Dispense With Chaos by colludium

[raw]
made by colludium for LD31 (COMPO)
Santa's bag is dropping all of its presents and you have to click on groups of four or more to make them explode. Don't let the pile get too high or this physics based game will end in your shame. I don't know why Santa has explosives in his bag, but there you go...

See how much you can score in 10 minutes - I hope you enjoy this LD31 entry, I certainly had fun making it (does crying with frustration count as fun?).

I would prefer it if you downloaded the Windows version. Really, please choose that - it's only a 30 Mb Node Webkit file. Why? you ask - my answer is because the current version of Chrome happily renders games full of janks with missing frames. It looks ugly... I can't stop you, but I am pleading with you! I know, you don't care, you're on a time-line and you have to review a lot of games to get your kudos up. So, if you insist on downloading the browser version then you might have to play it in a small window. I don't know.... I'm just saying. You could have some serious hardware that would make NASA jealous, so don't be offended - I'm just saying in case you don't!

Made with Construct 2, GIMP, Inkscape, paint.net, Music Maker Jam, sfxr, Audacity, Genetica, and not forgetting toast and wine (nourishment).

Ratings

Coolness 61% 3
Overall 3.12 644
Audio 3.12 305
Fun 3.21 432
Graphics 2.98 626
Humor 2.50 539
Innovation 3.17 526
Mood 2.59 846
Theme 3.44 769

Feedback

spacedoubt
08. Dec 2014 · 03:58 UTC
Love it! Very solid. Clever concept. Love the music and the way it changes as your playing. (PS I played on web, and my system is really not very good, and the jank was pretty minimal.)
wandersenus
08. Dec 2014 · 09:26 UTC
Pretty fun game!!!
plauk
08. Dec 2014 · 10:43 UTC
I was a bit concerned about the rude shape that was emerging as I played, and then a realised it was just some bells.
Tinimations
08. Dec 2014 · 11:09 UTC
Interesting concept. :)
ainokaisa
08. Dec 2014 · 12:00 UTC
Very nice.
pjimmy
08. Dec 2014 · 16:32 UTC
nice concept, well done
G_O_R_D
08. Dec 2014 · 17:03 UTC
THe web version ran fine on my system, but none of the objects ever disappeared even though lots were touching same type.
🎤 colludium
08. Dec 2014 · 17:24 UTC
@G_O_R_D - were you clicking on the groups? They don't disappear by themselves - that's part of the game idea. If you were clicking - what browser were you using?
hazzahazzam
09. Dec 2014 · 06:13 UTC
Items need to dispense faster, other than that make it 5mins, the average time someone is willing to play.
Kyatric
09. Dec 2014 · 14:57 UTC
Good idea, pretty innovative.
It seems to me though there is a balance issue. I would have preferred to be able to decide when to drop presents, and have a "manual" release for it. Or maybe not have to match 4 presents, most of the time, 3 were enough.
Also a 10 minutes timer is pretty long.

It is a nice idea to mix the "tetris" preview with a match 3 mechanic, but as I mentioned, it required too much juggling on my part for me to be really efficient at it.

But otherwise, good ambiance, very nice music, and interesting fact that more and more type of presents are dropped.

No jank on FF solid browser, as usual.

Good job on making a game during the compo.
Drtizzle
10. Dec 2014 · 12:45 UTC
I completely agree with Kyatric, he/she pinpointed the exact things I liked and disliked about it.

Good job!
Wirtualnosc
10. Dec 2014 · 21:29 UTC
Very fun and innovative game. Good job :)
mrexcessive
11. Dec 2014 · 09:02 UTC
Hi there. Great sounds, even the button clicks. Nice clean design. I suggest you make the dispenser move with keyboard not mouse, as it is too annoying jumping top to bottom...
Erkberg
11. Dec 2014 · 16:00 UTC
Pretty cool game. I especially like how sometimes the level changes and mixes up everything. It's a little hard to switch between controlling the bag and exploding stuff, maybe let the bag be controlled by keyboard?
Graphics are fine, the music is quite relaxing and it's just great fun to explode stuff and watch everything fly away, good job overall!
SecondDimension
11. Dec 2014 · 18:14 UTC
My PC ran this perfectly on Chrome in full screen (I am now in talks with NASA).
The physics were very satisfying, especially when you clicked 4 things and they exploded, the whole thing felt very tactile. That way the level changed was good as well, it kept things interesting
🎤 colludium
12. Dec 2014 · 00:02 UTC
Thank you all for your comments and feedback!
Ossi
12. Dec 2014 · 23:05 UTC
Very innovative idea, with the adjustment of the bag and the strategy of trying to best drop the presents in the right spot is pretty challenging. Audio fits well with your artwork and the settings. Good job!
Havi
12. Dec 2014 · 23:11 UTC
Cool game :)
KilledByAPixel
12. Dec 2014 · 23:20 UTC
Cool idea. I like how the level is changes while you play. I feel like the action moves a bit slow and I find myself clicking around randomly. Maybe just have the pieces automatically explode if 4 are touching without requiring the player to click.
fierysquirrel
13. Dec 2014 · 05:03 UTC
Very nice idea, the effect of the objects exploding and the sound are hilarious! hahahahaa xD
6DownStudios
14. Dec 2014 · 06:34 UTC
Real neat physics game! Quite a bit of fun trying to predict how the explosions will regroup stuff, and the dynamic map is awesome! Excellent work!
zatyka
15. Dec 2014 · 00:56 UTC
I was excited to play this, as you don't see this genre of game in LD very often. It was quite fun, but frustrating at times. My main issue was with the controls. Using the mouse to both move the dropper and select the items to explode seemed more annoying than challenging. I'd suggest maybe assigning them to either separate mouse buttons, have the arrow keys control the dropper.

The explosions were very satisfying. I liked that you have the player choose which groups to destroy instead of doing it automatically at some point.

Also, 10 minutes felt a bit too long. I think either reducing it to 5 minutes, or making the gameplay endless and gradually increasing the drop speed, would make the game a bit more enjoyable.

Overall, a nice LD entry.
Kyatric
22. Dec 2014 · 05:07 UTC
I find it's a nice concept, although I'm not completely sold on it.
The (long) timing for example is one thing I'm being kind of torn on.
I understand why it's there, but it means I have to go for 10 minutes of game each play, it's a "huge" commitment.

The fact that gifts drop independently of my will, it made it difficult for me to decide where to drop them while searching for patterns, while keeping an eye on the clock.

Moreover, if you screw the "lower strata" there is no real way to dig back so deep.

Overall nicely done and pleasant to play but a bit too "messy"/action oriented for a game that requires thoughts and planning ahead imo.

Good job on making this game in 48 hours !
Noah Ratcliff
23. Dec 2014 · 01:58 UTC
Not terribly innovative, but great fun!
RHY3756547
23. Dec 2014 · 02:57 UTC
Cool gameplay, but near the end it just seems like you're playing pachinko, with all the rotating platforms, the dividers and the speed that the balls were being ejected at. I think the balls flying when moving the bag was way too punishing, the velocity probably should just start as 0 so that it's easier to micro manage every ball. Despite this, I did enjoy playing and the music was nice.
pht59x
23. Dec 2014 · 07:00 UTC
Very good innovative physics-based concept. Do we need to read instructions to find out the bucket can move using the mouse. Nice music, too.
okkolobr
23. Dec 2014 · 08:31 UTC
Good game.
Difficulty progressivity, mechanics and music are all well done.

I do fill that I had too many thing to manage at the same time (what come next, where should I click to make things fall where it is good, can i click to make things disappear). MAYBE, i would remove the moving bag feature, but just MAYBE.
ceosol
23. Dec 2014 · 17:48 UTC
This is a solid entry. It is a little difficult to control the blimp. Remembering 50 things on the ground and having a half a second to see what is coming next does not work too well together :)

I definitely agree that the time should have been shorter. Speed it up to 5 minutes or even 3 minutes with faster board conversions. But overall, the physics were great and you really exemplified it but having changing terrain.
Sandcrawler
23. Dec 2014 · 20:57 UTC
I was very impressed by this, It is a really cool idea and I love that that shape evolves and changes as you are playing.

I'm not sold on moving the dropper, for me I found it got in the way more when I was trying to click. If you kept it maybe move it to be controlled with arrow/wasd.

I know some comments mention they should choose the rate...I'm going to go against that. I like that it is all automatic. What I would like to see is it start at a faster dropping rate.

Another option would be to position the bag in the middle, but when it shoots it aims the object at the mouse location. This way it would be automatic, but also give you control over the objects.

Good job.