Hey, pretty cool! I'm not always sure what the rules are for the fuse, but way better than my game!

Yet another idea that could become commercial game. You should extend it and release it on mobile. Just fantastic. I love the simple esthetics. I got stuck on one of the levels (the one when on your first step you trigger the fuse) - but that's probably just because I am not too good at puzzle games :D

Really neat game! One of the best I player so far.

My major critique which made me stop the game (around level 5) is I couldn't figure out the puzzle dynamics. When can you push a cable and when can't you?

Notes

* Space bar does something weird (bug?)

Cool concept, lots of fun. I think the difficulty is about right for most of the levels, although the last level (I think it was the last, the one with the great hall) felt a bit more like "you know what to do, it's just going to take a minute to do it properly". Overall a great game.

So good ! And I felt really smart when I finished it ! Once I understood everything completly it was a real joy. I loved the last level, my first reaction was to lit the fuse and try to push the cable with the fire lit, and it was really fun trying to push the cable while worrying about the fire getting closer x) Other thing that I liked in this level, in my second attemps I accidently lit the fire, so I had to run to stop it, I thought I was doomed but I managed to push the cable enough to win the level, I really liked the fact that you can win without playing perfectly.
Every level brings something different and another way to play with the cables, really clever ! Amazing entry, I had a lot of fun !

A really clever idea - genuinely, really fun to play!

There's a lot of potential with these dynamics. Though I was stuck on one of the levels, even after discovering the space bar behaviour. Really cool anyway!

@christian-zommerfelds @cagibi Haha, the spacebar behavious is a debug thing I forgot to take out. Ignore it! Good find though :D

@christian-zommerfelds You're right that the rope behaviour is not so clear. Visuals and better tutorialization would help a lot here. Didn't have the time sadly.

@eaglev You're right about the last level. The mechanics were asking for a larger level where you can really stretch the rope out, but the level requires more work for an interesting puzzle to actually emerge. Unfortunately , I had critically little time for level design.

@puree-adventure Glad you enjoyed it so much, it's so so nice to read about your fun experience :) Wasn't expecting such positive feedback for this one.

This is excellent. Evokes the feel of great Sokoban style games, particularly Pipe Push Paradise for me. I like how it implements puzzling grid-based movement, but it doesn't rely on boxes like other Sokoban games. Moving the fuse and stepping over it results in interesting decision making. I did encounter some bugs, but the core here is really strong. Love the low poly explosions. Really well done.

Music is very relaxing.

I discovered mechanics while playing and it made me feel smart.

Great idea, great execution! Had a lot of fun with it and made it till the end!
Cool visuals and effects as well. Very solid job for a 48h game!

My only wish would be a tutorial where player could learn about basic mechanics, but that's totally forgivable for a compo game. Well done!

I was recording my playthrough of your game so here’s a link in case you’d like to see it
https://youtu.be/gFusdrtgKRk
Your game starts at 30:50

@jonah-srg Pipe Push Paradise, Stephen's Sausage Roll and those types of 'hardcore' Sokoban games are a big inspirations for me (the SSR influence is fairly obvious in the visuals here), so that comparison means a lot. Thank you for the kind words.

@caudatecoder It's so nice of you to do this! Really interesting to watch. Thank you for sticking with it despite the bumpy start. Regarding tutorials: I really want to avoid explicit (verbal or visual) tutorials, instead setting up levels where the player learns by doing. Your playthrough shows some flaws in the current level design (particularly level 2). So thank you for that. Such valuable information.

That was a nice experience, despite a few bugs and some "why can't I move the fuse like that!?!" moments. Congrats for making it for the Compo! I also appreciate how the theme was turned into the main mechanic of the game and you actually have to act (with volition) to delay the inevitable instead of just avoiding it to happen.

good game. Got stuck on a level and I think I missed a way to manipulate the fuse. Some way of highlighting the mechanics would have been nice. Enjoyed the music too.

Very nice idea. I agree with @harmadillo that some kind of mechanics highlighting would've been nice. Brush up the graphics a little and think you've got a potentially nice game to release. Well done!

@clement-sparrow It took a while to come up with something that really adheres to the theme strongly (rather than being a time trial thing or just a coat of paint on top of standard gameplay), so it's really nice that you pointed that out, thanks!

Great little puzzle game. It took a bit for me to really understand the second puzzle, but after that, I thought it was great!

Very interesting mechanics, and a very fun experience overall.
As some other comments mentioned, it was a bit weird to know when you could move a line or not. It becomes obvious the more you play, but maybe some color coding could help.

Very nice game idea and graphics. I found a weird game behavior when clicking space. I don't know what it is, but I guess it's a bug.

This is really nice looking puzzle game I like the last level most and I find it really clever design.

But you should consider a little nudge about the difficulty curve. I find the level before the last is the most challenging and the last level is a little more satisfying than every other levels so I think it would be better to let the player see everything or get to see the best part of the game a little easier.

Reaaly cool puzzle game.
Maybe the fact that you can move and extend the fuse could be conveyed better (I got it reading some comments, to be honest) but once you get the mechanics of the game, it really fun. The challenges are smart and are well layed out in terms of difficulty and both audio and visuals are really good.
Kudos!

Great concept with commercial promise :) Clever design of the puzzles, top entry.

Loved the visuals and nice puzzle mechanic. I wouldn't say no to more content though :)

PS: I'm tweeting about games I play from this jam. Here is yours: https://twitter.com/TheAntonSem/status/1512510881673981966

The visuals of this were great and the idea was pretty solid! Like others said, I had quite a hard time picking up the mechanics. In particular it took me a long time to realize the only way to solve some puzzles was to light the fuse then stub it out. It also didn't seem intuitive to do that, since you'd think the stem couldn't become longer once you'd burned part of it. (Not a huge issue, and with a little instruction about this it might become a positive!)

I did encounter a strange bug in the last level where if I stretched the fuse into the right position toward the bottom, it would actually merge two sections of the fuse with a weird graphic, and the fire would sort of "jump" between the two pieces of the fuse. It's kind of hard to describe; I wish I'd caught a video. It wasn't a game breaking bug; I still managed to finish! It was just odd. Thanks for a fun entry.

@lukix The behaviour when pressing space is a debug thing I forgot to take out, ha. It's not supposed to be in the game.

@antonsem Really cool initiative, I appreciate it very much :) I wish I had time for more content, yeah. I was struggling with the coding side for so long that in the end I had like 2 hours for puzzle design, haha.

@cppchriscpp Thanks for the in-depth feedback! Interesting point about what you thought the rules about extending the fuse after lighting it would be. Something I didn't consider. In general, the take-away from reading the comments is that more tutorialization is needed. It's an interesting but slightly unintuitive (highly unrealistic) game mechanic.

I'm aware of the bug and kinda know what's causing it. Sadly didn't have time to fix it and was hoping it will be enough of an edge case to not cause too much trouble. Sorry you encountered that, but thanks for reporting!

Hi! I feel like I'm not adding anything with my comment, as I agree with everyone else but still want to encourage you to continue with the idea and publish it for mobile.

Fresh puzzle game idea and well designed levels. It's probably the most impressive achievement as I've also tried to submit puzzle games but it's too hard to present even a few amount of different levels. As other people say I'd add a little bit more of explanations, or as you say, simple tutorial oriented levels. Also, big fan of music and visuals. Theme used on a thorough manner.

Nailed entry!

This game is FUN. I couldn't stop playing until I figured out how to beat all levels. Such a cool puzzle. Great job!

Really novel puzzle game that fits the theme perfectly. The aesthetic style has character too. The fuse extension mechanic is is unintuitive at first and somewhat awkward when you finally understand it because you tend to "trip" on the line extending it without intending to. The level you depict in this page is by far the hardest, because you need to figure out that you have to stop the fuse and only then extend it. I think an easier level presenting this technique should preceed it. Regardless this is fun and really interesting, nice job!

Yay!! I did it! Super fun, original idea. Love the simple graphics. Was very mind bending at times and I think maybe the levels were a little out of order in terms of difficulty. I think the hardest one was stuck somewhere in the middle.

I really loved this, top marks!

your game is very suitable for this topic, I like the design and the mechanics of the game surprised me, great game

I really enjoyed that, very clever mechanics. I wish it was a little bit more obvious on when you could push the wick. But you have a really solid concept!

Great vibe and visual style. Novel game mechanic and solid teaching moments. The main thing I didn't like was being unclear on how the fuse pushing works. Sometimes it worked as expected, but other times it wouldn't behave consistently (seemingly). This ultimately took away from me feeling like I was expressing my creativity while trying to solve the puzzle.

Really nice game. Reminded me a bit of Stephen's Sausage Roll (very limited moves, but somehow quite challenging). Not much more to say, just a solid entry and a fun puzzle.

Got stuck in the level displayed above.

I like that the blocks regenerate on restart, so it feels different every time

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I'm glad that some of you are clicking with the central mechanic despite the oddity and lack of tutorialization.

@jackaljk You're right both about the unintuitiveness of the central mechanic and the picured level. Too much new information packed into a single level.

@brotherst @oneowerse I'm really happy to read the words 'mind-bending' and 'surprise' in your comments :) It's the feeling you hope to give with a puzzle game.

@the-neon-shark Feedback and explanation about how exactly the fuse pushing works is the biggest flaw of the game right now. I think your point about it limiting player creativity is really accurate and well said. In a puzzle game, you want the player to wrestle with your puzzles, not your ruleset.

@krammetje I love Stephen's Sausage Roll, so it's nice to read that comparison :)

Ah just to be clear I worded that strangely, but I did mean it in a positive way 😁

I think is the best I played so far! The mechanic allows for exploration, the quick reset makes it feel less punishing and the overall look and feel reminds me of Ape Out + Baba is You. Well done!

Really cool levels! Designing them must have been tough!

Really cool levels! Designing them must have been tough!

Nice puzzle. Mechanic is interesting, but eventually I just stuck on one of levels. Great work!

A fun little puzzle game! The basic mechanics are pretty easily deduced after a few tries, which makes for intuitive gameplay. One thing I struggled for longer than I care to admit is the exact rules for fuse pushing. I think the "needs free space to the left and right sides" rule could be somehow explained, or better yet - give the player some feedback what happened when the fuse didn't move as expected. Overall, I had fun playing it. Solving these puzzles made me feel pretty good about myself, especially the penultimate level (which I got stuck on for a while).

I found one bug with fuse pushing. It happened to me in level 3 and the final one, but I think it's related to how you detect if the segment can be pushed, so would happen in any other levels if there's space to do it. If the end of the fuse is next to another segment, instead of lighting it up the end segment gets pushed and the fuse gets disconnected into separate pieces (see the video after 01:05).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCogTkYNEgQ
It doesn't break the game, though, as you can light the fuse by standing on the second segment and it works as expected (other than the flame continuing through disconnected segments, but that was fun to watch ;) ).

@binaryprinciple So happy to hear that it's your favourite, means a lot :) Ape Out is an interesting comparison - didn't think about it as I was making the game, but you have a point!

@lcstark Thanks for the really thoughtful feedback and the video! You're absolutely right about transparency of the rule. Some sort of visual feedback would help. And I was aware of that bug, but thank you for the detailed report anyway. You're right - it's about how I keep track of the segments. It would be a non-trivial thing to fix and I was sorely lacking time.