Time Surge by Solifuge

[raw]
made by Solifuge for LD27 (JAM)
Controls:
Mouse + Click


Overview:
A Puzzle RPG set aboard an Orbital Research Station which, over the next 10 Seconds, will be destroyed by a mysterious Spacetime Disaster. Luckily, the player (the Station Janitor) has somehow been unstuck in time by the disaster, and can use their newfound powers to try and prevent it!

...if, of course, they can figure out what went wrong, and how to fix it. A lot can go wrong in 10 seconds!


Gameplay and Hints:
If you feel like cheating, here are the solutions for each room: http://imgur.com/a/ZPtkJ

1) Wire Puzzles: With the forcefields sealed, the player must rotate wires to route Charged Tachyons across the ship. Connecting the wires to the bottom node opens the forcefield to the next room, and unsticks it in time so it remains open. Connecting them to the top node passes the charge to the next room. Click on the Time Surge to resume time, and test your solution!

2) Once time resumes, other obstacles will stand in the player's way. You can thwart them by using items found around the ship. Some wire puzzles may need special Fuse Items to be placed in item slots in order to complete them too. Computer consoles contain further tips. Good luck!


Credits:
Hitchh1k3r: Lead programmer - http://hitchh1k3rsguide.com/
Naali: Director, assistant programmer, puzzle design
Solifuge: Art, game design, puzzle design - http://mrsolifuge.deviantart.com/
Tlynn: Writing, themeing, puzzle transcription
Willfor: Music - http://willfor.bandcamp.com/

Special Thanks:
MysticStv: Puzzle transcription, and snarky commentary
Mrs. Hik3r: Puzzle transcription, and nap-enforcement
LWJGL, and Java in general. Thanks for being a thing!

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 3.96 17
Audio(Jam) 3.92 21
Fun(Jam) 3.62 50
Graphics(Jam) 4.23 57
Humor(Jam) 3.37 87
Innovation(Jam) 3.75 45
Mood(Jam) 3.67 57
Theme(Jam) 4.12 6

Feedback

archaeometrician
27. Aug 2013 路 05:59 UTC
Great graphics, nice music ! Love the puzzling gameplay. Good job !
Nerlin
27. Aug 2013 路 06:20 UTC
Very cool pixel art graphics and interesting idea integrated with contest theme. But game since too hard for me, some hints could help.
馃帳 Solifuge
27. Aug 2013 路 07:00 UTC
There are some hints in the Computer Consoles, and others in the Gameplay Guide section of the above post too. Hopefully that helps!
KevinZuhn
27. Aug 2013 路 17:57 UTC
I really enjoyed this!
I like the mix of more straightforward pipe dream puzzles and silly adventure game puzzles. The final puzzle was quite tricky once I realized I needed to open the door (wasted a few runs confused when routing power to the time device didn't work)

Traveling between rooms got pretty tedious as the game went on. I wish I could've just jumped instantly to the room I wanted (time is stopped, no need to be realistic). Watching the guy run while time was moving was fine, but given how much backtracking I had to do during puzzle time, waiting for room transitions became irritating.

Still, an excellent and very complete game! Super good looking and sounding, and funny, too!
zlowrance
27. Aug 2013 路 22:38 UTC
Great game! Loved the graphics, gameplay and well...everything.
fdevant
28. Aug 2013 路 00:15 UTC
Nice!
Too hard for me too! It was hard to understand what tiles were available at every point and so very hard to plan ahead, but fun!
hitchh1k3r
28. Aug 2013 路 03:06 UTC
Okay the applet is done. I forgot what all I had to do to get it to work last time, but I finally remembered... Link should point here: http://hitchh1k3rsguide.com/projects/ld27/
awesomesauce
28. Aug 2013 路 03:24 UTC
Best game with a hugging robot so far! Great mood, took me awhile to figure it out.
Vile Smile
28. Aug 2013 路 03:43 UTC
My only complaint is backtracking was annoyingly slow. But everything else was perfect! I'm still trying to get through these, puzzles and I have to say I'm quite impressed. A solid, complete feeling game. Amazing job!
RARoadkill
28. Aug 2013 路 03:47 UTC
The best game I've played so far. Great work
dalbinblue
28. Aug 2013 路 04:20 UTC
Absolutely fantastic! As a question, is there more than one ending, as it seems there could have been one more thing I could have done in the last room.
Yngar
28. Aug 2013 路 04:24 UTC
Aagh the ending!! This was wonderful, by far it was the most time I have spent playing a jam game. The puzzle design was very well done. Being able to instantly jump between rooms would help a lot, it was frustrating to run all the way back, activate the sequence and realize I had forgotten one thing and had to do it all over again. Also it would be nice to be able to swap an item in the hand with one on the shelf instead of having to go to another room to find a place to set something down.
Still this game was incredible, I am very impressed and had a lot of fun with it.
sP0CkEr2
28. Aug 2013 路 13:24 UTC
great game -- adding it to my ld27 favorites
Brainless Games
28. Aug 2013 路 15:10 UTC
Took a minute or two to realize what I had to do and could do but after that I really enjoyed it and the puzzle where a nice challenge to keep you going.
futuristteletex
29. Aug 2013 路 03:29 UTC
enjoyed this! really liked the art too =)
BenWhi
29. Aug 2013 路 05:00 UTC
Really unique game. I like that you made a puzzler/point & click for your entry. Graphics and music A+
Zathalos
29. Aug 2013 路 05:16 UTC
Awesome game. It had great art and music. It was also pretty challenging. Good job.
Angrycrow
29. Aug 2013 路 05:20 UTC
I'm really glad that I downloaded this. Real great game! I need to bookmark you.
SnoringFrog
29. Aug 2013 路 06:01 UTC
Nice. It crashed on me a couple times (thankfully near the beginning) on Mac, and the piece of chicken entirely disappeared (thankfully, it was only that), but otherwise it played fine, was challenging, and quite enjoyable. I liked it.
mklee
29. Aug 2013 路 07:18 UTC
Wow! This is definitely one of the most impressive games I've seen from this LD. I really like the way the rooms build on top of each other and there's some super clever moments. Great job with the puzzle design, I can't imagine doing all of this in 72 hours!
koe415
29. Aug 2013 路 07:44 UTC
Haha this game is great. I'm loving the atmosphere and exploring the ship's cast of characters. The detail in the logs is awesome. Music was top notch and all the art was extremely polished. This is one of my favorite LD games! Thanks for the experience! My favorite bit: Hugging robot just wants something to hug..

My only nitpicking grip is that the puzzles were kind of hit and miss. As I tried different combinations for some of the puzzles when my first guess didn't work, I had to watch the janitor run slow (walk fast?) through the rooms multiple times. If anything, I would say to speed up his travels up after the initial try.

Very well done guys! Keep up the awesome games!
folmerkelly
29. Aug 2013 路 08:53 UTC
yo I'm too dumb to be good at this but I love the presentation; pixels and music and setting all work really well together.
GarethIW
29. Aug 2013 路 09:11 UTC
Good stuff indeed, some ingenious puzzles and mechanics. A lot can happen in ten seconds!
Capro
29. Aug 2013 路 09:37 UTC
This kept me playing till the end. Awesome.
Darien
29. Aug 2013 路 09:53 UTC
Excellent overall, though I agree that the constant running back and forth gets tedious. Also, I don't know if you intended it, but I found an alternate (and much easier) solution to the final Pipe Dream: (spoilers, obviously) http://www.perfectlydarien.com/personal/altsolution.png
馃帳 Solifuge
29. Aug 2013 路 09:56 UTC
I was falling asleep by the time I got to designing the Fuse Puzzle. That was unintentional as heck, but good work!
GrooveMan
29. Aug 2013 路 10:10 UTC
Excellent! My only criticism is having to run through each room to solve some of the puzzles and reactivate the core. But you knew that already, I guess~
Ossi
29. Aug 2013 路 23:57 UTC
Amazing graphics great mechanic and fitting music! It was a pretty tough game, but very satisfying to finally make it to the next room. Great use of the theme!
bassarisse
30. Aug 2013 路 00:12 UTC
I got bored from going back and forth, but the rest is awesome!
ramoncb
30. Aug 2013 路 01:30 UTC
incredible game!
well polished and very complex and fun, congratulations! =)
Neo-Blue
30. Aug 2013 路 04:37 UTC
Amazing project. Really enjoyed the puzzles and music.
ratalaika
30. Aug 2013 路 16:27 UTC
good job
tigerj
31. Aug 2013 路 04:30 UTC
that music is epic and the puzzles were fun.
Teejay5
31. Aug 2013 路 05:32 UTC
That is some expert music! awesome game, just got a bit annoyed with having to run to each room after clearing one, not too big a deal.
The hugging robot tho!
reheated
31. Aug 2013 路 09:36 UTC
Spectacular. Excellent puzzles, adventure game aspect, music and art. Couldn't stop playing.
The Evil Cult
31. Aug 2013 路 20:47 UTC
Amazing game. Like others have said the backtracking is a bit of a pain but pretty much every other element of the game (graphics, sounds, story, puzzles) is really well done. Very polished and very good work!
naali
01. Sep 2013 路 03:00 UTC
I was trying to push for a Jefferies tube mechanic so that you could move between rooms but we ran out of time.
BNeutral
01. Sep 2013 路 07:28 UTC
I generally don't like puzzle games, but this one was quite nice. The walking around got a bit boring though.
vrld
01. Sep 2013 路 11:44 UTC
Interesting and fun concept. Combining the two layers of puzzles adds a lot to either "sub"-gerne. The only complaint is that it takes too long to try out if a solution works (i.e. doing something, going back to the reactor, seeing that it didn't work, go to the room again, ...). Especially in later rooms (mess hall, sciency room), a shortcut would have been nice. Nonetheless, great game!
Pol
01. Sep 2013 路 11:50 UTC
I tried to have the chef eating the cobaye's eye, but she wouldn't :(
Neat game btw.
psychomonster
01. Sep 2013 路 14:47 UTC
5/4/5/5/5/4/4/4 Great!
manuq
01. Sep 2013 路 20:00 UTC
Congrats to the whole team, you came with a very solid game!
iiechapman
02. Sep 2013 路 18:22 UTC
One of the best executions of the theme so far. The puzzles were pretty tough, walking back and forth and walking back to the beginning could have been made a bit faster/easier. The music is the best and best suited I have heard in LD27. The time reversal mechanic is a pleasure every time even though it means you "failed" the puzzle. Extremely high marks for this game!
gamepopper
04. Sep 2013 路 21:03 UTC
Brilliant puzzle game, if I didn't have to sleep for work, I'd play this to the end!
urth
05. Sep 2013 路 13:58 UTC
Solid game!
Lokarunith
05. Sep 2013 路 14:05 UTC
The puzzles were icredibly fun but following the main character was really boring.
Brian Stegmann
11. Sep 2013 路 01:12 UTC
Solid entry. I enjoyed the point and click puzzles. The narratives text is very interesting but the closeness of the lines makes it difficult to read.
infernet89
14. Sep 2013 路 15:31 UTC
Very nice game! The audio was fantastic, too bad the puzzles were so damn hard and clueless (like the hugger in second room, for example), and you need to wait for the characters slowly walk to the room before actually have the possibility to solve it.
But, for 72 hours it's an amazing work! You'll be in top places for sure.
Terrabyte
15. Sep 2013 路 15:12 UTC
Fantastic game! I hope that you make a post-compo version with even more levels!
PaperBlurt
15. Sep 2013 路 16:28 UTC
Supafine design! Love the pixels. Got kinda blinded by them!