The Sand World by Debone

[raw]
made by Debone for Ludum Dare 53 (JAM)

header.png

Sand world

Welcome to the sand world, the falling-sand game where you need to collect all the sand you can possibly chew.

If you are up to the challenge and can use some of your imagination, you can try to create the desirable, shiny and valuable diamond.

tutorial.png

  • Use WASD to move around
  • Use 1,2,3,4 to play with the time
  • Use R to rotate the machines
  • Use Space to zoom-in/out

You can play it here

Changelog

  • Added eraser post-jam. I thought it could be left out but players feedback was that it softlock for finishing the game :( You can try to play without to judge what was worked during 72 hours before trying it fully.

Made solo in 72 hours by @debone.

Toolset:

  • Aseprite
  • Pixel Studio
  • VSCode
  • TypeScript
  • Phaser 3.60
  • Rex UI

Ratings

Overall 493th 3.658⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 153th 3.944⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 64th 4.111⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1128th 3⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 319th 4.1⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 752th 3.346⭐ 15🧑‍⚖️
Given 8🗳️ 13🗨️

Feedback

Wadlo
02. May 2023 · 03:36 UTC
Okay, this is really cool. Took me a little bit to figure out what was going on, but the mechanics are pretty cool.
LDJam user 299757
02. May 2023 · 03:37 UTC
Very fun to get all the sand flowing in the perfect way and I love the rush at the beginning to set everything up perfectly!
firesword05
02. May 2023 · 04:38 UTC
This game is fun. It took me about 10 minutes to unlock the duplicator. Things were going smoothly until I messed up the wood block placement and the sand no longer flowed into the conveyor. and had to try again, as I couldn't delete blocks. The game only runs if it's the tab I'm on. I should've realized that sooner. Because the collector could only collect 3 tiles, width, I could only make so many duplicators until it overflowed. I had reached the maximum sand it could collect. What's more, is that I messed up my placement, so it would be harder to place crushers because I've already shaped my wood in the shape of a vase. It's been a little over an hour, and I only have 10,000 sand. I'll need 75,000 to get a crusher.

I really like this game. I know this is all concept, and all of the problems above would be fixed when the features come out. I'm Just tired. I'll be looking forward to this game if the developer continues with it.
🎤 Debone
03. May 2023 · 16:48 UTC
Thanks for the great feedback folks, specially @firesword05 :) I'm really happy you got so much out of it. I'm definitely inclined to continue working on it, as here I got through like 50% of the features I wanted to add, and it's already giving a lot.

After some consideration and other feedback, I fixed and added back the eraser as a post thing. Folks I asked to test also pointed the game is softlocked from the end without making mistakes or trying out things. I had it removed last minute because it was very broken (thus the previous red UI buttons), but the rules allow to fix this kind of things and make sure players can finish the game. If you want to judge without really any changes after 72 hours, you can try without the eraser.
martinboue
03. May 2023 · 19:27 UTC
Great game with a lot of mechanics but hard to understand everything at first. You gotta let go, try and learn and just relax and have was fun. I like the fact that you have no pressure and you can retry any time. Nice job
Str8griz
03. May 2023 · 19:36 UTC
Fun game, the beginning was a little bit slow to get the first unlock but then after that the sand was flowing! Game mechanics felt tight.
Mololo
03. May 2023 · 19:56 UTC
This game was so much fun and complex. I managed to get the diamond and would love to play a full version of this game.

It took me some time to figure out how to move the camera and see the full map, and I eventually found out that I had a huge leak.

I also noticed that having two duplicators facing each other made the game too easy, especially if I built more. However, with some balancing and more features, I feel like this game has huge potential.

Awesome game, great job.
elysiagriffin
03. May 2023 · 20:51 UTC
Thanks for submitting your game for me to play on my stream!

If you’d like to rewatch the playthrough, you can find it here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1810468382?t=3h9m12s

Good luck on your ratings, see you next LD! :D

💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady
https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin
DeboTheaux
03. May 2023 · 21:14 UTC
![1million.png](///raw/131/75/z/5b211.png)

Thats all i can get hahahaha, nice game!
LDJam user 258850
03. May 2023 · 22:42 UTC
Diamond rain \o/

![image_2023-05-03_234236813.png](///raw/223/f3/z/5b266.png)

repeat across the ceiling with collectors along the floor

profit :sunglasses:
LDJam user 259037
04. May 2023 · 14:47 UTC
love a good scp game ;)
José Bonilla
04. May 2023 · 14:58 UTC
Fantastic game, super fun. Simple rules lead to complex behaviors. Very well done. I would have rated 5/5, I just felt you didn't follow the theme. Other than that, amazing!
🎤 Debone
04. May 2023 · 16:15 UTC
Thanks for playing @martinboue, @str8griz and @mololo. I updated the tutorial on the page after yours and other folk feedback, I think it improved the first moments :)

Thank you for playing on the stream @elysiagriffin, @jerem-watts. Watching someone having fun with it made my day.

Also thanks for playing that far into the game @debotheaux, @rickylee, @jose-bonilla. I hope you really had a good time.

And yeah, chances are I will be working on this further :)
leorid
04. May 2023 · 20:55 UTC
@debone Why did you add the rotation feature? It's basically a cheat.

Loved it btw. exactly my type of game :D
Having instructions outside the game didn't bother me, even when it usually does, but it's just scrolling down xD
LDJam user 279622
05. May 2023 · 10:58 UTC
i think i win
![diamonds.png](///raw/644/44/z/5b5f2.png)
LDJam user 279622
06. May 2023 · 02:10 UTC
I have upgraded my production

![production.gif](///raw/644/44/z/5b6fa.gif)

@rickylee your design can be improved:

![ideal.png](///raw/644/44/z/5b6fb.png)
LDJam user 279622
06. May 2023 · 04:12 UTC
ok ok last one

![onetrillion.png](///raw/644/44/z/5b70e.png)
Ategon
07. May 2023 · 08:24 UTC
Thanks for submitting your game to be played on the stream! If you wanted to watch my reaction again here’s the vod timestamped to your game
https://youtu.be/0LdDwOAkfzc?t=10195
🎤 Debone
17. May 2023 · 00:27 UTC
@leorid hehe yeah, it was that or a impossibly hard game

@badcop you made my Ludum Dare complete with your machines. Just the fact that you came back to it to try more is everything I needed from this jam.

@ategon thanks for playing! I hope you really enjoyed this one :)
WeirdBitGames
17. May 2023 · 00:38 UTC
This is pretty fun, very clever too! It takes a little while to get used to the gameplay/controls. The graphics are nice too!