LudumData

River Express by ProdigalSon

[raw]
made by ProdigalSon for Ludum Dare 47 (JAM)

RiverExpress_SS1.png

Description

In River Express your goal is to create a looping river path to carry all passenger to the platform of the same color as their shirt. Successfully complete the loop to get them "Stuck in a loop" to win the level.

There are a total of 7 levels.

RiverExpress<em>SS</em>1.png

How to Play

  • Use WASD/Arrow keys to move the cursor to create a path.
  • Path must start and end on the starting tile
  • Once you complete the loop the tire will automatically flow down the path
  • You win when you successfully get the passengers stuck in a loop

Note: "Build Mode" is the mode you start in where you can place tracks. Pressing "SPACE" after the loop is complete breaks the loop and sends you back into "building the tracks" or you can hit "R" to undo the whole thing.

Hint: You can create cross sections

RiverExpress<em>SS</em>2.png

Controls

  • WASD/Arrows: Create Path
  • SPACE: Enter Building Mode
    • This mode is what allows you to place tracks
  • R: Reset path

RiverExpress<em>SS</em>3.png

Solo Team

I chose Jam rather than Compo because I didn't spend the time making the assets. However, all the code was made by me

Assets/Tools

  • Unity
  • Photoshop
  • https://opengameart.org/users/eracoon
  • https://opengameart.org/users/kenney
  • https://opengameart.org/users/killuagameplay
  • https://opengameart.org/users/rezoner
  • https://opengameart.org/content/point-bell
  • https://opengameart.org/content/win-sound-effect
  • https://attype-studio.1001fonts.com/
Youtube https://prodigalson.itch.io/river-express
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/river-express

Ratings

Overall 232th 3.955⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Fun 306th 3.773⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 164th 3.955⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Theme 171th 4.182⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Given 18🗳️ 20🗨️

Feedback

KatreenAshy
06. Oct 2020 · 19:47 UTC
The idea is soo good. I like the game. It was hard to find the right loop but when you did it you feel the victory .
Dustyroom
06. Oct 2020 · 20:31 UTC
Nice idea. Interesting to play. A simple R on restart would help instead of erasing a loop tile by tile.
🎤 ProdigalSon
07. Oct 2020 · 04:10 UTC
@katreenashy thanks for playing and the comment.

@dustyroom thanks for playing and the tip. I added it
SpawnCampGames
07. Oct 2020 · 04:50 UTC
Nice and simple. I noticed you can restart a loop while building it. But if you build a loop that fails R doesn't seem to do anything and your stuck restarting to the beginning. Still, good concept for a game jam!
Iron Leonem
07. Oct 2020 · 04:51 UTC
Excellent game, and well put together! My only criticism is I didn't understand I could cross the river over itself, and I didn't use whatever "build mode" was. Good job!
Ceasar
07. Oct 2020 · 04:53 UTC
It's pretty good, however I was a bit confused at first, like i kind of didn't really understand what the loop was supposed to look like. It also took me a while to know to understand the matching colour platform things
YokoOnFire
07. Oct 2020 · 04:54 UTC
Good theme-based game mechanics and great implementation in levels.
Anne
07. Oct 2020 · 04:55 UTC
Really awesome game!
ThunderSalt
07. Oct 2020 · 04:56 UTC
The concept is really cool, and I feel like this works great as a puzzle game, great work!
Conneli
07. Oct 2020 · 04:59 UTC
Can confirm, restart is a great feature and my partner and I used it extensively when we played. Great game, got through all seven levels and each one was very satisfying to complete. The most difficult part was figuring out how to loop the path in on itself in level three. Great time killer, would play more for sure!
Sean Holloway
07. Oct 2020 · 05:01 UTC
This game is really well put together, surprisingly satisfying, and good at explaining itself via the levels. Great work.
aevek
07. Oct 2020 · 05:02 UTC
Really fun little puzzles! I think you nailed the puzzle design, especially with the difficultly progression, especially for such a short time to make the whole thing solo and with a concept I haven't seen much before. I know you didn't make the art, but the assets you chose fit the game well. I would like if R still reset me even if I'm in the play mode, since that's when I spotted the mistakes that I wanted to reset but had to press 2 buttons to wipe my slate. That's a minor inconvenience though, and I would have played more levels if you'd had time to build them!
Codeman1010
07. Oct 2020 · 05:09 UTC
This was really fun, id pay to play a mobile version of this!
🎤 ProdigalSon
07. Oct 2020 · 15:37 UTC
@spawncampgames Sorry about that. You can actually press "SPACE" to go back to building mode which breaks the loop. You and many others expressed how "R" should allow you to always reset so I updated the "R" to do so. Thanks for playing!
🎤 ProdigalSon
08. Oct 2020 · 15:52 UTC
@iron-leonem Thank you for playing and sorry about the confusion. Level 3 is intended to teach you that you can do that. "Build Mode" is what you are in when putting down the tracks. I think I will rename it seeing as you are not the only one who did not connect the two and I can see why. Maybe I can put a message saying "Build Mode" when you are in it :D

@ceasar Got it. Yes, the goal is to draw a track to carry passengers from the color platforms they start to the empty one of the same color. I'll work on conveying that better. Thanks for playing :D

@yokoonfire Thanks!
JHax
11. Oct 2020 · 23:06 UTC
Really enjoyed this, very gratifying getting loops to work.

Good pacing of levels introducing things like crossing the river over and making sure passengers don't get dropped off at the wrong destinations.

Would love to see more levels :slight_smile:
🎤 ProdigalSon
12. Oct 2020 · 15:54 UTC
@anne Thank you and thanks for playing :)

@thundersalt thank you very much and thanks for playing

@conneli Sweet, glad the feature made it more enjoyable to play and thanks for playing.

@sean-holloway Thank you, I appreciate that. Thanks for playing.

@aevek Thanks! I agree with you and therefore made it so that "R" reset always no matter if you are in building more or not. Thank you for taking the time to play and for commenting. I would like to build more levels once I polish somethings out and getter more meaningful assets :D

@codeman1010 I hear you. That is definitely on my radar. Thanks for playing

@jhax I appreciate that - thank you for playing. I'll do my best to add more level that add more content
Nikolaj
19. Oct 2020 · 17:42 UTC
neat concept, except i couldn't figure out how to complete level 3 as i wasn't able to join tracks
mincho
19. Oct 2020 · 17:59 UTC
Nice game, really solid concept for a rich puzzle game, it reminded me of the game cosmic express. Would love to see more levels
Wendel Scardua
19. Oct 2020 · 18:00 UTC
Cool puzzles with a nice progression. To avoid the "build mode" I think it would be better to change the instructions based on which mode is currently active. Like, when in build mode, the controls box would tell about "WASD" and "R", and in play mode it would tell about "Space" and "R" buttons.
Doot
19. Oct 2020 · 18:04 UTC
Super nice game!

Everything felt smooth and natural, with a good level design to teach you how to play gradually.

The music choice is on point too!

Great job and thanks for the game, I had fun 💕
🎤 ProdigalSon
19. Oct 2020 · 18:36 UTC
Thanks @nikolaj @mincho @wendel-scardua and @doot for playing and getting me to 20 ratings. I'll be sure to play/rate yours as well.

@nikolaj sorry to hear that. Level is designed to show you how to create cross sections but it failed. :/

@mincho I took inspiration from that game ;)

@wendel-scardua that makes total sense. Thanks for the input

@doot thanks for playing :)
Stefan B.
27. Oct 2020 · 13:25 UTC
actually took me until i read the comments here to understand you can do crossings in level3, but after i knew the rest was easy