LudumData

Shapeless Island by tanjent

[raw]
made by tanjent for LD35 (COMPO)
In The Quest of Shapeless Island (TQoSI) you star as Shapecules, the only hero on the island that can fire magic bullets. These bullets are handy when recapturing the shapes that have escaped into the multiple dungeons on the island.

Controls: Move with WASD or Arrow Keys. Shoot with X, J or Space. Shoot to make the Colored Shapes collect their own kind.

You can bump into Colored Shapes to change your Shooter. But you will loose a life if you get hit by purple bullets (Yeah, I know, don't we all?)

So venture out young hero! Collect the shapes and make the king happy again!

Made with Phaser.JS, TypeScript and lots of cursing...

BUGFIX UPDATE 2016-04-18:
- added WASD-controls and so that you can shoot with X or J as well
Web (HTML5) http://www.tanjent.se/labs/shapeless.html
Source http://www.tanjent.se/labs/shapeless.html
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-35/?action=preview&uid=36394

Ratings

Coolness 84% 2
Overall 2.93 696
Fun 2.70 746
Graphics 3.25 376
Humor 2.47 373
Innovation 3.23 381
Mood 2.44 723
Theme 2.91 736

Feedback

tanis
18. Apr 2016 · 18:47 UTC
The game looks nice.
There's a problem with Chrome though as pressing the space bar actually scrolls down the page even if the game canvas is focused. Is there any way to avoid that?
neondx
18. Apr 2016 · 18:50 UTC
concept is cool but it's a little too long to finish a level, because of the size of the rocks
ChrisMingay
18. Apr 2016 · 18:53 UTC
Unless I am just completely pants at this, it never actually felt like I was in control of things, it was more a case of sending the blocks on their way and hoping for the best.

Original concept though!
mikedirl
18. Apr 2016 · 18:53 UTC
Interesting game, the game play was very different than anything I've seen before. You did a great job making an intro and having the island graphic with the levels. I enjoyed it.

One problem I did notice was that when you pressed the down arrow key the whole page scrolled down as well as your character, it could get annoying after a while.
ito123456789
18. Apr 2016 · 18:56 UTC
Fun game, good graphics. It needs sound and maybe some particle effects to make it a better experience as a puzzle, but I enjoyed it.

I like your web too, I might get one to host my own stuff.
Ibzy
18. Apr 2016 · 18:57 UTC
The concept is interesting, if at first a little confusing. Once I got the hang of what I should be doing (knocking the shapes towards their shaped tiles on the floor) it was a lot more enjoyable.

Basic yet charming graphics, and physics which worked and made sense. Plays a lot like breakout, so once you've nailed the angles you can get the shapes where you want..if it weren't for the shooty things adding the right level of challenge.
DesignerNap
18. Apr 2016 · 19:43 UTC
VERY tough to play as each time I hit space in the browser the entire page sinks to the bottom and you lose the screen. Is there a standalone somewhere I can play?
🎤 tanjent
18. Apr 2016 · 21:08 UTC
OUCH sorry about the Space and Chrome. Thanks for letting me know. Stuff like this is why I need the comments :P

I've added so you can fire with X as well. Hopefully that will work with Chrome.
🎤 tanjent
18. Apr 2016 · 21:23 UTC
And now I added WASD-controls + shoot with J and also added some keyboard capture calls, hopefully this will work...
bigpan
18. Apr 2016 · 22:00 UTC
Interesting game, but very confusing for me, maybe i'm just stupid. I've really liked the graphics, you have great design skills, congratulations.
nihilaleph
19. Apr 2016 · 00:13 UTC
Nice graphics and interesting concept, though it was a bit hard, specially the last level... I also didn't see much point with the shooting... There was little control to them and didn't seem to make that much of a difference other than keeping the shapes moving.
I tried to beat the game but twice the I cleared all shapes but the counter finished at one T_T

Congrats on your entry!
LandoSystems
19. Apr 2016 · 05:52 UTC
Very cool game idea, nice implementation, good art style. It was unique and fun, great work!
🎤 tanjent
19. Apr 2016 · 20:02 UTC
nihil: well, *blushes* apparently one of the enemy towers was placed on top of one of the shapes... I've moved it now so the game can actually be finished :P Damn I hate it when you are so stressed you can't playtest enough!!
pythong
19. Apr 2016 · 20:14 UTC
sooo shifting shapes, am i right?
GAFBlizzard
20. Apr 2016 · 07:31 UTC
Nice art. This feels like it would fit an Indirect Control theme.

Unfortunately the purple bullet turrets made the game too frustrating to play past the first 2-3 levels. It is already very difficult to maneuver the colored shapes into the last few gray shapes with them bouncing off each other, and having to constantly dodge just makes it more tedious in my opinion.
neontropics
20. Apr 2016 · 10:03 UTC
Nice mechanics and game!

I might have liked the bouncing shapes to be a bit larger, as it was a bit frustrating do finish off the end part of the levels. Also some visual feedback when finishing off all of a certain shape would add to the satisfaction of doing it.
Larzan
20. Apr 2016 · 16:21 UTC
Very nice twist on the breakout concept, interesting, liked it!
+1 for the intro and shapekules :)
Mathias Olsson
20. Apr 2016 · 17:32 UTC
Nice game. Quite fun to play. Sort of like Arkanoid / Breakout but with a twist.
keyboardmonkey
22. Apr 2016 · 18:50 UTC
Good job making a game in Javascript and web canvas :) A good idea but the levels take a while to play, it is difficult to control the shapes sometimes, but I guess that is the point and why they escaped ;)
grayhaze
22. Apr 2016 · 18:51 UTC
A fun mix of breakout, a twin stick shooter and air hockey, creating something unique. I had a lot of fun with this, but mostly found myself completing levels due to luck rather than any skill (or lack thereof) on my part! The graphics were really good for a competition entry. Really could have done with some sounds, as it wasn't always obvious when I was taking damage. Otherwise, a really enjoyable game which I'd like to see expanded on. Well done! :)
glaze_96
23. Apr 2016 · 08:54 UTC
"Shapecules" lol!
geekguy100
24. Apr 2016 · 19:31 UTC
Cool!
HunGARE
25. Apr 2016 · 21:25 UTC
The mechanics were new and kind of cool! It felt a little weird once you are attacked by the turret, but with a little balancing I think it would be great. Great pixel graphics, too.
Franklin's Ghost
28. Apr 2016 · 13:09 UTC
Interesting, combination of gameplay elements. Took me a bit to realise how to play properly but once I did and got the hang of it, I was able to control the levels a lot better.
dylanwolf
29. Apr 2016 · 22:11 UTC
Interesting concept, and something I haven't seen before. I felt like I got the mechanics if I started thinking about it like air hockey.

I think my only complaint is it's hard to get fine control, so I found it easier to ignore the bullet patterns and just push the shapes around.
torcado
29. Apr 2016 · 23:54 UTC
really interesting gameplay, havent seen anything like it. but i dont feel like the player has too much influence on the game