Lumen Sphera by BrandonDev

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

Note: Game was designed for gamepads so use the thumbstick or keyboard arrow keys to navigate.

Description: Use power spheres to progress through levels. Shoot, launch into the air, or fall to your demise through 6 levels. Assets made before jam: All assets made during jam except audio assets.

Changelog: October 4th 2021 5:23pm Added updated version to fix mouse bug.

Changelog: October 8th 2021 10:24pm Fixed menu navigation bug.

Changelog: October 9th 2021 10:21am Developers Note: Not sure if I'm allowed to add level geometry after jam ends so I'll leave the previous version available for reviewing.

Lessened jump velocity. Added walls on sixth level to prevent skipping puzzle elements.

Ratings

Overall 488th 3.708⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 456th 3.667⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 460th 3.583⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1442th 2.458⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 679th 3.688⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1123th 2.275⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 836th 3.341⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Given 18🗳️ 24🗨️

Feedback

O8PC
04. Oct 2021 · 14:55 UTC
This game had a good concept, but for some reason I had to hold the right mouse button to look around. This made the game hard to enjoy for me, but I do think it is a neat concept. Overall, I think it could use some work, but it's got some good potential. Keep making games!
🎤 BrandonDev
04. Oct 2021 · 16:55 UTC
Yeah, that’s a bug that came with compiling for windows .It isn’t there if you play the Xbox version or in editor. Will fix ASAP. Unfortunate that a bug that showed up on final upload gave you a bad experience. Appreciate the feedback.
LDJam user 259103
05. Oct 2021 · 02:18 UTC
Not sure how this fits the theme, but I love it nonetheless. Very creative and fun puzzler, and quite polished.

Great job!
LDJam user 259037
05. Oct 2021 · 05:17 UTC
I can see the portal influence! Very Nice!
Would love to see a recording of you making the yell noise that you recorded for this lol.

If you plan to add any more content to this I'd suggest rebuilding the levels while keeping this in mind: almost all of these puzzles can be halved by just jumping over holes in the floor.

Also the bind for recalling a sphere really ought to be the same bind for picking up a sphere. Picking up and placing are intuitively opposite you see.

The metal textures you made on the 3d models were impressive! I look forward to seeing more of your work in future jams.
Alina Baybulatova
05. Oct 2021 · 09:11 UTC
Really cool graphic! Great work)
I really have fun to play this game) thank you)
Angrybeard
05. Oct 2021 · 15:19 UTC
Realy nice concept and clean execution! I had a bug where i couldnt see the cursor in main menu and start game wasnt selcted so i had to search for the button with an invisible cursor
Proxy-Games
06. Oct 2021 · 02:32 UTC
It doesn't fit the theme very well, but it was still fun regardless. The game has clear Portal-vibes going for it. The puzzles have some issues in terms of their design, though. In the last level, I was able to just jump to the different platforms until I got close to the end, and then just use the last two orb activators to boost me up to the door and open it. Overall, I still had a good time with this.
sockpuppetcow
06. Oct 2021 · 02:38 UTC
Neat little puzzle idea, environment reminded me of the first portal game. Would be cool to see this expanded on later.
JesusOnWheels
09. Oct 2021 · 02:53 UTC
I had some trouble using the menu with PC. All of the prompts were for XBOX so I had to guess the controls. I liked the core concept, although many of the levels could be cheesed via jumping. Maybe make the jump give you less height. I think given more time, this puzzle concept will be very fun and unique.
NinjaCatz
09. Oct 2021 · 15:19 UTC
A fun game. It reminded me very much of the Portal. To be honest, I haven't solved some of the puzzles. The game has the ability to jump up if you stand on the rising panel. If you move while lifting the panel, you will be thrown to the side of the movement. Thus, you can fly over the chasm on the last level and not complete the puzzle.
DarthBoseiju
10. Oct 2021 · 21:30 UTC
Strong portal vibes.

Excellent audio - the pickup and putdown sounds were super satisfying. The puzzles were cool, and you can see the potential for more down the line with some more polish. Good job!
cavejohnson332
11. Oct 2021 · 17:49 UTC
I really love the idea, and visual esthetics!
Unfortunately the UI text on the screen tells me to press left and right triggers (while on the keyboard and mouse), I figured out that Right Trigger "is" mouse buttons, but what corresponds to Left Trigger I still do not know)

Anyway, nice game!
Joror
11. Oct 2021 · 18:16 UTC
Nice 3d puzzler! Good ramp-up on the level complexity - the last few where timing was critical were a fun challenge. Would have loved a bit more exposition/story around why I was doing these tests. (but I finished them regardless ;))
Franciszek Pyrć
17. Oct 2021 · 06:31 UTC
This game has some potential, but it's not perfect in any way:
- keyboard and mouse support is essential and very easy to add
- when falling of the map you can see it from the bottom (probably you would want to make a portal 2 style pit that has black unlit textures)
- Sliding platforms apply speed to the character, but it's not indicated in any way and it doesn't make much sense (why is a platform going up launching me forward?)
- Game physics are quite janky, I had troubles solving the last 2 levels as when I was being launched to the side, I was still flying forward and I was barely able to stop at the edge of the platform
- in many levels there are those openable holes in the ground, which in some levels are used creatively and in other they are always open, so why can't you just put a big un openable hole there?
- the openable floors have a border around them, but you just clip through it by no reason (even flying platforms that rise from the pit would be better)
- some ambient sounds and more sound effects would be appreciated

Except those things I enjoyed the experience. Good job
🎤 BrandonDev
17. Oct 2021 · 22:13 UTC
@dock-frankenstein
Keyboard and mouse are supported and work the controls just aren't displayed due to lack of time.

Yeah If I had more time I definitely would have done that.

The moving platforms definitely could communicate what the do better for sure and definitely would have given more work. How they launch for sure doesn't make sense but needed to try to get there player to the right position. These are things that unfortunately can only be discovered with more play testing and fixed with tuning.

Parts of the trap doors are static geometry which need lightmaps to be baked for lighting. Removing them would require rebaking the lighting which takes up development time so I opted to leave them.

The trap doors having no collision was a deliberate choice I made to prevent the player from just walking across them to the other side. I had worked on a different solution to this problem but it didn't work consistently so I choose to make them have no collision instead. There where issues anyway with people just platforming across but this way made it a little less obvious.

Thanks for the feedback!
Jupiter_Hadley
20. Oct 2021 · 09:45 UTC
Neat game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 49 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/_QnfntM1G-4