At first I thought that ability to collect bricks by removing them gives unfair advantage. But later I reallized that even with collecting blocks behind the player, it gets impossible to maintain enough build power at some point. Difficulty slope really gives you a room to learn first, then makes it interesting, then creates a chaotic draw-a-line puzzler clicker, that is still incredibly addictive. I appretiate how smart Blocku is to jump in time so it seems like he really plays the level, not just scrolls right along it. Great take on the jam!
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Poly Dash (GMTK 2023)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Enjoyment | #108 | 4.127 | 4.127 |
| Overall | #557 | 3.835 | 3.835 |
| Creativity | #563 | 3.949 | 3.949 |
| Presentation | #1797 | 3.430 | 3.430 |
Ranked from 79 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?
Instead of controlling the player and jumping when you need to, like in a regular runner game, you instead have to place/remove blocks to create a path for the player.
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
Comments
Thanks a lot man! 😁
Indeed, at the start, it's easy to collect blocks when things are still going at normal speed. Later tho, when it starts to go faster, you can't do this as easily so, you'd better have saved some blocks for this moment!
About Blocku-dono, ho man, a lot of time has been invested into its AI to get it right but its brain is so simple tho 🤣.
Still, we're glad you had a fun time playing our game! 😁
Really addicting game. The controls feel very nice and the game is very balanced. The Upgrade System made me replay the game a lot more than I would have otherwise. Great game!
Submitted
Conni the RoombaThanks a lot mate!
We don't really want to go down the "addicting" pathway 🤣 but if the game was good enough for you to come back to it and play more, we're glad you had a great time! 😁
Spent a lot of time on the player's AI and block placement mechanism and we did quite a lot of balancing at the end of the jam to make sure it's fun but the Art paid the cost. Upgrades were implemented to answer the question "Why would anyone play again?" and it turns out, it served its purpose! 👏
Thanks for playing our game! 😁
A very clean implementation and a great use of the theme! The upgrades systems add a lot. Very fun and addictive, and the fact that you need to collect the blocks adds a lot! nice job!
Submitted
Definitely NOT a tower defensereally cool concept and i was pretty surprised to see an upgrade system too! there was just a bug where i couldnt place any blocks at the bottom of the screen because of the text, everything else was done well though. fun game!
Submitted
Crossy Road But You're Late For WorkReally clever concept and game. I couldn't reach the Wind Zone, but in anycase a col game.
Submitted
GMTK 2023, Deal with It!Thanks a lot man! 😁
If you didn't have a lot of upgrades, indeed it's quite hard to reach wind zones! It's around 700-800 if my memory isn't playing tricks on me. 🤔
If you want to try again one day, I'd say your best bet is: upgrade your blocks to be less stressed over your inventory, your health to be able to take more hits and when you reach the trailers, if everything looks too chaotic, take some hits and focus on the path. I was able to reach the wind zones this way! 👏
Cool idea! Very simple, but has good progression. Only gripe is that I wish that Blocku-dono would speed up a bit after a little while if he gets stuck behind a wall, to keep up with the camera. Most of my deaths were because I fell behind the camera and couldn’t catch back up. Other than that, this was really good!
Submitted
Kingfort Escortsimple and fun! this could easily be a game on the phone so i can play it while i in the toilet hah. congrats guys!
Submitted
Don't Invade Our Space!Love this game! So simple and yet so fun to play! Good job guys!!!
Submitted
The Good OverlordReally cool game and the procedural levels are really good. Limiting the amount of available blocks is a great idea too!
Well done!
Submitted
Noob Raiser (GMTK 2023)Thanks man! 😁
Indeed, everything didn't make the final cut but procedural generation just had to be in! Allows you to stock up! Block limit instead of infinite blocks is also a no-brainer to avoid having the player straight-up overpowered... even if he can still be with upgrades. We didn't have enough time to balance that. Still, we're glad you enjoyed it! 👏
One of the more creative ideas I've seen this jam! Once I realised I could place the blocks with a space in between them I was really trying to eek out distance. The base concept for the game was simple, solid, and fun, and everything else added on top of it accentuated the core mechanics. Stunning job!
Submitted
Good Medium, Bad NightThere are a surprising amount of layers to this game! I did not expect the levels to be randomized, but that was such a nice surprise. The ability to upgrade between rounds really added to the replayabiity and honestly made me play a lot longer than I really expected to lol. When I discovered you could collect tiles by removing them, it changed everything. Suddenly it was this frantic balancing act of trying to collect tiles, watch out for enemies, guide the character to power-ups, and pay attention to where you needed to place tiles. The slower movement speed kept it from being overwhelming while also making it feel super fast paced.
Really well done!
Submitted
Bricker Breaks FreeThanks a lot man! 😁
Indeed we really focused on the core of the game which is the player's IA and place/remove block mechanism but once we got it down, we really tried to make this experience as enjoyable as possible! Limited amount of blocks was added to avoid the player being overpowered and this addition was really a game-changer! After this, since the player had no reason to do anything else than just draw a straight line, we tried to add various enemies and pseudo-procedural generation to keep him on his toes! The finishing touch which is upgrades was added to answer the question "Why should anyone play the game again?" and it turns out, all those ideas were well received!
We're really glad you enjoyed our game man! Hoping we could push the boundaries further in the future as well! 😁
Very well-designed game. I liked how you could get tiles by removing them elsewhere. Because the speed of the character was good balanced you always missed some walls to collect, so over time you had less and less tiles. That way every second matters as you could lose some precious tiles. The terrain is well spawned, so you are constantly moving up and down. Maybe with some polished graphics it could be one of the best games in this game jam
Submitted
Garbage collectorThanks a lot man! 😁
Indeed the inventory system was a great addition to the block placement/removal system. The character slowly becomes faster lets you time to stock up at the beginning when it's easy and use the extra blocks when it gets hard! 👏
... but Art paid the cost for the polished gameplay 😅. Still, we're happy with what we were able to put do!
Great idea ! The gameplay is cool and fun and the enemies and bonuses force us to take risks. Random generation and improvements are a good addition that makes you want to go further. Congratulations !
Submitted
Monster BusinessThank you so much mate! 😁
Indeed after the core concept was done, adding enemies and bonuses was our 1st concern since the player had absolutely no reason to do anything else than just drawing a straight line. The same goes with random block generation on the path, also great to get back some more blocks!
About the improvements system tho, we've mostly added it to answer the question "Why would anyone replay our game?" and it looks like it was well received! 👏
We're glad you enjoyed it! 😁
really creative and super fun, I like how there are different unique strategies you can use like deleting your own bridges, taking damage just to reach health, or putting shooting/chasing enemies in boxes so they can't get you. incredible submission!
Submitted
Towers And SquaresThanks a lot! 😁
Indeed, when Cyrille pitched the concept to me at the start of the jam, I saw the light. ☠️
"Wait, you're right! This could be something really good! 👁️👁️" 🤣
The upgrades were added later because the game was pretty fun, but the question "Why should I play again?" was still lingering around and that was the answer we found with the time remaining at hand. Glad you enjoyed it! 👏
That it such a simple idea... But it works so well! Especially in a hectic kind of game as runner!
Honestly, my main complaint would honestly be art... Nothing really wrong with it, just didn't find it that captivating, to be brutally honest... But I think it wouldn't be fair to turn this game down just because of that, especially when it's so much pure fun!
I still think, you did a great job at making this game, it was a really enjoyable experience!
Submitted
CaverseThanks a lot, dude! 😁
About the concept, we had a lot of fun placing/removing blocks so, I thought that the others will also enjoy it and it turns out it was the case! 👏
About the art tho, unfortunately, since we've focused a lot of effort on gameplay, we couldn't make something that looks better. With more time tho, Art definitely deserves more love! 🤝
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