Unstable Equilibrium by baknik

[raw]
made by baknik for Ludum Dare 49 (JAM)

Wrest control of physics out of the hands of mother nature and into your hands, which are holding a physics-manipulating gun!

This is a prototype for a project idea I've been wanting to expand upon. If you enjoy the concept, or have constructive criticism, please feel free to let me know. Thanks for playing!

main.png

tutorial.png

Ratings

Overall 97th 4.111⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Fun 171th 3.958⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 12th 4.417⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Theme 545th 3.75⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 872th 3.472⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Audio 293th 3.75⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Mood 253th 3.889⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Given 26🗳️ 53🗨️

Feedback

vizitas
04. Oct 2021 · 20:53 UTC
Quite innovative, never seen anything like this, good job :)
Koekfluksthegreat
04. Oct 2021 · 20:58 UTC
Wow. This, this right here. This has so much potential!
The game in itself is very short, but it lays the groundwork PERFECTLY.
I can already see a portal-esque platform-puzzler using these mechanics.
Please, I want to see where this project goes. It's short, but there's so much that could be done, so many puzzles that could be made. All in all, well done baknik, this game ROCKS.
ObsceneBard
04. Oct 2021 · 21:01 UTC
Solid prototype, theres lots of potential with this idea I feel. I liked how the icons lit up as you look at each object, would be crazy if you could apply the rules to the entire environment (imagine a room with no gravity/friction, or a pool with no boyancy)
U4ia
04. Oct 2021 · 21:10 UTC
Hello:) Had lots of fun playing this game! (although the game was quite short). Reminds me a lot of Portal but with cool physics. Hope to see more of this kind of creativity in the future and well done!
Merri
04. Oct 2021 · 21:14 UTC
Amazing ! it has huge portal vibe, amazing !!!
Cyber Puffin
04. Oct 2021 · 21:23 UTC
This was fun. It took me a hot minute to figure out how the game worked, but the in-game explanation was spot-on (just had to actually read :-D). The lighting added an extra bit of challenging fun.
JuniorA_
04. Oct 2021 · 21:28 UTC
Lots of potential in this! Found lighting a little too dark to navigate through at times and I didn't find much use out of the friction setting but overall a pretty solid idea worth expanding on, the gun seems to have range, maybe a mirror-like object would really add depth to puzzles
Neeko69
04. Oct 2021 · 21:38 UTC
The game is very short, and I quite didn't understand what some of the guns modes did. However, I can see the concept is very good, I think it has a very high potential for a big puzzle game.
arifacid
04. Oct 2021 · 23:06 UTC
That was such a smooth sandbox. Was really fun
BrandonDev
05. Oct 2021 · 03:00 UTC
I really like it! I feel like it could be fleshed out to be a really interesting puzzler.
JPCard
05. Oct 2021 · 03:40 UTC
Interesting concept. I agree with others that this would make a fine puzzle game. You should progressively add new features to the gun because it feels kinda overwhelming at first with all that possible options.
Furthermore I noticed that the game is consuming GPU heavily, I guess it's because of all that lighting.
Tattomoosa
05. Oct 2021 · 03:54 UTC
This was very good! Agree with earlier comments that so many options feels overwhelming at first, although it's not actually so bad once you get to trying things in the environment. I definitely think there's a lot you could do to expand this idea and I'd love to see some more puzzles with more moving pieces
Evileptic
05. Oct 2021 · 05:37 UTC
A great idea. It feels like the game was made under the theme "One too many uses", which I wanted to get. :smile: Good job. :smirk_cat:
nshbae
05. Oct 2021 · 06:38 UTC
Clever idea of interacting with other object! I really enjoyed the game. It would be more fun if i could drag objects!
🎤 baknik
05. Oct 2021 · 07:00 UTC
@jpcard Good observation. The "Luminance" property as it is now requires using real-time point lights, which are very costly in Unity. I think if I did expand this idea, I'd have to use a different rendering pipeline or use the luminance property differently.
beeguy
05. Oct 2021 · 11:35 UTC
A really cool idea. If this was fleshed out and made into a full proper game it would be amazing! I loved the harsh lighting, it gave it a pretty unique feel for having such basic graphics. Overall its a really neat concept!
LDJam user 259103
05. Oct 2021 · 11:37 UTC
This is a really interesting idea! And fun to play too.

I agree with @jpcard that the game is GPU heavy - my fans started going hard as soon as I used luminance! Maybe I just have a bad GPU :)

I'd love to see this expanded after the jam (maybe with some new textures and models to add detail). Really good job!
QueenOfSquiggles
05. Oct 2021 · 14:17 UTC
This was a pretty interesting game. I really liked the physics puzzles. I'd love to see this expanded on to make a complete game. It took some trial and error for me to get the hang of the gun but once I was used to it I was able to quickly solve the puzzles. When you make this larger, I think it would be better to only give the player one or two functions on the gun. Maybe even just start them off with gravity so they can understand each mechanic one at a time. Best of luck working on expanding this!
joaosilva22
05. Oct 2021 · 16:40 UTC
Really clever idea, loved playing it! I think this could become a great puzzle game. Movement felt a little bit akward at times -- I really struggled through the platformer section. Other than that, it was really good. Great job!
Fluffy_Kaeloky
05. Oct 2021 · 22:48 UTC
Really clever gameplay ! I liked the puzzles, and wish some of them would make use of the previous functions of the gun instead of having a linear progression using each tool after another. I think it could have really used a few more levels.

Other than that, it's a good entry, congratulations ! :)
VPhyre
07. Oct 2021 · 14:31 UTC
Possibly the best game I've played in this gamejam so far! I loved the main mechanics of controlling the physical property of some objects. It's a simple game, but with a fantastic concept.

The graphics are simple yet fully functional.

Sound is pretty good too.

And the controls are really nice.

His interpretation of the theme and execution were very creative.

I would love to see a bigger project on top of this project!

Congratulations on the game produced!
PashaLoban
14. Oct 2021 · 12:07 UTC
Cool game
Chacharl
14. Oct 2021 · 12:11 UTC
Nice game, I really like the concept !
The First-Person controller is well responsive and feels really good.
The gun mechanic is quite original, but I think the way we can scroll between the different modes is not that ergonomic.
I like the fact that the game is short, but I think that the level design is a bit simple, it would have been fun to have more "unstable objects" to interact with (like a room with a full unstable floor or platforms).
JD_Isaac
19. Oct 2021 · 16:42 UTC
Great prototype! I would play the crap outta this game. Definitely scratches my Portal itch
LDJam user 240752
20. Oct 2021 · 14:00 UTC
It's a good game, glad to have spent time with it.