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Running out of Keys
Running out of Keys
By oadt
View on ldjam.com
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Overall | 248 | 3.56 | 51 | |
| Fun | 377 | 3.21 | 51 | |
| Innovation | 13 | 4.27 | 51 | |
| Theme | 173 | 3.91 | 50 | |
| Graphics | 475 | 2.96 | 49 | |
| Audio | 448 | 2.66 | 48 | |
| Humor | 389 | 2.25 | 42 | |
| Mood | 403 | 2.85 | 44 | |
Comments
A very interesting take on a puzzle game. I quite like the concept of moving to the literal key that you press, and this game is a great execution of that. It did take me a little while to figure out that I could only move to the adjacent keys, and a couple of deaths to figure out to hit the keys in order; you may want to consider adding a tutorial to your games in the future. But it didn’t take all that long, and was really fun to play. I liked the sounds of moving around the keyboard. Good job overall.
This is a really clever idea. I think it'd be easier to play if the keys had the letters on them though. I use a split keyboard, and it was sometimes hard to tell which keys were which.
sprvrn
2018-08-12 23:47
I beat the first 2 levels... but that was hard aha. Good and original mecanics tho!
valden
2018-08-12 23:48
A very hard puzzle ! Also a clever use of the keyboard and the theme !
m8rix
2018-08-12 23:48
Really cool concept! It was (at least for me) something completely new. However, it was kinda frustrating when you misclicked on the wrong key (which was rather easy to do).
Very clever idea. I just wish the keys were labelled but perhaps that makes it too easy. Maybe a countdown timer to add some time pressure? Great job.
Interesting idea, and good execution! Overall, I really like the game, but there are some things that could have been improved:
The game was quite hard for me, maybe you could've added some simpler levels as an introduction. Right now, you already introduce no less than three special mechanics just in the first level (bombs, points you have to take in a certain order and portals) and then two more in the second level. It gets a bit overwhelming.
Also, it seems a bit unfair that other blocks suddenly appear in the third level, making it necessary to restart just because you took a key earlier than you needed to. I always like to plan my moves before playing and this made that impossible, just like the keys that didn't indicate the door they belong to.
Also, I would've preferred if you simply prevented the ship from going to keys you'd already been to instead of having to restart the whole level, especially as it was sometimes hard to keep track of where you are.
To end with some positive things:
The graphics were really good and crisp, it's nice that there's sound and I thought "Ground Ctrl" was funny. :slight_smile:
jambav
2018-08-13 10:21
Clever concept. Nice take on the theme. As others said, Labelled keys will make the game the game more fun and less frustrating.
oadt
2018-08-13 10:46
@wavertron A countdown was planned (making it from walking to running), but I cutted it, because I think it would become way to hectic.
@florian-van-strien Thanks for the long comment! Yeah, I fell in the typical developer trap, thinking the mechanics are clear and fast restarts make it less frustrating. Next time I know bettter. Nice, then putting ground ctrl in was worth it :smile:
barrier
2018-08-13 10:49
Really cool puzzle concept, but I had some trouble with the keys as the graphics doesn't totally match my keyboard's key sizes :D
anstabo
2018-08-13 11:03
i didn't think i would enjoy playing this, but i did ! Really innovative, wonder what it would look like with 3D graphics
andy-d
2018-08-13 11:48
Great puzzle game! Once you get it (I took a couple of tries to figure out how to play), it is quite easy, so maybe adding a timer would help. Would play again!
Clever concept and i liked the space-space theme :smile: I had lots of troubles getting into how you play the game though.
2018-08-13 15:08
A timer wouldn't add anything to the game. Mouse control would help, as well as better indication of where bombs will appear and what will trigger them.
Great job on the game! It took a little to get used to what I was meant to be doing but it was really compelling once I understood. The puzzles were probably a bit tough at the beginning but certainly solvable when you've spent a bit of time working it out.
Looks like it has a lot of potential, and it is a very unique game! Have to be honest, it took me a long time to understand how to play, and I couldn't figure out how to beat level 1! A tutorial may help. Well done for coming up with something genuinely innovative!
red-iron
2018-08-13 20:43
Very annoying. Excellent! :)
pomb
2018-08-14 08:46
I agree with poster above don't add a timer. Mouse control defeats part of what the game is. Had fun playing this, I was a little confused in the beginning but then got it, could mitigate this by making the first level just really a lot simpler otherwise it's a cool entry.
Great game! I didn't play very far into it, but I enjoyed what I played! It was an interesting concept that utilized the keyboard to create a fun and challenging puzzle game! Well done!
Wonderful concept: keyboard type mechanic + puzzles(path-finding). For me it is a bit difficult - perhaps no letters of keys make it hard. I blind-type and this game seems for blind typers as it should be uncomfortable to look at keyboard and at the screen in turns all the time. Great interesting entry.
awix
2018-08-15 06:22
Good Gaming Idea, Music needs to be improved Graphics good
suchista
2018-08-15 18:59
Clever idea and good level design! The bombs are frustrating, but oh well
This is definitely inventive! I am really bad at it and it frustrates me to no end, though. 😆 There's a lot of trial and error, two or three super basic mechanic-explaining levels at the start would have helped me learn without feeling frustrated.
The sounds are pretty harsh, not very pleasant on a headset. The graphics have room for improvement but do their job (so much grey though).
Clever concept that just got a little too difficult too quickly for me, but I'd say go post-compo with this.
eclahn
2018-08-15 19:48
Nice original idea. I didn't like that some elements of the puzzles appeared without a warning, a good puzzle should be solvable from the start with good enough observation skills, but I still enjoyed the game. You managed to do a double-take on the theme and that's nice!
paulie-b
2018-08-16 12:42
Pretty cool idea and unique interpretation of the theme! A good balance of difficulty and fun. A suggestion though would be to explain the key (by which I mean the key for locks, not the keyboard one) system in the description of the game
Once I figured out what to do, it was really enjoyable! Love the graphics and sfx. Great job for compo!
albin
2018-08-16 14:02
Really nice concept that actually works as a game and not just a cool idea. This was not only hard because of having to know where the keys are and not missclicking, but also because it was a really good and challenging puzzle game. Really creative and fun game. Good job :D
endurion
2018-08-16 15:37
Funny idea :)
In the end it's a nice puzzle game which is made quite a bit more difficult due to the control scheme. Couldn't fit the theme though without ;)
mza
2018-08-16 15:38
Haven't played anything like this before. I think its a unique concept. It took me a while to figure out the first puzzle though.
Really innovative! Running out of keys was a nice idea. Also some interesting gameplay elements that work well together. I was really surprised how tough puzzle 2 turned out to be, but ultimately beat it. The third one however defeated me - it looked so easy at first, onyl to turn into a monster after a few moves. :D
I personally would have liked captions on the keys. The way it was, I always had to look back and forth between screen and keyboard to make sure I always hit the right key and don't accidentally die. Mouse controls would have worked as well, but I admit pressing virtual keyboard keys with your mouse in this game would have been somewhat weird.. :)
Yeeaaaaaah I beat all 5 levels! Really fun than I imagined at first. One thing... it became slower and slower when you retry(or just keep playing?) in Google Chrome. so I reloaded the web page every time I retry.
oadt
2018-08-16 18:32
@paulie-b Thanks for the suggestion, I added it.
@geekdrums Thank you (and the others) for playing the whole game! It sounds like a memory leak (well, thats fitting the theme :smile: ) Idk if I can fix it, because I am not on my dev workspace, but thanks for reporting.
Nice take on the theme and a good puzzle game. Sound and graphics fit together nicely. You could make this into a typing-teacher with a timer and some tweaks, good entry. As you've heard, I think some more explanation on the icons/mechanics would be nice. Thanks for your feedback on my game, and good luck :)
I want to preface this review by saying that your game reminds me of typing games like Epistory and Typing of the Dead; except this displays a whole new refreshing take on keyboard-based games.
I found myself really enjoying the game despite having to replay each level around 6 times to finally complete it. At first, I was moving slowly through the game, pressing one key feeling for the next then hitting that next key, but I eventually found myself dancing across the keyboard with my fingers to clear out a large area.
I disagree with comments about labeling the keys. Doing that would take away the challenge of remembering where you were and reduce the player's reliance on patterned movements across the keyboard (which was the best part of the game for me). You could possibly add an easy difficulty that adds the labels if people really seem to want them.
I usually try to offer advice in my reviews but I honestly can't think of a single way to make this game any better than it already is besides obviously making more levels and maybe adding more game mechanics in the future. I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed this game. Easily the best one I've played from this jam so far. Great work.
Very interesting gameplay! A combination of typing and puzzle game, impressive innovation! Great game!
oadt
2018-08-17 09:49
@unitedfailures Thank you so much! My comment on your game didn't really expressed it, but I felt similar while playing your game and gave it a really high score in fun (that was before you commented my game, so I was neutral :smile: ). I hope you will receive more ratings.