Bipolar by Squared Muffin

[raw]
made by Squared Muffin for LD26 (JAM)
POST-JAM FIX: A lot of people were having difficulty completing the game, so we compiled an easier version, with more help text and easier challenges! If you want the original hardcore version, play the second web link ;)

Bipolar is physics puzzler game about a robot whose arms get into an accident and become wrongly polarized.
Now he must return to the factory where he was created to fix himself.

Ahead lie many challenges that are hard for a robot with swapped magnets.

Left click and Right click to activate each magnet.
Magnets have limited range (If you're in range your sight will change)

WASD to move around.
Fullscreen recommended.
Web version is the optimal version, use windows if web doesn't work properly.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we did making it.

PS. There's a hidden potato

Ratings

Coolness 74% 3
Overall(Jam) 3.78 49
Audio(Jam) 3.43 123
Fun(Jam) 3.56 68
Graphics(Jam) 3.67 154
Humor(Jam) 2.29 234
Innovation(Jam) 4.25 5
Mood(Jam) 3.49 113
Theme(Jam) 3.15 321

Feedback

silentspartan72
30. Apr 2013 路 04:34 UTC
Very fun game but couldn't figure out the second puzzle on the second level. GREAT GOB!!!
Ty Taylor
30. Apr 2013 路 14:53 UTC
Cool concept, a little hard to control though - I felt like I couldn't always successfully use my magnets. Maybe I was doing something wrong.
馃帳 Squared Muffin
30. Apr 2013 路 19:41 UTC
Im sure you did nothing wrong. The game was made as a puzzle so sometimes attraction is disabled at a certain distance
qdowngames
30. Apr 2013 路 20:23 UTC
Sometimes the magnets did not work...but I understood the concept and it was fun until then!
tcstyle
30. Apr 2013 路 20:59 UTC
Great idea. Physics and control could need some refinement. I didn't realized the glass wall in the first room, took me some time. Jumping was pretty difficult.
multitude
01. May 2013 路 00:35 UTC
Love this game. very nice concept and cool idea. reminds me a bit of portal. this cool be the next portal :)
docix
01. May 2013 路 18:33 UTC
A little hard to control. I think the core concept is good, just needs more time to be developed. And there was a ton of camera work that could be done, as I feel like I spent way too much time looking at the floor and ceiling. LOVE the concept though! Nice work!
iamwhosiam
01. May 2013 路 18:33 UTC
I couldn't figure the very first part out :( I was holding the mouse button on the blue pad and I was sliding forward then nothing else happened.
馃帳 Squared Muffin
01. May 2013 路 18:37 UTC
@iamwhosiam: You have to use your left hand to pull yourself up. The closer you are to the magnet the stronger the force will be
AlanZucconi
01. May 2013 路 23:39 UTC
An interesting concept!
It remembers me of Antichamber! :)
JustinMullin
01. May 2013 路 23:47 UTC
Very cool - I'm impressed with what you managed to put together here in 72 hours. The Portal influences are clear, but this feels fresh and new. Nice work!
anjack
02. May 2013 路 00:03 UTC
Excellent first-person-puzzler! You came up with a lot of good levels in a short time. Good job!
acro
02. May 2013 路 00:32 UTC
Incredible! I played "web ('original entry/hardcore')" for a fair rating. I managed to reach the end. And it's very, very good! They always say first person platforming hard to do right, but the push-pull 'jump' repulsion thing felt good, and works pretty well. With more time I can see it could have been tightened up. Other parts control a bit worse (loosely), like the walking, and wall collisions were a bit soft and loose.
Getting past the swinging bar magnet right after the potato was tough, but kind of good as it made me more familiar with the bar magnet. The holy singing potato voice got annoying after I fell in like 38 times, though. :D
Only a few things I didn't like: I didn't give a very high score for graphics because it was too high contrast - I realise this was to do with theme, etc, but lowering the saturation or lighting it a bit more naturally would really help make it easier to play for longer. My eyes started to hurt (although, maybe because I've been staring at a screen for 5 days with not much sleep ;). Relatedly, the areas where the lights were just turned off: that felt a bit cheap. However the jumping sequence was good there for some reason, despite being a pain to see anything. Lastly, the variable magnet strength is offputting, especially when it's really powerful room-leaping pulls one second, and barely reaching something 2 metres away straight after.
But, still, these things didn't stop me enjoying it, and it's the best game I've seen so far! Great job!
馃帳 Squared Muffin
02. May 2013 路 00:43 UTC
@acro Thanks for writting such a compreensive post! You wrote a really in-depth review and we really appreciate your criticism! Thanks for playing :)
john_conder9
02. May 2013 路 01:19 UTC
The clang sound effect made my ears bleed (not literally but sheesh.) I found it pretty annoying that the distance the magnets worked out was so random, I ended up frustrated and just stopped. I personally don't think it's very good design to make the player re-learn the mechanic so much, especially without any sort of indicator as to why things are different. But it was a really cool concept, would have been nice to be able to jump at least a little bit though, movement just felt bad for me. But, might just be a personal taste thing.
MinionStudios
02. May 2013 路 04:32 UTC
EPIC! You did a fantastic job on this!
Riccardo Stucchi
02. May 2013 路 13:21 UTC
Epic idea. Just epic. When i realized what i could do i was impressed. Great idea!!!
fishbrain
02. May 2013 路 17:43 UTC
Nice. Found it difficult to control though.
Polar
02. May 2013 路 18:23 UTC
I liked this a lot, although I did have a bit of an issue with lag. It wasn't my computer (AFAIK), unless there's an issue with Unity Web Player and Macs... any idea why this may not be working?
Xanjos
02. May 2013 路 23:48 UTC
Pretty interesting gameplay concept once you get used to it plus the level design was quite clever.
iamorim
03. May 2013 路 01:37 UTC
I remembered Antichamber while playing your game. Maybe the controls are a little hard, I don't know. But the idea, the graphics are great!
And I couldn't play it on Windows. There was message saying that the folder was not found but it was there O.O. Take a look at it.
馃帳 Squared Muffin
03. May 2013 路 19:40 UTC
@iamorim Hum... well, hopefully you will read this. Inside your Bipolar1_0_Data folder, there should be an output_log.txt, if you could get me that file it would be great! It should have the error log :)
joe40001
06. May 2013 路 08:45 UTC
As per the rules I am reviewing you off the jam version and... dang that was really really amazing. It felt like it could use a tiny bit of beta testing, but honestly the difficulty I thought was great. IMO most reviewers of LD are reviewing casually which is fine but it make a challenging game often get marked down undeservingly.

I've got to say this game was really impressive, the only comfort I could take that made me less jealous was to appreciate that you guys had a decent sized team. Which is cool, you guys clearly work very well together.

Anyway if you plan on developing this game further I'm definitely interested to see more. Great work!
Patacorow
07. May 2013 路 11:37 UTC
Very, very good! A small suggestion: make spacebar the detach button instead of mouse.
Very interesting concept, lovely design and great puzzles.
jtzp4
07. May 2013 路 13:52 UTC
Very nice. I also like the music which is totally adapted to the mood. There are even idle animations for the character! Great job!
馃帳 Squared Muffin
07. May 2013 路 14:33 UTC
@Patacorow That's actually a great idea! Thanks! We'l probably steal it if you don't mind :P
KEFIR
07. May 2013 路 15:55 UTC
It goes to my favorites bookmarks. I played original version and it is hardcore indeed. I spent about 10 minutes just to climb up the stairs. Anyway, concept and realisation just great! Music is beatiful.
I felt a little influence of Mirror's Edge ;)
imagnity
07. May 2013 路 18:50 UTC
One of my favorites in this LD. In the original version, it's hard to figure out stuff so I went to the new one and enjoyed it very, very much. It still has glitches which can be worked on. Super cool entry!
goerp
11. May 2013 路 14:42 UTC
So good it's something to tell my non-ludum friends about.
This has a great Portal feel to it (So I expect to see it in Steam this year :))

Well done!

PS: I do agree that the metal clang sound gets annoying.
BarrensZeppelin
11. May 2013 路 14:55 UTC
I loved the game, really great concept.

Two gripes though; the motion blurring killed my framerate, would've been nice to be able to turn it off. And in the original entry the magnets didn't seem to work correctly, for some reason I just stood on the ground and slid towards the center of the room.
euwaku
11. May 2013 路 19:22 UTC
Amazing entry! Loved the concept.
rzfmzn
14. May 2013 路 00:35 UTC
Kinda Hard, but I like the idea =O)
Parabol
14. May 2013 路 10:17 UTC
Great game. Interesting puzzles.
ahm99
15. May 2013 路 02:05 UTC
Awesome game. I didn't find it too hard. But it was a lot of fun. And if you don't make this into a full game, then what's wrong with you. This is probably my favorite game (mustache armies was good too :). You did an amazing job :)
TurboDindon
15. May 2013 路 07:51 UTC
Very very very good entry.
Gameplay is crazy awesome.
It's a great experience like Portal.
Very hard also, I've not been able to solve the darkness room.

- SEPHY (@sephyka)
Madball
15. May 2013 路 13:19 UTC
It`s surprising to see a so finished game made in 72 hours. The idea is great, puzzles are interesting, execution is perfect. Make sure you take is further.
Sylvain.p
15. May 2013 路 13:48 UTC
Great concept...but very hard. I'm not sur to understand the link with the theme but the game works. Good job.
zkenshin
15. May 2013 路 15:38 UTC
Nice entry. :)
ahm99
15. May 2013 路 21:00 UTC
You will make a full game right?
I mean you have to. When you do, please post a link on this page.
馃帳 Squared Muffin
16. May 2013 路 14:59 UTC
@ahm99 Given all the feedback we've been receiving, we're seriously looking into making it happen for sure! The team is super motivated, and we'll have a long talk about the future of Bipolar very soon. Keep an eye on gaming media, and this page for further updates on the project!
Aevek
18. May 2013 路 07:02 UTC
Amazing concept and amazing game. I somehow managed to escape levels a couple of times my repelling against some of the stronger magnets and clipping through the floor, though.
davidpeter
20. May 2013 路 19:53 UTC
Please make this into a real game. Very Portal-esque.
Codexus
20. May 2013 路 21:59 UTC
Excellent game, a bit rough but super interesting gameplay that kept me trying until I reached the end (hardcore version ;)