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[OneGirl]

Hello all!

I'd like to announce Gate: a digital logic puzzle game. It's free, and available for both Mac and PC.

Description
Gate is a puzzle game about logic. Your task is to survey a region of Mars with your trusty robot. To do so, you'll need to design circuitry to control that robot and allow it to navigate through each area.

Download:
http://www.quinndunki.com/gate



More Info:
You can download the game, see more screeshots, share user-created levels, and rant about the government over on the website:
http://www.quinndunki.com/gate

Quick Start:
Click your robot (the white ball) to look inside it. Once inside, you can build a circuit using the Soldering Iron on the toolbar at the bottom of the screen. As you progress, you'll unlock new components that will help you solve bigger problems. Click and drag the Soldering Iron between pins to connect them. Output pins (straight) can only be connected to input pins (Y-shaped).

There are components around the edges of the screen when inside the robot. These are built-in parts, and you'll connect these to your circuit in order to control the robot. There are four thrusters that move the robot in different directions. There are also four bumpers which detect walls (on contact) in each direction.

Once you have a circuit you like, test it by pressing the Power switch in the lower right. You'll see the robot moving, and you can watch your circuit respond to the environment. For a different view, you can also close the circuit before hitting the power switch. Once you turn off the power, the robot will reset to the starting position so you can try again.

In the first few levels, tutorial arrows will guide you along.

Most things have tooltips- trying hovering your pointer over things if you're not sure what they are.

You can move components by left-dragging, and rotate them by right-clicking on them (or control-clicking for one-button mice). You can delete components by dragging them back to the toolbox at the bottom.


I hope you like it!

-Quinn


--
One Girl, One Laptop Productions
Silly Software That's Sometimes Cool

[increpare]

I like the style of your games, but I must politely direct you to this thread.

Comments on this one:

absence of sound is conspicuous

okay...this is a really cool game, though!  I'm going to have to play it more instead of giving it the stream-of-conscious approach I had planned...

(one comment; the wiring can be hard to read sometimes; I don't think the wire should bend right at the top of the screen?)

[increpare]

okay, some suggestions

for the first couple of levels where you only have the soldering iron, could you have that selected by default?

for symmetrical gates, have you considered allowing for people to activate them by dropping a cable anywhere on the gate? (you can allow for more precise connections as well)

I think haveing esc as a shortcut for going to the view is weird. not horribly weird, but it feels a little weird.

why doesn't 1 select the soldering iron?

(additional comment: it's not obvious to me how to delete gates...just going to check the readme file...hmm....how do I delete gates?

additional additional comment: is there a fullscreen option?  that would be nice

additional additional comment: being able to delete cables by clicking anywhere on them (so long as they're not all tangled up) might be nice...

)

anyway...still playing...loving it

[OneGirl]

Thanks for the initial impressions, increpare!

The choice to leave out sound was a tough one. IMHO, it didn't hurt Armadillo Run (one of my favorite indie games), so hopefully it won't hurt Gate too badly.     Your point is well taken, though!

-Quinn

PS. Obligatory intro post, done and done.

I like the style of your games, but I must politely direct you to this thread.

Comments on this one:

absence of sound is conspicuous

okay...this is a really cool game, though!  I'm going to have to play it more instead of giving it the stream-of-conscious approach I had planned...

(one comment; the wiring can be hard to read sometimes; I don't think the wire should bend right at the top of the screen?)

[OneGirl]

okay, some suggestions

for the first couple of levels where you only have the soldering iron, could you have that selected by default?

Yes, certainly... in fact, I think it was in a previous build. Hmmmm....

for symmetrical gates, have you considered allowing for people to activate them by dropping a cable anywhere on the gate? (you can allow for more precise connections as well)

That's an interesting idea. Let me know if you still feel that way on the higher levels. The UI was designed (and focus-tested) with the more complex circuits in mind, so I'd be curious to get your impressions again later.

I think haveing esc as a shortcut for going to the view is weird. not horribly weird, but it feels a little weird.

Fair enough!

why doesn't 1 select the soldering iron?

For very esoteric code reasons. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

anyway...still playing...loving it

Excellent! Keep me posted. Thanks for the feedback!

Q

[Inane]

I can't get the flip-flop thing to flip nor flop...? What does it do?

I think you should speed up the robot, kinda dull watching it follow its path right now.

[increpare]

one other comment: a button to reset the circuit would be nice

have you considered having it that pressing the number keys automatically brings up the circuit display?

also, have you considered having presing escape/whatever automatically power you off and open up the circuit display?

sometimes when I'm dragging a gate around, a cable line appears...a tiny tiny glitch, but I thought I'd say it.

Also, on an unrelated note, you might want to check out this game by gold cray; I have a feeling you might find it intriguing.

(oops, I clicked on the same spot a bunch of times, placed too many flipflops, and the game crashed  )

oh, I think soldering iron was automatically selected after all.

is there any reason why you disable the cursor keys when in the circuit screen?

this is a small usability thing: i occasionally find myself wanting to drag-and-drop gates onto the screen...

a pause button might be nice as well; to see what's triggering where...sometimes it can be hard to tell what's activated when things are a little more hectic...

the finickiest thing at the moment seems to be gate dragging; especially for the tap...

the quality of the puzzles is very good, I think, though maybe some people might appreciate more training style levels each time a new component is introduced...

it might be awkward to code, but infinite (or even finite!) undo would be really helpful in a game like this...

okay...just finished level 19...it's 6am now...going to have to go to bed....

I can't get the flip-flop thing to flip nor flop...? What does it do.

this

send a blip through the bottom left and it switches its output (so long as there's no signal coming in the top left.)

[Luilak]

This is great, reminds me of those good ol' days with those electronic panel things in high school.

Already stuck at level 8 (hell, effectively using and gates and stuff has been since I was 14 or so) but then again, I'm hung over.

Anyway, I'll have to confirm some of increpare's suggestions - a delete button would be nice (I tried to check the readme, but didn't find one) and especially a button to clear circuits.
About the lack of sounds, I don't know. It is a decision you make, but somehow, I keep expecting to hear bips and bleeps somewhere.

Other than that, I'm really enjoying myself with this game. I just love thinking this kind of logic.

EDIT: Also, for those not quite familiar with logic gates, it might be interesting to provide some more tutorials/help files.

[Cymon]

Has a definite air of Robot Odyssey plus accessibility. That's enough for me.

EDIT: Now that I've downloaded this I am way impressed with it as a 3D version of robot odyssey with improved accessibility. However, would it disappoint you if I called it an excellent starting point and recommend you flesh it out. I'm thrilled to see this game.

How do you rotate the nodes?

[OneGirl]

Thanks for the comments!

I guess it isn't made clear, but you can delete an element by dragging it back to the toolbox at the bottom.

A clear circuit button is a good idea. I was thinking you can just as easily restart the level with a couple of clicks, but I think you're right, a clear button would be better.

EDIT: On the subject of a logic gate tutorial, one of my goals was for the game itself to be just that. I liked Robot Odyssey (see below) partly because it taught me about digital logic without me even realizing it. I guess this is a "learning can be fun" manifesto statement of some sort, but there you go.    Furthermore, I really believe a well-designed game should require no tutorial or instructions of any kind. I don't think I've achieved that here, but that's always the bar.

Q

This is great, reminds me of those good ol' days with those electronic panel things in high school.

Already stuck at level 8 (hell, effectively using and gates and stuff has been since I was 14 or so) but then again, I'm hung over.

Anyway, I'll have to confirm some of increpare's suggestions - a delete button would be nice (I tried to check the readme, but didn't find one) and especially a button to clear circuits.
About the lack of sounds, I don't know. It is a decision you make, but somehow, I keep expecting to hear bips and bleeps somewhere.

Other than that, I'm really enjoying myself with this game. I just love thinking this kind of logic.

EDIT: Also, for those not quite familiar with logic gates, it might be interesting to provide some more tutorials/help files.

[OneGirl]

  Huzzah! Yes, that's exactly the game that inspired this. I adored that game, and wanted to recreate the experience of solving the puzzles, but without all the tedious running around looking for subway tokens and whatnot. When I saw Armadillo Run, it hit me that here was the right format to recapture the Robot Odyssey experience.

And for the record, among all the many many people who've looked at it, you're only the second person to make the connection (so to speak). I think that game was vastly under-appreciated in its day. 

Q

Has a definite air of Robot Odyssey plus accessibility. That's enough for me.

[OneGirl]

Oh, I think I missed some of your questions in this post...

(additional comment: it's not obvious to me how to delete gates...just going to check the readme file...hmm....how do I delete gates?

Yah, it's not obvious at all... I should really communicate that somehow. Perhaps with a garbage can on the toolbox or something. You can delete gates by dropping them anywhere on the toolbox.

additional additional comment: is there a fullscreen option?  that would be nice

Yup, there is. You'll find it in the options menu.

additional additional comment: being able to delete cables by clicking anywhere on them (so long as they're not all tangled up) might be nice...

In a way you can- you can grab a wire, move it off the gate, and let go. It will go away.

Q

[Eclipse]

wow!

just tried it.. and it's a very nice game, congrats

i have to admit that i was almost going to "skip" it because of the graphics, and the absence of any sound... but i must admit that it's a very nice game and i'll be happy to see a more polished version. It can be a nice shareware title with a minimal ambient-spacey soundtrack and a less "programmer art" graphic.

I'll keep it on my hd, i like this kind of games and the levels are well made too. Thanks a lot for it!

and welcome :D

[increpare]

In a way you can- you can grab a wire, move it off the gate, and let go. It will go away.

yeah, you have to do it from the connection though.  That's completely unrealistic.  Everyone knows that real electricians just tug madly at wires until they come loose...

(having played the game more, I'm okay with this: I think the biggest minute-to-minute problem is with the selection boxes)

it might help, to communicate the dragging thing, if you drew them over the panel when you drag them there, instead of them disappearing under. I was never certain whether it was deleting the objects, or if they were just getting lost under it :/

[OneGirl]

In a way you can- you can grab a wire, move it off the gate, and let go. It will go away.

yeah, you have to do it from the connection though.  That's completely unrealistic.  Everyone knows that real electricians just tug madly at wires until they come loose...

Oh, I see what you mean now- you'd like to click on the wire anywhere along the length. I'll think about that one!

it might help, to communicate the dragging thing, if you drew them over the panel when you drag them there, instead of them disappearing under. I was never certain whether it was deleting the objects, or if they were just getting lost under it :/

Yah, that's a good point- I'll make a note of it.

Q

[Batmanifestdestiny]

cool game!  though I still can't get past Either Way II

[OneGirl]

cool game!  though I still can't get past Either Way II

Thanks very much! I'm glad to hear people like it. 

-Quinn

[Cymon]

Has a definite air of Robot Odyssey plus accessibility. That's enough for me.

Huzzah! Yes, that's exactly the game that inspired this. I adored that game, and wanted to recreate the experience of solving the puzzles, but without all the tedious running around looking for subway tokens and whatnot. When I saw Armadillo Run, it hit me that here was the right format to recapture the Robot Odyssey experience.

And for the record, among all the many many people who've looked at it, you're only the second person to make the connection (so to speak). I think that game was vastly under-appreciated in its day. 

True, dat. But considering, and I've said this before, the game required a degree in engineering to get past level 3, it's no surprise.

While I like Gate's level based gameplay it's severe lack of polish doesn't do it's predecessor justice. (Granted, Robot Odyssey looks like crap now, at the time it really pushed the limits of what could be done.) You've got the logic gate based gameplay.  :handthumbsupL:Good job on that. I just pray you're not planning on stopping there.

Here's a couple of ideas. Make 3 levels available at a time so that players can skip levels they find too hard, but no more than 2. That way when they get stuck they can still go forward, and if they do that too many times they'll have to go back to clear an old level before going forward. A map screen with multi-branching paths is also good. Give folks more than one option of what to play next. And add sound. I really think it'd benefit.

[Ishi]

Having awesome fun with this. Just made a nice 2-bit circuit for Home Run.

I too would really love to see this with a bit more polish. Sometimes moving or rotating the pieces can be really awkward, especially the splitter ones. Some nice features would be to be able to rotate components before actually placing them down, and maybe to be able to place things on an existing wire and automatically have it connected in.

A more important concern is that once the circuits started getting complex the framerate dropped really low, which made it constructing the circuit a lot more awkward.

A bit of sound would be nice too really. I seem to remember armadillo run did have sound, when stuff broke and for rockets. I don't think sound can be underestimated really just for letting the player know what's going on. I'd probably do sounds for when a switch is pressed, when a sensor is activated and probably for the thrusters as well.

If you're not interested in working on it anymore that's fair enough, sometimes a project has to end. I do think it could be super-awesome with a bit more work though. But it's still good as it is.

[OneGirl]

Having awesome fun with this. Just made a nice 2-bit circuit for Home Run.

I too would really love to see this with a bit more polish. Sometimes moving or rotating the pieces can be really awkward, especially the splitter ones. Some nice features would be to be able to rotate components before actually placing them down, and maybe to be able to place things on an existing wire and automatically have it connected in.

A more important concern is that once the circuits started getting complex the framerate dropped really low, which made it constructing the circuit a lot more awkward.

A bit of sound would be nice too really. I seem to remember armadillo run did have sound, when stuff broke and for rockets. I don't think sound can be underestimated really just for letting the player know what's going on. I'd probably do sounds for when a switch is pressed, when a sensor is activated and probably for the thrusters as well.

If you're not interested in working on it anymore that's fair enough, sometimes a project has to end. I do think it could be super-awesome with a bit more work though. But it's still good as it is.

Thanks very much! Those are more great suggestions. If I'd known TIGSource was so helpful, I'd have posted it here sooner. I'm going to have to post all my stuff from here on.   

Q