AI-Bot Problem by Neon

[raw]
made by Neon for LD 39 (COMPO)

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Switch AIs between bots to solve puzzles with them.

Story

There has been a major incident in the energy transfer system of this facility. The engineers aren't coming to fix the problem until the next morning. Using the backup power, you need to manage the bots manually to restore the power.

Controls

The game consists of wiring up the panel on the right. The left side of the panel represents the controllable bots, and the right side represents different AIs you can assign to control those bots. Plugging "Bot A" to "Seek Yellow" for example, will make "Bot A" seek yellow lights, if any are reachable. Note that other than lights, the bots only see 2 tiles away, so you need to use the lights to navigate through the levels. Right-clicking will discard the currently held cable.

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Ratings

Overall 121th 3.7⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 72th 3.75⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 20th 4.2⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 332th 3.5⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 281th 3.4⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Audio 374th 2.65⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Humor 282th 2.429⭐ 16🧑‍⚖️
Mood 177th 3.353⭐ 19🧑‍⚖️
Given 13🗳️ 18🗨️

Feedback

Jupiter_Hadley
31. Jul 2017 · 22:23 UTC
Really clever game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 39 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4BqGc9csNo
Sir Daniev
01. Aug 2017 · 00:13 UTC
Interesting concept for a puzzle game. I felt like a 50s phone operator somehow.
It was only missing a music.
incobalt
02. Aug 2017 · 00:39 UTC
This was really cool! I couldn't get past one of the levels, the bot wouldn't go to a red light that seemed like it should have. Even still, this was a great take on the theme, and the feel and mood of this game was really nice!
milano23
02. Aug 2017 · 00:44 UTC
I liked the game. Interesting concept. I was stuck on level 3 for a long time. Good Job!
ZechW
02. Aug 2017 · 00:50 UTC
Fun mechanic, and had some good puzzles. Wish I could have disconnected a wire once I started, and I also ended up stuck to a third wire (wire up both bots, then start a 3rd from an empty port on the right).
ryte2byte
03. Aug 2017 · 04:11 UTC
Fantastic little puzzle game! This is probably going to sound stupid, but I was super impressed by the graphic for the RCA jacks, lol.

Oh, and just an FYI, you're game's title image didn't take. It just has that grey test pattern default in the LD game list.
johnnwfs
03. Aug 2017 · 04:12 UTC
I liked it. Clever twist on this kind of puzzle game.
JCMonkey
03. Aug 2017 · 05:03 UTC
i like how you ahve to control the bot remotely from a console. with more levels this game can be pretty good.
NHG
03. Aug 2017 · 12:56 UTC
I really like the mechanic, its a great idea! I noticed some minor bugs, but nothing game-breaking, and a few more levels would have been nice (but thats obviously out of the scope of a game jam) :) Overall great game!
Steve Johnson
04. Aug 2017 · 05:08 UTC
Good scope and implementation for a compo game! Appropriately mellow sound effects. I always appreciate when compo games don't just use bfxr.

I made it all the way through and had an appropriate sense of puzzle-solving. This game has a good difficulty curve and was never frustrating or boring for me.

The graphical atmosphere and wiring mechanic gave this a polished feel above and beyond 90% of compo games.

Great job!
Vodzik
06. Aug 2017 · 15:46 UTC
Nice puzzle! Good job :)
mintarcade
08. Aug 2017 · 15:11 UTC
I had similar idea before, but your implementation is better :) Nicely done.
Ellian
13. Aug 2017 · 12:27 UTC
Wow what an awesome idea! I really like how you indirectly control the bots, the wires are a simple but very cool touch. The level design is quite good as well, I'm not really sure what to give feedback on ahah; maybe it'd be better with some music and sound design?
But overall a very, very solid entry. Great work!
LuckyFeathers
18. Aug 2017 · 10:22 UTC
Hey, this is a pretty good game. The graphical design of everything works very well together, and it looks polished. I like that there's audible feedback when you click on buttons as well as the walking sounds, but I would have liked to have some ambient sound as well. Music or just ambient noise.

Maybe there could be an easier way to distinguish the bots, rather than "A" and "B"? A different shape or color maybe. I always had to hover over the switches to remember which bot is which. I only played a few levels, but if you have more than two bots at later levels it probably gets even more confusing.

Aside from that, my only complaints are some few, subtle things. For example, if I have bot A seeking yellow, and I try to make B seek yellow as well, nothing happens. So I have to unselect bot B, disconnect A from yellow, and then combine B and yellow. It would have been a lot better if it just disconnected A and yellow for me automatically. Hope that made sense :p Similarly, if I want to break a connection between the left and right panel, why do I have to left click and then right click? One right click should have the same effect. Of course, all of these things are minor details, but those details are what turn a good game into a great game.
jondalnas
18. Aug 2017 · 15:40 UTC
This game is great! The unique controls makes for some fun and challenging gameplay. Keep it up!
ToonTeamJ
18. Aug 2017 · 17:30 UTC
These puzzles are very interesting. I enjoyed playing them.