It Was Desert by senar93

[raw]
made by senar93 for Ludum Dare 49 (JAM)

Run towards the exit before time expires! It wont be as easy as it looks since each time the dice moves, the WASD controls change orientation.

GifFkwasd.gif

Overview:

Reach the finish before time expires. The WASD orientation changes following the arrows on the dice, the W leads you to the direction the arrow points at.

Controls:

WASD to move the Dice

(arrow keys work too)

Thanks for playing! And don't hate your WASD too much it is just our fault ;_;

graphics & coding: Marco Marchitelli https://twitter.com/_Deirin

gameplay & level design: Andrea Ancona https://twitter.com/AndreaAncona01

design & tool programming: Andrea Teruzzi https://twitter.com/TeruzziAndrea

Ratings

Overall 239th 3.924⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Fun 487th 3.644⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 70th 4.1⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Theme 876th 3.4⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 26th 4.641⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Humor 838th 2.769⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Mood 533th 3.6⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Given 163🗳️ 15🗨️

Feedback

deav
05. Oct 2021 · 09:53 UTC
Wow! The art style is really beautiful, one of the best I've seen during this game jam. Game has a really interesting and fun concept, makes your brain stretch and forces you to focus. It's surprisingly fun to play, and with the fitting, minimalistic graphics it makes playing the game a really unique experience. Seriously, one of the best out there!

Oh, and by the way, 3 stars are **really hard** to get :laughing:
DoctorTurbo
05. Oct 2021 · 09:54 UTC
Visually extremely polished, love the UI design and I'm a sucker for clean transitions! I've seen plenty of games that shuffle the controls but not with this unique take on it.
Roxslon
05. Oct 2021 · 09:54 UTC
Lovely graphics and interesting idea:D
bensgames01
05. Oct 2021 · 09:55 UTC
Hey, that was a nice little game. Interesting idea to mess with the controls.
Graphics are very cute.
The only thing is that I am not sure how the theme fits. I have an idea but oh well. It was fun in any case, so thanks for the experience.
RollCreators
05. Oct 2021 · 09:55 UTC
Very cool graphics!
Simple and intresting
Good job!
LDJam user 265725
05. Oct 2021 · 09:56 UTC
Really nice and well polished. After some time, my sleep-deprived mind went auto-pilot and I found myself cruising in the levels without really thinking about it. With some sound design, would make a really smooth and relaxing experience.
herlex
05. Oct 2021 · 09:57 UTC
Great work! I really like the simple yet appropriate implementation of the theme. Also artwork/design looks great. Implementation super smooth. What do i have to say. 5/5 :)
Nerisma
05. Oct 2021 · 09:57 UTC
Hi ! Really great stuff !
Best game I tested so far. Feels a bit disorienting but once you get it it's actually quite fun !
Some questions, is there any music / sound to the game ? I find it a bit tricky that you can't see one of the faces and sometimes have to guess which direction is hidden.
GG !
Kubulambula
05. Oct 2021 · 09:58 UTC
Really polished nice looking game. Add more levels and it could be a lot of fun on mobile!
belickim
05. Oct 2021 · 10:00 UTC
Super pretty graphics. The gameplay is fun, however I found the arrows at the sides confusing, I wasn't sure which way they are pointing due to the angle.
Garywiss
05. Oct 2021 · 10:00 UTC
Nice entry, it take me a bit to understand how it works and how to move the Dice but it was fun, the jump spring took me by surprise :smile:
DormBrand
05. Oct 2021 · 10:01 UTC
That was really fun to play around with. The feeling of the dice not moving as you want it to and constantly having to adjust the direction your thinking felt both frustrating and satisfying once you figure it out. The controls could use some in-game explaination (I skimmed over your page and initially thought the WASD keys corresponded to different faces of the dice, even made it through the first two levels believing that). I also really liked your art.

However, once you get the mechanic into your brain the puzzles become kind of too easy, even if you throw stuff like the face hiding rocks at me, and it doesn't quite feel related to the theme to me. Still, I had fun and this is a solid puzzle game overall.
Juanlu
05. Oct 2021 · 10:02 UTC
Nice game! I enjoyed playing it. When the cube goes into a "?" square the arrows can be seen for a little bit, I'm not sure if that's a bug or it's working as designed.
Vetche Studio
05. Oct 2021 · 10:02 UTC
Very good game! It's fun when you finally get the controls working, and the graphics are cute!
Would love to see some cute music and sound from the dice in the future :D Good luck!
Sirkovitch
05. Oct 2021 · 10:03 UTC
It is so cuuute ! I am very impressed by the overall polish of the game, the animations, the visuals, the ui ... everything is spot on !
It is so polished I wish there was audio.
Also the gameplay is original, it took me a moment for my brain to adapt ahah
Moritz14
05. Oct 2021 · 10:03 UTC
What a nice game! Fantastic graphics and a super nice gameplay! So far the best!
Adiwan
05. Oct 2021 · 10:06 UTC
Interesting but my head had problems getting the dice directions at first as I have not really understood the explanation here.
A "How to play" in the game itself would be a nice extra that shows visually how to control that darn cube :smile:
After I got the controls it was quite fun.
Biku
05. Oct 2021 · 10:09 UTC
Great game in my opinion! The design is excellent. It was hard to get at the begginning but once you get to it is really fun to play. The only two things I found that can be improved: The buttons Exit and Retry on the game are so cute on the rock but the colour of them is not very visible. If you look at them they are but they are not noticeable at first sight. The second thing is I found harder the "circle laberynth" level than the last one with a lot of question mark boxes haha.
IHaveAnInkling
05. Oct 2021 · 10:24 UTC
A really fun game, good level design with a challenging difficulty curve! The level menu is really good, I like that even after refreshing the page, the game still retains my score. The animations are snappy and he graphics are really cute. Overall great game!
(Going into full screen and then exiting out did seem to crash my laptop though.)
publicidadeba
05. Oct 2021 · 11:46 UTC
Good job guys, it feels this is not far from the mobile store. Graphics 5/5 (UI included)!
randomphantom
05. Oct 2021 · 12:18 UTC
Quite the brain buster! very cool twist on movement.
GibsS
05. Oct 2021 · 13:36 UTC
The artstyle and palette is amazing, well done. The gameplay itself is a bit repetitive as there isn't too much variety to the problems you need to solve (mostly just knowing how to go in a direction given the current dice position) but that could be fixed with more level elements that are dependent on the current dice direction for example. But a good entry none the less!
Tobias Maushammer
05. Oct 2021 · 14:03 UTC
I love the art. All of it. Lighting, Textures, Shading, Animations, Effects. Everything is top notch!
Solar eclipse
05. Oct 2021 · 14:33 UTC
Pretty innovative and well-polished puzzle game. I found the mechanic a little hard to get the hang of, because there didn't seem to be any clear pattern as to which way the dice would move after turning over. I'm sure it has something to do with the arrows on each side, but I couldn't grasp the exact pattern so it was a bit frustrating after a while.

The visual polish is amazing, and I really loved the level select, super creative with so much attention to detail! The artwork and overall aesthetic is very pleasing, and suitable for a puzzle game.

Great work overall, I might come back to it when I have some more time to wrap my head around the puzzle mechanic.
LDJam user 174638
06. Oct 2021 · 07:55 UTC
Great concept, I'm awful at figuring our the direction on a map... I feel like this game could help ^^.
NeilKleistGao
06. Oct 2021 · 15:06 UTC
Awesome game with nice graphics.
Alexascher
06. Oct 2021 · 16:15 UTC
Gameplay is a bit frustrating, but graphics is just amazing!
Leuthil
06. Oct 2021 · 18:10 UTC
Visuals are great. The art and animations are very polished. The concept of the game is interesting. I didn't get the pattern of the arrows on the die until the last level but then it clicked on how easy it is to move in a straight line when you know the pattern. It would be interesting to see this concept expanded with more mechanics.
Dandala88
08. Oct 2021 · 01:45 UTC
I hated the controls when I first started playing and then all of sudden something clicked and I was cruising through without even thinking. I love games like that! I could really see this game being further developed so great job!
PaulLyaudet
18. Oct 2021 · 12:02 UTC
My fuckin favorite entry of this Ludum. The concept is smart, the game is polish, the dynamics are well add regarding the gameplay. Just a Master Class
ditam
18. Oct 2021 · 17:52 UTC
Very well done, a simple concept executed with beautiful polish, I had a lot of fun completing it. The determinism of the cube is a great idea conceptually, and the puzzle levels have good progression (though for me the hardest one was the spiral one due to the many moves required), with some interesting mechanics.

I think if you added a couple more mechanics, and some sound effects, this could feel like a very complete puzzler, not just a jam entry. Some mechanics ideas off the top of my head:
- tiles that permanently modify the cube (these could add a strategy element so you can craft ideal dice for timed runs)
- tiles that temporarily reveal the transformation of "?" tiles (these could add a memorization aspect)
- puzzles with 2 (or multiple) dice, where the same keys control both
- step-based timers

But already as it is, this is one of my top picks this jam in multiple categories, bravo!
Chacharl
19. Oct 2021 · 16:06 UTC
Sooo clean ! I love the concept, and the realisation is perfect ! The game looks good and the gameplay is simple but tricky ! Great Job !