Updated the game:

• Redesigned 3 levels that were too easy:
  • Main Street -> Freeway
  • Crossing -> Traffic lights
  • Tomb -> Mausoleum
• Added a par number of moves for every level.
• Added the ability to undo a move (press z)
• Removed the timer display
• Removed most of the flavour text

Thanks to dormir for many of the ideas that lead to this update.

For now you don't get anything new from beating the pars but hopefully they are sufficiently in-your-face that players will know they are missing out on part of the challenge. (And a couple of the early ones are made quite easy so there's a good chance you'll get one or two just by luck, which might compel you to try for the rest.) If this isn't compelling enough, maybe I should make a 26th level that only unlocks once you beat all the pars?

Thanks, dormir.

I reproduced the bug causing the game to forget your time/moves for a level, and updated the game to hopefully fix it.

Your comments on the way too many levels don't require much planning forced me to think about who my target audience was. Many of my private playtesters seemed happy with the difficulty, but most were not gamers let alone puzzle gamers. A few people wanted to be punished more for mistakes, and they were the ones who are more serious about puzzles. I think I have to acknowledge that most people won't click my game out of a list unless they are interested in puzzles. So, here's my plan (though I doubt I'll be able to make the update until a little after Christmas):

• Replacing some of the duller levels with hard ones, lifting the average difficulty. "Crossing" is first on the chopping block but I'll also probably do something about "Main Street" and "Tomb".
• Adding a par number of moves for every level as an extra challenge. This requires a whole lot more forethought. E.g. try completing "Rubble" in 150 moves or less, or "Grocery Store" in 100 moves or less.
• Removing the flavour texts, except maybe the first one.

Updated the game.

• Changed the title to style #2 above
• Fixed a bug that might sometimes cause audio not to play
• Music downloads and starts after you choose to start the game
• Fiddled with the beam graphics a tiny bit

I like the concept. Easy to understand and it's extendable. (pointed out before, but you might like to hear it again ).

No sounds for me using IE 10. That game on a mobile device would be really good.

// AnkMannen

Thanks a lot for your support! Hope something I've done fixes the sound for you - I tested it in IE 10 in Windows 7 but don't have access to a Windows 8 computer. Re mobile, the game actually is tested on an iPhone and android phone outside of the Kongregate iframe. I do hope to get the game out onto phones.

I made a couple of new attempts at the title. I couldn't think of a way to make nice looking words with staggered blue, so I've just tried solid colours.

1. Just solid blue and red: http://i.imgur.com/xHKVg.png
2. Same as #1 with a white outline: http://i.imgur.com/jtn7v.png
3. Courier New, white: http://i.imgur.com/A1Iis.png
4. Courier New, solid colours: http://i.imgur.com/BXjqb.png

I liked 2 but could be convinced to go with 1 or 3. I don't like 4 as much, and when I tried to add a white outline it looked worse. Unless you think it's a bad idea, I think I'll change the title to #2.

Hi Alec, thanks for your thoughtful comments.

The mechanic is pretty clever and it leads to some fun puzzles.  The game could use a fair amount of polish, though.  I couldn't hear any sound.  At first I thought it was just because the sound button was off (sound should not be set default to off in a flash game), but then when I tried turning it on, it loaded for a while, then still didn't have any sound.

Oh no! What OS and browser (including versions) are you using? I'll do my best to find out the problem. And OK, I'm thinking I'll also turn the sound on by default in a future update.

Also the graphics are fairly simple (although they more or less get the job done).  At the very least I'd get rid of that gradient in the title.  Even a plain white title would be better.

I'm pretty much OK with simple-but-gets-the-job-done, as long as no part of it hurts your eyes. Is the issue with the title that it is too gaudy? Let's compare the original title:
http://i.imgur.com/zCXqz.png
with a plain white one.
http://i.imgur.com/FoFD2.png
To me the plain white title looks too bland. What about a compromise?
http://i.imgur.com/F8P0B.png
or maybe I should be doing something altogether different... I had better think about it.

I wasn't a huge fan of the flavor text.  I didn't feel like it added much to the game, but that may just be me.  Anyway, overall the game is pretty enjoyable.

Yeah. A lot of friends said they enjoyed it but it was pointed out that it wouldn't be so entertaining for people who couldn't imagine me saying these things with my mannerisms. On the other hand they don't get in the way very much. Hopefully I will hear some more opinions that will tip the scale towards keeping or deleting them.

Thanks caou, you're right. The game already had two frames of the character walking but I looked again and the steps he took were so tiny I nearly couldn't see them. I've updated the game to make him take bigger steps. It just alternates between the two frames as you make each move - I think he walks quickly enough that any further effort would not be noticed... opinions?

[About the game]

Play the game here: http://www.kongregate.com/games/reheated/beams-with-enlightenment

About the game
In Beams with Enlightenment, you help an old man collect paper cranes on his way to attaining enlightenment. It's a puzzle game, and one that's fair on the player: once you understand the mechanics, everything you need to solve the puzzle is there in front of you and you won't need to guess what the developer is thinking. There are 25 levels that will give puzzle fans about 1 - 1.5 hours of gameplay.

The game is written in HTML5, requiring a modern browser. You can interact with the game using keyboard, touchscreen or mouse.

What I want to hear from you
I'd like to hear any opinions you have on the game. Do you like the general idea? Is there anything that's preventing you from fully enjoying it? I'm also interested in a few specific things:

• Please let me know of any bugs ASAP (tell me your OS and browser);
• Any opinions on particular levels? Was there a style of level you liked the most and would want to see more of?
• I'd like to try and make money from this game and what I'm thinking is to make a level pack and sell it using Kongregate's in-game purchase system. Does this seem like a viable idea to you? Do you think that people who finished the game might be prepared to pay e.g. 90 cents for a set of 25 levels that are on average harder than the first lot?
• Any thoughts on the music and the art?
• Do you like the flavour text that's at the start of some of the levels?

Sure thing - not sure if our time zones are compatible but I'll spend some time in the game now and then and give you a game if I see you.

I'm having a lot of fun with this, just playing the solo challenges. Nice work with the AI! And I feel the art is well done and appropriate.

I like seeing a complex game come from quite simple rules. If you have the time and are able, I was wondering if you could summarise the thought process that led to the rules for this game?

P.S. I don't understand the leaderboard for the solo challenges... I've definitely lost more than one game.

*spoilers too*

This is wonderful. I made a mistake to play this at around 1am last night - took some time to get to bed. You set the mood perfectly with the sounds and art. All the art was downright excellent. One thing that I found strange was that I didn't have much input into the game. I just followed the path and looked around. That's not a bad thing, and I understand you were going for minimal gameplay, but maybe playing a larger game would get awkward without some kind of input or challenge, e.g. running away from something. I've not played much of the genre so I don't know what the standard is.

At the start of the game I felt a bit unmotivated to leave the light of the campfire, having no particular objective that would take me out of it, and knowing that scary things were in store. But that's just my wussy attitude towards scary games. Also, I agree with AntiAntagonist that the amorphous hallway seemed out of place (or maybe it was just a little too long). At the end of the game, I went up to the kid, then my head got suddenly turned to the side, my vision froze and I heard whimpering, then everything went red. It did seem a little strange - can you tell me if that is the cutscene?

I think you did a good job of telling just part of the story. It seemed like there was a coherent bigger picture going on but I wasn't getting all of it.

Very fun! I enjoyed trying to figure out the mechanics, which worked well.

I felt that the level progression could be a little faster. Also, the first couple of times I played the game I missed the note at the start of level 2, because I either was in the wrong part of the map, or I pressed spacebar to skip the intermission before noticing it. Can you think of a way to make it more conspicuous? Lastly I would love some music (but I appreciate that it's a big undertaking).

• In one of my test plays. In wave 4 there wasn't any green block for me to collect. I don't know if you are supposed to kamikaze yourself to get them but that was weird.

Double-tap to charge through an enemy. That tends to kill it without damaging you (unless you "rematerialise" inside it).

I'm Michael and I am from Perth, Australia. I was an industrious/obsessive mathematics student, and then spent a year working in discrete event simulation which is where you program computers to simulate real-world systems like rail networks or mines. I left due to not enjoying myself, and because the queue of games I wanted to make got so long it was necessary to address it.

I've been working on a prototype for a strategy game and hopefully I'll be sharing it soon and getting your opinions.