A Maze in Space by GSM Productions

[raw]
made by GSM Productions for LD31 (JAM)
A tense futuristic puzzle game where you'll have to collect as many stars as you can before getting buzzed by Harvey the Robot!

Click on a room to move to it if a path to it exist (with doorways aligned). If such a path exists between you and Harvey, he will start moving towards you! Be careful!

Rotate your spaceship to remove a random room from the bottom row, and add a new one on the top. Neither you nor the robot can be dropped off the ship though! Use this to open path to new stars, and cut off the path between you and Harvey the Robot. How long can you survive?




Controls
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Left click : Move to another room
Arrows or Mouse drag : Rotate the spaceship
Escape : Unceremoniously quit the game :p

SCORE TO BEAT: Bastien - 106
Can you do better?

Credits
-------

Pauline, Christel and Cindy: Graphics
Pascale: SFX
Bastien and Thomas: Code
Bastien: Music
Joan and Axiome: Moral support

SOURCE AT https://github.com/GSMProductions/LD31

Ratings

Coolness 56% 3
Overall(Jam) 3.35 375
Audio(Jam) 3.56 146
Fun(Jam) 3.27 337
Graphics(Jam) 3.65 320
Humor(Jam) 2.21 693
Innovation(Jam) 3.68 144
Mood(Jam) 3.30 321
Theme(Jam) 3.76 303

Feedback

RonnyEGT
09. Dec 2014 路 09:32 UTC
It was an interesting experience, a bit confusing at first, but worth playing :D
aeveis
09. Dec 2014 路 09:52 UTC
I liked the art and the audio! The rooms falling random was a bit confusing - I thought maybe I could kill the robot that way. Click to move sometimes would make me run into the robot. Overall pretty polished though!
馃帳 GSM Productions
09. Dec 2014 路 10:33 UTC
(Bastien here)
@RonnyEGT: Thanks! :D

@aeveis: Yes, killing the robot was envisioned at some point, but you know how jam go... ^^ And the pathfinding is supposed to make you avoid the robot, but sometimes it does make you run into it. Thanks for the kind words though!
Hellequin
09. Dec 2014 路 11:57 UTC
Interesting and fun game! Neat concept!
Chaoseed
09. Dec 2014 路 12:05 UTC
I love the graphics and animation! I can't quite wrap my head around the gameplay, though. Is it just sort of gamble as to which column goes? Is it ever possible to make the robot or yourself fall out? (Morbid curiosity.) Good work, though!
Ranmara
09. Dec 2014 路 12:11 UTC
A really great concept that needs just a few tweaks to work. It would be nice to have an indication of which room will drop next, or even a way to choose it. Great style and innovation though. :)
H-Bomb
09. Dec 2014 路 12:12 UTC
Took me some time to really understand what I was doing but after that it is cool. The idea is interresting, it's beautiful and the audio feels good. Good game!
馃帳 GSM Productions
09. Dec 2014 路 12:46 UTC
(Bastien again)
@all: Thanks for the kind words! The fact that a random room drops after each rotation is a bit confusing, that is true. And no, neither you nor the robot can be pushed off the ship in that way. We had planned to let you drop the robot to get some respite before a new one would come in, but no time to do that...

And an indication of the column that is about to be dropped would indeed be good, but again, lack of time :( Thanks again for playing it, though! :)
Tangible Games
09. Dec 2014 路 13:42 UTC
Fantastic atmospheric audio, immersive action-puzzle gameplay, nice graphics! What else can we ask for? Running away from Harvey the Robot is fun, thanks!
Ekilibr
09. Dec 2014 路 13:43 UTC
I had to take time to get it about the rooms (like some other fellows), but great game !

Nice work on the graphics, and original design though :)
cardanai
09. Dec 2014 路 13:52 UTC
Nice game! hard to tell what part would move, but one of the best I've tried so far.
Taldius
09. Dec 2014 路 13:57 UTC
Really interesting concept, it remind me of a board game called Labyrinth.
Anyway great job, I really enjoyed it. :D
馃帳 GSM Productions
09. Dec 2014 路 14:06 UTC
(Bastien once again)
@all: Thanks once again for the feedback :D

@Taldius: That board game was actually our starting point when discussing what we wanted to go with ;)
asobitech
09. Dec 2014 路 15:02 UTC
Simple gameplay idea, which takes a while to grasp.
5you
09. Dec 2014 路 17:32 UTC
It's funny we both made a "a maze in..." game and we both have a chasing robot !
馃帳 GSM Productions
09. Dec 2014 路 18:10 UTC
(Christel this time around)

@asobitech Thanks! We'll try to make the commands more clear ;)

@5you really? XD Now that's a coincidence! We'll have to check out yours as well!
EquipeJAM
10. Dec 2014 路 20:49 UTC
very good indeed
vidarn
10. Dec 2014 路 20:56 UTC
I liked the panic I felt when Harvey kept moving closer and the rooms didn't slide the way I wanted :)
A solid puzzle game with a nice mechanic! However, the difficulty seemed a bit low. I might have liked a slightly more challenging gameplay.
Teesquared
11. Dec 2014 路 10:39 UTC
Very innovative and complete game. Good job. I ended up in a corner with no way out no matter how much I rotated the maze. But I kept trying :)
Namide
11. Dec 2014 路 10:47 UTC
Good concept but a little bit random
blackmagic
11. Dec 2014 路 10:57 UTC
Awesome idea ! Got hooked on the game very quickly. Very fun and enjoyable ! Good job !
No, nooo, nooo, not that wayyy ! Argh !
馃帳 GSM Productions
11. Dec 2014 路 18:25 UTC
(Christel again)

@all: Thank you <3

@vidarn: We've got some ideas to get this more interesting :)

@Teesquared: You have to keep trying! :D The first time around it's not that easy but when you get into it, it's possible to have quite a high score! Bastien is the holder of the title right now with 106 points ;)
allanolivei
12. Dec 2014 路 14:33 UTC
The idea is very interesting, but could have more control of the pieces that fall.
Tifu
12. Dec 2014 路 14:56 UTC
Fun game! My best score was 38.
aaronjbaptiste
12. Dec 2014 路 15:08 UTC
Pretty much ditto what others have said, has lots of potential but the randomness of the blocks fallning kinda limit the strategy element of it.

Lovely artwork + music
mortus
12. Dec 2014 路 15:24 UTC
Nice game, but couldn't you play infinitely by just spamming left/right until robot falls out of your reach, collecting all available stars and repeating it all again?
馃帳 GSM Productions
13. Dec 2014 路 09:07 UTC
(Bastien's back)

@all : Thanks! But yes, it lacks a bit of strategy, and the difficulty is not really high, and the game is kinda easily exploitable :) Now it's fun for a game or two at most. But thanks for the kind words and taking the time to play!