Hackception by Gemberkoekje

[raw]
made by Gemberkoekje for LD31 (COMPO)
So I put a computer in your computer, so you can hack while you hack. While you hack.

Arrow keys to move, letters to.. well, type.

Quick postmortem:
I love the way my game looks. It may be a bit vain to say that of my own game, but I really do.

Unfortunately, I probably ended up tinkering with the looks a bit too much, and there's admittedly less of a game here than I wanted. It's finishable, so it's not purely a techdemo, but don't expect a challenge ;)

Post-compo I'd really love to do some harder levels, more features etcetera, while keeping the lovely unique look I made.

So, I hope you enjoy it! There's even a level editor, so you can make your own levels with a bit harder content as well, but without features like enemies or really linking terminals, it's less of a challenge and more of a pain. Oh well ;)

Unfortunately, cause I really wanted to work with pixels, this game is windows only. I know this can be a pain for some of you, so sorry in advance! I'll add a little video later this week for you guys!

Ratings

Coolness 59% 3
Overall 3.27 476
Audio 2.24 798
Fun 2.97 666
Graphics 3.70 205
Humor 2.41 613
Innovation 3.79 147
Mood 3.32 231
Theme 3.59 571

Feedback

Joris
08. Dec 2014 · 14:36 UTC
I didn't like it that the text obfuscated the screen. Really interesting visual style though.
davesoft
08. Dec 2014 · 19:08 UTC
I can't seem to move with the arrows keys, I'll check back later and try again. Not rating this promising premise till I feel it in action :)
Flattened Tesseract Games
08. Dec 2014 · 19:08 UTC
Interesting concept :)
🎤 Gemberkoekje
08. Dec 2014 · 19:20 UTC
@Joris Thank you for the feedback, maybe I can make sure, for a post-compo version, that there's a way to hide and show the text so it's not so.. in the way :)
@davesoft Sorry for that. Do you have any more information, because unfortunately I cannot fix something I cannot reproduce!
GoudaGames
08. Dec 2014 · 19:34 UTC
Great graphics, but the game feels laggy, not sure if it's meant to be this way, or it's running slow.
elektricmaster7
08. Dec 2014 · 19:36 UTC
I really liked the concept and the style of the game! Good job! :)
🎤 Gemberkoekje
08. Dec 2014 · 19:39 UTC
@Gouda while the game should feel 'laggy', and it is indeed partially by design, it could also be that, on slower computers, it starts to be more a drag than a feature, so be aware of that!
vicious_br
08. Dec 2014 · 19:43 UTC
I like it with these glitch visual effects. Good job!
🎤 Gemberkoekje
08. Dec 2014 · 20:06 UTC
I've added a video, please have a check, if the game runs (much) slower on your PC, it might not be playable, unfortunately, unless I do some serious optimization... and that wouldn't really be in check with the rule not to really change your game other than bugfixes!
andysolace
08. Dec 2014 · 21:50 UTC
Like someone else in the comments, Nothing happened when I tried to move. I ran the game, got into the tutorial, and when it said "use the arrow keys to move" ...I did and nothing happened. No idea why...
🎤 Gemberkoekje
09. Dec 2014 · 07:56 UTC
I've changed the entry point/hallway a little bit; it's now a room. I'm hoping that will solve the confusion of moving for most of you.
OttersDen
10. Dec 2014 · 01:53 UTC
Its a neat concept. It is very visually interesting. I feel like the "screen" (can I call it that?) doesn't update fast enough. So it is hard to tell what is going on. Although maybe that's just me not listening to TUTORIAL and going too fast.

The game also crashed on me during my playthrough, by the way. I was in the blue-looking part, and presumably I typed the exit command where I wasn't supposed to.

Still, great job!
🎤 Gemberkoekje
10. Dec 2014 · 11:52 UTC
@OttersDen thanks for playing! :) Unfortunately, due to the way I've implemented it, the updating is bound to the speed of your computer.

I've also had a report from a friend saying the same bug happened to him, I'll go ahead and see whether I can reproduce it tonight.
CrefossusJam
10. Dec 2014 · 14:35 UTC
Excellent job with the theme and innovating. It needs a little work on the execution. I think it's too hard to tell where you can go or it simply takes too long to wait for the scanline. There is a lot going on, possibly to the detriment of the game, but it sort of works. I like the hacky/blocky/computer terminal artwork and transitions which fits the theme of the jam well.

Similar to both scan lines http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-31/?action=preview&uid=2075 and flying blind http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-31/?action=preview&uid=23945. I recommend you try at least scan lines.
Wakka
10. Dec 2014 · 14:37 UTC
I love the idea, but it felt a bit too glitchy for me.
Wir
10. Dec 2014 · 14:40 UTC
i love the visuals.
jhice
10. Dec 2014 · 14:41 UTC
Like @davesoft, cant move with the arrows. Not rating yet so :)
🎤 Gemberkoekje
11. Dec 2014 · 15:45 UTC
If you're having trouble with the arrows, please download the DEBUGHELP version and send me the Log it generates after playing, so I can see what's going on and hopefully fix it!
01rafael
11. Dec 2014 · 16:13 UTC
Oh I like this minimalistic style so much! I'll be your biggest fun!:)
BretHudson
11. Dec 2014 · 16:18 UTC
I can't imagine the amount of work that went into making this feel intentionally laggy/glitchy, but it definitely paid off! This is hands down the coolest game I've seen thus far in this LD. Such a simple concept, but executed so well!
ZNCatlaw
11. Dec 2014 · 16:45 UTC
Didn't get it at first, but slowly figured it out. Didn't find a use for "COMMAND". Also, didn't seem to be any sound. But I did beat the game and I enjoyed that it took me a bit to figure out what was going on.

Really dug it, good work. :)
🎤 Gemberkoekje
11. Dec 2014 · 17:07 UTC
Thanks everyone, I have a load of ideas for the post-compo version, and all your nice words really motivate me to make it XD
ZNCatlaw
11. Dec 2014 · 17:13 UTC
Hey, you played our game! Thanks! ^.^
🎤 Gemberkoekje
11. Dec 2014 · 17:17 UTC
@ZNCatlaw I try to play the games of everyone who played my games and commented, that's the least I can do, right?
dieblume86
11. Dec 2014 · 17:21 UTC
Nice idea.
RyanNielson
11. Dec 2014 · 17:53 UTC
Great style, great sound, interesting concept.
felix3456
11. Dec 2014 · 18:00 UTC
I think the game would've been more enjoyable if you didn't have that annoying bad connection effect, I think a better way of doing a "bad camera" effect is to create a low pixel canvas (for fast pixel setting) and create a TV static effect, but have each pixel's R and G and B transfer in a float/decimal value that get's distorted, I've done this before as an experiment and it looks sick.
🎤 Gemberkoekje
11. Dec 2014 · 18:21 UTC
@felix part of the reason for the effect is that it actually is drawing the pixels, so without some refactoring I can't really do anything different. Still, for a post-compo version I have some ideas on how to increase the speed massively, which will allow me to control the speed of the scanline and make the game more enjoyable for everyone. I hope :P
felix3456
11. Dec 2014 · 18:36 UTC
I see, so you've already written code for drawing pixels. About speed, so this renders with the standard windows forms thing (GDI)? Have you tried using OpenGL to render pixels fast? (Create a texture, update pixels, render) This is faster than using windows forms. If you're going to deal with pixels, I'd recommend using something more low-level. GDI isn't very good for doing stuff like this, I used to use GDI then I moved to Java (LWJGL) and then C++.
jhice
11. Dec 2014 · 18:39 UTC
@Gemberkoekje : sent you a message on Twitter because dont know where to send it!
🎤 Gemberkoekje
11. Dec 2014 · 18:44 UTC
@felix yeah, I just wanted an easy way to manipulate pixels, realising that it wouldn't be quite as fast as maybe possible. I still had a lot of fun doing it :P
🎤 Gemberkoekje
11. Dec 2014 · 18:46 UTC
@jhice yes, i found it. It's really weird, it seems to just crash or block for no reason that i can discern.
felix3456
11. Dec 2014 · 18:47 UTC
Yeah, messing with pixels is fun. Later on make sure to try something fast, it's even better.
🎤 Gemberkoekje
11. Dec 2014 · 18:55 UTC
@felix I've done more stuff with pixels, check out my demo reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgJJhjZO4Us&list=UUzPfZTro-zRKoagmstZ_j2g It's just been a while, cause I mostly stopped doing it when I finished school and started working on mortgage software.
felix3456
11. Dec 2014 · 18:59 UTC
That's actually pretty cool.
davesoft
11. Dec 2014 · 19:22 UTC
Hi mate, could you include the source in your debug version for me? I get reeeeeally strange warnings when I run it and press a key
NPException
11. Dec 2014 · 19:28 UTC
So the graphics are really nice, but it's waaay to laggy. I feel that the controlls are completely responsive, but thats just too much forced screen update lag.
Besides from that a great game and very nice interpretation of the theme!
🎤 Gemberkoekje
11. Dec 2014 · 19:34 UTC
@davesoft added.
KilledByAPixel
12. Dec 2014 · 03:13 UTC
at first i thought arrow keys weren't working then I realized that im controlling the orange square in the upper left corner, behind the text
rendering system is pretty cool, i like the scan line effects
entering the first terminal felt really cool
rendering and game feels laggy, like you might be doing something wrong on the low level rendering.
let users press ~ to toggle the terminal on and off. and have it slide down like the half life debug console
needs to be more commands available, like as you progress you discover new commands by finding them in the sub-terminals
I won!
when you type exit from the highest level it should quit the game
i didn't hear any sound or music
cool concept, you should keep working on it!
davesoft
12. Dec 2014 · 20:32 UTC
Finally got it goin, great concept well done mate :D
Zayron
16. Dec 2014 · 18:46 UTC
I would like to suggest a “clear” command to clear out the text on the screen. The game also felt a little too laggy for my taste but other than that I really liked the concept!
KeyboardCat
16. Dec 2014 · 18:56 UTC
Really good graphics and ideas, I would love see a post-mortem version !
martial_cantarel_games
25. Dec 2014 · 21:15 UTC
fantastic sound)))