itch.io

it was vertical in the beginning. In a “Version 2” I want it back. But for now: no 3D because of physics. 😞

But thx for the nudge to go 3D (somewhen)!

Cool idea. I would actually love if the enemies are moving even more chess-like and constrains much much more to chess specifics. Maybe top-down view would be better? Sorry, not crtizising just thinking. I’m just not the fighting games kind of guy. 

Heads up and hats up for following your idea and going there. Keep up the mood!

🫡 Aye. Totally understand! As I said, I myself am lacking good ideas how to make an interesting game out of particle sim. And btw the same also for genetic life forms. I really would love to do a game with that but making it interesting and game-y… no idea yet. Therefore, I’m always watching if somebody dares and experiments. Thx for the long explanation! CU on discord 😎

Thx! :-) What exactly was confusing with/in the tutorial? I would try to enhance/change that then.

Thanks for the kind words. Regarding the speed-up I will think about it. The problem might be physics, but I have to check. Game engine physics are great when "simulating" 3000 objects colliding and going whack, but near-realistic simulation is a problem: They collide too much before reacting and then the angles are all wrong etc. I had to do much the the physics myself, but there are still some Godot (Jolt) physics I use. "When there is time for it" I want to do really ALL of the physics myself in own code, and then things get much much better, including a full and accurate replay for a level etc etc.

Thx for the feedback! Anything else weird or annoying?

Pushing sand, funny. After building a nice sand castle on the beach during the day, push sand into holes at night ;-)

Compact idea, small game, levels - complete. Well done :-)

Well done. What a charming game with just a one-button interface. Absolutely gorgeous and a lot of fun. As you know, I am not a "good player", so I would wish
1. A much bigger hitbox on the apple. It is frustrating and annoying that you fly through the apple and see "nah, not quite, sooorry". I understand that a bigger hitbox would kill the challenge, so: make the apple at least thinner, so you do not fly right through it and it does not count. I still made all 20 levels, though ;-) 
2. Slightly slower swing and/or some slo-mo turn. If it would take another button/key, that's probably not what you want, so what about: Slower swing when you connect a new candle and the swing (rotation) speeds up the longer you are connected!?

I would also like more different candles. Eg: 
- Different swing speeds
- Candles that attract even without connecting would be nice
- Maybe "Dark Candles" that pushes the moth away

Whatever: Well done, really cool game! Make it "full" :-)

Nice one, and the concept really modelled around the candle. I also liked the cut-strain concept - I have never seen this in another game. The graphics are nice, too. The full game would benefit from more ideas, particularly ways in which the range of the candle would be different - e.g. not going full 3D or 2.5D but "stepping up" brings more light. Or having to reach banana trees in a more difficult manner (but then being rewarded with more bananas).

Anyway, nice work! LIKE

Oh, now! Moving the mouse did not help. However, when changing the zoom (CTRL+/-) did help.

It did not work on my computer (Firefox and Brave both did not work): I saw a black screen with NEW on the right, but I could not click and key-pressed did not work either. Any idea?

The candle concept is really good! :-)  The platforming is also fun. It could use coyote jump tolerance and some minor anti-frustration optimizations, but that's mimimi... The demo is well done and makes fun to play. I hope you have the motivation to make it a full game with lots of cool levels. I hope you have good ideas regarding the levels, such that each level provides a different candle "hack" to solve it. I hope you have ideas for more cool elements aside from the moving platforms and narrow passages. Keep it up. I love it!

Man! This is just the Coolness in the Mist! Even I was able to do the required tricks, so 5 stars for mechanics. When jumping off, my feet were jumping too, the immersion is 100%, 5 stars for direction. Visuals and audio are also great. So, I hope you get this done and published as a full game. I'm not a skater but you got my psyched! :-)

Cool idea!! :-) However, it seems (too) hard to control. At least for me the propel is too fast and in combinations with A/D controls it gets "uncontrollable" for me, also the water is gone pretty fast. I would like to have the jumping and flying much slower so you be more in control. BUT, I know I am bad at such games, so I guess, it's just me having this problems.

15 weeks :-)  The game is short but fun. For a small mobile game it feels complete and teases the player to try another run. Well done.

The candle is a side effect when you die, as far as I saw it, but maybe some cards I haven't seen show candles and spin story around candles?

Brilliant idea, but really difficult. Even when experienced in modelling 3D objects (and using xz/xy/zy planes sometimes) the game requires still hard cognitive effort. However, cool idea and nice that you tried this out!

The mechanics are not easy to use. Showing the plane (and maybe the position) on a 3D cube in the bottom-right corner (like a "map") would really help.

Also: some of the 4D games I saw used "shadows" or other visual hints about stuff hidden nearby "behind the hidden dimension" so to say. That would help playing and would also be cool as hell! Think about it! ;-)

I had problems with the "B" (bonus?) level. I did not make it. I guess, the dimension of ZY (X hidden) is distorted or inverted or otherwise non-euclidian?

The candle was used, also usefully and meaningfully. More candle-features than lighting an area would be even cooler (but I have no good idea aside from dimming :-/ myself). Generally, a decent submission.

OK, tried it out. I would still slow down the jump even more, but that's a question of taste of course. It's definitely better now, and I even played the new level :-)

If the levels get greater, one might need some hints / map / compass or something to help - just an idea...

AHA! The Hitboxes are totally wrong. I clicked way off to the right and could now press the buttons. This is really weird. I'm afraid, but even for windows users (with different resolution or different GPU or...) that could cause problems. I understand, that this is hard (impossible) for you to reproduce, but that issue needs fixing.

I don't know which game engine you are using, but the big ones (Unreal, Unity, Godot) will also allow to export as Linux. If you have time and nerves (and like), look it up and try to create a linux version. Then we (at least me) can test this more thoroughly. Just give me a wink.

Ah I see. Well, doing a tutorial is already hard. Making a _good_ tutorial is even harder. Also, it takes so much effort and code changes, that sometimes I felt, coding the tutorial itself is like coding a new game. Thanks for your feedback!!

Why "toggle"? Just make it slower I thought? Or was that what you meant? (Sorry for asking)

Nice graphics and feel. I am on linux but downloaded your game and played it with wine - worked perfectly.

I really liked it so far. However, I have some trouble:

TAB (Team view): The "hit boxes" are off. You have to click right of them. The boxes could also be much bigger. Then selecting the wrong team member, there is no way to deselect it. You could click again to deselect?

Fight: Totally do not understand what I can do here. Can I only fight in the future? If so, maybe write something there like: You have no fighting skills, yet - this fight is pointless, or something.

Please explain (here or in game) how the fighting works. I pressed WASDE, clicked & dragged with the mouse, clicked on enemies - nothing seemed to do anything. I must be doing something totally wrong :-D - please help and explain.

The animation of the enemies seems wrong: When they attack, they are directly on the character and then go back slowly - for me this looks like the enemy is gone/teleported and then it moves from the attacked character back. Looks weird.

When fighting in the cave, I still could do no fighting against the axes. Suddenly, this error showed up (hope it helps you):

############################################################################################
ERROR in action number 1
of Alarm Event for alarm 1 for object GamePlay_Obj:
Push :: Execution Error - Variable Index [5] out of range [5] - -6.ally(100014,5)
at gml_Object_GamePlay_Obj_Alarm_1
############################################################################################
gml_Object_GamePlay_Obj_Alarm_1 (line -1)

Joshuah, please tell me: What exactly was confusing in the tutorial?

Your answer would help me to make it better and less confusing.

Thanks! :-) The tutorial is not perfect, I totally agree. It's not even complete. I'm just working on having multiple boxes for one level, so, more smaller boxes one after another instead of one big text.

https://ludorino.itch.io/billiard-ocean/devlog/1587561/multiple-tutorial-boxes-p...

Xie xie ni! Thanks for the nice words. I'm happy you like the idea. When I somewhen publish (eg to Steam) I might consider having chinese translation, too - we'll see.

Regarding the game mechanics. What is it that you do not understand? Everything? Or something special?

Very nice game. Relaxing and still challenging. Great idea. Maybe (not sure) it would be nice if there was a way to fix problems at the bottom. Eg, some very small circle shape that goes to down easily and after some time (2 seconds) it pumps a bit or explodes... Not sure, just thinking aloud.

Well done! I like the game!

The idea sounds interesting. I have problems with the controls - it may just be me and my browser (Firefox) but I have issues:
- The chat is only seen half top-right of the screen. Exit button bottom-right is hardly seen (only 4-8 pixels).
- I cannot exit the settings (maybe bc I don't see the button?). You could add keyboard shortcuts like ESC additionally.
- The room on the right stayed black (not red like in the screenshot). I guess, I have not really opened the door (missing key?) and that was on purpose.
- I did not know what I can actually do - I could only go left/right and jump.I have not found any way of interaction. I guess, it's just me as others seem to have achieved stuff. Can you give short hints on how to interact or what to do other than walking?

10/10 for the idea! I like games with new ideas. The graphics and feel of the game is nice.

The jump could be a bit slower - same distance, but just slower animation/physics - it would make it even more relaxing and the candle is quite light anyway.

Well done. A complete demo :-)

Very cool idea and concept. It is difficult to jump, think and react. IMO, the game speed is too fast. Particularly, the moving speed of the blocks. How I see it the game is a puzzle game and therefore the high speed is not needed, even harmful. Please play around with much slower movement speed (at most 10% of the current speed, maybe even slower.

It might be that my partly solutions were totally wrong, but I stepped on a block and moved it upwards, were I got pushed into the wall (ceiling) there. Is that correct that way? It looks "wrong" and also allows no movement, pressed to the wall like that. If it's intentionally that way, would there be a way to let it look right and also maybe allow some action? For example: either 

(a) make the player smaller and leave a hole in the cealing - not sure, seems a bad idea and looks bad, or:

(b) the upward moving block with player on top only moves to the 1-but-last position before the ceiling and the player is not _in_ the ceiling but 1 place below. Should you move left/right, then the block moves 1 space up and is directly below the ceiling.

Also, as the solution to a problem requires action in different screens, it would be good, if the player could "look up" / "look left" / ...right / ...down (eg pressing SHIFT+WASD for temporary screen change). So, the player can see what is there and think about what to do.

First: I am really spoiled by the great https://sudokupad.app/ which I used to play Fog-of-War sudokus from cracking the cryptic - see YouTube. So, you did really well to make a full-working game, but spoiled as I am, I am missing some functions. You do not have to implement them, I am just offering constructive, potential ideas here - not destructive criticism. When solving a sudoku, along the way, you need ways to enter your thoughts or hints, not only solving the cell with the solution digit. I always use Snyder notation. 

Sudokupad offers different ways to have smaller digits in the cell: on the edges and in the center. Please try it out with some classic sudoku and look up Snyder notation if you don't know it yet. Also: Feel free to chat with me on discord if you like. Remember, just ideas no front.

Also: there is a special button/key to check if the entered big digits are correct. It's not needed, but I like it that way. 

Entering an 8 with the number 8 is nice. You should also allow pressing 8 to remove it again (and maybe also BACKSPACE in addition to DEL).

Feels good, is relaxing to play. I first wanted to see what happens when walking right of the ledge ;-)

Then I made the missions, which was fun. It's a pity that I could not yet see the trees (or plants?) to grow up. BTW: When shutting down the normal factory, it still smokes.

Keep up the motivation and  implementing new stuff! 

Wow. Graphics, and Feel looks really polished! I am not managing the last tutorial part with the trick. It's probably me but the game seems a bit too unforgiving, eg the angles in the stats seem much higher than they look and feel like. So, even landing flat is such a big challenge that I (personal problem?) can hardly manage anything else than just that and need more than one try to just land flat. Questions:
Do I just need much more practise?
What is to be done in the last tut level?
Is there also a game after the tutorial or is the game more about increasing the stats of one cool trick?

YEAH, works like a charm now! (Y)

Nice memory game idea :-)

Coffee keeps you up (and running) :-)
Small reco, regarding space and catching the beans: make visual hints when you can catch the beans (e.g. outline them/flash/brighten/...) and/or add more tolerance to when you can use space to catch them (allow earliear and later catch time). Particularly, when you add more interesting stuff like enemies and obstacles, the catching should be safe - maybe even catch them without having to press space at all!?

Well done, gfx and sound and feel. :-)
One reco: Look at the controls, sometimes space for jump does not work (it could be my browser or system), but maybe have a look at that. The game needs a _perfect_ control - again: maybe it's just my fault, so sorry for the not-meant criticism here ;-)

Sure thing. Give me a wink and I'll try again. It could also be "my fault" = some bad/missing linux settings...

How do I see what and how much i can build? WIP, i guess...

After Wave 4: console says "More money, honey!" (no further builds), and SPACE brings no waves. I guess, you know all that. Just FYI.

Otherwise it seems to work.

I'm on Linux (Mint). Windows-Version works with wine, but the AppImage does not want to run:

~/prog/games/itch.io/TowerDefenseExperiment$ ls -ltr  
total 2940  
-rwx------ 1 .... .... 2996728 Jul  1 15:29 TDE.AppImage  
drwxrwxr-x 2 .... ....    4096 Jul  1 15:30 TDE.AppImage.home  
drwxrwxr-x 2 .... ....    4096 Jul  1 15:30 TDE.AppImage.config  
drwxrwxr-x 3 .... ....    4096 Jul  1 15:36 windows_version    
~/prog/games/itch.io/TowerDefenseExperiment$ ./TDE.AppImage  
Setting $HOME to /home/..../prog/games/itch.io/TowerDefenseExperiment/TDE.AppImage.home  
Setting $XDG_CONFIG_HOME to /home/..../prog/games/itch.io/TowerDefenseExperiment/TDE.AppImage.config  
Error on loading file(share/shaders/map_vertex.glsl)  Error on loading file(share/shaders/map_fragment.glsl)  
Failed to load shader files!  
/tmp/.mount_TDE.ApKIJKmp/AppRun: line 4: 345088 Segmentation fault      (core dumped) $HERE/TDE

The visuals of the slingshot is really nice and feels good.

Grafics and feelings when slingshotting are really nice! It's a pity that there is no more control other than space to eject (or did I miss something). Just a bit more corrective controls in deep space would be nice. You have all the stuff to balance it: fuel. So why not allowing small corrections? 

great work! add save points for less frustration :-)