One Way To Go

[gordebak]

Hi everybody. Though I was already developing some applications with C++, I decided to try my hand at making some FOSS games. For some time I've been looking for a solution for developing games rapidly. I looked at Pygame, but I'm not very satisfied. And then, I found LÖVE. I love it.

I just started learning both Lua and LÖVE yesterday and I already have a game engine in my hands! Tell me about user friendly. I tried to rewrite an old favorite of mine from C64 days. There was a game named Sensitive, and I loved it. So I made one.

There is only one level at the moment, and there aren't any bells and whistles. But that's the easy part. All I want to do is making some level maps now. Any feedback is appreciated.

Edit: Since there's no documentation in the game, I should tell a bit about the gameplay.

Controls: Arrow keys.
Your are trying to collect all the white boxes on your way to exit (red box). Black kills you. Gray boxes doesn't matter. Once moved ball doesn't stop, so think carefully before moving. If you come to a yellow box, it teleports you to the other yellow box. I think secret to this game is relaxing before starting every level. Take your time, there's no time limit in the game. People say it's a hard game, but only in the beginning. You get better after some time. I can pass the first 9 levels without dying now.

You have three lives. Press space to restart the level when you die. If your lives are finished, you will return to level 1. I didn't implement the basic stuff yet, so when you finish the available levels, it returns back to level 1. I will add levels with varying complexities.

You can make and play your own levels. Just take a look at the files in maps folder. It's very easy. Don't forget to enter your ball's starting coordinates though.

' ' (space) is for the white boxes.
'#' is for the black boxes.
'X' is for exit
'$' is for gray boxes, and for starting points.
'G' is for teleport boxes.



A screenshot of the original game. A little different gameplay though:



Edit: Added some introductory levels. It will get harder from the level 4. Still no bells and whistles.

Edit: Added a new level.

Edit: Added new levels and teleportation boxes. Thinking about making the ball speed a choice. Like Slow, Normal, Fast. And I should work on some graphics also. Shouldn't be too hard. They're boxes in the end.

Edit: I changed the name of the game due to possible copyright issues. And I put a version number. It's 0.1 right now.

Edit: Added music. Known bug: The explosion only plays the first time the player dies. I'll look into it. Edit2: Bug fixed.

Edit: Added images for dying and game over. There's still more way to go though. Edit2: Changed the position of these images.

Edit: here is a youtube video of the game in action.

Edit: Added a level.

Edit: Added a level and an extra life for the player at level 8.

Edit: Added a level. Now there are 10 levels.

Edit: Added copyright and license (GPLv3) information to the source. Also there's a count for remaining lives on the right hand corner of the screen now.

Edit: Added level 11.

Edit: Added level 12.

Edit: Added a menu with fullscreen and music on/off options.

Edit: Fixed a menu bug.

Edit: Removed the explosion. It was too buggy.

Edit: Added difficulty options based on speed.

Edit: Refined the images of lives count.

Edit: Added level 13.

Edit: Added level 14 and a new block type.

Edit: Added level 15.

Edit: Added level 16.

Edit: Added level 17.

Edit: Added level 18.

Edit: Added level 19.

Edit: Added level 20. Game finished.

TODO:
- Add a menu (Done)
- Add Fullscreen On/Off option to the menu (Done)
- Add Music On/Off option to the menu (Done)
- Add sound fx (Given up)
- Add Fx On/Off option to the menu (Given up)
- Add up to 60 levels (Given up, finished the game at 20 levels)
- Refine graphics (Done for now)
- Add a game finish screen (Done)
- Add difficulty options (Done)
- Add Customizing Controls option (Given up)
- Add a little tutorial about the gameplay (Given up)

[Robin]

Nice. Damn hard too.

[gordebak]

Really? I was thinking to put in some really hard levels.

[Robin]

Quickly changing direction can be a bitch.

[clickrush]

I didn't really percieve the movements to be pixel-precise first. So my first death was alienating. If you make everything a bit bigger or give some kind of graphical hint then it would be a tad clearer what happens from the beginning.

[gordebak]

I decided to finish the game at 20 levels. If people demand so, I can add more levels. But that's all for now. I'm trying to develop one game every week, so I'll move on I guess.

Edit: Fixed a bug at finish screen. Now it should work fine.

[ishkabible]

ok, how do I make this easier? this is too hard core for me

[gordebak]

Here's a main.lua to put into the .love archive. It should make the easy mode slower.

[MarekkPie]

I really liked it. I believe there were some puzzles like this in either The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages or Oracle of Seasons. In those, however, you could stop and re-evaluate your surroundings.

I think what is making it hard is the fact that it is hard to understand when the player is "off" the platform. An example picture is attached. Perhaps inside your player disc, you could visually indicate what part of the player actually needs to be over the platform in order to not die.

[gordebak]

I really liked it.

I'm glad you liked it.

I think what is making it hard is the fact that it is hard to understand when the player is "off" the platform. An example picture is attached. Perhaps inside your player disc, you could visually indicate what part of the player actually needs to be over the platform in order to not die.

This shouldn't be too hard to fix I think.