Substratum by Ian MacLarty

[raw]
made by Ian MacLarty for LD29 (COMPO)
A puzzle game about a marooned astronaut exploring an uncharted planet. Be careful where you point that laser gun!

Ratings

Coolness 84% 2
Overall 3.68 147
Audio 3.64 103
Fun 3.36 297
Graphics 3.11 600
Humor 1.88 942
Innovation 4.36 13
Mood 3.98 48
Theme 3.63 235

Feedback

hexagore
28. Apr 2014 · 02:19 UTC
Really interesting and original puzzle mechanic here. Still got to figure out what the deal with the green is though!

Also the music and the seamless music transitions are awesome btw.
minism
28. Apr 2014 · 03:56 UTC
hell yes dude, I LOVE this game. The mood is fantastic, i love the harsh sounds with the crazy visuals of this alien planet. And to go with it is a genuinely unique puzzle game. Really nice work.
Brian Stegmann
28. Apr 2014 · 04:04 UTC
Super trippy atmosphere, the visuals blended very well with the unsettling audio. Pretty challenging too, I couldn't finish it :(
malmazuke
28. Apr 2014 · 04:38 UTC
Took me a while to get the hang of, but great idea. Also seizure inducing haha (purple blobs)
IAmSpencer
28. Apr 2014 · 04:44 UTC
Floating around reminded me of gravity, it was very pleasing to move as the astronaut. Very fun, and good job! :)
moonmagic
28. Apr 2014 · 04:50 UTC
Lovely. Enjoyed figuring out the different color rules. Nice spacey audio and acid wash colors.
sharpcoder
28. Apr 2014 · 04:53 UTC
It took me a while to understand what was going on, but that's understandable for a Ludum Dare entry. Once I got the hang of it though, my mind was kind of blown. This is a really unique idea. Great job!
mess110
28. Apr 2014 · 08:42 UTC
you just dive right in and love the main char
Greg Power
28. Apr 2014 · 09:28 UTC
Such a great game! Great mood, unsettling audio, and really smart rules. I love games that give me legitimate, mechanic-based surprises. An all round fantastic experience!
ccglp
28. Apr 2014 · 11:56 UTC
Good puzzle mechanics dude!
jayhof
29. Apr 2014 · 10:45 UTC
Really cool puzzle mechanics: kind of hard though, too hard for me at least :D. Sometimes I find it hard to see the character I am controlling when he's over the yellow stuff.
MetanoKid
29. Apr 2014 · 11:17 UTC
It's got pretty interesting mechanics, took me a while to understand how to continue. It kept impressing me over and over with each type of "zone" but when I suddenly moved through the walls I was blown up.
Pretty nice entry! Loved it!
ezolotko
29. Apr 2014 · 12:14 UTC
Lags a lot here
theengineers
29. Apr 2014 · 13:45 UTC
Really interesting puzzle mechanic.
Dramentiaras
29. Apr 2014 · 13:49 UTC
Great puzzle game with challenging puzzles. Very innovative.
blockbot
29. Apr 2014 · 14:26 UTC
One of the better games I have played so far! Nice work.
Marcellus
30. Apr 2014 · 02:31 UTC
floating around in a jetpack is great, the puzzle mechanics is very intresting. The atmosphere is very nice also. Good entry like i'd like to see more.
Christophe
30. Apr 2014 · 10:39 UTC
Smart level design! That was really fun. Great puzzle!!
Thorig
30. Apr 2014 · 10:54 UTC
The mood and audio are great. Nice game!
lajos
01. May 2014 · 15:01 UTC
Very nice puzzle! Congrats!
kirbytails7
02. May 2014 · 05:14 UTC
Honestly, I just didn't know how to get past the blue part. It might be a bit too cryptic, at least for the very first puzzle. Pretty effects, though!
🎤 Ian MacLarty
02. May 2014 · 06:11 UTC
Thanks for all the kind feedback everyone :)

If you're stuck at the first blue part, here's the solution: https://vine.co/v/MvXj0tgBLdg.
Kiyaku
02. May 2014 · 23:41 UTC
What a weeeeeeird game, very interesting concept and idea, i like it :D
cheesepencil
02. May 2014 · 23:54 UTC
it's tricky!
PIXEL^3
03. May 2014 · 03:56 UTC
Pretty good, a little weird. Not much going for it in terms of aesthetics, but I guess that's where the term "programmer art" comes from, right?
The concept is pretty cool too.
jadams
03. May 2014 · 16:15 UTC
Super interesting puzzle mechanics that presented a number of really satisfying moments of realization. Going fullscreen resets the game, which was a bit irritating.
Belvar
05. May 2014 · 19:46 UTC
Really great psychedelic weird atmosphere. Reminded me of 2001, A space Odyssey. I love the way you're thrown in this weird colorful experience with just some controls and you have to figure out what to do and how does the game reacts to your action.
Photon
05. May 2014 · 19:56 UTC
Shoot, what did I just play?

Very unique and immersive. I mean, just wow. What else do I say? Just great.
pinkmonkeyhead
06. May 2014 · 03:56 UTC
The mechanics are amazing!! But its too difficult and lacks of introduction factor
Bekokstover
06. May 2014 · 07:18 UTC
Waow, this reminds me of Corrypt, in a good way. The atmosphere is fantastic, and weird and creepy. I really got stuck, but I like this game a lot. Great entry.
Ditto
06. May 2014 · 07:50 UTC
This reminds me a bit of Starseed pilgrim, the weird puzzle mechanics and simple controls just blew me away! Awesome game!
ethankennerly
07. May 2014 · 04:48 UTC
Figuring out that shooting a different colored block allowed me to pass into the block fascinated me. The desolate story, strange tile block logic, bleak sounds created a plausible mood of being in a space odyssey. If you continue to develop this, in the beginning of the green squares I got trapped and felt discouraged from figuring out the strange logic.
neekobus
07. May 2014 · 20:40 UTC
Weird. Ugly. Nice.
Love the idea of shooting blocks to get in, but now I'm stuck.
Can't get the whole logic.
Can't find how to pass the levels with green blocks (the one after your big screenshot).
GFM
07. May 2014 · 21:11 UTC
This was really unique. I (think) figured how yellow blue and purple works... but I still couldn't figure how to progress from a point. XD

Audio was really moody! :)
goerp
08. May 2014 · 17:01 UTC
Brilliant mood. From the screenshot it looked like a kind of H.E.R.O. but it's totally different.
A weird trippy puzzler.
It's hard too! I'm not getting far so far.
goerp
08. May 2014 · 17:16 UTC
Oh: when I quit the game, the music keeps playing for a while and there's a stream of openGL errors. Maybe good to know?
Blueberry Soft
12. May 2014 · 03:47 UTC
SPOILERY REVIEW!

I'm pretty wary of anything that looks like a 'puzzle-platformer', but I got a massive satisfaction when I first popped into the grey 'wall' area and the whole thing seemed to open up. That was ace. From then I didn't even bother with puzzles, just wandered about making pretty pictures.
Snoother
12. May 2014 · 18:47 UTC
Wow, great concept and music. Got stuck at the green bit, but I'll probably revisit it at some point and (hopefully) beat it. The whole thing was so captivating and immersive, with sooo many pwetty colours!
Mike Mezhenin
17. May 2014 · 22:10 UTC
Wow. Didn't want to play this at first since I'm not a big fun of puzzle/platformer games, but this game is just great. The mood is great, the mechanics are great, not overly long; one of the best in this LD for me.
mortus
18. May 2014 · 08:40 UTC
Great mechanics! Would love to see more puzzles based on it! As I understood it, much of the world is there just for player's amusement, but it could have all sorts of fun puzzles! But that takes time, of course. I like how every environment has its own music and physics laws, that's great! On of the most unusual (and fun at the same time) games this time.
Jeremias
18. May 2014 · 20:59 UTC
Nice mechanic and very crazy atmosphere.