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A jam submission

Blocks (GMTK Game Jam 2017)View game page

Someone's gotta go Blocking around.
Submitted by max734734 — 8 hours, 39 minutes before the deadline
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Blocks (GMTK Game Jam 2017)'s itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Innovation#2423.1903.190
Feel#2512.9522.952
Overall#2683.1903.190
Theme#2783.1903.190
Aesthetics#4632.0002.000

Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does your submission match the theme?
Spoilers, it's about...Blocking around.
No seriously, I wish I wasn't trying to pun.
I'd like to avoid spoilers if possible, but if you insist:

Riding on Fire!
Also Making Blocks.

Please, do give it a whirl, the experience is invaluable.

Third-party resources
Gamemaker Studio 1.4 (Game Engine)
Brfx (Sound Maker)

Contributors
Testers - Tachimas, Alfred, RetroSpecter, Nate The Knife

External - Justin, of Pow Studios (Fire Animation Pack - http://powstudios.com/content/fire-animation-pack-1)

Programmer, Sound Guy, Amateur Artist, Director of needing sleep - Max734734

As of 29th July (Version Final),
Nickbot - For 99% of the new art assets that are adorable as f***.

And all the good folks that played through the game!

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Comments

Submitted

Hello,

Lucky you. This is the only non-browser game I have rated in this jam. 

The concept itself was interesting. I liked it quite a lot but as always there are places this could be improved and I think you'll gain more from me pointing out those things (you already know what makes you like this game) :).

Firstly, the level design can be a tad confusing at times. I sometimes ended up in random rooms of fire which didn't seem to have much reason for existing. Perhaps these were here to make the levels feel bigger or to add a tiny bit of exploration? In that case, next time you should try to come up with subtle clues as to which way might be the right way and the dead end areas should have something slightly different about them (blue fire? A tree? A joke of some kind?) just to make it feel a little more interesting :)

The other main thing would be that this game needs a few more mechanics. Lava? Jumping flames? (see mario) A second box summoned with z in certain situations? Different types of boxes in different areas? (wood box that burns? metal box which conducts electricity? Plastic box which floats in water? Spiked block which can kill enemies? That kinda thing) Just a few other things to make it feel less like an endless hallway of the same thing over and over. Adding things like this could introduce a slight puzzle aspect. 

Lastly, the mechanic of summoning the box. Sometimes it is summoned on the left. Sometimes on the right. Whilst I can imagine how this came to be, at times it almost seems random it it's by far the most frustrating aspect of the game. A part of me kept wishing it would spawn below me if I jumped. I kept trying even though I was already aware it wouldn't work. Not quite sure why, but it felt like that's where the box should naturally appear. Maybe you could add that in? It gives a great deal more reliability to where the box will appear and as this would happen only when the player is jumping, you'd never have to worry about it spawning in a wall or something. 

I'd love to see you develop this further. It has potential :)

Submitted

I really enjoyed riding the x box to avoid fire, reach new heights and jump over pitfalls. I would like to see how much further this can be expanded. Clever with the x box, I almost didn't realize how to use it after the first encounter. With a tighter platforming feel and post game jam art, this could be a fun game to play!

Submitted

I enjoyed it! The box + player movement is pretty consistent, so good for nailing that. I like the organization of the levels and menu, feels really nice. I actually fell back down to the bottom in the main menu after the tutorial, but I was able to get back up with what I learned about boxes (cool stuff).  Nice game for the time limit!

Submitted

The mechanics felt good and easy to control, the box spawning wasn't a bother at all, and felt good.

The art is pretty sparse, and the fire kinda looks out of place, but the simplicity works well for the game.

The tutorial is good, and I like how it's set up to be necessary if you don't know the game, but easily avoided if you do.

Could definitely do with more gimmicks in the future, as right now there's only really the fire and simply spawning the box, so puzzle options will be limited past a couple levels.

I liked it!

Submitted

Aesthetic is a bit spartan (could try doing a color palette that's less jarring), but the primary mechanic is cool. Minor gripe would be the hitboxes on the flames feeling a little big. I like that you added a tutorial that was entirely optional if you knew your way around (that's how tutorials are supposed to be!), and cooler was the multiple pathways you could explore adding to some replayability.

Really nice.

Submitted

Really great tutorial! I liked how while relying on text, it still gives player some place to experiment and figuring out things by himself, with just enough hints to encourage curiosity. 

It's short, but it has a nice level-design, with great diversity!

Submitted

I really liked the idea of the block at the touch of a button! It was really fun. I really wish the jumping was faster and not so floaty. It took so long to get through the end of level 1 when I was dying at the last part, maybe have a checkpoint? Or if the jumping controls were faster, maybe it wouldn't be a problem anymore. Either way, I liked the designs of the levels! Nice job. :)

Submitted (2 edits)

I enjoyed playing this one. The tutorial was quite nifty. Only minor gripe for me was the lack of variety.

Some ideas for this mechanic if you should get back to this game after the jam:

  • Could introduce different boxes. Maybe Ground Tiles that spawn a different box when the box is summoned upon them. (Different, speed, height, gravity-strength and gravity-direction, boxes that can jump, boxes that can double jump, boxes that stick to walls, ...)
  • No Summon Zones: Prevents you from summoning your box, but does not stop boxes you bring along.
  • Could add some freefall sections where you have to avoid obstacles. Then mix it up by requiring to bring a box (or a special box for more speed, etc) to the ground that is on fire + No Summon Zone.
  • No Box Zones: Deleting all boxes (prevents bringing special boxes further), if placed mid air, can spice up jump sections.
Submitted

Really nice game, as someone commented, i didn't think much of this game when i downloaded, but it has a intersting mechanic and a well executed level design. Great work!

Submitted

That was a surprisingly good little platformer in an unassuming shell. Nice work!

Submitted (1 edit)

Awesome mechanic and great level design to complement it! Very fitting that the box has many functions. This was very satisfying to play, probably because there's no BS. If I died, I know exactly why and how I died and how I can do better next time. For me, there's nothing more valuable in a game than consistency, and this game is very consistent. Great work, clever game.

Submitted

Not a bad mechanic. Pretty fun

Submitted(+1)

Didn't think much of this game when I booted it up, but... I found myself playing it through to the end! Nice use of level design to teach the player things! It took a while to figure out how to use X, but once I did, there was something satisfying about sliding atop a fiery ground standing on a controllable platform!