In Stable by evn

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

Balance your ever-growing pile of hay! But don't let it fall.

This is our first ever game as a couple!

@evn: Gameplay, Programming @michaelmeyer10: Music, Sprites

Ratings

Overall 1279th 3.065⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Fun 900th 3.283⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1224th 2.826⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 561th 3.739⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1302th 2.652⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Audio 808th 3.022⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1010th 2.5⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1373th 2.478⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Given 10🗳️ 14🗨️

Feedback

qazwsxedc121
05. Oct 2021 · 02:54 UTC
Good job! very nice mechanic
cireneikual222464
05. Oct 2021 · 02:55 UTC
A fun idea, a bit buggy though, sometimes the physics act a bit strange. It doesn't seem like the hay spawning is random, which makes it difficult when the hay keeps spawning in the corner (maybe just narrow down the hay spawn range as well). I also eventually lost the whole board, and got negative lives, but the game didn't terminate.
lukeoco1234
05. Oct 2021 · 03:09 UTC
Cool mechanics for sure and a great concept. The lack of polish from no menus of death cycle to the glitchy peg physics makes this game a little jarring to play. But overall I enjoyed playing and really got into the gameplay when it was behaving. Good Job!!
nephronhunter
05. Oct 2021 · 03:11 UTC
This is a very fun and torturous version of the theme. Nice!
Sceef
05. Oct 2021 · 03:13 UTC
simple works)
GreenXenith
05. Oct 2021 · 03:41 UTC
Simple but fairly intuitive! As others have said, the spawning can screw you over, but otherwise it runs well. I personally consider the unstable peg thematically appropriate :)
🎤 evn
05. Oct 2021 · 03:54 UTC
Thank you for the feedback everyone!! We were originally planning to make the player control block movement as well, similar to Not Tetris. Would this be better than random block placement?
Togimaro
05. Oct 2021 · 14:29 UTC
The physics is quite funky sometimes and I find the bomb frustrating because it's almost impossible to dodge it
However the game is fun! I've manage to have 17 box before it all fall over
Very nice for a first game as a team!
Brelx
07. Oct 2021 · 01:48 UTC
I got a score of 53!
![instableSS.png](///raw/54e/c2/z/479da.png)

I wasn't sure if the goal was to build a really tall tower or get a higher score, but I went for the high score. This made the bombs my saving grace as I struggled to keep the hay bales from falling over. I was wishing for more of them to spawn.

I think this is a cool mechanic that can go in a lot of different directions if you decide to take it further. Great job on your game!
djcoil
14. Oct 2021 · 07:00 UTC
Nice work, good proof of concept. Some thoughts:
- as others have said, the bales tended to clump on one side or the other for 4-5 in a row or so. I don't think the player needs to be able to move the spawner, but being able to move the whole "platter" could be fun (A/D controls the pin balance, left/right controls moving back & forth?).
- Varying the rate of bale drops (or increasing it over time, if very slowly) might also help for both the clumping and to increase the dynamic feel of the gameplay. Reaching equilibrium is boring :grin:
- Purely aesthetic: I understand the gameplay reason for the bombs (abruptly change the balance), but it feels bad to watch my hard work "destroyed" even if I still got the points for them. What if instead of a falling bomb, a horse walked by and grabbed a bale to munch?
- the physics seemed to struggle a bit if I managed to get more than 8ish bales on the plate; the pin would get hard to move reliably. That's actually what cost me my game at around 55 bales.
Hydezeke
14. Oct 2021 · 14:20 UTC
I enjoyed this mechanic! At first I was frustrated when the spawner would create a tower on the edge, on one side. But then I started using the pin to 'topple' those towers before they got too tall. I could see how this would be frustrating if I had an equal tower on the opposite side, but it was interesting in my scenario at least.

Fun game!
kpded
21. Oct 2021 · 16:29 UTC
Strangely addictive gameplay :smile:

Well done!
rjhelms
21. Oct 2021 · 16:41 UTC
This was a lot of fun. The physics were a bit jank in places - just seemed to react very suddenly and strongly in unpredictable ways every now and again - but Unity do be like that.

A bit of polish would really amp this up, but a pretty solid entry as it is.