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A jam submission

Circuit Repair [Jam Version]View game page

Must fix the L.E.D.
Submitted by VORTEX_OF_PURPLE — 2 hours, 32 minutes before the deadline
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Circuit Repair [Jam Version]'s itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Fun#4533.6413.641
Originality#9693.5903.590
Overall#12833.3083.308
Presentation#27012.6922.692

Ranked from 39 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 game involves both joining (welding) metal to a robot and joining up parts of a circuit.

Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 48 hours?

No

We used pre-existing art

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

Submitted(+1)

This is a cool idea for a puzzle game with some great ideas and mechanics. I think there's a little more scope for tutorializing those first few levels, but I really enjoyed playing this (especially when I got the welding tool!)

Developer

Glad you enjoyed it :)

I agree with you on the need for more early levels. I've made a fair few that I will upload after the jam (along with more items to keep the weld tool company) :)

Submitted (4 edits) (+2)

Oh yeah, I see the similarities but yours is also distinct enough to make it unique :) Obviously I like the idea of creating these electrical connections and the idea of "welding" unto other blocks makes is challenging as you have to think in advance or else is back to square one.

I want to share some tips I've learned making puzzle games:

  • When possible, create levels that do not lead to a "locked state" where the player needs to restart thus reducing the frustrations of having to restart the level and feeling the dread of having to remember all the steps to get to where they failed (usually only to repeat it and have to restart it lol)
  • Make the controls smooth and precise. There's this weird bounciness to the movement that makes is distracting and I even managed to get stuck because I thought I could move only the game was not ready for me to move (see the image bellow) Seeing that you are also using Unity and this is more or less grid based, I recommend using the "Vector3.MoveTowards()" method inside of a Coroutine for each grid movement preventing the player from moving until the block has fully moved.  This also allows you to coordinate with other game elements such as switches to interact exactly when you need them to. To prevent the player feeling like they are "waiting" for things to happen after they move I would recommend shortening the animation times on things like buttons and the pusher things to make them feel snappy and responsive. 
  • You started very well with a short and simple level to get a feel for how to play the game but then level two felt more like it should've been level 5 in terms of the scale and how many things you needed to do to win. I recommend making more in-between levels that slowly increases the size of the level and the complexity to not make it feel so jarring and overwhelming to some players. 

Hope that helps and I mean this in a good way to help the game be even more fun post jam. :)


Developer(+1)

Wow! Some in depth feedback from my jam twin :D

In order of feedback given:

1) The plan to fix this issue is to add an undo. I did try to avoid the dead end scenario in a few places, but in a game where you can not pull blocks it is hard to prevent players from ever ending up in that situation.

2) Yeah, the pistons are a pain. The movement feels weird, because there isn't actually any grid based movement in this. It is actually all physics based. No animations here. 

3) Yes, couldn't agree more. When I am making puzzle games I always plan to do lots of tiny levels; putting lots of thought into teaching all the mechanics (see level 1) and then I get carried away and stuff like level 4 happens. 10 more levels coming for the post jam (level 4 will become level 13)


Thanks for the feeback. I agree with all of your points! Very glad you liked the game :D

Submitted(+1)

It's a good puzzle game, that last one really had me thinking.  However, I do feel like there's no real snap to this grid-based movement.  This made some elements (including that last puzzle) hard to impossible.  I think if the character snapped into place in a more grid-based movement (instead of this weird hybrid fealing that you had going here) you can make as many puzzles as you want.  Other than that, I do think that the welding torch should come with some kind of detach option, but that's just me.  Other than that, it was just fine.

Developer(+1)

Wow, that's some dedication right there. Sorry about the bugs.  I am working on fixing them for post jam. Also adding the fabled undo button and a bunch more levels :)

Submitted(+1)

I really enjoy sliding puzzles and this had a very nice beginner friendly level of entry. The movement was kind of stiff and got stuck a few times due to it but nothing major. The presentation was fairly basic but I knew exactly what I looking at and could determine what to do based off of looking at the game. Solid experience all around. I played it here for more feedback:


Submitted(+1)

Graphics and physics would need a bit of work, but the mechanics and level design is really cool ! I like how you nailed the tutorial, effectively teaching the mechanic while already have fun puzzles to solve. The interpretation of the theme is cool too, with graphics actually matching the circuit board theme it would be really great !

Developer(+1)

I'm glad you liked the game.

I have cleaned up the physics a lot since the jam (just waiting to upload)

The graphics are slightly better now, but ultimately I just don't have the art skills to take the graphics very far. Do you have any small tweaks I could make to the art that would improve it without needing much artistic talent? 


Thanks :)

Submitted(+1)

I'm not an artist, but I think the electronic circuit theme is a pretty good start, as its elements are all really simple visually, I would go all on with it. Either pixel art or vector art would work really for that while remaining quite simple I think. For example, a lootk like this would be neat https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/image-vector/vector-motherboard-illustration-com...
Art is quite hard to nail, but only practice makes perfect. I personnally struggled a lot in the past with pixel art, but I start to make things I'm actually proud of. It just takes time !

Submitted(+1)

I liked that the puzzles were fast paced and connected!

Submitted(+1)

pun intended

(+1)

Really neat idea and great level design! I loved it!

Developer

Glad you enjoyed it :)

There are 10 more levels ready for when the jam ends :D

(+1)

some of the puzzles really got me- happy you had a way to restart the level but great design!

(+1)

some of the puzzles really got me- happy you had a way to restart the level but great design!

Developer (1 edit)

Glad you enjoyed the game :D

There is an update on the way with even more levels and mechanics :) Justhave to wait for GMTK Jam review period to end

Submitted(+1)

Nice puzzle game. By the way, I noticed that you made the player magnetize to the middle of the tile so that you can easily climb between the walls. But because of this, I experienced some difficulties. Try to reduce your movement speed by mini teleporting player by 1/10 of a tile. May be this will help

Developer

What difficulties did you have?

Was it the pistons or something else?

Submitted (2 edits) (+1)

Yes, I didn’t immediately realize that I could get through the open piston, so I got stuck several times while passing. I also noticed that magnetism sometimes seems to magnetically on the wrong tile, which is why, for example, I wanted to quickly move towards a block that can be moved, but instead it magnetically attracts me to another tile (walked to the left to the block, and then rushed up).

This is not fatal and rather related to UX, but it can be critical for an ordinary user.

Submitted(+1)

Amazing game, if there was an undo button that would be better, but still it is fun.

Developer(+1)

Good news! A future update (not yet uploaded for GMTK Jam reasons) has an undo button! 

Submitted(+1)

Nice!

(+1)

That was fun! A few bugs as to be expected, but gameplay that could really come together as a complete package with an art direction and polish. Really cool that you got four complete and fun puzzle levels out the door so fast!

Submitted(+1)

Got a little confused with some of the mechanics, but the puzzles (especially the last one) were really good! The controls were also interesting but I liked them a lot. I felt like I was made out of jelly, but in a good way.

Submitted(+1)

The puzzles were super fun and endearing! Loved the concept.

Developer

thank you very much :)

Submitted(+1)

The game mechanics are quite interesting. I like the concept of a puzzler to join stuff and complete the circuits, but I think it could be better presented with maybe a better choice of art or changing the default unity scene background colour yo something else. :P Great work nonetheless!

Developer

Believe it or not, that isn't the unity default colour. 

I actually picked out that hideous green to be slightly like a generic circuit board. I was hoping to replace it with something a bit more detailed, but the more details I added the worse it looked, do I had to give in :)

Glad you enjoyed the game. How far did you get?

Submitted(+1)

oh... it looked like that deathly blue on my monitor hahaha

Hm I reached the 3rd level before i got stuck. If I had more time I would've actually played around with it a  little more

Submitted(+1)

Art is a bit weird, is that a roaming pair of binoculars? anyway besides that the puzzles are quite cool and have some interesting  depth to them gj :) 

Developer

It's a robot, but it had to be a square for the welding mechanic, so I was pretty limited in what I could do. Went for making a nano sized walle but blue.

I'm glad you liked the puzzles :) How many levels did you manage to beat?

Submitted(+1)

I think I got to Level 4, with the wifi didn't make it past that.

Submitted(+1)

I'm going to be honest and say that I wasn't expecting to like this game. The graphics were a little all over the place. But the gameplay on this was really good, especially with the mechanic of permanently adding  pieces to your robot. This is one of my favorite games so far, good job!

Developer

Thank you very much! :D

I'm afraid my art skills don't hold a candel to yours (especially given only 48hrs).

I might have to join a team next time

Did you manage to finish all 4 levels? The complexity ramps up pretty fast.

Submitted (2 edits) (+1)

Your art isn't bad, sorry if I came off as mean. The art does a good job in relaying information to the player. The multiple art styles with the title screen and in the puzzles themselves just threw me off. I have the same problem with Celeste. I finished the first 3 puzzles and got stuck on the fourth. The complexity does ramp up pretty fast but you do a good job of managing that difficulty curve (something you did much better than me).

Submitted(+1)

I actually just finished the fourth, I replayed your game and figured out the purpose of one switch that I didn't before and was then able to complete the level.

Developer (1 edit)

Oh, no I didn't mean it like that. I'm aware that I have no art skill :)