Just Bill by gamedevbynight

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

​"Just Bill" is my entry for Ludum Dare.

I got my problems with the theme and I think there are already a lot of puzzle platformer but the game is my best Ludum Dare entry ever. So I think i learned so much.

"Just Bill" is a puzzle platformer. Bill wants to exit a dungeon. Do do this he has to solve 14 puzzles with his companions. Companions are small little things with a heart on them (hello there companion cube).

You must set your companions up first before you can walk around with Bill.

The game was made with my own wrapper framework. I call it jug. It uses Kha for coding, nape physics for physic stuff, haxeUI for UI stuff, z-particles for particle stuff and Tiled for the levels. There is also an implementation for Spriter (but I didn't need that for this game.)

The music was made with LMMS. The sounds were made with sfxr. All graphics are drawn using Aseprite and gimp or are directly rendered in kha.

The levels were made with Tiled.

Controls:

A/D || LEFT/RIGHT - for movement

SPACE || W || UP - for jumping

S || DOWN for a fast start of the level

Drag and Drop with mouse - for moving the companions.

Have Fun with the Game.

Maybe I will add some levels after LD has ended.

Ratings

Overall 218th 3.586⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Fun 96th 3.793⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 357th 3.345⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Theme 569th 3.052⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Given 19🗳️ 18🗨️

Feedback

NicMagnier
23. Apr 2018 · 18:17 UTC
A pretty cool submission.
I really liked the level design and physics based puzzles.
the physic and platforming is a bit finicky but the level design really made the game good.
I finished it and really enjoyed it.
Well done.
🎤 gamedevbynight
23. Apr 2018 · 18:22 UTC
@NicMagnier thanks for playing my game and thank you for your feedback!
meles
23. Apr 2018 · 18:28 UTC
I really enjoyed this! but then I like puzzle games!
I am 100% certain though that I didn't complete the later levels the way they were intended it was pretty easy to just build a ladder to the portal with the companions, but what the hey, I had fun! Nice job.
There appears to be a lot of room for expansion too, there were mechanics I discovered that didn't seem implemented at all, like bill being seemingly able to stick to and potentially climb the walls, and his ability to push the companions (though I suspect some of the later levels probably were intended to be done this way)
All the same, Nice job!
tayl1r
23. Apr 2018 · 18:54 UTC
Pretty neat. I got stuck on the first level with the portal high in the air but it was fun.
🎤 gamedevbynight
23. Apr 2018 · 18:54 UTC
@meles thanks for the feedback. After releasing the game i found new methods to finish the rooms. But that's okay. The player should get creative. I had mich more ideas to play with the physics, but I ran out of time and had to polish things up.
Valden
23. Apr 2018 · 20:34 UTC
Interesting game. While Platformer and puzzle arnen't the most incompatible genres, the addition of physics was a nice touch. Nice work !
Magnega
25. Apr 2018 · 19:34 UTC
This was really fun! I loved the momentum seesaw puzzles. Good job!
Chris Coe
25. Apr 2018 · 19:44 UTC
Decent little game. Went all the way through to the end. Wasn't sure what the intended solution was for a couple of them so I ended up just brute forcing my way through by constructing little platforms to bypass some stuff. Oh well!
susa
25. Apr 2018 · 19:49 UTC
Interesting! I really enjoyed the puzzles, great level design work !
McCordinator
26. Apr 2018 · 17:27 UTC
Fun concept. The more realistic physics adds a bunch of crazy interactions! :)
Travis Spuller
28. Apr 2018 · 10:11 UTC
Reall creative puzzles. The controls worked very well and the levels didn't bug out ever. It was a bit strange with the physics interaction if you are dragging a companion. I didn't really like the sound effects, and I think they could be improved upon. Even add more when unlocking and locking parts of the level, just to create a more immersive experience.

Great entry! See you in the next Jam!
Pietro Ferrantelli
28. Apr 2018 · 22:27 UTC
Well executed concept with nice puzzles and level design. Keep up the good work :)
🎤 gamedevbynight
29. Apr 2018 · 07:15 UTC
@Travis Spuller thx for the feedback. Sound design is something I still have to learn.
Gordun
29. Apr 2018 · 17:17 UTC
Great level design, I have spent more time on this game than others but i dont really know how the 2 genres are mixed.
gonutz
29. Apr 2018 · 18:11 UTC
So this is Portal vs. physics puzzler? :-)

This is a REALLY cool game! Very interesting, entertaining and challenging puzzles.

Graphics and sound are OK, they convey enough information to know what to do and solve the puzzles, so even though you clearly focussed on level design and physics, the graphics are nice little programmer art.

I know what you try to do in that level where you have to kill all your companion (TM) crates but it does not really work like in Portal :-)
You are not immersed enough in this and although you took the heart icon and put it on your boxes, we get the reference but not the feeling ;-)

I think I might have cheated my way through the final level and may have been able to cheat other levels as well. In the last level I just put one box under me and lifted myself up to the goal. Was that intended? Are these other crates just there to confuse you? That would be a really fun idea :-)

Great game, keep up the good work, I am now following you so I can check out what your next games will be :-)
TheMonsterFromTheDeep
29. Apr 2018 · 18:22 UTC
One of the better puzzle games I've played this compo. A lot of the puzzles were really neat, although I simply built a ladder on the very last one.

I like the music, although the jump sound effect is a little out of place.

On the title screen, the character is scaled bilinearly (or something), which looks a little strange.

Sometimes the game would lag spike for a second, which was a little strange, but didn't affect the overall gameplay.
fox-in-sox
29. Apr 2018 · 18:37 UTC
Oooh, it's a physics game mixed with a platformer, I love that combo! Maybe you should create a prototype where you don't have to switch to the platforming part, but can do the platforming all the time when messing with the blocks. I am sure you could create lots of puzzles that way.
loonydrope
29. Apr 2018 · 18:48 UTC
Wow!
You made a great game!
I love the puzzle mixed with physics and platform game.

The level design is clever and I think you worked well on it, it is enjoyable to be able to play many levels from a compo game.

This is a good job, I understand you are proud of it as your best LD entry!
Mastersmith98
29. Apr 2018 · 19:39 UTC
A great entry that's a lot of fun to play. With a little more polish I could see this being fully released game. The order of levels seems counter to the actual complexity of the mechanics you introduce, at times, but overall I thought you introduced mechanics in a steady enough stream to keep things interesting.

Great design. Looking forward to your next jam entry :D
Tommislav
29. Apr 2018 · 19:52 UTC
Hahaha! Brilliant game! Usually not a big fan of puzzle games, but this one really got me =D
LeReveur
01. May 2018 · 03:23 UTC
I like puzzles, and this mix with a plateformer is not really common (I mean : multiple ways are used to mix those genres, but I din't see this one a lot). It was fun to discover the rules that are not in the tutorial, and how to use them wisely. Good job !
🎤 gamedevbynight
03. May 2018 · 17:58 UTC
@gonutz thanks for your feedback. The last level wasn't intended to get solved this way. But a friend of mine used the same strategie. Picking up the player could be a new way to solve puzzle I will implement this! :)

@TheMonsterFromTheDeep Thank you for the feedback. The title screen was created in the last hour and I was running out of time. So yeah it's just upscaled with gimp! Shame on me :)

@fox-in-sox That's a great idea. I don't know why I didn't had the idea during the jam. I will make such a prototype! :)

@loonydrope Thank you. It makes me happy to read your comment! :)

@Mastersmith98 Thank you. I tried to introduce new things in a steady form and show the player without a tutorial, what he has to do. I had more ideas, but the time was running away. So I polished the game the most i could and did't implement new things. I hope I can join the next jam! :)

@Tommislav Thanks for your comment. This comment makes me proud.