Nice game(?) and game machine!
a mix between the beginners guide and pico8...
I like the idea that you list bugs in the end, this fit well with the main idea...

Very nice! Just to say that the res selector doesn't offer me a native res of 1920x1080 here (Win 10, GTX1080)

EDIT: I'm an idiot, it does show that res fine if I untick Windowed :P

Now that I've played through, really impressed with the immersion and depth of this one.

This game is technically impressive, and it also reminded me a bit of The Witness too. Great geeky entry!

This is a nice little game machine you got going on here [:
It does a good job showing people how games are made, which is really cool!

**pros:**
Very innovative idea
great music and sound
npc interaction/dialogue was well done and even though it was simple it didn't seem lackluster
Educational experience! :D
well polished

**cons:**
It wasn't very game-y for a video game /:
the theme was kind of there but very vaguely. Was it supposed to be because the gameMachine ^tm was really small?
lighting was annoyingly dark and too high contrast

Thank you all for the comments. I will play and rate your games when the ratings are open.

@TechnoNugget: I'm never good with the theme. Usually I try to get inspired by it, but fail with doing something tightly focused on it. I then transform my concept until I have something that would be fun to make. For "Small World" thoughts went into the direction that computer games are small worlds, and that game development is like creating your own world. So I guess I just wanted to make something meta.

carcass said to downvote this

but i didnt

i have to agree with @technonugget the game itself was good craftsmanship and the atmosphere was good. but i'm still searching for the game (gameplay) and/or the idea of the game (why multiple rooms?).

@holgk Did you play it through? In the end, Treachery of Game Dev is "just" a puzzle game where you have to follow the instructions of your tutor.

On the other side I don't know why everything has to be totally game-y just for the sake of it. I tried to make a personal experience. That is all. There IS a goal though.

It's clever, I like it. Why the billboard lamps though? Just a stylistic choice? Billboard tutor looks really cool, with all the poses and emotes, but lamps puzzled me more than the actual puzzles.

Nice job on getting these mechanics in the limited time. The idea is very good :)

This may be one of my favortite Ludum Dare games this time!
I love the concept and I even learned a few things about LUA. :smile:
I tried really hard but I could not get trough the last puzzle. :cry:

Didn't quite figure out how I was supposed to get past the Exam Machine, but I dig the concept. Puzzle games about programming are super nifty.

When I have more time, I'm definitely coming back to this one and trying to beat it. :thumbsup:

I never liked programming games, but I find this one better than the most I've seen.

1. I can use my own editor to edit code.
2. I really like the funny person in game, I guess it's your picture?
3. I've finished it
4. I'm not very good at lua, so I might have learned something.

Those photos of yours acting like that masked guy, the masked guy is brilliant and you really should reuse it in some other game.

The masked guy animation is my favorite part.

Nice! At first I was kind of annoyed that there wasn't an API list, but then it turned into a mechanic and I was happy. Fun dialogue throughout.

One thing that stuck out quick was player movement seemed to have a lower refresh rate than the camera movement, but I think that's just the usual default controller behavior. (Just a small nitpick.)

Really liked the concept and the humour! A little bit sad that the code interface is so hard to use - I'd love to see a cleaned up version after the jam! Plus hey, you totally lampshaded that in the final dialogue so whatever.

One of the neatest idea I ever seen in LD, and a very sly use of the theme.
I especially love the sincerity in it, that sense of conversation between creators and audiences.

@ratking, this game is awesome. The entire concept was odd but all of the elements of the game fit togather. The bugs actually don't detract from the game, they add to the experience of how code can be treacherous. I loved th egame not only because of the fun gameplay but also because I had never even seen Lua code before and this game helped me get started learning it. Thank you for that.

Very interesting. Your Smallworld mini-game was unique, in a way.

This is hands-down one of the coolest LD entries I've seen; it's crazy that you managed to basically make a pared down version of Voxatron in just 72h! The editor's not perfect (as pointed out in-game), but it's still very impressive. The first-person portion also has a really nice look to it: the geometry's simple, but the lighting does a nice job of glazing over that, and the developer sprites are great.

Some criticisms:
- The code editor needs quite a few improvements. The two things that tripped me up the most were the lack of undo, and that recompiling didn't also save (I had to re-write one of the programs because I exited without saving)
- I would have liked to see more physical puzzles (I assume the plan was to include more, but time ran out?)
- Having to backtrack to find the solution to the physical puzzle was a bit annoying and could have easily been avoided. It would have been more interesting if instead of finding the solution code in a random machine, the snake machine from the start actually contained some necessary code for progressing.

This is my first 5/5 across the board this time around; great job!

The way you've structured this works super well. At first it seems like a simple game where you run around a level a bit. Then you've got a minigame and then you've got a little bit of programming. Really well done.

Wow. This isn't a game...it's an experience! It's like you created this entire world and then added a little something to fulfil the "Small World" theme (the "This is Not a Snake Clone"). I am so impressed with everything you have done here. Amazing work.

you asked for a reply sry for not replying sooner (i didn't know of your questions). First of all i didn't used the Mac version so i don't can help you with that. When i was playing the game i didn't saw it as a puzzle game. for me it was more or less a snake clone in 3D, with a chamber you open if you wone the snake game. If there is more to the game i didn't saw it, but then i've to say that it wasn't obvious to me to continue (and search for the more). About your comment on personal experience and not everything has to be "game-y", i have to say, this is a >> game jam << so it's obvious that you expect some kind of game (to put it into your words something "game-y"). A personal experience (for example a walking simulator) might be very fun and entertaining but there is room for a discussion if that's a game or not. Your entry is definitely more on the game side. My point was, that i didn't understand: why you used multiple rooms? why the game couldn't exists without them? what do they bring to the table gameplaywise?

@holgk Okay, because there were problems with the Mac version, so I wondered if this is why you ask such a question. I still wonder about that, especially as you apparently opened the secret chamber and should be able to proceed with the game (by solving a coding "puzzle" and talk to the NPC again).

Each room serves a purpose, with the last one (with the pillars) being the end of the game. I'm not sure what exactly you expect. Maybe you got stuck in the game, but I am not sure about that.

Great entry! Loved how meta the game felt. Also great music and enjoyed the art as well. Really cool that you have a working editor in the game as well. Great job!

This was a pretty hefty idea to tackle in a game jam and it was surprisingly well done - i'm amazed that it's as fully fledged as it is. I enjoyed the meta-ness of the game shell wrapped around it, and the little snake-like intro game was a neat concept too.

Huge work. You did not only made a game, but you did it AND extended a whole world and story around. Or am I trapped and was it wanted from the beginning :scream:?! It is so beautiful and it has its own style (with the 2D objects). You succeed to be educational and fun at the same time concerning programming! BTW I finished it :kissing_smiling_eyes:

Very intriguing game. I liked the feel of the game, the weird atmosphere. I also liked the funny guy who tells you what to do and all his pose.

That was a very original concept. However, I do agree with some other users that says it doesn't really feel like a game. There are few gameplay elements, and it doesn't quite is an exploration game.

Still there is an impressive amount a work here, so well done!

I have no other words but WOW!. I reached the broken machine, but I can't play today anymore.

But I'm sure to play in a day or two. I wanna find out the ending.

Well done!

(I had some problems with performance on that last broken machine thing when I used the shut-later). Maybe wanna check it?

@kaisean-games I tested the game several times and didn't notice performance problems with that part. What system do you have?

Well, that was pleasingly meta.

I really like a lot of the small details here - the character animation, the subdued palette and music, the game controls being written on the very first wall you see... And that's before I even get started on the actual game itself. (Although which game is the actual one?...) I really want to see a longer version of this game now, maybe with a giant coded snake rampaging through the small world with reckless abandon because someone forgot to set an upper bound on a for loop. Good game!

Very nice! :) I mean, building bridges is fine but THAT SNAKE GAME WOW! So good. Best snake games since snake2.

Oh and the coding stuff was cool too ;)

hey man incredible game! it was super unique and a lot of fun to explore, especially as someone with no experience in LUA, it felt cool to get your code to work. this was definitely one of the most innovative LD games i have played and your 1st place in innovation definitely reflects that ;) congratulations! also i completely disagree with everyone that argues that your game isnt really a game, doesnt feel 'game-y' enough, or it doesnt have enough traditional gameplay elements. i love that you are exploring and pushing the boundaries of what a game is and what a game can do. these are precisely the kinds of games that i love the most. personally, id prefer to see more games like this and less games that follow formulas or stick to traditionally defined game standards. bravo friend!

the only problem i have is at the broken machine / bridge part of the game, i have created a perfectly fine bridge that i could walk across to get to the door, however i cant use it because when i close the code editor (broken game machine) the bridge disappears so i cannot walk on it. it only exists while the broken machine is open. there are no commands in the learn machine that address this so i cannot get to the next part of the game and its killing me!!!! can you give me a hint or a push in the right direction??

@xxDOOMbox Thanks for the praise! I always hope to see more non-traditional games too, and I think Ludum Dare is a good place for it. But of course different opinions about that are okay too. ;-)

After you finished the exam, carcass tells you about a new computer in the first room. Its code might contain a hint...

@ratking thank youu! i played through another time and i honestly dont know how i missed that the first time. it was definitely explained, but for some reason i just seemed to remember carcass talking about the broken machine instead. wonderful game, thanks again! love all of carcass's poses xD