Dropblocks by Doctor Broccoli

[raw]
made by Doctor Broccoli for LD26 (JAM)
Are you ready to journey through BULLET HELL!?

---

Controls & instructions:

WASD : Move around
Spacebar : Destroy blocks (You need ammo to do this.)
Escape : Kill yourself (Use this when you make the mistake of locking yourself in somewhere)

---

Blue blocks: These are anchor blocks that keep the level afloat. When a block is no longer attached to an anchor, it will break loose and fall. Anchors cannot be destroyed.

Green blocks: Turrets, these fire bullets that hurt you.

Yellow pickups: Ammo, you need this to destroy blocks.

Red pickups: Will grant you 3 extra seconds.

---

- The goal of the game is to destroy as much of the level as possible. You do this by slicing chunks off of the level. The game is over when you run out of time or life.
- Work fast! You get a score multiplier that slowly ticks down, so points you earn in the beginning of the game are worth more than the points you earn at the end of the game.
- Conserve your ammo! You'll lose points if you spend your ammo carelessly.

---



EDIT:
It looks like the game doesn't work properly for some people. I think I forgot to include one of the DLL's neccesary to run the game. That should be fixed now (hopefully).

Ratings

Coolness 84% 2
Overall(Jam) 3.06 295
Audio(Jam) 1.94 422
Fun(Jam) 2.98 245
Graphics(Jam) 3.71 140
Humor(Jam) 1.80 362
Innovation(Jam) 3.23 191
Mood(Jam) 2.83 301
Theme(Jam) 3.23 279

Feedback

gilmore606
29. Apr 2013 · 17:05 UTC
I really wanted to play this because the screenshot looks beautiful, but I am missing some mysterious DLL.
UltimateWalrus
29. Apr 2013 · 17:06 UTC
This looks really awesome, it won't run on my computer though :[

Windows 7 32-bit: When I run the EXE I get a white window saying SDL_app. Then a popup that says LD26.exe has stopped working. It allowed me to click "Debug" after which MSVC opened saying "Unhandled exception at 0x00000000 in LD26.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation." The assembly line it crashed on was "011B711F push dword ptr [esi]". Hopefully something there is helpful...
pjchardt
29. Apr 2013 · 17:06 UTC
I liked the visuals but I really don't understand the point of the game. Am I just trying to destroy as much of the floor as possible?
timtipgames
29. Apr 2013 · 17:07 UTC
I am glad that I found your instructions.txt in the rar file. It is a bit weird that you lose points when destroying blocks. So if you haven't read the instructions you are left wondering what the goal is.
The graphics are beautiful, I really really like the lighting and all that stuff that is going on by the same time. It's a bit hard to avoid bullets if you want to move fast, but that's probably intended :) All in all I really enjoyed this and didn't delete it right away before writing this. I'll definitely play this again to see if I can raise my score :)
thephantom
29. Apr 2013 · 17:09 UTC
sorry the game didnt work :(
it seemed like a very nice gam :(
SirJson
29. Apr 2013 · 17:10 UTC
It's a bit unclear how exactly I can destroy the level
martijn
29. Apr 2013 · 17:13 UTC
Could not run it at the firt try. It said it was missing MSVCP110.dll and MSVCR110.dll
DalsGames
29. Apr 2013 · 18:19 UTC
It's a good game, but really need some music or soundeffects! :)
Martze
29. Apr 2013 · 18:19 UTC
Fun! Breaking off parts of the level feels great.
CryoGenesis
29. Apr 2013 · 18:23 UTC
Pretty good graphics, don't really get the point of the actual game.
Felix20
29. Apr 2013 · 18:24 UTC
Really cool graphics that also fit the theme well. The gameplay feels good, but there is just way too many turrets.
EdoMiyamoto
29. Apr 2013 · 18:39 UTC
Could have been even better with sounds ! But very nice game !
Rialgar
29. Apr 2013 · 18:47 UTC
I quite liked the mechanics, but I would prefer some type of designed levelset where you win if you destroy a number of tiles. But that might just be me.
jolle
29. Apr 2013 · 18:54 UTC
Looks great. Felt good to cut off a large part of the level. Not sure if goal/scoring makes sense. Could probably be pretty fun with some work: A minimap so you can plan better, less dependency on ammo, maybe.
SaintHeiser
30. Apr 2013 · 01:50 UTC
Great visuals, man!
matthias_zarzecki
30. Apr 2013 · 08:07 UTC
So many cubes!

This quite lovely. Nice work!
s0ulcrusher
30. Apr 2013 · 12:30 UTC
The turret's bullet trails look really awesome, I found myself just watching the disco floor patterns for a bit. It's a pretty sneaky way to dispatch enemies by removing adjacent floor tiles, I like it!
AestheticGamer
30. Apr 2013 · 17:26 UTC
Didn't fully understand the anchor blocks, as nothing seemed to happen when I released blocks around it. Feels it could be better with some audio, and maybe more things to interact/do or a more 'destructive' feeling.
alcazar
01. May 2013 · 00:00 UTC
Good job guys, nice entry :)
🎤 Doctor Broccoli
01. May 2013 · 15:30 UTC
Thanks for the positive feedback! A number of you have commented that the game would be better. The reason I didn't put sounds in is because I've never really worked with sound libraries before and the LD isn't really the environment in which to wrestle with unknown libraries. Also, I'm not a musician. I'll keep it in mind for the next LD though!

Jolle: Yeah, the scoring's a bit *boop*ed. In hindsight I would've gotten rid of the ammo usage penalty altogether (either that or get rid of ammo.) The balancing between the different ways in which you can score points is a bit off, too.
I opted not to give the player a minimap for several reasons: One, I wanted the player to look at the main screen most of the time, not at some map in the corner of the screen. Two, I wanted the player to actually make the choice between planning ahead (which will cost you a couple seconds) or rushing into things (which might make you run into a dead end.)

AestheticGamer: Imagine the anchors as pillars on which the entire world rests. When a block is no longer connected to a pillar, it will collapse.

Rialgar: Originally this would've been a puzzle game that worked with exactly that concept. I chose not to do that, mostly because I didn't have the time to design levels.
I would still like to make that game though...

Alcazar: Thanks! But it's just guy, singular.
Cake&Code
01. May 2013 · 19:14 UTC
Well, it looks absolutely fantastic and fits really well with the minimalism theme visually.

The gameplay itself was a bit obtuse at first and I got stuck once (thanks for the esc button!) but after a bit it was quite enjoyable. Good job :)
Stuffie
01. May 2013 · 19:18 UTC
Really interesting game, I like the little lighting effect under the block as you move. My only crit would be that sometime the block gets stuck / locked / snapped to the grid a bit too much and makes moving difficult
Jhelle
02. May 2013 · 14:01 UTC
Screens look awesome, it didn't run on my windows xp sadly :(
plash
02. May 2013 · 16:01 UTC
Notes:

- Window title is "SDL_app"! Easy fix.
- No sound. Sound would be intense.
- Ah, movement is not by tile.
- I like this.
- Hard to see the path of bullets due to the tracer.
- Total score: 1058. Another round.
- Bullet hell!
- Crap. I trapped myself. Total: 1306. Somehow.
- Alright, let's try to cut off entire sections.
- 674. Not doing so well.
- 1820!
- The background is cool. I like it.
- 4714! Woo!

Things I would change:

- Add some sounds. Especially some kind of tense sound when the time is running out.
- Remove or change the bullet tracer effect.
PPLo
03. May 2013 · 00:32 UTC
I'm on xp :(
sudorossy
05. May 2013 · 22:09 UTC
Had trouble understanding what exactly I needed to do (Even with reading the instructions)
MinionStudios
06. May 2013 · 04:21 UTC
Wicked game! I'm not really very good at it, but it rocks
naughtyloose
06. May 2013 · 20:43 UTC
couldn't pick up blocks and got stuck repetitiously in some dead ends. Looks nice tough.
Sylvain.p
14. May 2013 · 20:24 UTC
Nice graphics and good camera, but it lacks some feedback when you are hurted.
twelveplusplus
14. May 2013 · 20:30 UTC
it was pretty fun, and definitely minimal. i understand that u didn't have music libs down, but i could see myself playing this a lot longer if there were a nice chiptune track to go with it! nice work.
gerritg
15. May 2013 · 23:05 UTC
Gorgeous graphics, nice game play. I would've loved a mode where you can cut off pieces of the level until you die. The only thing missing was the sound ;)
Madball
17. May 2013 · 10:41 UTC
The game is very fun and original, though it could be more polished. Got 19946 points.
Here is what I`d like to see:
* A tutorial. Most people read instructions only when they understand they can`t play. It seems that the map is 2D, so it takes a while to understand how exactly blocks link.
* Jumping. I can destroy just one block and fail the game. Once I cut off a large piece of the map, but didn`t notice one anchor, and couldn`t return.
* Health pickup maybe.
* A minimap, or larger field of view. Not very important, but anyway.
sP0CkEr2
18. May 2013 · 00:02 UTC
i did not understand how to remove the blue blocks -- it was very next tho -- perhaps a smaller tutorial level would help -- nice job