Circleline by caeonosphere

[raw]
made by caeonosphere for Ludum Dare 47 (COMPO)

circlelineLDHeader2.png

Your train is stuck in a maze of looping track — hit the right switches at just the right time to escape! A puzzle game that will exercise your reflexes and recall.

circlelineWarningBanner.png

The game comprises a scant 11 puzzles, but I hope you'll be able to see where all the time went. I'm really proud of what I was able to do with the presentation. Oh, and that last level is a doozy. Leave a comment if you make it all the way through!

Shift+S skips the current level, for those interested.

ss1.png

ss2.png

Done in Unity/C#, with the help of Photoshop, Illustrator, FL Studio, and Audacity.

Ratings

Overall 6th 4.31⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Fun 11th 4.155⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 77th 3.905⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Theme 16th 4.429⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 44th 4.202⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Audio 5th 4.329⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Mood 10th 4.369⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Given 48🗳️ 53🗨️

Feedback

Tadeas Paule
05. Oct 2020 · 09:43 UTC
Incredible, so well done! I kinda lost track of time playing and trying to figure out when to switch what. Only have some minor nitpicks:
- esc should bring up a menu of some sort, not exit the game
- some way to track levels (which one you're on, how many left)
but understandable given the limited time. What is there is phenomenal, the polish and game feel are amazing
ErikU
05. Oct 2020 · 10:07 UTC
Wow, you weren't kidding that last level really is a doozy. 44 crashes and 443 clicks to win, haha. Nice, minimal aesthetic and you really pushed the concept far. It was fun looking for a stable state and then seeing what the best way to surgically alter it just for the red train car. Good job.
Duckonaut
05. Oct 2020 · 10:12 UTC
This is really good, the puzzles are really clever and the feel of the game is so cozy, i love it
jk5000
05. Oct 2020 · 10:30 UTC
A well made and fun puzzle game. Well done.
Geegaz
05. Oct 2020 · 10:53 UTC
That's

So

Good !

Really I'm extremely impressed, you designed a cool puzzle game that's fun but not too easy, made a lot of levels, and used a simple but efficient art style to create a full game that's beyond jam level. The sounds and music are on point too, really, it's perfect.
Congrats !
🎤 caeonosphere
05. Oct 2020 · 16:47 UTC
I don't think I've ever gotten such nice feedback before even doing any rating myself. Thanks everyone!

@tadeas-paule Both good ideas, I'll be adding them both in the inevitable v0.2.

@eriku Nice work — I honestly didn't expect anyone to beat it! It didn't occur to me to use stable states to solve the final level, since with the alternating switches I didn't realize it would be possible.
nethead
06. Oct 2020 · 13:36 UTC
lovely game! the graphics are done super tastefully and the overall atmosphere is very peaceful. it all comes together as a very nice puzzle game, congrats!
Douwe_Ravers
06. Oct 2020 · 15:44 UTC
Very calmly game... I like it. Good way to cool off after playing some other intensive arcade like games.
Very Polished and the piano sound fit perfectly!
blobo
06. Oct 2020 · 15:47 UTC
I love the tilt-shifted Depth of Field! The gameplay is super nice and simple, yet complex when the orange loops get added in! The music is very relaxing too. Great work all around!
bereg
06. Oct 2020 · 15:59 UTC
What a great puzzle game! At first, I was skeptical if it can be challenging, but next, I wasn't for sure. Some of the levels were really hard to beat. Great job and fun game!
ElllaDee
06. Oct 2020 · 17:20 UTC
This is really good!
pbootly
06. Oct 2020 · 17:32 UTC
Very clean game, I really like it! Aesthetic is just to die for and puzzles were really clever :ok_hand:
RNGames
06. Oct 2020 · 17:44 UTC
✔️Amazing amount of content and nice difficulty curve.

✔️The mechanic is unique and clever - it can really lead to some interesting and challenging puzzles

✔️The low poly graphics look amazing for a game jam game.

✔️The overall atmosphere with the music and sound effects is overall very nice.

➖I would have liked to see a few more mechanics maybe, but really the game has enough as it is.
shp
06. Oct 2020 · 18:04 UTC
Very well done tutorializing everything, the visual language was nice and there's lots of different puzzles there, well done
Starlight Glimmer is best poney
06. Oct 2020 · 18:29 UTC
I thought I had it here:

![2020-10-06 18_00_54-Circleline by Tom Quinn.png](///raw/f90/1/z/39248.png)

(I redid it right after)

It's phenomenal. I don't have much else to say. This compo is stacked.

Puzzles 8 and 11 are **awesome**. I always have extra respect for puzzlers because you have so little time to come up with great levels. Expand it with more levels/mechanics and send me a link to the steam store page. 265 clicks 30 crashes

Suggestion: consider adding some sort of crash/error sfx because it feels kinda weird without them. I understand this is a calm game which is why you chose to opt for the road signs instead. Maybe something like a piano note would've worked.
🎤 caeonosphere
07. Oct 2020 · 05:20 UTC
@bereg Yeah, I wasn't sure either when I started if it could be difficult at all. I went for a chill kind of game instead, but was pleasantly surprised when it was able to support a couple of challenging levels at the end.

@rngames I agree: I had a whole list of mechanics that I ran out of time before I could implement! Hopefully next LD I can get started quicker and have more time to round out my game.

@shp My last few LD entries have been confusing and/or intentionally esoteric. My intent this time was to simplify, and I'm glad it seemed to work!

@alaah I have to admit: that's a bug! Ha! A friend of mine ran into it during testing, and when he didn't accuse me of creating a broken game, I decided to leave it in. I'm happy it didn't frustrate you enough to keep you from trying again. 265 clicks is the record, as far as I know? And yeah, a little more acknowledgement of crashes would be a good idea, even if it's not a massive explosion. I'll have to work on my sound design skills...
JudgeZedd
07. Oct 2020 · 16:10 UTC
The presentation on this is so brilliantly done. Very clever implementation of mechanics and a pleasing experience from start to finish. Well done.
fachscahfttf
07. Oct 2020 · 21:07 UTC
This game is such a joy to play!!
The athomesphere, the simplicity, the puzzles, just amazing to play.
Thank you for this submission.
Keep it up. I like your style
Pepijn
08. Oct 2020 · 11:03 UTC
I love it.

I am definitely going to look into your source code as there are things I could definitely learn from.
Great job.
olewis
08. Oct 2020 · 11:10 UTC
Great game really calming and beautiful!
dxk2294
08. Oct 2020 · 11:13 UTC
Wow, you really achieved an amazingly polished aesthetic with very simple building blocks. The puzzles were also really clever, and I loved how you introduced the mechanics to the player. Really great job!
PurpledArtFrog
08. Oct 2020 · 11:13 UTC
OMG this is so well polished - it's relaxing and challenging .. really great job on this :smile:

:purple_heart: :dart: :frog:
Ericbolseiro
08. Oct 2020 · 11:16 UTC
Dude, thanks! Thank you very much for making this game. Amazing. the best I played in this Jam. It was an incredible job that you did here. The music is wonderful, the atmosphere of the game is extremely relaxing.
Kpedatte
08. Oct 2020 · 12:08 UTC
That's a great game. Congrats, you can be proud of this one.
DS Nahogara
08. Oct 2020 · 12:25 UTC
Very great work, this game is so charming and relaxing, just you and the trains, you just need to click and turn roads, 3D art is smooth and soundtrack is beautiful, 5/5. Amazing game! :heart:
Leon Oost
08. Oct 2020 · 12:46 UTC
On the start of the game I didn't know what to do, but over time I understand what I did wrong. The music and the art are really relaxing and the concept is simple and a lot of fun!
Haustgeirr
08. Oct 2020 · 13:25 UTC
Blown away by your game! Fantastic entry, really nice aesthetic and such high quality. That last level was great. Just really well done! (321 click, 58 crashes)
🎤 caeonosphere
08. Oct 2020 · 14:07 UTC
@haustgeirr Well done, better than my playthrough! :D
schraf
10. Oct 2020 · 02:37 UTC
Amazing. Very creative puzzles. I was impressed you got such a polished feeling game and came up with a good progression of puzzles that quickly. Great work!
Apandso
10. Oct 2020 · 09:58 UTC
Well made smart puzzle with polished visuals. It'd be cool if the switch was more visible - I mean like first glance obvious, higher contrast. Good job!
🎤 caeonosphere
10. Oct 2020 · 16:36 UTC
@apandso Yeah, there's room for improvement there. TBH, I couldn't figure out what to do with the tracks within my limited artistic ability, hence the extreme minimalism.
blinry
10. Oct 2020 · 17:03 UTC
How wonderfully calm and aesthetic! I love how all of the elements come together. We can tell that you put in a lot of attention to detail here. Discovering how the mechanics worked was fun, and the levels didn't seem too hard. The final one was a nice challenge!

Maybe I would've liked to see more puzzle-like levels in the rotation. In one level, a tree covered one of the switches, dunno whether this was intentional.

Thanks for making this!
fumybulb
15. Oct 2020 · 15:04 UTC
This is a very enjoyable game!

It's not easy for me to keep an eye on multiple trains simultaneously to protect them from colliding (even though I don't seem to get to the last level yet!), but making such good puzzles is even more difficult!

Great job!
JHax
18. Oct 2020 · 13:40 UTC
Really solid puzzler mechanically.

Looks and sounds absolutely gorgeous.
ProdigalSon
19. Oct 2020 · 14:00 UTC
Very, very, very nice. A game where you play with trains and train tracks, of course I had to play it! ;) This might sound silly but I love how the game feels like you are telling a story. The music, the art style, the lighting, and the transitions to each puzzle gives it a fantastic mood that makes it satisfying. Also, the interpretation of getting thigs out of a loop is enjoyable. 5 stars! :D
someone
22. Oct 2020 · 19:05 UTC
Excellent puzzle mechanic. Some challenging levels there, especially since you can't pause to think ahead.
Great presentation too. The sound design and level switching effect were great.
There was one level where a tree was partially blocking a track junction which made things a bit unclear.
dans17
22. Oct 2020 · 19:11 UTC
The mechanics and level design are great, and the camera blur, level transition, windy trees, signposts, and intuitive UI make the game feel really polished! This is one of my favorites so far, and I would like to play a post-compo version with more levels. Also, I think I beat the high score :wink:

![record.PNG](///raw/993/72/z/3a5fa.png)
CG_Fred
22. Oct 2020 · 19:20 UTC
Excellent game! Love the mood and the puzzle mechanic. Works very well with the theme. The graphics are basic but works really well with the sound track and the sound effects.
Hybitous
22. Oct 2020 · 20:29 UTC
I love the minimalistic art style and music. This was quite a peaceful experience up until the last level, which took me some time to figure out. Maybe some kind of slow motion mode (for a few seconds, not permanent) would be nice if you intend on adding harder levels.

It'd love to play a versions with more levels one day, but for the limited time the amount of levels is impressive! :slight_smile:
🎤 caeonosphere
22. Oct 2020 · 21:39 UTC
@someone Yeah, sorry about that tree. I think I even captured it in the act in one of my screenshots... looks like I'll have to add some extra checks.

@dans17 Thank you, and nicely done! That's the high (low?) score for sure.

@hybitous Slow motion would make a lot of sense, even the ability to control the speed with the mouse wheel or something. Probably with no limit, too: it's supposed to be peaceful!
Trexxak
23. Oct 2020 · 02:38 UTC
Perfect game to relax to! Personally, I would love to see you expanding on this, as I would legitimately play this whenever there's nothing
else to do. The chill background music really enhances the experience, as does the very clear style you went for. Thank you for this great zen-puzzle!
superunknown
29. Oct 2020 · 18:28 UTC
I enjoyed your game and congratulations on your good results! It may seem simple, but I would be interested to know more about how you did your path following logic. That is something I would like to work on for next time.
🎤 caeonosphere
30. Oct 2020 · 02:39 UTC
@superunknown [This function](https://github.com/thquinn/Circleline/blob/master/Assets/Model/Level.cs#L102) is where most of the path logic lives, but I'm not sure I'd recommend doing it quite like this.

time pressure + the knowledge that you'll never have to look at it again = not great code