Monstris by jlnr

[raw]
made by jlnr for LD33 (JAM)
I couldn't come up with a great idea for the theme, so I've decided to implement an old idea I have for a board game.

RULES
Four players have to put down as many pieces as possible, starting in their "home corner".
But you can only connect pieces DIAGONALLY. None of your pieces' sides must touch directly. I've tried to illustrate this in screenshot #2. Touching enemy pieces is fine.
(Sounds like the board game Blokus? It's similar, but this game has triangular tiles.)

JUDGING
I've written an HTML 5 version of the same game a couple years ago, is that cheating? I'm not really in this compo to win, but I'd love to hear feedback about the actual game mechanics! (I'm starting to think that the abovementioned game Blokus is a lot better balanced :/)

THEME? WHERE?
I've been meaning to put monster eyes on each piece, and then let each piece grow hands where you can connect other pieces (instead of blinking dots). That'd have made the rules so much clearer! ...And then I ran out of time :|

TOOLS
RubyMotion and the (my) Gosu game development library for Ruby (https://libgosu.org/)
TextMate 1.5.11 \m/
Affinity Designer (so much better than crashy Sketch 3.3.3 -_-)

SOURCE
I think I'm going to clean up and push the source to GitHub sometime this week. I'm *really* happy with the project structure.

Ratings

Coolness 39% 1668
Overall(Jam) 3.36 400
Fun(Jam) 3.22 409
Innovation(Jam) 3.30 304

Feedback

iapc
25. Aug 2015 · 02:29 UTC
OS/X only, are you insane?
Llucile
25. Aug 2015 · 02:39 UTC
Can't run don't own a Mac
Damdoshi
25. Aug 2015 · 19:28 UTC
There is an error in you windows link.
sausagroll
25. Aug 2015 · 19:38 UTC
the windows link doesn't work
A_K_
25. Aug 2015 · 19:40 UTC
OS X forever! :)
🎤 jlnr
25. Aug 2015 · 19:53 UTC
Sorry everything, the Windows ZIP had the wrong permissions, the download should work now.
🎤 jlnr
25. Aug 2015 · 20:50 UTC
*everyone
danidre14
25. Aug 2015 · 21:14 UTC
Nice idea. Cool entry.
A Flat Miner Studios
25. Aug 2015 · 21:19 UTC
Hard to tell where to place pieces sometimes (perhaps place a slight grid on the pieces themselves?) but pretty neat.
MechanicMoon
25. Aug 2015 · 21:22 UTC
Ey, nice game to play with friends, with an online mode the idea would be awesome. I like board games a lot, good work ^^
Connors
25. Aug 2015 · 21:34 UTC
Pretty cool, like the Blokus board game but with triangular divisions.
Gaga
25. Aug 2015 · 21:44 UTC
Think this would be a lot more enjoyable with less piece variety and a smaller board.
shawn42
26. Aug 2015 · 02:59 UTC
I can definitely see playing this more. Now to find friends to play with...
Daukan
26. Aug 2015 · 09:34 UTC
I liked this game. It was a good brain teaser. Didn't quite fit the theme I think however :)
cbear_wallis
26. Aug 2015 · 18:45 UTC
Iapc OS/X and Windows only?....are you insane. jk, I really like this game! it's like Go meets tangrams! fuckin rad as shit! I loved it ^_^ <3
NAL
28. Aug 2015 · 12:33 UTC
Didn't fit the theme in the slightest, but this idea is excellent. I'd love to see it more polished digitally, and I'm not gonna lie, I'd probably buy a physical copy!
xvw
05. Sep 2015 · 12:12 UTC
A very nice game!
I'm not sure this is the theme that has inspired you, haha... :D
philomory
06. Sep 2015 · 21:01 UTC
Nice concept, Julian, and actually plays quite well (though it'd be nice if currently unplayable pieces were dimmed). Pity about missing the theme :-p