FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD59 → Ziggy Zapper and the Robot Factory

Ziggy Zapper and the Robot Factory

By rogual

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall34.4136
Fun34.3636
Innovation214.0236
Theme234.3336
Graphics294.2236
Audio224.0836
Humor992.8931
Mood493.8935

Comments

mdotedot 2026-04-19 21:14

The controls needed some learning. But boy you made an awesome puzzle game. Clever use of the signalling mechanic. Beautiful artwork. Very well made!

barnabewild 2026-04-20 02:57

Pretty fun, great presentation and nice puzzle, well done!

domenixius 2026-04-20 14:11

Wow really love this game! Great job with the art and the music! Allowing to switch between tracks is awesome!

Super interesting puzzles although I do wish I could skip some of the rooms if I already did them. :sweat_smile: It took me a while to correctly interpret the moving platform as something i could send my signal to, I got too used to the small robots.

When I went to room 1,2 from the right side something exploded and I don't know what.

Sadly I could only find 18 pieces... 3,3 and 3,4 still elude me... would have been nice if I could have continues after beating the game to get them still!

Super creative work and especially having 20 good! puzzles with all these mechanics in just 48 days is amazing! Great job!

rogual 2026-04-20 14:24

@domenixius Thanks for your thoughts! If you play the game again after beating it, it remembers your progress so you can get the rest of the pieces :)

manabreak 2026-04-20 14:34

Absolute banger! I saw the post you made about the game and was instantly hooked by the looks. I'm yet to complete the game, but I'll soon get back to it. :)

The music tracks are great, the graphics are nice, and the game plays very well. You've got helluva lot of content done in that short period of time!

EDIT: Completed! This was an awesome game!

domenixius 2026-04-20 14:36

@rogual Yooo huge! I just dove back in and I found both of the missing pieces! This will put my mind at rest! Again great entry!

rhewid 2026-04-20 15:35

Great game, I get huge Gameboy Color vibes out of it. Loved the art and the execution. Great use of the theme too.

tanjou 2026-04-20 16:50

It's like Zelda with Click!!!

kanity 2026-04-20 20:53

Wow, I've slowly realized how big the game actually is - so many rooms, and the doors require 12 or 13 triforce pieces... That's very impressive, how you got so much done in 2 days with all the puzzle elements! Several types of thingies, even one that reflects your signal onto other thingies!

The gameplay is very intuitive, the only non-intuitive thing is using J and K but they are explicitly shown as control buttons :) And I understand it's coming from the idea of them being a bit farther from WASD for easier play with two hands.

I am seeing a comment about Zelda and thinking: yes, it does feel like old Zeldas, specifically I would say it reminded me of Oracles, the one with more puzzles especially x) The visuals, the palette, the puzzles even. And then we open doors with pieces of triforce instead of keys XD

Also, nice easter egg here :3 I noticed a few games today with LD59 added into the graphics of the game. It makes me want to steal the idea and do it on the next LD :')

easter.jpg

And this is the one I got stuck on ._. I can't release the control after I lift that block. Making the thingy go upwards is not an idea cause I can't control it through solid block. I feel like I am missing something here =\

stuck.jpg

But overall it's very fun and well done, I liked the little puzzles ^v^

rogual 2026-04-21 05:00

@kanity Thanks for playing, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Also happy you found it intuitive, that was something I was wondering about when I submitted it.

In your screenshot from the Airlock, you're not stuck — you can still press J there to switch the blocks as much as you like.

The reason you can't press K and release control while the left block is up is that THEN you'd be stuck, so the game just doesn't let you. I wanted to have it flash up a message like "Careful! You'll get stuck!" or something, but ran out of time so it just kind of does nothing, haha.

Yes, it's fun to hide little nods to LD here and there. Makes the game into a kind of memento of the event.

ejunegao 2026-04-21 08:49

This game is just really well done! I'm usually not a puzzle game fan and at the beginning I thought I wouldn't last long. However, the mechanics are super intuitive, and I feel like the challenge curve is so well layered that at first, I wasn't immediately scared away. And then I saw some more challenging levels and I was able to do them as well and it felt accomplishing. By the time there were some hard levels, I started to think, "well I'm already here, there's no turning back!" All in all, my experience just tells me that the challenge provided to the player is designed so well here.

I also really like that the game seems to have a more lenient range for passing the entire game if I'm not mistaking. I remember that I didn't figure out how to do the right bottom level, but still managed to pass the game with 14 triangles.

Lastly, the art and audio too are very well done. The robots are so distinctive and the art definitely helped in the mechanics being so intuitive. I especially like the yellow robots. The color taught the mechanic here well by grouping these bots.

zedgame 2026-04-21 09:25

This is a really good entry! It has interesting puzzle mechanics and a lot of polish. If you told me it was a fully-featured game from the DOS era I would have totally believed you. My one gripe with it is that as an arrow keys user, I had to put my hands in an awkward position to play haha.

rogual 2026-04-21 09:33

@zedgame D'oh, I actually implemented Z for action and X for cancel but forgot to mention it in the description. Edited, though I guess you've probably already finished now. Thanks for playing!

ilya-kr 2026-04-21 13:07

An interesting, addictive, and not very difficult game. The graphics and style are well chosen. It seems like there's not enough training, or maybe I'm just stupid.

tkap1 2026-04-21 15:59

Very nice level design, graphics, everything really. Got the 20 triangles!

sariiger 2026-04-21 17:33

Incredible level design, and a lot of polish! I'm impressed by how you managed to create all this little puzzle rooms with such a great level layout as well, and execute it with such quality solo in just 2 days. Hat's off to you, great job!

pkenney 2026-04-22 04:05

Wow I'm really impressed! This is just so well done!

The core idea is really nice, derived straight from the theme, and then its consequences were explored in all these different directions and permutations. You put so many interesting ideas into play here, really well done.

Then you packaged it up with strong graphics that included a variety, a jamming tune, nice sfx, and a smooth learning curve that completely avoided the need for tutorialization.

I completed the game and got 16 of the triangles. Here are a couple of the rooms I didn't figure out:

zig-secrets.png

Another huge nice touch was the speed of the character. With backtracking and exploring, and the physical execution of the puzzles required, it would have been easy for this game to be subtly a lot less fun by making a grindy-feeling slow movement speed, but the snappy controls were a pleasure.

Game also prevents you from getting stuck, for example I was worried about the mine in the door in the East Yard, but nope, I needn't have worried. Lots of attention to detail evident throughout.

I saw LD14 on your list and was curious what to expect, and wow - you just nailed it. Well done!

purrseus 2026-04-22 14:07

I absolutely LOOOVE your game, OMG, there's so much content! I have sooo saved this so I can play it again from time to time, ahhhhh, you inspire me!!!

Almost everything is perfect, tight controls, great puzzles (I especially liked discovering the "secret" triangle keys), a true sense of exploration, BANGER soundtrack, super consistent art direction *swoon, swoon, swoon*

The only things I could wish for were even more content (absolutely riduculous demand for a game as meaty as yours (and it's a compo game even!)) and for someone to tell me HOW I CAN BLOW THIS THING UP!! Dr. Bad needs to be stopped :weary: screenshot.png

Easy 5/5 stars, thank you for creating this radiant jewel of a compo entry!!

bigwhiteshogun 2026-04-23 07:00

I was impressed when I beat the game. Gameboy Color and GBA are my favorite consoles and huge inspiration to me as an artist.

Then I found out it was COMPO entry. Now I'm amazed and speechles. Puzzles are fun and engaging, not to difficult but also not straight forward. Perfectly balanced, to make you stop for a sec and think. I love the art style as well. So many rooms, nice little easter eggs, brilliant stuff. Might be my favorite thing I played so far this jam.

Congratz <3

2026-04-23 13:39

Wow, how were you able to make THIS in 3 DAYS?! And you made it SOLO?! You're a brainiac, dude! Puzzle games are always so long to make, but you were able to implement so many mecanics! This really reminds me of those Mr. (Ant) Tenna's video game Zelda parodies from deltarune! Such a cool game!

yorsh 2026-04-23 15:49

Amazing game! I was already sold on it being a jam game, didn't notice it was compo at first. Mechanic is interesting and fun, level design really neat. Graphics and sounds really great as well. If I'm nitpicking, maybe it's a little bit behind on the mood side, as it maybe lacking a bit of its own unique mood. Congrats!

kanity 2026-04-23 16:02

@rogual Sorry, I meant it as "I don't know how to solve this". I did figure I can get out, yes, but couldn't figure out how to get to the triforce piece, so I was talking about that :')

avzgui 2026-04-23 16:27

Just WoW O.o Really impressive work.

jordantanner 2026-04-25 22:25

@rogual Amazing entry! Perfect retro vibes mixed with really thoughtfully-designed puzzle layouts. This is something I've struggled with in the past -- creating the art, audio, and gameplay mechanics AND dedicating proper time to creating the level design and content to a quality level. It's hard to juggle in such a short amount of time, and you did it exceedingly well here. Hats off sir!

conduit 2026-04-26 09:40

Wonderful graphics and sound design, wonderful wonderful homage to classics like Chip's Challenge and Sokoban. Well done :)

yoko-san 2026-04-26 15:26

Great game! It was really fun! :)

I have to admit, I got stuck on "East Passage" for way too long trying to find that last triangle :D

euler-moises 2026-04-26 15:31

It's definitely in my Top 3 LD59 (I don't know the exact position because I haven't finished playing my entire list yet) and I fell in love with it. Everything I love in one game: Top-down, puzzle, pixel art, chiptune.... (just look at my LD game) Totally in love. If you, the artist, followed the NES pixel art rules strictly, I would say it's an original game.

I felt like a kid again.

Thank you so much for giving me that feeling again.

Congratulations! Excellent game!

Sem título.png

Note: I think I found a bug. I had 12 pieces and the door didn't open for me.

Sem título 2.png

poweranze 2026-04-26 19:56

Heya, thank you for submitting the game to my stream. Just came back to it and full cleared it! I am super impressived with this game and I can just repeat what I said on stream already. I love how you iterate on the idea with the different blocks and add new mechanics. The old school bottom UI is great, levels changing color on the minimap to show if you found the triangle, having a music change button. So many great touches. Also the level design is great, especially with some rooms requiring to loop the map to reach specific parts, it is just all fantastic. With more stages I could easily see this become a full release, as it is already a feature complete game. Would love to see where you would take it!

jhonny111 2026-04-26 22:42

Great game. Super polished. Loved the riddles

indiepanda 2026-04-28 15:44

Great puzzle! The number of mechanics is amazing.

naviski 2026-04-28 18:51

Absolutely loved this! Really fun take on the theme and super polished!

Has a very fun sense of humor and playfulness as well!

Basically feels like a modern, super well made NES game!

Would love to see this get a full release with more stages somehow! Excellent work!

marks 2026-05-04 13:49

Woah, very impressive entry! Really a fan of the level design, the puzzles felt more like a playground! Also, had a fun time hunting for secrets!

Screenshot 2026-05-04 154237.png

quietchili 2026-05-07 03:07

amazing game! i had a lot of fun playing this!

mikan 2026-05-07 15:54

Awasome puzzle! Love the art and music!

When I hold a move key and press J, the character will raise hand but not fire, I'm not sure if this is a bug.

My playthrough: https://youtu.be/c-oA_-aIxh4

python-b5 2026-05-08 20:01

This was a lot of fun - maybe my favorite I've played this jam! The puzzles struck what I think is the right balance, being both complex enough to be interesting but not so difficult as to cause frustration. The art and music also added a lot to the experience, especially all the charming robots with eyes.

I really appreciated the map showing which rooms still had keys left to collect, which saved me a lot of time toward the end of the game. The game also had a surprisingly solid difficulty curve, which I wasn't expecting given the open structure. I suppose most players will probably find the more hidden rooms last, so it works out most of the time. The majority of puzzles were well-designed, though I'll admit to finding a few less interesting than others (mainly the few that are just hidden in the walls, and thus don't really use the game's mechanics at all). The bottom-right room was also one of my least favorites, since it ended up just taking a lot of menial box shuffling work. The vast majority of the puzzles were great, though!

ziggy-zapper-complete.png

zidan-banan 2026-05-11 10:21

What an amazing game! The puzzles, level design, and mechanics are all fantastic

I even started to doubt that you managed to make this during the jam) since I make puzzles myself, I can imagine how difficult and time-consuming it is to come up with them

The only minor issue—some puzzles aren’t quite clean in my opinion. Some levels can be solved in multiple ways, which I feel makes some puzzles lose their elegance. But that’s just me nitpicking as a Steam game. For a jam, everything is great

A wonderful game with excellent potential. I rarely think this, but in this case, out of most of the top entries in this LD, your game scales well into a solid Steam title. The mechanics and level design really encourage exploration, much like Fez or Taiji

2026-05-11_00-48-56.png

rogual 2026-05-11 11:25

@zidan-banan Thanks for your thoughts, and I'm glad you had fun! Yes, you're right, some of the puzzles are a bit loose, and some are just totally cheesable and broken. I hope that counts as evidence that I really did do it all in 48 hours ^^

I've been playing around with adding another level and some more mechanics, and yeah, I might be able to make a bigger game out of this. I think the "robot factory" premise probably only has 1 or 2 levels in it, but if I expand the scope a bit with more different kinds of environments I might be able to get a good Steam game out of it. Thanks for the encouragement!