CUB by Loig
Help a Cybernetic Unit Benchmark (C.U.B) to fulfil its task in this 20 levels puzzle game.

The game self explains, however you may be interested to know that almost anything (end of level animations, dialogue boxes, loop steps) can be skipped by pressing enter.

The game was developed in Go using the ebiten library. Assets were made using Hydrogen, Leshy SFMaker, and Pixelorama.

With the offline version one can even make its own levels! (Just change the content of the levels folder, at your own risk, the level parser is not very robust.)
EDIT (October 8)
you can find a complete playthrough here in case you want to see the complete game but don't have enough time to solve all the puzzles (it seems that level 8 is a bit difficult) : https://youtu.be/gPBUcm8twUU
| Youtube | https://github.com/loig/ld47 |
| Youtube | https://loig.itch.io/cub |
| Youtube | https://loig.itch.io/cub |
| Youtube | https://loig.itch.io/cub |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/cub |
Ratings
| Overall | 163th | 3.703⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 110th | 3.789⭐ | 40🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 100th | 3.803⭐ | 40🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 109th | 4.026⭐ | 40🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 345th | 3.316⭐ | 40🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 263th | 3.224⭐ | 40🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 258th | 2.688⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 347th | 3.071⭐ | 37🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 49🗳️ | 50🗨️ |
Ingenious, I hope it can be completed in the future!
Funnily enough, there is another game somewhere in this jam (https://dumbgamer64.itch.io/a-gamedevs-nightmare) that has a robot looping through 4 commands. The feel of the game is pretty different though, and I enjoyed playing yours more. The memory-clearing spots are an interesting addition, and level 17 shows how they alone can transform this into a very different kind of puzzle. Great job!
P.S. I actually liked the audio cause I felt like I can write my own beats right inside your game :joy:
Indeed, level 8 is probably the most complicated to solve… mainly because I did not manage to find more difficult levels with the then added mechanics before the deadline. Maybe I could have put this level later in the game even if it uses only the first mechanics.
@anomay @hadryel @gwinnell @porcus-pie @neogravity @nick-barrash @integrated-rk thanks for your kind comments.
I had a few levels that I got stuck at for a while too, but figuring out the puzzle backwards like some of the other commenters mentioned already was a lot of fun. I also greatly enjoyed the new mechanics that were introduced, the boxes and the memory clearing spots, those really shuffled up the gameplay in fun ways. Like the one level with tons of memory wipes that basically turned it into a sliding ice puzzle type, I greatly enjoyed the creativity you put into making each puzzle feel unique and special and have its own kind of "twist". Something that hasn't been mentioned before in the comments that I also wanted to praise was the sound design, the rhythmic sound cues as C.U.B. MK.3 moved along its looping pattern created a nice rhythm that suited the theme well, I liked that. So yeah, great job on your game all around, had a wonderful time with it!
I don't see how it fits the theme but overall you created a great game!
@daitli the theme gave me that idea to have the CUB stuck in a loop (in a meaning close to the meaning it has in programming)… but it also may be the case that a final twist makes it even more loopy and stucky.
@haustgeirr @benjamin @spiderhead20 I did not realise that this particular one (level 8) was so difficult. Maybe notice that the CUB does not need to reach the goal at the end of the loop (i.e. you can reach it mid-loop) and that a move can be "programmed" with no effect if you do it inside a wall. Some people also told that thinking backward may help (i.e. what should be the last move).
I am wondering if I should post a spoiler for this particular level… I am a bit reluctant about it because it may bother some people that want to find a solution by themselves. What do you think?
Really good entry :)
The core mechanic of the game, not just that it fits the theme perfectly, it s so fun and so satisfying to finish every level. The jump ability also is quite a nice addition that i have not seen in any other game that is like yours, so it kinda makes it pretty special. Seeing as there are already 20 levels in the game, i can just upload it anywhere and call it a full game. Pretty sure that if you put a 2-3$ price tag, people would pay it like it is now.
Cheers and have fun making games like this, you really are doing something great. Hope to see your games on a market in the future.