Running out of Power by milano23
Hello fellow jammers. This is my third submission to Ludum Dare. I came very close to having all core categories in this time. Unfortunately no audio. I do have a main menu this time though.
How to Play: You need to connect power from the left power connector to the right power connector. Click with your mouse on any tile that is next to an empty space to move it. This is exactly like the old sliding puzzle games. The top and bottom green areas are timers. If your time runs out its game over. Thanks for checking out my game!
Instruction Image of how to play RunningOutOfPowerInstructions.png
Ratings
| Overall | 613th | 2.657⭐ | 37🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 496th | 2.794⭐ | 36🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 543th | 2.576⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 579th | 2.857⭐ | 37🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 593th | 2.294⭐ | 36🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 481th | 1.667⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 596th | 2.036⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 40🗳️ | 25🗨️ |
The mechanics worked, but I encountered a few times where power wouldn't flow through the tiles even though they're clearly connected to the source. The graphics were good, definitely fitting for this type of game (and I do love myself some simple, adorable graphics).
Feel like the game could've benefited from some music, but 48h isn't a long time, so I don't really mind the absence of it.
Anyway, you did a good job on this overall!
Count moves would add to the challenge.
Good there's no time limit - I find these annoying and unnecessary.
Sometimes level randomises solved already :) This is not to be resolved in LD time limit, probably though. Pieces are movable even when level successful.
But fortunatelly, your little fun game is self explaining.
Niche entry!
-Once or twice, the game gave me a level that was already complete, or needed only one move to complete. To mirror what others have said, the level generator needs a little work.
-Every level I had was solvable by making a straight line between the start and end. I'd have liked more interesting puzzles where I was required to make a weaving line around the level.
-A great next step would be to implement 4x4, 5x5 etc levels. Having a larger grid gives you much more leeway with the level generation.
-As already noted, the controls are a little unresponsive. If I click on a tile quickly after clicking the last one, it won't move.
-An animation and sound effect when a tile moves into place would be cool, although as someone who doesn't make many sounds myself, I know how daunting that can be!
-If you do implement larger and more complex levels, maybe change the colour scheme a bit for each difficulty tier? Some variation in the visuals keeps things from getting a bit samey.
-Completely empty tiles with no "pipes" would allow for more interesting puzzles.
-Thankfully, I never came across an impossible puzzle.
It's a good entry and a solid idea, but the level generation algorithm needs a little more work. The rest of the game is constructed well and is highly accessible due to the simplicity of the mechanics.
The theme was relevant but not really innovative, would be cool to see you work it in more to the mechanics of the game. Great idea though!

There was no music and the graphics were simple but not bad, kind of Tron-like.