FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD46 → Automata

Automata

By whatnamegames

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall4653.8349
Fun7733.5448
Innovation10053.3949
Theme16103.4747
Graphics3824.2151
Audio9223.3247
Humor12462.8244
Mood10503.4748

Comments

robcozzens2 2020-04-21 04:41

This looks fantastic, but I'm on a Mac. Is there any chance you can export a HTML5 or Mac version?

terristen 2020-04-21 04:42

Very smooth play in general. I did find it difficult to platform as my sense of where the "feet" of the bot was didn't seem to match with the game's idea of where they were. Overall nicely made.

boxedmeatrevolution 2020-04-21 05:01

The acid jump parts were too challenging given the difficult jump controls, but besides that this was a very well polished entry. The easter egg at the start for Tiny was a nice touch.

low-mana 2020-04-21 05:05

This was a really nice entry and has that good ol' Portal vibe to it. I really liked the idea of controlling multiple robots and the level design was nice!

The biggest downfall for me was the lack of checkpoints per room. I kept dying at the acid jump part over and over and after a few running back through the previous 3 rooms I just called it quits because it was a bit frustrating. I feel like a checkpoint right in that room would be great and make dying less painful.

whatnamegames 2020-04-21 05:11

@robcozzens2 - Hey, I can try and get a mac version up tomorrow, but I don't have any way to test it and 've never done one before so I can't promise good results. But I'll have look.

@terristen - Thanks for the feedback, yeah I think a shadow would have been helpful in hindsight.

@boxedmeatrevolution - Thanks for playing, yeah as developers we played it enough to have the jumping parts down so we did find it difficult to balance, we'll have to find someone out of the loop to help test it in the future.

@low-mana - Thanks : ), we did discuss checkpoints during development but struggled to think of a smooth way to implement it for what was original four controlable robots, but we have identified a solution and when/if we build this into a proper game we will be implementing things such as that.

lesslwo 2020-04-21 17:40

Very solid and good looking puzzle game overall, but yeah, it can REALLY use some checkpoints (and maybe a couple of adjustments to player movement for better platforming) (though maybe I'm just bad).

robcozzens2 2020-04-21 21:09

@whatnamegames That'd be great! If you let me know when it's up, I can test it out and let you know if it works.

foursay 2020-04-21 23:05

This is truly amazing for a 3-day jam game! at first I thought I cant convey the box to the next laser room at the first level, but turns out that's some key component to get through the door lol. I really enjoy the mood of this game and good job!

whatnamegames 2020-04-21 23:59

@robcozzens2 - Hey, I made you a Mac version, though again, I have no way of testing it but I hope it works for you : ) https://whatnamegames.itch.io/automata - there will now be a mac version that you can choose to download.

@foursay - Thanks so much, that means a lot. I (the designer etc) tried my best to design the levels and puzzles with a lot of focus on natural teaching moments, but all I can do now is hope I managed to convey it well, so this eases my mind and pleases me greatly. Thanks a lot. I'll get around to giving everyone's games tomorrow, as I want to put time into playing others games, and at least make sure to do so for all who have taken the time to play ours especially.

@lesslwo - Thanks for playing and for the feedback, checkpoints will definitely be added in a full version in the form of special checkpoint rooms every x puzzles for example. Thanks for playing!

bulent-altinay 2020-04-23 05:53

Cool game. I like switching between robots. Some control to rotate the objects you are holding would be better I think. Acid part is difficult, as mentioned before. :thumbsup:

andre-fremaux 2020-04-23 08:48

Love the graphics and the robot designs for this game!

I found the platforming to be quite janky at times, its mostly due to the slow initial movement followed by the fast acceleration (its especially bad for the tiny robot). I also found myself getting stuck on the raised platforms and vents and would have to jump to be able to move again.

Apart from those two things I liked the staticy background for the intro/outro text and the simple story adds a quite a lot to the game! This is a real solid entry, great work guys! :smile:

marcusnystrand 2020-04-23 11:10

Cool aesthetics! Reminds me of portal. Great job!

inkedsplat 2020-04-23 11:24

fun game, some tricky parts here and there like the acid part everyone mentioned. some checkpoints might have been nice, I also had quite a few issues with fitting that box in the first room through the door of the exact same size, would've been nice if it were bigger to not have those kind of problems. art was nice though

morandigame 2020-04-23 11:26

Looks fantastic. Would be great if there is a mac version

thevruniverse 2020-04-23 11:35

nice i loved ur game GG

leon-oost 2020-04-23 12:01

OMG is this portal 3 XD! It amazing! There is story, puzzles and smooth controllers. If I would edit one more thing it was Checkpoints :P. My parkour skills are not the best and because the robots speed increase wen you jump I died a lot ): I did get to the end!

sztrovacsek 2020-04-23 13:06

It keeps amazing me what can people do in such a short period of time! Very good game indeed! I'm a big fan of Portal, and I think with a little more polish this game could be the next one! :smile:

megahana 2020-04-23 14:10

thank you for making the mac ver! i was really interigued by the screenshots, and delighted to see that you added a mac version.

love the simple but affective colors, i feel like i can stare at it forever lol. somehow it warms my heart, when i entered the room and saw slim waving to me. the mood was expressed in a seamless way.

whatnamegames 2020-04-23 15:48

@bulent-altinay - Thank you! Yeah, for a full version we're making a lot of changes, and the pickup system is being revamped to be a lot more user friendly, as well as other aspects to also aid such mechanics.

@andre-fremaux - Thanks a lot for the kind words and feedback : ), honestly, the movement tweaks flew a little under our radard after getting used to it from testing, but we're going to ensure it's a lot smoother for a future release, alongside many other changes.

@marcusnystrand - Thank you! The portal comparisons are nice to hear as I did take some inspirations from it, obviously : )

@inkedsplat - Really appreciate you playing and providing feedback, doors are being made double width and the pickup system is being revampd for the eventual full release, all your feedback is really appreciated.

@morandigame - Thank you, there is now a mac version, so feel free to play : D

@thevruniverse - Thanks a bunch : )

@leon-oost - It's great to hear you enjoyed it, checkpoints are definitely going to be added to the final product : )

@sztrovacsek - Those are some wonderful words of encouragement, thanks a bunch.

@megahana - No problem, now I know hoe easy it is, I will do it going forwards. We're pleased you enjoyed it so much!

robcozzens2 2020-04-23 20:08

That was amazing!! Thanks so much for adding a Mac version! Worked great by the way. It's hard to imagine making a game like that in a weekend!!! I'm glad to hear that you're thinking of making a full version. If you're compiling a mailing list, I'd like to be notified when it's done.

gorypixels 2020-04-24 12:23

I'm really suprised by this, it's just mindblowing for a jam game!!! :O The controls were a bit twitchy on my good ol'computer, but appart from that this is as polished as it can get. Congratulations!

whatnamegames 2020-04-24 16:15

@gorypixels - That means a lot, thanks for playing.

nsadie 2020-04-24 19:48

Wow, this is a lot of game and polish for a weekend! Very impressive entry, solid graphics, nice gameplay.

The only negatives is that the platforming was a bit floaty and frustrating when falling into the acid. A checkpoint would have been welcome!

legavroche 2020-04-24 22:18

Really well-polished entry! I enjoyed the gameplay, but like others mentioned, the platforming with acid was tough and having a checkpoint system would be a welcome addition. The robot models, especially the third one, were really cute!

perpetuummobile 2020-04-24 23:22

This is one of the best games of the jam imo. The gameplay was amazing and the graphics looked great. Having some music or more audio would be great, and the physics and jumps can be a little frustrating.

jk5000 2020-04-25 12:40

The idea is simple and interesting. The graphics is all pretty good. The game needs some more sound effects and perhaps some level music. I would also really like a check point system. Overall is this a good jam game. Well done.

brachistosauro 2020-04-25 21:10

The intro and outro really hit me - well done. The game itself is amazingly polished and looks really really good, the only thing I'd have put is some kind of checkpoint system, as the platforming bits are somewhat frustrating. I also loved switching between the different robots and their different point of views. Overall great job!

cadstor 2020-04-25 22:56

Cool game you mede! I like the aesthetics. :3

whatnamegames 2020-04-26 00:49

@robcozzens2 - No problem, thanks so much for playing. Not too sure yet about if we're making a mailing list, I'll look into it, but you can always follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/whatnamegames18 if you like, to keep up to date, we'll be posting more about the full version soon when we have major updates to show.

@nsadie - Thanks a bunch, yep, platforming is being redone and a checkpoint system is being built for the full game.

@legavroche - Thanks for the kind words! I intend to make the robots even better for their final game models : )

@perpetuummobile - That means a lot, definitely be having a full set of sounds for the real game and all other critiques are being addressed.

@jk5000 - Thanks : )

@brachistosauro - Thanks, a lot will be changed for the final version to make it much smoother and give the game more content and polish.

@cadstor - Thanks a lot.

lerg 2020-04-26 17:52

Very cool entry! Great graphics and gameplay. I enjoyed it!

karenin-dmitry 2020-04-27 12:11

Nice game, looks greate, reminds Portal and Talos principle, but with new core mechanic with several robots. It have potential to make a looot of interesting game situations. I hope next comments can help to polish the game:

- Firstly, checkpoint system, of course :D - it's a little complicated to control orientation of picked object - Is size of door puzzle or not (through which you need to bring "companion cube")? If puzzle, must have control for orientation of picked object. If not, then make sense to make it larger (or make it pazzle :p) - Make different view for buttons which have different behavior. I saw two types - you need to press one time and you need to stay on button. It's not so important, but it make game more readable for player

P.s. You twitter link doesn't work

lamossus 2020-04-27 13:11

Very polished for a game jam! The robot designs are adorable. The puzzles are very simple but still nice.

Like others mentioned the platforming felt frustrating I almost quit after unlocking slim because I couldn't get to the other side of acid pool for quite a while. And grabbing objects felt really awkward, they seemed to just rotate randomly on pick up sometimes and I took way too much effort to orient them properly. And also in the first puzzle I managed to clip through the ceiling a bit using the block.

Full version sounds exciting, good luck!

thx4nothing 2020-04-27 15:21

I think it would be better to have checkpoints at the start of every room. Otherwise it's fun!

whatnamegames 2020-05-01 06:35

@lerg - Thanks for the feedback, happy you liked it.

@karenin-dmitry - Thanks for the extensive feedback and pointing out the twitter issue, I fixed it : ), the issues mentioned are fixed/are being fixed in the full game.

@lamossus - Thanks : ), we're making syre to fix such issues like you mentioned.

@thx4nothing - Cechkpoints will be a feature of the full game, thanks for playing!

togimaro 2020-05-01 16:03

Trully impressive game! Really polished! The 3d assets are really great, it's quite impressive for a jam! The physics is a little frustrating and unfortunatly I had motion sickness due to the camera FOV. But otherwise there are some really nice puzzles! Cool game!

2020-05-02 00:44

I enjoyed the game quite a bit! A couple of suggestions that I've seen just glancing through the comments that I'd like to echo here:

- First, being able to rotate the grabbed objects would be a huge quality of life change! There were several instances where I was stuck against a wall or unable to squeeze the first block through the doorway because the object simply rotated whatever direction it felt like. Also, I got knocked through a wall at one point with this problem.

- First 2.0, simply because of gameplay experience, I was able to surmise that interacting with the objects was E, might want to put a UI indication somewhere that explicitly states this without having to rely on player experience levels or to browse through the controls in the menu.

- Second, my two cents about the platforming problem is that the landing needs to be stickier. I think the biggest difficulty spike for those two sections was landing right on the edge of the platforms and simply sliding off the edge. If you prefer to keep the slide feel, it may be better to make the acid pool a Damage Over Time effect rather than an instant death.

Overall a great job! The puzzles were engaging for a 3-day game, and it was interesting to interact with each of the robot's various gameplay mechanics. And typing this I have a third suggestion! Explicit descriptions of how each robot behaves in the puzzles may be helpful for people who don't play a lot of games. Just a quick thing about the first one being heavier than the rest, slim being able to jump, etc.

Finally, yes I know that you're all working on the project currently, but I must review the project available to us here. :)

whatnamegames 2020-05-04 09:28

@faenic - Thanks for the feedback, helps improve the updated full release so it's all very welcome. Glad you enjoyed it!