LudumData

Fractulinear by gungnir

[raw]
made by gungnir for Ludum Dare 47 (JAM)

Our interactions with the physical world are guided by our perceptions. The many dimensions of our physical realm collapse when we experience them. Filtered down to what our brains can comprehend. There is tension there, sometimes failure, sometimes beauty.

Sometimes, things that appear broken are actually whole. And often, that's just a matter of perspective.

Can you cross dimensions and close the loop?

299.png

How to play:

Keyboard:

WASD (or equivalent positions) to Move. IJKL (or equivalent positions) or Arrow Keys to Rotate.

Gamepad:

D-Pad to Move. Face Buttons (YBAX or equivalent) to Rotate.

Goal:

Guide the player circle to the square goal to complete the puzzle.

Known issues:

Web player sometimes doesn't render lines. Using Fullscreen fixes the issue.

Game by:

Jerry Verhoeven https://twitter.com/JerryVerhoeven

Music and Audio by:

Marc Straight https://twitter.com/MarcStraight

Screenshots:

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2226.png

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5548.png

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Thanks for playing.

Youtube http://jerryverhoeven.com/LD47/Fractulinear_1.0_win_x64_x32.zip
Youtube http://jerryverhoeven.com/LD47/web/index.html
Youtube http://jerryverhoeven.com/LD47/web3/index.html
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/fractulinear

Ratings

Overall 369th 3.816⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Fun 459th 3.625⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 122th 4.01⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1385th 2.917⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 276th 4.153⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Audio 166th 3.948⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Given 28🗳️ 13🗨️

Feedback

Wyatt
06. Oct 2020 · 08:37 UTC
The graphics are really neat - reminds me of Deus Ex
Alasdair Hitchen
06. Oct 2020 · 11:11 UTC
I like the art style but found the concept pretty confusing at first.
Frederik Boye
06. Oct 2020 · 11:13 UTC
This looks very polished, the aesthetics are strong, and the game is a solid take on a classic perspective puzzler. Great job! The lines did not always appear for me, but only showed sporadically while rotating the level, which made it vastly more difficult but also felt unintended - i assume it is a bug :smiley: Nice chill soundtrack as well, well done!
TheKrane
06. Oct 2020 · 11:14 UTC
Unfortunately I got stuck on the second level. No matter what I do I can't go up. Any pointers? Would love to play some more of this.
satacat
06. Oct 2020 · 11:17 UTC
I was really fascinate by mechanics! Also graphics and background music are really pleasant
🎤 gungnir
06. Oct 2020 · 11:17 UTC
TheKrane - Are move and rotate both working? A screenshot might help or a more detailed description?
AppoxGames
06. Oct 2020 · 11:17 UTC
Really liked the concept! But would have been nice to have clear pathways because the lines sometimes showed and didn't always "work". Not sure when it was possible to move and when it was not. Good work!
edomiyamoto
06. Oct 2020 · 11:18 UTC
Wow very good ! Graphics and effects add a lot to the immersion, soundtrack is nice, and mostly the puzzle part is really well done !
fachscahfttf
06. Oct 2020 · 11:18 UTC
(played the webgl version)
pretty cool design and visually appealing, music feels a bit creepy tho.
i kinda fail to find the jams theme "stuck in a loop".
sadly starting with the 2nd level, the connecting lines were invisible (some of them were sometimes visible while rotating; which is reducing the puzzle to somewhat of a trial and error)
Sol Roo
06. Oct 2020 · 11:18 UTC
Very nice submission!
the visual polish is great, and the puzzles are interesting. I honestly brute force my way through it, except for the last level that required me to think.
A small issue: the lines are not visible in window mode, you should consider having a thicker trace, or at least recommending full screen.
Good job!
MikDionio
06. Oct 2020 · 11:18 UTC
Art, visuals, audio and the aesthetics in general were great! The mechanics were interesting but could have been implemented better. You could have some added visuals to help visualize the puzzle shape a bit more. There were also times where I could move to another point that wasn't connected in the current view, making the game feel kind of random.
🎤 gungnir
06. Oct 2020 · 11:19 UTC
@frederik-boye Can you tell me the resolution of your monitor and if you played fullscreen or not?
TheKingBarry
06. Oct 2020 · 11:19 UTC
I loved the atmoshpere, the music really brings you into the game. I had some troubles understanding the concept at first (you can move from one point to another if and only if there exist, in one orientation possible, a visible link between them, am I right ?), but the simplicity of playing, the absence of stress and the quality of visual/audio ambiance made me want to find out. And I did, and and had a lot fun aftewards ! Thanks for the experience !
CookieNoir
06. Oct 2020 · 11:19 UTC
Awesome! Good sounds and graphics, fine idea implementation. WEB version doesn't draw lines since the 2nd level. But in Windows version everything is ok.
HolyPerceval
06. Oct 2020 · 11:20 UTC
Fun game, The line sometime seem to render only when rotating, is that on purpose or a glitch ? Some level are really hard (in a good way) ! Congrats !
ClassyBoganStudios
06. Oct 2020 · 11:20 UTC
I got a bit stuck too, but conceptually and aesthetically this is really promising. Loved the soundtrack, perfect slow and eternally building tension for a puzzler like this one. Very nice! [@hapticfabric for Classy Bogan Studios]
beardywombat
06. Oct 2020 · 11:21 UTC
This is really slick. I liked the mechanic but at sometimes it was not obvious that a move was allowed.
03gle
06. Oct 2020 · 11:21 UTC
Nice use of perspective for a puzzle. Not entirely sure how movement constraints differs between lines and dots, but managed to wiggle my way through it :D
Raiponz
06. Oct 2020 · 11:23 UTC
the concept is nice but it's not very clear, I can't see where I can move. the wire are not always dysplayed
unpronounceable
06. Oct 2020 · 11:24 UTC
Nice game. Ran into one issue where the lines you could move along weren't being drawn. It started on the second level and switching to full screen mode fixed it.
alpacalypse
06. Oct 2020 · 11:25 UTC
Great style and execution for a puzzler, though slightly tenuous connection to the theme...
Aquanim
06. Oct 2020 · 11:28 UTC
I feel like I might have been a bit confused about the premise of the game if I had not seen another game with the same general principle in the past, but the puzzle design is pretty good and the graphics and audio are top notch.

I tried both the web and downloaded versions and all the lines draw properly on the downloaded version, but with the web version I saw the same lines-failing-to-draw issues that others experienced.
Seskon
06. Oct 2020 · 11:31 UTC
Cool game, would be cool if the lines form a picture or something

sometimes the circle cant be moved directly, just after a few trys, even tho there is a connection
zanzavar
06. Oct 2020 · 11:36 UTC
Beautiful entry! Lines sometimes do not appear in normal HTML5 resolution but they showed fine in fullscreen. Loved the music and the aesthetics, would like to see how the mechanics could evolve in later levels. Can easily imagine it as a mobile/tablet game.
peeweek
06. Oct 2020 · 11:37 UTC
Wow wow! Excellent work and really polished execution! One of this jam's personal favorite! Blew my mind :)
Loig
06. Oct 2020 · 12:27 UTC
The graphics are really beautiful, giving a very nice atmosphere to the game.

However, the game in itself is a bit confusing (maybe a bug?) as sometimes one can move between two dots not linked with a line and sometimes one cannot. This made it, for me, mainly based on trial and error, which I assume
was not the intent.
🎤 gungnir
06. Oct 2020 · 12:34 UTC
@loig that sounds like a bug :( Were you playing in fullscreen on the webplayer?
Loig
06. Oct 2020 · 12:57 UTC
@gungnir I was not playing in fullscreen. Also, I think that, most likely the bug is that some links are not displayed (the levels I saw had very few links, I could maybe see 2 or so when trying all the possible level rotations, and they were sometimes blinking).

EDIT: I just tried in full screen, much more links are displayed, but a few are still missing.
🎤 gungnir
06. Oct 2020 · 13:09 UTC
@loig Damn, ok. I will investigate. Thanks for getting back to me on this.
Frederik Boye
06. Oct 2020 · 13:10 UTC
@gungnir Ah I was playing it in browser just in the window, taking it fullscreen fixed the issue. FUllscreen is 2560x1440 and there its fine, but in browser where the game window is 720p it does the bug I described.
🎤 gungnir
06. Oct 2020 · 13:41 UTC
@frederik-boye Thanks, that seems to be the common issue and I've now been able to reproduce it and am trying to fix it. First time making a WebGL build so it's a learning curve.
a_la_daria
06. Oct 2020 · 21:10 UTC
Wow, very stylish and beautiful! Obviously, it develops spatial thinking very good :)
Dodidouda
07. Oct 2020 · 10:10 UTC
Beautiful game with a simple but great concept. Love it!!
Food Lovers
07. Oct 2020 · 14:01 UTC
Great visual part, and dimesional-control-based core is cool, but while playing I haven't understand how topic of the jam connected to game… hope I'm just one, who didn't seen the connection.
🎤 gungnir
07. Oct 2020 · 15:08 UTC
@food-lovers I have to admit the connection is light at best. I figured connecting a start point to and end point creates a loop. And you're stuck in it until you figure out the puzzle :)
Doot
08. Oct 2020 · 19:20 UTC
Wow nice one!

Stunning graphics, ambiance music and sounds.
I love the chore mechanic, already seen in other games but brought here to its simplest form and perfectly well executed.
Also, worked well in full screen on a 21:9 screen.

Great job this is beautiful.
l30nard0_b
09. Oct 2020 · 12:58 UTC
Vey nice game, really liked the idea and the minimalistc grafics!!
shadowhaxz0r
09. Oct 2020 · 13:05 UTC
Nice game! Very nice visual style and audio and good design on the puzzles also, could add some more different nodes to spice up the gameplay even more. Well done overall!
jk5000
09. Oct 2020 · 13:10 UTC
The game look and sound amazing. I overall liked the idea. But I don't understand why I sometime can walk where there is no line. Overall a good jam game. Well done.
mar3k
09. Oct 2020 · 13:15 UTC
Very nice concept, unfortunately quite short and can be beaten in few minutes, nonetheless I really enjoyed playing it and I think it's a great exercise for visualizing 3d space in your head! Well done.
Somogy
09. Oct 2020 · 13:38 UTC
Great minimalistc grafics!!
Vivoubos
09. Oct 2020 · 14:48 UTC
That an excellent puzzle game!
I love the audio.

You made a good entry!
KyonTyan
09. Oct 2020 · 15:08 UTC
I like the sounds and music, also interesting color choice and ineteresting idea of puzzles. Made to the end, wish there could be more stages) All in all - great game, thank you!
Thought Reactor
09. Oct 2020 · 15:28 UTC
This was a really cool mechanic. Love the minimalism - it works perfectly here with aiding in the gameplay. Great entry!
Animaster
09. Oct 2020 · 16:04 UTC
Great graphics, and cool mechanics. Really great job!
nsadie
10. Oct 2020 · 20:18 UTC
Excellent overall entry! The presentation was especially slick, and I enjoyed the puzzles, but found them a little bit easy.

I would be great to record the number of moves and compare them against the optimal amount, otherwise it is relatively easy to solve by just playing around.
🎤 gungnir
10. Oct 2020 · 20:39 UTC
@nsadie Hi, thanks for the lovely comment. Indeed this is one way I've been thinking about improving the game concept. I'm going to explore some more ways of constructing the puzzles, see if there's something interesting to find there but limiting moves could be a simple way to up the challenge for sure. Thanks.
icxon
10. Oct 2020 · 21:31 UTC
Completed in 1 minute on my first try! :smile: More levels would be nice to see and some moving platforms maybe?
Sometimes you need to tap twice to start moving. Great visuals and audio.

Here is my playthough:

https://youtu.be/BWh2FBuUhaM
🎤 gungnir
11. Oct 2020 · 09:39 UTC
@icxon Wow, haha. Nicely done! It's very helpful to see someone else actually playing. The input issue is an unfortunate bug in a Unity package I chose to use :(