Petra by cassowary

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

petra1.gif

Petra is a puzzle game where your goals are constantly getting in the way!

Push the colored blocks around to match the target shapes at the bottom. But beware -- once you make a target shape, the blocks will become immovable! Be careful where you put the shapes, or you might just run out of space! ;)

There are 18 levels. I wanted to do 20, but... you know how it is.

Controls: - Arrow keys to move. - R to reset the puzzle. - M to toggle music. - SHIFT+X to delete your save file.

Tools used: - Music: FL Studio with the wonderful SQ8L VST - Sound effect (there's only one): bfxr - Graphics: The GIMP - Code: Just plain ol' javascript and HTML5 canvas!

This is my first LD, but I really enjoyed it!

petra2.gif

Ratings

Overall 21th 4.102⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Fun 24th 4.071⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 215th 3.459⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Theme 455th 3.337⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 287th 3.408⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Audio 57th 3.724⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Humor 177th 2.966⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Mood 137th 3.467⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Given 38🗳️ 17🗨️

Feedback

suve
13. Aug 2018 · 00:25 UTC
A very simple concept made into an extremely enjoyable game. The audio and visuals fit together like a charm, creating a relaxing, homely atmosphere. There are 18 levels total, and it's not nearly enough - well, enough for a 48h compo, but I just want more! I'd gladly throw some money at the author if they made a 100 level version. :)
triplefox
13. Aug 2018 · 01:21 UTC
This is a great example of block-pushing puzzles. I have one technical complaint which is that all the music feels like it was arranged and mixed aggressively for loudness while the actual compositions are calm and soothing. I ended up turning it off and putting on something else.
SundanceKid
13. Aug 2018 · 01:26 UTC
This is actually extremely well done. Definitely got me thinking! I made it to level 10 so far and I will definitely come back to try and finish! Very nice :D
William Corrin
13. Aug 2018 · 01:34 UTC
My favorite game of the compo so far. So simple but so fun and addicting!
frontlinesaint
13. Aug 2018 · 06:45 UTC
i really enjoyed this one had me thinking for a while
Ian Kettlewell
13. Aug 2018 · 06:52 UTC
I enjoy the tone and mood of this game a lot. It's mechanics are simple but leave enough room for plenty of potential "ah-ha!" moments. I only played a few levels into it, but I like seeing games with such potential mechanical richness in short gamejams. Nice job! :)
RavenFlame
13. Aug 2018 · 06:59 UTC
Turns out I'm really bad at puzzle games. But you've done a great job here.
elenesski
13. Aug 2018 · 07:18 UTC
I really enjoyed this game, great puzzle solver ... wasn't sure how it met the theme ... perhaps in minor ways, but .. ahhh screw the theme, it's a great little game ... theme or not :)
🎤 cassowary
13. Aug 2018 · 07:30 UTC
Glad people are enjoying the game!

@triplefox I'm not so much of an arranger/mixer-type person (more of an instrumentalist), so I appreciate this feedback. I'll try to work on my music mixing skills in future.

@elenesski Yeah, the initial idea spawned from the theme, but it kind of diverged somewhat from the initial conception. Some levels are closer to the initial idea, like 'Midas Touch' and 'Corners', where you're actually _running out of space_ to move the boxes around if you mess up. But some of the levels don't really suit the theme so well.
Endurion
13. Aug 2018 · 08:32 UTC
Really good!
At first I thought, not another sokoban clone thingy again. But you've got some really nice level design down there.
Fryderider
13. Aug 2018 · 10:19 UTC
Cool puzzle solver!

The controls are a bit funky, it's easy to go to far and screw up the puzzle. But other than that I really enjoyed it.

Good job!
Alexander Tan
13. Aug 2018 · 10:19 UTC
Really good game, excellent level design, i had alot of fun
M8rix
13. Aug 2018 · 10:29 UTC
This game is incredibly well made. The difficulty is absolutely perfect (I got stuck on the "impossible" level for 10 min, the solution was cleverly made). And now the music is stuck in my head :)
Gabe
13. Aug 2018 · 12:24 UTC
This is a great game! Very well done level design and super cute art style!
Love this entry, good job!
Andy D
13. Aug 2018 · 13:15 UTC
Great puzzler! I only managed to solve the impossible level by accident after getting stuck, but I worked out most of the levels eventually. Love the simple colourful graphics and the simple smooth gameplay.
pomb
13. Aug 2018 · 14:03 UTC
This is awesome. A new take on Sokoban that I've not seen before. This is a great effort.
Nitin Kumar
13. Aug 2018 · 14:50 UTC
I love puzzle games and this one is one that should be on play store or steam(with a slight more polishing i think). You should start reading stories from Indian mythology. You will never run out of names.
Call_me_Nutty
13. Aug 2018 · 14:51 UTC
This not only had a really good twists on the age old block moving puzzle genre but the actual puzzle's were very clever and used their given elements very well. I agree with @triplefox that the music is a bit too... "hardcore" for a puzzle game I ended up turning it off as well. The art and colours were really nicely done and really other than the music... I don't really have any complaints.
Erendelous
13. Aug 2018 · 14:56 UTC
Nice game! Not too hard and not too easy. And music is really good, too. I'm not really sure if there's kinds "running out of space" thing, but, anyway, good job:)
vulpineblazeyt
14. Aug 2018 · 01:11 UTC
I really liked how the level would go rainbow at the end. Probably not too hard to do, but it totally sold this game.
Historymaker118
14. Aug 2018 · 19:21 UTC
I think the game is crashing on me, and I'm not sure why. I get to the end of the first level by solving the puzzle and then the music stops, everything freezes and I can't do anything but refresh the page. I've tried three times now to play this game, but I can't :(

Edit: I'm using firefox on windows 7. I hope you can get it fixed, I'll hold off rating until I can properly experience it, but if it helps, I love the art style.
🎤 cassowary
14. Aug 2018 · 19:48 UTC
@historymaker118 That's no good! What OS/browser are you using? I can try to look into it.

edit: It seems to work for me on Firefox (61) on Windows 7. What version of firefox are you running?
If you click out of the game and press F12 and select Console, is there an error message displayed?
deformhead
15. Aug 2018 · 08:49 UTC
I love puzzle games. Good Job on your level design.
gentoogames
16. Aug 2018 · 06:03 UTC
Love the simplicity and cohesion of everything, good job! not enough love is given to simple pixel art like this that looks good but is also stylized
Luxry
16. Aug 2018 · 06:11 UTC
Really cool puzzle game. My favorite game of the Compo so far =]
tobiasvl
16. Aug 2018 · 06:15 UTC
"Grid-based puzzle games" is probably my favorite genre, and this is a nice new take! Feels a bit like Sokoban combined with the "tetromino" puzzles from The Witness, if that makes sense.
snarf2000
16. Aug 2018 · 06:16 UTC
Love this game!
Nerobius
16. Aug 2018 · 07:00 UTC
wow this was so much fun. I love puzzle games and this ticked all my boxes. Played through to the end beat it all. The last level definitely takes a little bit of imagination.
Well done!
fivenamefivesocks
16. Aug 2018 · 07:09 UTC
good puzzle game ! I enjoyed it a lot !
arron-fowler
16. Aug 2018 · 10:42 UTC
I really did find myself commited to playing this one. That is a good quality. Until level 10 WTF! I think I need to play that one once my headache is gone. Subtle and complex. Good work. Loved the music too.
rakart
16. Aug 2018 · 10:43 UTC
Loved it. As someone who's not that much into puzzle games, this was a really enjoyable experience.

The only thing that frustrated me was the level 10 because figuring out the solution was about randomly pushing blocks instead of trying to understand how the pieces could fit together. On the other hand, lvl 18 was hard but not frustatingly random, I felt that every failure was me being dumb and not me trying to figure out some information I didn't have.

But that was just one level and that one aside, all the levels were really well designed.
Great game overall, congratulations on your entry !
HitchH1k3r
17. Aug 2018 · 02:50 UTC
:thumbsup: The visuals and audio were great. I liked how consistent and well integrated they both were. The music really set a calm puzzle solving atmosphere.

:point_right: It would have been nice to see some sort of narrative. The text that told the player good job after each level could have been used to build a silly little block world in our heads, probably boosting this games Mood and Humor ratings.

:bulb: The graphics style (and maybe the block pushing and running around the outside of the level) reminds me of Baba is You.

:star: Overall good job, and thank you for making this.
Matank
18. Aug 2018 · 12:50 UTC
Awesome game! I really liked completing the puzzles, and very nice incorporation of the theme.
Purrfexionator
18. Aug 2018 · 17:16 UTC
![iwonyey.png](///raw/3eb/b1/z/1a340.png)

Awesome game, dude! It was simple, but it was fun, and made for a ton of interesting and challenging puzzles! The music was good, and the sound effects were a nice touch! I do kind of wish i was able to fullscreen it, but that's ok! Overall well done, can't wait to see what you do in the future!

P.S. Sorry it took me a while to get to your game! I try to play, grade, and leave feedback on all of my commenters' games, unless I can't get it to work or I'm simply uninterested. (Although the only games that really don't interest me are first person horror games) For a while I thought I had already graded your game, it was only until recently that I realized I forgot to. At least I got to it eventually, right?
Matoux42
21. Aug 2018 · 06:30 UTC
Really great !

I think it's the LD42 game on which I spent the most time ! :smile:
pranjalbisht
21. Aug 2018 · 08:29 UTC
In the silent first level...that sudden level complete sound almost gave me a jumpscare, haha.

Excellent, excellent puzzles! I reached the last level but gave up after a few tries haha. It was really interesting how you communicated to the player throughout the later levels. Felt like a personal connection to the dev, y'know...? Awesome job.
Pyjamaboy
21. Aug 2018 · 08:42 UTC
nice and puzzling game! Finished it aswell after multiple attempts on the final level!
g12345
22. Aug 2018 · 09:35 UTC
That was a really nice puzzle game you have there, with all kind of possibilities! With more levels you could possibly even sell it for some low price.

Definitely having a fun time playing it. And I thought the harder level was the one with a row of blue/green blocks on the right in a cramped space. (obviously the final yellow level was hard too)

I'd probably also like to have something so that we can replay the game, now that I've finished it.

Thanks! This was fun!
Syrapt0r
22. Aug 2018 · 20:07 UTC
Pro:

- Nice graphics
- Awesome soundtrack
- Good puzzles

No cons from me. Good job!
Aurel300
24. Aug 2018 · 23:00 UTC
Very cute! The music and graphics worked together, the levels were designed cleverly. The game looks like you managed your scope extremely well and focused completely on the one mechanic, and explaining it properly. This is very good to see in a gamejam :) At this point I would say the next step would be just to have … more! Levels, graphics, music, mechanics, whichever you could manage without sacrificing the overall quality ^^ Good job!
Karai17
27. Aug 2018 · 06:14 UTC
Game doesn't work for me. When I press "any key to start", the intro level reloads as the first level titled "undefined" and then I press R to start the actual first level. When I get the first goal, the music stops and thegame freezes.
Suchista
01. Sep 2018 · 17:13 UTC
Wow, excellent job! Verry addictive game :) And the level design is so great