Lab Panic! by GibsS

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

The vats of experimental goo have turned and they are about to blow!

Stabilize all of the goo vats with your ray gun.

complete-gif-video.gif

Fail and suffer the consequences.

explosion-gif-video.gif

It's a chill puzzle game, you can choose to skip up to 5 levels and there is always a hint if you feel stuck. Feedback is extremely appreciated :).

Here is the full walkthrough in case you get stuck on a puzzle (or just want to enjoy the game in a more relaxed way): https://youtu.be/B-X6zW_CC40

Twitter GibsSCake

Ratings

Overall 110th 4.097⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Fun 90th 4.097⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 258th 3.778⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Theme 538th 3.764⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 376th 4⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Audio 755th 3.111⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Humor 691th 3⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Mood 866th 3.309⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Given 64🗳️ 47🗨️

Feedback

GoldenEvolution
04. Oct 2021 · 11:38 UTC
I think the game is broken for me cause it keeps freezing. Also I can walk out of the screen and nothing happens
LDJam user 156942
04. Oct 2021 · 11:39 UTC
Well done puzzles, great graphics! Could use some soundtrack. Thanks for web version, wonderful game!
Exmxpx
04. Oct 2021 · 11:40 UTC
Tried to play but after the first barrel counts down the game just breaks...
Zomk
04. Oct 2021 · 11:41 UTC
Such a nice and simple puzzle game.
Love the graphics and the game feels so good to play :)
MalusKhan
04. Oct 2021 · 11:43 UTC
Very good ! It was a real pleasure to test your game
The graphics and concept are very good, unfortunatelly there is no music during the game :(
🎤 GibsS
04. Oct 2021 · 11:53 UTC
@goldenevolution @exmxpx Hi, the issue was with the opening: I didn't disable controls during the first cut scene :). You can try it out again if you want, let me know if it works now.
GoldenEvolution
04. Oct 2021 · 12:16 UTC
@gibss works splendidly now, great job! Loved the puzzles!
Listonos
04. Oct 2021 · 14:36 UTC
Beautiful pixel art and enjoyable puzzle game. An intro was awesome touch and having levels make it feel very polished. I had a strange loud sound glitch every time I restarted level but other than that, good job.
mrnannings
04. Oct 2021 · 14:41 UTC
Interesting puzzle! The whole presentation with the intro movie and level map is nice.
That explosion is cool btw!
MechanizedIT
04. Oct 2021 · 17:23 UTC
Great concept, fits the theme perfectly. Such a hard puzzle game, I can't wait to get through all the levels. Stuck on 3rd level.
🎤 GibsS
04. Oct 2021 · 17:26 UTC
@mechanizedit Glad you like it! If you ever feel like you need help, there is an optional hint at the top right and you skip up to 5 levels.
PKZinpo
04. Oct 2021 · 19:07 UTC
Played a few stages, then after that, I tried to click on the buttons, but they wouldn't work. Not sure what happened. Though after refreshing the page, everything worked fine. It really does pickup in difficulty haha. I think the sounds of the button clicks are a little too loud/harsh relative to the game movement and sounds though. Overall, very clean, polished, I like the puzzle idea and mechanics! Great job!
igorfelga
04. Oct 2021 · 19:25 UTC
I really liked the game. The graphics and gameplay are really cool. The only thing I really missed was a soundtrack. Trying to get past 10th level
Monado
04. Oct 2021 · 20:24 UTC
Great game! The puzzles had me going for a bit, but theres a lot of awesome work here, fun game!
Spolarium
04. Oct 2021 · 21:00 UTC
Really nice puzzle game, I absolutely love the graphics and the levels are quite challenging too! Overall super polished
LDJam user 202408
04. Oct 2021 · 21:43 UTC
really well done, the intro is a smart way to explain the mechanics and the puzzles are well thought out. this is one of my top 10
Gastar
05. Oct 2021 · 15:59 UTC
Very interesting and well done game! Really hard to dolve puzzles, stuck with 5 puzzles left :) Liked tutorial at game start, great idea
🎤 GibsS
05. Oct 2021 · 16:03 UTC
@gastar I do wonder if I didn't go to hard with those puzzles, maybe a bit too difficult for a Ludum Dare :). But thanks for the comment, glad you enjoyed it.
fawnblue
05. Oct 2021 · 19:07 UTC
yo nicely done! game feels really complete and polished, and the levels have a nice ramp up in difficulty. i do wish there were a few different hints per level (maybe increasingly obvious) for people like me, who aren't the best puzzlers :) but i still had a lot of fun!
Jon_Nova
05. Oct 2021 · 21:04 UTC
Great game! I really liked the puzzles. Was too hard for me, but i will give a second try in the future.
Quite Good
05. Oct 2021 · 21:31 UTC
What a wonderful little puzzle game. I think that puzzle games really excel with a unique mechanic and you deliver on that front! reminds me of into the breach except its just you and some bombs. The game felt like a tight package too, with great polish and attention to detail. I could not finish and it appears the skip button does not work, but im sure a smarter person will figure it out!
🎤 GibsS
05. Oct 2021 · 22:00 UTC
@quite-good That's a shame on the skip button, did you run out of skip or did it just never work? But thanks for playing the game. If I ever make another puzzle game for ludum dare (or ever) I'll definitely tone down the difficulty :).
Cakestorm
06. Oct 2021 · 07:18 UTC
I loved all the little additions to this game that made it so much more fun to play - the way the explosions moved around walls, the map of levels that you'd completed, the ability to skip levels - all these little things add up to make a much more enjoyable experience, and it shows how much time and effort you put into your game! The main mechanic was really fun too, there was nothing quite as satisfying as firing through as many goo vats as possible. Great work, it was a really fun game!
namnam
07. Oct 2021 · 16:36 UTC
Very nice puzzle game, easy to understand, hard to master. Welle done ! I really liked it !
henriquecanella
07. Oct 2021 · 19:31 UTC
Really nice game, loved the puzzles =)
lucasvb
07. Oct 2021 · 20:31 UTC
Super fun and very well executed! Some puzzles are pretty tricky too. The inclusion of Sokoban dynamics of moving boxes was very clever.

I particularly appreciate the effort you put in the explosion animation. Having the clouds fill the screen was very satisfying to watch every time. That degree of polish was great!
pdotjpg
07. Oct 2021 · 21:07 UTC
Excellent puzzler! Really simple set of mechanics, but well explored. Prorps for the intro cinematic that explains the mechanics and for the hint and skip system. Only nitpick design-wise is that the ability to block explosions wasn't introduced well. I was stumped and had to resort to using the hint to understand what to do.

Graphics and theming are really cute as well. Music would make the presentation absolutely perfect.

One of the best entries I've played, great job.
🎤 GibsS
08. Oct 2021 · 18:52 UTC
@pdotjpg That is something I feared on the box containment, the puzzle that originally introduced containing explosions was actually way harder before :). Mmaybe the puzzle introducing the concept can be a bit easier or more obvious. It can be a very fun "ah ha!" moment. Thanks for the feedback!
Emaigualmc2_art
09. Oct 2021 · 00:20 UTC
Good game! I love puzzle games and this one also combines great art and design. Very funny and very well applied the theme of the jam. Excellent work! xD
naali
11. Oct 2021 · 03:38 UTC
Nice job. It's gets more difficult that I that it would but that makes good.
const_arch
11. Oct 2021 · 10:24 UTC
Took me a while to finish it, but it was a pretty fun time. I really liked this one a lot, one of my favorites so far this LD. One thing that I'd like would be to make hitting 'z' undo your last action.
🎤 GibsS
11. Oct 2021 · 11:04 UTC
@const-arch Good idea on the undo button. It's hard enough as it is, being able to experiment with a series of moves and then undoing would be great. Thanks for the feedback!
pancelor
17. Oct 2021 · 14:22 UTC
whoaaa I did The Thing in level 6 and felt like I'd discovered a whole new side to the game early. (I think it _was_ early; that level is beatable the normal way) that was really cool! very nice how the animations subtly suggest that this is possible.

I made it through all of the game but didn't beat the last level and ran out of skips. fun puzzles! I would have liked them to be a bit "tighter"; I couldn't really tell what the levels were trying to teach / if I had done the intended solution or found cheese, most of the time. But I suppose that might be more of a difference in style. Overall I enjoyed the levels! and the game looks and plays really really nice; I particularly like the slightly-staggered explosion of smoke.