BOMBA LINE by lonewookie
PLAYS BEST WITH A KEYBOARD. IT IS PLAYABLE ON MOBILE, BUT THE VIRTUAL GAMEPAD IS TRICKY TO PLAY WITH.
Name: BOMBA LINE
Story: You are a bomb that is trying to start a BOMBA LINE (a conga line of bombs).
Goal: Your goal is to collect as many bombs as possible for your BOMBA LINE. The number of bombs is your score.
Obstacles: The head of the BOMBA LINE will explode every 10 seconds and be replaced with the next bomb in the BOMBA LINE. Avoid fire (though you are immune to fire for a moment after one of your bombs explode). Avoid the walls. Avoid your own BOMBA LINE! If your leader hits any of these obstacles or your leader explodes and your BOMBA LINE is empty, you lose.
Controls: Arrow keys.
This game was made in 48 hours for Ludum Dare 51, the theme of which was "Every 10 Seconds".
Thanks for playing!!

| Link | https://lonewookie.itch.io/ludum-dare-51 |
| Link | https://github.com/josephmarksjr/ld51 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/bomba-line |
Ratings
| Overall | 385th | 3.071⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 230th | 3.333⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 417th | 2.762⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 160th | 3.786⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 316th | 3.214⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 252th | 2.524⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 421th | 2.452⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 6🗳️ | 7🗨️ |
1. "Story: You are a bomb that is trying to start a BOMBA LINE (a conga line of bombs)." -> the title and capture reminded me of *Bomberman*, now I am thinking of *Snake*; a mix between the two? Reading the rules: yes! (line growth + explosions)
2. capture: nice, context-related visual timer! :) (I did something similar XD)
3. ah, .p8 file: Pico-8? :) Noticed some other such games here recently!
4. by the way, love punny titles for games; no exception here ;)
5. walking bomb is cute, and I like the general retro aesthetic
6. oh, no sounds? :o Too bad!! (agreed with ruthiepee that audio cues are important)
7. difference with *Bomberman* is how the explosion area is a disc rather than a line
8. clear indication for invicibility
9. when near a bomb, is was visually identical to the bombs from the line! Suggestion: use a different visual for still bombs (such as colour, for example) (later: so, agreed with Roboolet)
10. 1st attempt: lost with 11 points; weird, the rules state "If your leader hits any of these obstacles or your leader explodes and your BOMBA LINE is empty, you lose.", but I walked on fire with a NON-empty line!
11. nice, high score feature! And nice screen by the way, with the border string :)
12. 2nd attempt: lost with 18 points, once again, with non-empty line
13. I like how the explosion is both an advantage (one bomb is removed) and detrimental (fire appears); a thought: this makes getting arbitrary high score possible! And actually, you could "cheat" by always staying at 1-2 bombs, I think; maybe need some counterbalancing mechanic? But do you really lose a bomb? Testing: no, lies!! :o ("and be replaced with the next bomb in the BOMBA LINE")
**Takeaway:** *Bomberman* plays *Snake* (or conversely?); this is the kind of clever twists that I like. :) Simple yet effective, with cute clear graphics (except for the similar still bombs). Sounds would add BOTH to readability and sensations. One gameplay thing that seems to be missing compared to what the page states is the removal of one bomb per explosion and collision, which is an interesting mechanic, although it would need to be balanced so that the player cannot artificially stay low on bombs (I would say staying around 2-3 makes it not too risky).
Great effective take on the theme, thank you for it.
[Do not forget to review and rate other games, if you have enough time; it will also help yours get noticed and have testers and feedback. :)]
I found a minor bug: if you're moving, for example, to the right, it doesn't let you press left to turn around 180 degrees to hit your tail (which makes sense), but if you press two keys in quick succession (like, if you're moving right and press up then left very fast) you'll hit the part of your tail directly behind you instead of turning around as expected.
Overall, I really like this, the graphics are charming and the gameplay is engaging. Well done!