I.A.N by Dramentiaras

[raw]
made by Dramentiaras for LD30 (COMPO)
You're the administrator of the Interdimensional Administration Network (I.A.N). Your job is to make sure that data gets transferred between the worlds connected to the network. A world is represented by a node on your nodemap. Deliver the adressed data packages to the correct node. Keep the worlds connected!

This game was made using dart and pixi.dart. If it doesn't run, check that your browser version supports WebGL and has it enabled. There's no audio, cause dart's implementation of web audio seemed broken in the current version.

HOW TO PLAY:

You are the green circle that's always in the center. Your job is to deliver the data packages to the correct node. To do this you click and hold on a node to begin circling around it. You can then release the mouse to let go. Collide with a package that you find near one of the two starting nodes and deliver it to the node with the same number as the package by tethering (click and hold) to the node. Avoid crashing into nodes. You can use [W] and [S] to change the length of your tether, and also use [ESC] to pause.

Ratings

Coolness 75% 2
Overall 2.56 1084
Audio 1.20 1006
Fun 2.53 978
Graphics 2.40 979
Humor 1.53 928
Innovation 3.37 394
Mood 2.30 1022
Theme 3.22 581

Feedback

ljdp
25. Aug 2014 · 10:23 UTC
I had no idea how to play this.
Ysty
25. Aug 2014 · 15:03 UTC
Nice. I think the click box around the nodes could have been a little bigger, but otherwise it was very good.
jawm
25. Aug 2014 · 15:04 UTC
Interesting idea once I knew what it was. More explanation would be nice
cptnwaffles
25. Aug 2014 · 15:11 UTC
Your game needs much better instructions. Despite spending 5 minutes with it, I never got past the first two nodes.
Techblogogy
25. Aug 2014 · 15:14 UTC
I was very confusing playing this.
BillToWin
25. Aug 2014 · 15:16 UTC
Cool idea. Simple but effective art style and game mechanic.
sai_aya
25. Aug 2014 · 15:33 UTC
It took me quite a while to understand how it works, and how to avoid colliding with the nodes.
After 30 min of playing this game, I managed to score 860, with 5 nodes... It's quite hard, actually.

The idea is interesting, but it would require a tutorial or something to explain the rules.
burgerdare
25. Aug 2014 · 15:40 UTC
the swinging physics feel pretty great. Seems like this may have been inspired slightly by floating point?
🎤 Dramentiaras
25. Aug 2014 · 16:07 UTC
Sorry for the unclear instructions, I'm not very good at explaining things, anyone got any tips on how to describe the gameplay?
@burgerdare No, but I realised they were similar during development. I took no inspiration from floating point, since I haven't played it myself.
JaJ
26. Aug 2014 · 13:07 UTC
Nice! Some sound would really enhance this. I thought the blue orbs were circeling around the green ones at first. My brain was very confused for a while.
fallingBear
26. Aug 2014 · 14:32 UTC
The whole time I thought that the blue ball is rotation around the green one :D confusing :D
Cheshyr
26. Aug 2014 · 14:34 UTC
Interesting idea. difficult to get the hang of at first.
dunin
26. Aug 2014 · 14:42 UTC
Hard to understand but hard to explain too (and hard to play, 4 nodes is my best).
I try: If a blue node had an orbital, try to collide it with the green circle then you have to release the blue node to click on an other with the same number of the orbital collected...
(Yeah, very hard to explain...)
ice cold muffin
26. Aug 2014 · 15:23 UTC
I'm a bit confused...Can anyone explain what to do? Really want to play this.
snooze82
26. Aug 2014 · 18:36 UTC
I didnt get it :/
🎤 Dramentiaras
26. Aug 2014 · 19:40 UTC
If those who do not understand could give some more feedback, it would be great. What do you not understand? The controls? How to play? Explain to me, I get very frustrated when I want to explain so badly but don't know how.
datacr4sh
27. Aug 2014 · 02:22 UTC
i didn't understand why things were moving on the screen, what i had to do, why things were numbered or why they were swinging around a point when i clicked them
mrexcessive
28. Aug 2014 · 19:49 UTC
Hi there. Interesting idea. Pretty difficult to play, I think partly maybe because camera would benefit from being far enough back to see complete orbit at current tether around adjacent worlds not just tethered one. Shame no sound. Good job!
ZeppelinCaptain
31. Aug 2014 · 19:45 UTC
It's too hard to click the nodes, and it's counter-intuitive that W makes the tether shorter, and S makes it longer, it ought to be the reverse.

And I see some people complaining about instrucions. I've found that the cause of that is usually not actually the instructions, but unclear visual communicaion from the game. Suggestions that could improve that: feedback when you press something, a highlighting of new things to catch, more zoomed out camera (gives a better overview), making the matching packages and nodes the same color. And also an easier beginning, since if people think the beginning is too hard, they'll often complain about the instructions. Just some suggestions that I've found often works. It's awesome that you try to make an original gameplay idea, it's much better than a lot of the uninspired games around.
ShadowStryker
31. Aug 2014 · 19:45 UTC
Instructions weren't very clear, so it took me maybe a minute to understand what to do. After I figured that out though, it was pretty fun despite it getting difficult quickly.
aneeslol
31. Aug 2014 · 19:50 UTC
The controls/instructions were pretty clear to me, and I liked the fluid gameplay. However, it seemed like if you mistimed your switch between nodes then you would just crash straight into the node with no hope of recovering, which felt a bit unfair.
🎤 Dramentiaras
31. Aug 2014 · 19:50 UTC
@ZeppelinCaptain thank you for the most constructive feedback yet! I really apreciate it and I will remember this if I decide to make a post-compo version.
moi93101
31. Aug 2014 · 19:52 UTC
I don't know how it's work, if you can show how it works ...
klianc09
05. Sep 2014 · 18:07 UTC
Really fun once you get the hang of it. My best was 6 nodes.

I totally agree with ZeppelinCaptain.
I think one of the main problems for new players is, that you don't have any visual indication as to in which direction you are moving. Adding a background (could just be a grid of lines or anything) and maybe even a trail to the player would help immensly.

I would also suggest starting with 3 nodes, as with two nodes you don't have any way to recover from a collision-course with a node.

Also making the clicks snap to the nearest node (or just increasing their hitbox for clicking) would make it more a game of timing and reflexes instead of a game of mouse-aiming skills.

Having said all that, don't think I don't like it. It's just when you see a great game and there are those things that keep it from being an super awesome game, then those things tend to be extra annoying.
Jupiter_Hadley
14. Sep 2014 · 21:18 UTC
Interesting game though I couldnt get a dang package! I included it in part 25 of my Ludum Dare 30 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :) http://youtu.be/mlEPiXm0ehY