Spaceabon by Agecaf
An Arcade Puzzle game for the Ludum Dare #42 (Running out of Space!)
Push and pull blocks, arrange them in groups of three of the same color to reduce them, but be careful; two of the same color stick together and can't be moved!
There are two modes; Arcade for those looking for either shorter time sessions, or a bigger challenge; Puzzle for those who like to take their time, or those who wish to practice.
You'll definitely run out of space; but you'll run out of it sooner in Arcade mode.
Made with Löve.
How to play
You can push and pull blocks

The goal is to get three blocks of the same color together, since they are reduced to a single block.

But be careful; when two blocks of the same color are together, they stick and can no longer be moved. Don't lock yourself!

Now with web version!!
Unfortunately, it's been hours just to get it to somewhat work, and it's still not up to par with the desktop version. I've only tested it in Chrome, you might need to clear your cache every once in a while, and the sounds are not quite right.
If you like the music or enjoy the gameplay, I encourage you to download a desktop version; it's a much better experience!
That being said, I know (I'm also guilty of this) that Web versions are much more convenient, so I've tried to make it feel as close to the desktop version as possible (I haven't been very successful at that though).
(Summary: The official, compo version is the desktop one; it's the one I did during the time of the compo, the Web version is a non-quite-up-to-par port for your convenience)
| Source code | https://agecaf.itch.io/spaceabon |
| Windows | https://agecaf.itch.io/spaceabon |
| macOS | https://agecaf.itch.io/spaceabon |
| HTML5 (web) | https://agecaf.github.io/ihopespacebonworksinhtml5/ |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/spaceabon |
Ratings
| Overall | 33th | 4.032⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 112th | 3.726⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 29th | 4.081⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 5th | 4.484⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 264th | 3.468⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 56th | 3.726⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 295th | 2.542⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 58th | 3.714⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 27🗳️ | 31🗨️ |
The concept is pretty solid and the design and the game in general feels polished.
Good work!
@andy-d I'm glad you liked the puzzle mode! It was an idea I got when my sister playtested it early on, she was getting too stressed with the other game mode, and doing the puzzle-mode only needed a single conditional!
Very nice mechanic, well executed. Nice little details. Good job.
@agecaf is there a way I could have the audio file to listen?
**If you want to get the soundtrack**; download the "Source Code/Löve executable" in the itch.io page; it is a ".love" file. Just rename it into a ".zip" file and unzip it (That's all love files are); it contains the sourcecode, but also the assets, including the soundtrack! Feel free to do with it whatever you want, it'd be published on Opengameart with a CC0 licence if I weren't as lazy as I am. If you're interested in how I made it; I used sunvox with samples from the kiarchive. @tomeks @kunonooni
Also there is a *secret*. If you wait in the main menu for long enough... A special code will appear. If you input it, you'll be able to start the game at a harder difficulty. This is especially great if you want to try puzzle mode with a ridiculous amount of colors.
@peachtreeoath
Re:level design; I think I first thought of the setting and then of the game, since then the idea of having little space 'cause you're in a space stations stuck around. You could say the level came before the gameplay, the only major change I made after that was the block in the middle, which I think is a nice obstruction. I was thinking of maybe making more levels for a future release. In fact, I think I'd be opensourcing it, so if anyone wants to do that, they're free to do so. It's all made with Tiled... except for a couple of hardcoded things (player's initial position, the first blue block, the camera, the little human typing as you type, etc)
Re: New mechanics; Actually, you can get four blocks together instead of three (e.g. filling up a T-shaped tetris block), which could definitely give you more score if I hadn't been lazy. Other ideas I've had would be having a "swap your position with the block in front of you" which would make the game much easier and "Actually, you control two robots at the same time!" which would make it way more confusing.
Re: skill-ceiling; Actually... after the last level (each level has a number of colors of blocks that appear, and a different speed at which they appear in arcade mode. You can know you're in the next level when the next color appears) you should pretty much crash the game since I never added a "check that the next level actually exists". To "address" this, I made sure the last level is inhumanely hard! Then I toned down on each level. I'm curious to see how far can people get. My highest score is like ~~18000~~ 28000 or so in arcade mode.
@fussenkuh I like the mobile port idea! I hadn't thought of it, but it would be perfect for the type of playsessions I have on mobile. Also the controls are simple enough that it'd be a piece of cake to translate them to mobile. I've never actually done it, but I might try later on. Thanks for the idea!
I also absolutely loved the soundtrack, so smooth, so dark jazzy.
I see you already adressed the "more than 3 blocks" problem wich was the only thing that bothered me, that's the only -small- thing that was frustrating in the game.
Congratulations on your entry, it is a great game overall. I made it to 16500 in arcade.
It's insane that you managed to do all of this in a compo. Well done!
gameplay seams not interesting at first but when you begin to run out of space it's getting funny. Maybe the map is too big to reach the interesting part of the game.
Still a nice concept and well executed, good job!

This was quite the puzzler, and gets quite fun as it does get challenging. I spent most of my time in puzzle mode, but the Arcade mode also presents a nice, difficult task of having to think fast as blocks spawn rapidly on the screen. Puzzle mode gets CRAZY once you start handling like 8 different blocks in the tiny space, and I found myself running out of storage pretty quickly. It didn't really help that the way the character interacts with the blocks is kind of finicky. I get that the area is designed around this "once you touch a block and move, the character automatically takes the block with them", but I found myself getting more frustrated when I accidentally forgot this and went to get move a block but ended up moving another because it was on the other side of me. Ah well, it's all part of the challenge. :joy:
I've noticed that there seems to be a bit of a glitch in the music? Like just before it loops (I think), it makes this loud, jarring white noise. There also seems to be a big discrepancy in the dynamics of your track from the beginning and the end (the beginning of the loop is much softer than the end of the loop), which makes me wonder if this is what's causing the loud noise. But I also notice it is inconsistent; sometimes that blast of noise is a mere click upon looping. I was playing the Windows version, too.
That's a shame, because the game music is quite nice. It's got this aimless, 12/8 feel, like I'm floating around in space. I love the saxophone lead and the dry bell plinks. That being said, I think the sound effects are too quiet and subtle. I would have loved to hear some more satisfying sounds, or at least have those current sound effects be louder. Maybe some BFXR blips to help contrast it from the music more. The harp sounds made me think of Monument Valley, which I don't really think meshes with the graphics.
I like the various block designs and the little person at the top controlling the vehicle whenever you move around. The game, overall, is a fine puzzler, albeit tedious in the Puzzle Mode. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: But I enjoyed and got frustrated with it, as a puzzler should do. :rofl:
@mgsx I had quite a lot of problems with the difficulty curve for arcade mode; I wanted new players not to be overwhelmed, but having experienced players not to have to spend too much time doing easy stuff. You can enter the konami code in the main menu, press 1-9 to choose a higher starting difficulty, if you want.
@random-storykeeper I'm glad that someone got that far in puzzle mode! After 40,000 you're on the last level, you got so close!!! I'm glad you liked Puzzle mode, it was an idea my sister gave me after she playtested it. If you use a certain secret code, you can start with the number of colors you want, if you want to get to the crazy part faster ; ) The way you pull blocks is mostly there so that blocks don't get stuck on corners... Though the main difficulty in puzzle mode comes from the player messing up, so it is a bit of intentional difficulty...
I didn't playtest the Windows version for long enough for the song to loop; you're right, and the clicking is very loud. I hope the "Löve executable" version is ok, you might want to try that one instead (You'd only need to install Löve), The sound loops ok in that version (in my computer). I've got no idea why there'd be that click, the samples shouldn't loop as badly. The dynamics *should* be similar in the beginning and the end; the instruments have unchanged volumes (Though the first loop the song does fade in).
As a fun fact... the HTML5 version doesn't have the fade-ins/outs since the loop would sometimes restart at a random point, desyncing the two songs, which made it sound horrible..
I wasn't sure about the sfx (to be fair I've never been super comfortable with them), so I put them at a lower volume than usual. Ideally I'd add the options to readjust the music/sfx ratio for that reason. I'll try using sfxr next time, I didn't know if they'd fit with the music, but the current sfx don't fit with the game, so...
Thanks for your feedback!
Here's a video of my play and feedback: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/303323174