In The Loop by Luc-creationallabs

In the Loop is a minimalist physics based game in which your goal is to reach the last loop using the momentum created by the previous ones.


Android Version
I published an Android version if you want to see what it's like to play it on your phone, here's the link:
In The Loop - Google Play

Ratings
| Overall | 11th | 4.249⭐ | 169🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 7th | 4.241⭐ | 170🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 13th | 4.296⭐ | 169🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 20th | 4.401⭐ | 169🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 214th | 3.614⭐ | 169🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 190th | 3.392⭐ | 164🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 126th | 3.629⭐ | 153🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 43🗳️ | 27🗨️ |
I really enjoyed the visuals and the audio. The game was challenging but rewarding enough to keep my interest to the end.
I wish more of the levels relied on the bouncy white walls, that was definitely one of my favorite parts.
Very well done!

Really enjoy the puzzle. Some are really nice and really requires precise execution, while others requires thinking outside box. There were also a few that I overthink it, and overlooked the most obvious solution.
Thanks for the game !
Seriously, everyone that wants to join a Game Jam should have lessons with you about keeping it simple and level design.
I'm speachless, really, really good job.
I suggest using FixedUpdate instead of Update in the player script. otherwise the framerate influences the speed of the player which makes the fourth impossible (as far as I see)
~ MinorSeven from WeAreDev
The one thing I found a little confusing is the inconsistent bounciness of the walls. It makes it less easy to plan a route -- I probably made things more difficult for myself than they had to be because I made the wrong assumptions. However, the level design makes up for that, since actually hitting a wall usually results in you progressing to the next circle.
I think you should use pixel perfect in it to make your sprites crisper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU4YjSZNTnY
hope it helps
Add two buttons on the screen to jump and reset and this is an instant mobile game. I don't mean that in a derogatory way either. I would love to have this on my phone with more levels!
I also found a bit of an exploit where I could launch the ball down into the guards so it easily counts as two catches without having to pass it back and forth between loops.
This concept has serious legs if you chose to run with it. I would definitely pick up a full version with more content and features.
I only have minor bits of feedback that are more opinion than anything and don't take away from this entry as a jam game; make some of the circles not have a number requirement so you can skip them in speed runs, add a timer, stuff like that.
sadly the game crashed in the second level with brown barricades around circles... not enough patience to play again, so I've ended there
This is my favourite entry so far, the scope was perfectly calculated for the compo and it resulted in a highly consistent and polished game.
The walls mechanic was also a great addition, more ideas like that could be added to expand the game even further and add more levels. I would gladly play a longer version of this game if you decide to continue develpment of it :D
bad: the physics (esp the way you accelerate when you're in a loop) seemed a bit unintuitive. often felt like I could go for a jump slightly sooner than I could. also some parts felt slightly too much just like trial and error/required more patience than I want to have ^^ possibly related to the point about acceleration
Thank you, I had a lot of fun and it had me grinning while playing. Congratulations, this is no doubt one of the best entries.
Ofc it is a compo so you probably did the level designs last but if there is a planned post jam version I think the mechanics you created have much more level design potential than what you did (which were already decent, especially with 48h to do everything).
The mechanic of needing to go into a loop more than once is cool, but as now it could be used better, since it is more like "bounce 3 more times in this loop than go on", and it seems just to make the level longer artificially, just for the sake of it.
I liked the minimal style and combined with the sound produced by the ball spinning it gives it a nice mood! The fact that the music is created by the ball rotating in the loop is cool, I wouldn't add a background sound to be honest, it could detract from the mood. I didn't like too much the others sfx tho. Brown for the shield was not so nice as a color to be honest lol
Since you only need to press a button, you could make any button valid to throw the ball, space is ok but using only the right hand for comfort I needed to move all the keyboard to the right.
That said, it's a very polished game, great work!
Edit: I've just seen this is a compo game, extra nice work!
All in all a VERY good compo, possible the best I've played so far.

It's possible to bounce up and down here forever (or a really long time). No big deal because R resets.

I'm not crazy about these spinning walls, feels a little random trying to wait for the perfect moment to escape AND land.
The audio on the spinning can become a little much, but it does add to the mood, not sure what to do with that other than mute.
Overall it's a great game! Good job!
I can't believe I reached the end, I am really bad at it, but it's pretty addictive :P
Quite intuitive but challenging. I like the minimalistic graphics.
Also, a very innovative take on the topic.
All in all, this is an excellent game!
I don't know if it is meant to be like that, but I think those spinning not-full circles should not subtract the counter of the loops surrounded by them on bounce back!
Other than that very polished and really fun to play. Hope there will me bore levels soon
Not sure if intended but when you need to re-enter a circle and the brown circle is surrounding it's circumference, you can just shoot at the brown circle to meet the re-entry requirements.
Thanks for playing and for the feedback :)
The mechanics and physics are so weird, but they're so satisfying to play around with, and I loved getting good at this game.
Sound effects equally weird and satisfying, fit in really well.
I love the combination of simple tight art style and super juicy elastic feedback on everything.
Great difficulty curve, great number of levels, and level design.
Great job! :purple_heart:
P.S. the end screen is super cute and clever :grin:
Well done :-)

Immediately understandable and yeah, you probably want to release this on mobile as well.
I enjoyed this a lot.
BTW: What version of unity did you build this on, since it claimed on my safari that it doesn't support some required graphics mode (all other unity web builds have run fine)? I played this fine on chrome.