Xindaris
Level: Smitemaster

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Registered: 06-13-2015
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Hey,

I've been slowly cobbling together a puzzlescript game in some recent spare time, just for fun. It's about using bombs irresponsibly. I figured there isn't much point if nobody ever plays it, so I thought I'd share a link here: https://xindaris.itch.io/explosives

There aren't very many levels finished, but I'm okay-ish with the presentation and some of the basic mechanics so far, at least. Well, leave feedback if you want.

EDIT:

I made another, different game, called "Spooks!". It is about running away from ghosts, and it's here: https://xindaris.itch.io/spooks .
There's only 9 levels so far, but I think I have a couple of interesting ideas going on. And it's (sort of) just in time for Halloween?

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[Last edited by Xindaris at 10-25-2023 05:20 PM]

Gordius
Level: Delver
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Registered: 12-16-2008
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Yeah, this was fun! I think the only improvement I'd want to see (aside from more levels) is more clearly being able to indicate what was under an occupied square. You can kind of tell when there's crumbling ground under something, but goals are completely hidden. It makes planning hard to do a whole thing and only then be able to see what you should have been planning for.

That made me think that, if it's possible to assign both characteristics to a space, there might be some fun in having destroyable goal squares.

Xindaris
Level: Smitemaster

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Huh, I thought it was the other way around, with cracked floors hard to see under bombs and such. A goal is indicated entirely by a white "frame" around the visual area that a crate would occupy, specifically so that you can tell when it's a goal+crate square. Bombs also only take up a few of those "outer frame" pixels for the same reason. Well, I have been thinking that that white color doesn't stand out so well against the regular floor colors, so maybe changing it to something bluer will help it stand out better?

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[Last edited by Xindaris at 04-23-2023 03:20 PM]

Xindaris
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Alright, I tried blue but it was even worse. So, they're neon green now!

And I liked the idea of blowing up excess targets, so there's a level about that now.

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Xindaris
Level: Smitemaster

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Pfft, I've been writing devlog posts on itch.io, but only today realized that they were all still in 'draft' status and nobody could see them! So, that's fixed now; there have been a couple of updates since my last post here about it, but I have no desire to spam this thread every time.

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Gordius
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There's no good way to identify levels once you're in them (since the title's gone), but I got as far as the one with three boxes to destroy, one of which is behind three destroyable walls. I'm enjoying the new levels. I even think there's one more version of the deja vu puzzles you could implement:

Xindaris
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Yeah, puzzlescript has a way to display messages either between levels or when a given event happens within the level, but no way to just display a level name during the level that I can find. Anyway, that level is pretty close to the end of the set I have in the game so far. Let me know if you particularly want a hint.

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Gordius
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Yeah, I'd love a hint. What I'd like to do is

but I can't even create a setup to test whether that mechanic would work, to say nothing of a setup where it solves the actual problem.

The more I think about it, the more I think that would be exactly the same as just putting the second bomb in that location in the first place, before I set anything off. So it's not a clever ploy, it's just overcomplicating something that I couldn't make work the simple way.

Xindaris
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Well, exploding crates/bombs doesn't make new fire (I don't consider that worth secreting). The basic idea of that room is like one of the really early ones where you

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[Last edited by Xindaris at 05-09-2023 04:46 AM]

Gordius
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That's what I was calling "the simple way" in my last post. So it sounds like my problem is in the shuffling. Blowing up the first two is easy, but I can't get anything in a position to blow up the third wall, because (as you note) you can't multipush big bombs.

Xindaris
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File: attache.PNG (3.2 KB)
Downloaded 242 times.
License: Public Domain

I think in that case, it might help to show how you can get all of the east bombs over to the west end of the room, once those first two walls are gone.

If you get into this position:

...then you can push that big bomb west twice, south twice, then go the long way around to shove it west. Then the north small bomb is free to shove west also, and the south pair can be done very similarly.

It's kind of amazing how cumbersome the big bombs feel when all they're really doing is enforcing some amount of "normal sokobon thinking" in a game where you can otherwise push chains of things along freely.

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[Last edited by Xindaris at 05-09-2023 05:51 PM]

Gordius
Level: Delver
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Thanks! Somehow my brain completely missed that

mauve
Level: Delver

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Cute puzzle game, did it all in about an hour, with a good chunk of that on 18. Felt like straightforward sokoban once you can figure out what board state you want to create, for the most part.


The only real note I have is that having the text popup when you 'die' is really flow breaking since you have to drop everything else in your thought process to go over and press X, as undo doesn't work on that screen even though you're probably already pressing it. It's really a minor nitpick in the grand scheme of things, so don't worry about it.

My designer brain wants an element that gets pushed back by explosions but isn't destroyed by them, like a rolling metal ball or something. Probably out of scope for how stuff works though.

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Xindaris
Level: Smitemaster

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I could certainly remove the death messages if it doesn't feel like they're adding anything meaningful. I mean, I guess it's kind of obvious you should just undo or restart when pushing the buttons doesn't do anything?

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Xindaris
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1531
Registered: 06-13-2015
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Wow, I thought I removed the death messages ages ago; turns out I forgot to actually make that update on the uploaded game. Oh well, at least it's done now...

Anyway, I made another puzzlescript game back when I was near to running out of ideas for "Explosives!", but never felt like I'd gotten far enough to say anything about it. That has changed now, so rather than spamming with a brand new thread, I'll just stick a link to it up on the first post. Check it out if you're interested.

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[Last edited by Xindaris at 10-25-2023 05:17 PM]