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Automata
Automata
By xirion11
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Comments
It feels the difficulty of the puzzle design comes from the lack of information, which is a bit unfortunate. Note that not only is the layout hidden, but also the effectiveness of the keys.
I wonder if, using the same elements, you could not have puzzle designed around the idea that you can reactivate automata that shut down. Maybe they have 5 moves and with a move you can wind up another automata if you are facing its back, maybe just like here you need an item to get more moves, but that item can be carried/transferred/thrown?
2016-08-30 06:55
Hi, nice game and congratulations ! Simple mechanics that still offered a decent amount of challenge.We're realizing a video with several games of the Ludum Dare #36. We made the same thing at the previous jam.
Can you add your game on indiexpo.net ? (it's free)
So we can include also your game in the video ;)
p.s. write #LDJAM in the game's description.
findor
2016-08-30 14:32
It looks good, but I had a problem with controlling this little robot. And when I fail I had to wait sooooo long until the first animation will end and I will able to play again. But I think it can be a way better game in the future!
Nice graphics, but controls are confusing. Maybe you should rework on it. But the idea is very nice!
That was really cute. :D
(I'm going to be calling the golden "clock wind up" objects keys as I'm not entirely sure what they are called in English)
From a game design perspective, I REALLY like the first "death". I thought I had done something wrong, so instead of randomly walking around, I took a second think WHY did I die?
By putting that first key just out of reach, you were able to teach the user how the game mechanics work without actually explicitly telling them. Even the third key, visible but just out of reach, was placed really well (see below). I'm not a fan of "page of text" tutorials, and you did the tutorial really well.
It's a good, simple puzzle mechanic. I noticed how you placed the keys in such a way, that several times the key that is next visible on the screen is not always the one you want to collect. You improve as a player by learning to take a second and think before blinding dashing for the first key you see.
The isometric viewpoint looks nice, but it makes the controls trickier; instead of just moving where you want, you need to take a second to think of which key maps to which direction (the little diagram in the bottom helped). Eventually I got used to it, but a couple of turns I lost a life because I moved in the wrong direction due to confusion.
It might be possible to fix this by changing the camera angle from 45° to 30°. Maybe even changing the movement scheme to allow you to click the adjacent tile you want to move to instead. But I don't know how either of these would change the appearance of the game negatively.
There is a bit of a performance hit right after you hit one of the arrow keys to move (and I'm on a gaming rig, so I'm assuming it's game logic, not rendering that is causing it). But this is something that would easily be ironed out given more time than just the weekend to code.
Just curious, why is the key in the ending scene 2D? I think it's really nice visually to have 2D characters come to life with 3D keys.
Wow, it has really well-drawn art. Main menu is especially good. But I think that a control would be more convenient. You have cool idea. It can become a really good logic game.
alot of potential but falls short in feedback. additioanlly more than 3 live before starting over the entire game would go along way here
Nice cutscenes with crisp well-made sprites. I was a bit confused by the controls though due to the isometric perspective. I walked in the wrong direction unintentionally a few times which basically always cost me a life.
As said before the learn by play with the first wind up key was clever in teaching you the mechanics without any pop-up messages whatsoever. Well done!
thrainsa
2016-08-31 15:03
really good game and I like the way you use for teach how to play, graphically speaking, it s clear simple and I really like the characters design. little problem in a first time with the controls it was frustrated but after few retry its better and the chalenge is here.
jojox
2016-08-31 17:14
Good game, very clear. A bit slow sometimes but the art is very nice.
A fun game to play with nice art. The controls are a bit confusing and i think a minimap would be useful but otherwise great job !
^^Alina^^
Graphics look very polished. Neat game!
komilll
2016-09-09 09:00
The controls are pretty hard to remember and since they're crucial for gameplay because even one bad move means death. I found it pretty bad that the greatest enemy in this game is controls. Also intro after every dead and start is unnecessary. Skipping it would be nice. It's nice puzzle concept with very pretty graphics but lack of clear controls is too frustrating for me.
Very nice graphics! Challenging game. I included it in my compilation video series of Ludum Dare 36, if you’d like to take a look :) https://youtu.be/MTi5CJCBr-w