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A Forgetful Loop

A time-looping worker-placement puzzle game 路 By BigHandInSky

Found a bug/issue? Post here! Sticky

A topic by BigHandInSky created Sep 03, 2020 Views: 605 Replies: 24
Viewing posts 1 to 9
Developer

Hey, this is a thread for reporting issues with the game, such as:

  • Bugs
  • Difficult/Impossible Levels
  • Typos
  • etc.

Please keep posts concise and on-topic please.

(1 edit)

Hi,

just got this game from the Palestine bundle and am already stuck on Levels 2 and 3 with no clear way to proceed.

  • In Level 2, I scroll up to the only accessible node. The game then doesn't tell me how to proceed from there, the "Scroll up to find a node" hint doesn't disappear. There are no workers available to place in the node on the UI, though pressing 1/Q still drops a worker token in my hand. Placing the token in the node doesn't do anything.
  • I can exit out of the level and go to Level 3. In Level 3 there is again only one accessible node at the top, though dropping either an engineering or a science token there again doesn't change anything about the game.

I am halfway assuming I need to "start the loop" somehow, but I haven't been able to find a keybind that does that yet (Tried space, p)


EDIT: While I was writing this post,if anyone else is looking for a solution to this: I managed to figure out that pressing 'N' seems to proceed the game. Though there seems to be a limit to how many steps I can take with this. For example, I am not able to fill the innermost node on Level 2 before running out of time.

Developer

Hey, thanks for trying the game & reporting this issue;

First thing - what platform are you playing on? Windows/Mac/Linux

For Level 2, it should be what you're expecting: scroll up, put a token onto the node, then fill in the nodes to the final triangle node (When you drop your first token in that level it starts the countdown clock)

How did you scroll around the map? Arrow keys, mouse, something else?

This may be a tedious note, but can you give Level 2 another try using the arrow keys to navigate up to the top node? You want to have it close to the centre of the screen to trigger the next step.


Level 3 should just tick along fine, the only thing I can think of is maybe you were hovering your mouse over one of the tutorial panels? (They pause the game timer to let you read them)


(And yes, N skips ahead one second, but that's intended as a helpful button during gameplay, not the only way to make progress)

Hi! Thanks for the quick reply. I'm playing on Windows (installed the game via the itch desktop app, if that's relevant). I was scrolling using the mouse. 

Just gave it a try with the arrow keys, and it then did proceed with the tutorial, showing the worker tokens and unpausing the game. On a second try, it now also works with the mouse. I also figured out why it wasn't working for me the first time: If I'm already at the top of the screen by the time the second tutorial box (the "Scroll up to the node" one) pops up, then it doesn't proceed unless I move the screen again. Sometimes it doesn't proceed at all.

Generally the game doesn't seem to handle early inputs well. If I manage to scroll to the top of the screen before the first tutorial box ("Pan with the mouse or arrow keys") finishes fading in, it doesn't proceed to the second box either until I move again. At some point I managed to pan before the "Level 2" pop up appears, causing none of the game UI to appear at all.

Level 3 is still not ticking - maybe I need to complete Level 2 first?

During my testing of Level 2 I found another bug: During the first loop, the clock didn't show up (the game did tick though), and after I failed to complete the task in time I got this screen:

https://i.imgur.com/npsWKoN.jpeg


where I cannot place a token in any node now and the game is not ticking again. I tried hovering and unhovering the hint texts, but that didn't unfreeze the game. Sadly I am now always stuck on the "tutorial not proceeding" bug so I can't test this bug any further.

Developer

Ok great - yeah I wrote the tutorial to be pretty slow-paced, I didn't think of people managing to pan during the "Level XX" title. I'll look into it now & attempt to patch it.

For your screenshot, I vaguely remember that bug, but can't remember how it triggers. Can you navigate to <username>\AppData\LocalLow\BigHandInSky\ForgetfulLoop\...

And send the Player.log & Player-prev.log to bighandinsky@gmail.com please?

Some more testing: Restarting the game seems to temporarily fix the "stuck" issue. If I correctly solve Level 2, the game proceeds to Level 3 and starts ticking, yes. Sometimes if I go back to Level 2 I get this pop up, which I believe belongs to Level 3? Can't reproduce the stuck tutorial bug at the moment.

https://i.imgur.com/VqxhKKL.jpg

Developer

Ok! Thanks for figuring that out, I'll look into the "level 3 doesn't run" bug today as well.

Hi there, I'm really enjoying this game! I'm partway through the "wasting away" section and it's very exciting and challenging!

My question is, is there a way to pause? (Other than hovering over tutorial text in the levels that have it.) Pressing Escape doesn't pause. Alt-tabbing away doesn't pause. Even if I press Exit and am asked if I'm sure I want to exit, it still doesn't pause. Just want to check if I'm missing something. Thanks!

I downloaded from itch.io (not Steam) and am on Windows 10  Home.

Developer (1 edit)

Hey, & thanks! Please feel free to let me know of any levels that are too hard or whatever.

And no, I've purposefully chosen to not allow pausing - the machine is always ticking, always tocking 馃槺

I'll add this as a note on the FAQ.

Oh, I see! Thanks for getting back to me! Just to clarify, is there any downside to using more time loops? Like if a child or pet needs attention and you just don鈥檛 do anything for a bunch of loops. Do you get a worse ending or anything? 

Developer

Nope! It doesn't affect the ending.

I wasn't sure it was just post game unfinished content but I've had some problems with 'the early years' batch of levels. I'm playing on windows, in level one, nothing loads in, just the background, no nodes or UI, and in level six I can't get past one loop, the connections between nodes disappear, and the progress on nodes doesn't advance. Love the game, thank you for all your work!

Developer (1 edit)

Uh oh! Yeah that sounds like something isn't loading or setup correctly. Those levels are copies of the original gamejam levels, so yes it's bonus content, but should work fine.

When you have a moment, can you send me the player.log & player-prev.log files to bighandinsky@gmail.com?

Windows: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\BigHandInSky\ForgetfulLoop\Player.log
macOS: ~/Library/Logs/BigHandInSky\ForgetfulLoop/Player.log
Linux: ~/.config/unity3d/BigHandInSky\ForgetfulLoop/Player.log

Otherwise, try closing the app, launching it & try playing one of the levels again? Could be some game state that isn't being cleaned up.

(Edit: and thanks for the kind words 馃榿, sorry you ran into this bug)

Sent! On refresh I got a few more loops out of level 6 but it still broke and no change for level 1. Again thank you for your time and for the game!

Developer

Gotcha. Will look at the logs over the weekend.

With level 1, it's intended that the first few loops are "empty", as back in the Gamejam I used the popups to do some dialogue with. Just to clarify - level 1 just plain doesn't ever show nodes after a couple loops? or anything?

Oh - and which platform are you playing on btw? As I only have the ability to test Windows builds I'm afraid.

I am having an issue similar to strangeglyph where level 2 just doesn't work. I scroll up the the node (with mouse dragging and arrow keys) and nothing happens. I've zoomed in and out, put the node in the centre of the screen and moved it about, tried pressing n to see if that fixes it and nothing helps. I am playing on Windows.

Developer

Ah no! Hmm, so ok: can you go to the game's save folder (see the FAQ) and send both .log files to bighandinsky@gmail.com? (Title "Tutorial bug" please)

After that, try playing it again, but take it super slow - don't move the node tree at all until the relevant panel shows (I think the bug is due to a very specific timing when moving the map. I thought I managed to address it in a patch, but sounds like I didn't 馃槵)

Branches 18 contains an potentially unwanted interaction between Switches and Spinners - if you complete a Spinner node, but then Switch away from it, you can no longer switch back to it, softlocking you until the next loop. This could be an intentional ordering requirement, but I鈥檓 not sure since it isn鈥檛 described in game IIRC.

Developer

馃憢 hey, thanks for noting this.

Yes that sounds like a bug. iirc a Switch only considers "unfixed" nodes; but that should be a valid switch-back.

I'll try finding some time in the coming weeks to fix it, but it's unlikely to be soon as I concentrate on Day of Maintenance.

Please let me know if you find other odd interactions 馃檪 (Hope you're enjoying the game!)

(1 edit)

Hello there! Wonderful game.  I am having difficulties playing the game at 1920x1080. My display supports up to 120Hz, but every rate I pick reverts to 23Hz. When I run the game at lower resolutions I can select higher refresh rates. Any advice? 

Developer

Hey 馃憢

Hmm. It's been a long minute since I looked at the code for Forgetful Loop, and I'm going to be busy for the next few weeks. But from running into a similar issue with MDay's settings code, I think this is my settings menu code displaying the resolution/fps incorrectly.

Essentially I think you can ignore it - Unity defaults to the highest refresh rate regardless of what you pick - it's my code rendering the lowest refresh rate (Sadly I'm unsure why Unity/my code does this 馃槓)

Let me know if you do run into issues with the refresh rate being weird 馃檪 Sorry that I can't be more helpful right now.

(+1)

Hey, you are absolutely right! When I use Windows G to capture frame rate, it is indeed 60Hz. Thanks!

(+1)

The last (18th) level in Branches (chapter 5) seems to have a bug where one of the switch nodes will only 'go around' once and then get stuck in one position, making one of the connected nodes inaccessible. I managed to pass the level regardless by planning for a single 'go around' (so no rush!) but just wanted to let you know. I'm guessing it has something to do with how the switch will skip over 'finished' nodes, maybe it's mistakenly thinking an 'unfinished' node is finished? I don't have a mid-game screenshot, but i circled the node that breaks. I'm on Linux btw

Developer

Noted, thank you for the report.

Right now my focus is on patches for Day of Maintenance, but when I get time for it I'll look into a patch for Forgetful Loop.

(1 edit)

This game has a nice concept and the writing is good enough to keep me invested. I have some issues with it though that make it a bit lukewarm for me gameplay-wise.

There are various UI issues with this game. Even after selecting the "background blur" option, it won't keep it that way consistently looks like. There is way too much clutter on the screen for my liking without it, and maybe even with it. This is a game in which you really have to focus on quickly reading various symbols precisely. Takes a lot of practice to really be able to process what you're seeing in real-time and starting to assign the correct workers in correct tasks, but I don't think I would find it fun anyhow. I don't think I actually wanna play with gameplay that stressful all the time!

It's very (and maybe too) ambitious to have totally different symbols for different workers instead of just the same symbol for all tech and for all science with a big number in the middle to indicate which level they are. It's a very much more difficult task to learn which symbols are above which others in the ranking and can therefore perform their tasks but not vice versa.

I didn't see what difference the "angle background camera" option is supposed to make to the view as you're looping. I have no idea what option that says something about a "briefcase" does but maybe that's a later-levels thing.


When dragging a worker from a node directly to another node, it sometimes starts dragging the screen around instead, or in addition to that, making it impossible to complete the action.

In addition, the slowness of the movement of the dragged worker makes it more difficult to tell when you're hovering over where you want them to end up, making the process a bit more clumsy. Not a major issue though.

I'm having a difficult time telling when a node has empty spots and when they're filled. It's maybe not visually distinct enough? I keep getting surprised by having missed empty spots. Also missing available nodes I haven't assigned anyone to.

I'm finding it pretty hopeless to always think strategically. Especially early into most levels, it seems it doesn't pay to try to do that. Instead just spamming workers into nodes indiscriminately works best. You've tried to create a game with strategic aspects WITHOUT a pause function for a story reason that just isn't justified. At least at the start of the loop and at least the first time you play it, you should be allowed to take in what you're seeing. Like I really mean it. That would help greatly in highlighting that aspect of gameplay instead of shifting it into a mindless action game. I mean, yeah, you can technically do that with the clock ticking, but the game doesn't incentivize that by the very same ever-ticking clock and story reasons you chose to omit the pause function for... i.e. it's asking the player to voluntarily break their own immersion to do that. Secondly, there's the idea looming in the air that you might be getting a worse ending or something if you waste too many loops. So I really urge you to reconsider this design!

Another reason why strategic thinking is out the window is the fact you can't scout ahead what unlocked nodes require. So basically would have to be able to pause again mid-loop, like an actual strategy game or RPG or something. I really don't think that would make the game worse even though it creates "ludo-narrative dissonance". That's a darling you gotta kill to make this game shine IMO.

The game isn't zooming out far enough (and correctly centered) to see the entire grid when the loop starts! Have to do that manually every time. Big minus for that. I don't think I touched the default graphics settings in a way that should affect this.

I didn't get how to go to the start of the next loop when you've run out of things you can do in the current loop. Or just in case you missed the first several seconds and know you won't have time to get in progress that time around.

If you think about some of this stuff, I'll consider inducting the game into the Home of the Underdogs collection... for whatever that's worth :P