Clockwork Express by mira
CLOCKWORK EXPRESS
HOW TO PLAY
- Use your left mouse button to drag and drop rooms and cargo.
- To cancel the dragging, you can either use right mouse button or place the item where it cannot be placed.
- Spacebar to speed up the time
- Ensure the ship and its crew's needs are met by designating specific rooms.
- Don't worry if you can't place all the rooms. You will have to replace them.
- You cannot throw away the cargo, only place it somewhere else
SUMMARY
Take the role of an airship captain and demonstrate your ability to efficiently manage the limited space of the airship. Your primary task is to transport all the cargo to the destination, but the mission is not as simple as it may seem.
You'll need to strategically plan how to utilize every inch of space on your airship. Not only will you be dealing with cargo organization, but you'll also be taking care of the crew's needs and other essential resources necessary for the smooth operation of the airship.
The first 2-3 levels are for learning the game.
Players looking for challenges are advised to hold out until level 4 and above.
| Link | https://quietmuffin.itch.io/clockwork-express |
| Link | https://quietmuffin.itch.io/clockwork-express |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/clockwork-express |
Ratings
| Given | 168🗳️ | 234🗨️ |
Nice and easy to understand and with a really fitting art style.
One thing to think about is that after I'd gotten in all the rooms I could fit initially I only really had to swap out my rooms once on each level and then sit back and wait. If the resource bars drained slightly quicker or at significantly different rates it might encourage the swapping in-out and moving around of all the rooms consistently throughout a level and keep the player on their toes.
The art in this is really nice. Lots of detail in the different cargo rooms you can add. Nicely done.
However, I couldn't figure out level 3 after several tries. But then again, I am very bad at organization-type games!
I'd have loved a slightly more rewarding ending, and the "resource low"-voice was perhaps a bit too mumbled (was it "gosh"?), but otherwise this was hands down the best game I've stumbled upon yet =)
The artstyle and the theme fit the gameplay well! I feel like it became a little too hectic around the end, where I had to click and drag lots of rooms, while still trying to free up space with the cargo.
A very fun challenge! 😃
But, oh boy! As the challenge ramped up towards the end, I felt like I was trying to juggle flaming torches while riding a unicycle! 😅 Balancing the act of clicking and dragging rooms, and simultaneously finding spots for that ever-increasing cargo? Pure adrenaline! A little chaotic, but in the best kind of way.
Maybe, just maybe, a smidgeon of breathing space in between those frantic moments could be the cherry on top? It's like being in a dance-off – sometimes you wanna bust a move, but other times you just wanna groove. 😜
All in all, a thrilling challenge that kept me on my toes (and fingers!). Massive thumbs up for serving this delightful gaming cocktail!
the purple used for "Cargo" doesn't read in the text boxes, and speaking of text boxes, this game is exceptionally wordy for a very simple task, the actual gameplay takes a shorter amount of time than listening to the very chatty captain. Editting down to the minimum needs would go a long way (this is mostly felt in a new game situation)
Puzzle games are hard to provide feedback with words, I think what you're really looking for is knowing exactly how well the difficulty curve was balanced, and where players got stuck, so here' a recording of me playing the game!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5inNp5g9sRo
Marvelous work!
Otherwise gameplay is fun, level design is very clever (I got to level 10), graphics and audio are top notch.
Really good entry.
Well done! Take a candy! :candy:
I found it tough to not be able to pause the game and redistribute cargo momentarily rather than have to do it on the fly, but I guess, that's part of the challenge
The theme is spot on tho!
The jam's theme is perfectly set on stage. The art is beautiful and the game was fun. Good job!
Two quality of life features that would be great if you do a post jam version would be:
- An unobstructed view of the level before the journey starts.
- A slowdown when dragging tiles (to relief some of the stress and misclicks resulting from it).
Of course the artwork is beautiful and the tunes are great too. I think it notices when your about to run out and plays the "didididi didididi" soundtrack? If so, great touch!
I really have nothing bad to say - well done!
Other than that it's a great game!! You really should be proud of it, it really is a really good one! I hope you do best!!
The puzzle aspect gets lost a bit when most levels are solved in a same manner. You just put one element there permanently and swap other until the timer runs out.
Extra props for the music. It has a neat retro feeling to it - almost reminds me of Roland MT-32 which I had when I was a kid.
Thanks for the game! Awesome entry!
One thing that would be nice is to clearly indicate which blocks must stay in the ship, and which ones the player can swap out. Also, being able to unload a block with right click, and possibly having a panic-key to unload everything would be nice.
Core gameplay is nice and gets really hectic on the higher levels, as you frantically swap the rooms around. If I had a penny for every time I wished I could rotate :laughing:
Very well-made game and fun to play. Kudos!
Edit: I came back to it and beat level 8! :tada:
Minor point of critique: sometimes the dragging felt a bit off. It did not place the tiles where I wanted it to. I think the point where the pieces are relative to the mouse coursor is pre defined and not the point where it is actually clicked. As long as the game is slow-paced, this is not an issue as the ghost blocks show exactly where the block will be placed. However, once it gets faster, there is no time to watch for the ghost block. At that point intuitevly you just move the mouse to where you want to place the particle. Now if the pickup point is pre-defined and not where the mouse is actually clicked, this feels off. and you don't place the blocks where you actually wanted to place them.
This was especially frustrating on the final level.
Other than that, I really enjoyed it a lot. I had to play with muted audio since I played this at work. This means I wont be rating audio and mood but I probably will do that when I can play this with audio from home :)
Loved the overall mood and style of the game though. Good job!
It looks like the character sprite is stretched out vertically in the game, but has square pixels in the art on the itch page. Was that a deliberate design decision?
Graphic style is great.
But how can I rotate blocks?