Get off my shelf! by OnePlusOne
Description
You are a small cardboard box. Fighting for your place on the shelf! Other (bigger) boxes are trying to conquer it, but you wont let them!
How to play
|Action|Key(s)| |------|---| |Move Left|A or <-| |Move Right|D or ->| |Jump|Space| |Power Up|F/E|
Controller (works in WebGL)
|Action|Key(s)| |------|---| |Move Left|Joystick Left| |Move Right|Joystick Right| |Jump|A| |Power Up|B|
Play
WebGL and Windows Versions Fullscreen is recommended
Post your highscores in the comments! :)
Known Issues
- Rare: You might fly away when using the shield and landing on the ground while other boxes are in your way.
- Very rare: Random bug where you seem to have lost although you did not touch the ground nor did the boxes stack above the barrier.
- Using Forcefield and launching a box into the barrier can cause a Game Over
- Highscore is reset once you go back to the main menu (not when using the restart button on the game over screen)
Features I wanted to add
- Background music (now its just an AC :P)
- Generally improve overall sounds
- 2-3 difficulties which the player can choose from (in this case size of shelf)
- Few menu items could be visually more appealing
- Random rotated boxes (had this on my sheet since the start and forgot about it -.-)
- Check at the barrier that boxes only enter from below (was also on the plan)
Screenshots

Development
Overall a lot better than the last Compo. The last game I did during LD41 (Compo) was a total mess. I didn't manage to follow my plan. This was mainly due to randomly implementing things. I started writing a feature and in the middle of it went to start on another one (because it maybe was somehow related or cooler). Well the result like I said a total mess. This time it worked out a lot better. The core game was done at around half time. Then I carried on implementing some additional features I had in mind right from the start. This also worked out, just one mechanic was changed completely around 5 hours before submission. I was also able to add sounds and a menu this time which was missing completely from LD41. In general I am fairly happy with the result. Although it is not the greatest idea I do like it and enjoyed play testing quite a bit :).
Day 1
I started out by writing down what came to my mind. Instantly I thought of Super Hexagen. Also storage on hard drives, in parking garages and warehouses came to mind. I did follow a thought about trash cans and keeping the environment clean, but then went on to use the warehouse idea. At first it was supposed to be a kinda endless runner (doodle jump style) where boxes stack up and you follow them to infinity. However I thought this was to basic. While the idea that I finally took is not really that more complex I still think it is something different. I began by first implementing the basic player controls. As its a cube/box I wanted to do it using physics so it's a lot of wiggly and twisty movements. That was done fairly quick, jumping was another thing. Although the first iteration was already quite close to how it is now, I iterated many times over it. Then I proceeded to get the spawner done. The amount and area where they spawn can all be modified from the inspector. They are calculated once at the start. After finishing the spawner I made a quick and small UI to keep track of the score and the yet to be implemented top barrier. Then (what a surprise) I proceeded to create that barrier. Basically the boxes are not allowed to stack up and reach the barrier. Cause else the storage is full. That was also done quite fast and only got one iteration over the day, because I needed to keep track of multiple objects crossing the line. The rest of day 1 I actually went ahead and prepared some basic models. Designing the general outline of the scene. The player was then fully designed, as well as the other boxes to kick off the shelf. Also made some texture variations using Substance to give it a bit of diversity. That was it mostly for day 1.
Day 2
Day 2 I started out by creating the power ups. As the core game was basically done I went ahead and used the time to implement this because I felt like there was enough time. There was, but I did realize I got a bit more hectic while coding, so some things are done a bit dirty now. So note to myself stay structured until the end :P. I proceeded to finalize the scene and added a manu and gameover scene. Also added some sounds I recorded on the site using some old cardboard boxes I had lying around. Those also made it into the final build, so I got some sound going on. Background music/sound is sadly just some nice. I did attempt a few melodies, but I am just way to bad at making music. I tweaked a lot of the settings and added a few more things in some scripts to kinda 'polish' the whole experience. Finally I needed some camera movement and used Cinemachine for that. Worked out great. I like it so much that I also used it for one thing in the menu :). Did some lighting and also some post processing to give the game a nice look. Several hours before the submission I tried the first build which failed (oh no the horrors), but it was just due to some random asset I didn't even use. Removed it and the build went through! Tweaked some of the unity settings and done was a proper build with most settings already in place.
Software Used:
|Use|Software| |------|---| |Engine|Unity| |Models|Blender| |Textures|Affinity Designer/Photo & Substance Designer| |Audio|Audacity & Rytmik Studio| |Scripts|Visual Studio Code|
Build Updates (due to game breaking bugs)
- New version was uploaded due to a game breaking bug (see 2nd comment), causing the main game scene (not the menu) to be mostly black. This occured on chrome and any chrome related (i.e. Vivaldi) browser.
Ratings
| Overall | 106th | 3.814⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 126th | 3.686⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 61th | 3.863⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 44th | 4.235⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 64th | 4.049⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 378th | 2.837⭐ | 51🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 106th | 3.26⭐ | 50🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 223th | 3.229⭐ | 50🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 75🗳️ | 1🗨️ |
(シ\_ \_)シ
@parameterized thanks a lot for noticing this issue! I only tested it on firefox and never on any chrome browser. As this is a game breaking bug I tracked it down and within the next 15 minutes should be a playable version available.
It is pretty fun to push other boxes off the shelf. However it is also very easy to fall off the shelf myself. It seems it accelerate a bit too fast.
I got to 15 points
Good job! :thumbsup:
Nice idea, very clever and theme fitting.
Maybe it needs a soundtrack to improve the overall mood.
I also had a shitty best score of...

I'm really bad ahahah
Have nice day! Rate my game if you want, I really deserve some feedbacks to improve myself
@jackyjjc yea that transition is really nice! That is the challenge. Its all physics based. To lose velocity keep breaks between keystrokes. :)
@memel06 there was a very bad generic beat that could be considered a soundtrack, but I removed it before the submission. It was to bad. Will check out your game! :)
@thechubbypanda ahh have not tried it on edge. You might want to try it in Firefox, Chrome or Vivaldi those are confirmed to work. Else try the windows version.
@asleepforthree thanks a lot. Power Up system came to my mind early on, and was more of a bonus. But it was so tempting that I implemented it
@denneledoe thats what a structured plan gets you! :) definitely a step up to my LD41 submission which was a total cluster**** :D
@tritium while you are right I would say towards the higher scores it does get challenging. And even the forcefield struggles to keep up + its a random chance of what power up you get. But yea I did want to make 2-3 levels (see features I wanted to add) which have larger shelfs, or more spawns.
@dark-roast-studios create a structured plan at the start and follow along it seemed to work quite well :D
@wavertron simple but it works :)
Thanks to all for commenting! :) I will check out your games as well.
Props to you, looks great!
I also like the presentation of the game, the main menu specially!
Great entry, congrats! :thumbsup:
I ended up using the strategy of only pushing boxes off indirectly, using other boxes as cover. That seemed to make the weird physics events happen less often. Though after 41 points on my last game I did fly across the screen and died.
Being able to jump at the end screen is a nice touch.
The solid main mechanic and cleverly chosen really show the thought you put into developing each aspect of the games gameplay mechanics, for example I really liked the ability to air jump to save myself from falling off my shelf, also gives the game a faster feel. Unfortunately, I experienced some issues while using the forcefield, which triggered the barrier with boxes and thus resulting in a game over, but overall, I like the uniqueness of the powerups and their appearance in the game (although stomping seems overpowered :D)
Graphics are aesthetically pleasing and look polished and well thought through (for some reason I really like that wall texture :D) The menu screen transitions and ability to jump in the game over screen give a juicy feel to menu navigation, which could be further improved by enabling directly stepping through the menu using the keyboard or controller. Speaking of UI improvements, I think the barrier activation could also be visualized in a more noticeable way.
As other commenters have suggested some kind of upbeat soundtrack would be nice, but I also appreciate you not putting in an unnerving loop, which would ruin the game.
I would love to see a competitive couch co-op or mobile version with a global leader board. My highscore up until now was 39 boxes, so I guess I have to step up my game a bit to beat @amras0000 :D
I rate this a perfect 5/7.
PS: I also enjoyed reading your development log. Keep up the good work :)
@derek-volker yea it can be quite challenging especially when it picks ups speed.
@jsmcag thanks :) although simple it does look nice
@ajay-2002 Hoping to not disappoint you here, but those are in fact the normal Unity Physics. I did tweak a few settings on the rigidbody component of the player and the boxes but that was about it.
@paden-shorey fixed the errors thanks for noticing!
@angelofdeath1000 glad you enjoyed it :)
@korso yea really works out getting the core done on day one and using extra time to polish it
@tcmxx thats the challenge :D
@thought-reactor happy to hear! Power ups just had to be in it.
@amras0000 I do agree sometimes it does pick up quick. From what I observe it has to do with being in the air and being on the ground. In the air the applied force causes a lot more movement where as on the ground you have the friction reducing the push it gives. That would be my guess.
@troftu Thanks for the long and detailed review. I agree simple mechanics, but fun game all around. The barrier did have several iterations, until I finally took the most simplistic look. I think maybe using a soundtrack in the menu would have been nice. I did think about a mobile version at the start but was afraid of the touch controls that had to be done. I did not want to lose to much time on trying those things. Will fix the typos as soon as possible :)
Again thanks to everyone commenting. I will try and look at all your submissions as well. :)
#### It is way more peaceful on the other shelves :smile:

**But now for real, I really enjoyed playing the game!** It feels so calm and relaxing for me. And I absolutely loved the way you placed the instructions on the side of the box :smile:
@zombie-virals Mobile game was definitely one of my first thoughts as well! Awesome that the controller worked and nice score!
@anstabo Yea simple idea but lots of fun. What exactly do you mean with a higher poly wall? What would that add? The material does have tesselation, but it is not supported in WebGL2.0 I think. True a nice tune would add a lot.
@gexalmighty Glad you enjoyed it :) I am also very happy with the visuals
@cercle Camera movement all thanks to cinemachine. Such an awesome system from unity. I give you right on this. A quicker way to restart would be nice. I did have a script where I could press R to restart, but it was only used for my prototyping. Maybe I should have left it in :D
@jonasz999 Haha yea I did as well. It is like they say the grass is always greener on the other shelf :grin:. Aweomse you enjoyed it.
I have rated your game, but all of my feedback was captured in the stream. It was close to the beginning.
You can hear my comments in the archive at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/299357576?t=01h44m14s
I do agree using the controller in the menu would be a lot more convenient. Especially because you do restart a lot in these kinda games. Thing about the controller is I totally forgot about adding the ingame instructions, so they are only present here on the ldjam site.
The level value is not directly an indicator of score. Since you can just wait and let enough boxes spawn and reach probably level 3. The levels are suppose to give you, during gameplay, a rough idea on how quick the boxes may spawn. Spawnrate increases with every level, so seeing for example level 5 you kinda get an idea of how quick they will spawn. I probably should have named it something different.
//EDIT: And my bad you are right A is the button on the controller to press. That was my mistake. Fixed it in the table :D