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Waveforge's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Innovation | #3 | 4.118 | 4.118 |
| Gameplay | #5 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Overall | #16 | 3.941 | 3.941 |
| Theme interpretation | #24 | 4.059 | 4.059 |
| Audio | #38 | 3.647 | 3.647 |
| Graphics | #94 | 3.529 | 3.529 |
Ranked from 17 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
GitHub repository URL
https://github.com/szdytom/waveforge
Game description
Waveforge is a 2D physics-based puzzle game where players manipulate water waves and emergent physical phenomena to guide a rubber duck to the goal. Set within a meticulously crafted pixel-art physics world reminiscent of Noita, it invites players to experience uniquely engaging physical interactions. Featuring over ten thoughtfully designed levels, the game delivers about 1 hour of delightfully challenging puzzle-solving gameplay.
Theme interpretation
In the game, you'll encounter water waves and electric signal waves.
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Comments
Amazing game!!! The simplicity, the crisp pixel art graphics, music and fun gameplay is what makes the game so great. I really low how simple this game is (not in the code, but from the player side) with no really weird gimmicks, just fluid simulation. Fluid simulation is soo hard to code, Good Job!
This is a really impressive puzzle game, fluid simulations alone are a nightmare but you have a lot of systems interacting and working well! You've clean pixel art and satisfying menus, I particularly liked the different sounds for menu-ing up and down. I had a lot of fun trying to solve the puzzles using as few resources as possible.
Some feedback: I think the retry option should respawn the player faster. You've got a great animation and sound for the retry, but I think I would have rather got back into the action a couple seconds quicker. I got stuck quite a bit on level 4 and had to retry a lot. Level 4 seems pretty RNG dependent on how the grains of sand fall after you burn the wood. Each time I did (I believe) pretty much the exact same inputs and got different results. The duck would get stuck if too many grains of sand ended up on the side, sometimes stuck on only just one. However after a few attempts everything fell just right and I was able to beat the level. I feel like this might just be a necessary evil of having such a dynamic puzzle game though, I'm not sure how I would go about fixing it.
Awesome job!
Thanks a lot for playing and rating my game!
I agree it can be annoying to wait long for retrying. Actually, you can triple tap or long press R for a quick retry, but I forgot to include that in the help page.
For level 4, the only reason that you feel its RNG dependent is that probably your solution is not the intended one. The intended solution is to first flush the duck into the pit with large water, then after all flow settled you start to burn the plank. The order of these operations is important.
Damn, that was insane. A complete particle simulation in this timeframe is crazy! Definitely one of my highest rated games this jam!
Awesome game with a more than impressive pixel physics implementation. The puzzles are pretty solid and the visuals are great. I would maybe address that the music is good but it becomes a little annoying after a long time (and sometimes it takes a lot of time to realize how to solve some puzzles), also more SFX would be reeeally neat here. All in all this entry is crazy good, specially for a 30-day project. Really amazing.
Just one screenful of instructions on the controls - thank goodness no text wall -, charming music and art, innovative mechanics, well balanced puzzles and it felt rewarding after every level. What more could a player want? This is without a doubt one of the gems of this jam. Very well done.
Wow I was really impressed going through this game! The wave physics, the fire effects slowly burning objects and causing upward steam particles was very cool to see so huge props on getting those to work! The puzzles were super well-designed as well, from pushing the duck in time towards the goal to requiring different tactics to burning blocks so the duck can safely get past a hole etc, etc. I was genuinely curious on figuring out ways to make it to the end of some puzzles with as little wave uses as possible!
Also I'll say that the pixel art visuals and music / sound design were great! The menu UI was surprisingly great to move around and had settings with a ton of options I didn't expect for a jam title (key remapping, video settings, etc)!
Your team did an amazing job with this title so congrats on the submission!
Dude, I loved the concept. You’ve really made a game that fits the casual game mindset perfectly—congrats. You should definitely consider releasing it on mobile; it’s a very enjoyable game, I’d totally play it :) There are a few small buggy spots where you can get stuck, but that’s okay. Congrats on finishing it on time and participating in the jam!
Okay, so if I'm making sense of this correctly, you guys built an entire pixel-based physics system with temperature and electricity for a game jam? Thank god for open repositories, because I would not have believed you otherwise. The game is really good!
The game itself is great, the puzzles are well-designed and required more out-of-the-box thinking than I was initially prepared for. I spent far too long on a couple levels trying to think of an intricate and complex answer, only to find that it was staring me in the face from the start. Playing around with physics to find the solutions was very enjoyable, and it always felt satisfying once I worked out how to continue. The only consistent issue I had with the gameplay was that some solutions were dependent on me using a fluid to push the duck in a direction, but due to inherent physics randomness it could take me a couple tries before the duck would actually move that way, rather than bobbing back and forth or moving to the opposite side. Once I knew the solution to a puzzle I could repeat it to get back to that point and try again, so it wasn't too annoying- but it was enough for me to mention.
The visuals of the game are cute and simple, fitting very nicely in for the gameplay. I wouldn't've minded a backdrop in some levels, but that's a minor thought. I do think it would be worth changing the colour of electricity, though, as it looked virtually identical to the water and took me a minute to understand was separate. The menu UI looked great, I loved the mini level previews! I'd also like to quickly note how much I enjoyed the little taglines for each level, they were really charming and made me smile while my brain recovered from the puzzles, as did the duck sprite itself :)))
The gameplay didn't really have much audio, there was the background music and reset sound as well as the UI noises, but nothing really beyond that as far as I could tell. The game could definitely have done with some more audio throughout, to add a bit more texture to the gameplay. Maybe a water splash when the duck falls from a height, or a crackle when things are burning? I do, however, understand that with an open-ended physics system it's much easier said than done to implement audio for specific events like that- so I'm not too fussed on it for a jam submission. The music was good too- but unfortunately got a bit annoying after a while.
I'd love to hear more about the development of the physics system too, I had a dip into the code and its history and there seems to have been quite a bit of thought put into it. Overall, really well-made game with charming graphics and difficult puzzles :)))
Amazing entry. Very innovative, excellent gameplay, nice puzzle design, good audio and artwork. Fantastic work!
My only criticism would be the reset animation takes way too long. I’d have it very quickly transition back into the action.
If you consider furthering this into a full game (it’s definitely worth considering) I think the physics could use some final layer of polish. There’s often times when the water unexpectedly pulls the duck backwards (my guess is there’s a single pixel moving back upstream which pulls the duck, but visually it looks like it’s going counter to the motion of the ocean) for example… basically some extra polish would really make the puzzles extremely consistent and push the quality level up to 11.
Great work across the board, very impressive!
Amazing! I'm pretty strict when it comes to rating, I'm pretty strict. You're the first 30/30 I gave. I hope you get more ratings
A cool game with an interesting interpretation of the theme.
The graphic makes you think this is a simple game, but it's actually a well made puzzle game with cool pixel-physics!
A very well done puzzle