[POC] ReRun

edited in Projects
Over Christmas, @CiNiMoD and I worked on this idea a bit, and it is now mildly playable.
Warning: This is very prototypey - there are no menus, only two example levels, no scoring, no sound, barely even placeholder-art, and no UI.
We'd really like if you guys could try it out and give feedback on the concept.

So basically, ReRun is a cross between a top-down and side-scrolling puzzle game based around a cube.
Each side of the cube is a room that you need to get through. However, you can only actually move your character in the first room, and your movements are repeated in the other rooms.
To get to the other rooms, you go through portals or by "dropping" through the stage to another level. When doing this the game becomes a side scroller, interpreting your recorded movements accordingly.
Spoiler Your recorded key-up presses will make you jump if you are grounded.

Rough story/explanation
You're a thief with access to magic portals to rob a building, however the side effect of going through a portal is that you lose control and your most recent movements from before going through the portal are replayed.

Controls
Arrow keys to move around.
Hold tab to visualize how portals connect together
WASD to rotate around the cube (you won't be able to move your character again until you rotate back to start)
Space bar to reset to the beginning
1 to change to the first level, 2 to change to the second level

The game sounds confusing but is really simple to understand visually

Pressing WASD to rotate around the cube
https://gfycat.com/SpecificFewColt
image

In this gif I need to get to the portal on the right. Once I get through that portal it'll goto the other room, then replay my movements. Those movements in this case didn't get me to the next portal, but if they had, on the third side it would play those movements again.
https://gfycat.com/ClosedWhoppingDesertpupfish
image


Walking over the "edge" of the cube changes from top-down to side-scrolling. Also, notice that my normal up movements are now considered jumps. The gold thing I collect is a coin - which in the real game would be one of the items you're stealing. And your score would be based on what % you're able to steal.
https://gfycat.com/DigitalJealousBlowfish
image

Holding tab to see how the portals connect. The lines and portals will likely be differentiated by different colors.
https://gfycat.com/EnragedSparseDuiker
image

So basically, we're looking for feedback on this proof-of-concept. Please ignore that it intentionally has no juice.

Here is the WebGL build
https://roguecode.itch.io/rerun

Known bugs
Pressing WASD to rotate the cube when you are not on the start side will rotate to the wrong angle. Resetting with space usually fixes it though.

Comments

  • I think it's quite a fun puzzle to figure out...

    It does involve quite a lot of waiting for events to play out. Which is fun to a point (like watching the ball bounce around in a game like Peggle), but on the second level of ReRun it can take quite a time to watch it play out.

    I think the core mechanic is pretty interesting though. I sort of think that, when you get to theming/graphics, the content could be made a bit more entertaining. Like (as a random example) going down a street and avoiding cars that cross at certain times, angry dogs, gates opening/closing, pushing over garbage bins at the right time... I guess I'm saying the same mechanic could be interesting if the game was set in an actual place with more kinds of interactions (and so more puzzles).
    Thanked by 2Elyaradine roguecode
  • Pretty fun little game!

    I do like the core mechanic, although I think the level design + feedback can be a little confusing. You essentially solve the puzzle after the first 2 portals from those levels I've seen, because after that you can't really control the character, and any complexity/challenge of the level design after those 2 portals is void, because the solution getting to those first 2 portals is the same solution to get to all the level's subsequent portals. You could make it more complex with some level elements that reset the player again or something, but @EvanGreenwood's suggestion is quite lovely as mechanically there's no challenge after the first 2 portals.

    There could be a big chain reaction /domino of events that need to be set off by your player's actions in the beginning, then after that it's mostly entertaining to just watch the events unfold. It could be a big heist or something, whatever. You could even have multiple 'domino sets' per a level/context so you can solve the level with multiple different chain reactions :).

    Minor feedback things:

    I appreciated the pink lines connecting the portals - an elegant little thing to visually connect the portals.

    The rotating of the game was a bit confusing, specifically rotating up, because of the horizontal rotation, I lose my bearings quite quickly, and couldn't tell which portals connected to which (especially in the 2nd level when there were multiple portals). With multiple portals, you could maybe at least pair portals with a specific color for the prototype (yellow is this pair, blue is this pair etc.)

    The movement of the player and how it interacts with the world needs a bit more feedback work I think. I can't really put my finger on how or what it should be. It just feels like there should be a bit of a hint at what your movement's result might be without interaction with a solid obstacle.
    Thanked by 2Elyaradine roguecode
  • Thanks so much for the feedback, really appreciated!
    but on the second level of ReRun it can take quite a time to watch it play out.
    I agree, when you're trying to do the second level, combined with movements that have to be very close to perfect, it does become a bit monotonous. I was thinking of possibly fast forwarding through it. But it may be better if it just wasn't boring to watch in the first place - which would be helped a lot by your suggestions below.

    I think the core mechanic is pretty interesting though. I sort of think that, when you get to theming/graphics, the content could be made a bit more entertaining. Like (as a random example) going down a street and avoiding cars that cross at certain times, angry dogs, gates opening/closing, pushing over garbage bins at the right time... I guess I'm saying the same mechanic could be interesting if the game was set in an actual place with more kinds of interactions (and so more puzzles).
    We've kind of discussed stuff along these lines, so it's cool that you brought this up. Some elements that come to mind that we've discussed - in the context of your character robbing a museum: CCTV cameras you need to avoid (kind of like cars moving past), laser traps (like a stationary angry dog), pikes, etc.
    With pushing garbage bins over, mind expanding on what that would do? Are you meaning a domino type effect like Bensonance mentions below?

    I do like the core mechanic, although I think the level design + feedback can be a little confusing. You essentially solve the puzzle after the first 2 portals from those levels I've seen, because after that you can't really control the character, and any complexity/challenge of the level design after those 2 portals is void, because the solution getting to those first 2 portals is the same solution to get to all the level's subsequent portals. You could make it more complex with some level elements that reset the player again or something, but @EvanGreenwood's suggestion is quite lovely as mechanically there's no challenge after the first 2 portals.
    You're right. Right now I think the levels aren't great, and don't really take advantage of the mechanic.
    I hadn't really thought about it, but it seems you're right about solving it in two portals-worth and then the rest you're just watching. So what we could do (besides having better levels in general) in split the challenge into bits. So instead of one movement set solving every side, it could solve just two, then you return to the first side and can do a different set of movements and then go through a different portal to go solve the next 2 sides.

    There could be a big chain reaction /domino of events that need to be set off by your player's actions in the beginning, then after that it's mostly entertaining to just watch the events unfold. It could be a big heist or something, whatever. You could even have multiple 'domino sets' per a level/context so you can solve the level with multiple different chain reactions :).
    This sounds really cool in my mind. Not sure at all how to actually do it, but I like it.

    I appreciated the pink lines connecting the portals - an elegant little thing to visually connect the portals.
    The intention was that each portal set would be a color, and the lines would match that. We didn't get that far yet in the uploaded build.

    The rotating of the game was a bit confusing, specifically rotating up, because of the horizontal rotation, I lose my bearings quite quickly, and couldn't tell which portals connected to which (especially in the 2nd level when there were multiple portals). With multiple portals, you could maybe at least pair portals with a specific color for the prototype (yellow is this pair, blue is this pair etc.)
    :-( I agree that it can be confusing since it rotates around the cube but also needs to rotate to keep the cameras up being the world up - else you end up landing on a side that is at a different orientation to the last time you saw it. The only possible way I can think of solving this (with the game as it is now) would be that as soon as you press a WASD key, we actually instantly rotate the side of the cube that you're heading to so that it is pre-rotated to be the right way up, even if the camera is technically upside down. That would mean that portal lines shift position depending on how you've rotated the cube though.

    The movement of the player and how it interacts with the world needs a bit more feedback work I think. I can't really put my finger on how or what it should be. It just feels like there should be a bit of a hint at what your movement's result might be without interaction with a solid obstacle.
    This is a good point. And with a puzzle game, I think the movements that solve it should probably be deterministic. Currently it's all based on physics, which is not a great idea when movements need to be so precise.
    So what I've done is break the levels into a sort of grid, and the character now rolls over. This means that you would no longer get those annoying times when you hit the edge of a block by like a pixel, and fail.
    Haven't done much on it yet, and not sure how it really plays, but this is what I mean:
    image
Sign In or Register to comment.