A Developer's Nightmare by hkay
It is finally done!
This is our first Ludum Dare, we worked until the last minute and barely made it, but here it is:
You play as a programmer, who encounters his worst fears in his nightmare. You have to fix bugs by solving puzzles, dodge enemies/glitches (Which would insta-kill you!) and get from one point to another before your power (level of coffee) runs out.
Controls:
- A or ← | Move left
- D or → | Move right
- Space | Jump
- E | Start Puzzle
Puzzle Instructions:
You have to drag and drop the plugs into their corresponding sockets to make a connection from start to finish.
- You HAVE to use all cables
- You can NOT create "islands"
Looks glitchy
Mhhh coffee
Changelog (Thursday, August 3, 2017):
- Fixed a bug, where multiple instances of a puzzle could be spawned
| Windows | https://ld.codecontrollers.com/39/V1.1/LD39_Win_x86_64.zip |
| Windows | https://ld.codecontrollers.com/39/V1.1/LD39_Win_x86.zip |
| Linux | |
| Linux | |
| HTML5 (web) | https://ld.codecontrollers.com/39/V1.1/LD39_WebGL/ |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/a-developers-nightmare |
Ratings
| Overall | 607th | 3.083⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 680th | 2.739⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 432th | 3.043⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 622th | 3.174⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 626th | 2.957⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 390th | 3.043⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 184th | 3.095⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 24🗳️ | 6🗨️ |
Other than that, the game is really solid and looks great !
But I liked the graphics and the music.
I've played the WebGL version and first I had a similar experience as @nidup mentioned. I didn't know I was supposed to use the mouse to drag stuff, so first I pressed different buttons, and E made more bridges to appear, which made the puzzle unsolvable. Then I restarted and figured it out. I think it would be worth solving so people don't get stuck too early.
Also the character controls are a little bit slidy, that makes the platformer part pretty hard.
Do you plan to keep going with this game? I think it would be worth it, and in my opinion it would be a good idea to think about what kind of experience you want to focus on. Maybe building up on the puzzles, and simplify the action in-between would give a more consistent gameplay experience to the player? Right now it feels a bit frustrating to me, because it is at the same time a puzzle game (slow paced, rewarding progression, curiosity for what's coming next) and the aggressive fast action moments are interrupting me in this experience. You could for instance make it more like exploring around. Plus choosing one particular aspect would allow you to spend more time for polishing rather than developing too many different things. But that's just one idea and I'm sure there are tons of possibilities.
Anyway, that's a really good start, congrats! Good luck for the future!
Take a while to solve the puzzle. Why i get more wires with SPACE? But as i solved the first puzzle it was quite interesting mechanic.
Hmm feels like I the last weekend. He is really tired.
I likes the fact that you made a full game, with sounds, differents levels and kind of screens, some music.
Controls could be improved, though. I had the feeling your had two set of keys (WSAD pour menus and arrows for moving the player), and I had to switch back and forth to the mouse to solve the puzzles. Since the coffeemeter runs fast, I lost numerous times since I did not got to the keys fast enough once the puzzle was solved. Frustrating!
-The controls for the platforming sections are far too floaty and slippery. A couple of times, I slipped off the side of (I think) the second jump because I kept the D key held when the character's head got caught on a platform and they floated further to the right than I anticipated.
-Continuing from that point, perhaps space out the platforms that are in a zig-zag pattern so that there is more headroom for the player to jump.
-I like the fact that the first puzzle is so simple - it works extremely well as a tutorial level for the puzzle sections. The mechanic is easy to grasp due to the inclusion of this introductory puzzle. Then, the next puzzle introduces different shapes in another safe and simple setting.
-I liked the music, but it's a tad quiet compared to the other sound effects.
-The coffee meter depletes so fast that if I made a single mistake on the platforming sections, I was already doomed. This isn't helped by the fact you have to start over. Or at least, I didn't get far enough to reach any checkpoint... I know I just praised the introduction level, but it gets annoying after the 6th time. :p
-While I do really like the idea of the visibility reducing as the coffee meter depletes (it reminds me of when your eyes start to shut themselves when you're REALLY tired), the effect is perhaps a little too extreme here. I think that's just my opinion, but it's one of the many things that make the platforming difficult.
-I do appreciate that the puzzle levels don't have a timer of any sort. I think the platformer sections ought to be a bit hectic (just toned down a little), with the puzzle levels acting as a well-needed cooldown period.
It's a solid idea - it just needs a bit of refinement for the platforming sections. Why not try tweaking things a bit and upload a post-competition version? Also, an idea that just popped into my head:
-When the coffee meter is low, you could try blurring the scene and adding snoring sounds or something? I think you'd have room to add something like that if the current eye-shutting effect was toned down slightly. It'd really feel like you're falling asleep then!
However the hero moves too fast and too imprecise to make the plaftorm part fun.
The puzzle idea is amazing :smile: Good job!