StrataGEM by ActionRemix
UPDATE: Tutorial by Crefossus
HIGH SCORES: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/115izARk-r9MMbVc_KFVNMbvRLrPSoKv1CPNxkKpICuQ/edit#gid=0
WARNING: Near vertical learning curve
Rotate the sphere by dragging
Select a hexagon with left click
Then right click a tile to move tiles like a Rubik's Cube
-Right click selected tile to twist neighbors clockwise
-Right click on selected tile's neighbor to slide line of tiles in direction from selected tile to neighbor tile
(Note: Cannot slide a line containing pentagons)
Form rings with tiles of a single color (red, yellow, or blue) and ring layers will be removed:
-Around a hexagon score points
-Around a pentagon to remove all layers on pentagon
A dark layer is added to a pentagon every time you slide or twist tiles
GAME OVER if all pentagons are full of layers
TIPS:
Some colors are more valuable than others
Dark tiles cannot be removed
Surround pentagon tiles as they fill up
Press Esc for options menu
Music: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Fancy_Mike/Year_One/09_Fancy_Mike_-_Superman_Silenx_Rework
Special thanks to OMC Games for hosting the web version
HIGH SCORES: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/115izARk-r9MMbVc_KFVNMbvRLrPSoKv1CPNxkKpICuQ/edit#gid=0
WARNING: Near vertical learning curve
Rotate the sphere by dragging
Select a hexagon with left click
Then right click a tile to move tiles like a Rubik's Cube
-Right click selected tile to twist neighbors clockwise
-Right click on selected tile's neighbor to slide line of tiles in direction from selected tile to neighbor tile
(Note: Cannot slide a line containing pentagons)
Form rings with tiles of a single color (red, yellow, or blue) and ring layers will be removed:
-Around a hexagon score points
-Around a pentagon to remove all layers on pentagon
A dark layer is added to a pentagon every time you slide or twist tiles
GAME OVER if all pentagons are full of layers
TIPS:
Some colors are more valuable than others
Dark tiles cannot be removed
Surround pentagon tiles as they fill up
Press Esc for options menu
Music: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Fancy_Mike/Year_One/09_Fancy_Mike_-_Superman_Silenx_Rework
Special thanks to OMC Games for hosting the web version
Ratings
| Coolness | 100% | 1 |
| Overall(Jam) | 3.61 | 128 |
| Audio(Jam) | 3.49 | 178 |
| Fun(Jam) | 3.11 | 304 |
| Graphics(Jam) | 3.43 | 357 |
| Humor(Jam) | 1.91 | 602 |
| Innovation(Jam) | 3.98 | 27 |
| Mood(Jam) | 3.25 | 276 |
| Theme(Jam) | 3.05 | 430 |
http://i.imgur.com/1bBOfJ9.png 1575 :D
If I ever decide to iterate on this game, I will definitely include these :)
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/THE0m0g.png[/IMG]
Great music, very relaxing; definitely a game that makes you think, so good job on your idea and execution. Overall I enjoyed it thoroughly.
I really wish players would have the ability to rotate counter-clockwise instead of just clockwise. One small addition that would help this game go from good to great, IMO.
~AlucardX60
-Interesting, fun concept
-Music/colors work well - not the most impressive but they don't grate
Bad (like I said in IRC):
-Kind of confusing to tell how the mechanics work, and what's happening on the other side of the polygon
3/5 overall, which is code for "I don't think this is that good but it be if you continued to work on it"
Having some graphical effects here and there would add a lot to the game I think (seeing the tiles move around for exemple)
Incredibly beautiful, and the soundtrack matches perfectly. Too bad I won't be able to see the different deepness levels the puzzle must have after some turns, wish I was better playing these kind of games! :D
PS, I just played my game for the first time since upload. I've improved a bit :)
http://gfycat.com/RequiredSizzlingBarnswallow
Once the concept becomes clear, the game is quite fun. With that said, the way the tiles instantly shift when being rotated/slid makes it hard to tell what's happening, and hard to keep track of where tiles are going. Even having something like an icon over the mouse indicating a slide or rotate action would have been helpful. Having cleared tiles fade away rather than instantly disappear would have been helpful in this regard too, as well as maybe a height counter over the black pentagons for giving the player a better idea when they're in danger.
Regardless of these though, I had a fun time with this. Reminds me of Hexic crossed with Tetrisphere, rich pedigree indeed :D
Great mix with mechanical and theme,
A really diferent game, god job!
This probably need some more animation and feedback to be a finished game.
That said, I'm not a fan of the fail-state. Maybe it just needs the ability to rotate counter-clockwise, but I feel it might be more intuitive if removing any hexes lowered the pentagon layers. I didn't know for a long time whether the pentagon layers represented a shared meter or individual ones too.
What I didn't like though is the way you limit player's moves. I like how pentagons prevent me from forming rings or from moving a line of hexagons, but making them end game counter is too much. I also don't like that once you've moved a dark layer from a pentagon it becomes very hard to locate one. IMO, the pentagons should always be dark and full-layered and should only stop you from rotating and shifting stuff. Make the game end when another tile reaches the pentagon's higher level instead and make few hexagons spawn randomly across the map instead. They could even fly from off the screen in a nice manner. In that case, you will always be able to locate pentagons, (as they always will be black and other tiles will never be black) and it will be more obvious to a player that he can prolong the game for him.
Of course, that could be just my own problem, but what I was confused about and disliked at first is the inevitability of the end (at first I thought that you have no way of increasing your moves count). No, the game SHOULD be finite, but people love the illusion of endlessness. Player should have some way to push back the inevitable, something to make them believe they can actually play the game forever. By obviously adding more tiles when player does not form a ring and obviously removing them when he does you make him feel that his actions are significant to the world and that he can control the game flow (which, in the end, of course should be only an illusion).
Sorry for the long and probably inconsistent comment (I've written it during a span of an hour of playing your game and discovering and thinking about its mechanics and adding few words every now and then, so no post-editing could fix that), for lots of critics, hope it was constructive. In the end I believe it's a great puzzle, that's why I think and write about it actually. Great work.
but I see that dark tile is added even we try an invalid move (maybe I'm wrong...), it's unfair...
My #1 suggestion would have some animation for moving/rotating the pentagons, and (most importantly) for when they're removed. It was kind of jarring seeing them apparently changing color (at first I thought it was a bug) when I completed a ring.