[SA Game Jam 2019] +O

Project Name: +O
Jam Type: 48 Hrs

I decided to make a "crafting" puzzle game, where the player combines symbols to make other symbols.

Play here: https://hirohun.itch.io/o

Comments

  • I started with the movement and combining stuff:

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  • I love puzzle games, seems like this can get quite complex very fast, looking forward to playing this :-)
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
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    Super cool, Its like 2's/2048 except abstract! Super smart, big fan!
    Keen to see how you add more mechanics. Its a cool premise to play with. :)
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • Such a cool idea, I can see it becoming your choice of absolutely crazy complicated or just a really nice time consuming puzzler. Either way I'm keen to give it a go!
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • Thank you guys!!
    Oh yes!! I totally forgot about 2048, it is actually really similar to it (for now) :)
  • I've got 5 puzzles kinda finished. I really want to add some juice and make a cool tutorial/start screen next.

    *Spoiler Alert: Gif shows how to solve the first 2 puzzles*
    image
  • makes me think of tetris :p
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • I see how this can escalate! The minimal art style is lovely, some satisfying sounds would be nice addition if you take the project further
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • Thank you!

    @Gnoblar_agency definitely going to add sound.
  • Just completed the current 5 puzzles :)

    The game is very easy to understand and while the current puzzles weren't too hard I'm sure, with some more time, could become quite challenging. Looks very professional and clean.

    I felt like the continue and retry buttons were a bit close to each other... I accidentally reset my level twice (guess I'm bad at using a mouse :/).

    100% agree with the sound suggestion and I'd love to play more levels!
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • The simplicity of the concept is great, though it's a shame to not have seen it taken beyond the first combination of things - combining things resulting from other combinations I think would be a real proof of this concept! It's a really cool start, would be good to see if there are indeed legs for it to carry on beyond one combination.

    (weird I thought I posted this days ago, got stuck in draft, thank goodness for drafts here)
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  • Please let me know if you're based in CT, JHB or where?
  • @GiGGa Thank you for playing and for the feedback! Yes sorry about the UI. It was not co-operating with me so I just moved them to a point where I knew they would both appear. I will change that soon.

    @Tuism Thank you for the feedback! I kinda ran out of time so I didn't add more combinations and mechanics. But, I have ideas of how I can improve the game and add more to it other than the one level of combinations.

    @Fengol I am based in JHB
  • edited
    A really elegant puzzle game, I would change up the teaching aspect to maybe make it clear right from the start that the aim is to have all the pieces not just be combined bits but in fact all connected to one another.
    I understand that you could see that with the first puzzle, but swiping up seems like the more natural response and so the lesson is missed.

    Love the visuals as simplicity looking forward to playing more if you decide to continue the project.
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • I really like your game.
    I always get more satisfaction from being able to solve puzzles in my first try, regardless of how long it takes me, lol.
    If you made it so that the player can undo the "crafting" of the shapes, it would mean that the puzzles would still be able to be solved regardless of the state of the puzzle and you could get rid of the retry button.

    More levels please.
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • @Asriele thank you for your feedback! I agree with you 100% and am in the process of making the game feel more natural and working on the tutorials to teach the player.

    @kgomotso thank you for playing! That is a great suggestion, I will definitely try it out and see how I can maybe implement it or try some variation of splitting shapes.
  • The worst part about this game is that there are only 5 levels ;)
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • image

    There is a new update of this game. I changed some of the core mechanics and now there are 10 levels! Would love feedback on the difficulty curve and the game in general :)

    You can play it here: https://hirohun.itch.io/o
  • I found this pretty intuitive to pick up and play. I think the minimal instructions do a good job of pleasantly guiding the player. And the aesthetic is simple and pleasant.

    The rule I thought was a bit out of place was that things with overlapping shapes could be combined, i.e. A circle with a plus in it could be combined with a circle (even though this should produce a double circle with a plus in it result). I realize this rule exists probably because it allows for more possibility space for solving the puzzles, and as the game was it felt like there was only one way to solve the puzzles so making the rules stricter wouldn't excite me.

    I don't really know how to give feedback on puzzle games like this. I don't play a lot of games in this genre. A thing I wonder about is "what do puzzle game players want?". I'm not too sure what they're actually playing, but it is my perception that games like Threes are fairly popular, and while +O has a lot of mechanics in common with Threes, there's a pretty massive difference in experience. Threes is a game where the player is asked to keep trying to get further with each run, and the conditions for each run are random (kind of like a roguelike) whereas +O is about solving a series of handcrafted puzzles until the puzzles run out.

    I'm not actually sure which format casual puzzle players are playing the most of (and enjoying the most). Maybe my perception is off and linear puzzle solving games are plenty popular. I know games like Papa Is You and Steven Sausage Roll are popular and loved, but it feels to me like those are such outliers in terms of design, and that those games are for a more hard-core puzzle audience than Threes or +O. I haven't looked at what is trending in the mobile puzzle space in many years, so I don't really know what these players are looking for.
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • @EvanGreenwood thank you for your feedback!

    I have seen the problem with the overlapping shapes in the latest playtest sessions. I do think that this rule or mechanic needs to change to make it more intuitive and easier to understand.

    Yes I agree that the experience between Threes and +O is different. I did try to go for the linear puzzle solving because I thought the mechanics of +O might be too complicated for a randomized puzzle game. I am also not super familiar with casual puzzle games, but the ones I have enjoyed have been linear and that's another reason why I decided to go in that direction (specifically games like Kami). However, I think if I rethink the way the symbols combine and make the core mechanics a bit more simple I might be able to create a more random puzzle game.

    Once again thanks for the detailed feedback. It gives me a lot to think about going forward.

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