This is a submission to the Gamedev.tv Game Jam 2023 - Theme - Life in 2 Dimensions! 

In a world where scientists need creatures smarter than lab rats, comes Bob the Blob! In this game, you play as this green slime creature as you explore the world, or rather, mazes and puzzles to ensure that this sentient creature is capable of living life and having thought. You are among the first of your kind and you are currently the only one capable of shape shifting, granted into simple forms such as:

  • Legs - Very humanoid legs with comfortable boxers, allows you to move much faster!
  • Arms - Also very humanoid, allows you to interact with the world in the shape of boxes, buttons, levers and more!
  • Eye - Allows you to better visualize what is around you, from the puzzles to the lights to even text written by curious scientists!
  • Mouth - Albeit very monster-esque, this mouth enables you to eat chocolate chips you find in the world!

You may only use 2 of the above at a time, perhaps it is an issue with molecular stability or a theme but either way, you can only use 2 at a time, if you select more, the longest mutation will revert away. 

Each of these forms gives you a whole new Dimension to your life, whether it be intractability with the environment or faster movements or an easier time to perceive the environment.  

There may be more but this is a simple test of rapid evolution, hopefully you will be able to move around and interact as a Lab Rat would. 

Controls: There is a pop up in game but in case it is confusing

WASD or the Arrow Keys are for movement, Left Shift for Sprint, Space for Jump

Move the mouse to move the camera in game

Right Click for the Ability Wheel and then Click on the highlighted ability to mutate into it.

Arms: E to interact with the world, make sure to aim at what you desire to interact with!

Known Bugs: 

  • Audio Issues with WebGL. I have never used it and during exporting, I noticed issues. This will be patched soon.
  • Feet move inwards after a short while causing the player to walk on the sides of their feet. This did not happen in the Editor but I will look into fixing this.
  • Arms lock position after interacting with a pickup crate. 

Fixed Bugs:

  • Apparently it was unplayable, there were a lot of random box colliders in random objects and places. I think it happened when I was either copy/pasting or trying shortcuts and didn't realize. 
  • The buttons and switches were functional but not desirable, fixed that so expected stuff happens!
  • Added more visual effects to help guide the player to remove frustration and enable a more playable experience. 


More information

Comments

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RedFeatherGames336 days ago(+1)

I found a bit of a bug where if you move while holding a small box you can fly


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game-racers336 days ago

yeah i dont think that is supposed to happen xD I think I know what caused that. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

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RedFeatherGames336 days ago(+1)

It's pretty entertaining though.

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Setolyx338 days ago (2 edits) (+2)

Things I immediately enjoyed:

  • excellent twist on the 2 dimensions theme!! Very much dig the idea of the max of 2 evolvable appendages as "2 dimensions" added to your character's existence!!
  • really dug the shapeshifter gameplay loop! super clever way to put the player in a situation where they have to manage character states to solve puzzles or just plain travel the map easier
  • loved the simple UI for part selection, was very apparent what each part was and the directional menu was an excellent choice
  • the eye mechanic was super clever and I genuinely had an 'aha!' moment upon realizing I could activate it. xD
  • loved the gloopy character cell design as well as all the little parts to grow, alongside the IK foot and hand placement there was a lovely eerie sense of "wow this is some freaky little mutant thing i'm playing, and I like it."
  • ran really smooth in edge, so that's at least one browser you don't gotta worry about!

General Notes

  • took me a sec to figure out controls without reading description (not a gripe, i could've read but wanted to test as a non-description-reader), betting just an icon somewhere with the hotkey displayed on it would be wonderful to help for those who don't read descriptions
  • I actually don't know if I was just doing something wrong, or if the game bugged out, but I was unable to get past the lever-opened door. I pulled the lever and nothing happened. Reactivation of the lever didn't help and I think i either missed something or was softlocked. I even tried a second time refreshing the page but nope, got stuck there. Bit of a bummer, I wanted to see what other puzzle action you'd prepared!!
  • the camera seemed to do freaky stuff sometimes when rotating horizontally, maybe it's because I wasn't playing in fullscreen, but I noticed in certain areas the camera would "skip/overrotate" when i turned, which could be a bit jarring and at some points it was a pretty big skip of rotation. Not sure if it was a result of going around corners, but it did seem to happen more often when going around corners.

Overall I think this is a super fun concept and a solid chunk of work done in the time you had! Would love to see what you can do with this concept with more time.

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game-racers338 days ago(+1)

Thank you so much Setolyx for playing my game! I seriously appreciate it! So I did notice a few bugs and quickly patched them such as the issue with the lever but I will test in Edge to make sure it works there too as I dont see any issues there. But great idea with the icons on screen for those controls! I did add a little hint at the beginning of the game, but having a little icon on screen saying that would be a lot easier for the player and the Camera issues, yeah I need to redo that, its the same system for the Purr Reaper and I know that one also needs to be redone but it works for now!
Again, thank you so much Setolyx!

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