LudumData

Yaxis by TimeLoad

[raw]
made by TimeLoad for LD 41 (COMPO)

Yaxis is a 1D platformer made with Pico-8. I didn't have time to finish all 16 levels but there's 8 pretty good ones to play through, let me know if you complete them all :)

It might take a while to get your head around what you're seeing, but think of it as a 1D view of ​a 2D world. The only things you're able to see are objects that have the same y-position as your player. This means, as your player jumps and falls, the entire view you have of the world shifts up and down. Move around the world and try to mentally map the levels as you play :)

TIP: The point of this game is to figure out the level and learn how to manoeuvre around it. If you don't see anything, try jumping or moving and see what you might bump in to or see

UPDATE: Please only rate based on my LD41 version of the game, but if you wish to play the most updated version of this game, check it out here: https://timeload.itch.io/yaxis

yaxis_1.gif

yaxis_2.gif

HTML5 (web) https://timeload.itch.io/yaxis-ld41
HTML5 (web) https://timeload.itch.io/yaxis
Windows https://timeload.itch.io/yaxis-ld41
macOS https://timeload.itch.io/yaxis-ld41
Linux https://timeload.itch.io/yaxis-ld41
Source code https://timeload.itch.io/yaxis-ld41
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/yaxis

Ratings

Overall 210th 3.598⭐ 58🧑‍⚖️
Fun 332th 3.302⭐ 60🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 22th 4.241⭐ 60🧑‍⚖️
Theme 388th 3.509⭐ 59🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 489th 2.9⭐ 57🧑‍⚖️
Audio 340th 2.821⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Humor 516th 2.043⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Mood 441th 2.854⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Given 36🗳️ 36🗨️

Feedback

dlowe
23. Apr 2018 · 02:06 UTC
HOLY CRAP what an amazing idea. The moment when what I was seeing "clicked" for me was SO satisfying. Awesome. Thanks for the game!
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 02:38 UTC
@dlowe thanks for the support, I really appreciate it!!
Abraxas Interactive
23. Apr 2018 · 03:39 UTC
Hah whoa, interesting idea! That really hurt my brain.
katie
23. Apr 2018 · 03:42 UTC
Love the idea! Certainly makes an interesting experience.
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 03:45 UTC
@abraxas-interactive That's the idea!! Wasn't trying to make the game easy, especially those last few levels, was meant to make you look at the typical platformer genre from a different perspective.

@katie glad you enjoyed it!
Pixels Everywhere
23. Apr 2018 · 03:46 UTC
Wow! Its truely a 1 bit game. Literally! Amazingly innovative, yer simplistic!
batmanasb
23. Apr 2018 · 03:51 UTC
hmm, how do I press start, lol? Controls please!
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 03:51 UTC
@pixels-everywhere Thanks :) Had to try and keep the game simplistic, only had about 10 hours total to work on the game and was using an engine I had never used before. Had to come up an idea that sold itself
Olivier Millochau
23. Apr 2018 · 03:55 UTC
Really pulling my hair out on that one !
I don't think I've ever seen a game remotely close to that one, gratz !
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 03:55 UTC
@batmanasb on the menu, use the up and down arrow keys and then press 'Z' to select the option. I recommend starting with the tutorial. When in the game, use the left and right arrow keys to move and the up arrow key to jump. If you press 'Z' while in-game it will restart the level and 'X' will take you back to the main menu
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 04:02 UTC
@olivier-millochau Thanks :) Make sure to follow me so you get notified when I release the source. Then you can see the level designs for yourself :)
Olivier Millochau
23. Apr 2018 · 04:03 UTC
(oops, this comment was fo another game and i write my comment on the wrong game, i'm sorry)
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 04:05 UTC
@olivier-millochau Haha how'd you get a score of 10? There's only 8 levels
batmanasb
23. Apr 2018 · 04:13 UTC
Oh I get it, it's basically a grid-based (like snake) platformer but you can only see one row of tiles at a time. A little disorienting because some tiles just flash by very quickly so I would sometimes not notice them, and I didn't realize that I should be going up. But after the initial confusion period, or maybe it's called the adaption to 1D life period, I managed to beat the rest of the levels pretty easily, aside some a few tricky jumps.

Very simple, yet clever idea! Only suggestion I'd make is to slow down "gravity" a little so you can get a better view of each layer when jumping or falling.
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 04:20 UTC
@batmanasb thanks for the feedback, glad you were able to finish all the levels :) I guess depending how you play some tiles can flash too quick. The way that I designed the levels meant that you didn't have to jump really high and thus when you're meant to fall you can see the tiles clearly enough. I want to keep developing this game when I'm allowed to (after the compo game playing period has finished) and I'll make sure to fix that, probably by including a maximum vspeed.
KScorp
23. Apr 2018 · 04:49 UTC
I love this. Controls could use some tweaking (holding a movement key doesn't produce a consistent movement speed), physics could use some tweaking (jumping/falling is a bit too fast), but overall a very good game!
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 04:57 UTC
@KScorp Thanks for the feedback :) I understand that the physics isn't perfect, need to slow it down a little, will fix that when I continue working on this game after the testing period is over for ludum dare. The controls did take some time to think about. I was using a game engine I've never used before so I decided to keep it simple and use the built-in functions. I did at first use the "btn()" function which indicates when a button is being held, but instead opted to use "btnp()" which gets triggered only when the button is first pressed. I chose this because I felt like it would offer more control pressing the buttons individually and moving one entire space each time which would make the game easier
KScorp
23. Apr 2018 · 05:10 UTC
I see. I think the problem is that the "btnp()" method you use triggers on repeated keystrokes as well. You know how if you hold a key down while typing the key is eventually "repeated" quite quickly? The same thing happens when holding a key in your game. I think you might want to fix that, because that is what was causing problems for me.
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 05:17 UTC
@KScorp yeah, I noticed that as well, I'll see if I can fix it. If I had time or was more experienced with pico-8 then I would have fixed it before publishing, but to me it was too minor to waste time on when I had so many problems with the way I was loading in levels.
Lemons
23. Apr 2018 · 05:20 UTC
Great game! Confused the hell at of me in the beginning, but once I understood what was going on, it was great!
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 05:24 UTC
@Lemons Thanks for playing, glad you enjoyed it :) Tends to take people a few minutes to get their head around what they're actually seeing, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy
mao
23. Apr 2018 · 06:13 UTC
Great idea and great implementation! It would be a little easier if there were separate colors for floor below, gap below, and spike below, but it works pretty well as is. The sound cue to indicate a ceiling worked very well.
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 06:15 UTC
@mao Thanks for the feedback :) what do you mean by separate colors for floor below, gap below and spike below? As in the player would change color? Or the spaces in front of the character would change color to indicate the gaps and spikes?
mao
23. Apr 2018 · 06:27 UTC
Something like this: https://i.imgur.com/bX5Bfdv.png

Basically, tiles would have the darkened color of whatever was on the next layer down, or just dark blue if there isn't anything. Dwarf fortress does a somewhat similar thing to display a 2D cross section of a 3D world.
GastricSparrow
23. Apr 2018 · 07:16 UTC
I beat all 8 levels! First game I play in this jam, and I hope they're all like this. Super innovative.
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 07:36 UTC
@mao Oh, I see, it's a good idea but I like the fact that you're not able to see anything above or below, means you have to do a lot of trial and error to figure out the map. Maybe in the future I'll include an "easy" mode where you'll be able to see what's below the tiles in front of you

@GastricSparrow I feel so honored that mine was the first game you've played this Ludum Dare :) I'm so glad you enjoyed the game!!
comenoha
23. Apr 2018 · 07:49 UTC
First game I played, and from what I see this deserves to be waaaaaay up there. What an incredible idea!
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 07:51 UTC
@comenoha Thanks so much for your support :) if you like the game that much then make sure to follow me as I plan to continue working on it adding levels and game mechanics. I'll be posting all future updates here :)
Herman Chau
23. Apr 2018 · 08:05 UTC
Nice, the later levels definitely reinforce the platforming aspects by having to do some horizontal movements while jumping. I'd love to see a level where you have to jump through a section that has spikes both above and below, so that you time the horizontal movement midway through your jump!

One thing that got me was not realizing that I had to press the arrow keys multiple times in order to move horizontally fast enough for those parts where you jump over spikes. I was actually pretty confused / frustrated at first until I figured out I was supposed to jump, wait until I can't see the red anymore, and then mash right / left.

Anyways, neat game!
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 08:09 UTC
@herman-chau Good idea for a level, I'll definitely add that in while I'm developing it. Yeah, this game isn't just about moving around trying to figure out where to go, especially in the later stages of the game it'll be a lot of timing and memorising when you need to move and by how much.
Herman Chau
23. Apr 2018 · 08:18 UTC
@TimeLoad, yeah, I managed to clear all 8 levels and the last few felt kind of puzzle-y to me :) And yeah, like you said, you had to memorize that there were 2 spikes so that you had to press right three times and such.

One other thing that confused me a bit was not realizing when I died (the sound effect was kind of quiet).

Another cool thing to have might be something like conveyor belts (traditional moving platforms would probably be too hard / frustrating) so you could have something like this
````
^
$ O
----->
<----
* O
-------------->
^^^^
````
where the arrows are conveyor belts, * is the starting player, O is a block, ^ are spikes, and $ is the goal.
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 08:37 UTC
@herman-chau I might implement conveyor belts later in the game, probably in the last few levels simply because it's a little hard to see what's going on in 1D. I'm also trying to figure out a better way ts show when you pass the level and when you die simply by sounds, trying to think of an animation or special effect that fits the art style of the game
Tudvari
23. Apr 2018 · 09:45 UTC
I don't know if there are other games like this but I did not expect this to be this fun :smiley:
My brain enjoyed this.
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 09:50 UTC
@Tudvari I'm so glad you enjoyed it :) I got some inspiration from a game called Line Wobbler, it's a 1D dungeon crawler. You should check it out :)
dirtymoonz
23. Apr 2018 · 10:18 UTC
Very confusing game, but once you "got" it it's a really cool idea.
zoglu
23. Apr 2018 · 11:03 UTC
Pretty nice idea, so it became more like a memory game. Good job !
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 11:12 UTC
@zoglu kinda, I plan on making larger levels in the future so it would become a case of tracking where you are and mapping the level in your head
IronyGames
23. Apr 2018 · 12:10 UTC
Figuring out 1D games is always half the fun. I was trying to figure out whether this was a simulated side or top view! Quite fun!
BelowParallel_Ian
23. Apr 2018 · 12:13 UTC
Really interesting idea. I've never looked at gaming from that perspective before. As far as "theme" goes, I'm not sure what the two incompatible genres are here. We've got platforming and ______? Anyways, cool game and great execution.
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 12:20 UTC
@IronyGames Yeah, I decided to take a side-on approach for this. I was considering making a 1D dungeon crawler game but decided this would be more interesting and challenging. Though I might come back to the 1D dungeon crawler game sometime in the future, I like way 1D feels

@belowparallel-ian Platformer / 1-Dimensional. Not sure if it's considered a 'genre', but if 2D and 3D are, then why not 1D?
SMILEY_4_
23. Apr 2018 · 12:28 UTC
Gread idea and solid execution. Defenitely a fun game with great potential.
Kirill Nepomnyaschiy
23. Apr 2018 · 13:13 UTC
I think I'm dieing all the time but i'm not sure. Great idea though :)
javicepa
23. Apr 2018 · 14:55 UTC
Cool idea! You could use different color shadings to communicate how far are you to the ground.
Nice concept and nicely executed!
timbs
23. Apr 2018 · 15:28 UTC
Incredible game-play you have there cant stop.
steve
23. Apr 2018 · 16:57 UTC
I struggled to understand the player physics initially, and while it would go against the 1-bit aesthetic of the game I think a few fx would go a long way into helping people understand what's going on, for example, shifting the player down by a pixel when jumping upwards and up by a pixel when falling down to give the impression of movement, and having some kind of particle fx once you've landed.

As someone above said, using a colour gradient on the background would also help players locate themselves as they're moving around in Y space, and lingering on deaths for a little longer to let players see what the mistake was that they made which killed them would help too.

Interesting idea though, would be fun to see how far you can push it with normal platformer mechanics before it starts to melt peoples brains :)
fashionbatman
23. Apr 2018 · 18:12 UTC
When I read the description I thought I would be confused, but turned out to be really easy to get a hold of. Great concept! Good job!
niborious
23. Apr 2018 · 18:26 UTC
This was really cool. It took me a little bit to get my bearing, I should have started with the tutorial but I wasn't paying attention lol. Is there any reason why you didn't just put the tutorial levels at the beginning of the main game?
I really enjoyed the game, played through the whole thing twice. Tried to speed run it after I understood what the levels were.
The sound effects were really important to the gameplay You might want to add some visual effects as well in case people can't use the audio. Especially for dying.
thesnide
23. Apr 2018 · 20:03 UTC
Awesome idea. And the "Aha" moment the player has when he finally understands the world is priceless.
caeonosphere
23. Apr 2018 · 21:20 UTC
I beat the 8th level! Cool idea, really grew on me as I played. Interesting how a restriction like that can make a very simple game pretty dang complicated.
🎤 TimeLoad
23. Apr 2018 · 22:06 UTC
Hey everyone, thanks so much for all the support, it means so much to me. You have have noticed that I changed the links for my game, that's because I wanted to continue working on the game but since LD41 is still going, I shouldn't be updating my game. I moved the original LD41 version and now I'm going to have an updating version on my itch.io profile, you can play it here: https://timeload.itch.io/yaxis (the old link).

@steve I liked your idea of shifting the player up and down a pixel when they're jumping and falling so I implemented it in my latest version, check it out to see what you think :)

@caeonosphere I love simple, yet challenging games. It gets in your head. You sit there thinking "come on, this is so simple, why can't I do it!" and then once you figure it out and complete it, it's so satisfying
Secretmapper
24. Apr 2018 · 04:58 UTC
THAT WAS SUPER NEAT! It's like Fez, but reversed (instead of 2d->3d, it's 2d->1d)!
🎤 TimeLoad
24. Apr 2018 · 05:09 UTC
@Secretmapper thanks for playing and so glad you liked it!! I haven't played fez but I've seen it before, similar idea. Shortly after starting development I remember seeing another similar game but it went from 4D to 3D, that was a really cool game hut I can't remember what it was called
Secretmapper
24. Apr 2018 · 05:13 UTC
@TimeLoad I played your game without reading the description, so it really surprised me! It's a great idea.
🎤 TimeLoad
24. Apr 2018 · 05:15 UTC
@Secretmapper did you at least do the tutorial? I would've been completely lost if I didn't understand what it was
Secretmapper
24. Apr 2018 · 05:35 UTC
@TimeLoad I didn't :) I didn't even realise there was one! Actually jumping around on the first level and figuring out what was happening was part of the fun/mystery that lulled me in.
LandoSystems
24. Apr 2018 · 05:45 UTC
What an interesting concept. This is one of those games that reaches into the brain and tweaks it in a weird and cool way. Nice work!
🎤 TimeLoad
24. Apr 2018 · 07:18 UTC
@Secretmapper haha as long as you had fun ^_^

@LandoSystems yeah, that was the aim. To force you to look at something very common and simple from a different perspective
SamuelSousa
24. Apr 2018 · 08:30 UTC
So confusing :) Interesting little game. Confusing at first but then you get it ... I think level 5 was the hardest :)
🎤 TimeLoad
24. Apr 2018 · 09:00 UTC
@SamuelSousa Really? Level 5? I thought that would be one of the easiest levels
nidup
24. Apr 2018 · 10:58 UTC
Interesting concept, felt confused at the beginning then spent a good moment, good job :thumbsup:
microwerx
24. Apr 2018 · 17:22 UTC
Nice game. It was weird to think about going left to right, but that representing height. Sometimes it's nice to have a nice brain twister! I enjoyed that a lot.
lonewookie
25. Apr 2018 · 14:00 UTC
Very interesting idea! I did't get very far, on level three i kept seeing one of the "platforms" flashing, but couldn't really figure it out. I think you have something cool here though!
Lerg
26. Apr 2018 · 22:11 UTC
That's breaking my brain. Can't say it's very addictive, but impressive for sure.
bentglasstube
28. Apr 2018 · 02:12 UTC
This was a really interesting concept, but I think sticking to 1d and using plain colors to show information took away from it a little bit. It would have been much easier to see what was going on with some simple graphics at least. Once I did get the hang of the game, it was a lot of fun to try to figure out the levels with the limited view of them.
Hizrok
29. Apr 2018 · 13:16 UTC
Interesting game. I have to say that this is my second 1D game I played this LD but this one is the better. I got to level 5 couldn't beat it. Sound effects are great. Great job!
loonydrope
29. Apr 2018 · 13:17 UTC
I love the concept, and that's why I enjoy so much seeing Ludum Dare entries.
The idea is great and it is exploited over simple graphics and gameplay.
This is very clever and I had fun trying to understand the levels. (though I didn't make it to the end...)

Very creative!
acoto87
11. May 2018 · 04:50 UTC
This is great idea, having to mentally visualize the levels based on what you see from the 1D perspective is a nice mechanic. Good job!
Ajayajayaj
26. May 2018 · 17:57 UTC
Wow, this is so cool!