ugh. I’m sorry you had all those issues. Unfortunately I don’t have a Linux machine so I couldn’t test on the OS. I’ll see what I can do in the future to make sure this doesn’t happen.
Thanks for the comments. Glad you enjoyed the game. I am currently working on refactoring and improving the game for a future full release. I plan of tweaking/changing much of the SFX and graphics to give it a more polished look.
A professor of mine once told me "Ideas are easy. Good ideas are what is hard." To be fair, I have been mulling about making a game about of the table of nuclei, which is basically the periodic table for nuclear physics, ever since I was in grad school back in the 90s. This jam seemed like a great chance to make the idea into a reality. :)
After the voting period for the jam is over I plan on making incremental updates until I get to the point where I feel like I can release the game for $$$.
Thanks for playing and streaming the game. I agree that the controls take some practice. That is intentional otherwise I found during testing the game was to easy. If it helps, the movement is velocity based, so the move input adds velocity to the artificer. I have found short bursts of movement combined with braking works well. Also I realized that I forgot to put in the instructions that your energy regenerates slowly over time but you also gain energy by capturing electrons (blue) or by the occasional collision of positrons (pinkish) and electrons.
Also, after watching the stream I want to note you can start building nuclei by colliding protons and neutrons shot from the artificer rather than just waiting for the spawners to shoot nucelli out.
In any case, glad you enjoyed it! (And yes I am a physicist as you guessed :) ).
Yeah I was worried about that. It was one of things I wanted to add but didn't have enough time for.
If I decide to develop this further (which I am inclined to do) I am planning on added the following:
Tutorials to introduce the player to the gameplay and the main mechanics of the game.
Get the controls working for different input devices including key/button mapping.
A more detailed information menu accessible from both the main and pause menus. This will have the basics on the table of nuclei that physicists use and what the various decays do. So basically a generalized primer on nuclear physics and how that game uses it.
Levels with specific goals. For example create Boron, or create a specific isotope of a elements, or create an element without using protons. Basically put in the more puzzle elements I originally wanted. I am also thinking of splitting levels between those with puzzle elements and those with score goals.
Variants in level layout including adding additional walls and other hazards.
Different mechanic to collect nuclei instead of just bumping into them. Originally there was going to be a "hopper" which you needed to push nuclei into. I also had the beginnings of the effects of electromagnetism between particles and nucelli but had to not implement it due to time.
Add in the music tracks I originally wanted to add.
Fix the menu system. It is still kuldgy and I am not happy with it. In fact I want to refactor most of the code so the various patterns I used are more consistent.
Add in other features such as achievements, the name of an element popping up when you create it (not just the symbol on the nucleus), larger play areas, etc. Basically get quality of life features that make the game more accessible and rewarding.
Get better art/sound assets to give the game a nice polish. :)
The controls are gamepad only right now. I didn't have time to get keyboard input fully working before the deadline. Is patching in keyboard controls allowed at this point or would it be considered a new feature?
The goal is basically to try to build up heavier and heavier nuclei then collect them by running into them for a score. As of now the goal is just to get to the highest score as possible. Originally I was going to have goals and puzzle elements, but time ran out. :(
Controls were a bit wonky. Took me a few tries to realize needed to double jump to make it to other platforms. The look and animation is great. Is the character a custom asset that you guys created?
Fun game! Addictive gameplay. Found myself bopping to the music. Overall good sound design. Like the dissolve in effects when you move from one maze to other.
Fun little game. Lots of potential. Graphics are simple and have room to grow. My only real criticism is that I never got the difference between the four kinds of munchies. Also, maybe some indicator of what is good and bad? The challenge then is that as your herd gets larger it is harder and harder to avoid potentially bad blobs.
Fun take on the Match-3 genre. Like how instead of the usual math mechanic that if you watch you collect all of the connecting tiles of the same type. The bombs/dynamite seem incomplete though. As you mentioned in another comment you didn't have time to get them to cascade.
Overall great effort and nice to see some innovation in a well worn genre.
Like the old school feel to the game. The possession mechanic has real potential for some fun puzzles. My only gripe is, as other people have said, is the jumping mechanic. I found myself getting frustrated with getting the timing right. Plus having to press the key in the opposite direction I wanted to wall jump took me a bit to get. I was expecting to have to press the key in the direction I wanted to jump.
Other than that. Enjoyable and a fun throwback to old school platforming.
thanks! I’ll be checking out your game as well over the next few days. This has been my first jam and it was s fun. I leaned much on some technical aspects with scriptable objects and serialization (I used code of a serializable dictionary to enter all the data).
My original intention was as to make it more of a puzzle game with different levels and even introducing effects of electromagnetism between particles. However my ambitions were outstripped by the time allotted. So what I put out there I consider more of a proof of concept.
I just did a bug fix on my entry. I added text in my description for a change log and just uploaded the fixed version of the game via my dashboard. However any guidance on what procedures we should use during the two week rating period would be appreciated.
Thanks. The controls are velocity based. Looks like I forgot to put in the instructions that the left trigger on the gamepad is a brake. I'll fix that as soon as I can.
Now that I think about it, I probably have put in some particle system or the like trailing off from the player as they move. Oh well, something to add to the list of features and gameplay changes I want to do after the rating period.
Edit: Bug with the movement, display of instructions, and a scoring bug for making gold fixed with v1.1.
