LudumData

Geometry Merge by M8rix

[raw]
made by M8rix for LD 42 (COMPO)

2018-08-12 (6).png

This little puzzle game is all about merging blocks (and not running out of space and steps...)! Control one block at a time and try to match it with a similar block, without using up all of your moves. If you merge a block 3 times, it disappears and gives you extra steps plus lots of juicy points. Reach for the highest score possible! Developer high score: 27 000.

Note: The game in its current state may be a bit too easy when you get the hang of it. However, an updated and tweaked version will be released right when the Ludum Dare is over. And a new gamemode will be added, too!

Controls:

Move - Arrow Keys

Place block - Spacebar

Windows https://gamejolt.com/games/geometry_merge/360817
Source code https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZsuqJJ2YzeOZHfa-91b5wSgCNtitYuxz
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/geometry-merge

Ratings

Overall 260th 3.548⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Fun 231th 3.488⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 178th 3.536⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Theme 321th 3.643⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 419th 3.095⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Audio 451th 2.643⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Humor 429th 2.057⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Mood 473th 2.703⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Given 35🗳️ 46🗨️

Feedback

Teo Miklethun
12. Aug 2018 · 23:52 UTC
Very steep difficulty curve, but very fun and amazing sound design!
LaytanL_
12. Aug 2018 · 23:55 UTC
Hey, cool game! I like how you have to choose if merging is actually worth the steps it will take, very nice idea and implementation of the theme.
Valden
12. Aug 2018 · 23:59 UTC
This is a really interesting puzzle mechanic ! I find however that the board is too big. That creates a really slow beginning where you don't realy care about the placement of your blocs.
Ghen
12. Aug 2018 · 23:59 UTC
very cool and unique puzzle game, i never seen something like this, definitely innovative imho, the difficulty is not a joke
jackou
12. Aug 2018 · 23:59 UTC
liked the sounddesign - maybe a music track would have been nice too!
piece ofcheese
13. Aug 2018 · 00:00 UTC
Cool idea. I found it to be a bit too easy to manage the squares once I understood the game. Maybe you could make it get harder the further you get? Or also maybe you could have different shapes for the play area. Anyway, I liked it!
DoubleBiceps
13. Aug 2018 · 00:57 UTC
Nice little game, simple but cool ! Maybe a little music in background ?
gagouman
13. Aug 2018 · 02:17 UTC
Fun twist at the theme, love the simple concept and well designed graphics. The only thing that would have add to the game would have been a background music track. Great work!
Kaisean Games
13. Aug 2018 · 07:13 UTC
I got 73000 and then I quit because it was too repetitive and no increase in difficulty. The way I played, I think I could reach any score...

But all in all, very nice idea and execution. I am not a fan of chiptunes, but for a compo game, sounds reasonable :)

Adding more colors with time would make the game ending inevitable at some point, so that's the direction I'd go.

Well done!
🎤 M8rix
13. Aug 2018 · 09:10 UTC
Thanks for your comments!

@jackou
@doublebiceps
@gagouman
Was running low on time, but I'd definetly make some kind of bgmusic if there was more!

@piece-ofcheese
@kaisean-games
Stupid me decided to raise the amount of extra steps from 5 to 7 right before publishing. Yup, it's definetly too easy when you get the hang of it. Maybe I'll tweak the numbers again.
bnmkt
13. Aug 2018 · 11:06 UTC
Ok so the game seems difficult at first but when you understand THE technique it is rather simple. (I agree, giving 7 instead of 5 is a pretty bad idea)

What could be good would be for example to increase the number of blocks to merge according to the score in order to make the game harder ^^

Still a very good game!
Dries Vuylsteke
13. Aug 2018 · 11:32 UTC
Super fun approach to the theme. I didn't really think while playing and that is what kept it interesting. It's like one of those 2048 games, it doesn't take much to figure it out but that doesn't mean it becomes less fun. Great job on this, could probably be a nice mobile game if you port the movement.
pomb
13. Aug 2018 · 13:21 UTC
Really cool! I think it's a little unforgiving, and you can probably award movement points for just matching a block or award more movement points the less moves you take to match to the next block. Pretty neat idea.
Mathiouza
13. Aug 2018 · 13:28 UTC
Nice concept ! I was already interested when seeing the thumbnail ^^ And I am not disapointed ^^ Nice puzzle game with great machanics ^^

Keep coding :)
LastLeaf
13. Aug 2018 · 17:52 UTC
Addictive puzzle game! Now I am researching if there is a strategy to play this game forever. The mechanics are so interesting. Great job!
caeonosphere
13. Aug 2018 · 20:51 UTC
Like others, I was also able to reach an arbitrarily high score and step count. Understandable -- I didn't spend much time tweaking the balance of my game either! I was really surprised by how fun the core mechanic was, and how long I kept playing. If you added more variety, maybe blocks that do different things, this could be built out into a full game. Perfect simplicity.
meltobis
13. Aug 2018 · 21:07 UTC
At the beginning I was like, what do I have to do? but when I got it I found it really funny and a cool mechaninc for a puzzle game.
Helen
13. Aug 2018 · 23:47 UTC
It's hard to get any further, when you've had a bad start. It seems a bit random and unbalanced. But I like the idea of the puzzle system. You are really running out of space - that's nice :)
Hare Software
14. Aug 2018 · 09:31 UTC
Took me a turn to get used to, but had quite some fun when I figured it out. Perhaps give like a few steps each time you combine a block? Maybe I am just not too good yet, either way, great job!
tetra
14. Aug 2018 · 12:25 UTC
I really enjoyed this one! I ended up playing for quite some time. I found a good-ish strategy was to mash space at the start and then work with what you've been given.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/296991095## game at 5:00
Truc_e
14. Aug 2018 · 18:00 UTC
Fun, unique, polished. I have nothing negative to say
AwiX
15. Aug 2018 · 07:38 UTC
A good game idea, the music should be improved. The graphics are good.
Try our game too, maybe you'll like it)
Zinski
15. Aug 2018 · 17:24 UTC
Little very interesting puzzle game! I think that levels to solve would perhaps be a better way to learn game mechanics and allow interesting progression over the game! I loved the minimalist style though! Great job!
🎤 M8rix
16. Aug 2018 · 19:01 UTC
I appreciate all of your comments and feedback! I'm very glad that most of you seem to have enjoyed the game :)

And thanks @tetra for the little promotion :P
Nam Nguyen
16. Aug 2018 · 19:47 UTC
Pretty solid on the theme, I like the mechanic. A very fun game, I can play this all day really
CaptainDreamcast
17. Aug 2018 · 09:08 UTC
I always play the game before reading the comments, so after I was super proud of my 30000 score, my heart got shattered to bits when I saw those "infinite points" comments.

Although that does make me wonder what the optimal strategy is, my strategy was always to only merge two blocks if they had a distance of two moves or less. Had a few nailbiters there, I managed to come back from zero steps left to the triple digits, so you really made an interesting way to come back from sticky situations. I was constantly on edge, a super fun game!
ursagames
17. Aug 2018 · 10:59 UTC
I had a lot of fun with this one! Adding in some more juice and difficulty ramp up and you would have a really addictive game. Thanks for sharing this with my stream!
arctic_allosaurus
19. Aug 2018 · 15:34 UTC
I liked the puzzle mechanic and nice take on the theme. After a while the sounds started to sound a bit repetitive, but that's something to consider in further development. Good work! :)
Rahim_Pxr
27. Aug 2018 · 22:18 UTC
Nice game, Love how everything is balanced!
Good luck, Don't forget to take a look at ours if you don't mind and see what it's like when we just focused on graphics in this game jam!
Game Link: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/spacelab-42a
Wassim
29. Aug 2018 · 14:49 UTC
Very addicting gameplay loved the concept that fits well with the theme!
Got me some time to get used to it but it's amazing scoring 53550 won't be regretted! :smile:
Wish you the best of luck!
( We're sorry about the situation that happened earlier! )
🎤 M8rix
29. Aug 2018 · 15:31 UTC
Thank you very much @wassim! No need to be sorry at all! Let's just play and rate games for the last couple of days before deadline and be hyped for the final results :smile:
Johnny Turbo
01. Sep 2018 · 18:57 UTC
I definitely enjoyed your game! It was pretty challenging at first but I soon found out how to optimize the game and I was quickly able to rack up a score of 69000 before I finally called it quits. It got to a point where I had over 100 moves available and it wasn't really going down from that. I think if you made the game a bit more difficult your score increases, it would be a whole lot more fun. Your art style is simple but very effective. Overall I enjoyed my time with your game. Congratulations on making a complete game in 48 hours!!
🎤 M8rix
01. Sep 2018 · 23:09 UTC
Thanks @johnny-turbo for playing! I know... I was dumb not testing it enough before publishing. However, a more balanced version will be released right when the jam is over. And it will include a second gamemode ;)