h3ss by wboqm
h3engine allows exploring hyperbolic 3-space, from the inside; the space is discretized using an icosahedral lattice. For Ludum Dare #35 (shapeshifting), we put our engine to the test and built h3ss: shape shifting in hyperbolic 3-space.
Push and pull the icosahedra around the space into configurations that will allow the 'life-like' update rules to wipe out all the cells. An 'off' cell with three neighbours will become 'on' and an 'on' cell with three or more neighbours will become 'off'.
By removing all the cells, the first puzzle is solved and you progress to the next one; we have three such puzzles ready to introduce the mechanics and hope to have more on the way shortly.
By popular request, a walkthrough has been made available: https://youtu.be/e0wEytjoD6A
Please checkout our website wboqm.com, sign up for our mailing list there or just follow us on twitter @wboqm.
Push and pull the icosahedra around the space into configurations that will allow the 'life-like' update rules to wipe out all the cells. An 'off' cell with three neighbours will become 'on' and an 'on' cell with three or more neighbours will become 'off'.
By removing all the cells, the first puzzle is solved and you progress to the next one; we have three such puzzles ready to introduce the mechanics and hope to have more on the way shortly.
By popular request, a walkthrough has been made available: https://youtu.be/e0wEytjoD6A
Please checkout our website wboqm.com, sign up for our mailing list there or just follow us on twitter @wboqm.
| Web | http://wboqm.com/ |
| Windows | https://wboqm.itch.io/h3ss |
| Linux | https://wboqm.itch.io/h3ss |
| https://twitter.com/wboqm | |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-35/?action=preview&uid=83541 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 67% | 3 |
| Overall(Jam) | 2.68 | 1023 |
| Audio(Jam) | 2.10 | 686 |
| Fun(Jam) | 1.94 | 1148 |
| Graphics(Jam) | 2.58 | 932 |
| Humor(Jam) | 1.71 | 787 |
| Innovation(Jam) | 3.77 | 106 |
| Mood(Jam) | 1.96 | 1014 |
| Theme(Jam) | 2.85 | 861 |
The problem with exploring to far from the origin has been fixed in theory, I just haven't had time to put the new code in and test it. Was hoping to have had that working but turned out the puzzles I could come up with were quite contained anyways.
As for the opacity of the mechanics, I hope to put together a GIF or video sometime in the next couple days to illustrate the mechanics better. Be on the lookout for it!
Also, why does the game default to the upper-left corner of the screen on start, with the window header hidden offscreen?
As for the window position, I thought it is the window manager's responsibility to place the window rather than the game's (though I have noticed that SDL_CreateWindow does allow a flag to specify to center the window); I haven't had this problem on linux but the positioning of the window has been a little funny on windows (it is completely on the screen somewhere near the top-left corner; though I don't get any window decorations at all). I've since put in a fullscreen mode (which hasn't been uploaded).
Make a post-jam version and keep working on this, but expect a lot of people arriving and groaning about how hard hyperbolic space is to understand.
Really cool concept.
Also found the visuals appealing.
Really interesting engine guys, hope to see more games using it!