LudumData

Mingineer by sockfolder

[raw]
made by sockfolder for LD26 (COMPO)
The idea for this entry is making a new World with a minimal number of simple Elements. You are Minny, a cute engineer in training in this new World. Spawn Elements, figure out what each Element does, and try to make interesting mixtures.

This is a SANDBOX game. There is no primary objective. Just have fun and mess around with the various elements.

Controls:

Use WASD to jump around.

Left Mouse Button to spawn/destroy Elements. Hold to spawn/destroy en masse.

Press Space to change outfits. You spawn a different Element for each of the 8 outfits.

Press P to pause the Element movements to setup the Elements more carefully (or to just draw).

Press Z to zoom out and see the whole world.

Windows http://justmillingaroundonline.com/mingineer/
Web http://justmillingaroundonline.com/mingineer/
Source http://justmillingaroundonline.com/mingineer/Mingineer.zip
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=18463

Ratings

Coolness 67% 3
Overall 2.90 848
Audio 2.06 913
Fun 2.32 1101
Graphics 2.74 775
Humor 2.04 702
Innovation 3.22 476
Mood 2.18 1140
Theme 3.11 946

Feedback

Dark Acre Jack
29. Apr 2013 · 09:23 UTC
Cool. Someone's been playing Starseed Pilgrim.
Selliato
29. Apr 2013 · 09:24 UTC
unluckly, very hard to play with non-qwerty keyboard. Same problem with every WASD only games.
DreamThorn
29. Apr 2013 · 09:31 UTC
Nifty!

A bit like cellular automata, but it's more like masses of environment-aware agents.
orangepascal
29. Apr 2013 · 18:47 UTC
it sure is different! :)
FuzzyWuzzie
29. Apr 2013 · 19:08 UTC
Cute!
geckojsc
01. May 2013 · 17:36 UTC
Neat, interesting concept, I like sandbox games and cellular automata.
It was fun trying to work out what each element was representing, maybe it would have been cool to see more interactions between blocks (e.g. water eliminating fire, fire engulfing the plants/organic blocks).

There was a little latency in the sound effects, but I got used to it. :)
playvue
02. May 2013 · 20:37 UTC
Very cool. I really like how some of them do different things when next to each other as opposed to alone. Makes for a whole different dynamic. Very innovative!
aeveis
02. May 2013 · 20:39 UTC
Interesting idea to try and figure out what kind of element it was just from how the block moves. The zoom out is nice too.
Bernhard
02. May 2013 · 20:45 UTC
Fun little toybox. Runs very stable and the infinite world seems well coded. Sadly no source to check out :-(
Definitely seems inspired by Starseed Pilgrim, if not, quite a fun coincidence :-) Hope you find some way to add gameplay into the sandbox, good luck!
🎤 sockfolder
03. May 2013 · 01:02 UTC
Thanks for the positive reviews. I actually hadn't heard of Starseed Pilgrim, but now I certainly want to play it. Of course, I wanted to add a bit more interaction and complex configurations, but limited time and all that. I've been quite busy this week and just got around to uploading the source, so sorry about that. Hopefully I'll soon have a webpage up with the 'solutions' of how each element works, such as how the yellow blocks can be used to make circuits (probably the least clear feature).
Ray_Mickelino
03. May 2013 · 19:10 UTC
Hmm, interesting. It might be better if you eventually add some objectives. Cool concept and game!
netmute
03. May 2013 · 19:21 UTC
Cute art style ;)
bvanschooten
03. May 2013 · 22:17 UTC
Interesting experiment. Looks something like the powder game. In that game every element is only 1x1 pixel large. I would prefer it if you could draw in the zoomed-out mode. Maybe the patterns and interactions would be clearer.
tankete
04. May 2013 · 08:10 UTC
Very unique concept. I'd love to slow the player down just a bit as it all moved too quickly for me. Also, anything with that many instructions is going to be tough since I'm more apt to ignore and dive in. But then I'm lost.

Again, I like the idea, art, and sound. Just would appreciate a bit of a guide/tutorial before dropping me in the huge world. (To be fair, I'm an old fart) :)

Nicely done!
Cake&Code
04. May 2013 · 18:57 UTC
As others have said, a really cool implementation of Conway's Game of Life! I've certainly never been a character caught up in the midst of the craziness.

I built up a diagonal staircase to see what might lie beyond the veil, turn out there's just more building areas! I was hoping to maybe run into another Mingineer like myself :)

Fun little sandbox, hope you develop it further!
atraxgames
05. May 2013 · 14:59 UTC
Discoverying what the elements do it's very cool. Congrats!
mrexcessive
06. May 2013 · 16:43 UTC
Good job. I will come back to this, inspirational in terms of the depth. If combined with gameplay, as opposed to sandbox-play, could be great. Very amusing sandbox.
AtkinsSJ
13. May 2013 · 10:55 UTC
Discovering what the elements do, and playing with them was fun, it just needs some form of goal. I can see it working as a puzzle platformer, where you have a limited number of elements to solve things.

It could do with some way of switching directly to a specific outfit, such as using the number keys. I kept pressing space when I wanted to jump, and having to cycle through them all again!