Ancient Maze of Epla by xesenix

[raw]
made by xesenix for LD36 (COMPO)
Your travel through ancient maze to discover long lost knowledge.

LOOK OUT: this can be kind of difficult - this is my mind in ludumdare mode :P

Your goal is to travel to bottom of ancient ruins. On each level when you make move (left, right, up, down) every active element responds to that rock roll arrows are shot your hero moves.

Rock and arrows will kill your hero if they hit him you can use block to protect yourself from being killed. You can also run rocks into each other to destroy them.

It is my first ludumdare. Ive used nodejs + Phaser combination for creating this game. Also it is my first time i have created music for my game.
It took me about 8-10h to setup movement engine (i have used phaser physique and tilemap for the firs time) 2-3h playing with graphics and 1h for music. I have used second day for level design and adding arrow mechanics (without them level seam to be to easy) and gluing everything together


Description:

* It is short (6 levels) browser maze game

* You controll everything in labyrinth room with arrows or asdw

* Your goal is collect all tech cards and escape to next floor

* After each floor there is a piece of simple story uncovered

Language:

* Javascript

Build:

* WebGL Canvas

My tools of choice:

* Bosca ceoil great tool for music and easy to learn http://distractionware.com/blog/2013/08/bosca-ceoil/

* Tiled for mad editing http://www.mapeditor.org/

* Phaser JS http://phaser.io/

* Grunt build manager http://gruntjs.com/

* Brackets editor http://brackets.io/

If you kind of like it you can help me voting on it on Kongregate: http://www.kongregate.com/games/Xesenix/ancient-maze-of-epla

Feedback

LoneSpelunker
29. Aug 2016 · 01:15 UTC
Fun, challenging puzzles. It's a nice little twist on the usual Sokoban formula that makes you think. Well done.
PetterBergmar
29. Aug 2016 · 03:21 UTC
I like it! I love mazey puzzle games. The bouncing movement of everything that is stuck seems a bit too much to me.
GhostBomb
29. Aug 2016 · 03:54 UTC
Interesting take on the rogue-like turn system
spacewarp
29. Aug 2016 · 11:15 UTC
It looks very interesting but I sadly cannot get it to start. Doesn't react on "click anywhere to begin".
TheMightySice
29. Aug 2016 · 13:38 UTC
This a really good puzzle game. Intuitive controlls. The tutorial level shows the basic game mechanics with no word needed. The music and graphics are awesome.

One little flaw: When key is pressed over a longer time it generates multiple inputs and you have to wait until all inputs got animated.
oskardevelopment
29. Aug 2016 · 15:42 UTC
Cool puzzle game with nice usability! After the arrows started the game lagged a lot making it hard to do things when the character got stuck at various places for long periods.
tenpn
29. Aug 2016 · 16:21 UTC
Sounds great, but up/down arrows also scrolled my browser (chrome, osx). Mouse clicking on the game didn't get it to focus.
DiegoCTorguet
29. Aug 2016 · 16:48 UTC
Simple but awesome mechanic. The music gets a bit annoying after playing a while but the joy of this finish is worthy.
Ilseroth
29. Aug 2016 · 21:39 UTC
Really quality little puzzle game. Music does start to grate after a while.

My biggest complaint is that arrows slow down the gameplay a bit, they could go faster since, you have to wait for them to move anyways.
qkerguelen
30. Aug 2016 · 01:13 UTC
Woaw that was hard! But very clever level design. I'd have prefered a more progressive difficulty curve but that's probably because I'm bad ;) Anyway, good game, nice music and art for a game jam game, well done!
edgeofcode
30. Aug 2016 · 01:59 UTC
Really good puzzle game.
steph88
30. Aug 2016 · 06:23 UTC
Hi, nice game and congratulations ! We're realizing a video with several games of the Ludum Dare #36. We made the same thing at the previous jam.

Can you add your game on indiexpo.net ? (it's free)
So we can include also your game in the video ;)
p.s. write #LDJAM in the game's description.
🎤 xesenix
30. Aug 2016 · 07:50 UTC
sorry for bad music but im novice at this part
about complains that arrows are slowing down everything i have made simple fix and speed up transitions

@steph88 i registered on that page but can see any upload button/form most panel sub pages are empty only page that has some content are settings you can try finding games on gamejolt i have upload mine there http://gamejolt.com/search?q=ld36
mat1er
30. Aug 2016 · 13:39 UTC
Fun and well made but the music makes it hard to stay concentrated...
Pyrofoux
30. Aug 2016 · 22:27 UTC
Interesting mecanisms, but I had the feeling I finally got a solution more with luck than by really thinking about a way to finish the level... It might be hard to fix tho, as I think it comes down to the mecanisms you choose.

The music feels a bit repetitive by the way
Steven Miller
31. Aug 2016 · 00:36 UTC
Wonderful puzzle game, very good and very fun. I really liked the mechanics and figuring out the solutions to the different levels.
🎤 xesenix
31. Aug 2016 · 01:33 UTC
After much complain about music i have decided to add mute button :|

@Pyrofoux first few levels can be solved by accident last two need special starting sequence or you get screw :)
vicious_br
31. Aug 2016 · 03:51 UTC
Great music, great graphic, great game. Congratulations! Polish on the graph and level design is enough for sale!
Please play my game here: http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-36/?action=preview&uid=36629
g12345
31. Aug 2016 · 21:17 UTC
Nice looking game. Finished it. Some levels are harder than others.

No real complaints other than the music.

Oh, and I couldn't use cursor keys because the game detects them as 2 keypresses each.
matt_b
31. Aug 2016 · 21:55 UTC
That was great - sokoban Indiana Jones :D If you've not seen it already, www.puzzlescript.net is a nice way to make tile puzzlers like this (complete with undo, which is a must in tricky sokobans).
🎤 xesenix
31. Aug 2016 · 23:45 UTC
@g12345 one of my problems in making of all that levels was knowing their difficulty when i firs created them they were in totally different order they are now in thise order only by my feeling but i should probably give them to some play testers and see what level of difficulty they are to others that didnt design it unfortunately i didn have play testers :P
qikcik
01. Sep 2016 · 05:34 UTC
good logic game , it is fun :D
Alphish
01. Sep 2016 · 12:59 UTC
That's some really neat puzzle with interesting levels. I've got to admit that the difficulty is a bit over the place, and the game being really unforgiving doesn't help, either (I've found the need to replay the level altogether really tiring; would have preferred if the death triggered something like "undo" effect). Especially since you need to have your eyes all over the place to look for potential threats.

As for the audiovisuals, the graphics worked well enough, while the music got pretty tiring pretty quickly. With that in mind, I find it good that the game has "only" 6 levels, as each already takes a while, in large part because of the need to restart the level on the tiniest deadly mistake.

(at the same time, I guess the fact that I completed all puzzles in the end shows it was pretty enjoyable, after all)
Deconstructeam
01. Sep 2016 · 13:04 UTC
The puzzle design was very interesting, but better controls and game feel would have really helped fledging out a pleasant experience!
Dietrich Epp
01. Sep 2016 · 13:05 UTC
Cool puzzle! Hey, we both used phaser :-)
🎤 xesenix
01. Sep 2016 · 14:41 UTC
@Alphish interesting idea i will think of adding undo mechanic earlier i thought game is short so payers would finish it to quick and i have also added leadoards to kongregate version where you score based of how few moves you make

@Dietrich Epp i have noticed a lot people using phaser i started using it few weeks ago and i think of making something biger with it :) i will check you game when i get back home :)
Tselmek
01. Sep 2016 · 20:48 UTC
Really nice puzzle game, the levels were really tough to dig through, maybe too steep of a difficulty curve?
2011petia
02. Sep 2016 · 01:17 UTC
I like the idea, its pretty fun !!
intXparts
02. Sep 2016 · 01:30 UTC
I really enjoyed the puzzles and artwork, nice job! The death animation in particular was my favorite.
AlexLamarche
02. Sep 2016 · 15:45 UTC
Nice puzzle game. I could see this on mobile. Music was a bit repetitive. Graphics were good. Overall a very nice game for 48 hours.
mar3k
02. Sep 2016 · 20:17 UTC
Really cool puzzle game, makes you think a lot! good job
n42k
03. Sep 2016 · 08:55 UTC
Amazing graphics, good music. Gameplay is compelling and got me hooked for a while, even though I don't particularly enjoy these kinds of games, I rage quit after almost completing level 2 and being blocked. Very good game in general, congratulations! Nice to see someone else on Kongregate like I :)!
🎤 xesenix
03. Sep 2016 · 11:26 UTC
@n42k im on kongegate but most my games there have bad ratings im still struggle to develop a game that would be liked by players.
cubotrox_toni
03. Sep 2016 · 11:32 UTC
The idea for the puzzle game is very good. I think it can work very well at mobile devices.

Pixel art and music are correct.

Maybe, I should make the moving animation a little faster. And please, make the level 1 easier. You must regulate the dificulty curve.
🎤 xesenix
03. Sep 2016 · 11:44 UTC
@cubotrox_toni i would really need some testers to tell me which one are hard and which one are easy they were in totally different order when i finished it i thought this one which is now first was easiest.
🎤 xesenix
03. Sep 2016 · 11:54 UTC
@LoneSpelunker thank you for re memorizing me sokoban i totally forget what was it named

@spacewarp i have updated kongregate version and added gamejolt you can check if it works now?

@Ilseroth thank you i have restrained input buffer so it should be a little more responsive

@qkerguelen sorry for that difficulty i wanted that game to be at leas a little bit challenging because it is so short

@TheMightySice i missed that controls glitch its fixed now and thanks for noticing whats tutorial level all about

@oskardevelopment in updated versions i have speed up turn switching thanks for noticing that problem

@tenpn thanks for noticing that scrolling problem i usually use asdw and wouldn't noticed it
DarkGrisen
03. Sep 2016 · 14:05 UTC
great game!
Iwa
03. Sep 2016 · 14:19 UTC
Nice job. It's like a mix of Rush hour and 2048.
More sounds would have brought a big plus but it's still pretty good.
Diptoman
03. Sep 2016 · 23:54 UTC
Sokobana-like puzzles, with clever level design. It suffered noticeably from the lack of sound and lack of variety in music (and an undo mechanic would have helped), but it's a good entry nevertheless.
celia14
04. Sep 2016 · 00:04 UTC
This is fun (though pretty hard!) and I like the Indiana Jones-y style, it's a great fit with the theme. Nice work!
sP0CkEr2
04. Sep 2016 · 04:30 UTC
Some interesting puzzle ideas here. Really nice game.
Eggplant
04. Sep 2016 · 21:08 UTC
That's a really great idea! The concept of the puzzles was nice. Some cool art too. Great job.
Xoko14
05. Sep 2016 · 19:04 UTC
Great idea. Mabey it's so tricky
tartlegames
06. Sep 2016 · 22:15 UTC
Great puzzle concept. Very tricky. I kept walling myself in. Good work.
Jupiter_Hadley
09. Sep 2016 · 18:17 UTC
Good puzzler! Very well made. I included it in my compilation video series of Ludum Dare 36, if you’d like to take a look :) https://youtu.be/QlYKcvCr0YM
Ryusui
11. Sep 2016 · 22:23 UTC
Brutally difficult. ^_^; Graphics are good, but music is a bit repetitive. Also, are you supposed to be able to pick up a techcard if a boulder is occupying the space?
🎤 xesenix
12. Sep 2016 · 23:20 UTC
@Ryusui thank you you have found a bug :)
MrMordem
15. Sep 2016 · 14:27 UTC
Nice puzzle game, plays well, sounds and looks great as well,

the puzzle themselves can be quite challenging, but i kinda suck at puzzle games so this could be just me :p

from what i tested, solid entry overall, well done :)