The Time Saver by HELLO23

made by HELLO23 for LD26 (COMPO)

*****
Please play the post-compo version, in which the player is much faster.
*****

The Time Saver is a game, played in the Console/Terminal screen.
This game is based on the theme, because the graphics are blocks of the console/terminal, and also very simple gameplay.

How To Play :
use the arrow keys to move - hold an arrow key to move faster.
use N to change a music track.
use +/- to change the volume.
use M go to the main menu.
READ the plot, and the commentary at the top of each level in order to understand what to do.

The game can be played on Windows (Run the .exe file), and on Linux using mono (Mono runtime must be installed).
(To run on Linux type in the terminal : mono TheTimeSaver.exe )

NOTE ABOUT AUDIO :
unfortunately, Linux does not have audio .
If on Windows you don't hear any sounds in the levels, you probably need to install OpenAL :
http://connect.creativelabs.com/openal/Downloads/Forms/AllItems.aspx (Install the file called oalinst)

Level editing was done using Paint.Net
Music was created using iNudge.net

Windows/Linux	https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B8wRYyPZ5uGYQ1lVa2JDMWlaR0U
Source	https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B8wRYyPZ5uGYRVIzX09yWWlaQ1E
Timelapse	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVMh3wu0Pos
Post Compo	https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B8wRYyPZ5uGYR3hnUUFkNm11RFE
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=21541

Ratings

Coolness	68%	3
Overall	2.53	1152

Audio	2.25	816
Fun	2.11	1209
Graphics	2.17	1176
Humor	1.96	756
Innovation	2.43	1024
Mood	2.19	1131
Theme	3.70	393

Feedback

JaJ

29. Apr 2013 · 08:33 UTC

I think the level design was a bit boring, with long parts of walking. And too many levels lacked any challenge. I quit at the key level because I did not feel like pushing the block all the way to the switch.

hgouveia

29. Apr 2013 · 10:01 UTC

Very well done , i like the fact is on console that's for sure is different :D +1 for that,

The movement i think was too slow , maybe is you can move faster the game gets more fun

🎤 HELLO23

29. Apr 2013 · 10:13 UTC

You can run faster (still pretty slow), if you do not release the arrow key and keep it pressed (but I believe you figured that out).

poohshoes

29. Apr 2013 · 10:40 UTC

I really had trouble with how unresponsive the controls felt.

Morgawr

29. Apr 2013 · 10:43 UTC

Game was pretty bland, unfortunately I'm on Linux and I get no music.
Overall it gets a few more points because it reminds me of an old game I made in Pascal around 10 years ago. Nostalgia'd like crazy!

ashdnazg

29. Apr 2013 · 11:14 UTC

It seems like a cool game, but same as poohshoes, the controls response was sluggish.

The music repetition kinda drove me crazy after a bit :)

AndyBumpkin

29. Apr 2013 · 11:14 UTC

Hey, well the controls were a bit frustrating. The text at the top of the screen saved the game a bit for me. I didn't get any music either (win8?) but had a listen in the assets folder and it was nice but very short.
Definitely scores high on the theme but otherwise needed something else to make it more interesting. Personally I stopped when I got to the shooting levels (when I somehow was slow enough to get shot and the whole level restarted)

some1

29. Apr 2013 · 11:32 UTC

i just loved this game so much! you don't need to think so hard about how to get to the next level but a tiny mistake can make your way to the top hard (by that i mean to pay attention to those B blocks). thank you for this wonderful time :)

noa

29. Apr 2013 · 12:25 UTC

the player is too slow, except this I like this game :D

ttakamoto

29. Apr 2013 · 14:10 UTC

I think you were brave to do that so low-level development as using C or something. Really nice and I think your strong point was to be so attached to the theme. The overall criticism was about the fun and humor. But good job anyway :)

Zccc

30. Apr 2013 · 15:30 UTC

Great entry! I really enjoyed beating it!

zkenshin

30. Apr 2013 · 16:07 UTC

Neat to see Terminal/Command Prompt style games.

🎤 HELLO23

30. Apr 2013 · 20:22 UTC

Thanks ! BTW you can edit the levels by editing the images in the assets folder, my code generates the levels by the colors of the pixels.

JohnnySix

30. Apr 2013 · 20:31 UTC

Acceleration/intertia could have been cool on the character - it became a bit laborious getting around the levels. Like the oldschool charm and the insane difficulty on the later levels with the shooters.

MegaBrutal

01. May 2013 · 02:09 UTC

I'm trying to run this on Ubuntu, but I'm getting this:

The assembly mscorlib.dll was not found or could not be loaded.
It should have been installed in the `/usr/lib/mono/2.0/mscorlib.dll' directory.

I suppose I should install something in addition to Mono, but I don't know what.

argo15

01. May 2013 · 07:03 UTC

Kinda boring, but the music makes it a bit better.

zatyka

02. May 2013 · 00:57 UTC

I enjoyed the audio most of all and I was digging the old DOS style. I found the levels were a bit tedious, mostly because I would look at them, almost immediately see what needed to be done, and then have to slowly move my way back and forth across the screen. However, the levels did get more interesting as the game went on. I'd suggest making the first few levels more compact, and make them large as they get more complex.

yellowlemming

04. May 2013 · 05:37 UTC

it fits the theme well but it doesn't seem very interesting, mostly due to how slow it is to move anywhere

BipoleMoment

04. May 2013 · 16:37 UTC

It was WAYYYYY too laggy on my computer, but nonetheless, it was a good game.

Dir3kt

04. May 2013 · 20:34 UTC

Congrats for making an action game in text mode :D The game is fine but the levels were not challenging at all at the beginning and suddenly with level 7 it became super hard.

🎤 HELLO23

11. May 2013 · 07:22 UTC

I had some time to look at the game's code and I found the source of the slow movement and lags. It turns out that using Console.WindowHeight and Console.WindowWidth to retrieve the window height and width is very slow. By saving the values to variables once, instead of calling these properties every time, every single game loop is now performing 200 times faster (!!!).
Enjoy playing the much faster Post-Compo version.

avidgamerNino

11. May 2013 · 07:49 UTC

Very cool. I dig your take on the them minimalism it is
definitely there. Great Job