Hydrogenic by Gabe
Description:
Eliminate unnecessary electrons to form a hydrogen particle before it collapses into itself.
Controls:
- Right Arrow: Spin clockwise.
- Left Arrow: Spin counter clockwise.
- Space: Jump.
- Ctrl+R: Restart level.
- Ctrl+F: Toggle fullscreen.
- Escape: Return to menu.
Screenshots:

| HTML5 (web) | https://elgabe.itch.io/hydrogenic |
| Source code | https://elgabe.itch.io/hydrogenic |
| HTML5 (web) | https://elgabe.itch.io/hydrogenic-post |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/hydrogenic |
Ratings
| Overall | 56th | 3.942⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 65th | 3.872⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 33th | 4.07⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 72th | 4.167⭐ | 44🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 157th | 3.767⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 151th | 3.413⭐ | 42🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 17🗳️ | 14🗨️ |
I wish it had some music, since I feel that would have tied the whole mood together, but its still really great.
The controls also felt a little bit weird at first, although I don't know how that could be fixed for something like this.
The biggest thing to add would probably be a timer for score. This is the perfect game for learning how to execute everything with perfect precision, and a timer would be a great way to reward that.
Overall, awesome entry!
Only thing I don't like is the control: you need to remember which key is clock-wise otherwise you may push the wrong key and die. I think we can improve it to use Up/Down/Left/Right and map it to clock-wise and counter clock-wise depends on your current position. (So when you are at the top region, left will map to counter-clock-wise)
Some background music would be nice, but I thought the sound effects perfectly complemented the graphic design.
The design felt really polished and nice. I liked the animations that added a little bounce to everything.
Good job overall !
Great work though on the concept!
Unfortunately, most levels have the same issue, namely, because of particle collapsing you can complete level without moving, just reaching unnecessary electrons by your size.
However, it is interesting puzzle game.
Overall it is great game ;)
The game is cool. I like how I was able to jump into the action immediately with minimal instruction.
On the other hand, I feel the control is a bit frustrating because of the constant direction flip. Because the jumps usually involve positions close to a spike, I always mispress and die. This part is not cool.
I strongly believe that control should empower player to express themselves, not hinder them.
For this game, I think instead of controlling the electron, maybe you should change the control to rotate the game world instead? Because the orbit doesn't jump, control won't be flipped and would feel consistent.
Also, I would love to have a point of reference at the center of the circle. Currently, it's very hard to determine exactly where the electron would jump to on the other side :D