Mouse Trap!

triplefox 2018-08-14 01:34

This game shows a lot of potential to be developed into a kind of Pac-Man style maze chase. I like that there's even a "bonus round" part. Once I got a handle on how it worked I cruised to level 11 and then encountered a bug where I hit the level exit at the same moment that an enemy moved on top of it, triggering both the level end and the death sequences.

I suggest dialing down the number of random elements. They aren't out of control, but they make the strategies to win each round more generic, which is why I was able to get so far. I wrote an article on [chaos](http://ludamix.com/dive/chaos/) and it discusses what makes chaotic elements in games(which we usually want some of) different from simply random ones, and how to achieve them.

micahtron 2018-08-14 02:46

Fun game, and I like the concept. Was able to learn to play as I go, so the gameplay design is good. Also like all the random items that show up in the maze. My only problem was the "walls-closing-in" mechanic. It felt more punishing than challenging. Maybe have the inner walls shift so you're not just trapped in a pocket of isolation awaiting your Game Over?

sylvie 2018-08-14 02:57

Fun game! It felt like there was a bit of luck involved in whether you get a good spawn point, but most of the time I found a way to deal with it. I liked that you have to be careful about going for the cheese or you can trap yourself. The sprites were very cute, although the scaling made them look a bit squashed and choppy.

divinenephron 2018-08-14 08:22

The cheese mechanic was good - it made me plan ahead so I didn't trap myself. A change I'd suggest is making death restart the level rather than restarting the game from level 1. I'd have been able to see more of the levels and could have learnt from my mistakes better that way.

rahim-pxr 2018-08-27 00:30

Nice game, I hope to see more updates and improvments sooner. If you don't bother take a look at our game when we focused on Graphics and visuals and see the results that we got: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/spacelab-42 Commenti haddi

logicon211 2018-08-27 00:31

I long for the cheese.

cg-fred 2018-08-30 22:41

Fun game and nice effect when you die :)

bbapps 2018-08-30 22:45

Very fun game, it's definitely challenging but fun at the same time.

atom0520 2018-09-03 02:57

The pixel sprites look cute. The audio sound cute. The button and text animations in the menu also look cute! Although you said your game is like Pac-Man but the "shrinking room" mechanism makes the gameplay very different from Pac-Man. IMO your game is more about choosing the right path to avoid getting tracked. The enemies are easy to deal with as they don't have chase AI, which makes sense in your case as the maze and shrinking room already make your game a little tricky.

Overall I think your game is fun and cute. Well done! And I would appreciate it if you can also give my game a try! :slight_smile:

randomphantom 2018-09-03 07:54

Cute and fun idea for a game and it reminds me of a certain mouse and cheese game in the past that I played. I would suggest making the graphics a little clearer to understand and read, as I didn't know where my mouse was when I started the levels and sometimes ended up dying, and that the walls and the ground seemed to blend in together. The mouse also doesn't look evenly sized when going horizontal and vertical. Audio was really well done, and the game was properly juicy in parts required with the blood splatter.

gudval 2018-09-03 13:34

It was enjoyable to play a game like this ! I have not seen another one during this jam. I would also suggest to make the mouse stand out more in the background because sometimes I would just not see where the mouse was, especially at the beginning. Also, I really liked the cat sprite.

djeycreations 2018-09-03 13:34

Cheesy game! Nice entry. You could improve it by adding some "flow" in the gameplay and by improving the AI behavior.