LudumData

Shrinking Panes by Pennycook

[raw]
made by Pennycook for LD 42 (COMPO)

title.png

This was my first time using Unity for a 3D game, and everything was created by me in 48 hours. The game is nothing like what I set out to make at all, but I'm very happy with the end result.

If you have problems with the web version, please download the standalone version.

There is a known bug with the mouse controls when the game regains focus. The only workaround I know of (right now) is to never resize or exit the game window until you're done. If anybody knows how to fix this, please let me know...

Tools

  • Unity
  • Inkscape
  • sfxr
  • Musagi

Base Code

  • The dialogue system is based on Brackey's tutorial, which I followed inside the 48 hours.

Screenshots

screenshot-1.png

screenshot-2.png

Video

I highly recommend that you don't watch the video until you've given things a go yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuSKMyvV6Fc

Source code https://github.com/Pennycook/ludum-dare-42
HTML5 (web) https://pennycook.itch.io/shrinking-panes
Windows https://pennycook.itch.io/shrinking-panes
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/shrinking-panes

Ratings

Overall 383th 3.341⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Fun 469th 3.044⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 312th 3.278⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Theme 454th 3.341⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 569th 2.733⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Audio 426th 2.716⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Humor 100th 3.302⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Mood 266th 3.131⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Given 37🗳️ 39🗨️

Feedback

Tero Pulkkinen
13. Aug 2018 · 02:54 UTC
Pretty strange controls. But the 3d graphics is working fine for this purpose.
🎤 Pennycook
13. Aug 2018 · 03:02 UTC
@tero-pulkkinen Thanks for the feedback. What's strange about the controls? It's supposed to feel like an FPS.
Madar Games
13. Aug 2018 · 03:27 UTC
I love it! I think the story is actually hilarious. This is the best game I've played so far! At the end I let the blue block live in hopes that I would get a funny dialog. Disappointingly I didn't. But I really truly loved it! The only thing negative I noticed were the decals when you shoot the glass float off of it and the red block looks like it's behind the glass if it gets away from you at a certain angle.
🎤 Pennycook
13. Aug 2018 · 05:26 UTC
Thanks @madar-games -- I'm glad to hear you liked it, and that you made it to the end.

I noticed those two graphical glitches as well, but couldn't work out what was going on within the 48 hours. I'll keep investigating!
TheCommonThug
14. Aug 2018 · 01:37 UTC
Can definitely appreciate how much work went into getting this far on a first go with Unity 3D in only 48 hours. Hilarious story idea also. Well done.
artbohr
14. Aug 2018 · 01:43 UTC
A really simple game, but I liked it a lot, the feeling of killing the professor and his right hand after the struggle with the red cube, felt awesome, nice game, thanks for making it ^^
🎤 Pennycook
14. Aug 2018 · 02:05 UTC
@thecommonthug, @artbohr -- thank you both! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
GuardHei
14. Aug 2018 · 02:45 UTC
I am really bad at playing this game -- died quite quickly for the five tries. But the story is really attractive -- your choice is right!
Predominant
14. Aug 2018 · 03:28 UTC
Plenty of great gameplay wiht simple graphics. I love the lead-in, story, and the way you've owned using simple graphics to make a decent game! Awesome work!
GhostGoatsGames
15. Aug 2018 · 22:10 UTC
Pretty funny, and not bad for your first time making a 3d game with Unity. I do think that the player should maybe be a little faster though. Seems like you just have to get lucky to not die. The foot print sounds feel very good.
crastinator
16. Aug 2018 · 01:41 UTC
Finally killed that freaking cube professor before it could finish its sentence. Great game! It was fun.

Would be a bit better if the movement could be a little faster though? It felt a big sluggish like I'm walking through mud.
🎤 Pennycook
16. Aug 2018 · 03:29 UTC
@predominant - Thank you so much!

@ghostgoatsgames, @crastinator - Thanks for the feedback. I'm definitely going to do an updated version of this, and I'll make sure to tweak the movement speed when I do.
petrocket
16. Aug 2018 · 05:05 UTC
Those crazy professors, what will they make us do next? Also, I agree with increasing the movement speed.
Donitz
16. Aug 2018 · 05:16 UTC
LoL, the cube spawned outside the containment one time. Squish!

Nice story told in a few lines of dialogue. Kinda like Deadpool's origins but more squared.
CaptainDreamcast
16. Aug 2018 · 11:49 UTC
I agree with everyone, the story was funny, got some portal vibes from that. It also has some neat stuff hidden in there, like the death chance percentage changing, that really showed a love for details. One detail in particular I liked was that the professor and his sidekick run away from you at the end, I managed to chase them all the way around the experiment area before delivering sweet eye laser justice. So yeah, cool game!
mshopf
16. Aug 2018 · 14:13 UTC
Hm, apparently I cannot find the story, I die to fast. Within the shrinking borders I don't know how to avoid the cube...

Edit: ok, I understand now that you can start to fire only after the borders start shrinking. Makes sense now :)
Vincent Knauss
17. Aug 2018 · 01:23 UTC
Great and unique game! At the end it stole my mouse and didn't exit, so I had to alt+f4, maybe a browser issue. overall really nice entry and great use of theme
thunderawesome
17. Aug 2018 · 01:31 UTC
I wish I could fully turn around and look. Being locked to a small range to look around proves difficult. And the red cube is so random that it makes it super tough especially towards the end to dodge it. I don't doubt it's possible to win.

I appreciate the super literal translation of the theme.
Nerzal
17. Aug 2018 · 10:14 UTC
I don't know if i did anything wrong, but i got a "You made it game will self destruct" and nothing happened. That was after like 90 seconds. So i don't know if i missed something. But the "story" was hilarious :D I cannot say anyhithing about the theme :/
🎤 Pennycook
17. Aug 2018 · 13:42 UTC
@thunderawesome - Thanks for the feedback. I'll spend some time tweaking the mouse sensitivity, or see if I can make it an option somehow.

@vincent-knauss, @nerzal - You're right, the game doesn't actually quit if you play it in the browser. I'll see what I can do about that.
Kurt Roembke
18. Aug 2018 · 02:02 UTC
Very nice. I like that the gameplay mechanic led to a bigger story like Portal. Using the narrative writing to make it so that a failure only led to that test subject dying and allowing you to retry as the next test subject was great. And made escaping at the end that much more satisfying. Very nice!!

I like that you made the step sfx the beat of the music. At first it threw me off because it wasn't lining up with the actual motion of the character, but when I realized that it was synced to the music, I appreciated it. That type of experimentation is fun, and honestly the best thing to do when making a jam game.

Thanks for the game!
Fork0
18. Aug 2018 · 09:27 UTC
It's definitely not the greatest game I've played, but I really liked it and when it ended, it felt a little sad, because I wanted more :D The movement is a bit too slow, but i guess it doesn't matter that much. One of the problems i had was that playing from WebGL was very choppy. It could be me, though, so don't sweat it. (Replayed the desktop version and obviously - it wasn't choppy at all).
🎤 Pennycook
19. Aug 2018 · 03:44 UTC
@kurt-roembke - No, thank _you_ for playing it, and for the feedback!

@fork0 - I'm sorry there wasn't more. Maybe one day... Thanks for reporting the WebGL choppiness issue. I didn't spend any time with the web version until the submission hour, and it might need more work. I'll look into it.
Andrei9
19. Aug 2018 · 10:18 UTC
:D Cool :thumbsup:
josehzz
19. Aug 2018 · 19:37 UTC
Controls are a bit funky, walking speed seens too slow, but the general experience is great, the story and the setting reminded me of Half Life.
🎤 Pennycook
19. Aug 2018 · 23:12 UTC
@josehzz - Thanks for the feedback! Can you be more specific about the control funkiness? I'm curious whether you encountered a bug.
josehzz
20. Aug 2018 · 00:19 UTC
@pennycook besides slow movement speed, when moving into a wall it does a weird shake I think thats because the movement collision is calculated before the wall shrinks, maybe that can be solved using FixedUpdate() instead of Update() (I don't know the actual code, I had the same situation on past games I've made), also something I forgot to tell earlier when pressing esc to release the mouse you can't lock the mouse again because of that you can't rotate complety, but thats just a bug/feature of Unity WebGL when you play on window size.
🎤 Pennycook
20. Aug 2018 · 00:30 UTC
@josehzz - Thanks for the details, I really appreciate it. You're absolutely right, it looks like I did put the cell shrinking code into Update() by mistake! I should definitely fix that.

I'll see what I can do about the mouse focus issue. Maybe adding a proper pause screen would help.
folex70
24. Aug 2018 · 13:43 UTC
good texts and history! I had a little difficulty, I had to see the video to understand better. I suggest you to
give the possibility to skip the dialogues, because in this type of game is necessary replay 3 or more times to beat it, and it is a little annoying read the same texts again. Good work!
LastLeaf
25. Aug 2018 · 18:03 UTC
An interesting game! Every aspects are nice, but moving is too slow, making it really hard to dodge the big red cube. Still nice job overall!
🎤 Pennycook
26. Aug 2018 · 06:00 UTC
@folex70 - Thanks! You're right, skipping the introductory dialogue is a good idea.

@lastleaf - Thanks for the feedback. I'm working on the movement speed, and hope to be able to post an updated version soon.
🎤 Pennycook
01. Sep 2018 · 22:01 UTC
I've just uploaded a post-compo release with a run function. The speed might need some tweaking, but it feels okay-ish to me...
F1Krazy
01. Sep 2018 · 22:23 UTC
This is a nice little game! I always like seeing story-based games, even if they're usually quite short. The graphics and audio are obviously quite basic, but it's your first time making a Unity game so I can't really fault you for that.

One question, though: why were they trying to unlock your "latent powers" if they were just going to crush you with the shrinking walls anyway?
🎤 Pennycook
02. Sep 2018 · 00:08 UTC
@f1krazy - Thanks for playing. You're right, that's definitely a plot hole! The only answer I can think of is: "Science!"