Synchronous
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Important - Please Read:
The Android version of Synchronous is currently in the testing phase on the Google Play Store. If you are interested in testing this version, please email me at rochesterx.business@gmail.com.
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Overview:
Synchronous: The Metal Box Game is a 2D puzzle platformer game based around metal boxes that move synchronously. Different boxes have unique abilities. However, each metal box possesses a magnet that enables it to remain on any metal surface on command. (This is the main mechanic of the game.)
Content:
This game contains 45 meticulously crafted puzzle levels divided into five chapters, each featuring numerous gizmos and gadgets that must be navigated and utilized to reach the goal. Each level also contains an elusive collectible to reward creative thinkers. Some levels test primarily platforming skills, while others are solely puzzle-based. In the platforming levels, when one box is destroyed, the level must be restarted. This is not the case for the puzzle levels. If you think any level is miscategorized, please let me know.
Chapter completion times are recorded, so after exploring the entire game, you can test your speed as well. Your progress, times, and collectibles are constantly saved, so you can always pick up right where you left off. Warning: The web version does not support saving or fullscreen. Treat it like a demo and download the game for all the features if you enjoy it.
Controls:
The controls are explained here as well as in-game:
- Movement: Arrow keys / WASD / D-pad / Analog stick
- Jumping: Up arrow key / W / Space / South button (controller)
- Magnetizing: Down arrow key / S / Shift / West button (controller)
- Pause Menu: Escape
- Restart Level: R
- Forward a Level: N
- Back a Level: B
- Show Timer: T
- Show FPS: F
- Toggle Input Method (Mobile): M
Development:
This game is still in development, so I would love feedback and criticism on every aspect of the game. The biggest glaring issue is that the game by default has no sound effects, though it can be turned on in the Statistics menu. It's not good: you have been warned.
There are currently two layered music tracks implemented in the game with more to come!
The game is continually being updated (though not consistently) and is currently at version beta 0.15 pre5. To see most versions of the game, visit my GitHub page. (Warning: the repository is very large and is not maintained frequently.) The most recent version can be played in your browser here, and you can also download it for Windows, Mac, and Linux, as well as Android via the Google Play Store. Feedback is welcome and appreciated! You can submit your feedback here.
Thanks for playing!
- Rochester X
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Development log
Comments
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It was a pretty well designed imo. There's nothing really that I disliked about it. I know it's still in beta but here's some suggestions I have from a player’s viewpoint are: it could be cool if there were some different level themes, like there could be ones that are different biomes or different times of day/night. It would also be cool if there was a little bit of shading on the dirt near the edge of the map where the dirt would kind of fade to be darker to give it a bit more atmosphere since the sun wouldn't be able to hit the lower parts of the dirt as well as it would hit the top, making it look less flat (even though its a 2d game, some shading on the ground/dirt would possibly give it more detail. Although that would probably be very time consuming for little difference.) The gameplay is pretty much perfect so most of my suggestions are texture related, but here's two gameplay related ones, possibly for another thing to interact with in the world could be a teleporter. Not sure how it could be implemented well, but thats just a random new mechanic I thought of that could possibly work if you were to make some larger levels. Another random mechanic that could make it more fast paced if you wanted certain parts to be faster paced could be speed boost pads that the player could run over to give them a slight movement speed boost for a few seconds, although fast paced isn't always a good thing, it could work for some longer levels possibly. And one last thing, I'm sure you probably already thought of this but, adding sound (and possibly background music) would give a lot more life to it. Overall I really liked the game, it was a fun time playing through it.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Art isn't my strong suit, so I just made enough to make the game feel a bit more polished. Visual variety is definitely something I'm planning on adding at some point, but I wanted to get a good grasp on how the gameplay (and maybe story) would work before I did too much on the art.
Since I mostly focused on solid gameplay mechanics, I'm very glad to hear that you don't have any complaints about those.
On the topic of speed, I don't think that it is necessary for the game to be fast-paced. As I work on the art, I hope to develop an atmosphere, so that there would be something to look at and take in as you think.
Yeah, I agree it is not necessary at all for the game to be fast paced. For the puzzle difficulty, I think it has a pretty good balance of difficulty, not too hard to where it takes too long to figure out making it repetitive, but not too easy where not much thinking is involved. I really liked the challenge of chapter 4 the most, since I liked the mechanics of having 3 blocks instead of 2 which gives it a nice difficulty boost for the final few levels. It took me about a hour and a half to complete, although I was going for the bonus parts which contain the little white dot things to collect too on almost every level so it probably took longer doing that also, but I don't think the length of the levels or game is a problem at all. Can't wait to play the completed version!