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Cubism with a side of Thorns's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Presentation | #208 | 4.382 | 4.382 |
| Overall | #346 | 3.970 | 3.970 |
| Creativity | #424 | 4.018 | 4.018 |
| Enjoyment | #890 | 3.509 | 3.509 |
Ranked from 55 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
The player continuously reverses roles - the player alternates between designing challenging puzzles and then beating them themselves.
Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 48 hours?
Yes
We created the vast majority of the art during the game jam
Did your team create the vast majority of the music during the 48 hours?
No
We used pre-existing audio
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Comments
This wasn't my type of game, so my enjoyment may have been less due to what it was rather than any inherent flaw with the game. That said, the concept of adaptive difficulty you implemented is something I haven't seen many games do, and it's a good feature. It makes the game as hard and easy as you want as well as making it part of the design as well. The wait feature makes this game more playable since if you had to move every time then there could have been more frustration (though maybe it could be removed for a harder mode). I was initially confused by the blue dots since I thought I had to collect them, but it turned out to be my movement options. If you ever want to expand this in the future (which could be done since the groundwork allows for such), multiplayer could likely make this more fun for me. Also, a story mode could be a good addition.
Hey, thank you for trying out the game even if it wasn't your type!
I do actually agree about the wait feature - it's definitely a great quality-of-life feature, but it also wasn't absolutely necessary for the game to work and it does make the game more complex. I think I ended up adding it to prevent softlocks and any frustration!
I will say that the spaghetti code disagrees that it's expandable, but multiplayer sounds very interesting. What did you have in mind for a multiplayer version of this game? In my head, I'm thinking of some pass-and-play mode now, where the board starts filled with enemies, and during a player's turn, they can either remove an enemy from the board or try to do the level to score points. Maybe everyone has a set amount of attempts they can take, and that the highest score at the end wins.
A story mode would also be interesting! It'd be a fun challenge to see how to implement it considering the random generation - and, well, what the story would be, of course. Something about gathering colours, I'd imagine.
Thanks you for your feedback!
For the multiplayer, I was thinking simultaneous play. There are three options for losing at a level.
1. If any player gets in the way of an enemy, everyone loses.
2. All players must get in the way of an enemy to lose.
3. The second option but also points get decreased in a fractional manner.
Another idea I thought of was more of a last man standing scenario. Like maybe a giant level with enemies randomly spawning in more and more (random despawning could also be included).
Ah yeah, coop multiplayer!
1 would be a fun screaming match, I feel! 2 allows for more collective brainpower, I think I'd prefer 3 the best, though!
Maybe the levels are bigger and players get placed on random positions. Since there are 4 different colors for buttons, each player could have the button assigned that matches their own color, but working together to just hit all buttons would be fun too! I think the random placement would help avoid 'optimal' moves for all players, instead requiring each player to think for themselves
Last man standing scenario also sounds pretty fun and intense! I would definitely get the red enemy out of that mode, haha
Thank you for the inspiration!
Really interesting concept for the theme and solid visual presentation. I feel like this idea does have the potential to grow. Good job!
Thank you so much!
And yeah, the feedback and criticism I've been receiving does definitely show that there's potential for iteration on this concept!
knowing myself that'll never actually happen... but maybe!Neat idea executed pretty well! I do think there would be more strategy if the player could tell which way enemies would initially move, but everything else seemed great!
Thank you!
I do agree with your criticism! I can't update the game now, but if you are interested:
Which way an enemy will initially face is mainly relevant for yellow enemies, and follows this logic:
Very creative way of implementing risk-vs-reward into a puzzle game. I always found myself getting too greedy and miscalculating how the enemies would move. I love how easy to pick up this game is, the polish is also impressive!
Thank you so much!
Glad you like the risk vs reward implementation - I do think getting greedy about what you can take on is on of the key components of this game, haha
Happy you enjoyed!
Nice little puzzler with cute art! Well done!
Really great. Kinda sad actually that the levels are generated as you can play infinately. Would have loved a satisfying finishing level.
Absolutely fantastic job in one weekend. 4,5/5. Would be 5 if hand crafted levels! :D
Thank you so much!
I do agree that some handcrafted levels might've helped! I do very much enjoy it being infinite, but I definitely would want to improve the random generation of the levels, since it can be unfair at times. Maybe I could feed the generator some good handcrafted levels and that it could generate levels based on those? Something for later!
Thank you for your feedback!
The game is well-crafted, easy to pick up, and enjoyable. The core mechanics are clear and well-defined.
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the mechanics!
Love to see a game thats with a well thought out puzzle to be replayed like this one. Found myself playing for longer than I anticipated!
Im specially impressed by the fact that I'm sure it took you time designing and tuning a solid game loop, and still had time left to make it look so well polished! Excellent job <3.
Thank you so much!
And yeah - I did actively try to spend more time designing the game this time! In previous projects, I noticed that I spend too much time trying to write cool code or make flashy complex models, weakening the design in the process - so I'm glad putting the extra time into the game design has paid off!
Really impressive, congrats !
Thanks! Happy to hear it wow'ed you!
Well thought out, very polished, easy to learn and hard to master.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the learning curve, too!
This was a fun one to play! The agency the player has of how challenging each level should be to reach each point goal in time makes room for a lot of decision making and judgement calls that can make or break each level. Solid, charming visuals and color choice for each distinct character as well. Sometimes the random level generation felt a little unfair, but the levels/lives system and the player simply being able to place a minimal amount of enemies offsets that somewhat. Good job!
Thank you so much!
Honestly, the agency is my favorite aspect of the game, glad you like that a lot too!
The issue with the random generation is also fair! There are just levels that are far more difficult than others, and if you get 2-3 red enemies at the start...
Well, the player can't really be blamed if they fail, then!
Still glad you enjoyed it regardless!
A thoroughly solid gameplay experience. Balancing the risk over reward is a thoughtful and rewarding decision that requires careful consideration. The minimalist artistic direction serves this game well and the little animations on the board and enemies add lots of life. The enemy designs clearly signify their movement behavior after a little experimentation. This was a delight to play!
Thank you so much for the kind words!
Really glad you enjoyed all the work put into it!
a really cool concept, wish there was a way to know which way an enemy will be facing before spawing it
Thank you!
And same! In one of the final updates I did add that predictable enemies will face the next direction they'll go to. I sadly didn't have time to program in a way to see which way they will face before being spawned - however, cause I might as well:
Which way an enemy will face is mainly relevant for yellow enemies, and their facing rotation follows this logic:
I like the focus this game has. Gameplay and functionality over aesthetics. Which is great because the low poly works in your favor! It has a ton of character.
The random generation is fantastic. Leaves the game open to infinite play imo.
Thank you so much!
Personally, I have spent more time on aesthetics in previous jams, but this has definitely proven that a simpler art style can still have its charm, haha.
I personally really enjoy jam games that have replayability, so I'm glad you feel that way about the random generation!
Solid art design with a good concept, really cool!
Thank you!
Fun fact, the art style was inspired due to a rendering bug that happened - whoopsThe Game Is Really Cool! I Sorry But I Don't Really Feel As The Theme Is There... Tho That Is The Cool Thing... You Take The Theme And Turn It Into Something New And Fun!
Thank you!
And hey, that's totally fair! The theme here is definitely a bit more vague and abstract, but I'm glad you can see the creativity in it!
Really cool game - I agree about how balanced everything feels even with randomly generated levels. Can't believe the art was created in 48 hours, it all looks great.
Thank you so much!
For the art, I did use a lot of the same stuff - for example, all the enemies are technically the same model, just with some accessories toggled on and off. I think that definitely helped me save some time!
Wow.
I'm surprised at how balanced this feels. How much time did you spend just on tuning and polish?
My only complaint is that it takes a long time to figure out what each enemy type does, which I suppose a certain kind of player might actually enjoy.
Thank you!
I dunno how much time I spent on it, but I had two active playtests (watching others play) and a couple of other playtests, of which the playtesters just noted what they thought of the game - and, well, I also played a bunch myself, but that's not really a trustworthy source, haha. I mainly took the opinions of playtesters to balance numerics as well as adding some new mechanics (for example, in earlier versions a player would immediately have access to all enemy types, some of which the player just isn't prepared for).
And your criticism is totally fair! I was planning on making a tooltip system for the enemies, but from the playtesters it seemed like they did enjoy figuring out how enemies worked - but there were definitely some who'd rather know what an enemy does from the get-go, which is understandable!
Love the overall design and colour palette. Seriously, is this done in 48 hrs? Whoa.
Thank you so much!
I put a greater focus on making a concept compact and focusing on the necessary things first, then adding other stuff - I think that really helped with making it possible in the 48 hours, yeah!
Also hello fellow icon-with-character-and-then-a-white-circle-behind-said-character developer!
"I put a greater focus on making a concept"
Oh, this shows!
Ans also hi the fellow icon-with...character developer! lol