Summon Elements by mdotedot
I HAVE ADDED UNDO BUTTON AFTER COMPO; if someone is offended by this, I will change it back
It is not really a bug that is reported but it impacts game-play. It was a quick addition (30 minutes of programming)


Note: There is no Undo (!) It is deliberate. Might regret it when I read the comments ...
| Link | http://photoquesting.com/ludumdare/55install/LD55_SummonElements.tar |
| Link | http://photoquesting.com/ludumdare/55/index.html |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/summon-elements |
Ratings
| Overall | 258th | 3.129⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 259th | 3.032⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 255th | 3.016⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 342th | 2.145⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 271th | 2.919⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 202th | 3⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 298th | 1.826⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 265th | 2.931⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 30🗳️ | 43🗨️ |
Gameplay was simple to understand.
Decent amount of strategy involved making sure that you don't push one element in a way that it blocks off future moves.
Artwork and music was also quite charming.
Well done!
seems like deliberately making no undo button was a mistake... i wish there was a restart button for the level, because now it's a silly little mistake, and i have to start all over again :(
maybe little note on the controls would be great at least at the description: at first i've tried with a mouse, which worked, but was reeally uncomfortable, only when it got too annoying i tried different controls (wasd at first).
i feels like it's a bit off from the theme... what if i have no friends to summon, you know?
before hiting the game link, press full screen (f11 in firefox por example), click on the game after it. This will only work if you have a 1080p screen.
Now, 2 thinks that would really improve the game feeling:
- An undo button. Some levels are too big, and restarting from the beggining feels tiresome. An alternative would be smaller and compact levels (these doesn't have to be easier). Puzzle games are about deciding how it is solved, not actually solving them, so if after you get the solution it takes minutes to implement it, the pay off slowly evaporates in the proccess.
- make game resolution scale with the screen, the game would still be clear in a smaller window, but if you try to do so, it isn't resized to the screen, so it becomes unplayable.
the game feeling points are noted and I have to ponder over them.
I'm amazed how much fun I can have with really simple puzzle mechanics. I quickly learned to plan out my moves and it was really satisfying! Good work, especially for a compo!
Understandably making an Undo or Restart would be difficult in multiplayer and that's what you started with, but Solo would have been much more user friendly if one or the other were implemented. It feels very discouraging to get through 85% of a level and then having to restart from the complete beginning. I do like this form of puzzle a lot but the difficulty in being able to repeat things made it hard for me to get into.
The music was great, however I did need to turn it down after a while.
I think this was good for a compo! A little bit of polish will go a long way if you want to keep working on/improving the game.
I would have appreciated if there was a "restart level" button because I went up to the screenshot but I didn't have the energy to restart everything
Overall good vibes :)

I like the idea of the children like- playdough graphics, but it needs to be a bit more refined. Overall good impression!