Ribbon 2 by blobo
After breaking free from your 2-Dimensional world, you discover spools of ribbons that can interact with the world around you in different ways. By bringing the 2D plane along with you, you can slip in and out of your old home.
The game
This is a 2D/3D collectathon. There are 4 types of ribbons, 3 of them require collecting spools to unlock (you start with a default strip). The 3rd ribbon to unlock is optional, but it makes for a 100% speedrun category, if you want to distinguish between a normal completion and an "all spools" run.
The entire game was made by myself for the Compo.
Controls:
- Mouse - menu controls
- WASD - move around
- Shift - enter / exit the ribbon
- Spacebar - jump
- Q - Customize the ribbon (once unlocked)
- ESC - pause
If you get stuck, here's a video guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KynAOqwdJT0
Additional comments
This was my first time making a sequel! I've had a lot of the ideas for this one in my mind for a while, and it feels really nice to finally get around to making them.
And for those interested, here's a link to the first game in the Ribbon series.
By the way, if you unlock the bonus ribbon, stand inside it. The 100% bonus is worth it. ♫
Ratings
| Overall | 11th | 4.254⭐ | 67🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 38th | 4.07⭐ | 66🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 10th | 4.462⭐ | 68🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 217th | 3.516⭐ | 66🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 31th | 4.265⭐ | 68🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 12th | 4.175⭐ | 65🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 23th | 3.944⭐ | 64🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 52th | 3.875⭐ | 62🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 51🗳️ | 107🗨️ |
The title mechanic is obviously very neat (I unfortunately haven't played Ribbon 1, but I might have to go back and try it). I particularly liked the use of grates and elevation in the puzzles, and the fact you could customize your ribbon as you go to unlock new abilities.
One minor quibble is that you don't really *need* to use the ribbon for a lot of the puzzles, or at least the interesting parts. The bounce pad is effectively a double jump, and the key is effectively the same as it is in other games.. In fact, I was able to complete this "100% minimum enters" speedrun where I only entered the ribbon once:
As usual, polish and audio are great for a Compo game. I loved the little Easter eggs like the bonus ribbon, trophy case, and "we got a sequel" banner.
Great work on this, and good luck during the rest of play and rate!
Anyway, amazing game! I had a ton of fun with this one. The concept was super clever, and everything was just flowed together really nicely. The music was a bop, and I loved the graphics. It felt like the Super Mario 64 to Ribbon 1 (which I don't remember much from, but still). Getting the 100% ribbon was a bit hard for me - especially the super tall part, I just randomly jumped and moved until I got it - but otherwise, incredible entry!
Let's get the negatives out of the way early (it's not that bad I promise!):
- I wish the ribbon was used in more interesting ways than the first 2 "puzzles" and the bounce pad. I get it's a time constraint thing, but I feel like it's a missed opportunity to not ever force you back inside the ribbon at any point after the very start.
- I have some issues with the ribbon segments in section 2. The one on the back wall is fine, it's an interesting use of the bounce pad and forces you to actually move it around to do it most efficiently. The one with the circle is fine, but it definitely took me a second to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. The one hidden behind the tree is just hard to find? Like, there's no puzzle, it's just hidden. And then there's the star, which isn't terrible in theory (it reminds me of the trace-walking moons in Mario Odyssey), but the fixed camera makes it really annoying to hit all of the dots. Doable, but definitely a little rough.
- The ribbon being completely invisible when facing the camera makes sense, but can be a tad frustrating especially when doing the extra-high bouncy jump.
- The camera sometimes does a weird jump when entering the ribbon, but it's not a huge deal in the grand scheme.
But now the positives!
- The graphics are immensely clean as always, and the starter ribbon especially really sets the tone of the whole game. I'm a sucker for 2D art in a 3D environment and you keep getting better at doing just that.
- The music, from DOOM as it may be, is very very good and keeps the energy up as you play in a great way. Can't complain about the fit if it's that much of a banger.
- Technically, this is a marvel. I don't know how you keep doing it. Continually astounding.
- The polish, aside from the level design stuff I'm kind of iffy on is top-notch as I've come to expect.
- It's just fun to control! The ribbon following you moves super naturally, and the platforming is super interesting especially once you have to utilize that bounce pad in some of the weirder scenarios.
- That "twist" ending was great, in more ways than 1!
Overall, I'm kind of mixed. It's really impressive and well-executed creatively and technically, but I have some pretty big issues with the fundamental game and level design. I think there's definitely a lot of potential here, but you were saying you spent a ton of time on just getting the ribbon working and figuring out what you wanted to do gameplay-wise, and it does show in the final product. I'd be very interested to see what it would have looked like with an extra day, because the core here really is special.
Very cool, I really liked the take on the theme. Nice music to solve some ribbon puzzles too. You almost got me with that box behind the tree.
Also I liked the twist ending.
If you're reading this and haven't done so already, try his LD50 submission "Block or Bust". I'm sure you'll have a good laugh!
Cannot believe it's made in Compo group. Very solid platformer with rich puzzle-solving.
I thought 2d plane was a limited space campared to 3d world, but I was wrong.
The 3D world is limited compared to the fantanstic ribbon.Somehow philosophic LOL
The camera is a little wonky sometimes, but that seems pretty hard to avoid. The good news is I was able to abuse that to see where one of the secret ribbons was.
Nice game!The level design and machanic is creative!
Glad to see individuals like you who update or remake games with a twist. I could see this turn into something big.
The graphics are really cute, the music is nice, and I like that you added a bonus ribbon. Well done!
Really cool concept, and executed well! I especially liked the music.
Awesome just all over!
I will comment more later.......... baffled ! INCREDIBLE mechanics!
**Update**: ok, commenting more :D - WOW! Simply, wow! There was a HUGE *WOW* in me when I realized how switching between the ribbon and the world is the pivot mechanic! :OOOO
**Addictive**, **innovative**, **fun to play and finish!**
This is the best and most innovative puzzle mechanic I've seen so far throughout the jam! I will check Part 1 of this game, just noticed there is one.
Finished at Total Spools 7/9, maybe I shall replay and see what is it that I missed. :)
As other pointed, this could be turned into something much Much bigger!
Note: the cube behind the damn tree was the trickies for me :D
absolutely amazed you made something this good in just a few days. (i might check out the original because the idea was really cool.) also the adaptivity in the music is really well done, made me smile, etc. good job.
i feel like going inside the ribbon wasnt really utilised except for the start which sucks because it looks really polished and the extra music mix for it is really good.
the ending made me laugh. im not ashamed to say that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laLbarDWlsg
Said most of everything near the end of the video, but I had a lot of fun with the game. The ribbon looked very beautiful fluttering around, and I liked the 2D-in-3D aesthetic, I think it works incredibly well with your cute art style. Sound design is top too, in addition to what I mention in the video, I love the sound distortion when entering the ribbon, plus the sound effects are very "juicy". Also still randomly start laughing due to the ending, wonderful. Amazing game, very well done!
Amazing, truly amazing.
Not only the idea but also the ability to realize it, convincing artwork that enhances it, wonderful music that changes with interactive, and level design that fully utilizes the theme of ribbons...
I truly respect you. Thank you. :)
There's a bug that caused me to reset one playthrough (I'm on the Windows build). If you're in the Ribbon Customizer and make some changes, and then press Esc without confirming the changes, it will save the state of the ribbon buttons in the menu, but not save the ribbon itself. This can make it so that I'm no longer able to de-select any of the ribbons:
Super cool effects, too. I imagine render textures were involved, but chopping them up on the ribbon and seeing them animate was a piece of game jam magic. Well done!
As a programmer it is always nice to see mechanics that are impressive, and the ribbon is both impressive from a game design perspective, but also from a pure coding perspective.
This game is an absolute masterpiece! The level of polish is insane, especially considering it was created by one person in just 48 hours. I can't help but compare it to a Nintendo title, which, in my book, is the highest praise one can give.
At first, I thought it might be a one-trick pony, but boy, was I wrong! The utilization of the ribbon mechanic in various ingenious ways kept surprising me.
And as always the music was a highlight. The soundtrack was fantastic, and the song at the end was simply glorious. I won't spoil the ending, but I absolutely loved it!
In summary, this game won the compo, if anyone does not give this game a 5/5, then in my mind they are insane. What else can you ask of a compo game? One day you should join the Jam part, I would love to see what you can do in 72 hours :smile:
Seriously consider developing this further and releasing it, I know I would pay for a full version and I am sure others would too!
Congratulations, you now occupy both the #1 and #2 spot of greatest compo games that I have played in my now 24 Ludum Dares. :medal: :trophy:
It took me a bit to get used to and the jumps got me slightly frustrated at first and I did wish I could move the camera around for better vewing. That said, I still had a lot of fun and I definitely loved the concept, and I loved the little scene in the ribbon xD so cool!!
HIGHLY recommend going for that bonus ribbon and standing inside of it. WORTH it.
Walking on the jump portion of the ribbon was a little awkward because it often happened when I didn't want to, and having to walk to each end of the ribbon to turn it on and off was time consuming.
I got stuck at the second phase, collecting 4/4 items but nothing happened. I was expecting something to happen on the 4th candy but instead ran around, found the little secretish area up the forward stairs heading right, but couldn't unlock that lock either.
Wanted to ask for score chasers if you were fine with me playing some gameplay of your game in the background in the waiting period / intermission. In the waiting period its going to cycle between gameplay of a bunch of different games in the background (with music from games in the jam playing as well)
Played this through, did I miss something? I still couldn't get behind that fence.
Lovely puzzle game! I liked the ribbon mechanics and I'm now tempted to play the first ribbon game as I never tried it back then.
Graphics and musics are great, the game feels very complete and polished. Main charater is cute :heart_eyes_cat:
I liked the feel of 2D in 3D world but sometimes it was annoying being unable to look around... And I encountered a bug where parts of the ribbon wouldn't come off anymore and had to restart. That's about all the critique I could make up of this game.
Once again a great game from you. I just wish it could have lasted longer! ...Still the twist in the end made my day :smile_cat:
I love the colors you used! The graphics has a nostalgic retro feel but still they're not quite lite anything I've seen before.
The variations of the music were really cool (including the a cappella version) and the switch of track when you enter the ribbon was awesome.
Great game, and very impressive work!
You said "I didn’t understand the function of the tape beyond the look." Were you able to collect any of the spools locked behind the gates?
I have a video of myself playing through the game above the download links, would you mind watching the first 50 seconds? One thing I'm trying to avoid is to over-tutorial the player. I want the player to have the "Ah-ha! moment" when they solve the puzzle. Would it have been a better idea for first section to simply show text telling the player to re-enter the ribbon once the gate has fallen, "trapping" them in? Just printing the solution on screen would prevent people from getting stuck, but I think it removes the fun of solving a puzzle. Anyway, your feedback is much appreciated. Thanks!
I'm going to watch the video, in fact I had watched it but quickly, I'm a bit against having to watch videos to understand. So I watched it a little quickly just to see what the game was like and not to understand the puzzles because I wanted to understand it myself. / No, I don't think it's a good idea to put a text at the beginning telling you what to do, that's not cool, it's very annoying for games that have a lot of texts before starting the game, generally the player goes through everything and doesn't even read it, He wants to play soon, especially at ludum dare. So, you must teach what to do during the game. You can place text saying what to do in some way on the screen during the action, without interrupting the gameplay, like a little ribbon, text inside a ribbon as a reminder at the top of the screen or at the bottom as a tip saying: you can use the tape to go through places that couldn't go after it was closed, etc. You can use a light bulb icon or a character that gives tips that are exposed, all without stopping the game. Stopping the game is boring. I'm going to test the game again in two hours, because I may not have understood the mechanics, then I can say better what I achieved, it may be that I didn't understand. I'm not that smart at catching on quickly, and from what I read in another post on the main page yesterday that you may have read from one of the archer games that is at the top of the rating rankings, it said that no matter how obvious a thing in your game, make it even more obvious. So you might think it's obvious enough, but it never is, there's always a player who's distracted or not intelligent enough and will make the mistake that for you was very obvious that he wouldn't make. Maybe you can give a hint when the player gets inside the first cell. Understanding that you want him to figure it out on his own, but if he doesn't figure it out he will get frustrated and think his game is broken. Your game has great visual appeal, the focus is on fun and not on puzzles. You explain the puzzles in the first cell, then he already knows what to do in the next ones, and then yes, you start to come up with more difficult situations that he will have to think about, but he already knows more or less what he has to do. to do . But you have to explain it once at least. This won't ruin the game. Many people didn't understand what they had to do, you can't take that risk
https://youtu.be/CZzd9JjGrN4
Felt so stupid when you uploaded your gameplay vid haha :D Sorry for the awkward ten minutes of me trying to figure out how to get to the hidden spool!
I'm glad you liked the game, and again, thanks for the video! It's a lot of feedback.
(I try to draw fanart to express my love of this game, but it goes terrible. I'm sorry, I made up a lot of detail.)
I would have liked to see more mechanics centered around entering/exiting the ribbon.
It's is immensely hard for me to write, but this is my least favorite game you've made (the first one I played was Morose, and, before you say anything, I actually loved that game). That doesn't mean it was bad–because of course it's a compo game that outperforms almost all jam games in quality–just that for the first time you haven't wowed me; in part because it's a sequel, probably. I played the game three times (first + speedrun any% + speedrun 100%).
Ribbon, in retrospect, was *really* short ~~at mere 25.6m~~, but the novelty more than made up for it. The captivating thing was its unique juxtaposition of 2D and 3D. Here, this aspect doesn't play a role aside from the two initial puzzles, which is a shame. I understand this is a compo tech demo, and you clearly wanted to include as many mechanics as possible instead of focusing on the good one, but the playability of this demo as a jam game suffers because of it. The latter 3D-only half, the bulk of the game, isn't fun; jumping is awkward and annoying, and extra annoying if the character bunnyhops in an endless cycle if you stand in the arrows, and the star is probably too precise for WASD controls (it would be good with a joystick though). The move to a fixed camera angle made the game more intuitive to control, but at a cost of the 2D view often going completely nuts, and even spoiling secrets at times.
Of course, the production value is top notch and the mix of pixel art with (mostly) low poly 3D still looks great. I have nothing to add here.
Since my comment is negative I should suggest improvements. The problem is, I think the game would work best with some degree of twinstick controls, but this would have been a no-go in an LD game. Maybe even mouse-based movement would work, although that's an idea I haven't thought through. I would mostly ditch the platforming aspect and focus on the puzzles that take advantage of the unique mode switch mechanic, and imprecise movement would automatically become much less problematic. Maybe add some dynamics to the ribbon so that it doesn't twist so much to the point of breaking 2D (the first game effectively did that thanks to its control scheme).