LudumData

Pipeline Ride by Papaver

[raw]
made by Papaver for Ludum Dare 54 (JAM)

coverimage.png

A deceivingly simple "1-dimensional" game.

Goal

Follow the line by making turns at the right moment. There is only one way to go: towards the finish! Try to get there as fast as possible.

There is only one line to follow, so there is not so much space to move around. However, there are turns and speeds limits to challenge you! Speed up and slow down in time to match the limits, while taking turns at the right moment.

There are 7 levels. You can skip/browse levels by using the number keys or with the icon in the bottom left corner.

Controls

  • Arrow keys/WASD/ZQSD
  • L: level overview and scores
  • M: mute music
  • N: mute sound effects
  • R: restart level (and reset the level time)
  • 1-7: select level

To speed up, press the arrow key that matches your direction. To slow down, use the arrow key in the opposite direction.

Tools

  • Godot 4.1
  • InkScape
  • Audacity
  • Roland piano
  • Microphone
Bugfixes
  • 2023/10/04 Fixed reset bug that would crash the game, and fixed a mislabeled tile in the tileset.
Post Compo
  • 2023/10/09 Made a version with different controls: holding the keys down will also speed you up or slow you down. I hope this version will cause less painful arms. :wink:
    Furthermore, by pressing V you can show or hide the speed in the player circle.

:heart:

I'd love to see your feedback and scores!

HTML5 (Web) https://anneroos.home.fmf.nl/ld54/
Post Compo (different controls) https://anneroos.home.fmf.nl/pipelineride/
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/pipe-line-ride

Ratings

Overall 550th 3.586⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Fun 375th 3.672⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 344th 3.621⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Theme 845th 3.207⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 807th 3.155⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Audio 525th 3.214⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Humor 799th 2.396⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Mood 873th 3.107⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Given 21🗳️ 34🗨️

Feedback

Flying Butter Studio
03. Oct 2023 · 19:49 UTC
I win, i finaly win YES!
Greate work, fun to play, thank you for this nice entry! :smile:
primed-pixel
03. Oct 2023 · 19:49 UTC
Quite a innovative and overall creative game. Really fun concept and solid levels, particularly for jam game (level design can be a bitch!). Definitely something that could be expanded upon as well, with additional mechanics and levels, which is always great because it means the concept it really solid. Great job. Only obligatory criticism is that I'm having trouble piecing together how it *really* matches the theme, but that's quite a pedantic observation. Great job overall!
🎤 Papaver
03. Oct 2023 · 21:34 UTC
@primed-pixel Thank you for your kind feedback! :heart:

Themewise, it is indeed a bit of an abstract interpretation. Often we consider space to be 3D, so I thought: let's try to make a 1-dimensional game! In the end, you could argue it is still a 2D game, but as a player you only really have one line that you can follow (albeit a line with turns and funny patches with speed limits), so the moving space of the player is limited.

----


@flying-butter-studio Awesome! Well done, it is not easy :smile: Thanks for your comment :heart:
fabula_rasa
03. Oct 2023 · 21:49 UTC
I'm soooo bad at this :laughing: - I didn't manage to hit even one of the star ratings in any of the levels. Yep, that's how bad I am at this. But I did manage to finish. Thanks for providing ample checkpoints! I met one bug. In level 3, the first green speed limit doesn't work (I think it's the first on the level, it's on a horizontal path). I went through it consistently on yellow speed and no one stopped me (*insert evil laugh here*).

I wish there was a running tally of "deaths" somewhere in the corner. That would be a fun statistics to see. And I bet I could win in that one :grin:

As always, I loved your color work. And the music piano tune is superb. Like from silent era movies. Both very fitting and supremely pleasant. Great work!
🎤 Papaver
03. Oct 2023 · 23:15 UTC
@fabula-rasa Thank you for your kind comments and feedback, as always! :star:

I am sure that if you retry level 1 and go at speed 20, you would be able to get a star! :wink:
Haha yes, I thought about showing the number of "deaths" as well. :laughing:

I can't seem to reproduce the bug you mention. Also level three doesn't start with a green speed limit but with a red one (after an arrow that shows you the way). :thinking:
fabula_rasa
03. Oct 2023 · 23:29 UTC
@papaver I didn't mean the level starts with it, but that it's the first green on the level. This one:

![Screenshot_1.jpg](///raw/732/a2/z/5f739.jpg)

And you're right - I replayed level 1 on speed 20 and got a star! :star: Hoooray!
🎤 Papaver
04. Oct 2023 · 00:11 UTC
@fabula-rasa Aaah, sorry, I didn't read carefully enough. Now I could reproduce it! Thanks for the screenshot. The problem was that in the tileset, this tile was mislabeled as "normal". :laughing: I fixed the bug, so that future players have a little extra challenge.
nullval
07. Oct 2023 · 11:34 UTC
devilish challenging, but really fun
LDJam user 268300
07. Oct 2023 · 19:48 UTC
Funy game! The game felt nicely polished, I really liked the addition of the star ratings for each level. Graphics were simple but clean and worked well. Loved that you added additional game mechanics to prevent it from becoming too repetitive.

Good job :)
spooncats
07. Oct 2023 · 20:03 UTC
Very simple but very addicting! really nice minimalistic style as well.
Silas Reinagel
07. Oct 2023 · 20:21 UTC
My reflexes are too slow to be really good at this (I'm getting old!), but I really liked the design here. It fits nicely in the theme, and I like the way the levels each involve different types of challenges.

Very clean and cute jam game!
Jollymah
07. Oct 2023 · 20:33 UTC
This game is driving me crazy ahah. The concept is a good idea. The levels, graphics and sounds are clean. You've done a great job!
nusan
08. Oct 2023 · 15:02 UTC
Very cool concept! I find it a bit too hard for me at level 5 and a bit too tedious also to restart endlessly. It's not easy to go from "multi-tapping super fast to change speed" to "precision typing to match the timing of the turn" so it throws me out. Maybe if the speed was attached to another control (mouse for ex.) it would be easier or somehow linear to avoid tedious super fast multi-tapping. Also maybe having the checkpoint having a good base line speed for the next section would make retries less annoying. But all in all it's a great idea and it works well as is, just as it becomes harder it becomes less fun for me. Keep up the good work!
🎤 Papaver
08. Oct 2023 · 16:24 UTC
@nusan Thanks for your feedback! In the beginning I thought the controls were funny, but now in the end I think that maybe just holding the arrow keys down for accelartion would have been better, cause the controls are now causing painful arms!
Maybe I'll try other controls in a Post-Compo version of the game later. :smile:
shiny Elster
08. Oct 2023 · 18:19 UTC
That's quit a turn on the theme! Looks easy but get's harder fast. Need a few runs to get through. Good Job!
GameDevJeroen
09. Oct 2023 · 09:32 UTC
Wow, that was so much more difficult than I expected it to be! The controls do take some getting used to, but getting my first 3 stars on level 2 made me fist pump while being alone in my room haha! Nicely polished entry, goed gedaan! :smile:
🎤 Papaver
09. Oct 2023 · 10:25 UTC
@gamedevjeroen Haha, dankjewel! :smile:
Kjip
10. Oct 2023 · 13:30 UTC
Great game! Loved how you couldn't just speed through every level. Audio was nice too, and I overall enjoyed the game! The only thing I would love to see improvement on if you were to ever release this further is the artstyle, as the colors felt a bit distracting. Overall great game!
🎤 Papaver
10. Oct 2023 · 14:33 UTC
@kjip Thanks for your comment! I chose a color palette that I liked, but I guess everyone likes different art styles. :wink: Which colors distract you the most? The background circles or maybe the colors of the player?
jk5000
10. Oct 2023 · 18:47 UTC
A super simple and fun little game. Like the visuals and the music. A bit difficult, but not too difficult. Overall a pretty well made little jam game.
benskca
10. Oct 2023 · 18:55 UTC
This was really fun! The visual style is very clear without looking boring at all, which is perfect for a game where you have to react to what's ahead so quickly. I think you got the timing for turning perfect, it's challenging to make turns at high speed but it still always felt like my fault when I failed.
Lachlan James
14. Oct 2023 · 00:35 UTC
This game is *hardcore*. Controls well and definitely makes you feel like it's your own fault for being bad, which is a great sign. Nice take on the theme. Visually nice and clear and cohesive, and audio definitely gets the job done. Also didn't encounter *any* bugs myself, which is a really impressive feat for the jam.

Wish list:
Difficulty obviously ramps up fast - a couple more levels in between to ease the player into the mechanics would be good (but I get it, jam balancing is rough stuff). Player experience wise, I think a little more zoom out on the camera would be nice to help see things that are coming up - while I understand it's a part of the experience, a lot of the 'green zone into red zone' type challenges felt a little cheap.

I'm curious about a smoother way of controlling speed (e.g. scrollwheel for those that have it) - sometimes the input spam needed to raise or lower speed fast enough felt a little excessive.
🎤 Papaver
14. Oct 2023 · 00:44 UTC
@lachlan-james Thanks for playing and your elaborate feedback! I was indeed pondering if I should zoom out a little bit more, or if I can do something else camera-wise such that you can see more of the path ahead. Maybe I will try it in a Post Compo version. :thinking: In the current Post Compo version I changed the controls a bit: holding keys down will also speed you up or slow you down, so you have to spam the keys less, because my arm starting hurting :laughing:
tucan
15. Oct 2023 · 03:48 UTC
This was a simple yet very addictive idea! You ramp the difficulty level pretty well! Also I'm stuck at the very last level! hahaha No matter how much I try I can't get to make that final turn!
There were some times in the last level where was going on green I got out of the pipe and instead of losing I got onto previous parts of the pipe! I liked your game! Good Job!
![Screenshot_2023-10-14_21-47-22.png](///raw/307/c3/z/6049f.png)
tucan
15. Oct 2023 · 04:02 UTC
Managed to see the end line! I'm not stuck anymore! This was challenging and enjoyable!
![Screenshot_2023-10-14_22-00-24.png](///raw/307/c3/z/604a2.png)
![Screenshot_2023-10-14_22-01-04.png](///raw/307/c3/z/604a3.png)
🎤 Papaver
15. Oct 2023 · 08:26 UTC
@tucan Thanks for playing and your feedback. ❤️ Very well done getting to the end! 🥳💪
LDJam user 206001
20. Oct 2023 · 16:55 UTC
It seems simple but it's difficult lol. Interesting how it's so simple but smart. The little song is cool, agreed. A good jam starter. I'm terrible at it and I didn't get past the third stage, although I could if I tried enough times.