Ancient Mystery III: The lost symbols by Jesper Oskarsson

[raw]
made by Jesper Oskarsson for LD19 (COMPO)
Discover new alien species by solving puzzles left by an ancient civilisation.

Ratings

Coolness 2% 150
Overall 2.94 104
Audio 2.13 135
Community 2.32 155
Fun 2.49 157
Graphics 2.56 149
Humor 1.95 148
Innovation 3.29 58
Theme 3.11 110

Feedback

Club559
20. Dec 2010 · 03:14 UTC
It's a nice game that fits the theme and you should try it out. It gets real challenging!
stevejohnson
20. Dec 2010 · 05:16 UTC
I couldn't get very far in this. There is no forgiveness if you can't catch the one you need when it flashes by.
increpare
20. Dec 2010 · 20:35 UTC
Oh, once I figured this one out I quite liked it - good work (though, I think I might have misunderstood it - I seem to be guessing shapes, whereas others seem to indicate that the target shape flashes up occasionally - ah well).
sfernald
20. Dec 2010 · 21:22 UTC
I didn't get it. I thought I was just picking random ones to create the alien. Did I miss something?
Elegwa
21. Dec 2010 · 05:39 UTC
Interesting concept, you had me for quite a few levels :P
🎤 Jesper Oskarsson
21. Dec 2010 · 14:36 UTC
Heh, I see I have yet again failed to provide sufficient instructions. The goal is to discover the hidden aliens. There are a set of predetermined aliens and each level you get a new one where the blocks are changed around a bit. You finish a level by moving the blocks back in order so that the alien reveals itself.

The bar at the bottom hints as to how close you are to the original alien. When a block is moved to the correct location the bar fills up. The aliens also flash by in the beginning to give a bit of an idea as to what they're supposed to look like. You aren't really supposed to memorise them.

Thanks for all the feedback! I'm sorry for the confusion. :)
Cosmologicon
21. Dec 2010 · 16:33 UTC
I enjoyed this! I would not even flash the solutions on the screen to begin with. It makes people think you need to see them in order to complete the puzzles, and you don't. I think you should not have the progress bar pulse like that. It's essential for making deductions in the later levels, and if you happen to glance at it when it's "off", you can really wind up going down the wrong path.
Tom Francis
22. Dec 2010 · 00:12 UTC
I like the idea of trying to make a sort of creature, but for a long time it feels like the rules are totally random, so there's a lot of trial and error. If there is a set of rigid rules for what makes 'an alien' I didn't figure it out, but the few times when I intentionally made a kind of face and it was right were satisfying.
Tom 7
22. Dec 2010 · 00:48 UTC
This is an interesting idea. At first I had no idea what I wa supposed to do, even with the instructions. Then I enjoyed it when I figured out I was creating an image by shuffling the tiles around. I thought the point was just to make a symmetric image, which is challenging and objective. But then I got to level 4, I made a symmetric one and it was rejected. Am I really supposed to keep reloading the game in another window and hope to spot the target graphic for half a second? Or is there something I'm missing?
plams
22. Dec 2010 · 01:05 UTC
Interesting. But I feel compelled to "cheat" (watch the sequence again and again in another window) because there some symmetric, alien-looking shapes you can make that don't solve the puzzle.
tonic
23. Dec 2010 · 19:52 UTC
I like the idea, although it took a while to figure it out. Also it became a bit annoying after there were many moves to be done.. :)
Endurion
25. Dec 2010 · 06:53 UTC
The overall idea is good.
I managed to reassemble a few aliens but at the first stage with four moves the bar on the bottom doesn't show anything. I could not assemble that stage.
_wdh
26. Dec 2010 · 22:10 UTC
Bloody hell this is hard (or maybe I'm just thick) Can't get past the flat one. I'm enjoying it however.

I agree with Cosmologicon in that the progress bar shouldn't flash because it makes it hard to read and can make the link between the the user's actions and the bar unclear. Also, there should be an undo button.
Icebone1000
04. Jan 2011 · 03:54 UTC
Theres one who doesnt fill the bar with any movie..I cant figure out whats going on
jagttt
07. Jan 2011 · 05:22 UTC
Stuck at the one with 6 steps. But really a original and fun concept!
mjau
08. Jan 2011 · 13:46 UTC
This was much more enjoyable when I started paying attention to the bar at the bottom rather than trying to memorize everything that flashed by at the start. Fits the theme better that way, too. Would've been better if the bar didn't flash all the way to black though, it can look empty sometimes when it shouldn't be.
Martoon
09. Jan 2011 · 19:01 UTC
Very original! I like this. Like others said, I'd get rid of flashing all the solutions at the beginning. I think it's better if you're just discovering them. I also think it'd be better to not pulse the progress bar. Sometimes I'd glance down and think I'd made no progress, when it just happened to be black at that instant.
🎤 Jesper Oskarsson
11. Jan 2011 · 02:13 UTC
Thanks for all the great feedback! The pulse animations were something I added before submitting just for the sake of adding animations, shouldn't have done that. Also the same with showing the solutions in the beginning, shouldn't have added that but instead tried to improve the feedback you got from the bar.