Keep it alive

gerbo 2020-04-20 10:28

Nice game! tho i think it wasn't perfectly fitting the theme, but still, the puzzles are nice and the graphics are too

moomka 2020-04-20 10:31

It is very difficult to get into the aisles and avoid unnecessary arrows. It’s better to change the control to move around the cells and go more towards the puzzle, rather than training at the speed of pressing the arrows

jeremyfa 2020-04-20 10:32

Nice entry! I like how it evolves with more minions. It could be improved by making the arrows area more forgiving. In the first level, it was quite difficult to walk into the arrow in the wall. Overall pretty cool game

k4v0x 2020-04-20 10:35

Isn't that the sprite from baba is you? The one for the red enemy from level 6 and 7? Anyway, stellar design, and a fun ideea.

majk-fl 2020-04-20 10:36

Great level design! A big amount of various cool mechanics

gamepopper 2020-04-20 10:40

Good level design, things definitely got interesting when you had more than one person to control. Managed to get through seven of the eight levels.

teo-miklethun 2020-04-20 10:41

Great game. The aha moment at the end was great, and well lead up too. I'm not sure if level 6 is as hard as was intended, however.

zuf 2020-04-20 10:50

Thanks for the comments!

@moomka @jeremyfa I agree that the controls make it tricky to fit in some gaps and avoid things. When I play it I often end up hugging to wall on one side to navigate around corners. The level design allows this most of the time, but it's not an obvious trick to pick up and I shouldn't rely on players doing this. I ran out of time when building this, but improving the controls is something I'd definitely do if I extended the game.

Regarding improving the controls, there are multiple directions this could be taken.

One idea is to make everything move strictly within the grid and in four directions only. This would prevent brushing the sides of arrows.

Or if I want to keep the fluid movement, I could add some assistance that makes the sprites align to the grid in certain situations. E.g. When you're moving left/up/right/down, your character automatically stays close the the middle of tiles.

@k4v0x I haven't played baba is you, but I've seen screenshots. The art style is inspired by that game.

syo 2020-04-20 10:53

Oh, I love it so much. If you look at my project, you will see a lot in common. Good job!

k4v0x 2020-04-20 10:58

@zuf I suggest adding a visual efect when brushing by the spikes at low speed, and actually kill the player when colliding at high speeds. It should help the control scheme.

kjscott 2020-04-20 15:25

Would have worked well as a tile based puzzle game, rather than the pixel perfect movement required but then again that would have changed how some of the traps worked. When you died would have been able to get back into the game quicker if the level auto reset. On completing a level it would have been nice to be able to auto-move to the next level without having to click on Menu then select the next level yourself.

I think with some of the mechanics you had in the game, traps, multiple characters, and so on, with a bit more thought and polish on the level design this could definitely start to shine as a game. Some of the levels you didn't even have to go all the way through, it was easy enough to double back on yourself.

Definitely one of the more innovative games I've played so far.

zuf 2020-04-22 00:05

Thanks for the feedback!

@teo-miklethun @kjscott

I realised afterwards that some levels had unintended shortcuts. As you noticed, level 6 lets you skip the second part of the level. And in level 3 you can walk under the third moving spike. I didn't have enough time left for level design so it was rushed.

Level 8 is an important one because it's a nice twist on the theme. Most interpretations of "keep it alive" are about keeping some allied creature/object alive, but in level 8 you keep the opposing creature alive.

This game can definitely be improved if I spend more time on the controls, level design and general polish. I plan to make a post-compo version that fixes all this.

peachtreeoath 2020-04-23 02:21

At first when I played this game, I have to admit I was a bit impatient and jumped to the last level after I thought I understood the game. I died a lot and then went back to clear the levels the proper way. When I revisited level 8 I loved it so much more. It's almost like the first 7 levels was leading up to 8, and 8 really showed the brilliance of the gameplay. The solution is real clever and you feel very smart when you clear it. Great twist and I encourage everyone to rate after they've experienced or cleared level 8 first.

The game allows quite a bit of flexibility on game design and I'm impressed with all the things you showed. The multiple character aspect is definitely the most intriguing, as other games like this don't explore that much. Good concept and execution overall!