Jelly! by rowanqueue

[raw]

made by rowanqueue for LD 42 (JAM)

Help control the growth of the Jellies so that they can all share before space runs out!

Controls:

Click to place/unplace blocks

Enter to run game

R to reset

Jellies like to Share! Jellies may be a little greedy, but with your helpful nudging they will grow to encompass the same area and truly be Happy!!

Jellies like to Grow! Jellies will grow from their oldest square with their most preferred possible direction.

Jellies like to be Unique! Jellies like to go certain directions.

Red: ↑↓→←↗↙↘↖

Blue:↗↙↘↖↑↓→←

Green:↑↗→↘↓↙←↖

Yellow:↓↘→↗↑↖←↙

Made for Ludum Dare 42

This currently functions as a prototype before I convert it to mobile.

HTML5 (web)	https://rowanqueue.itch.io/jelly
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/jelly

Ratings

Overall	1059^th	2.925⭐	22🧑‍⚖️
Fun	1054^th	2.725⭐	22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	311^th	3.474⭐	21🧑‍⚖️
Theme	498^th	3.605⭐	21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	1145^th	2.275⭐	22🧑‍⚖️
Given		20🗳️	1🗨️

Feedback

scottyseus

14. Aug 2018 · 03:07 UTC

This game presents an interesting puzzle - it is a bit challenging to get a proper feel for the jelly growth patterns, but i guess it wouldn't be as fun if it were too easy.

Michael Wingfield

14. Aug 2018 · 03:15 UTC

Great game! I'd be curious to see the algorithm you used to guarantee a successful solution. However, there was a bug, if you CLICK the Reset button, you don't get the same number of squares to place as when you hit the R key. Just a heads up. Well done!

khaotom

14. Aug 2018 · 03:17 UTC

Interesting concept! I was unable to pass level 6. I even tried a brute force approach and try every combination to no avail.

🎤 rowanqueue

14. Aug 2018 · 04:00 UTC

@michael-wingfield Thanks! The "animation" happening behind the start screen is actually just a modification of that algorithm running on a really large grid (You can even sometimes see where it places the grey blocks). I can send you the source code if you want? I'll fix that bug right away.

@khaotom Once you get to level 6, you are required to place at least 2 blocks. If this wasn't the issue, I'll look through my level seeds and see if there is an issue. Thanks for playing!

arcadonauts

14. Aug 2018 · 05:49 UTC

This was very interesting, but I mostly solved the problems by brute forcing instead of reason. I wonder if there's a way to encourage thoughtful problem solving? Maybe a tutorial that works you through how to reason about the puzzles.

I'm also very impressed by your puzzle generation algorithm. Bravo!

vfabien21

14. Aug 2018 · 05:58 UTC

The idea is interresting (I always like attemptes to use cellular automaton in games).
However, it took me a while to understand the goal : growing the same number of cells for each color. Maybe it should be told more precisely ?

_Kassjak_

14. Aug 2018 · 06:34 UTC

Very interesting game! Can't really say anything else

Gaming Night

14. Aug 2018 · 11:49 UTC

Cool strange puzzle style, I liked it !

thegunmaster

14. Aug 2018 · 14:45 UTC

Cool game, I think this would work very well on mobile! The spreading rules seem too difficult though, if they were simpler I would try to do things strategically. Now I just try something and observe how it reacts, which still works decently.

Wevel

19. Aug 2018 · 21:50 UTC

Nice puzzle game, for some of the smaller levels it can just be easier to keep trying every solution till you win.

Joshua Stone

25. Aug 2018 · 15:11 UTC

Slightly confusing, but the main issue I had was that clicking the reset button didn't actually reset the number of blocks I could place. I had to press R to get it to fully reset.

Jupiter_Hadley

03. Sep 2018 · 16:34 UTC

Neat game! I included it in my compilation video series of the Ludum Dare 42 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/CCzYoSZIQ24