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A jam submission

PixwheelsView game page

Fill all the wheels with colored marbles to complete each level
Submitted by Wesley — 12 hours, 45 minutes before the deadline
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Pixwheels's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Gameplay#463.8153.815
Authenticity (Use of resolution restriction)#534.6674.667
Overall#1023.7413.741
Graphics#1453.4443.444
Audio#1723.0373.037

Ranked from 27 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Did you work in a team?
I worked alone, some friends would be nice though :)

Was the resolution a challenge?
Since the marbles are pixels, those did not pose much challenge. The hardest part was trying to cram the tutorial text into such a small area!

What did you learn?
I entered the jam to see if I could prototype a game idea quickly with Pico-8, and since I managed to do that in under 4 days I would say that my goal was a success.

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Comments

Submitted

Interesting concept for a puzzle game... I got stuck for a bit because I didn't read the instructions,  but once I understood the goal I made it past the tutorial 😄 The hardest part is definitely just keeping the buttons straight and executing the solution you want, though I was playing on mobile so that probably made it a little harder.

HostSubmitted

Very nice! I love the style and audio. I struggled with the controls though, I knew what I wanted to do, but my brain couldn't coordinate, so that might just be me! :)

Developer

Thanks for playing, glad you enjoyed it!

It is not just you, I admit the controls have a learning curve and requires the player learning combinations of keypresses. I tried to balance this out with the auto wheel rotation, but when it comes down to fine timing between two wheels it gets hard fast.

Submitted

This is a great puzzle!!!

I hadn't played the puzzle that you based on before, and I found your puzzle really nice. The gameplay is smooth, very responsive, and I really liked how you managed to change the wheels only with the keyboard.

The puzzles are great, there are a lot of different obstacles and challenges. I didn't play all the stages, but I would come back to play again and continue where I stopped.

The time in the stages are very good. I could play calmly through the stages, and there were plenty of time left. When I lost in some, the next try was easier to complete and the time wasn't a problem.

The graphics are very nice, and the sounds matched very well with the game.

The menus and the tutorials were very explicative. I didn't have difficulty reading them and learning about the game.

I had some problems in the beggining trying to understand what the Z and X button does. But when I understood, I found it amazing.

The game is very catchy, and I would look into it if it goes in some platform. I think that this game has a great potential as a casual puzzle.  I usually play on PC, but I think that this game will fit greatly in mobile devices: the touch system of it would help a lot in rotating the wheels and releasing the marbles, allowing to do it faster and being more comfortable.

I only felt that the marbles moves too fast, mainly because I played in the keyboard. I think it could move slower, to understand and react better for what is happening. Perhaps there could have an option to increase the speed, so the marbles velocity and also the time decreasing velocity would be relative to it. If I play again in a stage and I'm already very familiar with it, I would increase the velocity.

It's a really great game, congratulations for the entry!!!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the detailed review, I am glad you liked it.

I can most certainly slow down the marble speeds, this is a great suggestion - thanks!

Because I made the game in a fantasy console (Pico-8), there is no touch support. However the original, Pathological (link on the entry page), has an Android version with touch support.

Submitted

That was a nice little puzzle game! Good job!

If you want, please check out my submission.

Submitted

I like the sound effects. And the rainbow is really eye catching. Good job!

Submitted

Challenging, and not my style of puzzler, but after I got more used to the controls, I found myself playing longer than I expected! Love those Pico-8 colors too.

Developer

Cheers for giving it a try regardless!

Submitted

I love the idea and the sounds are just deliciously 1-bit. I've found the tutorial a little frantic due to them simply not seeming to match my keyboard for some reason and new instructions being given right before you're supposed to do the action, maybe give the player some buffer. It also looks like the menu is in a higher res? still, very fun once you get a flow going, should totally be expanded. Great entry!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing! I did not consider the menu resolution, that is native to pico-8. Good spotting. Unfortunately user code cannot intercept the menu rendering. I will keep this in mind for the next 64x challenge :)

Submitted

Well if it's impossible then I guess it just should be allowed by the rules imo

No need to make the life of Pico fans harder haha

Submitted

Very unique puzzle game, at least for me :). Was challenging at first, but I eventually got the hang of it. Also the colour changing was a nice addition to make more interesting/complex levels. Great job!

Submitted

Interesting idea.... The controls were quite difficult to manage though :) But it was still quite fun

Submitted

The visuals are bright and colourful, which really caught my attention. The controls took some time to get use to. I imagine this might work with touchscreen controls. Good work!

Submitted

I was horrible at this but it's a neat concept! well done! 

Developer

Thanks for giving it a shot anyway, cheers!

Submitted

What a neat puzzle game. The visuals are so clean. I could absolutely see this as a mobile game, since each individual level is so well compartmentalized and easy to pick up again. Defiantly a game you keep wanting one-more-round.

Great work on this, really clever and fun. Well done :)

Submitted(+1)

Challenging, but once you get the hang of it it's really entrancing!

Submitted

Nice puzzle game, the control i feel need a bit long to get use to but after a while it start to click for me. The concept of micro managing the pixel is chaotic but fun puzzle idea, especially when there so many wheel and pixel to track of.
The only thing i see that might need improvement is the difficulty of the game. i feel that progression of the puzzle difficulty is a bit random. like for example level 17 and 23, they both have the same idea of using the wheel directly instead of using a path but since the wheel for level 23 is put into a straight line it a lot more easier than level 17.or how level 12 is extremely hard compare to the rest of the game.
I feel if you introduce a new mechanic with time in between to explore the idea instead of introducing the mechanic in a long rapid tutorial stage it might help you make the level a bit more consistent in difficulty and help the player understand the mechanic more clearly.

Developer

Thanks for the good feedback. I agree the skill progression is unbalanced, and I like your suggestion to explore each mechanic for longer, I think that is something I will do for a post-comp version. Cheers!

Submitted

Once I figured out the controls, this was so much fun!! The fact that you can manipulate the colour cubes was a really nice mechanic. Great work!!

Developer

thanks! I am glad you had fun playing!

Submitted

Nice concept… got me a bit confused you keep getting pixels and the puzzle is solvable with “leftovers” all around but overall it’s a good idea. Good job for such a small dedication, and it is also nice to see other Pico8 projects around the jam.

Submitted

It felt very good to master turning the wheels and shooting blocks between them. I think it's such a simple concept that was very well explored. Congrats!

Developer

Thanks!

Submitted

Cool idea. It took a while to get used to the controls. The game got really challenging after the buffers were introduced. I like that.

Developer

The controls need getting used to, I gave more time for the early levels to help the player with this. These are the pitfalls of fantasy consoles, however after two days of play-testing they seem second nature to me now. I may explore alternative key layouts if I pursue this project after the compo. Thanks for the feedback Donitz!