Pinch&scape by Guillaume Gomez

[raw]
made by Guillaume Gomez for LD 39 (JAM)

Screen Shot 2017-07-31 at 21.48.55 copy.png

About

The concept of this game is fairly simple, there's a map, you and your friend are stuck in there and need to find the exit. You can move in 4 directions and to do so you'll have to use your devices. For instance, to move to the right, it's super easy : You put your second device on the right of the first one and you just pinch ! The second device become the new spot where you and your friend are (as seen on the mini map in game) and you keep on going until you find the exit ! (before you run out of power and die a horrible death of course ^^)

Dev process

For this LD, the theme being running out of power, we thought about an "escape before it's too late" kind of game but with a interesting twist in the gameplay. In this game, to move from one room to another you use 2 real life devices to build your path ! We used a library called Swip JS that let you connect several devices (smartphones, iphones, ipads, or even a laptop with touch screen) with only one move, a pinch on the screens.

Since we had to go on the LD39 journey with a super small team, we decided to keep all the other fancy elements, like graphics or music, super low key with room for future improvements.

All assets have been made during the event.

Demo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-0KVw4JqFs

Screenshots

begin.gif

ezgif.com-optimize.gif

first-screen.png

second-screen.png

finish-screen.png

Controls

  • Move : Your fingers

Set up Project

Install dependency

The project has one dependency : NodeJs.

So first let's install it :

Windows and MacOs

You can download installer on the NodeJs website.

Linux

Open a terminal sudo apt-get update curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x | sudo -E bash - sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Compile and start the game

You have to get the sources. To do it, you need to download the ZIP folder of the game on Github (like in the picture below).

github-download.png

For the next steps, let's consider that you have extracted the ZIP directly in the Downloads folder (you can extract it whatever you want but you will need to adapt the path in the command lines in the next part of the guide).

Build from sources

Windows, Linux and Mac

Open a terminal, and type the following cd Downloads/LD39-master npm install npm run build cd client npm install npm run build cd .. npm start The last command launch the server.

Ok, so your serveur is started (Do not kill the terminal until you stop playing the game). Now you can see the result on your computer, to visualize go to localhost:3000 on your favorite browser.

There is one last step to connect your portable devices (Smartphone, Iphone, Ipads, Kindle, etc).

You will need your network local address by typing in another terminal (your devices need to be connected on the same network as your pc by simply connecting your device on WIFI).

So on linux, and mac, open a terminal and enter ifconfig

ipv4-mac.png

For instance my local address is 192.168.1.125

On Windows, on a terminal too, and enter ipconfig

ipv4-windows.png

For instance my local address is 192.168.1.125

The local adress can change, so don't hesitate to check this address. It may changed when your computer leave the network (basicaly when you turn off your computer)

Let's play

You can now play the game easily. Open a browser on both your devices, and type (YourLocalAddress):3000. (in the case above 192.168.1.125:3000)

The game will start on your devices.

If something went wrong, don't hesitate to restart the server by killing the terminal where the server is running. And restart it with command npm start (in the folder LD39-master of course)

Enjoy !

the server can be still buggy :| , but I will work on it

Team

  • Maxime Lambert: Concept / Game Design
  • Guillaume Gomez: Programming

Ratings

Overall 459th 3.304⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Fun 597th 2.87⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 5th 4.615⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 723th 2.909⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 713th 2.636⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Mood 722th 2.55⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 36🗳️ 1🗨️

Feedback

Lukesta
31. Jul 2017 · 21:53 UTC
Looks amazing and sounds like a cool experience to play. Somehow I did managed to get the server running so I couldn't play it by myself.

By the way shouldn't this be marked as "Jam" because there where multiple persons involved.
jahndis
31. Jul 2017 · 22:38 UTC
Lol this probably the most work I've put in to try playing someone's game XD.

The game was interesting enough, although a bit simple at heart. Graphics were simple yet effective. Full points for innovation!!
Quemagalletas
31. Jul 2017 · 22:41 UTC
I didn't manage to play the game but I love the idea of more than one device involved! :D

Congratulations!!
Wabble
31. Jul 2017 · 23:13 UTC
The instructions are scarce for us newbies, add more info here or in a Read.md .I have node on pc (not a recent version tho), and I tried to build the game on atom using the platform-ide-terminal but no success (on the first npm start a bunch of errors appeared). In the end something was running on localhost:3000 but it was just a blank page.

Innovation is there, but games here are supposed to be playable by one person, and be easy to install/set up.

If you put the game somewhere else with a bit more documentation it will do better.
ReboundGames
31. Jul 2017 · 23:33 UTC
Got it working after a little fiddling. Unfortunately the battery in my old tablet is barely functional so I couldn't play for very long, but the concept is super cool.
🎤 Guillaume Gomez
01. Aug 2017 · 19:22 UTC
Thanks a lot for all your feedbacks, we have updated the installation guide. Hope it will help :)
filippy
02. Aug 2017 · 12:29 UTC
This is probably the most intriguing game I have seen so far, as a piece tech this looks super impressive and I will be delving into your source code, I'm not really sold on the game but yeah the room for improvement here is great
Syl-WhatsUpDesign
02. Aug 2017 · 17:19 UTC
I love the concept !
Emery
02. Aug 2017 · 20:07 UTC
Hard to set up, great concept though. Good Job
elmismopancho
02. Aug 2017 · 22:19 UTC
Interesting concept, but it's hard to control, especially vertically.
krishnasism
03. Aug 2017 · 15:33 UTC
Super Innovative!!. A little complicated to set up, but worth the complication.

Nice job!
Hishicorne
11. Aug 2017 · 14:18 UTC
Ok. It's one of the most innovative game i've seen for the ludum dare at this point ! It looks so cool !!! The concept is awesome, the only problem - I think - is the graphisms that are kind of simple. Hope you'll develop a full game based on this concept because it could be awesome !
Valphera
14. Aug 2017 · 14:39 UTC
Very inovative concept, congrats for doing that for a Ludum Dare, you're badass! The graphisms are minimalist but this is a style i really appreciate, it's cutting off any unecessary infos. :smile:
LaJazuve
17. Aug 2017 · 21:07 UTC
interesting concept and the explanation are welcome ! thnk you !