LudumData

Button Simulator 2000 by wilsk

[raw]
made by wilsk for LD34 (COMPO)
You've been unemployed for a while, and by the time you applied for the job online you would have taken just about anything. The advert said "Wanted - Grower to maintain crops and ensure high yield. Must have experience using HappyTime GrowMaster 2.0 HyperTerminal growing machinery."

Of course you had no idea what on earth this was, and now as you stand in front of the graffiti covered door in the seedy back alley ready for your first day, you don't feel as if this is the time to come clean about your ignorance. Nothing for it but to push on and hope for the best!

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Button Simulator is a game about switches and dials. Flick the switches and turn the dials as if your very life depended on it (it may well do!) and grow the crop before harvest.

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Technologies: React / Redux / Webpack

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EDIT: Found the little boxes which let me make the embedded window large enough.

The LD preview window above is a little too small for the game. For the best experience, play in full screen or play outside an iFrame at https://buttonsimulator.surge.sh. Tested in current versions of Chrome, IE Edge, and Firefox on Windows. Doesn't work in older versions of IE due to some missing ES6 functions (what a surprise). Audio seems a bit temperamental in Firefox.
Web https://buttonsimulator.surge.sh
Source https://github.com/will-hart/ludum_react_boilerplate/tree/ld34
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-34/?action=preview&uid=50407

Ratings

Coolness 76% 2
Overall 3.30 430
Fun 2.85 689
Graphics 3.06 498
Humor 2.93 235
Innovation 3.81 116
Mood 2.98 467
Theme 3.45 690

Feedback

scars377
13. Dec 2015 路 18:02 UTC
wow I don't know react can be used for game making :D
馃帳 wilsk
13. Dec 2015 路 18:50 UTC
@scars377 yeah I wanted to try it out :)
hpearson2
13. Dec 2015 路 22:40 UTC
game doesn't fit in iframe correctly play in full screen to see the terminal screen. (Not your fault)
hpearson2
13. Dec 2015 路 22:42 UTC
Text is under button, it can get confusing if you think description text is above the button.
hpearson2
13. Dec 2015 路 22:44 UTC
Toggles are enabled when in down position. That is inverse of what I thought it would be.
hpearson2
13. Dec 2015 路 22:49 UTC
Just found the help button now I know what to do
argowen
14. Dec 2015 路 01:44 UTC
all made sense in fullscreen well all made sense maybe not but flicky things on and zippy sounds, too bad I let the plants die. Would let plants die again I say would think it would be inevitable that they'd die on me :( and now I feel sad
Doctor_N
14. Dec 2015 路 07:48 UTC
Really cool idea and I loved the graphics but some hints would have been great XD
fishbrain
14. Dec 2015 路 14:28 UTC
nicely done, but as a gamer i was a bit overwhelmed.
RhythmLynx
14. Dec 2015 路 19:12 UTC
Really cool use of the themes and a nice tactile feeling to all the buttons, dials and switches.
gv1351
14. Dec 2015 路 19:23 UTC
Great
Muffinhat
14. Dec 2015 路 19:24 UTC
This is probably one of my favorite entries I've played so far (even though there's CLEARLY more than two buttons). I love the vague premise of preparing for the harvest, and the whole set up for the buttons and panels was elegantly crafted. I love the intentional complexity of all the controls, even though I had no idea I was supposed to scroll to the right until I read the help. Overall great and well polished entry.
Adolf Jong Un
14. Dec 2015 路 19:25 UTC
bib-bub-bib, wait a lost? great game m8 i had lots of fun!
Wevel
14. Dec 2015 路 19:32 UTC
I like that you don't know quite what effect things will have, although this makes it quite difficult
CodeNMore
14. Dec 2015 路 21:27 UTC
This is just awesome. I wish there were more games with this style of controls, nicely done!
MrDave
14. Dec 2015 路 21:32 UTC
The intro was nice to see. Really set a good tone for the game.
However I played many games and still struggled to work out the connections between some of the systems and that is a shame because there is obviously a lot of depth behind them. Still had loads of fun.

I didn鈥檛 think playing with buttons could be so enjoyable.
EwChap
15. Dec 2015 路 05:13 UTC
Great entry. Love the concept and the hook right up front.
Frenchie
15. Dec 2015 路 05:25 UTC
Ugh, I played it like 10 times before I saw the help button! Maybe make it a little bigger or point it out in your instructions on this page? Or are you just evil and letting the new engineer on the block stumble >=)
Frenchie
15. Dec 2015 路 05:25 UTC
Ugh, I played it like 10 times before I saw the help button! Maybe make it a little bigger or point it out in your instructions on this page? Or are you just evil and letting the new engineer on the block stumble >=)

Nice game once I got the instructions though!
馃帳 wilsk
15. Dec 2015 路 07:06 UTC
@Frenchie... just evil! :)
TomenLuca
15. Dec 2015 路 21:00 UTC
Very interesting idea for a game. It's quite appealing. Took a while though before I understood what I was meant to be doing, but I guess that's the idea behind the game.
monetai
15. Dec 2015 路 21:07 UTC
I love this game, but... it's sooooo hard.. I'am loosing again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again.. but i have fun =)
dmecke
15. Dec 2015 路 21:10 UTC
Really cool to have absolutely no idea what to do (only the major goal) and to have to find out by yourself. I would have liked to be more clear what the active and not active states are though. And in the status bars I was not sure if it must go up or down or stay in the middle. Otherwise a very clever game, well done!
Headmade
15. Dec 2015 路 21:18 UTC
Very confusing game. It was still fun trying to figure out what does what but at the end I wasn't able to fully grow anything. After a time the systems stopped working and I don't understand why :(

I still like the game, I just didn't get it. A short tutorial would be nice.
BobM
15. Dec 2015 路 22:14 UTC
The game is very cool but i get lost too easely xD
馃帳 wilsk
15. Dec 2015 路 22:17 UTC
Thanks for the comments everybody - if you look down the bottom right of the screen there is a help button which gives you a few hints...
sleepYxy
16. Dec 2015 路 06:25 UTC
And I thought I was killing it! Man, great game. I was a bit overwhelmed but nice concept with a catching intro.
canon
19. Dec 2015 路 06:40 UTC
I enjoy these kind of simulation games where you have to figure out what to do and toggle a bunch of levers to get it to work. There's a lot I still don't really know, but at least the game over messages help. Nice work!
kmakai
19. Dec 2015 路 15:00 UTC
Very interesting concept, and I like the design of the interface a lot. If I had one suggestion, it would be to try to associate the buttons and labels a little closer somehow. I definitely understand trying to obfuscate the function of the device, as that's part of the fun, though. A little bit more feedback on what's happening each time you make a change could help. Overall very innovative, nice job!
LoneStranger
27. Dec 2015 路 19:23 UTC
Interesting concept. I could have used more obvious and immediate feedback from my choices. I couldn't quite tell which combinations to use and when. If you were to turn this into a full game, I would give people healthy crops first so they can learn how to keep them healthy, and then start throwing in obstacles that force them to figure out how to recover. Good job.
randomhuman
02. Jan 2016 路 14:13 UTC
Definitely needs some instructions front and centre. Once I finally figured out why the various systems were shutting down on me I found this quite compelling, and I love the realistic industrial control interface. Still can't get the crops to harvest though!