Lab of Broken Time by Aslai

[raw]
made by Aslai for LD27 (JAM)
About the game:
You are a Dr. Pepper chugging mad scientist who just made the worlds first time machine! However, due to calculation mistakes, you accidentally made the machine throw you in to a ten second long loop.

Make use of your ability to retain knowledge through a space-time warp and your time-static crates to make it through your meandering lab.




Due to family issues and poor time management, I was only able to spend about half the time on this that I wanted to. It conforms to all compo rules, except for time.

I only have 3 basic levels done that show off the simple mechanics of the game. I only had an hour to throw them together, so there's not much in terms of brain-bending puzzles. I may extend this in the future though.

There are also some minor issues with inter-object collisions, because I was really pressed for time... and there are a few tiling issues on the edges as well.

Oh well. Hopefully I'll have more time next go-around!


To add: More details about the game itself. I'll probably spend a few more (relaxed) days making a post-compo version that's more in line with my original vision.


Changelog:

Post Compo V1:
- Fixed game breaking bug where game would crash on most machines when changing level
- Fixed game breaking bug where game would sometimes fail to start up
- Added 5 sound effects
Post Compo V2:
- Fixed game breaking bug where game would crash on most machines when obtaining a green pickup
- Fixed many instances of physics goofups
- Added a few new tiles, reworked level 2 to take advantage of the new tiles

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 3.38 173
Audio(Jam) 2.83 292
Fun(Jam) 3.11 210
Graphics(Jam) 2.89 387
Humor(Jam) 2.11 371
Innovation(Jam) 3.56 75
Mood(Jam) 2.78 340
Theme(Jam) 3.81 30

Feedback

almightyzentaco
27. Aug 2013 路 13:16 UTC
I encountered a bug that crashes the game as soon as it starts level 3. I really enjoyed this game and would have liked to have finished it. Concept is great, sound is good, and the animation of the main character has a nice feeling of weight- reminds me of Flashback in that regard. Good job. Hope you get the bugs ironed out.
Ritzblues783
28. Aug 2013 路 00:43 UTC
This game has lots of potential. I love the time reversal mechanics. The slow pacing of the game matches up well with the 10 second time limit. I too experienced a crash when picking up a green object in stage 3 or 4 (I forgot which).

With a few bug fixes, this game could be great!
馃帳 Aslai
28. Aug 2013 路 01:20 UTC
Thanks for your feedback! I'll try to figure out how to fix the bug with the green checkpoints right now.
馃帳 Aslai
28. Aug 2013 路 10:55 UTC
Aha! after far too long, I found the silly source of all my segfaults... void set_tile( int x, int y, tile t ){ tiles[x+y*width] = t; }

Oh well. All the gameplay bugs are gone now! Yay!
Pixelfan Games
28. Aug 2013 路 11:40 UTC
lol i like it, remember to me braid, good job, nice graphics, music and concept.
Diptoman
28. Aug 2013 路 11:43 UTC
This is a gem! Full props for innovation! My only complaint would be that jumping feels unresponsive mostly.

Do develop this into a full game!
GSM Productions
28. Aug 2013 路 11:57 UTC
Excellent variety of time related mechanics, you should really expand on it!
And as a Dr Pepper chugging game dev, I approve of your description :D
Jimanzium
28. Aug 2013 路 12:00 UTC
This game had some really cool effects, I'm impressed how much you got done in 3 days. Looks very complete, good job
Typedeaf
28. Aug 2013 路 12:05 UTC
Excellent game! It felt a bit choppy, like the frame rate was a lot slower than it had any right to be, but otherwise nothing to complain about. Nice graphics (liked the timer :)), nice level design, nice time travelling mechanics
馃帳 Aslai
28. Aug 2013 路 12:22 UTC
Typedeaf, one of my biggest pet peves is when the framerate of the game doesn't match the framerate of the animations it uses. My options were either create twice as many frames, or halve the framerate. I guess if I take this game further though, it wouldn't hurt to increase the framerate of everything.
brogrammers
28. Aug 2013 路 12:36 UTC
Amazed. I didn't tried the post compo because there were too many things added, and you should respect the time limit as everyone else. But i liked very much your honesty, one star more to Overall. Anyway, the game was great.
Graphics: loved the sprite animations, the only bad side was that the game ran a little slow: i noticed the 10 seconds were way longer than they should be, probably for the few fps. 4/5.
Innovation and Theme: I liked how you implemented it. The rewind, i must say, it surprised me. Original. 5/5.
Fun: Not much to say. 4/5
Audio: Time well spent on the audio. 4/5
Humor-Mood: Compatible with the rest. 4/5
Tainted_Code
28. Aug 2013 路 12:43 UTC
Pretty nice idea! Well executed, good job :3
Pickens Inc.
28. Aug 2013 路 19:03 UTC
Great potential, although the timer doesnt last for ten seconds, more like 20 :)
BenWhi
29. Aug 2013 路 01:00 UTC
Now here's an original game! Going back in time was very cool. I just wish each level started you back at 10 seconds instead of what you had left. There was also a bug in the 3rd level, but I really liked it overall.
futuristteletex
29. Aug 2013 路 12:58 UTC
Nice game! Interesting mechanics, and a nice fit to the theme.
GarethIW
29. Aug 2013 路 19:11 UTC
Really nice. Despite jumping directly into the game, the controls were easy to figure out and the mechanics became quickly apparent.

Definitely build it into a post-LD game :).
necmelt2006
29. Aug 2013 路 19:19 UTC
The mechanics are awesome! this game shows what we can do in (10seconds)s :)
馃帳 Aslai
29. Aug 2013 路 19:36 UTC
Thanks everyone :)

Yes, I was planning on spending a bit of time cleaning up the code, then making a full game out of it. Stay tuned.
jprogman
29. Aug 2013 路 20:47 UTC
Awesome idea you have going there with rewinding time.

I'm not sure if you caught that but the time doesn't reset when I enter a new round.
馃帳 Aslai
29. Aug 2013 路 20:54 UTC
BenWhi and jprogman: Yea I realize that. It was changed in the post compo version. Unlike in the game, I can't rewind time to put it in the jam version :(
yokcos700
29. Aug 2013 路 21:15 UTC
As a large fan of music that resembles the ticking of a clock, I have to commend you on the music behind this game. Moving's a bit awkward and falling off ledges is a bit annoying, but nothing major or that causes me to lose unfairly. Good job implementing new things each level; it keeps the gameplay fresh.
LordHellMaX
29. Aug 2013 路 23:14 UTC
Nice idea with the theme, going back in time each ~10 seconds is pretty cool. Did you make the music?
Nick Cash
29. Aug 2013 路 23:15 UTC
You had me with "You are a Dr. Pepper chugging mad scientist." This game was about me! All an all, a fun little game. Would have loved more levels, but I feel that way with all LD games. Music, sound effects, good fit for theme -- a very nice LD entry!

Also, I don't usually see many people choose C++. I definitely liked the rewind feature; I'll be looking through the source a bit to see how you decided to do that :)
GigaBass
30. Aug 2013 路 01:03 UTC
Loved the scientist's animations, really smooth and good-looking! That falling lab coat :)
Short game!
Gazok
30. Aug 2013 路 01:37 UTC
I really liked the back-in-time mechanic. As you said, the levels were a little simple, but it seemed like there was plenty there for the time you spent.
Vaalen
30. Aug 2013 路 11:51 UTC
It's a good little game. I had a crash at the end of level 3 so I couldn't do next levels. I like the twist on the theme. Game mecanics are very interesting too.
馃帳 Aslai
30. Aug 2013 路 23:46 UTC
Thanks for all the praise, guys :)

LordHellMaX: Yes I made the music. You can rate it and poke fun at it at http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/547538

Nick Cash: I just record a list of variables at different time steps and then do a linear interpolation in reverse. I was initially using a spline, but my implementation was far too slow for the huge datasets. I was using an O(n^2-(n-1)*n/2) implementation, which is basically O(n^2/2). Linear interpolation is O(1)

As for the crashes after level three, that's just because it's trying to load a level that doesn't exist. Too bad I ran out of time. I'm definitely going to clean up the engine a bit and start working on a proper game though. This was my first real foray in to using Lua.

GigaBass, thanks! I try to make my graphics look somewhat presentable.
dalbinblue
31. Aug 2013 路 02:15 UTC
Props for the nixies tubes. The game feels solid and really smooth except for the slow jump, which I'm guessing is either from a slow pre-jump animation or that jumps only trigger on some sort of time boundary.
RARoadkill
31. Aug 2013 路 02:20 UTC
One of my favorites so far. Would love to see more of this game made. Jumping was a bit annoying at times is my only complaint
Myyyvothrr
31. Aug 2013 路 09:40 UTC
Nice start, liked it!
ratalaika
31. Aug 2013 路 09:58 UTC
good job
jomomomo
02. Sep 2013 路 00:43 UTC
Any chance we could get a mac or web version?
馃帳 Aslai
02. Sep 2013 路 01:03 UTC
Last I checked, emscripten was pretty terrible, as was FlasCC, but I can take a look again if that would please you.
archaeometrician
02. Sep 2013 路 02:31 UTC
Nice job I love the rewind concept! Very nice game !
sP0CkEr2
02. Sep 2013 路 03:49 UTC
i really like the concept of this and it was a lot of fun -- would love to see more levels -- great job
ComicSans
02. Sep 2013 路 11:22 UTC
Very well executed. I especially love the vacuum tube numbers!
Marcellus
02. Sep 2013 路 12:34 UTC
Very nice game, very professional, clever use of the theme, but I think you should make the controls smoother, I couldn't manage to pass the green switch in level 3 because of the jumps above the square block. And I swear I tried at least 30 times.

Very strong game potential tho.
ZYXer
02. Sep 2013 路 21:34 UTC
Nice puzzle game which incorporates the theme quite well. I also really like the artwork. The controls are a bit fiddly (especially jumping) which makes level 3 nearly unbeatbale. But still a fun game, I would love to see more levels! :D
Starspell
12. Sep 2013 路 14:08 UTC
This is a great little game. I was thinking that the ten second looping would be like all the other games here. But I was gladly surprised.

It's really polished! I love the touches like the reversed motion at the end of the run (which is actually helpful to the game and not just an effect as well!) and the camera bumping.

The animations are great and I learned from this game how just using the animations to pause movement after falling from a great height really adds weight to the character and the fall. I will certainly be using that trick somewhere down the road.

Level design, music and animations are all great. I'd love to see a fully polished and complete game of this. You've got a good thing here. Well done!
Rick Hoppmann
15. Sep 2013 路 16:25 UTC
The game crashed after I reached the end of level 3. The gameplay was pretty clever. The graphics are missing details and you may consider using other colors, which fit better together.