While the game is nicely created and has different rewarding paths that need to be unlocked one after the other, the developer is to be congratulated on this little gem, but also to be told that this is all it is - a little gem. A small game, one that with some more polish and a lot more content could be very well worth paying for. Would I recommend going that path? That depends: Possibly contesting for "game of the month" and such will prove to bring more income on Kongregate. Possibly creating a full-fledged game and publishing it on Kartridge and other digital stores will prove more successful if the price is right. I really can't give any opinion here. I only can say that I believe that games like these are refreshing and enjoyable by combining known mechanics with new ideas (time limit, branching paths).
In any case: Many thanks for making this game available for free!
Thanks for the feedback! Those are things I've been thinking about a lot lately as well. I would like to put a game on Kartridge or Steam one day since webgames don't provide a ton of revenue nowadays. My current path is to prototype ~5 games before making the decision on which game to turn into a full version. You're right that these games are basically small vertical slices to prove that a core concept is enjoyable, and once that's proven I can think about what to tack on from there. You have really good business insights, thanks for sharing them :)
"Factor Shift (7): Requires Graham's Number"
No kidding! This game uses numbers so big that even the number of their digits can't be displayed in the observable universe.
Accelerator Boost doesn't reset the Prestige Upgrades. My refinery remained. This seems not intended, as the description says it should reset Prestige upgrades.
Many years ago there was some chess adventure game on PC, in the late 1990s. Sadly I forgot the name and haven't found it since, but I always wanted to play it. But this developer here might be able to create something similar. The small game here at least is highly enjoyable. So keep up the great work, FractalSunrise, and I hope to see a lot more fun and high quality content of you!
@jasondeegan You unfortunately did not play far enough to see that when you level up you can one-hit monsters without being hit back. So you can abuse that in non-hardcore mode to get unlimited experience and win at your own pace. In hardcore mode, the game will be like a puzzle where you have a small leeway but must play very efficient. You unlock that mode by finishing normal mode. So I shared your concern at first but when I played a bit I noticed that you can't get into an unwinnable situation in normal mode unless you really mess up at the beginning (which nearly would need to be done on purpose or by being confused and refighting the same mobs again and again, and even then you'd always get some XP even after you exhausted all potions and eventually get to level 1 where you can one-hit the first mobs and can continue easily). So please give the game another try if you like.
It would be a great help for people who don't "actively" play to have an option to automatically pause the game on certain events. Maybe this can be implemented, with options for example to pause when a science is finished, a building is finished, the military queue is finished, some resource goes into red (decreasing instead of increasing or being equal), a new villager is created, barbarian attacks incoming, AI attacks incoming, etc.
Maybe an idea for future versions?
I expected some kind of puzzle game, but it actually was a bit like pinball. Nice concept, partially frustrating, but potential is there. Honestly, as someone else said, just playing around is quite fun, while solving the puzzles (if you can call it that) isn't always. So, without wanting to take away from the game, I could only give a 4.2 to 4.4/5 because the difficulty doesn't feel balanced, but the game is great fun to mess around with. As many guys said, user created levels would sure have potential. I could see there being some kind of minigolf courses with this, or some crazy puzzle contraptions, or or or. By now it's like a physics engine to play around with, a proof of concept, but the potential is there to make something really good. I'll round this up to 5 stars for now not for the game itself but for the engine and the fun I have with messing around, and to encourage you to explore the potential of what could be done.
A minimalist puzzle game where you have to figure out the solutions, knowing that they are about "blue"? This is a hit or miss, for sure. Luckily the developer has made it obscure enough to be interesting but still solvable enough to be not too frustrating. At least not until level 25. Now I try to solve without hints. And level 25 is a real brain teaser. I figured out the first half by playing around, but still couldn't figure out the rest. I had a reasonable setup but it wasn't correct, so I had to throw away my assumptions and try something else. Apart from that one puzzle it was a great game. 5/5
There's only one solution. You're missing something. The 1 that works in all eight directions prevents you from one of the two patterns. If you lay a mine next to the "diagonal 1", as you call it, and one between the two "horizontal" 1s, you would need the diagonal hint to be a 2 instead of a 1.
I love that it shows the completion time. That makes it perfect for speedrunning. I won't do that, but if the word gets out there will be people interested in it.
Very nice puzzle game idea! Please make a sequel or level pack or whatever you'd call it. Maybe add more movement options or puzzle elements. But The basic idea is very nice, I don't think I saw that before. The game is short, but thanks to the originality I still give five stars.
@germangamer122 You make prestige points by stacking the boxes up to the top. The earlier you "fill the screen", the more points you get. PP can be spent for upgrades or kept to give a bonus to value of boxes you collect.
Like the game, but it should be able to run in the background. Maybe that could be an early prestige upgrade, or just upgrade with the very first prestige automatically?
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Thanks for the feedback! Those are things I've been thinking about a lot lately as well. I would like to put a game on Kartridge or Steam one day since webgames don't provide a ton of revenue nowadays. My current path is to prototype ~5 games before making the decision on which game to turn into a full version. You're right that these games are basically small vertical slices to prove that a core concept is enjoyable, and once that's proven I can think about what to tack on from there. You have really good business insights, thanks for sharing them :)