Combo Maker by TheMadPangolin

[raw]
made by TheMadPangolin for LD 41 (COMPO)

https://youtu.be/Xw4WcASvTgg

Combo Maker is a mashup of the match-4/beat 'em up/platformer genres! You can punch, kick and throw blocks around to link them together, scoring points and setting up chains! But beware! Monsters have entered the arena, and are trying to stop you... how many points will you score?

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Ratings

Overall 178th 3.658⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 151th 3.643⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 182th 3.667⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 148th 3.976⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 282th 3.405⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Audio 135th 3.45⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Humor 344th 2.656⭐ 18🧑‍⚖️
Mood 460th 2.806⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 18🗳️ 16🗨️

Feedback

bluewingtitan
23. Apr 2018 · 06:07 UTC
Very nice game! But the controlls are a little bit strange... But i got this error:

___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Draw Event
for object obj_ending:

global variable name 'finalScore' index (100087) not set before reading it.
at gml_Object_obj_ending_Draw_0
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Object_obj_ending_Draw_0 (line -1)
Apples_mmmmmmmm
23. Apr 2018 · 06:33 UTC
Nice work! Looks nice, plays well and has an interesting combination of genres.
🎤 TheMadPangolin
23. Apr 2018 · 06:57 UTC
@bluewingtitan Oh dear, lol. I’ll have to have a look at that. Thanks for letting me know man!
@Apples_mmmmmmmm Thanks alot! Hope you enjoyed it :D
bluewingtitan
23. Apr 2018 · 07:07 UTC
@TheMadPangolin It is a nice game though. And i resorted my comment, was a bit unsorted xD
I had a great time, playing it. Thank you for making games!
ROBOWARRIOR1982
23. Apr 2018 · 17:57 UTC
Nice Game ! (I want to play it with my gamepad)
🎤 TheMadPangolin
23. Apr 2018 · 17:59 UTC
@ROBOWARRIOR1982 Noted. GameMaker doesn't really give you a super fast way to add controller support (at least that I'm aware of). I would be able to do it though, so if I continue working on it I'll be sure to add it. Thanks for playing man! Hope you still enjoyed it on keyboard lol.
GettingRekt
23. Apr 2018 · 18:12 UTC
This was a really enjoyable game! Kept playing until I lost. Great music and mechanics. Took me a long time to figure out the controls and the enemies mostly died by falling bricks so they didn't add too much to the equation. Overall a very solid game. Best yet (out of all the... 4 I've tried!)
joqlepecheur
23. Apr 2018 · 20:02 UTC
Very nice game, fits the theme very well.

The "dring dring" was a bit stressful but that's really nitpicking.
Visual are nice, controls are good (the double jump is a nice touch).
🎤 TheMadPangolin
23. Apr 2018 · 20:10 UTC
@GettingRekt Thanks man! The enemies I agree were a bit weird. I guess I really wanted to mix it up a bit and got a bit carried away... it probably would have been better to take a Puyo Puyo approach and have you play against stages where a boss character would control the arena, each with their own gimmick, but whatever. Glad you enjoyed it :D

@joqlepecheur Thanks alot! I got used to the noise but with it going off every 5 seconds, I understand it being a nuisance. Sound design isn't my strong suit xD
TheGreenMan
23. Apr 2018 · 20:53 UTC
The mechanics are on point and it is super fun to play, great graphics, music and idea! Really good job! :D
Valden
23. Apr 2018 · 20:57 UTC
Nice genre machup. However, I found the controls very confusing. I think it would be better to have the same button for attack/picking(when pressing down)/throwing (with a block in hand), and maybe the up arrow for jump. Good game overall !
🎤 TheMadPangolin
23. Apr 2018 · 21:00 UTC
@Valden Great suggestion! I'll keep it in mind. I'm tempted to keep working on it for a new version, so I'll give it a try if I do, or at least add it as an option. Glad you liked it :D
Rombus
23. Apr 2018 · 22:41 UTC
Really fun game!
I wish the pick up button would be down, I don't know why that messed up with my head haha

Congrats on the entry!
Oh and btw killer music!!!
Richard N Silva
25. Apr 2018 · 23:53 UTC
Really good use of the theme! The art is super cute, I liked it a lot!
The sound feedbacks are a little bit distracting, but nothing game-breaking. Overall the gameplay is smooth and really well done. Congratulations on the project!
Distrait
26. Apr 2018 · 20:04 UTC
Looks and sounds really good! :) As for controls I would have liked to have had one button for all things "block" related. So for example, if you don't have a block, this button picks one up. If you do have a block this button throws the block. Instead of having a separate "drop" block button just allow the player to throw the block downwards (down arrow key + block button). Maybe this just works better in my head than in reality, I don't know haha. Overall though great game! I will come back to it again when I have more time.

Check out my entry if you can, cheers! :v:
DDRKirbyISQ
30. Apr 2018 · 05:36 UTC
Pretty fun, good vibes, and nice presentation! Wish that the difficulty would ramp up just a tad more quickly...also, there is a minor bug where if you drop a block into the same spot that a new block is spawning into at the same time, they'll both end up occupying the same spot.

I'd echo the sentiments about the controls being unintuitive at first. I actually feel like your design could perhaps have been a bit cleaner if you got rid of the whole "attack" function and instead forced players to clear enemies solely through block movement. (?)
fashionbatman
30. Apr 2018 · 20:45 UTC
For some reason at the beginning I had trouble with the controls. I eventually got used to them though and ended up having a lot of fun. The concepts good and it's well polished. Great job!
SecretPocketCat
01. May 2018 · 15:54 UTC
Took me quite a while to get used to the controls, but once I did, it just clicked.

![2018-05-01 17_49_42-GameMaker_ Studio.png](///raw/7f2/3/z/148b1.png)

I remember seeing an WIP post about this and I was looking forward to and I certainly wasn't dissappointed - what an amazing entry :heart_eyes:
🎤 TheMadPangolin
01. May 2018 · 16:07 UTC
@SecretPocketCat Thanks! Makes me feel good when people enjoy my game :D makes it all worth it.

@DDRKirbyISQ Yeah, the difficulty is probably the biggest issue IMO. Not to mention the enemies are a bit pointless really. Just the platforming/puzzle combination would probably have been fun and challenging enough. The enemies really just make it annoying. And yeah, there's a few bugs in there... there were so many bugs during development that I pretty much called it today after fixing most of them, and I had to release an update to fix a potential crash O-o... thanks for letting me know though, and I'm glad you enjoyed it :D
Relsqui
02. May 2018 · 06:45 UTC
This is so freaking clever. The criticism you've gotten already is legit, but the foundation is solid, and it pushes into an interesting design space where there aren't a lot of games already.