The Journey with Her by cirno

[raw]
made by cirno for Ludum Dare 45 (COMPO)

This is my first time participating in Ludum Dare. The game tells a story about a journey in 12 puzzle levels.

journey.png

Ratings

Overall 80th 3.837⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Fun 74th 3.767⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 143th 3.581⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Theme 404th 2.893⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 164th 3.58⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Audio 189th 3.256⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Humor 223th 2.614⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Mood 52th 3.833⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Given 35🗳️ 48🗨️

Feedback

FoxFX
06. Oct 2019 · 21:29 UTC
Fantastic puzzle (although I kinda gave up after the 4th round or so). Kudos!
bobotast
06. Oct 2019 · 21:46 UTC
Nice puzzle game! I couldn't figure out the first puzzle that the two characters are working together.
🎤 cirno
07. Oct 2019 · 00:40 UTC
@foxfx @bobotast you can use the blue character (sorry I even cannot make sure the name. They are named 'Start' and 'Nothing' from the beginning :P) as a wall, blocking the red character and move it to wherever you want. Then the red character is able to push away the boxes and open the way to portal.
Bip
07. Oct 2019 · 00:56 UTC
Fun puzzle game!
Igoreshka
07. Oct 2019 · 01:45 UTC
Can't complete 5'th lvl...
🎤 cirno
07. Oct 2019 · 02:39 UTC
@igoreshka here are two hintings: first, you need to move left so the middle way can be clear; then you need to move the blue character to block the left box so that the box can be pushed away later.
MaggardJosh
07. Oct 2019 · 05:54 UTC
Nice Sokoban style game! I enjoyed how the mechanics and the story were tied together. The audio was a little repetitive after a while, but overall I had fun!
Corrade
07. Oct 2019 · 06:33 UTC
I didn't complete the game but was impressed by the puzzle design. The level where blue could be used to block for red (it may be lvl5 as you mentioned above) was particularly nice.

Looking at previous comments and my smooth brain, I think the game could've benefited from a hint system or some dampener on the difficulty. The dialogue seemed to reflect on what the player had just achieved, maybe it could instead foreshadow the solution to come? Otherwise the game was neat and felt polished.
omnikrll
07. Oct 2019 · 08:04 UTC
this is good
toasteater
07. Oct 2019 · 13:15 UTC
The way narrative is embedded in levels is very impressive and really contributes to the mood!

Some of the puzzles midway are difficult but quite rewarding when finally solved. Later levels get a bit grindy, though, with many blocks to move around and not much real difficulty. Still, it's a really fun game. Nice entry!
JustusPan
07. Oct 2019 · 15:12 UTC
Simple and relax music working together with pico-8 style make this game comfortable to play with, while the puzzle is a little bit hard for me. Is there any reset-level button?
The narrative part match the background music greatly.
Good job.
🎤 cirno
07. Oct 2019 · 15:51 UTC
@justuspan I added an option in pico-8 menu (pressing Enter) RESET PUZZLE, which resets the current level. Do not select RESET CART. This is a pico-8 built-in option and will reset the whole game. Thank you for your comment!
FireSlash
09. Oct 2019 · 06:20 UTC
What an interesting take on sokoban.

I'll freely admit I'm terrible at this genre, but found it quite fun regardless. The undo button is VERY appreciated here.

Graphics are nice, and the overarching narrative plays well into developing the mood.
WhatNameGames
09. Oct 2019 · 13:29 UTC
This is cool and shows some real love for older games, nice one.
HumphreysMedia
09. Oct 2019 · 15:46 UTC
Very good puzzle game, could quite easily sit here and play it for hours, it really rattles my brain, great job! Love the 8-bit art style and music and am super glad there is an undo button!
olga_shershneva
09. Oct 2019 · 15:48 UTC
Good game! Nice work!
SharkWithLasers
09. Oct 2019 · 15:51 UTC
got through it! really like how you blended story/characterization with puzzle design! and the puzzles themselves really made me think!

great work!
lesinvisible
09. Oct 2019 · 20:27 UTC
Liked puzzle-like gameplay and old computer-type graphics. And it also contains some story, very nice!
kuviman
10. Oct 2019 · 10:48 UTC
Great puzzle, the story is cool also
appix
10. Oct 2019 · 12:00 UTC
I like this idea and your story!Well done!
Emily Ghostbreze
10. Oct 2019 · 15:29 UTC
very nice, puzzles are hard but who doesnt love the challenge!
Xakkar
10. Oct 2019 · 15:57 UTC
Nice puzzle and story!
Nathaniel Jensen
10. Oct 2019 · 16:09 UTC
Oh my goodness! That was such a great game! The puzzles were just right, and the story that went along with it worked perfectly! Great job!
Compasslg
11. Oct 2019 · 04:11 UTC
really fun puzzle, but it's just a little too hard for me:( My struggle started as soon as the red fellow is introduced...
and this level feels like a mission impossible to me :cry:
![Capture.PNG](///raw/868/71/z/295e0.png)

Really good job tho
🎤 cirno
11. Oct 2019 · 04:45 UTC
@compasslg The first step of this level is to move the blue girl to upper right. To reach the point you need to push away the box left to the blue girl downwards to open the path. All the boxes on the same horizontal line should be pushed aside instead of to the right, otherwise the path would be blocked.
bethanyyy
11. Oct 2019 · 04:58 UTC
A pico-8 game! I love it! The puzzles are a bit hard but still really well designed! And I like how the story is tied to the gameplay, just makes everything more engaging, great job. XD
Hajden
11. Oct 2019 · 21:40 UTC
This is very nice, an endearing narrative theme wrapped in fitting puzzles with some really well done level design. Great job!
samh
12. Oct 2019 · 22:47 UTC
Wow, I managed to play to the end, but some of the puzzles were very hard! Congratulations for achieving such good level design! Is the red character a girl, too? Throughout the story it felt like blue was the narrator and talking about red. But maybe I misunderstood.

So, the gameplay is solid and the puzzles very well designed. The music is OK but maybe a bit repetitive… Overall the game feels very polished, it’s great that you even managed to write seemingly infinite undo (a really must-have for that kind of game… but some people don’t really bother and just implement a reset mechanism). The addition of the little story creates quite a unique mood (and… allows to introduce the theme :wink: ).

A small and maybe controversial suggestion: add a skip button to skip a puzzle and let people read the story to the end.
🎤 cirno
13. Oct 2019 · 01:11 UTC
@samh Thank you for the comments and advice! The red character is also a girl, or a woman. The interesting thing is that I named the two characters "Start" and "Nothing" at the very beginning and they are friends of the same age. But later I changed my mind and the red character become more senior.
I would take your suggestion into consideration and make some helpful options when in my next puzzle game. Thanks again and I'm happy you enjoy this game!
Ruud Cremers
13. Oct 2019 · 11:28 UTC
Challenging puzzler. It got a lot easier once I actually read the text and learned you could switch between the two chars at command.
yyam
13. Oct 2019 · 22:23 UTC
This is a really good game. I liked how you had to get the pink person to the finish while also clearing a path for the blue person. It took a while for me to realise that I could just switch between them as much as I wanted though! Some levels were quite hard because of this :p
Solah
14. Oct 2019 · 11:55 UTC
Very good games with good puzzle design. Well done!
microwerx
16. Oct 2019 · 02:00 UTC
Great design. I really like the mood of this game. Excellent. I liked the interplay of different abilities.
winslow
16. Oct 2019 · 02:28 UTC
Amazing puzzle game. Loved the mechanics and abilities of each character. The graphics and showing which character was active was great. Overall I really enjoyed this game and brought back memories of playing portal 2 co-op. I'd encourage you to continue this game it could be a great game. The only down mark I have is the audio/music. I applaud you for what you created during the short duration but I grew tired of the repetitiveness of it and I muted my sound around the 4th or 5th level. Additional work on the audio would help pull the game together. I really hope to see this to a full game. The story was great too. Text a little hard to read but otherwise amazing job!
🎤 cirno
16. Oct 2019 · 06:30 UTC
@winslow Thank you for the comments and advice! I have no professional skills in composing or arranging, just found the sound editor in pico 8 very interesting so I had a try. Sorry to bring the uncomfortable feelings to you.
I have a puzzle game with two friends before, named "Yet Another Hero Legend". It is accessible on Steam. This game is more polished. If you love this type of game you can have a try. For future plan, I am thinking about the plan of an open-world puzzle and strategy game. The plan is too big for me at present so I would keep making preparation at present. Thanks again for your support!
silkworm_sweatshop
16. Oct 2019 · 20:32 UTC
Neat little puzzle game! The added story is a nice touch. Didn't quite have the patience to finish it after being stuck on a level for a while but had a fun time while it lasted.
Dis0rder
20. Oct 2019 · 17:34 UTC
Nice entry!

Some of the puzzles were really challenging, and I had a fun time trying to solve them. I managed to beat the whole game.

I found the music repetitive and annoying, but it was hardly a nuisance since I muted it almost immediately so I could listen to my own music while playing :D

---

The story segments in-between each level really make the whole experience more interesting. I like how the text-prompts draw parallers to the level-design and character-skills. The style reminded me of a game that left an impression on me many years ago.

In fact the narrative juxtaposition somehow resembles your work so strongly, I kept thinking were you perhaps influenced by it? But of course it might be just me.

Regardless, I think you might want to [check it out.](https://www.kongregate.com/games/2darray/the-company-of-myself)

Keep making games!
🎤 cirno
21. Oct 2019 · 00:53 UTC
@dis0rder Thank you for the long reply! From what I have remembered, a series of flash platformers combined the level design and emotional narrative text about life (or love?) some years ago. I am happy you like this style!
I was also a flash developer at the very beginning. Can't wait to try your game once I have time!