Puzzlebot by Lucas Simmons

[raw]
made by Lucas Simmons for Ludum Dare 51 (JAM)

Platform, Pick up blocks, and Press buttons to solve all the puzzles in Puzzlebot. Be careful, Puzzlebot only has 10 seconds of battery life so you'll need to move quick. Screenshot (76).jpgScreenshot (77).jpgScreenshot (78).jpgScreenshot (79).jpg

Warning: In the last level, there's a bug that will cause you to get stuck in the wall when getting the 3rd box. Make sure you stay on the left side of the platform towards the ledge to avoid getting stuck.

Ratings

Overall 80th 4.105⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 173th 3.895⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 494th 3.421⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 325th 3.921⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 447th 3.816⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 294th 3.632⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 329th 3.316⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 337th 3.711⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Given 21🗳️ 14🗨️

Feedback

Timo Strating
03. Oct 2022 · 22:13 UTC
I unfortunately did not get it working using wine on Linux. It only showed the UI but everything else was black. But still I would like to thank you for participating in the Jam and congratulate you on the great background music.
Igor Morgun
04. Oct 2022 · 15:36 UTC
Playing like portal 2 mechanicks,too gud
robobarbie
05. Oct 2022 · 03:19 UTC
Love this one to the moon and back. The attention to detail on the robot and the quick thinking puzzles are so good!! Would absolutely play more of this!!
Jerment
05. Oct 2022 · 04:25 UTC
Really like gameplay of this!
KITmani
05. Oct 2022 · 04:52 UTC
When the theme for the jam was chosen, I was upset because I thought that puzzles with such a theme would not work. Thanks for proving me wrong. The gameplay is great, the puzzles are moderately challenging, and the robot animation and music are funky in a good way. Very solid submission!
triggthediscovery
05. Oct 2022 · 05:13 UTC
I like the music and the robot guy you play as. The game's really hard, a lot harder than I was expecting. The way progress isn't maintained between hitting the checkpoints really ratcheted up the tension in the later levels. I wish I saw your note about the last level before playing, though that's on me.
Brainloaf Studio
06. Oct 2022 · 02:01 UTC
Love the robot! Having the timer be on the back of the character model is a great touch, and I could really feel the tension as I rushed between charging area to charging area. Throwing and jumping on the boxes could get a bit finnicky at times, but the puzzles were fun to figure out. Well done!
FernandaBatista
06. Oct 2022 · 22:51 UTC
I really like it! It is a simple game that catches you for a while! I Loved the robot and the puzzles!
regalias
07. Oct 2022 · 23:30 UTC
I like the gameplay. check our game too <3
leorid
09. Oct 2022 · 18:41 UTC
The last two levels were really really hard. I'm glad I made it to the end, but the risk of falling down and having to restart everything was pretty scary.

The biggest citique goes to not seeing the elevators when removing boxes.

To "see" elevators there are a few things that could've been done:
- Make a button to see them through walls X-Ray Vision
- Make a screen with a camera that shows the position of the elevator
- Different Level Design to see the elevator from where the button is located
- Audio Cues that indicate where the elevator currently is

Second part are the very narrow timespans, with almost no margin of error. Despite correct execution it might be a failure just because one jump wasn't precise enough or because I didn't jump on the elevator while he was already going up, but when he was at it's stopping position.
This could be improved if battery was only consumed when the robot moves. 10 Seconds of movement, instead of 10 seconds realtime. Or 10 seconds game-time instead of 10 seconds real time might also work, if it would actually be 20 seconds realtime for example.

Also the throwing and picking of boxes should have some indicators
-> When is it possible to pick up a box? An icon over the box or outline or something like that would totally work.
-> Where does the box land when I throw it? This one is harder to fix, given the rigidbody physics, but boxes could lerp to a specific location and then turn on rigidbody physics, so the outcome is more preditible.

Despite all those small inconveniences I really liked the gameplay and robotic music.

If you want to take this further, which would totally be possible, I'd really go with "battery is consumed on movement", as well as adding checkpoints and very predictable movement (inlcuding jumps) and throws.

I hope you keep making cool games and I'm eager to see what you'll come up with next Jam. If you intend to continue with this, please let me know. ^^
🎤 Lucas Simmons
09. Oct 2022 · 20:51 UTC
@leorid Thanks so much for your feedback! I definitely get a lot of the things you pointed out. Some of the things like the boxes being hard to work with and not knowing where the platforms are I just didn't have time to make the systems better during the Jam. I totally agree with the timer needing to be longer than 10 seconds. I only made it real time seconds for the sake of the theme and actually right after uploading it was like, this definitely should have been longer. I love the idea of battery depletion over time but I probably won't update the game since I've kind of left game development behind in favor of producing music, I just come back every once in a while for a game jam.
MelekTaus
09. Oct 2022 · 21:53 UTC
The controls are snappy and feel pretty well. The puzzle design was very challenging and god damn.. I love it. I invested so much time in it, and that is a good thing.

But there is one annoying thing: the level design.. It is just frustrating that you have no indicators for timing stuff. For example: "Q: The elevator must stop at the correct position" - "A: How? I can't see it!"

And that leads to the next frustrating thing: It's all very close. One wrong step and you can do the whole stuff (you already know) again.

We (my jam buddy and I) started to record a video at last two stages:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0Z7RPHPiBM

Otherwise, good game, nothing else to say, that's something to be proud of!
🎤 Lucas Simmons
10. Oct 2022 · 00:34 UTC
@melektaus Thanks for the feedback. It's always fascinating to see how other people play your game, so I really appreciate the video you did! I'm pretty sure you were like a pixel away from getting trapped in the glitched wall at the end.
Sethios
12. Oct 2022 · 18:41 UTC
Very impressed to see a 3D platformer in a game jam! I loved the animations of Puzzlebot, they're very lively and cute! The puzzles were fun and made me feel pretty smart, and I had fun with the different levels, although some timing challenges, such as catching or stopping an elevator at the right time were more difficult than they should be, due to not actually being able to see the elevators (Which I also find a bit slow, even in the case where it was made to add a little bit of suspense). This has lead to a few frustrating deaths that felt more like an arbitrary hit from the game rather than a lack of skill. The music loop is enjoyable and not too repetitive, which is great. Also, showing the energy charge of Puzzlebot on their back is such a great idea, it makes me think of the way Dead Space developers decided to show the player's health bar. That's a pretty good game overall, good job!
Natwomb
13. Oct 2022 · 19:47 UTC
Great job on the mechanics and level design, had a great time playing this game!
NoelOskar
19. Oct 2022 · 22:56 UTC
Really nice, great job on the game, i feel like the player move speed could be a bit faster, or the distance between objectives shorter, so there's slightly more room for error, as right now, even a slightest error can be the cause of your demise