NOTE: Because of the Theme tie, we allowed everyone to pick either Theme. Using both was optional. To keep things simple, there will still only be one Theme category. Every category in Ludum Dare voting is an opinion, so you’re welcome to rate them as you see fit. But we encourage you to be fair in your scores to people that chose only one Theme, and not both.
ALSO: Itch.io has an experimental game downloader over here. You may find it useful.
READ ME!!!
If you are frustrated with the mouse disappearing, or game being too hard, I strongly recommend playing the "Not So Hard" Edition. In exchange I removed level shortcuts that exist in compo version.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Growing Orbs is a single screen puzzle game where you avoid nasty growing orbs.
The game uses 2 buttons. Hold Mouse click to move and Escape key to quit.
The game is HARD! (Both intentionally and sometimes unintentionally.. Please check known problems)
It has a Cheat level (well it is not exactly cheating, just figuring some design decisions)
The game has two ends :)
I only had little more than 24 hours to finish the game. That's why I couldn't add any more levels.
Hope you like the ones that exist..
- @icereci
Instructions:
Click and hold left mouse button and move your mouse to navigate on the screen.
You can also click to move, but beware.. the cursor will disappear after a short period of time.
Press Escape key to close the game.
Used Technologies:
Engine - Unity 5
Sprites - Photoshop
Music - GarageBand
Known Problems:
Since Unity does not let me to change mouse position on screen, previous mouse positions become problematic when the player suddenly changes its location.
I advise playing on the Windows build. Since HTML5 player does not let any kind of mouse control. Some of the "mouse disable" quick fixes I put for stability are completely ignored there :( Hence instant deaths on level reloads.
Disappearing the mouse is a feature, but it seems to have confused a lot of people. Holding left mouse click and moving is preferable in most cases. It helps you track the location of the character at any given time.
Downloads and Links
Ratings
 | Coolness | 76% |
| #313 | Audio | 3.02 |
| #373 | Mood | 3.12 |
| #602 | Innovation | 2.95 |
| #625 | Overall | 3.07 |
| #731 | Graphics | 2.60 |
| #799 | Fun | 2.63 |
| #905 | Theme | 2.79 |
Comments
I spent way to long playing this! I'm not sure if this was intentional but after a few seconds the mouse courser would disappear. Also I could never actually finish the levels the way they were supposed to be done, I always went behind the circles :P.
Absolutely loved it!
Wow that game was hard. I got to the end (most of the time by going what seemed like an unintended route behind the orbs). I would have put an easier levels at the start because I did feel like I was thrown in at the deep end.
I tried to do a no deaths run but got frustrated because as your known problem says on the later levels the triangle tries to zoom towards the mouse when you just finish a level often causing a death you cant help.
Very nice backgroung music and sounds, but, yeah, like you said, very hard haha, i like it, i just dont have the skills haha
Very nicly done game. but i have a problem where my mouse goes invisible and it's really hard to play :c. Otherwise really good :)
a bit frustrating for me, but maybe I misunderstood something in the control ?
I'm unable to get past "gotta go fast". Would be easier if mouse cursor didn't disappear after few seconds into level, and I'm not sure how it makes for a feature. Regardless, biggest problem I see is the theme. Not sure which one it's supposed to represent.
The not so hard edition was still super hard.
Music restarting on every reset was quite annoying.
And I would've preferred if the triangle was just directly tied to mouse movement rather than having to click/hold.
A bit too frustrating for me! Making the music reset after dying is pretty annoying :/ Keep it up!
couldn't get past the first level. I must be lame. good idea. Needed to start easier and draw you into the game.
I quite liked this. The game was very challenging and made me want to beat it. The sounds matched the simplistic style and mood of the game.
no kidding, it's not easy.
I think from a technical viewpoint not capturing the mouse in the web version would have made it a bit better experience. But it totally was playable.
I like, that you used the grow theme not on the playable character but on the obstacles :)
cute but challenging game, aesthetically pleasant, but the gameplay needs some improvement, especially the super sensitive collision detection.
Difficult but man that music was intense. Really great concept, very enjoyable entry.
Wow, that was hard! Got stuck on the fourth level. Good fun though, enjoyed it!
Really loved the difficulty level - the music was good but I got sick of the first two notes very quickly. Left myself at the beginning of a level so I could appreciate more of it. A really cool concept, and I could see it going far as a mobile game. The graphical style was simple but neat, there were some nice visual touches like the trail. Though frustrating at times, it was very enjoyable to play.
Very hard and very addictive, could have used a slower learning curve as I'm awful at this type of game. Well done, nice entry.
You must sign in to comment.
Mini Submission FAQ
TEAMS: Teams entering the Jam should pick a single representative to submit your game, or create a team specific account you can share. We currently do not support Team Voting, but sharing an account and together playing and rating games is acceptable.
CAN I ENTER BOTH EVENTS?: You should pick 1 event, whichever you think it’ll do better in. If the idea is strong, and everything plays well enough, you can go Compo. If you’re a perfectionist, and would prefer people to play a more polished game, do the Jam. Historically, more games are entered in the Compo, but with more people and more time, Jam games have the potential to be better (that doesn’t mean they are). Many solo participants do enter the Jam.
If you made 2 games, unfortunately, the website doesn’t support multiple submissions per user. To submit your 2nd game, you will have to make a 2nd account. Only do this if you made 2 games. Alternatively, if one game is better than the other, then consider just entering the better game.
CAN I KEEP WORKING UNTIL THE DEADLINE?: Yes! Immediately after the 48 or 72 hours, we do something called Submission Hour. As the name suggests, it’s an extra hour for you to package, upload, and submit your games. If there were catastrophic issues trying submitting your game, or you misunderstood how submissions work, that’s okay. It happens. We’re flexible. If you need advice, check with the folks on IRC. If you need an admin, get in touch.
CAN I KEEP WORKING ON MY GAME?: Oh definitely! You should! But for the sake of judging, keep the Compo or Jam version around. You can include a link to the Post-Compo/Post-Jam version of your game on your games page, but sure your main links are the original version.
PORTS: Ports to other platforms can be done after the deadline. That said, the sooner you finish your port, the sooner people can play your game, improving your chances of placing in the final results. For best results, provide a Web version of your game, or a Windows version with no dependencies. Also be sure to rate at least 20 games to improve your visibility (Coolness).
MY GAME CRASHES, IS UNBEATABLE, OR I MADE A TYPO: We allow you to fix crashes, win condition, or tiny bugs after the deadline. In a sense, this is like “porting” to support more players. We leave this open to interpretation, but generally speaking your game should be identical to the game you submitted. No new features, just fixing mistakes you should have caught had you been better rested.
MY GAME DOESN’T SHOW UP: If you can’t find your game, it’s usually because the URL to your downloads are missing ‘http://‘. Fix your URLs (http://mysite.com/mygame.zip) and you will show up. Alternatively, if you just posted it, wait a minute. The cache may not have refreshed yet.
NOT LOGGED IN?: If you get a message about not being logged in, even though you are, it’s because your web browser cached the non-logged in page. You can fix this by either refreshing your cache or clearing your cache. CTRL+F5 in many browsers. Chrome is a bit more work. Press F12 to enable Developer Mode, then you can right click on the refresh button and select “Empty Cache and Hard Reload”. This option is unavailable if you are not in Developer Mode.
Ouch that was brutal :) Very atmospheric and has the potential to be a relaxing game if it was just a little bit easier. I get stuck on the level with 4 orbs and a pulsating green circle that doesn't seem to kill me. It seems impossible... Maybe there's something I'm not getting?