INSTIGATION by Steve Cochrane

[raw]
made by Steve Cochrane for LD27 (COMPO)
INSTIGATION is a match-three puzzle game and Space Invaders fan fiction. Find out why they invaded Earth!

CONTROLS:
- Left and right arrows: move left or right
- Z: shift the blocks in your column up by 1 (or hold the down arrow and press Z to shift down)
- X: lift the block you're standing on, press again to set it down
(If the controls are unresponsive at first, click on the game to give it focus)

OBJECTIVE:
Match the trash blocks sent by the humans to stay alive as long as possible. Falling blocks will stun you if you're hit. A horizontal bar of blocks will fall every 10 seconds, so watch out! If any blocks are sitting above the dotted line it's Game Over.

Good luck and thanks for playing!

Game programmed with Flixel - http://flixel.org
Audio programmed with Shaun Inman's TextMate MML Bundle - http://shauninman.com/archive/2010/02/13/an_mml_bundle_for_textmate/
Personal site: http://stevecochrane.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/stevecochrane/

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall 3.55 153
Audio 3.30 150
Fun 3.54 121
Graphics 3.26 348
Humor 2.60 375
Innovation 3.54 189
Mood 3.04 333
Theme 2.49 1038

Feedback

matthias_zarzecki
26. Aug 2013 · 02:42 UTC
Nice idea! Haven't seen anything like it before.
01010111
26. Aug 2013 · 21:57 UTC
Wow! Awesome game, great work. Very simple, easy to get a hang of, reminds me of a project I started a long time ago and never finished :) I might have to try and do something with it now.
roaet
27. Aug 2013 · 04:09 UTC
It's a good game. I like it, Glad you can't die, that'd be not fun... Annnnnd I couldn't stop looking at the smileyface in the sand. :P
prettymuchbryce
27. Aug 2013 · 04:09 UTC
Nice music. Sounded like legit tracker music. I liked the concept. It was like a mix between bejeweled, tetris, and a platformer. I found it could have been a little more challenging in the starting levels or a faster ramp up would have been nice. A pleasant experience overall.
EvilObjective
27. Aug 2013 · 04:10 UTC
Great little puzzle game!
KunoNoOni
27. Aug 2013 · 04:11 UTC
Loved that it was B&W. Neat idea. Good game :)
Supercannon
27. Aug 2013 · 04:12 UTC
Unique, and fun. Great work.
Sinuath
27. Aug 2013 · 04:13 UTC
Your game rocked! Took me a minute to realize what was going on though, some in game instructions would have been awesome.
TailyILoveYou
27. Aug 2013 · 04:26 UTC
Jesus the game feel is amazing. My only possible qualm is that the art style and gameplay are too minimalist, but so far this has been the most fun to play yet.
mamoniem
27. Aug 2013 · 05:10 UTC
funny little game :)
jay griffin
27. Aug 2013 · 07:09 UTC
This one's a lot of fun, I really like the minimalist monochrome style you've got going on with this as well. It's not hard to imagine it as some rediscovered old classic handheld game or something. Simply a great little piece of work.
Shmarah
27. Aug 2013 · 07:11 UTC
It's so retro; I love it! Can the introduction possibly be skipped, however?
The music is fantastic!
yetatore
27. Aug 2013 · 07:12 UTC
Wouuu! Thats a casual game at Ludum Dare style, yeah!
Overall, is a really good game with innovative gameplay and well done. The audio and graphics are engaging and fits at perfection. The bad part? Is a bit slow, but, nothing else.
Congratz for your game, and have fun!

--Error #3104: Theme relation not found--
Kragnir
28. Aug 2013 · 01:45 UTC
Casual game, I would like it a bit harder.
Vaughn
28. Aug 2013 · 02:18 UTC
Overall a very solid and polished piece. Puzzle games aren't really my thing, but I see the effort, design and work put into it. I got up to I believe level 9 or 10. Audio is great too!
Diptoman
28. Aug 2013 · 06:02 UTC
Some in-game instructions would've been nice.
The idea is very nice, and the graphics/audio complemented each other well. Good work!
PaperBlurt
28. Aug 2013 · 19:36 UTC
fun, simple, addictive, nice looking.
good work!

ps: theme?
zillix
29. Aug 2013 · 05:10 UTC
cute game, and great controls! just as I was thinking it was too easy, the difficulty really picked up
Jimanzium
29. Aug 2013 · 10:58 UTC
Loads more fun than I expected, and I loved the black and white graphics style
netmute
29. Aug 2013 · 19:03 UTC
Pretty cool little puzzler. Had a lot of fun with it! :)
One minor thing though: The positions of the Z and Y keys are switched on German keyboards, which made it a bit hard to press Z ;)
🎤 Steve Cochrane
30. Aug 2013 · 04:28 UTC
netmute: Interesting, that hadn't occurred to me! If I do a more polished version I'll include key config :)
nathanhoffer
30. Aug 2013 · 05:02 UTC
Seems pretty original to me. I really liked playing this. Side scroller meets Dr. Mario :)
Dry Tree
30. Aug 2013 · 08:46 UTC
very enjoyable! and you really nailed the retro feel. good work :)
ratalaika
30. Aug 2013 · 16:05 UTC
good job
DiscoFish
02. Sep 2013 · 07:31 UTC
Awesome idea!
Eddy93
02. Sep 2013 · 18:38 UTC
Good game! This would be perfect for a arcade center, love the style of the graphics and the sound. well done
naufr4g0
07. Sep 2013 · 01:58 UTC
Graphics caught my attention immediately, when I saw the screenshot on the entries page. :)
I'd rather have more brainy puzzle, but the game is enjoyable even so. :)
Music fit well the style.
SecondDimension
07. Sep 2013 · 06:10 UTC
Addictive game play once you get the hang of it.
Almax27
07. Sep 2013 · 15:29 UTC
Really nice game! Art and music suited it to the ground.
🎤 Steve Cochrane
07. Sep 2013 · 22:02 UTC
Eddy93: Interesting! That hadn't occurred to me, but yeah, an "arcade edition" with a high scores list and versus play might make for a nice little arcade game. Thanks for the idea!
alts
09. Sep 2013 · 06:30 UTC
Wonderful game. The graphics and audio are excellent. What really makes this game is the block cycling. Block lifting and cycling are both orthogonal actions that can combine in a really complex way to give some territory for mastery (similar to Lift & Kick in Wario's Woods).

The game is great as is. There are only a few recommendations I'd make. Combos (both in the sense of sequences greater than 3, and cascading matches) should provide some benefit. A combo mechanic that I really like is that of Kirby's Star Stacker, where temporary blocks fall after combos, allowing for greater chains, but then not persisting if there was no match. I'd also like unbounded movement speed. I felt like at times I couldn't escape from falling rows because I couldn't move fast enough.

Really nice game. Great work.
🎤 Steve Cochrane
10. Sep 2013 · 03:37 UTC
alts: Thanks so much! I would have loved to have had bonuses for sequences more than 3 and for combos but I couldn't get to it in time, though I might add that with a more polished version later. Wario's Woods was a definite inspiration but I haven't played Kirby's Star Stacker yet so I'll be sure to give that a try. Also I could try to add the ability to hold in a direction to move faster, maybe... it would be less precise but good for scooting out of the way of a falling row. Interesting idea.
withoutpillow
12. Sep 2013 · 14:04 UTC
masterfully done. the concept and execution makes this one of the finest puzzle games i've played in a long time.