Color Elementals by Kalkatos

[raw]
made by Kalkatos for LD32 (COMPO)
Color as a Weapon, an unconventional one.
In this game you must combine colors to turn enemies into white to destroy them.
Must combine in Red/Green/Blue (RGB) scale.

Key: U turn on RED;
Key: J turn off RED;
Key: I turn on GREEN;
Key: K turn off GREEN;
Key: O turn on BLUE;
Key: L turn off BLUE;

Enemy YELLOW (R+G) --> attack with BLUE = WHITE.
Enemy PINK (R+B) --> attack with GREEN = WHITE.
Enemy CYAN (G+B) --> attack with RED = WHITE.
Enemy RED --> attack with CYAN (G+B) = WHITE.
Enemy GREEN --> attack with PINK (R+B) = WHITE.
Enemy BLUE --> attack with YELLOW (R+G) = WHITE.
Enemy WHITE --> attack with BLACK.
Enemy BLACK --> attack with WHITE.

Linux and Mac versions were not tested...

Ratings

Coolness 62% 3
Overall 3.24 488
Fun 2.88 702
Graphics 3.03 570
Innovation 3.74 153
Theme 3.56 372

Feedback

Iak
20. Apr 2015 路 20:55 UTC
I should probably have read the text before playing. Whatever, figured it out on my own XD
Nice idea of opposing colors like that.
Red_Fan games
20. Apr 2015 路 21:23 UTC
simply amazing
Phil Strahl
20. Apr 2015 路 21:30 UTC
Interesting concept! Since I work as a colorist on my day job, I didn't have much trouble figuring it out, but I think the complexity involved is a little too steep for newcomers. I mean, switching your own color correctly can be quite stressful, but then also thinking of how to mix the complementary color of a foe to make it white can be a little too much, in my opinion.
How about instead of having to turn enemies white, having to turn them black. The first wave could be composed of just enemies in primary colors in order to get a hang of switching on and off, and then mixed colors in the higher levels. And only THEN having players to bring an enemy's color to a certain value. But that's just me.

Sound would have been nice (I'm thinking something alon the lines of REZ ;) and the background-animation is trippy. Overall a very nice and interesting concept, keep it up!
馃帳 Kalkatos
20. Apr 2015 路 22:02 UTC
You are right. I admit I had trouble figuring out the right colors to kill the enemies myself during testing.
And I am a bit ashamed that I didn't think on having the player turn the enemies into black, instead of white, to simplify the game a little. And the whole methaphor of black meaning death and such. Really makes more sense. I will change that if I ever work on this project again.
Thanks for the feedback! Really appreciated.
馃帳 Kalkatos
20. Apr 2015 路 22:14 UTC
Also, I laughed at "trippy" backgroud! :DD
Phil Strahl
21. Apr 2015 路 00:27 UTC
Hey you're welcome :) Sometimes a perspective from outside of development is just the thing you need when not sure about certain things (at least for me). Keep it up and see you next LD ;)
grillaface
21. Apr 2015 路 16:15 UTC
Love the graphics. I was terrible at playing but that's probably just because my color skills are weak :)
EvilTroopa
21. Apr 2015 路 19:15 UTC
My game has exactly the same color mechanics... We're not so original after all!
馃帳 Kalkatos
21. Apr 2015 路 21:03 UTC
Looks like we came to the same book on the same shelf on the same library at realm of the ideas. Lol
rantt
23. Apr 2015 路 02:47 UTC
The color mechanic is interesting and educational. Took me a while to learn the patterns, so as a color newb I found it hard. Graphics were really nice. Fun game, good job :)
bentglasstube
23. Apr 2015 路 02:48 UTC
Very interesting concept. Starts out a bit slow but very fun once it gets going. The control scheme for setting your own color is a bit difficult - it might be easier to just have three keys toggle the channels.
6x13
23. Apr 2015 路 02:54 UTC
I loved the mechanics idea and execution is pretty good. The character art is really nice as well. But it felt way too hard in the beginning. Also IMHO it would be better without the trippy background.
tughan
23. Apr 2015 路 14:13 UTC
I liked the idea however, the pace felt too slow for me. Personal thing of course.
Luke Molnar
25. Apr 2015 路 23:43 UTC
I got 47. Bit daunting at first, gets better the more you play.
Robotic-Brain
26. Apr 2015 路 00:00 UTC
The control scheme could have been better. I always switched all colors off, so i could start from scratch with the next color.
My suggestion would be to use 3 buttons with black as default and switch on the channels only, if you are holding the button down.

Lots of people seem to use this inverse color mechanic in some way, but this is the best implementation so far (for me at least)
OnlySlightly
26. Apr 2015 路 07:10 UTC
Really cool concept. I had fun scrambling for the right colors. And I felt like I actually learned something :) I liked that even if you didn't use the right color you could still try to turn the color they turned into white. That was fun. Great job!
emmelineprufrock
26. Apr 2015 路 07:11 UTC
Interesting idea on the mechanic, but I got a bit hung up on what to do after changing color. I didn't realize you were supposed to shoot them and instead tried to give them a body smash.