MEMEX by Cake&Code
"A belief may be larger than a fact"
MEMEX is an ambient mystery puzzle game where you steal
bits and pieces of someone's memory. You play as the thief,
pushing your way through someone's mind in an attempt to
take away pieces of treasured memories.
But why are you doing this? Who are "you" supposed to be?
Cake&Code welcomes you to try your hand at being the villain
for once, and watch our little story unfold.
Keep in mind, you don't have to collect all the pieces to move on,
but it won't be without consequence.
WASD, Arrows: Move
R, Backspace: Restart Level
Esc: Home
Matias Giachino (Zeik): Code Monkey, Sound Magician
Christina Pham (Cake): Art Guru, UI Design Ninja
MEMEX is an ambient mystery puzzle game where you steal
bits and pieces of someone's memory. You play as the thief,
pushing your way through someone's mind in an attempt to
take away pieces of treasured memories.
But why are you doing this? Who are "you" supposed to be?
Cake&Code welcomes you to try your hand at being the villain
for once, and watch our little story unfold.
Keep in mind, you don't have to collect all the pieces to move on,
but it won't be without consequence.
WASD, Arrows: Move
R, Backspace: Restart Level
Esc: Home
Matias Giachino (Zeik): Code Monkey, Sound Magician
Christina Pham (Cake): Art Guru, UI Design Ninja
| Web (Flash) | http://microcake.org/memex/ |
| Artist's Timelapse | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXgTjA8r8sQ |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-25/?action=preview&uid=10976 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 100% | 1 |
| Overall(Jam) | 3.89 | 14 |
| Audio(Jam) | 3.90 | 18 |
| Fun(Jam) | 3.38 | 57 |
| Graphics(Jam) | 4.47 | 14 |
| Humor(Jam) | 2.03 | 247 |
| Innovation(Jam) | 3.17 | 101 |
| Mood(Jam) | 4.03 | 7 |
| Theme(Jam) | 2.63 | 264 |
There are two things I noticed that seemed a little off:
On the second stage, the first time memories collapse, you can get stuck on your first move. It might be better to position it so that you notice that blocks collapse but you can't get stuck right away.
On the last few (two?) levels, the character started moving a lot more quickly, and it made the game feel harder but not in a fair way - it was easy to accidentally push a block too far. Not sure if that was just my machine, though.
Thanks for the beautiful game!
I was worried I'd not be able to beat this one (as I am typically poor at puzzle games) but I found it not at all difficult, actually.
~AlucardX60
The puzzle element is also nice. The idea of having to "open up" paths by choosing which block to collapse was quite novel.
As for the story, I must confess that I didn't quite follow what happened by the end of it. So who is the player controlling actually? Is it the "dark eyed girl" wiping out the narrator's memories? Or what? The story was a bit vague, and I was lost in the end.
Thanks for the game!
The gameplay is maybe too familiar, but the levels are well designed. I found the movement to be a little too sensitive sometimes, as well.
It's really nice being told the history according to how many fragments you gather... but I missed it changing the ending.
Also, as I understood the game (you being the black-eyed girl, since the player's graphics flashes over her graphic, in the end) it doesn't make sense to me the guy dreaming of everything when you steal the memories... shouldn't it be the other way around? >_<
I'm not sure I understood everything... xD
Nonetheless, awesome game!
Maybe I just like you guys, but I loved this a looooot.
So, lemme get this straight: The dark-eyed girl was in a fight with the blond girl over the guy. So, the dark-eyed girl killed the blond girl, and then stole the guy's memories and made the whole thing like a dream to him, allowing him to think that the dark-eyed girl was the one he'd loved all along.
How incredibly dark. Beautiful, just beautiful.
Those path clearing puzzles were also very original, I've never seen anything like that. Same with the story being the incentive for a player to fully beat the level.
I'm trying to make it a habit to give my criticisms in these comments, but I can't think of anything. Perhaps it could use an "undo move" key?
@23: We tried our best with the level design but yeah that second level isn't the best of teachers, we'll try to keep that in mind for the future. As for the speed up, sorry to hear about that! I hope it didn't interfere too badly. Thanks again!~
@matthias_zarzecki: Sorry about that! We definitely weren't trying to make levels that punish players. Next time we'll try to make the levels more informative rather than simply evil :)
@zenmumbler: Puzzles were definitely just a vehicle to let the narrative unfold. Thanks!
@caranha: We're sorry about the story not being clear enough! Puzzlem00n has an excellent synopsis in his comment that we hope will clear things up :D
@GFM: The memories are in first person because they are his memories and you in his mind when experiencing them, but yes you are right about the player being the dark-haired girl. Sorry it wasn't more clear! It was a very experimental execution for both of us. We'll definitely learn from all of it. Thanks! :)
@Puzzlem00n: D'awww, you're too kind. We're so glad you enjoy it so much and you totally nailed the story! Thank you <3
The story that ties it all together is short and the ending (intentionally?) vague but it was good enough to get me through to the end. Well done.
The only thing that kept me going till the end was the story, which was damn creepy. Not really sure what it all means, or how you were a villain, but yeah.
Music is great. The choice of words creates a special mood.
Great work.. for personal taste.. I would have liked the puzzles to be harder towards the end. :)
Nevermind, I really enjoyed it.
Improve: I missed the rough edges of a 72 hour game.
loved the puzzle, now I want more!
and the graphics and music really gave the mood
sorry my bad english XD
Nice graphics, music, story. I also liked how not clearing all the puzzles makes the text during story parts unreadable. brilliant!