Loop Something Something by mbrezu
TLDR; Press SPACE!
Press SPACE to place tiles. Try to build tetrominoes built of the same kind of tile. The type and position of the next tile you can place is highlighted behind the player.
The game starts with only one type of tile and adds more as you complete tetrominoes or larger structures that include tetrominoes. You get the size of the structure squared as points, so 16 points for a tetromino, 25 points for a 5-same-tile structure that includes a tetromino, 36 for a 6-same-tile structure and so on.
You need to place every tile within 10 seconds or it's game over. The time left for the current tile is shown in the lower right corner.
The sequence of future tiles is shown in the lower left corner.
Some tiles are locked and don't work as part of tetrominoes.
Powerups sometimes appear. Bombs unlock locked tiles, x2 powerups multiply the score for each tetromino blown up afterwards and watches reset the player speed to the initial speed.
https://youtu.be/Rr14Ezk7J2Q
| Youtube | https://hmmmxhmmm.itch.io/ld47-loop-something-something |
| Youtube | https://github.com/mbrezu/LD47 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/loop-something-something |
Ratings
| Overall | 360th | 3.824⭐ | 36🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 316th | 3.765⭐ | 36🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 77th | 4.132⭐ | 36🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 229th | 4.118⭐ | 36🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 625th | 3.765⭐ | 36🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 753th | 3.197⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 1191th | 1.982⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 1291th | 2.879⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 37🗳️ | 41🗨️ |
- I like the concept a _lot_, and it made sense immediately.
- Please take my criticisms to be evidence that I liked the game and wanted to provide feedback, because I do really, _really_ like the idea!
- Technically speaking, the movement around the blocks is very well done and I imagine was not very easy to build.
# Cons:
Once I started playing, I thought maybe I didn't understand the concept. Turns out I was right, but I realized my confusion was because of a few things:
- The blocks being placed _behind_ the crosshair confused me. Because the crosshair moves but the ghost doesn't, the crosshair is what my brain naturally focuses on. Once I "shut off" my brain thinking about the crosshair at all, it become much clearer.
- I couldn't figure out if the explosion & screen shake when you clear blocks meant I was doing the "right" or "wrong" thing.
# Minor cons/potential improvements:
- All of the arrows around the blocks are visually very busy.
I imagine that this is because they are implemented as distinct sprites aligned next to each block, rather than one continuous "line" - which makes perfect sense.
In essence, you are communicating 2 things: The path, and the direction.
You could communicate the path with a simple line, or maybe a "glow" effect rotated to line up against each tile.
As for direction, is it necessary to actively communicate it? Since the crosshair always travels counter-clockwise, maybe it's enough to just show the path?
You could also use something like colorizing the path parts in order to communicate direction, assuming they are stored in order, so that way you still avoid the need to draw the path continuously.
- Different tiles are hard to distinguish, visually - maybe increase the contrast?
- Game takes quite a while to lose even when pressing space non-stop
- After you get "stuck", you have to wait until time runs out before you can "lose" (Figuring out when a player is "stuck" might be hard - maybe just creating a "suicide" button would help?)
Overall, a great idea, and great work!
Thanks again!
The red X combined with the next tile being transparent made it difficult to see what the current tile is and place it precisely. I think that should be extremely visible and obvious because it is critical to forming a shape and must be timed appropriately as well. I would also have found it helpful if the special tiles stood out more in the list of upcoming tiles, having them sparkle or pulse or something. It would be helpful to have a "speed up" button too or something.
I think it's really fun as is! With a little tweaking I think your puzzle game could really shine and it would be worth developing further. I'm really happy I got to play this one!
+1 to all the people who were confused by the block who seems to be placed "behind" the crosshair.
The main idea is great. But it lacks all the "side-things" you could expect in this kind of game : achievements, statistics, quests, more bonus, more special tiles, tweaked game modes, ... Without any of these, your game is very interesting, but during a limited time only.
Only really have a few suggestions:
- Show the players acceptable tetrominos on-screen during game.
- Maybe have powerup earned from specific tetrominos? Like, a line one shows up in a separate window in the corner, and if they specifically make that one, it'll double points?