Loop Deleter by Zachary Barbanell

[raw]
made by Zachary Barbanell for Ludum Dare 47 (COMPO)

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A short puzzle game about getting things stuck in loops and then removing them from existence. Works with a keyboard or on mobile.

Ratings

Overall 71th 3.905⭐ 107🧑‍⚖️
Fun 56th 3.92⭐ 108🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 25th 4.187⭐ 109🧑‍⚖️
Theme 39th 4.266⭐ 109🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 395th 3.189⭐ 108🧑‍⚖️
Audio 352th 2.927⭐ 105🧑‍⚖️
Humor 292th 2.569⭐ 89🧑‍⚖️
Mood 390th 2.979⭐ 98🧑‍⚖️
Given 32🗳️ 50🗨️

Feedback

Yeomsley
04. Oct 2020 · 23:13 UTC
A neat little puzzle game. Nice work!

Currently stuck on one of the later levels but I'll figure it out eventually.. :)
merkisoft
04. Oct 2020 · 23:16 UTC
looks like a fun game. i'll try again when the rating is on.
... i was also stuck in one of the levels, but i'm sure it's not the end of the loop :)
johnnysix
04. Oct 2020 · 23:35 UTC
Good stuff, this got challenging very quickly. I kept removing myself from existence. ![ld_47_002.jpg](///raw/028/2/z/36086.jpg)
TheseusInABottle
05. Oct 2020 · 00:09 UTC
Ah puzzle games the bane of my sleep deprived smoothed brain existence. From what I played this is a good game. Your instructions where good and clear. I love that you have a undo button so I didn't have to worry about doing something and needing to restart the entire level it really helps with experimentation. Your sounds are good as well. I wish I where better at puzzle games and could comment on the quality of the puzzles but I am actually trash so I won't even try to act like I understand what would make a good one or not.
TheCakeConsortium
05. Oct 2020 · 00:27 UTC
Nice puzzle game, I was not expecting to see a Puzzlescript game. The rules are simple but effective, the game is fun overall, good work!
dinosire
05. Oct 2020 · 00:41 UTC
Really nice puzzle game making good use of the theme, great work! I appreciate your thoughtfulness in adding tutorial levels at the start, although I would have like the relevant information distilled in less words. Overall, great work!
BoltKey
05. Oct 2020 · 00:51 UTC
I love the theme interpretation, and the puzzle mechanism is just so compact and elegant. Just 2 elements, but so many creative uses and puzzles. I am actually really impressed. I don't give these out often, but this is definitely a 5/5 innovation.

Nice tutorial narrative.

I gave up at level 11. It is just too late for this.
cookie042
05. Oct 2020 · 01:15 UTC
really nice challenge, i'm driven to finish the levels even though i rage quit :P
Quak
05. Oct 2020 · 02:36 UTC
Great graphics! I feel like the puzzles were a little too challenging, but I don't play puzzle games that often so it might just be me.
GameFriend
05. Oct 2020 · 02:49 UTC
The puzzles were really challenging in a good way. The font was a bit hard on the eyes, but I really enjoyed this game.
rhoff95
05. Oct 2020 · 04:06 UTC
Cool game! Would be nice for it to not auto full-screen, the text was so big I had to move away from my monitor to read it. Cool concept, and I'd love to see if expanded upon.
🎤 Zachary Barbanell
05. Oct 2020 · 04:35 UTC
@gamefriend yeah I agree, unfortunately the font is hardcoded into the engine. I tried to be sparing with my use of text, but I felt like this mechanic needed some written explanation.
Michael Parrish
05. Oct 2020 · 04:40 UTC
Fun puzzle game! Really nice level progression slowly introducing the different mechanics and how they interact with each other. Nice job!
magnusfurcifer
05. Oct 2020 · 04:51 UTC
Simple and tight puzzle game, really nice entry.
doomerismo
05. Oct 2020 · 05:16 UTC
One of the most engaging puzzlle games i ever played in a jam. The minimalistic visual work well here.
WTFree
05. Oct 2020 · 06:13 UTC
Simple and beautiful art style.I like when the items or myself bouncing over and over,that makes me laugh a lot.
ConnorThompson
05. Oct 2020 · 06:46 UTC
great little puzzle game! good job
Kevin Du
05. Oct 2020 · 07:22 UTC
Great! but it's too hard for me.Maybe it will be the next Baba is you ?
Somnium
05. Oct 2020 · 10:50 UTC
Hard game, but still feels fair, as the rules for object interactions are solid.

Having a "undo one" function was definitely a nice added quality of life feature, especially in the more chaotic later levels!

As has been mentioned above, the tutorial text was a bit confusing at times, but helped with grasping the core concepts nonetheless.

Nice work!
Recher
05. Oct 2020 · 11:42 UTC
Simple rules, combined to a masterpiece of level design.
The rule "no move when many moves are possible" looks weird, but is well exploited.
And I love PuzzleScript.

Really cool. Thank you.
tjm
05. Oct 2020 · 12:29 UTC
Very interesting mechanic! I've only made it to level 8 so far, but the puzzles feel like they require genuine insights to solve, which is usually the mark of a good puzzle game.

Also it's neat to see UI in a puzzlescript game! That's a clever way of doing it.
Aterlamia
05. Oct 2020 · 14:42 UTC
I really had to think in some of the levels which means it are good puzzles. I missed some background music i think that could set some more mood for this game. But it is well done
Meek Bits
05. Oct 2020 · 14:45 UTC
It's quite innovative and has well thought puzles, which required me to stop and think.
You also made solid implementation of the game rules.
Good job, great entry.
eusekerci
05. Oct 2020 · 16:05 UTC
I love it! Good Sokoban variation. I found an edge case in level 7:
https://prnt.sc/utk8pl
Then In level 8, it asked me to do it again, and I couldn't :)
neonjeff
05. Oct 2020 · 16:17 UTC
Nice simple puzzle game!
Yeti Kid
05. Oct 2020 · 19:30 UTC
Nice puzzle game, some hard levels but when you succeed you feel like a genius!
Joel Fox
06. Oct 2020 · 00:07 UTC
Great game! Very creative take on the theme, and the puzzles are quite nice.
Diefleder
06. Oct 2020 · 00:41 UTC
Difficult puzzle game. Very challenging for me. Look forward to trying it again later.
Honey Pony
06. Oct 2020 · 00:42 UTC
Very solid entry. I got to level 13. The puzzles that I played were, for the most part, quite engaging. One nitpick is that the difficulty curve is not super consistent: level 9 takes almost no thought while level 8 was quite hard. And, I would say level 12 is pretty straightforward too--although it is subverted in level 13, so I guess it makes sense. Of course, this is just a nitpick. :smile: Overall, very nice and interesting puzzles.
🎤 Zachary Barbanell
06. Oct 2020 · 01:03 UTC
@honey-pony yeah, the difficulty curve is not supposed to be totally monotonic - I put 9 in there as an easier break between some of the early harder levels, to give people a break and encourage them to keep playing. As for 12, some people get it really fast, others struggle a lot with it. (Level 14, otoh, is completely trivial because I added it at the last minute, oops).
Victor Hallock
06. Oct 2020 · 01:03 UTC
Great job! Loved the game and the interaction of gameplay and puzzles!
Codeman1010
06. Oct 2020 · 05:31 UTC
Love the twist on the theme
IndieQuest
06. Oct 2020 · 13:01 UTC
Such a smart use of the theme, a puzzle bsaed on creating and deleting loops! Great job. The puzzles were very well made, I had a lot of fun.
marcmagus
06. Oct 2020 · 13:46 UTC
Really interesting puzzle game. Hits that "I know what I'm trying to do but I'm not sure how I'm going to accomplish it" feeling that's good in a puzzler.
justsWn
06. Oct 2020 · 14:27 UTC
Very nice game! I never played a LD game so long and still did not manage to beat level 11. So if somebody is willing to give me a hint, I will take it! Gladly I discovered that there is a level selection if you beat at least one level and then simply reload the page, so I could finish the game.
As someone already mentioned: a little bit of music would've helped to get into the puzzle gaming mood.
But still: I loved it!

Edit: I finally made level 11! :v:
swimdoctor
07. Oct 2020 · 01:47 UTC
Neat puzzle game! Currently stuck at level 8, but this is a game I can't wait to get back to and play some more. The puzzles are a good skill gradient. Music would be nice, but I can't judge, my game doesn't have any sound. It is just a jam after all.
BumDag
07. Oct 2020 · 02:42 UTC
Puzzle games + me = A world of pain
Kaganobik
07. Oct 2020 · 03:19 UTC
I fear no sokoban type games. But that thing... It scares me.


Really cool puzzle game btw. I've had hard times but it was great! Good job :)
lectvs
07. Oct 2020 · 05:57 UTC
I DID IT
I FINALLY DID IT

Oh man, I didn't get to finish this on my stream, but I had to go back and play the rest of the levels afterward. I've been stuck on level 15 for about an hour now, and I finally maneuvered my way into this solution! :D ([spoilers](https://imgur.com/a/udYkagK)). Really liked the ending too. My life has [meaning](https://imgur.com/a/XZLNzoV) now!

Okay actually though, this is brutally hard, but finding the solution to some of these puzzles was just so satisfying. For such a simple game this had some really complex, clever solutions. Definitely one of the best LD puzzle games I've played.
Hi Im Greg
07. Oct 2020 · 19:54 UTC
This hurt my brain. I really enjoyed playing and I would happily play it more if I wasn't embarressing myself on stream. Impressive design for such a short amount of time.
DotSquare
07. Oct 2020 · 20:32 UTC
Very cool game ! I think i had a bug though. My character disappeared randomly when it was pushing me infinitely (5th level I think). The game mechanics is cool, congrats !
WormholeGames
07. Oct 2020 · 20:34 UTC
Very well designed puzzles, and this may be on my end, but I think that there are too many rules. There should be less of them to make it more accesible and clear.
TheJonu
07. Oct 2020 · 20:39 UTC
It's original, engaging, challenging, and fits the theme perfectly. Great job.
🎤 Zachary Barbanell
07. Oct 2020 · 20:47 UTC
@dotsquare If you used an orb while you were stuck in a loop, that's what's supposed to happen :) (If somehow you disappeared without using an orb, that's totally a bug, but I'm willing to bet that's not what happened).

@wormholegames Yeah, I tried to cut out as much exposition as possible, but I still ended up with a bit more than I was going for. I feel like I need to explain the mechanics at least somewhat, since they're not all incredibly intuitive.
DotSquare
07. Oct 2020 · 20:58 UTC
@zachary-barbanell yeah I retried it and it was definitely not a bug haha. Kinda hard to understand what’s going on sometimes but the game is deep so it’s cool
pedrohph
07. Oct 2020 · 21:07 UTC
Great concept! Easy to play but very challenging!
CosmicPickle
07. Oct 2020 · 21:08 UTC
Very nice game. The concept is very original. The graphics work great with it. The level design is really good. The puzzles are difficult (in fact my sleepy brain is struggling enough for me to decide that I have played enough for now :D). Great job!
Klaus Peter
07. Oct 2020 · 21:23 UTC
lv 8 had me for 10 mins now I fail at lv 10. That's a really cool puzzle game concept!
BroReNata
07. Oct 2020 · 21:55 UTC
Love what you did with the theme. Second half of the puzzles were really challenging. Only suggestion I have is some background music might've been nice.
Blue Pin Studio
07. Oct 2020 · 22:27 UTC
Cool puzzles, took me a while to get some of them, the audio and art was well done.
Wendel Scardua
08. Oct 2020 · 01:31 UTC
Great puzzle game, I'll have to keep playing it later as I got stuck in level 8.
walaber
08. Oct 2020 · 04:55 UTC
great concept, fantastic! head-scratching indeed, but super clever. will definitely come back to this one!
guimoliveira
08. Oct 2020 · 05:20 UTC
Great game. I spent a few hours playing but I couldn't find the solution for levels 12 and 15. :cry:
ubershmekel
08. Oct 2020 · 05:54 UTC
This is so hard. My brain melted on level 8. The loop busting mechanic, and elements seem to offer a ton of depth for interesting puzzles. I was engaged, and challenged. The biggest flaw in my experience was the learning curve. The level texts really had to explain what to do, and I still didn't get it until a while into the game. It was impressive that the space of possible actions was open ended enough to keep me going around in circles for so long. Often puzzles become just a brute force task. This was interesting and fun. Thank you for the game!
Toccio94
08. Oct 2020 · 10:00 UTC
Played it again after the feedback post you did, my feedback is almost the same.

The fact that it is a puzzle script game is cool I've discovered it recently and it I'm curious about it.

The game is pretty addicting, the puzzle mechanic is cool, and the levels are small so you don’t have much to think on and can focus on the few moves needed, that leads to the eureka moment.
I reached lvl 11 this time.

You also manage to take the sokoban mechanic and use it in an original way, at first I thought it was just a clone but it has its charm, gg I’m impressed!

The loop mechanic is pretty cool and very on theme, and the orbs addition makes me think of harder level when you have to get one, remove a loop, then get a second etc…, so it adds depth (instead of like, you always have 1 orb from the start and that's it)

That said, the text was waaaaaaaaaaay too long, and it was hard to understand. The game is simple and could be learned by playing, maybe make it short and say just what is truly important, or just a hint so when I discover the mechanics is even more eureka. That is something of mine tho, I like to discover and explore even the mechanics of a game instead of knowing all the rules beforehand. For example, I didn’t understand you get stuck if there is a loop even if it is written in the text, but I understood it later. Maybe if u change the sprite for the avatar when there is a loop it could be better?

Also, the mechanic about multiple moves avoid the loop or stuff it's too complex to understand with just the text, and there are not enough levels to digest it, you get instantly level 8 which requires you to know it pretty well and if u didn't understand it (which seems easy to miss to me) you will get stuck there for a lot if you don't notice the thing.

It's cool to understand the mechanic by playing as I like, but if I get stuck so early it just feels frustrating and unbalanced. I would have added more easy levels to prepare you for the challenges.
The difficulty is also very weird, lvl 8 is super hard, lvl 9 is very easy for example.

That said, I know puzzlescript/sokoban mechanics so maybe for someone who doesn’t know it the game could be even harder to understand, I don’t know.

I don't want to sound harsh, this game is very cool and polished, it's impressive it is a compo one, you manage to create a very interesting gameplay. My main complaint is that you could have taught the mechanics better, because I would have liked to go further into the levels but they just seemed to become exponentially harder with me still struggling to understand the rules.

Keep going, I can see this evolve into a complete game!
LadyMistLeaf
09. Oct 2020 · 01:11 UTC
Cool little game and a great twist on the theme! :)
Jimbly
09. Oct 2020 · 02:13 UTC
Level 10 took me quite a while, on that one and a couple levels I didn't quite grasp why it worked or didn't. I dot stuck on (I think) level 12 and couldn't get past it, though -_-.

Really challenging puzzle, and interesting! Visuals and audio are good, get the message across.
NickyKendy
09. Oct 2020 · 05:21 UTC
Love the idea! I can feel so deeply that I stuck in some of the levels, hard and fun~ Since there are 16 levels, it would be cooler if you put new rules in a not very hard level to teach, and the next to test our skills. The grahics and audio ara simple and lovly!
Eduardo Yukio
09. Oct 2020 · 06:02 UTC
Hey 00gogo00! I saw your game on the Sympathey stream and I noticed that you played my game too, so, thanks! Your game is awesome!! I spent like half an hour on the level 8 hahaha, I was so frustrated, but when I finally got it, it was very fulfilling! I got stuck on lvl 10 though =(. It is impressive that you managed to do such elaborated puzzles in so little time! The difficulty curve is a bit harsh though.

Besides that, it's a really fun game!
Ericbolseiro
11. Oct 2020 · 00:52 UTC
What a difficult game. Cerebral! I loved what you did here
ursagames
11. Oct 2020 · 00:56 UTC
Your game was played on my stream ( https://www.twitch.tv/ursagames/videos ) on 10/10. Thank you for sharing your game with us! You can find the timestamp of when your game was played here: https://tinyurl.com/yy4oycvv
eskooh
11. Oct 2020 · 04:47 UTC
Great puzzle game you got here. So glad you showed me this. Someday I will try to beat it! Great job! Had me stuck on some....which is good. Keep up the good work and great idea!
Wabble
11. Oct 2020 · 19:34 UTC
Cool puzzle game, when i had to delete 2 loops in one level, it got real hard for me!
galpashitaka12
12. Oct 2020 · 18:14 UTC
Excellent game!! Can't pass level 8 but will be digging into this game later hahaha awesome job!
D-Studios
25. Oct 2020 · 05:02 UTC
I found the gameplay to be fun. I liked the challenging bite-size puzzles. I also thought that the gameplay was quite unique as I have never played a game like this before. Unfortunately, I disliked the lack of music. The lack of music made playing the game eerily quiet, which made me feel awkward. I also found the graphics to not look polished enough. I especially did not like the fonts used as they were not easy to read.