Perplexive Perspective by quixatocs

made by quixatocs for LD 41 (COMPO)

>>>WEB PLAY<<<

Sqwink doesn't know how he got there, but he's in the middle of an active volcano. On top of that he seems to be in the wrong game. Help this little Lava-Turtle get back to his home in this Top-Down Platformer.

Controls

WASD - Movement
Space - Jump
K - Skip Time

Aim

Bring Sqwink back home.

Tools

Unity 2017
Photoshop
Toggl
MagicaVoxel
Blender
Audacity
Ableton Live

SPOILER TIPS SECTION

1-1 Movin' -- Use the WASD keys to move.
1-2 TimeSkips n' Chill -- Use the K key to sKip time to glean info about the 3d structures from the shadows they cast.
1-3 Baby Steps -- Try skipping time to view the platforms better.
2-1 Crossing Paths -- A well timed jump is all you need.
2-2 Squeeze -- A skip in time saves nine
2-3 Riding Shadows -- Standing on the edge of a platform can show your shadow more clearly.
3-1 Stay A While -- Is there any way to go on the lower level?
3-2 Hot Rox -- Make sure to keep track of both the platform you're jumping to and the next one.
3-3 Helix -- Aka Spiral.

Original URL

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/perplexive-perspective

Ratings

Overall	107^th	3.817⭐	32🧑‍⚖️
Fun	163^th	3.617⭐	32🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	82^th	3.883⭐	32🧑‍⚖️
Theme	315^th	3.65⭐	32🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	174^th	3.667⭐	32🧑‍⚖️
Audio	92^th	3.607⭐	30🧑‍⚖️
Humor	300^th	2.75⭐	28🧑‍⚖️
Mood	220^th	3.315⭐	29🧑‍⚖️
Given		21🗳️	22🗨️

Feedback

Untitled Studios

23. Apr 2018 · 02:02 UTC

Incredibly creative and fun game held back by dodgy collisions and slidy controls. Gets an extra half point for the name of the turtle.

🎤 quixatocs

23. Apr 2018 · 07:56 UTC

Hey @Untitled Studios , thanks for checking out the game. Incredibly fair point about the controls. I'll work on that for any future updates I make outside of LD41

Olivier Millochau

23. Apr 2018 · 17:52 UTC

I love that game, everything from the art style to the idea itself is so simple yet perfectly executed !

There's a little bug tough : every time the turtle walk on a checkpoint, it "explode" again (even if it's already taken)

SecondDimension

23. Apr 2018 · 17:56 UTC

Fun idea and really good fit with theme. I found it satisfying to get through most of the levels, although the helix one was too much for me - I don't think the visuals and the controls were quite subtle enough to make that one easy. The audio and mood was nice.

ab200

23. Apr 2018 · 17:57 UTC

Very creative way of using sunlight!

The_Icy_One

23. Apr 2018 · 17:57 UTC

That was fun. Loved the time skipping mechanic, although it felt a bit weird that the moving platforms didn't jump about when using it.

Potondo

23. Apr 2018 · 17:58 UTC

Haha great concept and game!

I'm really liking the time skip mechanic and using it to tell platform location and height.

Thumbs up for a job well done!

Mathiouza

23. Apr 2018 · 17:59 UTC

Cool game ! Quite brainfucking, and that was what you wanted I think ^^ So congrats ! I enjoyed the experience !

Richnou

23. Apr 2018 · 18:01 UTC

Nice idea, and realisation.

But a little bug on 1-3 baby steps

![perplexive.gif](///raw/569/21/z/11933.gif)

I did not go further ... :(

dalbinblue

23. Apr 2018 · 18:09 UTC

This is a really fun game! I don't see much of the theme here, but that doesn't mean it wasn't cool. I do like the mechanics of changing the shadow direction to get information. The controls were a bit frustrating, especially on the small platforms, but overall I enjoyed playing your game.

gdort

23. Apr 2018 · 18:09 UTC

I like what you did with the art and mixing top-down and platform is not an easy task.
Well done!

🎤 quixatocs

23. Apr 2018 · 18:12 UTC

Thanks for your kind comments @olivier-millochau . I'm aware of that bug and I'll get it sorted for any further release. Thanks for playing :D

LegionGames

23. Apr 2018 · 18:13 UTC

Really interesting & creative concept. However, starting with the riding shadows stage I stopped understanding what is going on. Also, I feel like the time skip mechanic needs to be explained in more detail in game, I got through half the game before I realized what it's used for. :D

🎤 quixatocs

23. Apr 2018 · 18:13 UTC

Yes @seconddimension that Helix one was a bit of a bugbear for me, I had the idea for that design and really wanted it to work with the sun spinning mechanic but it didn't really work in time. I'll definitely look at this for revisions.

🎤 quixatocs

23. Apr 2018 · 18:14 UTC

Thanks @ab200 :D

bcvery1

23. Apr 2018 · 18:14 UTC

This was great fun, the graphic style really pleasing, and the music great too. Excellent job

amras0000

23. Apr 2018 · 18:14 UTC

The controls have a very slight delay to them. That's the only fault I can find with this title. I didn't have any trouble controlling the character; the platforms were large enough and jumps had enough leeway that it wasn't an issue.

The music is genuinely lovely, the concept is creative, the colors do a really good job of conveying how much you don't belong (the color scheme is consistent and beautiful, punctured only by the player character). I'm always a sucker for perspective games, too, and I haven't seen one play with shadows like this. (Though I have to wonder how anything is casting a shadow on a pool of magma...) The checkpoints are generous, the level transitions elegant. I could keep going, this title is very polished.

There was one tiny bug in the shading: in the helix level, standing on the bottom level, the top platform was a slightly different color from the rest. When I got higher this stopped being an issue. I imagine this is something to do with Unity's lighting. This had no real impact on anything, but since everything else about the game is fantastic it felt worth mentioning.

Great work.

🎤 quixatocs

23. Apr 2018 · 18:15 UTC

Ahh that's a brilliant point @the-icy-one I don't really know why I didn't think of that. I think my brain was always thinking of it as a sun-moving action so when I named it time-skip I just didn't fully think it through. Thanks for pointing that out :)

🎤 quixatocs

23. Apr 2018 · 18:16 UTC

Thanks @potondo :D

🎤 quixatocs

23. Apr 2018 · 18:17 UTC

Hahah yep that's right @mathiouza . I was aiming for the 'wow I feel great for figuring that out' reaction and hoping to just about avoid the 'to hell with this piece of c**p' reaction. Hopefully I got that about in the middle. Thanks for playing :)

🎤 quixatocs

23. Apr 2018 · 18:19 UTC

Thanks @richnou for bringing that to my attention. I didn't come across that bug myself when playing but I think I know what causes it. As @Untitled Studios said above, I think it's to do with the bad implementation of the controls. I'll be fixing this as a priority when making any updates :) Thanks for playing and I'm sorry that it spoiled your experience.

🎤 quixatocs

23. Apr 2018 · 18:20 UTC

Thanks for playing @dalbinblue . I can see what you're saying. I think I have played too many side-scrolling platformers so I thought a Top-Down Platformer was a cool take on it but I've probably just not come across other non-side-scrolling platformers before. Do you have some suggestions of ones I should check out?

🎤 quixatocs

23. Apr 2018 · 18:22 UTC

Thanks you @gdort glad you liked the mix it was a bit stressful thinking up ways to make that mechanic work. Not sure I quite got there but it was fun getting wherever I did :) Thanks for playing

John Darrington

23. Apr 2018 · 18:25 UTC

This was a ton of stuff to have done in 48 hours - great job! I enjoyed the music, and it lent great atmosphere to the lava. Controls felt way squishy - almost like I was on ice the whole time. I liked the concept of the game, though some more visual cues on time skipping might be better early on.

fantastic job mate :)

🎤 quixatocs

23. Apr 2018 · 18:44 UTC

Thanks @john-darrington for your feedback. You're right, the controls suck and I think I know of a solution for after the grading :) Good point on the visual cues for time skipping, it's also missing a sound effect :( Bit of a mistake there. Thanks for playing :)

🎤 quixatocs

23. Apr 2018 · 18:50 UTC

Thanks @bcvery1 I learnt a bit about unity's music powers from this jam so it's really nice to hear that. :D

🎤 quixatocs

23. Apr 2018 · 18:53 UTC

If I could add another plus to your comment @amras0000 I would. Lovely to hear positive things and you're bang on with that lighting bug on Helix and your points that the magma would be causing some lighting haha. I need a bit of a rethink to pull that one off correctly. Thanks for playing. See you next Jam :)

🎤 quixatocs

23. Apr 2018 · 19:02 UTC

Great point @legiongames I think you're right that it needs to be introduced a bit more slowly and also needs to be useful to promote this understanding. I need to work on that.

dalbinblue

23. Apr 2018 · 21:41 UTC

@quixatocs My first thought would be to make the horizontal motion less floaty. It's a bit slippery, and mid air direction changes are hard as momentum in the previous direction still exists. While it makes sense from a physics standpoint with such small platforms, the tighter controls would be more helpful.

🎤 quixatocs

23. Apr 2018 · 21:45 UTC

Thanks @dalbinblue I agree :)

N3K

24. Apr 2018 · 01:43 UTC

Cleaver use of light! The soundtrack was just perfect too.

Deadly Apps

24. Apr 2018 · 04:20 UTC

hey lots of fun. Beat the 3 levels. I like the use of light as well. Video of me doing the playthrough and commentary here: https://www.twitch.tv/deadlyapps/videos/all

EkkoEkko

24. Apr 2018 · 05:07 UTC

I love the color pattern!

Dumivid

24. Apr 2018 · 07:50 UTC

Fun little game. Idk why but for me this **turtle** look like a **tank**, even after some time playing. Maybe you wold consider a walking tank game? Anyway, good job.

meskaline

24. Apr 2018 · 08:03 UTC

Nice game. Good atmosphere. love the graphics and audio.

nidup

24. Apr 2018 · 10:46 UTC

Really like the overall gameplay & art, the game is well polished, especially enjoyed small details like reminding the controls around the :turtle: at the beginning and the clever use of check points. Very solid entry, congratz! :thumbsup:

🎤 quixatocs

24. Apr 2018 · 14:01 UTC

Thanks for checking it out @n3k

🎤 quixatocs

24. Apr 2018 · 14:02 UTC

Sweet @deadly-apps I look forward to checking out how you got on!

🎤 quixatocs

24. Apr 2018 · 14:02 UTC

Thanks @ekkoekko

🎤 quixatocs

24. Apr 2018 · 14:02 UTC

And now I can't unsee that @dumivid hhahahahha :D

🎤 quixatocs

24. Apr 2018 · 14:03 UTC

Thanks @meskaline I'm glad you liked the graphics as I thought they were very weak this jam :)

🎤 quixatocs

24. Apr 2018 · 14:03 UTC

Thanks @nidup :D

Bomb-X

24. Apr 2018 · 14:38 UTC

What a mind game xD Well done :)

🎤 quixatocs

24. Apr 2018 · 17:23 UTC

Thanks @bomb-x glad you liked it

🎤 quixatocs

24. Apr 2018 · 17:25 UTC

Well done for persevering @deadly-apps those bugs were pretty annoying. I'm glad they didn't stop you enjoying it nonetheless. See you next jam :D

Zyuxis

24. Apr 2018 · 21:55 UTC

Hey I enjoyed it a lot! I thought the game had a slick style. Using the shadows to determine heights/distances was interesting, although a few moments still made for strange perspective!

mAnimal

24. Apr 2018 · 22:03 UTC

Ouch, challenging as vulcano, like the whole mood of that game.

Mowztouch

24. Apr 2018 · 22:09 UTC

interesting concept, godd idea, and very nice entry ! :)

simonhutchinson

25. Apr 2018 · 16:06 UTC

Super-cool. This is great work for 48 hours. 3D platformers are my nemesis, but this is a rather reasonable solution (locking the perspective, and making the issues of the genre into the strength of the game).

All this and music too!

🎤 quixatocs

25. Apr 2018 · 19:06 UTC

Thanks @zyuxis glad you liked the style :)

🎤 quixatocs

25. Apr 2018 · 19:06 UTC

thanks @manimal glad you liked the mood.

🎤 quixatocs

25. Apr 2018 · 19:06 UTC

Thanks @mowztouch :)

🎤 quixatocs

25. Apr 2018 · 19:07 UTC

Thanks @simonhutchinson glad it works for folk not fond of 3d platformers :)

Hilvon

25. Apr 2018 · 21:00 UTC

Pretty fun experience.

Though most of the challenge comes from lack of height perspective (other than looking at shadows).

Also at the beginning of act 3 I managed to quantum-tunnel through the walls around the platform. So it might be a good idea to make colliders there a bit more solid.

LandoSystems

28. Apr 2018 · 02:40 UTC

Fun game with a nice simple aesthetic. Had some trouble with the perspective around the jumps, but it was still fun. Nice work!

Perplexive Perspective by quixatocs

>>>WEB PLAY<<<

Links

Controls

Aim

Tools

SPOILER TIPS SECTION

Ratings

Feedback