I Gave The Companion Cube Superpowers
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- čas přidán 11. 06. 2024
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I just released a game where I took the companion cube and I slapped a
superpower on each side. It’s a short game where you use this cube to solve puzzles.
But every time you throw it, you activate whatever ability ends up on top.
I made this game in 48 hours for the GMTK 2022 Game Jam alongside Tarodev, so make sure you check his channel out as well :D / tarodev
Relevant Links
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Twitter: bit.ly/3wGQ1TR
Discord: bit.ly/3wI5ovB
Video Contents
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0:00 Intro
1:55 Shutter Labs
2:54 Idea Process
5:51 Mechanics
10:50 Level Design
20:45 What Went Wrong
Footage Used
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Making loaded dice
Mader Dice Spinning Top
Zorb Collision in Super Slow Motion!
A Sphere With Six Sides? How Does a Spherical D6 Dice Work?
Zorb Collision in Super Slow Motion!
Portal 2 Perpetual Testing Initiative
Special Thanks
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Twenty - Producer
TraZox - Co-Editor
Anubius - Community Manager - Hry
Beep boop relevant link: itch.io/jam/gmtk-jam-2022/rate/1622812
good link.
Wow. When i played your game i faced a completely different experience. Because i didn't rolled the "devs explanation" side in room where ypu get sentience, i didn't knew which name that side have, so i assumed what that a "AI" or "autopath" side, so when i met the rocket launcher i have suffered from big flaw: for some reason, rocket launcher reacted to me, but didn't shoot. When that all happened, i rolled a "devs" side and heard what rocket attack only SENTIENT being, during that phrase, i carried cube in my hand. So, instead of thinking what i need to throw a cube to sentient side, i had a connection what while i carry the cube and face to rocket launcher, it's gonna see the cube, not me, and won't attack. Later i suffered from problem, waht all powers reset when you die, so "magnet" power just couldn't activate in rocket room and i again thought what that's not a option. Plus to that "sentient" test chamber i completed just because sentient cube just clipped through the wall a put himself on the button, and "place swap" test chambers i completed with advanced throw. Glass floor chamber also didn't work properly for me, instead of closing when button isn't pressed, it just opened. So i didn't even knew what you can "abandon" cube and just proceed to next chamber, and i carried the sing;e cube through all obstacles. Also misunderstanding with rocket launcher wont' ewen let me thinking what you kan go back to the start.
When you said in the video to play the game first before being exposed to spoilers, I was kinda disappointed that it was only for Windows users, as the Mac and Linux users such as myself were left with the feeling of being left out. If you do end up releasing it on Steam, *please* consider supporting all desktop platforms!
24:28 You dont need to backtrack the whole game to get there, I for example just used the sentience short jump up when there isnt any button to get on that ledge (It was kinda dissapointing).
@@jankekow569 just stand on the intelligence cube (you get it almost right away) to jump up there
i got pretty far in the game, then i lost the cube, and then i got frozen in time with a rocket and doors would stay open if i opened them with a cube button. 10/10 incredible game
the same happened to me, best game in the jam.
Same for me... I'm not restarting the game after getting softlocked like that, a simple restart option would have fixed that :(
@@ValouFCH yeah, i hope that the full game has a pause menu with a restart button
Basiclly the same thing happened to me :)
I Also Got Sticky Cube Buttons
I:
- never learned the charged throw (solved the blue wall + pit puzzle with a short jaunt across the room to pick up the cube from the bottom of the pit) (oh you mention this later)
- never learned any of the missile interactions (just threw the cube directly at the missile or ran)
- didn't drop the cube on the button in that first room; just walked over it
- used Sentience at least once to skip an entire chamber by phasing the cube through a window (oh you mention this later)
- at least twice used Sentience, Swap, and Magnetism to get up a wall too high for any one of those methods
- thought the yellow side was what powered the buttons (lol)
- looked straight down and dropped the cube or looked straight up and reangled the cube to take out as much luck as possible, which was why i never activated the yellow side; the 'luck force' you mention was actually really annoying for this :P
- solved the 'fake wall passage' and the glass floor puzzles instantly, and was confused about the 'pointless' room
- never made the 'yellow = metallic' connection
- enjoyed the game anyway
why not just have RMB recall the cube from anywhere?
omg same, thing for like 90% stuff u mentioned... biggest surprise is charge to throw exists xd... didnt get magnetism either, I used sentience to jump on cube, then use cube after it jumps to jump heigher and throw it up (without charging) to solve that level xd.
almost same, especially was surprised about charged throw, there is no hints about it
I got stuck in the pit of the last level (magnet + cube jump across a pit). I tried rolling a teleport to get out, but 'luck force' kept changing it to magnetism. I was stuck in that pit for way too long. Luck force was more of a hindrance than it was helpful.
Same here, but having barely any issues in a game made in 48h is a feat in it of itself, so kudos to them
Almost the same for me, also, I thought the green side was a jump ability, so when I jumped to the other side and the cube moved onto the button, I just assumed it was just a glitch...
Watching this video was nostalgic, despite it only being a few days ago. It was nice to see our initial ideas come to fruition. Lovely working with you Nick!
I feel like many people missed the core idea of the theme. This game is an excellent example. It's a brilliant idea but rolling the dice seems to be tacked on. There is no working with whatever roll we got. We get to reroll immediately. Rerolling is just an annoying step in the middle to choose the ability required in the puzzle. What I thought of when I saw the theme was locking the player into whatever they rolled and having them use that to progress. I know saying that is easy but coming up with the nitty-gritty design details and programming it in 48 hours is the hard part. These are just my 2 cents.
That's a good point, it's kind of like save scumming to be able to reroll the dice instantly and easily. Or playing the first area of a roguelike over and over again until you get a good start.
I feel like having the abilities tied to the dice was only ever a hindrance as it just made it annoying to get the specific ability you wanted
yes, but theme
I just came back to check if there was a new video, that somehow just didn't appear in my sub feed or home page, sadly not. I hope you are doing fine, and also won't leave this awesome channel to rot.
got to say when i was playing the game I never found out about the stronger throw so therefore it made the game so much harder for me. also in the rocket rooms I would just try and time it with the rocket. i found out about how the rockets target the sentient cube but then I had the dilemma that I couldn't roll it easily so I kept on trying to run it. At one point I did try and rocket jump but couldn't do it.
I got exactly the same experience adding that i found out the sentinent wall phasing ability and used it, and that i parried the rockets by trowing the cube at them and then running haha
I never knew that sentience attracted the turret's attention so in every single turret room I just brute forced my way through it
Since you're making a better version, here's some stuff to consider
Cube buttons turn on when you walk on them while carrying the cube, and stay on when you walk off. I managed to go the entire game with the same cube.
The long throw puzzle has another solution: leave the cube in a previous room and it will spawn between the blue walls, making it grabable through the wall
You don't go noticeably slower while you carry the cube, so there's almost no reason to put it down. I didn't even notice a difference during the stair level.
Make the explosion more powerful, so you can actually tell it rerolls
The reflex puzzle is easier to solve with sentience than teleport, since you can stand on the cube.
The turrets suck: they're not all distracted by sentience, the only defense in a hallway is to hit a missile with the cube, and they go so slow the teleport puzzle isn't even a puzzle(especially since the cracked wall stays destroyed during respawns). I get the first because you want a different solution but consistency is very important for a puzzle game. Maybe turn the magnetism into a weapon.
Personality doing nothing besides sometimes being a hint is a bad idea. Make it the turret distractor or something, since sentience can be a moving platform.
Since it's physics based, don't nudge the right outcome. Let players use the physics to control the landing.
Instead of using a play area to teach the outcomes, make it always does lands on the new side when you get a new ability (maybe with a blue wall around it to keep players from grabbing early)
Someone tear into my game jam entry. It's called "Diced Vegies" and I'd share a link if the spam blocker didn't block it.
I’d like to add some stuff.
In the reflex room you don’t even need sentience, you can just jump up from the cube and hit the button.
The first sentience puzzle and teleport puzzle can be skipped by jumping on the ledges of the door.
On my first playthrough I didn’t realise that you were slower with the cube, I just thought that you needed to jump up using the cube.
I realised that long throw was a thing for the first time watching this video, I just threw the cube down into the pit and then just called it back at the top, I thought it was meant to teach that.
I still found the game really fun (especially on later playthroughs where I tried different stuff like trying not to use abilities), sadly because of some bugs I didn’t see the intended solution for a majority of the puzzles…
Edit: For some reason in the first sentience room, the cube went through the wall to get to the button…
Edit 2: The favourite level would have been really fun if not for the bug where buttons never de-activate, I just walked across it and then moved onto the next level.
And in the last room the magnet goes all the way up without being needed to be thrown
In the whole game, I used teleportation and magnetism once. I always bypassed it by using the sentience and standing on top of the cube.
I assumed the "luck factor" was a joke that they didn't actually implement, because it was physics based and I got through all but like 2 levels using the physics to just do small 90 degree rolls directly onto the power I wanted. The only levels where I felt I needed to actually give the dice a proper roll were throwing the cube into that first sentience room, and struggling to get past the last rocket.
I actually noticed that you were noticeably slower when you had the cube put down. As a result, I found it optimal to just run around without carrying the cube at all instead of carrying it all over the place.
did you quit CZcams? you had a good thing going 😔
>makes banger game design videos
>dissappears
hi has past away unfortunatly
@@mendydem sauce
@@mendydem He replied to a comment a few days ago
@@Anton4353f maybe his family
@@mendydem Bold claims, you have something to back them up?
For a moment at the beginning I thought the concept of a 4th wall breaking character in the form of a cube claiming to be the dev had a lot of potential, some charm and maybe even a possible future twist depending on how it would developed over a narrative.
This is a nice little game with a solid concept behind it, woud love to play more levels. But I did not know you could charge throw the cube. I always jumpt on it, jumped again and grabbed it midair to throw it higher/further. I also did not quit get how the turrets worked and cheesed may way through them. And You can solve many level with teleportation instead of the intended sentience (e.g. glass floor or button behind glass). And i managed to lose the cube once, but all in all a great entry for the game jam. Good job guys, I‘m looking forward for the steam release.
A good fix for players that think they can't pickup the cube through walls, would be to surround the cube with a glass box to the player that they can take the cube through walls.
Through the whole explanation, all I could think was: oooooooh, that's what I was suppose to do?
-I didn't figure out how to use the abilities until I got to the swap power.
-To get over the gaps, I didn't use the explosion, I just ran and threw the cube before running and jumping myself.
-I didn't know what the green symbol was and at one point concluded that it might be a fart symbol cause all the cube did was lift off the ground and hover.
-I never figured out about the advance throw because I thought that my own explosions would kill me.
-I just ran past missile launcher nudging the box further and further until it was far enough that I didn't need to carry it and just ran past by myself.
-And I didn't finish the game cause I ended up closing and opening it again only to lose all my progress.
-Also didn't know about the hold button to throw the cube further. (edited in)
Overall: Definitely worth the price I paid for it. (In a good way. [Just so we're clear, I had fun, thanks for the game])
Watching this video makes me smile because I was playing this game in absolutely unintended way (and this is awesome):
1) 16:16 I didn't figure this out, so I just placed cube on the edge and jumped across
2) 17:49. I managed to throw cube through the hole only once and nothing, however I somehow managed to climb on top of the door and jumped into the next room with button
3) 18:15. Nope. Just run to the next room and when you die you will respawn here
4) 18:51. Or you can just throw cube to the button without sentience
5) 19:12. Or you can use sentience ability with jump
6) 19:51. I completed this level without advanced roll
The game idea is great can't wait for improved version
19:00 or you could roll a “swap location,” drop the cube at the top and run onto the button
This was a very fun game and I recommended it to my friends. A few thoughts, I felt sentience wasn’t well explained. During play-through I just thought the ability was attracted to buttons. Also my favorite technique was standing on top of an explosion die and launching yourself vertical. Overall great game, I’m so impressed that this was completed in 48 hrs. This has the potential to be a fully developed $30 puzzle game on steam.
Edit: I also had no idea about the hold the throw longer to throw it. I thought you always had to hold the throw button otherwise the cube drops out of your hand
Since the cube talk (most of the time just funny stuff) you could use him as a “tutorial guy” who would explain the new mechanics once you get them or explain things like the blue walls for example. Maybe it would make the personality roll kinda useless, but in that case you could cut it out without any problem if you need space for a new mechanic, now that you have more time. We all love a funny narrator, right?
Sad to see this guy inactive, 10/10 vids but he stopped.
👀
A big issue I had playing myself is that while i managed to hear the dev commentary trying to help me with the turrets, the sentience only worked for a single rocket over the whole playthrough. Similarly I attempted magnetism on the rockets and that didnt have en effect either. Im guessing the issue may have been that I died a lot somehow messing up the code in weird ways.
If you ever do make an extended version of this game, the sixth side should be multiplication. It spawns one extra cube that is grey and not black. The cube would be single use, and if that cube lands on multiplication again it’ll do whatever the black cube landed on last. It has a lot of cool possibilities.
I had an idea for a 6th ability: Duplicate. Rolling it gives you a second die, greatly expanding on puzzle solving capabilities. Rolling duplicate on either die again makes the other one disappear, so only 2 cubes can be in play.
In order to prevent any clashing with the cubes, it can detect what either one are on. If a cube is on a button, the other cube cannot attach to the button with sentience or magnetism. And if a magnetism cube is on a wall, rolling magnetism on the other cube will ignore the wall
I beat the entire game and I never learned you could charge your throws. I just jumped partway into the gap and threw the cube from there and it got over.
A lot of the later puzzle stuff makes more sense now that I know this mechanic.
you can't learn something that was never told :)
the invisible luck mechanic is probably the smartest thing to come out of that Jam and my man just glossed over it with a bullet point
WELL SENSE YA ASKED. . . . seriously, the biggest feedback I can give is seek out the massive potential in that system, theres so much you could do with that- creating puzzles with multiple solutions but give the room a negative luck value so it never rolls the most obvious solution, teaching players to think outside the box and not to get to comfy. add a attempts counter to it, so if you don't get the solution after say 20 rolls you will always roll sentience for a hint on how to procede, there is SO MUCH HERE
4:38 - Gotta love how that's just the standard weighted storage cube getting incinerated.
i'm pretty sure i saw a swan that was left unfinished, glad to see someone remember that
Honestly, I‘m not a fan of the core design here. Having randomness dictate what method to use to solve a puzzle has three outcomes:
1) you get the side you pictured in your head. It is equivalent to just having the ability on that side without randomness
2) you dont get the side you wanted but the puzzle solves itself anyway because of a different interaction. In this case the player didnt do the work of solving the puzzle, the same action resulted in the solution of the puzzle anyway. This robs the player of executing the solution they thought of and furthermore also makes the randomness pointless. After all if I roll and the puzzle solves itself even though the player thought of a different solution, then what is the point of rolling or even making a puzzle in the first place?
3) You dont get the side you wanted and the puzzle isnt solved. This is just tedious. The player needs to reroll. No meaningful interaction was had. Only time was wasted.
So to summarize: The core mechanic either randomly gets the intended experience of a puzzle game: the player came up with a solution and executed it. Or the player stumbled into a solution/got robbed of executing their solution. Or they just have to wait.
This is poor design in my opinion.
I think you would have much more potential if you replaced the type of random you are using with one where the player has more information (GMTK did an excellent video on rng). If the player knew which side is next either by having a set sequence or a display or even if they were able to choose that would eliminate the tedium and also the meaningless puzzle solves. It would also allow for more design space because you can guarantee perfect information for the player and adjust level complexity accordingly.
Overall its a good game for the game jam but the core mechanic is flawed in my opinion.
choosing the side i think is the best solution for this one.
the game jam was quite literally about a roll of the dice
You aren't the brightest tool in the crayon box, are you? XD
13:56 When I played the game I had no idea about the charged throw existing. I just threw it down the pit, close to the wall, and picked it up from the other side looking into the pit.
I also didn't realize the magnetism attracted rockets, I solved the last rocket puzzle by throwing the cube at the rockets and picking it back up and etc.
For 17:38, I don't think I was able to get the cube through (because I didn't know charge throw as stated earlier), so I rolled to get the sentience side, got on the cube, and jumped through the gap.
18:25 I happened to throw the cube in the room without thinking and it rolled sentience and phased itself through the floor to get on the button, so I didn't ever end up in the hole.
19:03 Once again, didn't know about charging throws. I simply used sentience and jumped at the peak, and that was enough to press the button.
I have completed the game, and just learned now that I can charge the throw! That explains a lot, but since I was able to clear that first gap without it I didn't figure out that mechanic. Now I understand many of the intended solutions to room, that I had to find alternate solution with kind of unfair execution difficulty. It also means I never had to use invisible luck because I didn't knew I could throw the cube this far.
I guess I also played an early build because there was no fire yet. I also had Sentience went through the glass walls on my first try, making these easier (and not requiring advanced throw). And also the last magnet didn't required the throw.
Still I enjoyed the game, and found it quite impressive completion for a GMTK Game Jam! I think your what went wrong covers the biggest issues and you are already on track to making the experience quite good, congrats!
I'm not experienced enough to try this sorta thing, but when I saw the theme I instantly got this idea: You play as somebody whose job is to cheat at a casino, you have to make sure your client makes a profit before they leave which is your final score. However the depth comes from the fact that you can't be too obvious of your cheating, otherwise your client is thrown out and you don't get anything. So you have to be strategic on when you cheat and when you don't and even cheating so your client loses to throw off suspicion
I never figured out that the charge throw was an option. I was able to do all the beats utilizing it by either doing the run-jump-throw, a teleport throw to a mid-air jump (somehow), or just running like hell. Perhaps adding a meter that fills up as you hold the button somewhere on the screen would help communicate that it's even an option, because the subtle movement towards the camera is barely noticeable.
I also found that the Sentience and Magnet powers did basically the same thing in my brain: automatically put the cube on the nearest button, no matter how far away it was or if there was a wall in the way.
I:
- never learned the charged throw (when I first saw this in the video it absolutely blew my mind, to cross the gap I just grabbed the cube from the other side of the pit)
- accidentally found out about the sentience ability, but proceeded to use the block as a shield as it was more fun
- never used accidental luck (I just rolled the die first and then threw it)
- jumped, grabbed the cube, and threw it into the windowed floor instead of using sentience (I knew it was an unintended way of solving the puzzle, but I found my version more fun)
- used the slight rise of the sentience ability to solve the button on the wall puzzle
I played this game and absolutely loved it and was going to talk about some of the problems I had in a comment, but it seems like you beat me to it for the most part. However, there were a few problems that weren't talked about.
Like you said, the sentience and magnetism abilities being able to redirect the rockets wasn't explained, but after getting the magnet upgrade, it auto-rolled to the dev commentary after the upgrade animation and I learned about the soft roll correction that makes sure you get the correct roll. After finishing the game I realized that in the rocket rooms, I didn't get either of those two abilities from the roll correction, and I had to get really lucky. I rolled the teleport ability which warped me next to the room's exit, but when the cube teleports, it counts as a roll, and since it doesn't have momentum, it just auto-rolled the teleport again, warping me into the rocket room again and getting hit. I finally got a teleport that didn't re-roll another one and I got past.
In the hole in the wall room, I got the dev commentary that just- told me about the hole in the wall, leading me to think it was a hint ability, so every time I rolled it, I quickly grabbed it again so I didn't get any hints since I love playing puzzle games on my own without hints unless I'm extremely stuck on a puzzle.
In the room where you're meant to roll magnetism and then toss it to the button on the roof, you can just roll it in the center of the room and the magnetism is so strong, it'll just go straight to the button.
The room where you're meant to get the teleport ability and toss it next to the player-activated button, I instead rolled sentience and used the slight jump to give me just enough height to hit the button.
In a lot of the rooms, I would pre-roll what I thought was the right roll then toss it at the corner between a wall and the floor in order to instantly get my desired roll, which could be fixed by maybe making the cube only activate after it's been in the air for a certain amount of time.
All in all, it's an amazing game for it being made in two days, and I personally think that the little bugs or unintentional solutions gives the game itself it's own personality. I personally liked the fact that you could do a running jump-toss to throw the cube over the first pit. But being able to clip the cube through solid matter to instantly solve a puzzle with the sentience ability, while it is interesting, it's not intended, even if it's another way to solve the chamber.
I love this game and would love to see what other games you and other devs could come up with! Don't let small bugs get in the way of making an amazing and memorable game!
Your videos are very good, here in Brazil we have almost no information aboth game making and design, soo for many of us here, your videos are essential
Every time you release a video my day gets better!
i think my biggest complaint is that a lot of my solutions felt like cheating/taking the easy way out, and not the correct solution, and so I didn't get the satisfaction of solving most of the puzzles.
also, the turrets were terrible - I didnt understand how they worked, I couldn't experiment since they kept killing me and distancing me from the cube, so I just booked it to the end of the room over and over until they forgot to fire and I succeeded.
I'm pretty sure there was a bug where every pressure plate i pressed remained activated forever, so puzzles like the room with the glass floor weren't much of a challenge.
And it took me years to try and throw the cube into the hole in the wall without knowing you could charge it, it took me like 50 tries to both get it to the other side AND make it land on the swap ability.
I completely jumped over the level that was supposed to show that you could roll a face and then throw the dice. I also used the added height from rolling sentience to reach the button instead of teleportation (same with the location where you said you intended to put an easter egg, it's within the reach of a sentience boosted jump).
I'm gonna point out a bunch of issues with this game that I just encountered on my first casual playthrough.
1. The buttons get pushed down and stay down even if I only walked over them while holding the cube.
2. In the first level with the pit, you can just grab the cube through the wall whilst in the corridor.
3. It can be really difficult to get the right face that you want.
4. I didn't realize it, but I just simply jumped off of the yellow wall in the puzzle with the high up rope.
5. I used the sentience to make the cube fly through the wall in the puzzle after you get sentience.
6. I used the sentience bouncing up to jump through the hole in the puzzle right after getting the teleportation.
7. Despite the fact that I was just taught to use sentience to distract missiles, the second time you encounter missiles that can reach you sentience does nothing, and I just ran right through.
8. In the puzzle with the two buttons, you can just grab the cube through the wall.
9. In the puzzle with the high-up player button you can just jump off of the cube at the highest point in the sentience's jump to reach it.
10. Despite the fact that earlier I was taught that sentience can distract missiles, the third time you encounter missiles that can reach you sentience does nothing, and I just ran right through.
11. In the puzzle right after that, I fell directly into the hole and had to jump on the magnet right as it went up. It was not the easiest.
12. In the puzzle where you have to throw the magnet up you don't have to throw the magnet at all.
13. In case you haven't noticed, I NEVER used the teleport ability.
Really clever bit to come up with the puzzles and set pieces first, then work backwards the prerequisites to figure out what other teaching puzzles need and how to order them.
It's a good day when Mental Checkpoint uploads :)
I'm already loving this game's concept!
Something I found in the jam build was that the cube spawned in the corridor behind the blue walls in the level where you introduced the further throwing mechanic. This way I never learned the fact that you can throw it further untill I had to actually use it in a puzzle and was stuck on that puzzle for quite a while.
This seems like it shares some DNA with Quantum Conundrum. In that, you can flip between different universes - one that makes everything lighter, one heavier, one slow, and one with reversed gravity, to solve Portal style cube and button puzzles and platforming challenges. All narrated by the player character’s grandfather or uncle or something, voiced by the guy who played Q in Star Trek and Discord in My Little Pony.
oh no.... I didn't figure out the throwing ability till I was like 80% done with the game
It's a really cool game (concept) that has a lot of potential, however also some things to improve as well:
- For some reason buttons never unpowered after I turned them on once. This made the glass floor level for example extremely easy by just jumping down, activating the button and using the cube to get out again (had to jump standing on the cube and then crouch mid-air. Don't know why you are even able to crouch as it is never used in the game except for this). This was also not fixed by restarting.
- The first time I started the game, I couldn't pick up the cube, it just threw it away again immediately. Had to restart to fix it.
- The game automatically starts on screen 1, and I was not able to move it to my other screen, as there is no way (or I don't know it) to exit full screen and also no menu to change the screen. Windows + Arrow left (or right) also doesn't work
- The secret tunnel is accessible way earlier by using the fact that the conscience makes the cube rise up, so by standing on the cube while it rises and crouch jumping you can get in. Also even if there isn't an easter egg there, at least put a custom voice line there saying you didn't have time to put something there... It just plays the one with the rockets being too loud from the next room
- The level where you have to use the magnet to cross the hole does not have stairs to get back up after falling in the hole, which got me stuck. I managed to get out by throwing the cube with teleportation while crouching, walking forward and jumping
- In the glass floor level you are actually completely soft-locked if you fall down with the cube out of reach. As there is no menu to restart the level or any other way you have to Alt+F4 and restart the entire game (except if there is a menu or respawn button that I am not aware of)
- At the end of the game, after the video finishes, you are stuck in a black screen. The game neither closes nor gives you a button to close or a text that tells you to Alt+F4. I don't know if there is any other way to exit or reset at all
- The cube landing on a random side after explosion or conscience means that it can land on the teleport side after. If you already moved away a bit and the cube is in a pit you are stuck
- It is unclear when and how the cube will teleport to you after going away from it. It also sometimes teleported right below me causing me to do a weird little jump and the cube to fall out of bounds, only to tp back to me and repeating the same thing again. Fixed by jumping so the cube lands on top of the floor not below or inside it
- You are always able to pick up the cube through solid walls if it is in reach, so the level with the big blue wall and two buttons can be easily cheesed by walking through the blue wall and picking the cube up through the wall
It's a cool game and a nice accomplishment for 48h. Nice video explaining the thought process as well.
When I played the game, I was able to skip most of the areas with the sentience ability and was able to get to the secret tunnel as the cube lifts up regardless of if there is any button to travel to. It ended up with me only needing to use the teleport and magnet abilities around once.
I found the game on the whole very enjoyable. But some mechanics I didn't know about even after finishing the game such as cube recall, powerful throws, the sentience ability to move to buttons, the sentient cube attracting turrets and magnets puling rockets. Despite me not knowing about these mechanics, I was still able to easily beat the game using workarounds such as running past turrets.
And when we needed him most, he vanished
Indeed he's
-i solved every rocket room by just throwing the cube at the rockets
-i solved "your favorite puzzle" by going down and pressing the button which toggled the door open and using the cube to get out (were all the buttons supposed to have to be held down because they all just needed to be pressed once for me?)
-the swap advanced throw puzzle was very annoying because you need perfect timing
-the magnet advanced throw puzzle i didn't need to throw it the magnet range was long enough on its own
-the magnet pit puzzle i fell in the hole and used swap to get to the other side
-i never used the sentience power after its first puzzle
-rocket jumping with the explosion power would be cool(i never got it to work if it is a thing)
-the sound of clearing your throat at the start of every personality commentary was annoying
-there were several levels where there was ways to go back to pick up the cube but i never used them because i could just recall the cube through walls
-it would be nice if standing on the cube while using magnetism moved the player with the cube
-the first rocket turret behind the glass at first i thought it had to do with the solution to the puzzle in the room in front of it
feedback:
-most gaps were jumpable if you were not holding the cube, making it so that you dont have to engage in the puzzle
-the automatic recall of the cube makes it so that you can ignore some blue walls. if you place the cube the perfect distance away in the first puzzle with the blue walls, then you can just walk to the button and the cube will spawn on it.
18:50 2nd solution: use a advanced throw to teleport out and walk on the button just before
I went through the first blue wall room without the cube at all, because the itch page said it would just respawn if you were far enough (which it did). The only reason I beat the first advanced throw room was by messing around for like 10 minutes... then the rockets glitched and I stopped playing. Also, in the teleport room (where you have to recall it through the wall), it took me a solid 10-15 tries to get it to land on the right side
1. there was a hole in the wall than looked sus. and u even mentioned it in your commentary. so after i get brain side cube, i returned here and there was nothing( not even a commentary.
2. i didn't come up with charge mechanic (jump+throw did it for me)
3. your door and wall objects was sticking out and i completed lvls not the way it was intended
4. my cube never jump/turn after explosion
5. the second rocket launcher threat (lvl before apur favourite lvl) glitched for me. rocket stuck in wall always exploding, somehow i was stuck too, cube was out of reach and that was it. tried all buttons to replay lvl - didn't work. closing game - losing all progress, so i didn't played after.
?. watched your video till the end and saw that all my problems was not go unnoticed by you already. so great concept. good job. =)
Another solution at 18:30 here is to go down, roll teleportation and throw it up. And before you teleport to the cube, you can stand on top of the button, and once you switch places with the cube, you'll be on top and the cube will be on the button.
I think this is also faster than waiting for the sentience to move itself
I recommend in the final version, make the cube land on whatever new ability it unlocks.
i saw an ad for this a little bit ago, glad to know you made it and it seems real fun
A lot of these puzzles fail because they leave the question of how to get the cube back. Some "cube retrieval teleporter" object would help in a lot of places. The rocket levels in particular are... bad. They fail to communicate that you need to use cube tricks to get by, and brute force works for the first two. And you need to grab the cube afterwards, going back in the line of fire. And if you leave the cube in the rocket room but die, you're stuck.
Cube retrieval would also make players more willing to throw a cube into an inaccessible place.
This Guy Always blow me away every time im trying making a Mod or a little Game i Start with a idear and probebly i end Up with Others idears
A TL;DR from myself is that the design process seems to have worked decently well to create what you wanted out of the game in an efficient manner. I think the main flaw I could see is lacking some playtesters who were blind to the intended experience to provide you feedback on their pass through the game. As such, I have some notes from level design presented in the video vs final outcome experienced by me. Skipping on stuff that were mentioned in the final section of the video:
• The intro worked out just as intended, from the start through the framing all the way to movement hindrance tutorial
• Button tutorial suffered heavily from a bug that I didn't realize was in the game until I watched the video. When I played it, the buttons would stay green forever after you placed a cube on them (i.e. picking up the cube would not turn the button off). This invalidated some puzzles further down the line as well
• Concept of blue walls worked out for me quite well, but I'm guessing the portal influence may have been at play if some others struggled with it
• Teaching the mechanic of charging your throw failed, but you already spoke about that and the solutions. As a curious thing though, I will add that I did manage to learn it way later in the game, when I was struggling with getting rolls I wanted. I thought "Hey, maybe if I hold for longer the cube will spin more when I throw it". It wasn't a correct thought, but it did lead me to the solution to my problem and taught me the hold throw
• This may be just the speedrunner in me, but I did not stop in the rooms to test out the abilities, instead going right into the next puzzle room since "that's where the game will teach me what I need to do". Perhaps blocking the door with a yellow mine you have to explode might be a good tutorial for both the explosion ability, and "test stuff in this room"
• Something that wasn't mentioned so possibly unintentional, but the first explosion puzzle actually also teaches you that it is the cube that has the powers, not you. At first me trying to solve it was to roll the explosion power, expecting the yellow mines to blow up. But the cube was too far so it blew up instead of the mines, which was a good tutorial given we got our first active power
• While you mentioned your regret with the recontextualization tunnel, I think it can act as a very good example for stuff to avoid. Without anything in the tunnel to reward the player, it doesn't feel like I properly learned to use the cube, just that I broke the game and got to an unintentional spot. Even placing a simply gray heart icon on the wall that cannot be seen from down below would act as an affirmation to player achievement, with little to no effort for when you're strapped for time
• Advanced Throw tutorial did what it set out to do, and did it well
• Luck factor is definitely a great and important thing, though it suffers from weak throws where the weight doesn't have time to affect the spin of the cube
• First turret room lets you just... walk right through without a care in the world. Something like a button that you need to stand on for X seconds to force the player in the room could help solve this
• At this point it's worth mentioning that when the cube first landed on the personality power I picked it up, to which the cube instantly went with "EKHM". I decided the best option is to drop the cube, which activated the power again, and skipped to the next dialogue of "That's all I got". This could be a problem if it happens on accident in a room like the first rocket room, where IIRC the personality line tells you that the rockets are attracted to sentience. Hearing that line could be helpful to clearing those rooms.
• Second turret level also suffers from being able to be ran through, or to use the previous solutions. It's great when puzzles have multiple solutions, but by providing a basically identical puzzle where previous solutions can still work to some degree, there is no using familiarity to learn something new, it's just using what you already know to skip the intended solution altogether.
• I do not think you succeeded at creating an intentional misdirection puzzle. Given the sentience puzzle was just 2-3 minutes before this I don't think I'm alone in not jumping down to the hole. Having the other solution fresh in my head instantly made me go "okay, let's throw the cube with sentience down into the hole". Puzzle misdirection only works if the first solution you think of is the wrong one, and having not taken a cube to a button manually since the first room in the game, jumping down the hole was not the first solution I thought of
• So a curious thing about the first puzzle after magnetism... I did not notice that the walls on the side were yellow. I think a big part of that is I never rolled magnetism in the room where I got the cube, so I never figured out that the cube would stick to yellow walls, so my brain never bothered to notice them in the first place. Instead my solution was to just use the teleport cube and throw it from down below. Adding fire to this pit would solve the unintended solution just as much as in the first room, and in face it could add precedence to have fire in every pit room
• One thing you skipped over in the level design aspect is the level that had two buttons to open the exit. I'm curious what that one was about cause knowing you can only activate one cube button at a time makes me confused about the intended solution there. Getting the cube to the other side is easy enough with teleport, but not quite sure what the side tunnel+door was all about
• Finally I think a cool thing to do at the end would be to give a 6th ability that's just a heart icon. When thrown on the ground it would activate and play the end video. Gives that little bit more of player interaction without much extra work, and heart is associated both with the original companion cube, as well as credits. Finally, it can be combined with the heart I mentioned in the recontextualization tunnel, where throwing the heart there could activate the special easter egg or a secret level, though that's much more effort.
I skipped talking about bugs I encountered that were more like bugs and less intrusive with the design (such as the sentience cube going through the wall to the button), since it's a gamejam so bugs are to be expected, and can be ironed out down the line if someone wants to continue working on their gamejam game. Overall I think the idea as a whole worked quite well, though I can see some issues that could arise in it if it was a proper, longer game:
The rolling aspect could get frustrating to the player who just wants to roll a specific side of the die. This could get solved by the luck factor helping the player roll the rolls they need. But then the player could start noticing that their cube tends to land on a specific side, thus giving them the solution to some potentially more complex puzzles for free.
You could also add a "hold" "left mouse button" symbol or something next to the fire pit to show that holding the button extends the throw.
Quite a nice game! I really love portal inspired games, their mechanics are always so original, even more when they are from jams (like this one or Grey Box Testing).
As feedback i´d say that once the button touched the dice it stayed on even when i grabbed it, and that gap that you said people were afraid to throw the dice to (which was my example) I was able to skip it, as well as many others, by throwing sentience and standing on top of the dice while it floated. I didn´t have to use the teleportation in the whole game.
I played the game until it froze on me on one of the later levels in the game. I had a pretty similar experience to everyone else it seems. But here is how my playthrough compares with your description. All others parts are similar.
13:15: I was holding the cube as you said but I didn't realize you could jump further without it so i put the cube down and jumped on it to get up, for both ledges. I never learned you could jump further without the cube.
13:55: Didn't learn that you could hold to throw longer either. I think I jumped and throwed it to the other side or just picked it up from the other side.
17:20: I just forced my way through this part by just running straight. I never learned that the turrets can be distracted.
17:44: I just rolled teleportation in the first room and quickly threw it through the gap, utilizing the previous lessons i learned that the abilities don't trigger immediately.
22:10: This happened to me. Didn't know what I was suppose to make of it then.
22:20: I already wrote about this, glad I'm not the only one :)
one big problem i found during the game is that by simply hugging a wall it is extremely easy to simply throw the cube through walls, making it very easy to cheese a couple puzzles, like the initial sentience go to button mechanic showcase, and some walls simply let you recall the cube when you really shouldnt.
(still no idea what the intended solution for the big blue wall puzzle is, because you can simply recall the cube while inside the small corridor. not sure if that's intentional, since the walls arent see through.)
Also, in my playthrough the explosion did not reroll the dice, nor did it launch me for some reason. The sentience wouldnt attract rockets besides the first showcase and the magnets rocket mechanic also just straight up didnt work, not even in the showcase level where you're supposed to use it.
although, besides these bugs and the fact i had no idea you could charge throws i found the game quite fun on my first playthrough though i got the rocket glitch so many times that i've given up on beating this until the proper version comes out on steam.
So in the game I did quite a few things in the unintended way : -
- I never used the sentience or swap abilities in the missile rooms, I just ran for it. There was one room where you needed to blow up the wall and I accidentally did that when a missile hit me trying to find the exit
- I used the sentience ability instead of the swap ability most of the time as I didn't know exactly what the swap ability did. It was still very possible to do these puzzles with the sentience ability as you can jump on the cube(in places without any intended use for that ability) and when it goes up, you go up with it. I used this to solve most of my problems.
Edit : there are other things that I did differently but I can't remember them
I agree with being scared of losing the cube after a bad toss instead of teleporting back into your hands having it so you can spawn the cube with a button at the start of the level might help, similar to the portal. For the puzzles where you have hidden assistance, please add more there were runs where I had to throw the die 8+ times through a hole just to get the one I need. The rocket + living cube puzzle the rocket took ages for it to lock on to me and allowed me to walk straight throw no problem. Also, the puzzle with the rocket and breakable wall needs some tweaking, I knew what I had to do to get an explosive side, but I kept getting bad luck and rolling nothing good I was to scared to roll the die out where the rocket was because I didn't want to die especially after getting the die to glitch out of the game I would just make the hallway before it larger to prep the side then throw it out as an option. In that level and in the other rocket blocking the doorway, I kept thinking I should get the sentient side as a distraction, but when I rolled that side, the block just went up and back down, leaving me confused. While talking about rockets, I think they shoot way too fast and have a slower firing rate so many times, I would go out to pick up a die that was too far away and have a rocket kill me just to go out another rocket kill me again. For the introduction of the magnet, I would raise the trigger a little bit more because I accidentally hit it when I tired to roll the die and opened the door for me. For the magnet as a jump platform, I would include a staircase back up for people who miss the jump or get a teleport have to start over. for the level with the glass floor I was able to throw the cube on the platform and remove it all I didn't think to use the sentient cube because I thought I wouldn't be able to get my cube back. When I do die, the cube does the effect it lands on sometimes creating a loop of death I would have just a quick reset with the cube in front of you at the start of the checkpoint. I am sorry if this sounds like a rant and nitpicking but I had to restart so many times, get caught in so many loops and have puzzles just not work even when understanding the mechanics.
Did GMTK play this on one of streams of this years game jam? I haven’t had the time to watch them.
where does he stream?
@@theskinegg9168 erm... here on CZcams.
I love this idea and how you implemented it. also I find that the Cube seems to perfectly fit into the random chaos science that aperture is known for. also fantastic video as always great visuals and your voice is a joy to listen to as always.
Your game remembered me "Relicta" but more deeper and with his original history and with more variation of gameplay, some times it's really difficult to resolve with physical mechanics, like magnetic, and zero gravity!
I'm always impressed when people manage to make a (mostly) functioning game in such a short time span. And I also like that you showed what went wrong. Some people may get a wrong impression of romanticized visions of Game Jams and be disappointed in themselves when they end up failing. But the honest approach would be to think of Game Jams as two days of frantically trying to get rid of the worst game-breaking bugs with quick and dirty workarounds as possible.
- I never understood what sentience was, I just ran through missile rooms while throwing the cube at missile. Sentience was = hacking or something because I rolled it next to the glass wall and it clipped through it without me noticing, so the door opened and I was confused haha
- I actually did an advanced throw on teleport in the first room (where we have invisible luck) to jump above the wall, I didn't want to lose the cube by throwing it somewhere I couldn't retrieve it
mental checkpoint: designing levels with care and logic
me: designing levels go brrrrr
18:50 I accidentally stumbled upon another solution: you can jump down the hole, throw the cube outside and hope to roll teleport on it, then I could just stand on the button as I got swapped.
19:40 Another puzzle where teleportation just solves it, also not having a way up after falling into the hole meant I couldn't stumble on using it as a platform.
Also it felt like on rocket rooms past the first one sentience would just not work, and could otherwise solve all rocket rooms.
My thoughts:
-Most people here seem to have not noticed the charged throw, so some sort of visual indicator for it would help immensely (a bar that fills up or the cube swelling or something)
-I never learned that holding the cube reduces your mobility -- I would suggest a conveyor belt that would be too fast to pass while holding the cube
-The room with the missile and glass wall comes directly before the bridge where you learn the advanced throw; this confused me into thinking I needed to somehow get the missile through the glass wall and into the string
-Someone mentioned right-click to recall from anywhere; I like this idea
-I never made the connection that the red side rerolls the cube
-Maybe purple would be a better color for metal? It would line up with the magnetic icon
-The concept of luck and dice kinda clashes with the puzzle element; While playing I found myself wanting something like "scroll wheel to manually rotate" or a way to gently set down the cube on the side that was currently up
-I also saw the idea of immediately forcing the cube to land on an ability when it's first added; I like this idea, I didn't even roll personality until I was like halfway through
-I got softlocked in the magnetism bridge puzzle. I probably could have gotten out knowing about the charged throw, but regardless a "retry to start of chamber" button would help
Anyway, great job! The game looks incredibly polished for a game jam project.
- I never actually learnt that the cube weighs me down. I just used the cube as a step for both jumps. I was probably rushing through things too quickly.
- I didn't really understand why I was using both mouse buttons with the cube when I could only really do one thing with the cube at a time. I think the game only ever taught me about using the right-click with the cube; and I only found out that left-click worked to throw it after I'd already tried throwing it with right-click.
- Yeah, I didn't learn about the charged throw at the pit. I just put the cube in the pit; walked around the hole and picked it up. I thought the level was maybe teaching me about the emancipation grid and how far my reach was; or how I'd have to do roundabout things to solve puzzles.
- I'm not sure why the sentience and commentary abilities are two different abilities. Wouldn't gaining the ability to talk be a sign of sentience?
- Had no idea that the missiles targeted the sentience ability. For a while I wasn't even sure whether it was me or the cube that the missiles where targeting. I mostly just brute forced getting past the missiles. The first one I just had to run past and the second one just needed me to run over to the wall so that the rocket would shoot it and then run through the hole after I respawned.
- My solution to the button under glass was to drop down into the hole with the cube; activate the button and then use the teleportation power to get out of the hole. It didn't seem any worse of a solution than using the sentience? The door didn't close or anything?
- -I gave up at the reflexes puzzle before I got to the magnetism. I need a better mouse for that one. 😛- Actually scratch that. It wasn't too hard to roll the sentience and then stand on the cube as it gives me a boost up when sentience activates so that I can hit the button. Managed to get through and finish the game.
- I didn't really get much use out of magnetism. I used it to activate a couple of buttons, and there was a pit where I guess I could have used it but teleportation worked well enough instead?
Things that weren't entirely clear to me, since the well thought out level design wasn't enough:
1: Agility difference between carrying and not carrying, reason: because I'm a stubborn moron also my precious! Suggestion: non, its a me problem
2: Throw charging, reason: apparently didn't need it, played it in hard mode... Suggestion: an audio or a visual cue that indicated charging.
Oh and the other stuff you mentioned. But hey for 48h nice game. Enjoyed it.
I did not get that I could hold to throw the cube farther, which led me to do some weird parkour glitching the physics. The sentience ability did not work as you are showing in the video most of the time. I would put the induced luck a little bit higher too. My experience was a little bit more frustrating than intended but... I had fun! I completed the game and I liked the idea of the cube with abilities for itself not the player. :D
I think the invisible luck aspect is kinda counter intuitive for such game. I feel like it's giving half the solution for free when some players would have likely tried other powers in some situations.
I see 3 options to remove invisible luck:
- Be able to turn the dice in your hands, then controlled throw will likely result in controlled outputs with some skills (i.e. skill based dice cheating)
- Be able to manually change weight distribution before a throw (i.e. player controlled luck)
- Be able to influence the dice from a distance while in the air (i.e. some kind of force that would translate/rotate the dice a tiny bit depending on cursor position/movement wrt. the dice)
Nice game :)
I liked the idea behind the game, but did have some frustrations, some of which were mentioned in the "What Went Wrong" section, but not all of them.
One major struggle I had was with getting the right roll. Most of the puzzles weren't difficult for me to figure out in theory, but I had to spend several minutes per room rerolling the die to get what I needed. In the magnet room I got the commentary that there were behind the scenes mechanics making it more likely that I would get the roll I needed... But I didn't. :P I tested it in that room also, and spent a couple minutes trying to get the magnet. That was my biggest frustration with the game.
Also, I think there may have been a bug with the floor buttons... The very first one, I walked across it while holding the cube, and when I stepped off, the door stayed open. This was different from what I had expected, because I have played portal, but I assumed it was intentional, and learned that the buttons stay pressed. In fact, this was my experience throughout, including in the room you said was your favorite. I did jump down the hole, and got the commentary roll which said that most people jumped in and got stuck. I was confused by that commentary, because I just stepped on the button, hopped out, grabbed my cube, and left. I didn't realize until you showed it here that that wasn't intentional. In fact, because I never left my cube behind in the first room when I walked through the door, I never figured out that the cube would rejoin you later, and assumed that I must always have the cube with me when I walked through the door, or I wouldn't be able to solve the next puzzle. This means that what I learned was that the PLAYER presses the buttons, not the cube. With an early magnet puzzle, I was meant to use the magnet to press a ceiling button. But doing that would leave my cube in the room. So I rolled until I got the teleport power, threw it up, and hit the button with my head. It stayed activated (as I had learned was intended) and I went through that way. I ended up getting the game-breaking rocket glitch you described shortly after, so I don't think I ever solved a puzzle with the magnet.
Rocket rooms were especially rough for me. Since I never seemed to get the right roll, my cube would land in the room, I would get hit by the missile, and then I had to run back into the room to grab the cube and run out again. All while getting bombarded with missiles. For one room, I ended up getting sentience as my first roll. But that taught me that each rocket room was different, and that this specific rocket room targeted the cube instead of me, so I needed to not carry it in order to get through. :P
I also never learned about the charge-throw, which caused issues later. I solved that with the run-and-jump method you described, and thought that was intended.
Overall, not a bad game, but... Well, you had 48 hours. It is what it is. XD
also, what went wrong are: the dice mechanic wasn't comfortable and the dice powers weren't introduced properly(before watching this video i didn't know what magnet does)
-There's a charged throw? I thought jump throw was the solution.
-I had no idea what the green side did. First time I used it, it went through the wall to the button. Every time afterward, it just floats for a moment. So, I never bothered rolling it again.
-A couple times, when I tried to roll the Personality side for a hint, it gave me the "That's all I got." I'm guessing I might have picked it up when it landed on that side but before its effect could trigger, increasing its audio file index?
-For the glass floor puzzle I just rolled teleport, and jumped down onto the button. When the swap happened, I just picked the box back up, and the door didn't close.
-I didn't understand the rocket rooms at all, and just ran through them until I didn't die. I even got caught entering the magnet platform room, with a stationary missile behind me, unable to move.
-After watching the video, and playing through again, I didn't need the charge throw at all. I'm guessing I was supposed to use it on the high ceiling magnet room?
-Also, it was very hard getting out of the pit in the magnet platform room. Warp was very hard to roll, and I couldn't get out with it anyway. I barely managed by using Sentience, floating up into the air, and jumping off onto the broken bridge.
This definitely needs to be its own huge game, fully completed and fleshed out
13:57 never learned to charge the throw, i ended up jumping off the first ledge and using a small throw mid air to get the cube to the other side
maybe if there was a visual queue for the charge-up i would've figured it out
16:35 instead of throwing the cube through the hole in the wall and hoping to land sentience, i tried throwing sentience on my side. The cubed ended up phasing through the window and hitting the button
afterward i back-tracked to the room with the cracked wall and high ledge. By rolling sentience and standing on top of the cube you can boost up to the ledge without getting the Swap power
17:50 i used sentience for this and boosted myself through the wall gap by standing on the cube
19:10 again i used sentience for a height boost to hit the button instead of learning the charged throw
For the one where you have to throw the explosive box to the air towards the cable, I just skipped it by putting the box in the edge of the stairs and jumping. I used the sentience box to skip various puzzles like the one with the button in the wall and the one you need to use the swap box in, by climbing on top of it before it activates
24:22 I genuinely thought this was the intended solution lmao
I did not know about the sentience distracting rockets or even the long throw, for that first level that needed it I managed to glitch the cube through the blue walls. I was able to run past every rocket. And I also didn't notice that you would be slower while holding the cube.
For most other parts I was able to stand on the cube while it did a rise in the sentience to get raised up. Most puzzles were solved like this. You can even make it up to that secret room with just sentience which you get about 2 rooms later.
Overall, quite interesting, did not like rolling the dice spent most of my time rolling it and waiting to get the right roll. I liked the commentary, that was entertaining.
When I played all of the buttons were toggle-able and didn't have to have the cube on them to continue working. So on levels like the ceiling buttons I would just throw the cube at it and job done. Plus the sentience side never worked in my play through past like the 2nd room you use it so all of the rocket rooms were hell for me. Also on the button swap jump room I just stood on the cube and pressed the button.
Comment on each ability:
I was able to quickly realised personality gives comments about the levels and the game design. A pretty chill ability.
The bomb was pretty easy to understand. However, I was stuck on the first advanced throw level for quite a long time, since I didn't realise that I can throw the cube after the ability was activated. Also, I never knew about charging my throws. I did the second alternate solution for the first blue wall level.
I only used sentience once in this whole game, which was the first level after I got that ability. Didn't even know what it's supposed to do. I activated personality which commented how the cube was designed to grow legs and eyes. I found it funny and then ignored this ability for the rest of the game.
Teleportation was pretty easy to understand as well. However, on the level which required players to activate the teleporting ability and then throw the cube to the other side of the room. Since I never realised about charging my throws, I needed to jump and throw the cube which barely reached the opening, allowing me to barely pass through.
The magnet ability was also simple. Didn't have much trouble on their rooms.
About the floor buttons, in my playthrough, I did not need to place my cube on top of the button to stay activated. I could just walk over the button while carrying the cube and the door will stay opened. That's why I didn't use the sentience ability on the glass floor level.
In the part of what went wrong you brought light to a lot of things that happened in my playthrough, but you didn't say anything about a mechanic that I used throught the game that is that when you roll for sentience, but there isn't any object for you to use it, the cube just goes up a little and that's enought to go up high platforms.
In the level that you should throw through the hole in the wall to press the button, I was afraid of throwing it and losing it if I maybe don't roll for the swap, so I tried to put the cube and jump through the gap. What happened was that I rolled for sentience and it jumped, so I ended up getting just enough height to go through the gap.
I though this was intended, but it seems like it isn't.
It also worked on the part where you have to press a high button.
Maybe this can be used some place in the final game, like a place where you don't have the ability to swap places but you have this ability, y'know?
But it really isn't so easy to know, so it shouldn't be required, maybe this is used in a challenge mode or something like that!
Other things:
- I really didn't believe that the game influenced the roll. In the magnet area I rolled a lot of times and I didn't seem to get the magnet ability so often, but the game says I should get more times.
- I really liked the commentary, but the action of having to roll for commentary every time I wanted to hear it, sometimes failling, was a bit boring. Also, one time I got two commentaries in one level, so every room I was I kept rolling until I heard the commentary about not having any commentaries. Maybe do the commentary like GLaDOS in Portal, instead of it coming from the cube? (Also the sound of you coughing at the start of every commentary was a bit much, and it became old really quickly)
- In the last part where you have to pass a gap and you use the magnet ability I thought I could stay on top of the cube and be movec with it, but that didn't happen, so maybe I'm just dumb, but that could be better shown to the player or be a feature.
The last criticism I can give is that the idea of the game of having a prop that can do different things that help you do puzzles is good, but the part of having to roll for it is not. If you are in a game jam that you have to have a roll, alright, but a fully fledged game that relies on this? Nah.
In the game I kept feeling like it would be a lot better if I could choose the right abilities and not have to roll for it, y'know? I started to try to throw and move a certain way so the cube landed on what I wanted and even then it didn't worked every time, maybe because of the game trying to make it roll the right thing.
Actually I think you having to influence the game to roll the "certain" thing shows that having to roll for it isn't that great.
Also if you influence the game to roll the "right" thing you actually stop people from having creative solutions for the problems. Maybe you wanted people to use the swap places ability, but the person used the sentience to get extrea height, things like that, y'know?
Maybe if you had a cube and you could choose its state, it would be a lot better, but that's just criticism of the idea and I understand if you want to stick with the idea of having to roll for it.
I really like what you do and thanks for keep bringing awesome content for us!
honestly, I like when speedrunners exploit stuff like the extended blocks
Also the little jump the sentiece power does when it cant do anything else had me solving a lot of puzzles using that instead of the intended power because it was just less fiddley. the level where you magnetize the cube to the wall to get over the gap can be solved by placing a sentient cube at the bottom of the pit and just stand on top of it and jump up the ledge after the cube jumps. I solved it this way cus I thought it'd be easier than platforming. And I thought that was actually the intended solution to the high up button puzzle you're suppose to use the swap power for. That's also how I got out of the hole with the button in it instead of using the swap power. And also the swap level where you had to throw the cube over the wall. It never clicked in my head that you could throw the cube with swap active so I always tried to find ways around using it in a way that involved throwing it cus I just didn't wanna deal with the rng.
The hold to throw thing definitely needs an actual tutorial prompt, or have a throw power gauge like in deep rock. Cus I absolutely never would've figured that out if this video hadn't told me.
The last upgrade should be a cake and when you roll it the game simply ends
Is that the Naruto jutsu sound for the cube recall teleportation? LOL
I played through it once before watching the video. I was surprised by the charged throw as I had not known about that. A few things I noticed. I didn't understand the sentience ability until the video, I thought it was a hint side that would help show you how to solve the puzzle, so when it attracted the rockets to a corner of the room I thought that was a hidden wall. Also the block jumps when you roll sentience it has nowhere to go. In the room right after you get teleportation I didn't want to throw the cube and instead stood on the cube when it rolled sentience to jump through the hole. Also in the level with the pit I didn't realize that the door closed so I rolled teleport on the glass and then ran to the button. When we switched I just recalled the cube through the floor. I hope this helps, I really enjoyed your game.
I've found 3 (technically 4) glitches already
1. If you get the cube, and go right next to a wall, and angle your camera so that the cube is mostly outside of the wall and throw the cube, the cube will phase through the wall and fall out of the map, and then shortly teleport back to you, there is most likely a way to skip a chamber with this, but I haven't found it yet, because it seems to not work on doors that well, if at all. (But you can use this on the very first "Switch w/ cube ability" chambers, where you throw it through the glass and hope that it lands on the "Switch" ability
2. (edit:oh you already mentioned this in the video) If a missile hits you in a certain way it literally hard locks the game and you need to fully restart the entire game and do everything all over again, happened to me 2 times during a playthrough.
3. The vertical axis is off, if you look straight down, the game will think you are looking backwards, so w will move you backwards, s will move you forwards.
4. Kind of a glitch, but a missile can kill you through a wall, like in the very first missile "level" with the glass wall, if you stand right next to the wall the missile can kill you through the wall.
Neat little game, of course i solved a few puzzels incorrectly and what not but I managed to get through the second turret room just by throwing the cube at the rocket before it got too close then recalling it, I also ended up experiencing a weird glitch where when the cube touched a square button the button stayed active for the rest of the game. Lastly I couldnt tell that I could pick up the cube after rolling something other than explosion and so I spent a bit too much time trying to roll the right effect where I wanted the cube
Looks like I had a bit of a unique playthrough (spoilers).
In the first level with blue barriers, I jumped from the stairs in the pit and threw the cube midair and it landed on the other side, so I never learned about the charged throw. In the level where I was supposed to throw the cube up as it exploded, I threw the cube across the pit and jumped on it midair, and it teleported back to me when I touched the next ability. In the level where you're supposed to swap with the cube after throwing it through a hole in the wall, I went up to the wall, rolled sentience, and stood on it as it rose, then jumped through the hole. I didn't use sentience to distract any turrets, just kept running in, grabbing the cube, throwing it when I was about to die, and repeating until I triggered the respawn point. I didn't fall for the intentional misdirection in the glass button room, and I didn't roll sentience, I just threw the cube at an angle through the hole in the glass until it rolled onto the button. In the only skill-based puzzle, I rolled sentience under the button and jumped off it when it was at its highest. For the ceiling button room after unlocking magnetism, I just threw the cube directly up and it hit the button, and in the room after where the button is even higher, I just rolled magnetism on the ground and it went to the button. Oh yeah, and my solution to the room at 22:12 looked just like that. I thought the phasing through walls was intentional :P
I don't think my experience was ruined, I still had fun.
maybe for the sixth side of the cube you can make so the cube fly to you for a short period.
for example for the room with the glass floor and the button under it, you could throw the cube inside and you would go aboce the button so the cube try going to you but cant and fall on the button
I'm convinced you're just looking to find the most obscure sponsors. And I like it.
Oh. That's how I was supposed to deal with the rockets? I just threw the cube at the rocket each time and immediately re-grabbed it out of the air to throw at the next rocket as I strafed towards the exit.
I felt the Sentience ability was a weak design area because it never did enough to make thematic sense. For example, if the cube can just float itself anywhere, why doesn't sentience just fly it up to the ceiling (I shouldn't need Magnet for that), or lift up like a platform? (So I don't need to perform a mid-air teleport).
The thing I disliked most was trying to roll for dialogue in each room. It was a tedious process.
Also, playing the game via Lutris in Linux w/ wine I noticed two seemingly unintentional things.
1) Buttons all opened doors permanently. Throwing the cube at the ceiling was enough to keep the door open indefinitely etc.
2) The ending "Thank you" does not play. Black screen, delay, exit.
You could also add a second cube into the dead end hallway. tedious to bring back, but could introduce interesting workarounds once you have them both.
payoff for unexpected work twice, though potentially too bothersome for some players.
First of all I like the game but I had some problems while playing it.
- I don't know why but I thought that the abilitys only get executed when I jump on the dice.
- I didn't know until I watched the video that the charged thow exist
- I got frustated at the missile levels I only bruteforced me through the levels because I didn't get that the sentience and the magnetism ability would help me with the missiles.
- I used the sentience ability in the reflex level as a jump pad and not like you intented with the teleport ability.
- I got really frustated when I didn't get the ability that I wanted so maybe you should increase the invisible luck values in some rooms.
and an idea that I have because that lots of people didn't get that yellow things are magnetic maybe it would help if you recolorize the magnetism ability in yellow though you can make a better connection. This also means you must recolorized the voice ability too.
These are my main problems when I played shutter lab but I really like the foundation of the game and I see lots of potential in it. (Sorry for my english)