Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD56 → Apparatus
By evindor and erasemenot
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 84 | 4.12 | 85 | |
| Fun | 147 | 3.90 | 85 | |
| Innovation | 17 | 4.29 | 84 | |
| Theme | 315 | 3.93 | 84 | |
| Graphics | 310 | 4.02 | 85 | |
| Audio | 125 | 3.91 | 83 | |
| Humor | 3.50 | 3 | ||
| Mood | 279 | 3.84 | 82 |
OK this is both awesome and confusing. I will come back to this in the morning when my brain is not fried. Music is already super chill. And the looping mechanic seems interesting. The tooltips are not readable on Web but I guess that's too be expected. Def coming back to this!
The game has nice complexity and is interesting. I really like the art style of the game and how everything blends together.
To quote MrMaico's comment, "wow this looks interesting, I need to come back to this"
I like it and want to be good at it, but not after I spent 3 days on my own game!
It's a cool idea, I like the way you program the spawning of your army in that crystal loop machine, took me a 2nd go before I figured out what I was doing but quite well polished and interesting to play. Nice work, have fun playing it.
It took around 5 tries but I got it. A bit confusing bur overall good! I would like to see this expanded adding things like logic gates and such.
I like the swarms of creatures you can make
I think it's really neat how you can set up a cycle with the machine and run it to create the creatures. I got a little confused about how much mana I had though and how to keep track of everything. It was still fun though.
Ooooh this one feels great and an impressive amount of polish as well! Trying to optimize you build while running is very fun and I can see this becoming a really great game. I would love to see it if your fireball and healing power were tied to the board and if the board pieces slowly unlocked as you defeated enemies, forcing you each time to use the pause button and build up your gear in steps. Fantastic job will be coming back to play more!
@bloodfin I'm glad you enjoyed it. Unfortunately we had to cut quite some mechanics and simplify things here and there to made it to submission. We need to take some sleep, before thinking of farther production.
@erasemenot Totally understand that! Truly impressive what you managed to accomplish in this amount of time!
@codmen4000 Thank you, yes, we indeed wanted to have more logic control blocks, switches, swaps and stuff, but that was too huge of a scope for 3 days… So many ideas, so little time. Thanks for playing!
It's a complex game, but I still enjoy ( •̀ ω •́ )✧
Super cool game. The cryptic code you have to solve, the nice art and sound and the super fun game mechanics form in combination even a better game. Nice to play a riddle game again...
This is phenomenal. The most thought provoking game I've seen in the jam so far.
I really liked this game! It's awesome!
This game really stood out to me for its visuals and gameplay offered. Really excellent game. Well done!
Interesting mechanism, I liked it!
This is a very mechanically interesting game, music and art are also good. Only thing holding it back for me is the lack of progression, you get thrown into it way too fast with only a single challenge that has to be repeated multiple times until you figure out something that works. The game would benefit greatly from having levels i think. all in all aboslutely solid submission! Good job :D
This is a very unique and engaging game. I could see myself getting lost in playing this for a while.
Really like programming games and really glad to see one in this jam! The mechanism is self-contained and interesting. I managed to prevent the apparatus from overheating, but not my computer. The game is extremely slow with lots of creatures spawned and some optimization would help (probably not something fesible during the jam). Also, really looking forward to seem more build system and and more in-depth mechanisms integrated.
I would buy this game on Steam!
I love having to make creatures with a Turing machine. And I love steampunk graphics, too bad you can't put it in full screen. It just took me a while to figure out how to put instructions in the machine.
I liked the idea of the game, it was quite exciting to play. Also, the mechanics of the game are very interesting and deserve attention, in general, a cool game
Wow, a turing machine for monster battles? Really innovative, cool idea. Also nice soundtrack and good graphics. It is really cool to see something new here :heart: PS: The tooltips on top of the machine are very small in my browser (Vivaldi on Windows); on the bottom over the symbols, they are fine.
Not the most obvious game out there, but nevertheless an original and amazing game. It was really a challenge to understand how it's meant to be played, but after a few tries it 'clicked' and it became pleasant. Great job!
Great art, awesome concept and a very nice soundtrack. The game looks and feels really polished and it has a lot of replayability. I'd love to see where this project goes because it definitely has potential
I'm addicted to this game
I really like your art style and how the icons work with the mode…
Amazing art style!
I love the style and the concept so much!! The click attack seemed OP then I saw it damaged everything :dizzy_face: This game is hard, or I'm bad at it. So lots of replay value!!
Congrats, one of the best games ive found so far
Haha this was great, I'm a sucker for programming-type games. The `X * Y` mechanic is a fun idea, though maybe a little too easy to abuse (my first attempt I tried like 20 * 20 and everything slowed to a crawl). Would also be cool to add conditionals for some more complicated loops!
This is *severely* in need for a tutorial before being thrown in the grinder like that! But I'm impressed, this is a very solid prototype and the machine's visuals are great! Nice beats too.
I win! Pretty sweet game. I don't understand what is meant by "consumes XY mana". Nice job, very impressive for a team of two :)
Fantastic visuals! @erasemenot - Pretty impressive that you're a full time engineer and this was your first time entering a jam as an artist! Love the aesthetic. This would've worked great for "Strange Machines" too! @evindor Excellent tunes and sound design. This is a cleverly designed game that takes a bit of patience to learn. I don't know if most jammers will dive deep enough to fully grasp every nuance of the mechanics, but those that do will surely be rewarded. Excellent and unique entry!
I win, stunning idea
Amazing job guys! The core loop is really smart and fun!
@jordantanner thanks! It's not my first time drawing obviously, but first time testing my art skills in a real life project, not just leisure sketching.
@sted @sketchbookbug @ownedstuff @rotaaaaaaaaaaaa @ssiannas @dgspitzer thanks for appreciating my art! It was a great opportunity to test my skills and see what needs to be improved in my art production pipeline. But it definitely game me confidence that I can pull it off.
Extremely top tier entry, this could easily be a full game of it's own, especially considering the fact that you can switch circuits by swapping out arrows to make the apparatus go into different modes. Good idea, good vibe, good exection, fantastic work.
It's an awesome game that is extremely complete, I think the only problems are on the understanding (I play without sound so I don't have all of the infos tho), it's just a bit rough visually ? You just start with everything and it's kind of overwhelming. Still think it's the most complete I've seen so far ! You did an amazing job
Ooooh yeah
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Very cool concept, one of the best games of the jam! Of course, the optimization is a bit lacking, but you can overlook that in a jam.
The music is just bombastic, I love music in this style.
The mechanics are very cool, the Turing machine is very well implemented. Naturally, not everything was clear on the first attempt, especially what X*Y spawn means, but by the third attempt, I was able to complete the game; towards the end, I even had to click with the mouse, as there seems to be a limit on spawning new objects in the game :)
As promised. I'm back and I am glad I came back to it. It's a great submission. I agree with what others said and some earlier levels that explain the mechanics would be great. Basically introduce us to how the gauge works and what the single tiles do. But for a jam and a concept. Good job.
:sunglasses: :sunglasses: :sunglasses:
This game is truely amazing, I can totaly see this maybe as a mobile version. very good job. Thank you for creating this.
@motoilyuha That must've been lagging soo much :D We had no time for even the most basic optimizaitons :laughing: Thanks for playing!
Definitely had some fun with this one even though i had performance issues when i massed produced unit. I had fun discovering how to manage the mechanics and would love to have this game around on my phone or laptop when i get bored.
Awesome idea. There should be some conditional judgment/branching to give it a Turing-complete nature. But as a gamejam entry it's great.
Really cool game concept and execution, lags like crazy after a while though. Took a little while to realise what X and Y actually referred to. Also when you try again the core starts at 99%.
Nice matching with theme, looks good
Very cool idea, and fun to figure out how to use the machine, although a tutorial would be nice. It's been said above, but since spawning loads of little guys is the objective, it would be nice to be able to get more out before things start lagging. Considering the time constraint, I'm not too bothered by either of those things, this is a fun little game!
Very cool idea
Love the gameplay, really interesting, love to play more.
I started of confused, after a little I got it though struggled with realizing if things properly worked or not. Besides that while complex it was interesting. The art fits with the music, though with the fact you be taking down tiny creatures I expected more sounds on that part- Maybe good it didn't cause it helped me focus.
Really unique concept with the machine and creature summoning mechanic! It took me a few tries to understand how everything worked, but once it clicked, the game became really engaging. I did find it a bit overwhelming at first, and a more gradual introduction or tutorial would help players ease into the mechanics. The art and music are both fantastic, adding to the overall experience. However, spawning too many creatures caused some performance issues, so a bit of optimization would improve the flow. Great potential for expansion!
Great game, a little lacking in the in-game tutorial, but figured it out pretty quickly!
I really like the art style of the game, very cool idea
Thanks for your submission! Spent a while trying to win but still can't find the proper combo :) Had a good time with it tho! See ya on the next one!
This is a really cool idea for a game. The way the logic works reminds me a little of Noita. It's a really fun system to take some time to learn and it's quite fun once you start to make better machines. I had a really good time playing this one!
The art for the machine is really well done, it makes it a little more satisfying to interact with! Same with the audio, it makes the machine feel real and really adds to the whole experience.
I really like this game, I hope you continue to work on it!
A programming game, in Ludum Dare? That qualifies a win in my book.
Well done!
@reecemungus Thank you! You're spot on, Noita wand/spell system was one of the inspirations. Of course there wasn't enough time to deliver its complexity, but we plan to implement more of ideas from Noita's wands going forward! Thanks for playing!
@firellon Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to implement logic gates and switches, but we plan to continue with the development, and logic blocks will be first things to add. Thanks for playing!
Man I felt real dumb in the beginning. First I destroyed the mana stone by myself, then I just stared at the different icons, and eventually after a few tries I started to get things going. Real interesting system. Very nice art and once I got the gameplay figured out I enjoyed it alot :)
Really fun game -- i can totally see how one could come up with some crazy designs for their apparatus!
Love @motoilyuha's design :)
@avi guess you accidentally tagged a wrong person, but that for appreciating my artwork!
Haha yes i do love your games' design, but I actually did mean @motoilyuha 's apparatus (as shown in their screenshot) haha
@avi I spent some time just before the start of the game before making this design, and afterward just adjusted the automaton so that certain ones would stop spawning mobs. It's not the best tactic, but it definitely works :sweat_smile:
very cool game, good concept, but the game mechanic is hard! (like what is xy mana or why we can't place tiles near cursor, yea my skill sucks)
I spent a lot of time playing that game - you've got some very interesting game mechanics there, combining the well known "write a program to walk a path" with a siege spawning game
I could not find out a good balance between spamlagging and actually surviving the game, always dying at around 80%
very well done!
Hey, im the host for Score Chasers this year and wanted to ask if youre fine with me using gameplay + music from the game in this LDs [score chasers tournament](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/$405421/ludum-dare-score-chasers-qualification-begins) intermission video. (Would play in the breaks of the tournament on my stream). Last LD for reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuddhZScWxo
Hey @ategon, yes, you can use a video of our game. I saw your post today about the tournament and was thinking to make a version of Apparatus with a score (use less blocks for a higher score). Would it fit the tournament or the tournament is for more fast-paced action games? Cheers.
Very interesting mechanics, ideas and art. I'd like to play more, but the game freezes in this state every time, immediately once blue guys meet the red ones, and only page reloading helps (Chrome, macOS). Both on Ludum and itch.io
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@mymdz I'm sorry this happened. It sounds like it's on your end, maybe some of your browser extensions block parts of the content. Please try it in another browser. I double checked it on both LDJAM and Itch, and it works as expected.
@evindor anything that can competed in works assuming there can be multiple runs of the game in the tournament. We also compete on post jam versions for people who add in support for the tournament to run it
Great game! It's very interesting when you get the hang of it. I think a small tutorial or a couple of prompts in game would help the player understand the basic loop. I really liked the music and the transitions from higher intensity real-time gameplay to pausing and strategizing with the machine.
Very interesting concept! I wish I could learn the symbols gradually, step by step—it’s a bit overwhelming to get everything all at once. :sweat_smile: It almost feels like jumping straight to the epic finale of a game.
@vivyhasadream Indeed, we planned to make levels with gradual introduction, but the time restrictions for the scope we chose made us just unlock all at once :D Thanks for playing!
So far, my favorite game here. I can pause the game to think about how to create a better loop, which is great and something I really appreciate. The graphics are, I’d say, well done, the music fits the game perfectly, and I believe the theme is also nailed.
Nice game,very interesting plot!!!!Nice job!!!!
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I had a real blast with this, so kept playing until I could beat it without using the mouse button abilities at all. It took me a while to realize that X Y meant those tiles used two stacks of mana up but it was fun to figure out how to balance heat and mana. I could definitely see it grow out to something with more complex tiles, maybe logic or conditionals.
Only real criticism is performance really hurt after a while (summoning 80 little guys at a time I'm sure doesn't help), but can't fault that too much in the timeframe. Really good job!