Skip to main content

Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines
A jam submission

Compress(space).expanded()View game page

Fold space itself to cheat your way through puzzles in even more game-breaking ways
Submitted by B-Deshi Dev (@B_DeshiDev) — 13 days, 1 hour before the deadline
Add to collection

Play game

Compress(space).expanded()'s itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Gameplay/Design#14.5714.571
Fun#24.2864.286
Graphics#34.1434.143
Overall#34.0364.036
Audio#93.1433.143

Ranked from 7 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

What would you like feedback on?
The 3d levels/mechanic. Is it easy to understand/use? Are the puzzles with it interesting?
3D levels start at lv 14.
The difficulty curve is a bit rough. You can skip levels with S+K+P.

What did you update?
15 new levels utilizing 3D folding

Leave a comment

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

Comments

Submitted(+1)

This is a very cool concept. It is pretty polished and clever - great organic teaching, engaging core game loop. One observation I have - and unfortunately I don't have a suggested solution - is that the folding around the purple restrictions is a bit hard to calibrate. Sometimes it seemed like I could fold more space than others, and I'm still not entirely sure why. Regardless, this is coming along swimmingly!

Submitted(+1)

I.loved.this. Minor things, esc to pause in web pull you out of full screen so a second pause button would be nice. Also I don’t remember it saying “R” to reset. I’ll have to finish the rest of the levels later but I think 30 and 32 had some z-fighting objects which is obviously very irritating.

The biggest thing I’d change is when going in and out free cam, staying in that plane! It was frustrating to go to free cam, establish what I needed to do, then come out and have the world rotate.

Difficulty-curve wise, the 3d level I think I spent the most time on was an early one with movable boxes, it took a while before I remembered I could move them. I can imagine having them be a different color (or maybe they are and I can’t tell because I’m partially color blind). I know they have a different icon, which is great, but I was hilariously stumped for a while, I think my brain just filtered all the blue as “blockers”.

It’s also possible that I’d prefer rotating in freecam to also be Q/E (but maybe not). I just felt my brain having to work to more so I didn’t accidentally fall of a ledge because my hand thought I was till in free cam.

I think there are two separate problems with the 3d levels, until you wrap your head around it, they feel harder than they are, but then once you do, they feel a lot easier. I felt like the first few were really slow, then I cruised through a bunch. After the black holes where introduced, they got a lot easier again, though I’m hoping that’s just because it’s a new mechanic, and it did feel good to knock a few out quickly but I’m looking forward to more challenges. Again, I stopped for now at 32 but I feel like some of the earlier mechanics didn’t see much use, specifically needing to unfold; I was just compressing things away.

Misc thoughts: love the quick restarts, I hate it when games dwell on mistakes, I know I messed up and want to try again. The chill music was nice, though at one point I got a little tired of it because I was stuck but once I got going again it was good. I can imagine subtly modulating it over time more but I’m probably splitting hairs.

I think it’s pretty common for me to want an undo in a puzzle game but I didn’t feel that way here, don’t like a fold, just undo it because that’s part of the main mechanic, so straightforward!

Submitted(+1)

I LOVED the concept of this game as a whole. I'm always into brainteasers like that! One thing I'll mention is maybe disable the space bending for the very first level as I tried to cheat the system and bring the flag over but it hid the flag and I didn't know how to undo it hahaha. The 3D mechanics adds a lot of depth (no pun intended) to the mechanics and the mental exercise you have to do to find the solution! I will say though, some of the levels, specially the ones with the boxes could be explained a bit better, I couldnt find a solution to 10 and 11 as the boxes would get stuck in the walls and I had no idea what else I could try there. I believe the difficulty curve could be solved by easing the player into new mechanics introduced in more straightforward levels, other than that its up to each player's individual capability of visualizing the solution

Submitted(+1)

The controls are really particular and interesting, with the 6 keys being just the right amount. The 2d levels were difficult for me and I never made it to the 3d levels. The purple hashtag blocks came in so early before I even had the basics. The chill sound design was one of the best parts, I feel like not having sounds when the player "makes a mistake" is a missed opportunity maybe its like that for asthetics.

Submitted(+1)

Ingenious little puzzle game! I l love the idea of folding and distorting space, it makes for a very very cool game!
I will say though that the addition of 3D did not make me very happy. I feel like after 3D was introduced, the game began to feel a little like 3D paper mario and less like a puzzle game. It became more of a platformer then a puzzler it seemed, and I also think you could accomplish more with less.
absolutely love the concept though, and the execution was very solid. Music was lovely, and really felt like a good puzzle game.

Submitted(+1)

...hey wait, I played this last year! I guess the big addition since then is the 3D levels. I'll say for the record that those generally took me the longest to figure out because it was kind of difficult to understand what I was dealing with; honestly for a puzzle game, I'm not entirely sure if that's good or bad. I think maybe the free look mode should allow for up/down rotation? I pretty much agree with Solo Man on the music; it's nice that you added it, but it's also not too interesting. Otherwise, though, it's as solid as ever.

Submitted(+1)
  • Outstanding puzzle concept that plays with space in an awesome way.
  • 2D levels are great at easing you into the core mechanic.
  • I am mixed overall on adding 3D after so many levels of 2D. It feels like a whole new game was added which feels a bit jarring, but maybe it's me. I recommend you utilize slightly simpler 3D earlier on as foreshadowing to rotation. Maybe add levels where preset rotation only occurs when you hit a switch?
  • 3D intro levels could start off a bit more simple, with more easy levels added afterwards.
  • For the UX, the interface mostly works, but there's a bit too much particle fx in the glitches and compression. They were very distracting and made it tough to concentrate on the puzzle at times.
  • Overall, fantastic stuff that will only get better with iterations. 
Submitted(+1)
  • Really cool puzzle concept that is well-executed
  • Tutorial does an excellent job teaching the mechanics
  • New mechanics are introduced at a good pace, but I think each newly introduced mechanic needs more time to breathe so the player can better grasp the concepts better. By Level 10 I felt like I was able to pass levels partly through understanding the concepts, but also through luck of just dragging everything until I got close to the solution.
  • It might be nice to add Ctrl+Z to undo last action as a QoL feature
  • The puzzles are fun; good brain teasers, good variety
  • The jump from 2D to 3D puzzles was really cool and trippy; I felt like my brain was going to melt since it was already challenging in 2D
  • Free Look and 3D mode are helpful in understanding the puzzle, but the controls weren't super intuitive. 3D mode was more intuitive than Free Look mode. Honestly, I think it may be better have one or the other since having both makes navigating the puzzles more confusing (remembering three different control sets) and slightly more dius; whereas switching back and forth between 3D and 2D mode seems more seamless. Plus you can't move in Free Look, which makes 3D mode the winner for me.
  • I feel like puzzle 16 should come before puzzle 15 as it is easier to understand
  • The music is generally calming and inoffensive, but I found it to be repetitive after a while

In my humble opinion, puzzle games feel the most fun when they make you feel smart and not so fun when they make you feel dumb. I think if you hand-hold the player a little more and smooth out the difficulty curve the game will become even more fun than it already is :)

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing and the suggestions.

Regarding needing more levels to grasp the concepts, there are more difficult/elaborate levels for each mechanic, but I omitted them from this build to get to the 3D levels quicker.

Undo is definitely planned.

I agree that there are too many modes. I'll try to simplify it.

lv16 is the "I" shaped level. lv15 is the level where you have to move around the unfoldable blocks in the 3rd dimension. I feel like that's a simpler level. But maybe it's hard to understand as both sides of lv15 look similar. I'll try to improve it.

Happy to see that you enjoyed the game. Hope to check out your game soon.

Submitted(+1)

This is one of the most interesting concepts I've seen in a puzzle game. It definitely offers a lot of play and fun puzzles. The gimmicks in each level really spice things up and complement each other well. The graphics are simple, but the presentation, with that screen-bending shader and the effects are really well done.

The 3D levels add a LOT of complexity. Thankfully, the game provides plenty of options and assistance for navigating the 3D environment, like a free camera and that stuff. However, I personally found them quite difficult, as I often struggled just to locate myself in the 3D space. I prefer the simplicity of the 2D levels, which are much easier to understand without losing the game's core dynamic. That being said, the 3D levels aren't bad at all. I was impressed when I realized that such a great mechanic could also work in 3D, and the creativity in the puzzles was top notch. However, after the first few puzzles, the 3D sections slightly broke the pacing for me.

Overall, it's a pretty good game. The main mechanic is well executed, and the presentation is solid. I don’t play many puzzle games, but I had a great time with this one. 

Developer

Thanks for playing. 

I agree that it's hard to get a good idea about your and other object position in 3D. I'll try to improve the difficulty pacing for the 3D levels.

Hope to check out your game soon.