Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD51 → Tower Stack
By chriswiseman
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 985 | 3.09 | 29 | |
| Fun | 954 | 2.94 | 29 | |
| Innovation | 943 | 2.88 | 29 | |
| Theme | 905 | 3.29 | 29 | |
| Graphics | 631 | 3.57 | 28 | |
| Humor | 720 | 2.57 | 22 | |
| Mood | 745 | 3.27 | 24 |
I got error during launch:
############################################################################################ ERROR in action number 1 of Async Event: System Event for object obj_setup:
Variable obj_setup.player(100281, 0) not set before reading it. at gml_Object_obj_setup_Other_75 ############################################################################################ gml_Object_obj_setup_Other_75 (line -1)
Hope it helps you
Me too =((
############################################################################################ ERROR in action number 1 of Async Event: System Event for object obj_setup:
Variable obj_setup.player(100281, 0) not set before reading it. at gml_Object_obj_setup_Other_75
############################################################################################ gml_Object_obj_setup_Other_75 (line -1)
Me too ############################################################################################ ERROR in action number 1 of Async Event: System Event for object obj_setup:
Variable obj_setup.player(100281, 0) not set before reading it. at gml_Object_obj_setup_Other_75
############################################################################################ gml_Object_obj_setup_Other_75 (line -1)
Hi LePoulet (@lepoulet) / Faust_Mi (@faust-mi) & Igor Morgun (@igor-morgun),
I have fixed the issue, thank you so much for pointing it out (new version attached above). Your current version will also work if you unplug your joypad controller when you boot it up.
If you have chance, please take a look and feedback.
Now I am going to download peoples game and give me a play :)
Thanks, Chris
Nice job on a first game jam title! I loved the graphics you had going for the game - everything looking minimalistic with the blocks having a color that made them pop gave the game a unique look. I also thought you had a fun concept to explore here. Figuring out how to properly stack up blocks to make sure nothing falls over was a nice application of the jam's theme.
That said, I did find that I could cheese levels by clicking onto the "reach here" boxes, as doing that would count as beating the level. I also felt like levels were very slow given how small the spawned blocks and how infrequently you were able to manually spammed blocks. I would have loved to see the game if both of those issues were addressed!
Hi rjmarzec, Thanks for the feedback. The reach here issue is I just ran out of time, so will fix for a full release. Noted on the balance, I think I will look to speed up the spawning of the blocks and also add a setting for that speed amount. So definitely will address, thanks so much for the feedback, this is all about learning :)
This reminded me of some webgames I played some time ago. I think in those you had to stack tetrominoes. Anyway... The concept is nice! As someone else said, you can cheese the levels, so either the win condition should be adjusted or you could introduce a rule that you can only place blocks a little above the highest block that is in contack with other blocks. It might also be interesting to add a mechanic that asks you to place amount X of blocks every 10 seconds. that would change the game towards a puzzle-dexteritx game. Your game looks and feels very polished. The aesthetics look very clean and fitting. Good job on that. So, all in all great entry, especialls as you first game jam project :)
It's a cool and unique game you have made. You used the theme well and I love the artstyle. More different, but shorter levels would be better in my opinion.
Really neat idea and the theme was well executed. The graphics are simple and clean which fits. As someone else mentioned, you can just click the end box to finish the level, and I also wanted to add that nothing stops you from building blocks at any of the floating steps, which should be adjusted. Overall, I think this has a lot of potential to be one of those calming puzzle games to play every so often!
I think you should make the blocks stickier so they're easier to stack and add walls on the sides so that you can lean the blocks against them. Currently I think the game is way too hard because of how far the goal is and how long it takes to stack the blocks. It also takes way too long to scroll all the way up to see the goal and then back down to start stacking.
This is a good attempt for a first game jam, you did a great job with the art and came up with a cool idea but like most jam games, the gameplay balance made it too difficult to play properly.
A great first attempt! Physics are always tricky to get right, but sticker blocks and higher gravity might have been better here. The levels were pretty big too, I wasn't really sure what there was to do except to keep stacking blocks, which got a bit repetitive after a while. Also you can start your stacking anywhere, including on the higher up ledges, and also in the goal box, meaning you can just click once to win every level.
Hi stmatn (@stmatn), Thanks for the feedback. Definitely going to look at different game modes when I turn it into a full game. Your right a puzzle mode around number of bricks placed or tracking progress would be really cool. Thanks for the well wishes, will defo fix the bug on how high you can place a brick. Also yes, my first time on a game jam, been really fun :)
Hi Guntainment (@guntainment), Yep, agree I sense I will need to do at least 10-20 levels and build up the difficulty more slowly with lower difficulty, had to rush the initial five levels given the 72 hours available.
Hi Vary (@vary), Here's hoping it turns out like that, would love people to play it that way.
Hi Skleembof (@skleembof), Had not thought of adding a wall at the side, but I think you are right, I will do that..
Hi natpat (@natpat), Yep, I just used the standard settings for the physics, but I will definitely look at the balancing on this. Also maybe add a toggle on a setting to let players muck around with it, so maybe also get low gravity as well, that could be fun.
Amazing job for the first entry. I'm really impressed by the UI cohesion and vibe. Animations are neat. It really fits the puzzle game. Great polish. Clicking on the final spot beats the level, that's the main issue. I feel like levels are to long or at least given the block sizes and the chaos that hostile/random blocks introduce whenever they appear. Though I'm not into puzzle games, so I might be just bad or at least shouldn't talk about balance of puzzle games.
The exe required admin permissions to run, so I couldn't play it :(
Can you make it not require admin?
Congratulations on your first jam game! Physics are always a bit messy to work with, every jam I've used physics in I've spent a LOT of time debugging unintended consequences of the physics. It's a very calming game, though pieces simply sliding off screen makes it hard to build once things stop laying flat, so just putting walls just off screen would go a long way to improve game play. Well done, and I hope you do more games in the future!
Very nice ! I can click on the ending zone to jump to the next level, but when you play fair to it, it's very good. Well done !
This was really impressive for your first game jam! I've found physics can be a nightmare to handle, but you seem to pull it off with aplomb! I thought the minimalist visual style was clean and easily readable while complimenting the gameplay. And, what I think is most important, you made a fully complete game - not something half-baked or over-scoped like so many other first-time entries I've played.
For some advice for a first-timer, I will always say this: Going forward, remember that you'll work on your game for 48-72 hours. Everyone else will be playing it for 2-5 minutes. Whatever negative qualities you feel about the game are going to be 10x worse for the players. If your game is "tough but fair", it's actually frustratingly hard - cut the difficulty in half. If the controls are "weighty but satisfying", it's actually clunky and unintuitive - make the controls more responsive. In your game's case, you might have felt the length of each level was "just right", but I found even the first level dragged on. I think it was just really hard to actually build up a tower, since once one stack fell over you couldn't really rebuild and just had to make as big of a pile as possible.
Have you ever heard of Tricky Towers? It's a "Tetris but with physics" style game that you might want to check out. When you get to the end of a race, your tower has to hold the piece above the finish line for 3 seconds before you win. I think that could be used to combat that "click on the goal to win" problem you have.
Also, I haven't used Game Maker in a while, but isn't there an option to export a plain .exe instead of an installer? It's always frustrating having to manually install a quick game jam game.
I like the visual minimalism and the chill mood the game set into! Now I'm not sure I found any winning strategy (well, one that doesn't involve cheating). Most of the time my stacks were in a precarious balance, and the collapsing blocks would destroy it anyway. So I always ended up with a gigantic pile of stuff. A pile reaching very high since there isn't ledges on the side! However, as I mentioned, it was very easy to win by cheating. I just had to click on the end box and... voilà. :p At least it makes the game not frustrating. I was able to set up my own rules, like if I was able to reach a platform, I could build from there... Yeah it wasn't super rigorous. In the end though, I enjoyed this sandbox aspect of the game. It's very relaxing, and it was fun to try to build towers as soon as possible before they get crumbled, or just collapse on themselves. The physics is just fair enough to allow to build. Well done!
Awesome project! I enjoyed the simplicity of the design. Here's a link to my playthrough... https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1620885647?t=00h32m53s
First of all, HALLELUJAH YOU HAVE AN INSTALLER! Thank you! I found this game more like a sandbox than a strategic game--I never really planned beyond "drop stuff really fast"--but still, it was fun and zen. The graphics are clean and they work well for the type of game, and the physics were smooth and felt nice. If you wanted to package this as a full-sized game, you'd definitely want to work on making it have a real strategy, but for a little jam project I think it's quite good the way it is.
Hi Everyone, a lot of messages here and all really well received, so a big thank you to all of you for the different feedbacks. Let me answer each of them:
@kregap - Thanks for the comments on the vibe :). Yes defo going to look at how I do better balance on the levels and look at introducing more chaos gradually.
@yoni - Really sorry to hear, I can't replicate that, if you have anymore details then please share and I look further into it.
@sheldonzs - Love the walls idea, I am coding it into the game right now and will include in some / all game modes. Agree it would give a different feel to the game.
@sigo - Thanks for the kind words, glad you enjoyed the game.
@niterich - This is really great feedback for sure, really appreciate it. Will check out that game you mentioned, also looking at how to do the physics fixes on the placing the blocks. The advice on the balancing and hardness is totally on. I am looking at this now and will also try to get the game out to communities to look at the game balancing / hardness. It is so easy to get too close to the game difficulty. For the installer, let me check, I think I need to do different types of ways to installer, like installer, exe and maybe a HTML build in future jams.
@itooh - Thanks for the sandbox comments, I sense as I build this, I need to have a traditional game campaign mode, but also more of a sandbox mode to allow different ways to play.
@ron-jones-the-artist - Thank you so much for sharing on Twitch, I have never had anyone include something I built, so thank you. I will re-share on Twitter soon. Thanks for the feedback, watching you play, helps me understand what works and what doesn't.
@gwenckatz - Thanks agree this was more to try my first game jam. From the positive reaction, I will definitely build out, but agree, it will need more strategy / thinking to scale out.
Looking forward to seeing the results for everyone, this is a great progress and will defo be back in April for the Ludum Dare Jam. I will definitely develop out this to a full but small game to release on Steam and hopefully other platforms. Please keep a look out and I will get a Steam up by Mid December latest using the same game title.
Thanks, Chris