
| Fun | 224 | 3.31 | | |
| Innovation | 233 | 3.31 | | |
| Theme | 284 | 3.38 | | |
| Audio | 392 | 3.04 | | |
| Mood | 401 | 3.05 | | |
| Graphics | 594 | 2.85 | | |
| Coolness | 1204 | 49 | | |
Comments
wow. that was a lot better than i expected it to be! the world is seemingly MASSIVE, and i loved the idea of going between worlds and having the gravity switch (which took a while to get used to)
the only turn-off for me (and the thing that made me stop playing) was that there are no checkpoints or anything; once you die, its all the way to the bottom. You may see this as part of the design, but im going to guess most others would stop playing after the first dath. also it is very difficult trying to platform with the weird mechanics in such a small space with spikes.
If i had more time, this would be a really cool world to experience (even with the somewhat simple graphic style). So kudos to you for proving my upfront judgement wrong!
zathnic
2014-08-27 14:38
Hey, thanks for being the first person to comment on my game without me having rated any other games first! :) I needed a rest after the massive coding in the three days, my head felt really weird at times and I had trouble getting through school (even had to miss some classes); overall I can say that I'm glad I went through this experience once, but I don't think I'm ever going to attempt something this big in such a short time again.
About the thing with the checkpoints, this idea did come up for me somewhere during the developing, but since I thought the game wasn't too hard, and because I wanted to finish, I decided against it. You're right, I also saw it as part of the design, because the game is about reaching as high a height as possible, and checkpoints would give you a head start. But now that I think about it, the first area of the game (until you reach the second world) is rather easy, more of a "get used to the mechanics" area, and having to repeat that is kinda like having to repeat the tutorial every time.
So actually, I think I'm going to do a little post-mortem version where there's a single checkpoint right at the top surface of the first new world you reach (at height 316). It shouldn't be much work, but I still need a break from coding, so I'm probably going to do it during the weekend. I don't think the game needs more checkpoints than that, though - for the reason I mentioned, it's part of the game's mechanics, but also because the "beachy" world has so many different paths to take that this place would be pretty much the perfect starting position.
So, thanks for making me aware of that thing! For new players, right now I can recommend that if a path looks to difficult for you, try turning back and searching for another one, because some ways are easier than others.
kristof
2014-08-28 19:22
Wow, for this game to show its full potential, you habe to play it a bit. At first I thought it would be extremely boring to just bounce through a seemingly random world. But when I got higher and the mechanics kept changing, it got really interesting. Nice work!
slowfrog
2014-08-28 19:56
The world is really big, it's impressive. And as you said in your description, lots of changes in the game mechanics along the way. The graphics are a bit primitive, but for such a short time jam, they're working OK.
Good work.
Very nice game. You managed to capture the excitement of exploration in a very good way!
3cgames
2014-08-28 20:18
Pretty fun to explore all the different worlds. Got to 575!
It was rather fun, I even managed to complete the first "layer" of the worlds, but then when I tried to reach the space again, I got completely blocked by a swarm of black clouds; really, I can't see how can they be penetrated without insane luck. >.<
Yeah nice game ! i just lost and didn't have the courage to begin from the start (i played the no checkpoint version) but it was fun and interesting
Really enjoyable game, loved the sense of progression despite not knowing exactly where to go!
borgi
2014-08-30 17:49
Great use of the theme! Cool game, enjoyed it!
You should make a real game out of it, it has some potential :)
Damn this thing is big! Amazing you could get this much done in a weekend. It was a lot of fun to poke around the game world; I'd be curious to see this thing in a more exploration-y style instead of the current challenge-based style(I personally could do without the spikes/hitpoints, for example; it's enough for me just to move around as a ball).
jprogman
2014-08-31 09:37
The different kinds of gravitation makes this game very enjoyable! The art and music are both great. Good job!
One suggestion: when the gravity is reversed, the left/right control should not be reversed too.
Since it's already mentioned but I'll say it anyhow: I don't like trying to land on a single block as the ball moves too fast.
zathnic
2014-08-31 12:00
@4xisblack Thanks! You should take a look at the game Knytt Underground by Nifflas, I think you'd enjoy it :)
@all Thanks for the comments so far, glad you're enjoying it! I may think about developing this idea further, but that's something for the future, right now I'm just glad I got this thing done. :P
This game leveldesign is brillant. It made me feel this old discovery feeling I had when I was kid playing on Mo5 or Amiga computers... Mainstream games are totally unable to do that.
The bounce / No gravity switch mechanic works perfect, I like fighting against clouds to bounce higher.
My highscore is 576.
waynaul
2014-08-31 14:17
I think the giant levels were too much for my old computer. My frame rate was too low for me to properly review your game (I'll stay at N/A so that I do not affect your scores), but from what I did see, I saw a lot of effort. Great job!
tanser
2014-09-01 06:50
Love the jumping. Keep it up! :)
rehacked
2014-09-03 06:44
Ah cant open .jar please add a .exe or web version cuz i really want to play this game
razoric
2014-09-04 17:01
This needs to be a real game!
zathnic
2014-09-04 19:08
@Razoric Wow, thanks! :) Maybe some day...
Fun game! I included it in part 28 of my Ludum Dare 30 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :) http://youtu.be/Hmt93jxkWGQ