EPOCH by Wouter52
EPOCH
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PLAY HERE ====> https://wouter52.com/PROJECTS/LD51
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Welcome Newcomer!
You have been assigned to fix bugs in this system. The system in this game is running very unstable ever since the y2k38 happened (codename: epochalypse)
Your task is to fix as many bugs as possible in the program "Bug Splatter". When you have more than 8 bugs, the system will be lost forever, so be careful.
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CONTROLS:
- Use the mouse to navigate through the system.
- Use leftclick to select the bugfix when asked.
Trivia: what is y2k38?
This is a time formatting bug in computer systems with representing times after 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038.
The problem exists in systems which measure Unix time – the number of seconds elapsed since the Unix epoch (00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970) – and store it in a signed 32-bit integer. The data type is only capable of representing integers between −(231) and 231 − 1, meaning the latest time that can be calculated is 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038.
Credits:
- Some sound effects are generated with: https://sfxr.me/
- Graphics is ours, made with the DOS system font.
Changelog:
Non-gameplay - Scoreboard is bigger now. Supports up to 32 entries, instead of 10 - Fixed cursor at start of game - Fixed issue that highscore would not show directly after submitting - Special Post-jam tag in highscores for players who played the post-jam version - Fixed issue where collision detection falls appart when Brave's anti-fingerprinting feature is turned on.
Post-jam version (when activated) - Bugs can't be unreachable all the time anymore - There is a smaller chance to get boxed in after the maze changes - There are diffrent graphics modes now - You start with 4 bugs, instead of 3. - Message at bottom added - Static noise sound gets more intense when there are more bugs in the system - Added two more ways to fix bugs: select higher / lower number . . .
| SOURCE CODE | https://wouter52.com/PROJECTS/LD51/SOURCE.zip |
| PLAY HERE (v1.0 & v1.1) | https://wouter52.com/PROJECTS/LD51 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/epoch |
Ratings
| Overall | 353th | 3.721⭐ | 72🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 671th | 3.279⭐ | 72🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 146th | 3.893⭐ | 72🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 233th | 4.035⭐ | 73🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 208th | 4.176⭐ | 73🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 474th | 3.329⭐ | 72🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 483th | 3.015⭐ | 68🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 197th | 3.891⭐ | 71🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 58🗳️ | 122🗨️ |
Thank you for the awesome feedback! The 'things happening every 10 seconds' is indeed a bit dull, but this was the only fun idea we could execute without much stress in the view hours we had (-: We had another cool idea, but we could not figure out how to make that a game. It was along the lines of this: "Every second someone dies. It is your task to mke that every 10 seconds to restore the balance in the world".
The game was inspired from a board game where you could also get trapped like that. Maybe, if a post-jam version will become availible, we could explore the idea to give the player always 'some path' without messing with the balance too much. My girlfriend also found out that it was possible for bugs to spawn somewhere where you could never fix them ^^"
I hope that this scenario will never happen in the real world, just like Y2K was not really a problem because of extensive preperations :-)
Then I'll try to figure out what the problem is. You are the first reporting that issue so I'm very curious
Thanks for your feedback!
Map being rearranged is both mechanically and visually cool, but the way it works often results in layouts where it's physically impossible to reach any of the bugs. I was doing good until I got stuck in a small corridor and none of the map resets set me free.
cool experience overall, I often end my reviews with my personal best score if the game has a score system, but you already have a global scoreboard which is pretty cool :]
@theo-hussey
@kr4ft3r
@d34th0ftit4n5
@stefan-laimer
@crwohlers
@kizilejderha
@ithebreather
Thank you all for your feedback. We just released a post-jam version where these issues should be less frequent. We did a view tweaks without rewriting half of the code.
Also, there are some cool graphics options now if you press G in-game :grin:
@digitaldude555
I've looked at the issue that you reported, but I can't reproduce it. Maybe the RNG-gods wheren't with you that day ^^"
@shimmerscale
I've looked at the issue that you reported, but I can't reproduce it sadly :-( What I found out is that the game does not respond well to mouseinputs when scaling the page. Maybe that is the problem? You can press F11 to put the browser in full-screen, combining that with 100% scaling could resolve your issue.
Congratz on the 5th place!
We would love that too, but it is not possible right now without rewriting everything. So we made the chance smaller that it happens in the post-jam version (with some clever trickery) :-)
Which annoyed me a bit when I got stuck in a dead end and ten seconds later I got stuck in another one. That was frustrating and it would have been nice to have some sort of wall breaking feature or something.
The idea is good and even though I didn't know what to do at first, I got the hang of it very quickly.
- changing int32 to int64
- changing int to long
We had ideas for the following puzzles:
- changing the value to a higher number
- changing the value to a lower number
- a variation on the existing puzzles, with other int64 and longs mixed-in
I could tweak it a bit today or tomorrow, but I don't know if I disturb the balance too much if I do ^^" I'll let you know if I added / changed puzzles :-)
@steinuil
@Defrag
I added two more ways to fix bugs; select higher / lower number
You can play it in the post-jam version (just select it from the main menu) :grin:
The graphic design is minimalist and efficient. The graphics are in line with the theme of the game. The visual feedbacks are just as effective. From a visual point of view, it's great.
However, the gamaplay in my opinion has a major problem in the movement system. The randomization or at least the random change is both a strength and a weakness. Indeed, there are certain situations where you are stuck and you can only hope to reach a bug, and pray that the new pattern / path allows you to reach a bug.
Apart from this path problem, the game is really fluid and excellent. Confusing at the beginning if you don't know anything about programming, but when you observe better, the instructions tell you what to do. You did a great job of giving the impression that you need programming skills when all you really need is to read.
postscript: sorry, not being good in English, this is a Deepl translation from the French language
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Thank you for the wonderful feedback!
We programmed it like an arcade. Once you get 9 bugs, you will get a BSOD with the final score. When you press ENTER the score is send to our server. I suspect that you did not press enter? Maybe I could add your score manually if you would like?
Glad you liked it!
Merci beaucoup pour vos commentaires ! Je suis d'accord pour dire que le générateur de labyrinthes aléatoires est une arme à double tranchant. Il peut être frustrant de perdre à cause de quelque chose que l'on ne contrôle pas.
Nous avons pensé qu'il était important que les instructions soient claires pendant le "débogage". Je suis heureux que vous l'appréciiez !
Post-scriptum : désolé, je ne suis pas bon en français :-) J'ai aussi utilisé la traduction Deepl pour vous :-)
I agree that the gameplay feels a bit simple. Personally I like that kind of games (esecially when it is almost bed-time haha), but I understand that it is not everyone's cup of tea.
Did you try the post-jam version? (you can select it from the main menu). It has so more puzzles to fix the bugs. Maybe you'll like that better
I like the global mood. The errors are hard to debug but i'm not actually a real dev !
Congratulations.
I can see why the waiting can be a bit dull, thanks for that feedback! We'll make sure the next game won't have elements that needs waiting&frustrating :innocent:
I think it is a wonderful idea to make the puzzles harder after some time has passed. I'll think about it for the next jam :-)
Great idea and actually a relaxing game. There are those Old-IT-vibes, love it.
And yay, I am in the top `byte 5` on the scoreboard :v:
The concept is neat and I really liked how the map (characters) blocked you moving perfectly. Great job!
Loved the idea though, great use of the theme!
such a chaotic game! I dont understand the question but I do like the art style!(rate back?)
Thanks for your feedback. When 'debugging' you can see just above the yellow text "change datatype 'int to 'long'", what you need to do here is lookig for the answer that starts with 'long' and click that one. So the text above the yellow texts gives a hint on what to do
Hope it helps :smile:
Thank you for your feedback! And congratz on your score!
Brave:
Firefox:
I'll take a look later with a VM and a fresh install if Pop!OS, I'll let you and @shimmerscale know if I found something. This is a great opportunity to learn something! :smile:
Turning that setting off will result in my game working. But I can understand if you do not want to do that. Thank you two for the bugreport! It solves a very old mistery with my LD48 game too. Where a screenshot is shared on my website. There were one or two images with random pixels being the wrong color. I used the same code there to key some colors and change it on-the-fly :sweat_smile:
**I changed my code, so it will work with your brave browser now.** Can @matt-ravenhall also confirm for me if it also works in firefox now?
Here is some general information about it:
- https://incogniton.com/what-is-canvas-fingerprinting/
- https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/issues/9186
- https://brave.com/privacy-updates/3-fingerprint-randomization/
Hopefully Brave is working for you now :-)
I had fun debugging this tough nut :smile:
Next jam I will use the alpha channel for these kinds of things :laughing:
It might be a little simple at first, but once you start exploiting the edge cases and less obvious features you instantly become immersed
I agree that there could have been some more difficulty later in the game :-)
Later-on I realized that the score is inherent to the amount of time played; every 10 seconds a bug spawns, and every solved bug is 1 point. So I can tell that you played around 20 minutes to get 125 points ^^"
Did you like it that way? Or was it perhaps more fun that the faster bugs are solved, the more points the player gets?
It also seems like there are some tricks you can do with where you stand when the map resets, in order to influence how it changes. But I haven't tested that enough to say for sure
We did not document that behaviour, so props to you that you found both features.
https://youtu.be/m7KJvAJLSXE
This looks and feels great! The graphical style is unique and fits the game perfectly, and I love the idea of the playing field changing around you at set intervals.
My main complaints are that bug-fixing feels too repetitive and trivial - you don't even need to read the error messages, the answer is always `int64` or `long` - and when the maze shifts, you can end up getting trapped and unable to reach any bugs. I had this happen to me three times in a row and helplessly game over'd as a result. (It it helps, I noticed that this is especially prone to happening if you, or a bug, are close to the edge of the screen, and especially if they're close to a corner. I had one bug trapped in the bottom-right corner that I couldn't reach for about twenty scans in a row.)
I saw you'd addressed both of those in the post-jam version and gave it a try, and honestly, I felt that with the improved maze generation, it was too easy. I was able to repeatedly clear the screen of bugs entirely, beat the current high score by nearly 100, and only lost because I was bored and needed the bathroom. There needs to be some kind of difficulty ramp-up, because I honestly think I could have kept playing forever, had I actually wanted to. As I said, it's a great game, but it's clearly not intended to be played for an hour straight like I was able to, and the fun wears off quite quickly.
One other likely bug I noticed: on a few occasions, I got a "change value to a lower number" error where there *was* no lower number, and the correct solution was to select the number that was already in the code, which makes no sense:
Thank you for the awesome and in-deph feedback! A progressively harder game would have been the answer to our balancing issues ^^" I agree that the post-jam version is a bit too easy now. I tried to balance that with a view harder minigames and the game starting with an additional bug.
I see that I messed up with the higher and lower minigame, you found an actual bug! :smiley: I'll try to address that later this week if I find the time. The whole minigame/puzzle aspect is based on lots of randomization. That is very easy to make lots of variations, but it can also result in some weird edge-cases ^^"
Thanks again!
Your game doesn't work on Firefox.