Putty Puzzle

[kevglass]

Putty Puzzle is my current project, it's a simple puzzler with a slightly odd mechanic. There's an in game tutorial which should help you play. You mostly have to move the putty around the level to reach the goal(s) by merge, morphing and splitting it.



Applet is here:

http://gamejolt.com/online/games/puzzle/putty-puzzle/220/

Webstart is here:

http://www.cokeandcode.com/demos/putty3/putty.jnlp

LWJGL Applet (watch out, may still have some issues which can kill browsers) is here:

http://www.cokeandcode.com/demos/putty3/putty.html

Known issues:

1) The game is no where near finished, lots of missing features and I'm sure plenty of bugs
2) Typos galore
3) In the applet game state is stored in cookies - so they can get wiped with browsers clear outs etc.
4) Sound/Music mail fail on some systems, please post if you see this.

Theres a built in level editor which Morre has used to create a couple of the levels you'll see in game. If you feel like sharing any levels you've created (or use to show bugs ) the saved levels can be found in your home directory in a sub directory called ".putty" (home on windows = c:\documents and settings\<username>)

Any feedback appreciated, at this stage especially bugs and platform specific issues. Game play and feature ideas also appreciated. I'm afraid some of the levels are very difficult at the moment so any ideas for making things easier for the player at the start (other than creating some easier levels) would be great.

Thanks in advance,

Kev

[dishmoth]

Fiendishly good!

The ramping-up of difficulty needs to be a lot more gentle though.  It took me ages to complete the second level (the first after the tutorial) and I couldn't make any progress at all on the third.  Each new feature (different putty colours, fragile floors, sticky ceilings, etc.) needs its own very simple level by way of introduction. 

One thing in particular, it wasn't obvious to me that you had to get a particular colour of putty to the goal.  (How about a big, flashing arrow: "Get Blue Putty Here!")

On the technical side, everything ran flawlessly (old Win 2000 machine), no bugs spotted.

Simon

[Markus_Persson]

Is it even possible to complete level three? what am I doing wrong?

Moving the green pieces does nothing, and there seems to be no way of moving the two blue pieces so they don't fall down below the two single blues..
DIFFICULT!

The game idea is pretty awesome and original. =)
It's bugs me a bit that you have to right click to reset a shape instead of just redrawing it.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[kevglass]

All levels are possible. If you really need a hint PM.

Thanks for the positivity, to think I'd almost given up on this one yestrerday. Noted about the right click, I'll allow the over draw function.

I'm very aware the current levels are extremely difficult, I'm planning on adding some more Frank oriented levels to describe each feature (as suggested above).

Thanks for again for testing, and do keep trying - they are all possible!

Kev

[jezek2]

Yeah, I've just finished all of them about hour ago (to my surprise), so it's indeed possible.

Nice game, I think that the difficulty is good, easy puzzle is boring. But it should be less steep, the idea of introduction levels for each feature looks good

[CheekyRipley]

Really nice Kev, I like it a lot

I think level 2 is a bit of a leap from level 1 though; but like you say, early days!

[brackeen]

I got an exception the first time. After clearing the cache, it worked fine. Is this because I had an old lwjgl jar in my cache? Would giving unique names to the jars fix the problem (for example, lwjgl-2.0.1.jar, natives-2.0.1.jar)?

Pretty interesting puzzle game concept, gratz.

[Ru5tyNZ]

Level two is wayyy to hard

[Addictman]

Two thumbs up. An excellent "coffee game" :-)

[irrisor]

Very nice idea, Kev!

Levels difficulty is ok, I think (with more tutorial levels before them). When you know that a single putty does not break the crumbled ground, but multiple putties do, Level 2 is ok as well.

More levels please

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[dishmoth]

Some thoughts:

• Since the gameplay centres around cooperation between different coloured blobs, how about having a special tile/gadget that makes a blob change colour?
• I know that two mouse buttons aren't a complicated control scheme, but it might be nice to have some kind of on-screen cue as to what the buttons do (especially if you're targetting a casual audience).  For example, in the corner of the screen, "Left: Move/Combine, Right: Split" for the default operations, greyed-out unless the mouse is over a piece of putty, changing to "Left: Combine, Right: Cancel" or whatever as appropriate
• It may just be me, but the current music sounds more shoot'em-up than puzzle game.
• I demand an undo button!

Simon

[g666]

i think the controls are a little clunky, and it is way too hard - the tutorial should continue on for longer. I like the mechanic though.

[CommanderKeith]

Ran fine on win XP java 6u10. Way too hard to figure out and play though. I had know idea what I had to do on the level after the tutorial.

The interface and graphics look very polished.

[Markus_Persson]

When you know that a single putty does not break the crumbled ground

Yeah.. i figured it out eventually.. Needs less guesswork. =)

Some additional feedback:
- Often, a single mistake means you have to restart the entire level, forcing you to press escape and choose the level again. This feels like poor design. I'd prefer it if all mistakes were recoverable, but that might not be possible.
- I made a level with several conveyors and loads of putties, and they started moving INTO each other, so several putties were on the same tile. I couldn't move them after that.

[kevglass]

Thanks for all the feedback, much appreciated. So far:

1) The game gets too hard too quickly at the moment. The first row (or two) of levels will now have Frank (your guide) at the top bouncing around. If you click on him he'll give you a step by step guide to completing the levels. Hopefully this should let people have a go at learning themself, but also have a blunt solution if required.

2) Controls - tried a couple of schemes out so far, dragging and click. The most clunky thing for me is that you have to draw reasonably slowly to get the right blocks, but can't see a way round this. Any ideas on improvements, I mean as it stands it works ok for most people.

3) Related to:

Often, a single mistake means you have to restart the entire level, forcing you to press escape and choose the level again. This feels like poor design. I'd prefer it if all mistakes were recoverable, but that might not be possible.

Would an undo button (as suggested above) sort this out?

4) On screen hints, maybe a tool tip type affair? At least a configurable one or something? I like the clean look it currently has an extra clutter worries me.

Other stuff:

Ah, the music, I love jazz - so um, there

I've no idea about the applet caching bug, I'm told it's fixed in the latest lwjgl applet release which I haven't upgraded to yet.

I made a level with several conveyors and loads of putties, and they started moving INTO each other, so several putties were on the same tile. I couldn't move them after that.

Have you got the level file handy? It should be in your home directory under ".putty". Obviously sounds bugged to hell, level just makes it easier to see

Feature wise, theres a bunch of stuff coming. Recolouring the blobs generally is too loose for me, there will be white putty that will absorb the colour that is merged into it though.

It's coming along, more features first then more levels, honest



I've ideas for freezers, kill tiles, evil putty that follows you around and lifts.

Thanks again for the feedback, I'll post as and when new levels come up.

Kev

[dishmoth]

I like the clean look it currently has an extra clutter worries me.

Much respect for the no-clutter principle, but could we at least have clickable buttons for Abort, Restart and Undo?  You can't expect an idiot like me to remember which keys to press.
Simon

[Orangy Tang]

Nice I'm totally stuck on level 3 though, can't seem to do anything other than merge the two blue and then fall through the unstable block. Hints? Am I supposed to be able to merge it really quickly? My reactions aren't quite up to that.

[kevglass]

There's a hint in markus's post before.

Kev "try right click" Glass

[dishmoth]

One last suggestion, then I'll shut up.
Don't describe the "split" operation in the opening tutorial.  Introduce it during a later level in which it is actually needed.  That way there's one less thing for beginners to memorize.
Simon

[kevglass]

Agreed, the existing tutorial is going to be split across 3 or so stages now.

Kev

[Morre]

I've also finished all the levels, it's a great game!
OrangyTang: There's no speed involved. All turned-based, no worries.

[Markus_Persson]

Would an undo button (as suggested above) sort this out?

Possibly, but it doesn't feel natural.. Perhaps it's hard to fix..
I love the music.

Another thought:
Sometimes when I want a straight line of the putty, I move the mouse too fast for the game to register the individual tiles, and this feels clunky. If I move the mouse fast up four tiles in a four tile putty, it feels like it should fill all four tiles.


Nice game =)

[nva225]

Ok this game seems really cool and is actually unique as a puzzle game (which is rare), but I am absolutely stuck on level three and it's rather frustrating. I figured out how to right click a blob onto the "unstable" platform and get three blobs on the bottom, but from there I have no idea how to join up with the last fourth blob on top, which I'm pretty sure is necessary and seems entirely stuck. I can blob up so that I'm touching it, but there's no way to join with it at that point. Unless I'm missing something really obvious with the controls.

I have

W		B
W	W	S	B
W		B	B

where W = Wall, S = Sticky/Spike wall, and B = Blob (gap = nothing/air)

Don't know what to doooo

Help please?

[kevglass]

WARNING UPCOMING HINT!

I'm not good at subtle hints I'm afraid, so just notice thats there are more than one spikey ceiling on the level.

Slightly obfuscated for those who might not want to read

Kev

[Orangy Tang]

Aw, it crashes on my home desktop machine.

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18

-- Opera Java Console -- Java vendor: Sun Microsystems Inc. Java version: 1.6.0_03 type 'h' for help -- java.security.AccessControlException: access denied (java.util.PropertyPermission java.io.tmpdir read)    at java.security.AccessControlContext.checkPermission(Unknown Source)    at java.security.AccessController.checkPermission(Unknown Source)    at java.lang.SecurityManager.checkPermission(Unknown Source)    at java.lang.SecurityManager.checkPropertyAccess(Unknown Source)    at java.lang.System.getProperty(Unknown Source)    at org.lwjgl.util.applet.AppletLoader.init(Unknown Source)    at com.opera.AppletPanel.runHandlerThread(AppletPanel.java:438)    at com.opera.AppletPanel.run(AppletPanel.java:334)    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

[kevglass]

Thats an interesting one, do other LWJGL applets crash for you too? Kappa's betashot for instance?

Kev

[nva225]

Sigh, nvm, I actually got it before looking at your reply. Felt really really stupid when I did. And by saying I got it, I mean I showed someone else the game and he was like "can't you use that thing?" and I was like "oh".

Will be more observant next time 

[Orangy Tang]

Thats an interesting one, do other LWJGL applets crash for you too? Kappa's betashot for instance?

Kev

Kappa's lwjgl applet works fine, are there any other lwjgl applets to test against?

[Martin Strand]

Great game!
Webstart works fine here on winxp, the applet made Opera freeze but it worked in FF.

[Ru5tyNZ]

Mmmm

When I close the window in level its stuff up my sound.

Windows XpSP2, Java 6