April 26th-29th 2013 :: Theme: Minimalism
Ludum Dare 26 — April 26-29th, 2013
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Backstory: Fight the evil minimalist regime and bring back "realism" to the gaming world.
How to play: Just keep pressing the one button to begin with and then start pressing other buttons as they appear, clues about what you should be doing start to appear as you go along.
Downloads and Links
Ratings
![]() | Coolness | 100% |
#161 | Theme(Jam) | 3.59 |
#180 | Innovation(Jam) | 3.26 |
#288 | Humor(Jam) | 2.06 |
#357 | Overall(Jam) | 2.91 |
#408 | Audio(Jam) | 2.11 |
#412 | Fun(Jam) | 2.51 |
#428 | Mood(Jam) | 2.44 |
#447 | Graphics(Jam) | 2.55 |
Comments
Took the theme a little too literal ;) Hard to tell what to do.
I'm assuming its kind of like a mini rts thats been stripped down. Cool concept.
I defeated the regime! Great idea, fits the theme really well. I liked the minimial visuals in the beginning more than the later ones :)
The concept is innovative and the gameplay was fun... but I was completely thrown off by the diagram at the bottom! The "x = y" means "if you see x, kill it with y". The second stage was definitely the hardest because i didn't know what those things were at first.
i think with a little description a least in here , how to play it might help a lot
Things start to become clearer as you make progress, and yes it does start off very minimalistic but gradually changes. Just keep pressing the one button to begin within and then start pressing other buttons as they appear, clues about what you should be doing start to appear as you go along.
I love this new genre of "UI evolution" games. I really like the transitions between graphics levels.
@hgouveia: Just start by clicking on the square icon repeatedly until new icons appear. Then it's a classic side-scrolling RTS.
Most of the time all I saw was the square at the bottom of the screen, I would click it, it would fill up, and then nothing would happen. Sometimes the other shapes would appear briefly. Using Safari on a Mac.
It took me a moment to realise the aim, but I liked the progression. A very nice rock-paper-scissors spin off ;)
@allinlabs - I wouldn't feel bad about not figuring out what to do, some playtesters I get it to had no idea also and needed a little prompting. I've added a little description of what to do on the entry now, hope it helps people. I don't want to say too much as it'll spoil it if you do start to make it through to the later stages.
@Homletmoo - was supposed to be potato-paper-scissors spin off but never managed to really put that concept in :P
Slow to start - Nice RPS mechanic though! Only made more minimal by RPS ;)
I don't think minimalist means cryptic, but I like the buttons with the shapes.
This is a very cool game. It took me a bit to figure out what was going on, but when I caught on, it was awesome!
Hard to figure out what to do, but it boils down to rock, paper, scissors. However, if you launch one of each at each level then you'll end up winning in the end.
I too was confused at first, but a little persistence paid off and I was very pleased with how it evolved.
Very unique approach :) Took a while to get into, but it was quite fun after you got the hang of it.
Tricky! When the symbols changed it threw me, didn't see it coming at all.
@GingerMess I've been playing it for 3/4 days now and it confuses me when the symbols change too! Ideally I would have prefered it if I had done a transitional state, a morph between symbol changes but I didn't think about that until way too late.
Okay I didnt get it at first, but once I did I had fun :D Clever concept!
Maybe too minimal but it was pretty fun and cool. well done ;)
@Conve, there is one button to start off with, press that. Eventually things will start changing, try pressing different buttons and see what happens.
Cool game! I smiled when the objects started to take shape - clever. I think the X=Y notation was a bit vague though. Maybe something like (square) > (circle)? Seems more intuitive to have what you need to use on the left and what you want to beat on the right, given that that's where the shapes originate.
Great use of the minimalist theme. Start with the basic concept and build onto it.
I really liked the way it reverted back to the basic shapes when you start to lose.
@noddy2006 - I tried that but it got confusing fast until you learnt the patterns because you had to look at the symbols, find the one on the right, then look back at the left and having a < symbol going the other direction just made it look wierd. It's the one major thing I'm still unsure as to what works best and I had too few playtesters who hadn't played it during development.
Can't rate audio (no speakers sorry) But overall lots of fun! Love to see the progression from abstract to reality. Got pretty challenging too. Nice entry!
The design is interesting, your backstory is hilarious ;) The theme is also well respected... But what the hell should I do in this game? I really just can't figure it out... To sum up, I think the main problem of this game is that you took the theme a little bit more literally. But nice atmosphere et design anyway!
I don't care what anyone says, this is a great game featuring great game design, catchy graphics and an awesome interpretation of the theme.
Clever game - figuring out how to play it is half the puzzle. :3
The biggest issue I have is that the guide to what kills what is totally unintuitive: if your units are coming from the left side of the screen and the enemy's units are coming from the right, why are they flipped around on the chart? Also, by the time the instruction showing how to change "channels" for your mobs turns up, the player should have already figured that out (I know I did!).
Here's an idea: perhaps the gameplay should also get more complex as the battle ensues?
Enjoyable game, hard to work out but mechanically sound once you understand. Would have enjoyed more sound. Gets pretty intense toward the end :)
You should replace '=' with '>'
Aside from that I loved this entry, started off as a game where I thought "oh they used the theme to be lazy" but as it progressed I saw what you were doing and realized the genius of it.
I've not nothing but good things to say about this entry. Awesome job!
Super cool! I love this as a concept for introduction to a mechanic - strip it down to basics, then add complexity. May make a cool idea for a tutorial someday. Great work!
I got it!!, is like a tower defense to put it in a way!, very fun when you get the idea! :D
Bit hard to understand what to do. After some time you get (or not) to the point.
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i can't rate this game because i don't get what i need to do :(