Color Runner by vinhuman

[raw]
made by vinhuman for LD30 (COMPO)
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I'm beginning work on a post competition version. If you want to rate my game for the 48 hour entry go ahead and play this very rough version now. If you'd rather play a more polished version for fun's sake later, I plan on uploading one this week based on your initial comments!
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This is a simple game where you alter the world around you by hitting different color beacons. There are three beacons that consist of the primary colors. This allows for the creation of blue, red, yellow, orange, purple, and green. If a colored block is blocking your way, you must find the beacons that make your world that color, as it will remove that block. Make it to the white orb thing to beat the level.

Colors:
Blue + Yellow = Green
Blue + Red = Purple
Red + Green = Orange
Blue, red, and yellow are their own beacons.

I didn't have time to do much in the way of level design but the basic concept is there.

Space to jump. There are a few more instructions in game.It's currently pretty bugged, some of them are fairly game breaking but what are you going to do with 48 hours?

I didn't get a lot of things done that I wanted to, but I managed to submit the game just in time following a BSOD and an internet outage during the last hour. Feedback welcome!

////////////Bugs and Tips///////////////////////////////

When you exit the map make sure to hit q to restart the level or escape to go the main menu, or else you will infinitely be falling.

Level 7 is semi-broken. You have to hit the red blob twice for it to work.

Pro tip: Press jump just AFTER you hit a wall or spam it, if you press it before it won't really work.

There is some weird graphical clipping glitch that happens on my laptop in the web player but not on my desktop. I didn't have any chance to actually test the web player due to the time constraint so I apologize for that. The game is actually beatable in about 2 or 3 minutes time if you know what you're doing.
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Ratings

Coolness 66% 3
Overall 3.30 454
Audio 3.15 304
Fun 3.26 366
Graphics 3.02 613
Humor 2.29 573
Innovation 3.44 337
Mood 2.95 588
Theme 2.68 903

Feedback

ShaunJS
25. Aug 2014 路 03:27 UTC
I really enjoyed the concept! Controls were pretty hard and falling and bouncing back the way you came was a little frustrating. Didn't feel like it was actually super necessary in the end for the character/ball to automatically run. Just meant for a 'waiting' style penalty when you miss something, might have actually benefited from more regular platform controls.

It's cool though! Bonus humour point for the 11/10 title screen.
馃帳 vinhuman
25. Aug 2014 路 04:00 UTC
Yeah I agree the automatic running serves almost no purpose in this game right now. It was more so one of those 'initial design' schematics where it was going to be important which direction you were moving when you hit the color blobs.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish the level design to a point where that made sense. I probably should set the controls as something more normal once I realized my level design ideas weren't going to be accomplished in the 48 hour period. Thanks for the rating and feedback!
handkor
25. Aug 2014 路 05:15 UTC
Very good puzzle elements and mechanics.
@TeddyNashor
25. Aug 2014 路 05:16 UTC
hmm personally I like the auto movement direction, it allows for timing, and reactions to come into play more then your typical game. So just make the game revolve around those mechanics and its fine. Fun! gj!
alycarter
25. Aug 2014 路 05:17 UTC
i like how the back face culling makes the floors and walls appear and disappear. controls felt abit unresponsive but the movement was satisfying.
Weaver
25. Aug 2014 路 05:20 UTC
Laughed at the "White glowy orb of 48 hour graphics" lol.

I like the idea and it was pretty fun to play. The wall jumping felt particularly well implemented.
akios
25. Aug 2014 路 05:21 UTC
very fun mechanics, the best i see till now, youre probaly not a modeler but i think you should have use cubes and not planes to the scenario, it would prevent these normal glitches
SuperPokeunicorn
25. Aug 2014 路 05:21 UTC
Nice visuals and interesting concept.
馃帳 vinhuman
25. Aug 2014 路 05:25 UTC
I actually did use Cubes instead of planes. The problem was actually something that was going weird with the Unity directional lights.

The raycasting is definitely a bit off and to play this game quickly you generally have to spam space a lot in its current state.
Mr.Cassels
25. Aug 2014 路 05:25 UTC
the auto-running already being addressed, I love the concept, but Interfacing with the level could be frustrating, such as on level 4 where I kept hitting the yellow orb when trying to wall jump.
with a few tweaks to controls, It could be a real gem though!
(if you made a post-LD version I would love to give it another look)
馃帳 vinhuman
25. Aug 2014 路 05:27 UTC
Yep level 4 is another semi-broken level. The original idea was for the orb to put the purple wall back in but there's a couple problems.

1. You can over jump the victory orb thing.
2. You can repeatedly hit it, which definitely is frustrating.
kadybat
25. Aug 2014 路 07:19 UTC
Frenetic and fun! Some minor glitches, but a cool concept with neat graphics that could turn into something really cool!
Kedume Bits
25. Aug 2014 路 10:01 UTC
Interest concept, but the controls make the game harder. It's posible to break the game jumping out the platforms.
馃帳 vinhuman
25. Aug 2014 路 10:35 UTC
Oh yeah it's VERY possible to break the game on most levels. I *think* I'm allowed to fix that so I'll look into it soon I just needed a break once I got it submitted. My quick fix is to tell people to press "q" or escape.
ahmedmohi
25. Aug 2014 路 10:41 UTC
I like the concept and also the Particles player I think it's good and the art isn't bad . good work
midgard
25. Aug 2014 路 10:56 UTC
The overall concept is pretty amazing, I had fun trying to solve every puzzle and it took me some time, but it was really fun so I didn't stop playing! :D
Majko
25. Aug 2014 路 10:58 UTC
Awesome concept! I can imagine this as game for smartphones. But deserves better visual look.
FeYbraNt
25. Aug 2014 路 11:02 UTC
Great idea. I like also that you made a good game with just...particles !!
wolfmother
25. Aug 2014 路 11:29 UTC
Graphics are nice. Music is very good, but no sound effects.
Very innovative movement mechanic, feels a bit like an infinite runner crossed with Mario 64.
Loses an innovation point for using that same damn remove-obstacle-by-changing-color mechanic (getting a bit sick of that by now).
Good balance of challenge, not too hard, but usually pretty obvious what you need to do.
Worth a playthrough.
tiff
25. Aug 2014 路 16:01 UTC
Really nice concept, well done.
馃帳 vinhuman
25. Aug 2014 路 20:25 UTC
Thanks for the comments guys. I had never made 2.5d before (I've only been making games for 2 months) so I decided I wanted to specifically because I wanted to use particles and lighting... which of course ended up becoming the entire game.

I agree the remove obstacle mechanic seems forced (especially with the current level design) but I didn't realize other games were using color to do it?
LuisDC
26. Aug 2014 路 00:49 UTC
Good Idea well implemented.

Some times I felt like the jump wasn't hight enough but eventually I passed the walls so it was my fault.
cardboard
26. Aug 2014 路 01:04 UTC
The jumping is a bit wonky, making the levels harder than they should be, but the game is still fun.
banana4life
26. Aug 2014 路 02:15 UTC
Very cool game. Liked the design.
liquidminduk
26. Aug 2014 路 02:17 UTC
Overall great, I like the minimalist feel to it, like others have said, the jump is a little finicky
MJamesShort
26. Aug 2014 路 02:24 UTC
The movement of the player was actually really good! Great job!
AnnaGavaldaKedavra
26. Aug 2014 路 02:43 UTC
The concept is good, controls can be a little frustrating but it's still fun to play.
DerekRumpler
26. Aug 2014 路 02:53 UTC
It is a fun game. I also felt like that the speck of light didn't move and the moving made wall jumps frustrating at times. There were also a few times when consecutive wall jumping would give you too much momentum to launch you super high in the air (not sure if you wanted this). Also, in one of your levels, falling down a chasm led to nothingness. I don't think it is a good idea to fall below.

Nonetheless, I hope to see more of your stuff. I really liked this concept, especially how color is used to solve puzzles (although I feel like it has been done before). It has inspired me to want to brush up on my own level design. :-)
Meganopteryx
26. Aug 2014 路 04:37 UTC
This is a really cool trippy game. I like the music. It doesn't seem to exactly use the theme, but I like the changes. I don't like how the music starts over every time you restart a level though. The speed of the music matches the speed of the game very well. It's pretty hard because jumping you have to be right on the platform and it might need to be more responsive. But overall, cool, I like the speed, very fun.
coyyonce
26. Aug 2014 路 05:11 UTC
This is a beautiful game visually. I also enjoyed the gameplay. The wall jumps are bit difficult to time, but over time it will become easier.
Cake&Code
26. Aug 2014 路 05:39 UTC
Difficult to master, felt like the wall jump was a bit off but fun!
zdonkeyx
26. Aug 2014 路 06:09 UTC
woo! I love it. I love games that use color combining! You've put together something pretty cool. The mechanics have a great design, but their execution is a bit off, wall jumping was kinda hard.
Lissar
26. Aug 2014 路 06:41 UTC
I really liked the idea of combining colors! I found it a little frustrating to control, though.
馃帳 vinhuman
26. Aug 2014 路 08:34 UTC
Wow so many comments! Thanks for the feedback everyone I'll try to get around to reviewing all of your entries.

All of your criticisms are very valid and I agree with pretty much everything that's being said. I didn't realize how many games use color combining! I'll have to look into a way to make that mechanic more unique or fun.

The one thing I disagree with some people on is I actually HATE the music. I feel like it was hastily thrown together, as I didn't actually start it until the final hour of the competition.
SelfishGenome
26. Aug 2014 路 09:25 UTC
Really cool, made me think of ours with the use of colours as a feature for different worlds.
mrexcessive
26. Aug 2014 路 09:56 UTC
Hi interesting mechanics, but I found the inevitable returning to the start of levels frustrating. Lovely graphics and sound.
Franklins Ghost
26. Aug 2014 路 10:12 UTC
Nice clean design and a good balance of challenge with the colour combinations. Did find the jumping at times a bit tough though.
馃帳 vinhuman
26. Aug 2014 路 10:12 UTC
I'll have to check yours out SelfishGnome. There are still a lot of people I'm trying to get through, as I want to give everyone's game a fair play. I just posted out an overly lengthy write up that no one in the world should ever read detailing my plans for the future of this game/my criticisms of it.
Julian_Wodrazka
26. Aug 2014 路 12:53 UTC
good idea!
Kerdelos
26. Aug 2014 路 13:00 UTC
Makes my day: quite hard, good graphics.. good job !
Kiwiboi
26. Aug 2014 路 14:08 UTC
Brilliant concept! Looking forward to your polished version! :)
Vennril
26. Aug 2014 路 15:52 UTC
I expected way worse after reading your intro text. This was very playable, and I liked the concept and visual presentation. Well done :)
TinyMoonStudios
26. Aug 2014 路 16:54 UTC
Very interesting concept but the most is pretty repetitive and I found timing my jumps pretty tricky. Awesome music.
booyaa
26. Aug 2014 路 17:21 UTC
Really nice to see a new take on infinite runners and wall jumping platformers. I think auto-run is a good thing, forces people to learn timings. Hard as hell, felt a bit too dark, but I suspect in later levels it can get quite colourful (give it's name). Reminds of how Wizball starts off in monochrome and gradually becomes more colourful as you level up.
DesignerNap
26. Aug 2014 路 17:50 UTC
hard controls but great concept. intro description helps :) good work
psychonull
26. Aug 2014 路 19:32 UTC
nice fast puzzle. the wall jump feels weird but loved the concept of dynamic world changing by the colors hit.
Josh H
26. Aug 2014 路 21:00 UTC
I really like this idea! The color switching was pretty awesome, nice job. I fell off the level though and just kept falling indefinitely. Minor issue though. Overall, I think you did an excellent job.
TrickFishPie
26. Aug 2014 路 21:57 UTC
Nice - Really liked the atmosphere and the pace of the game. Recon this style game would look ace on a mobile
MechanicMoon
26. Aug 2014 路 22:22 UTC
Really nice control! But when i fall the game ends? Great job!
Zolmeister
27. Aug 2014 路 08:15 UTC
Ha, great game! Agree about the automatic running, but still great concept
Manou
27. Aug 2014 路 12:53 UTC
Good idea, somewhat hard to control.
Mekuri
27. Aug 2014 路 13:52 UTC
Fun game, controls were a little hard, would've loved like a few more milliseconds or such to time the wall jumps. I Liked the idea about combining colors.
hexagore
27. Aug 2014 路 14:30 UTC
Very cool. Sort of fell out of the world though, hit a blue thing, it all went dark and then I just fell..
pythong
28. Aug 2014 路 10:02 UTC
nice music!
Artamus
29. Aug 2014 路 18:13 UTC
Nice game, congrats!
akios
30. Aug 2014 路 21:58 UTC
awesome concept, just love it, just add a restart game when it falls in the sixth scenarios really annoing reload the page to continue playng.
jpverkamp
31. Aug 2014 路 20:15 UTC
Loved the audio. The graphics were a bit problematic, especially that you couldn't actually see the walls edge on. Fun though.
INC$D021
01. Sep 2014 路 17:10 UTC
Very Nice :) I really like it. Easy to understand, and play :)
vividhelix
06. Sep 2014 路 16:25 UTC
Great concept, but the controls are a bit finicky - wall jumps should be a bit more forgiving...