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[Draknek]

I am working on this again: hoping to get it finished by the end of the month.

New version here: main difference is in the early levels.

Thoughts I've had while getting back into the swing of things:

I think for a variety of reasons I need to have the story text on the same screen as the level. Will have to resize the game to fit it in. More worryingly, the story text will have to replace the initial help text on the first few levels: "click cogs to brighten hearts", "make all upright", "R to reset", "Ctrl+Z to undo". Not really sure what to do about this...

I had forgotten how much of a pain it is trying to juggle the narrative and the difficulty curve. Currently focusing on difficulty curve.

I still need to work out an ending for the narrative.

Not a lot of opportunities for playtesting in person this month which has in the past been very useful.

[kivan117]

Very fun, but the difficulty can be puzzling. I actually beat two levels in less than their minimum moves, but I still haven't beaten some of them. Read through the narrative. Liked it, though at one point, due to its structure, I actually thought the guy was going to sic his robot army on the girl O.o

[Draknek]

Thanks for the feedback!

Which levels did you manage to beat in better than my score? It should send me a message when someone does that, but I only see it happening once (on level 7), not twice.

I'm also interested in knowing which levels people find especially difficult.

Glad you like it.

[goshki]

I got to level 11 and stopped because of time limitations. The mechanics are pretty straightforward and easy to learn but hard to master at the same time (which is a good thing of course). It's good that there is no time limit and that I can see optimal move count upfront.

On the other side it seems to me that - as a prototype - it's really nice but the graphics seem a bit too monotonous and undifferentiated to keep me coming back to beat more levels. Same thing about mechanics - always rotating clockwise let's you focus on only one task and coming up with a proper move sequence but... 31 levels about only rotating right seem like a grind to me.

But it may be only my opinion because I generally become bored rather quickly. Apart from that the idea is really neat, the mechanic is simple and catchy and I believe there is a lot more potential to discover. Great job!

[chargil]

I'm currently at Level 13 (which is definitely the hardest one yet) the start of Level 14. I'm just focusing on solving the puzzles without trying to complete them in the best possible way. I'm really enjoying it. From the simple graphics to the great sound effect of the gears locking into place, it's quietly engrossing. I think a game like those would have to be. I could see something more flashy and loud would become irritating once you hit the harder levels.

As it is now, I can see myself coming back to play the game when I have spare time. My first thought is 'mindless' but that's not really accurate. What a good word for procrastination bait?

I didn't bother to pay much attention to the story between levels. I don't think it's all that necessary, I felt the game was enough to capture my attention. But maybe I'll give it a shot on a subsequent play.

[basara]

I just solved level 27 with 2 fewer moves than you thought were needed :D

Nice game

[Izlude]

I think showing the shortest possible known moves is making me insane, can never leave a level alone if it tells me I didn't do the best possible job.

[goshki]

I think showing the shortest possible known moves is making me insane, can never leave a level alone if it tells me I didn't do the best possible job.

And that's what it's all about.

[Draknek]

Glad people are enjoying it!

I just solved level 27 with 2 fewer moves than you thought were needed :D

I both love and hate it when this happens. On the plus side, it means I get to have fun trying to find the optimal solution myself. On the other hand, it means I get very frustrated trying to find the optimal solution myself.

I think showing the shortest possible known moves is making me insane, can never leave a level alone if it tells me I didn't do the best possible job.

This is the correct reaction, it means you are doing it right. I am thinking of adding a highscore table, obviously to get the maximum score you would have to beat every level optimally.