Ionium

marcenat 2017-08-01 10:19

Interesting concept, I like code base puzzle. There is a lot of text to read and I'm not sure to understand what is the projector for. Nice work though.

broken-matrix 2017-08-01 14:31

Thanks! For other people if they don't understand, when the projector receives an input it displays it above it self in text, the only inputs are numbers so it will always be a number. c:

broken-matrix 2017-08-01 14:31

Thanks! For other people if they don't understand, when the projector receives an input it displays it above it self in text, the only inputs are numbers so it will always be a number. c:

sanguine 2017-08-02 19:47

Very complicated, I had a hard timing getting all the rules. Maybe try keeping it simpler next time.

supercrunchy 2017-08-02 22:16

Hi @broken-matrix

I love this genre of games. Logic games with links and computing involved always get my attention. First of all I think that you actually did a good job in this game (the logic inside is quite difficult to code right and putting everything in a 3d environment makes everything much more difficult).

Unfortunately, I have to say that you probably overlooked some important aspects of it, in particular: - The target audience: for a classic LD game take into account that people trying out the games won’t spend more than 10 minutes / half an hour with it. Keep ALL the game mechanics and elements **very very** simple! Like elementary-school simple. Your game is one of the rare cases of a LD game that has **too many** options (this is not negative by itself, it's just not good for LD games) - In this game, there’s really too much to learn! I got almost lost just in your quite simple tutorial (the *literal* walls of text and all the different combinations of things that had to be remembered really made me confused). - If something is obvious for you it does not mean it's obvious for players. If you have a friend (a smart one) try have him play this game and watch over him without helping him. You'll see how difficult it is for other people to understand a new game. If you have Portal 2 try making a level and see your clueless friend not seeing the "totally obvious" solution (I'm speaking from personal experience here) - "walls" of text are probably the most user-unfriendly way to do a tutorial. Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCPcn-Q5nKE - The puzzles are REALLY too difficult. You cannot start with a level in which you need to do this many trickeries with **all** the machines you have put in the game. Start small! You should probably have started with only one one room that says "given a 0 get me a 1" and then build up from there. The first try I didn't manage to understand how to use the memory device and then died due to the time limit. I managed to get the memory working the second time, but it was increasing only by 1 at the time and I wasn't in the mood of clicking the button 16000 times, so just quit :frowning:. - It’s much **much** better to put way less mechanics and spend that time for a better introduction/tutorial than the wall of text to read (give small bits of information on how things work along with at least some pictures if not a tutorial to show how it works - even some screenshots with descriptions are fine!). - leave a good amount of hours to polish the game up. Things like the tutorial, easier to use interface and removing small "imperfections" DO add up (e.g. wire cutter cutting ALL the connected cables instead of only that one). - A main menu with only the button "play" is useless (unless the game is ready, you really have time to waste and you do a beatiful one). A ugly one just leaves a bad first impression. Next time don't add a main menu. It won't make any difference and you'll have more time for the game. - You should also give hints for the second level if people want them, because being stuck in a game is not fun for any of the players (and that's ultimately the objective of making any game). - If somebody is not able to understand the tutorial then there's really no hope that he will get the first level, If you are going to post a walk-through then at least post a full one, so at least he can try to understand how how the mechanic work!.

Sorry for the wall of text I wrote (:grinning:), but I LOVE this kind of game, and I hate seeing a game with a potential like yours ruined only by few simple things you could have avoided :D

I really hope to see you again the next LD!

PS: By mistake I rated also your previous game (the new LD website grouping together LD38 and LD39 games is a disastrous choice), but I just wanted to say you may want to go and check them out anyway as you have 3 more comments there (and only 1 is mine) :grinning:

broken-matrix 2017-08-03 16:08

Thanks for your feedback, appreciate it a lot, you definatly earned a karma point! To you and sanguine, I was trying to make an actual game that could be expanded on if I wanted, not just a short thing where you play in 5 minutes. For the tutorial I know it is complicated, and to help I put in the mini puzzles, If I had more time I would have made it more interactive and more spread out, but the game was only functional when I had 3 hours before the deadline and I started making levels then, and the last hour was compiling web and windows. I don't like the thing that a lot of people do on here, where they just take a bunch of simple mechanics from games they like and mash them together, it ends up with very shallow and uninteresting gameplay, that is why I spend so much time on the inner workings, each functional component only took me around 10 minutes to make, they have very simple implementations, but the super class "IONode" is what I spent so long on, if I only had an inverter and adder, and wires I would of ended up with something simular, only less fun, way easier which is a BAD thing, puzzle games should NOT be easy xD. Sorry for the run on senteces and spelling cant bother to change them with this tiny text box.

supercrunchy 2017-08-03 21:49

Thanks for the reply :) I think I understand your point and, by the way, if you plan to extend the game please absolutely leave a comment here (or a PM, whenever it gets implemented on the new site :rolling_eyes:) because I love the base idea of your game and I would absolutely play it :) I was planning to do a sort of "network" (with links etc) for my game, too. But the second day, when I started working on that part, I recognized that I could not finish in time and scrapped the idea, falling back to more simple and "boring" mechanics and refining the game instead. I can imagine the technical challenges of developing your game, and I must compliment you for overcoming in them (I think that you achieved quite a good result for 48h).

See you next time!

broken-matrix 2017-08-11 03:19

Thank you! And I will do so, but most likely move it out of Unity for a lot of reasons. :p

furiouswitch 2017-08-22 15:28

Nice concept! I liked the view of the camera and mechanics of the game but it was too difficult for me. Maybe decrease the steps?

P.S IF you would like to play and rate my game that would be great. Thanks :)

pyrotheflamy 2017-12-27 16:37

I got too confused. Seems like it could have been fun, though.