Running out of Space by Gaoyuan Chen

[raw]

made by Gaoyuan Chen for LD 42 (COMPO)

Gameplay

This game is inspired by Teries - blocks are falling from sky and you need to destroy them before you are running out of Space.
This game is also inspired by Typing games - you need to type a word on screen, but this time it can be any word form a path from any golden block to space bar. You always need Space bar to destroy blocks, so don't waste them otherwise you will be running out of Space (bar).
On the right side you can see the words and spaces that are coming next. Also, it tells story.
The words, speed, difficulty will change when you play through it.

Rule

Push the key that correspond to a golden block.
If that block is a letter, then it will turn into brown. All non-brown neighbor (left,right,up,down) will turn to golden.
If that block is a space bar (a 1x6 bar without text), all brown block and that space bar will be destroyed.
If you can't reach any space bar, we will reset the brown blocks.
There is a progress bar on top, when it run out of time new block will appear.
When the block stuck in the top row, game will over.

Control

Keyboard only
Use Enter to join game and restart.
Use key 'A' - 'Z', space bar to play.
Use Esc to force Game Over.

Development

Engine: http://www.amulet.xyz
Sound: SFXR in http://www.amulet.xyz/editor.html
Picture: draw by hand using Microsoft Paint

HTML5 (web)	https://gaoyuan.itch.io/running-out-of-space
Windows	https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tO7x2mHvnUp1dA39ibR02Ek8rqz7WQzu
macOS	https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KikwRKdec7K_CIzbwbFmfuOyat79IkSw
Linux	https://drive.google.com/open?id=18LnWu4aPecBtARKQhUxJZ6Rp8P3A5OkJ
Source code	https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lBzFxHC8x_PCMvRV4wNirxlqXwLmyAhb
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/running-out-of-space-4

Ratings

Overall	104^th	3.815⭐	48🧑‍⚖️
Fun	72^th	3.848⭐	48🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	42^th	3.978⭐	48🧑‍⚖️
Theme	84^th	4.13⭐	48🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	483^th	2.944⭐	47🧑‍⚖️
Audio	358^th	2.884⭐	45🧑‍⚖️
Humor	298^th	2.526⭐	40🧑‍⚖️
Mood	358^th	2.939⭐	43🧑‍⚖️
Given		62🗳️	20🗨️

Feedback

Paden Shorey

13. Aug 2018 · 03:10 UTC

Very cool idea and very responsive. I find it gets too intense too quick when the a's start falling.

smilewood

13. Aug 2018 · 03:10 UTC

This game was lots of fun, and surprised me by how into it I got. The beginning levels I was thinking that it was super easy and just a puzzle, but then the challenge started. I like that you had a bunch of different phases of the game, it made it a lot more fun to play. It took me a while to see the words on the side that were warning me about the changing challenge. I thought that the sound effects were quite good and perfectly fit the game, although I would have liked some background music of some sort. This was a very fun game, good job!

felixnemis

13. Aug 2018 · 03:12 UTC

Neat idea, I like how the path you pick is a bit strategic

mrjorts

13. Aug 2018 · 03:18 UTC

Great idea. My only suggestion would be to increase the difficulty, since it starts getting a little monotonous towards the end.

Gary Beebe

13. Aug 2018 · 03:18 UTC

I think I beat it :P

matt-tuttle

13. Aug 2018 · 03:19 UTC

This is fantastic! I love how the tutorial is built into the game. Honestly, I finished the game wanting more.

Tiberiusuciu

13. Aug 2018 · 03:20 UTC

I underestimated the difficulty of the game because of the tutorials. I thought this was easy, boy was I wrong hahahaha game is fun, and I quickly got hooked on trying to last as long as I can. Good job!

Tinamil

13. Aug 2018 · 03:22 UTC

Very cool. I beat it first try, but was completely engrossed the whole time.

karlipoppins

13. Aug 2018 · 03:29 UTC

This is quite an original concept! At first I'll admit I was lost because I thought we had to make real english words and I couldn't figure out how to make words with any path leading to the space bar...

Then I finally got the concept and started typing as fast as I could :)

A few things I really liked:
- The game has a nice progression, it starts off slow to teach the player how to play. Then it gains a great rhythm and adds some pressure to type letters correctly. At the end, things seemed to slow down a bit until the last letters.
- I like the attention to detail: the words that make a cool message on the right handside, the final screen with the space bars appearing on top of each other, etc.
- I found it challenging but rewarding as I was able to sometimes type my way through a bunch of letters super fast and get a bunch of blocks out of the way.

A few things which I think would have added even more:
- Some background music would definitely make it more relaxing or stressful :)
- Keeping the pace steady and increasing until the end. I found the game a bit too easy and finished it on the first try.

And if you have more time... POWER UPS :D

Great job!

🎤 Gaoyuan Chen

13. Aug 2018 · 04:42 UTC

@smilewood, @karlipoppins: Yes there should be background music. I had few idea like changing them between 'level's to tell the player about level changes. However I didn't manged to figure out how to make music by myself (this was my first Ludum Dare!) - will definitely work on the music next time.

🎤 Gaoyuan Chen

13. Aug 2018 · 04:44 UTC

@mrjorts, @matt-tuttle, @tinamil, @karlipoppins: Wow I didn't expect it to be that easy, myself only have about 20%~30% change to finish the game. :)

Should added more levels, or have some random generated endless levels.

bemmu

13. Aug 2018 · 06:07 UTC

Original idea, and it seems to work well in practice too.

Mazzletov

13. Aug 2018 · 06:10 UTC

This is a very innovative concept and unexpectedly it was really satisfying to make as much combo's possible. I only had some problems with keys not dissapearing and the yellow key shifting to a complete random letter in another position. I can imagine, it was probably a real mess to program this haha

candlesan

13. Aug 2018 · 06:15 UTC

Seriously great game! Very well executed. Great interface. Good tutorial flow. Fun tetris/typing hybrid. This would have been a rocking candidate for LD41 jam too (combine two themes).

You misspelled forty at the very end! I think it got spelled fourity or something like that?

cassowary

13. Aug 2018 · 06:32 UTC

I like it! It's a very unique design, and very well executed. I especially like how if you have multiple choices of the same letter, it selects them "in parallel." That is a nice little touch.

🎤 Gaoyuan Chen

13. Aug 2018 · 06:33 UTC

@mazzletov: "yellow key shifting to a complete random letter" when it is impossible to reach a 'space bar" at your current location.

I added that logic (it is hard to code though, so maybe it is buggy) in the very end, otherwise you can stuck at a position that can't go to any space bar.

GeroX

13. Aug 2018 · 06:35 UTC

Nice Game, it was really fun. It reminded me of Tetris.

Erendelous

13. Aug 2018 · 07:07 UTC

It's really nice game. And it's really harder than it seems:)(to be honest, without tutorial, it was pretty hard to understand, what should i do:)

OadT

13. Aug 2018 · 08:05 UTC

Cool idea! Its good that you indicate which key you can press next, that is something I should have done for my game. Overall good entry, but please think out a better name next time :wink:

derpylz

13. Aug 2018 · 08:06 UTC

Great game! Nice blend of a typing game and a tetris like! In my opinion a bit too easy, or rather, it takes too long to become hard.

deformhead

13. Aug 2018 · 08:06 UTC

Really cool. Love the concept.

🎤 Gaoyuan Chen

13. Aug 2018 · 08:10 UTC

@oadt: Ah you are right. This is my first LD so I thought the name is given and can't be changed.
Will reserve some time to come up with a good title next time.

Gao Ming

13. Aug 2018 · 08:13 UTC

Very fun. Great work!I have done the tetris theme

Ossi

13. Aug 2018 · 08:14 UTC

Amazing game! I really like how you used the space bar as both the literal take on the theme and incorporated it into the physical space of the playing field. It was really fun to try and beat the falling blocks when things started getting hectic. The little story going on the right side was a nice touch! Very innovative take on action puzzler and typing game, great stuff!

jka

13. Aug 2018 · 10:00 UTC

Nice, cool concept! :)

Gabe

13. Aug 2018 · 11:32 UTC

Wow I'm impressed, this was a great game! I was very intrigued by the theme interpretation and the Tetris + Typing game match. Great work on this one!

Eric Kulbiej

13. Aug 2018 · 13:01 UTC

Nice game, enjoyed it very much. Keep it up!

pomb

13. Aug 2018 · 13:31 UTC

This was so fun! I try doing speed typing practice on googles typing class, but this has great potential for teaching touch typing in a much more fun way.

chaitae

13. Aug 2018 · 13:57 UTC

I really liked the mechanic for this game.It was cool thinking about what letters to pick to reach the spacebar faster.

Didactylos

14. Aug 2018 · 08:04 UTC

A really different kind of game mechanic, but easy to grasp, quick, simple and fun. I like a clear, simple idea that is really well executed.

Donitz

14. Aug 2018 · 15:08 UTC

Neat original concept! I liked the mutations:

"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa space".

itsarabbit

14. Aug 2018 · 22:27 UTC

Fantastic work! Neat concept and you took it very far. Really liked the "aaaaaaaaa" segment. I had a hard time following the sidebar though, as I had to focus on playing the game!

shimage2

18. Aug 2018 · 01:53 UTC

It was innovative and interesting. I feel like I'm making my way to the space key. Great work!

LastLeaf

03. Sep 2018 · 08:30 UTC

Really fun and innovative! Love your idea! The graphics and the audio are good enough. You did a very **GREAT** job if it is your first LD!

The only thing I should complain is that the difficulty increased so fast.

Overall, it is a great typing game prototype. Hope you can develop further!