s-mol by unless games

A small and humble audio-puzzle game in E minor.
built using coffeescript, timbre.js and jQuery -> src
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/s-mol |
Ratings
| Overall | 372th | 3.083⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 448th | 2.625⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 109th | 3.625⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 502th | 2.435⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 400th | 2.826⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 15th | 4.167⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 461th | 1.467⭐ | 17🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 105th | 3.625⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 11🗳️ | 2🗨️ |
Thanks for trying and commenting!
I never managed to figure out the 4th puzzle, so I just clicked the ? and skipped to 5. I think the game would have been just fine without the puzzle elements, but I also didn't really mind the puzzles until I got stuck. It might be nice if you start with all 5 levels unlocked, and completing the puzzle in each level unlocks a new musical element to use?
The aesthetic fit well with the music and the gameplay, although it felt a bit spartan. I would have liked to see some more visual effects. Make the squares jiggle, fade, bounce, emit particles, etc.
Doesn't seem like you really used the theme, but the game was enjoyable without it so I didn't mind.
How I think it works:
!> The goal seems to be to silence (or perhaps equalize) each puzzle. Each level had different mechanics that modified interactive elements (ex. the lights-out-esque level where clicking a colored block seemed to revolve the other blocks) or modified the audio tones (ex. the 4-square level where the yellow block is used to adjust the tone of each other block)
I kind of liked the lack of direction - it encouraged exploring the small game environment, and rewarded trying to tease out the patterns yourself. However, the relationships I noticed were a bit 'distant' from each other - I had to really look at some of them to determine if the effect I was noticing was actually related to the cause I thought.
I kind of got a Witness vibe from the obtuseness of some of the mechanics. I'm not sure that is a good thing - sometimes it means the player will just brute force a solution instead of understanding the mechanic you're introducing. If you revisit this game, consider holding onto a mechanic for longer than a level and tutorializing it a bit. That may make it more approachable.
Great music, puzzles were hard to decipher and may turn off gamers who don't really like puzzles. Overall a fun little experience. Would goof around with music again.