Oddblock by Joe Sycalik
Take on the role of Oddblock, a young diamond shamed for its shape by its square peers. Avoid being crushed by those blocky bullies and score points as you slap fallen blocks out of existence. Survive as long as you can!


Made with Unity, Inkscape, Bosca Ceoil, and Bfxr
Check out the trello board for the post-jam release!
https://trello.com/b/wuCbzmU0/oddblock-post-jam-release
Follow development of Oddblock and my other games on discord!
https://discord.gg/AVXMTQ4
WARNING: This game contains fast flashing images. It may cause discomfort and trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy. Player discretion is advised.
Jam Version Bug Fixes
-The game had the wrong starting difficulty, causing the beginning to be much slower than intended. The starting difficulty was changed from 1 -> 3 in order to fix the starting difficulty curve.
Ratings
| Overall | 450th | 3.232⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 368th | 3.232⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 422th | 3.089⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 165th | 3.926⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 353th | 3.268⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 386th | 2.82⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 323th | 3⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 17🗳️ | 15🗨️ |
@gamepopper Thank you! I definitely agree that some additional visual effects and a longer and more varied soundtrack would be necessary improvements. Hopefully next time I'll be able to work with Inkscape and Bosca Ceolis a bit more quickly now that I have a better feel for the tools!
@neipo13 Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I was thinking the same after playing it a bit more. I hadn't intended for it to have such a slow start. I believe it's okay for me to tweak that scaling value or boost the starting balue within the compo rules for bug fixes, so I can have that fixed tonight =)
There are obviously some tiny problems, like lack of time and score display, but I see you are very well aware of all those. The core gameplay is very well polished.
@boltkey I appreciate the feedback! I'm glad that you had a good experience with it =)
Good palette choice for the game, It fits very well. I thought the audio fit nicely as well. It was mentioned on the stream, but I would have loved to see my score during the gameplay as well so I'd know how close to a high score i was. Otherwise I really enjoyed this one and look forward to what it becomes post LD.
Here is a link to the video from the stream https://www.twitch.tv/videos/297556370
The game is pretty straighforward, do a thing as quickly as possible, avoid some things.
The controls are responsive and breaking the blocks work well.
The game is a long game of attrition though, it takes a long time to lose if you're doing a half-decent job of running from spot to spot, and there's not much challenge or variety in doing that. Getting a block dumped on you by mistake is probably how most sessions would end.
The lack of a timer running during gameplay takes away the sense of urgency or "about to beat my old score" feeling that there might have been.
Only one complain: The music is repetitive and starting annoying me on one minute and half of the game.
And two sugestion:
1- Put a score point if have a high score to beat, this is make very nice to people who is focus in achieviement.
2- Since your game is focus in color, make some test on colorblinds tools. This will help to see if the game become unplayable for some people.
Very good game!!!
@rafael-endo Thank you, I really appreciate the kind words! As mentioned, the score display and numerous other improvements to improve the game's replayability are planned! I really appreciate the point about adding colorblind support! I have added it to the game's Trello board, so I will definitely aim to provide good colorblind support on release =)
@tuism @mike-inprinciple I appreciate the honest feedback! I agree with each of your points completely. My goals for this jam were improving familiarity with tools for art, music, and sound effect creation, and creating a cohesive experience with polished gameplay. As a result, the game admittedly is quite lacking in features, sense of urgency, and general replay value. These are all getting more attention in the post-jam release, which I began to work on last night.
@manbeardgames Thank you! I also noticed that it's a little too easy at the moment to overshoot a block when moving. I'm working on a fix for this that maintains the smooth and responsive feeling of the controls others have praised.
@g4mr Thank you! I'm glad it was able to catch you by surprise! =)
When they have selected a place to drop, moving blocks will have a warning period where they will flash red-blue-red-blue-red-blue before turning pink. This flashing is meant to be drawn over everything except for the player's own shadowed sprite (which I implemented because I don't want to player to ever be in a situation where they can't see where they are).
Time:228
Score:263
it is a fun little game.
Over time, the music can get a little annoying. :P
The controls sometimes feel a bit laggy because movement is grid-based.
Gameplay is fun and inuitive, its runs very smoothly and breaking blocks is a pleasurable experience. It gets really stressful and enticing, I played it for a few games and had real fun :)
It's all very simple yet polished, and the soundtrack is fantastic ! Well done :)