Murphy just lost his wife, and now he has to go through trials to uncover the final words she wrote to him. But, he only has 60 seconds left to live.

It's a puzzle game that you can finish in just 60 seconds, but it will take much longer to figure out all the puzzles and learn how to do them all quick enough before time runs out.

This game is finished enough for a game jam, but I will add about 5 times more to it later. I love this little idea, and I've never made a monochromatic game before, so I want to keep working on it. It will still be finishable in 60 seconds then too, which is the main goal!

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  • Jackaroo
    Lv. 9

    I really liked the puzzles in this one. It felt good when you managed to solve them but it did take multiple tries and became a bit tedious having to redo the same puzzles over and over. I think it would've benefitted from gaining some time back from each puzzle solve or even just having 60 seconds per puzzle. I still feel as though the difficulty would be there but would also remove some of the tedium. However it was enjoyable and I feel like the music and art style set the atmosphere well. Good work.

    Revert
    Submitted

    Revert

    • 2102
      Patron
      2102 Developer of Sixio

      3yrs ago

      Thanks for playing!

      Yeah, it was definitely too much to do in 60 seconds without a lot of optimizing and trying the same puzzles over and over. I'm sure there's a way I can fix that design flaw down the line.

  • Tydecon Games
    Patron

    I think this takes multiple times to understand because the puzzle isn't immediatley obvious but then that is the idea of a puzzle game so I understand it, it's an interesting game though and I hope you expand on it more :)

    • 2102
      Patron
      2102 Developer of Sixio

      3yrs ago

      Thanks for playing!

      Yeah, it definitely takes several tries to figure out each puzzle, so it could be improved.

      I'll be continuing to work on it for sure!

  • Tero Hannula
    Patron

    It was neat little puzzle game and I liked the idea. Though it quickly became appearent you had to memorize puzzles as time ended, and redoing them became little bit of chore. Well expect top-left which you could brute-force like Singleshot said.

    • 2102
      Patron
      2102 Developer of Sixio

      3yrs ago

      Thanks for playing and the feedback!

      Yeah, it definitely has its fair share of design issues. It could've used another day to work out the kinks and add hints to solve the puzzles for sure.

  • singleshot
    Lv. 43

    The idea is pretty neat, making every puzzle a two step problem by first making them solve it and then working out the minimum movement needed to do it as quickly as possible is a novel idea.

    For the first puzzle this works great, for some of the other puzzles not so much. The sixty second timer is as much of a boon to this game as it is a hindrance. As for the other puzzles, having less time makes it harder to solve the following puzzles. And seeing how the top right puzzle you just have to brute force your way though, due to it being impossible to see the path without trying every option. It's not a puzzle at that point, just a time waster on a time limit.

    The top left you can just brute force your way though, though having a puzzle about waiting in a game on a time limit is a little silly.

    The bottom left is just memorization and that is not too hard, It works fine for the game.

    The bottom right is a good puzzle, my favorite in the game. (love ice puzzles in games) but it's kinda muddied by the mono color scheme making it a mess of white pixels.

    I think this idea is neat, but the loop of starting over trying to solve the top right puzzle left a really bad taste in my mouth, and I didn’t finish because of it.

    Ruin Rush
    Submitted

    Ruin Rush

    • 2102
      Patron
      2102 Developer of Sixio

      3yrs ago

      Thanks for playing and your honest feedback!

      I agree it is really tedious to do all the puzzles in 60 seconds, but I will say that the top left puzzle does have quite a bit of strategy to it. It takes a while to figure it out, so I don't blame you for not taking the time to so that. The top right puzzle is just a brute force one, though. They were all inspired by the cave/gym leader puzzles from the gen 1 and 2 pokemon games, but I didn't have time to polish them and make them all fun.

      Making a game fun for as many people as possible is the real goal, and sometimes my preset plans get in the way of that.

      I do think it's funny that what you think of my game is what I think of pretty much every popular rogue-like (namely dead cells) that resets back at the beginning. I should've noticed that sooner. Haha

  • havik
    Patron

    Cool idea! Obviously minit vibes, but done well. I wish (for the jam version anyway) there was 60 seconds per puzzle or something, as it felt quite frustrating redoing the first puzzle over and over just to get the next 30 seconds to try and solve a different one. Then once that is solved, same thing for a different one etc. I always try and go a bit easier on the difficulty for jam games so that people can experience all the content (can be hard to balance though!).

    Visuals are great and the music is great too. All in all, very nice entry!

    • 2102
      Patron
      2102 Developer of Sixio

      3yrs ago

      Thanks for playing and for the feedback!

      Yeah, if I get an idea in my head, then I just roll with it sometimes without realizing that it would be much more fun if I designed it a different way.

      I'm working on making it better/more fun now, so we'll see how that goes.

  • Kyle Landon
    Lv. 11

    I love how the music ended at exactly 1 minute both of the times I played through. I don't know if that was intentional but it was a nice touch if it was. I wish there was a way to play through without the timer (goes against the theem, yeah I know) because I wanted a chance to see all of it in one go and complete it. Well done though!

    DISC DASH
    Submitted

    DISC DASH

    • 2102
      Patron
      2102 Developer of Sixio

      3yrs ago

      Yeah, I didn't think of turning the timer off as a separate option until afterwards, but that probably would have been nice. It does take quite a bit of practice to get through the whole game in just a minute.

      I had the music end like that for me as well a couple times. I didn't plan for it, but I'm glad it worked out like that for you. It's great when things like that happen. Makes me seem smarter than I actually am.

      Thanks for playing!

  • Jupiter Hadley
    Lv. 13

    Neat game! I included it in my GM48: Sixty Seconds compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/KFZGXZMxHA8

    • 2102
      Patron
      2102 Developer of Sixio

      3yrs ago

      Thanks for playing it!

      There is quite a bit to figure out in only 60 seconds. Definitely meant to take quite a few playthroughs to figure it all out for sure.

  • Chris
    Patron

    Immersive and enjoyable game. Puzzles were creative and fun. The music was very nice as well

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    3yrs ago

    This is a really cool idea for a puzzle game, the first puzzle got me thinking and as it had no instruction, it was very satisfying when I figured it out.

    However even when I know how to compete it, it barely leaves me with any time to even start the other challenges.

    I would have much preferred 60 seconds for each task, as I don’t have the energy to repeatedly solve that first puzzle just for 20 seconds to attempt the next.

    • 2102
      Patron
      2102 Developer of Sixio

      3yrs ago

      Thanks for the feedback! I'll definitely take that into consideration.

      Making a game that's fun and just the right amount of challenging for everyone is hard, and that's always been the thing I needed to work on the most.

      I threw that first puzzle in at the last minute, and you're right, I think it threw the balance off a bit.

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    3yrs ago

    I encountered an issue at some point after the mushroom(top left) puzzle where my character was misaligned. from the grid. I liked the concept of each puzzle respectively, but to get them all done in the 60 sec period can be really frustrating especially with the nature of some of the puzzles like the teleportation or the invisible once you go inside mechanics. I can see frustration being a theme in the feeling and atmosphere of the game, but it directly combats any want to be further immersed in this world and to understand more of the character or simply the investment with the game in general.

    • 2102
      Patron
      2102 Developer of Sixio

      3yrs ago

      Yeah, I wanted to make a game that could be completed in only 60 seconds, but make it a much longer game with each individual puzzle. I meant for the player to figure out the solution for each one in a separate 60-second time period. Sadly, I didn't have anyone to playtest, and I had to submit this on Saturday night since I didn't have time to work on it Sunday.

      I probably should've put some re-alignment code in there, but after a while of testing, I didn't see it break anymore, so I left that part alone.

      Thanks for playing and the feedback! I plan to keep working on this game in the future.

  • Veralos
    Lv. 38

    Neat game. Having all your progress reset when time runs out is frustrating, but there is a certain satisfaction in getting good enough at the puzzles to do it all in one go. The non-linear nature helps to alleviate the frustration since you only really need to focus on the puzzles you haven't solved yet.

    The 1 bit style is simple but effective. The music is beautiful too. I did feel the game was lacking some sound effects though.

    Dreamscape
    Submitted

    Dreamscape

    • 2102
      Patron
      2102 Developer of Sixio

      3yrs ago

      Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I was trying to balance the difficulty of the puzzles with the 60-second timer. Since I knew the solutions, it was really easy to just run through the game, and I hoped it wasn't too hard for others to learn each puzzle. Having people playtest it should alleviate that. Maybe there were just too many puzzles to do in 60 seconds. Or maybe I shouldn't start the timer until after the first puzzle or something. I'll play with it and get some people to playtest it again when I start making it a bigger game.

      I really wanted to add sound effects, but I just didn't have time. I like to make my own using LabChirp, but I couldn't get those done in time. They'll be in there eventually.

      I'm glad you like the music! My wife spent a lot of time writing and playing it, so I'm glad to hear you like it!

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    3yrs ago

    my opinion of this game is bittersweet. first off, I think you did wonderfully with the puzzles. the begining puzzle was a great way to get used to the movement and the basic mechanics, and each of the four pieces of the map were interestng and creative puzzles.

    however, there was more to it then just mind puzzles. The game play was immersive; it communicated emotion as well, something we see only rarely. the forest was as strange as it was confusing, the man living in a society where nothing seems to make sense anymore. The ice was slick and disorienting, the man seemed off-balanced and grieving. The maze was painful, a representation of the frustration of something being taken from you that you know should be there. and finally, the teleportation cove seemed like a representation of being forced to tamp down emotion, of consistently giving "the right" answer.

    throughout the game, and the simple, moody music, I felt a connection, I felt immersed in this beautiful, simple, elegant world.

    however, all that was effaced by the sheer repetitivness of it. the puzzle's meaning began to be lost when I felt the need to speed through them, or quickly work my way around them.

    the beauty of the game became lost in the need to just get it done. And I get that it had to fit theme. I understand that. But I still feel something was lost when the idea of the theme was tacked on so haphazardly.

    And perhaps this wasn't what you created the game to be, but for the briefest of moments, this game meant something to me. Perhaps it was the music, perhaps it was the simple art, but for the first time in my life I felt I had experienced loss. At least, the first sixty seconds of loss.

    Thank you for reading.

    • 2102
      Patron
      2102 Developer of Sixio

      3yrs ago

      Thank you so much for your kind words! I wanted this game to be emotional, and I thought I had failed in that respect. But, hearing what you had to say makes me think that I wasn't as far off as I thought. I'll need to make some tweaks to the formula, for sure, so thanks for your honest feedback.

      My original thought was that the man has 60 seconds to live, and he just discovers that his wife left behind a final message for him. So, he has to complete the trials (I love your interpretations of them) in order to get the chance to read his wife's final words. I, sadly, didn't have time to add all the story beats I wanted, but I'm happy with what I could accomplish in the little time I had.

      I can see how the 60 seconds might be too little time to feel the impact of it all, so I'll take that part back to the drawing board.

      Thanks for playing!

  • Brian LaClair
    Patron

    I loved the music, and the theme was certainly used well! Any chance you've played Chip's Challenge?

    DISC DASH
    Submitted

    DISC DASH

    • 2102
      Patron
      2102 Developer of Sixio

      3yrs ago

      Thanks! My wife wrote and played the song without even knowing the notes on the piano. She just has an ear for that kind of stuff and it amazes me how she can do that without any actual training.

      Nope, I haven't even heard of that game. I had to look it up just now. haha Seems like a fun game in a semi-similar vein (but better) to this game from my surface-level google search, though.

  • SpritePainter
    Lv. 21

    The is the first game I've played from this jam and it gave me really strong minit vibes, in a good way. That's probably to be expected for the theme, but it was well executed and each cycle felt like I had learned something new to get through the next part.

    • 2102
      Patron
      2102 Developer of Sixio

      3yrs ago

      Thanks! I was definitely going for a kind of "minit" feel, for sure. I'm glad you were able to figure it out too. I was a little worried that everyone would be stuck at the beginning since I didn't have time for anyone to playtest it.

This was my third game jam, but only my first GM48. I wasn't able to do even half of what I wanted to accomplish, but I'll just say that was because I didn't have any available time on Sunday. I haven't been doing much gamedev recently, so I had to get back into the swing of things too. I also spent WAY too much time on the running animation. Probably 2 hours was spent animating him and watching him run around the screen. That's probably the thing I'm most proud of besides the Ice Puzzle. It also took the longest to develop since that's when I realized that the character needed to snap to a grid position to make it work. I've never made a game that had smooth movement while needing to be confined by a grid, so that was fun to figure out. A lot of bugs came from that, but I was lucky since the ice puzzle was the first puzzle I made for the game. The items that you gather are: Gem (ice), Duck (Swampy/grassy area), Peach (moving trees), and Worm (teleport area) if you were curious. The music was created by my amazing wife, and it just fit the feel I was going for so well. I wanted to put sound effects in too, but I just ran out of time.

The final thing I completed was the first puzzle in the game. I felt there needed to be something more, and honestly, I meant to have 6 puzzles, but I only had time for 5. This puzzle took a lot to complete, but I was happy that it worked first try after I got all the code written and that almost never happens.

I have a tendency to make my games extremely difficult. Since I'm the primary tester for my games, I get really good at them by the time I'm done, so I never know what's a good difficulty for someone just starting. They're all set to the difficulty that I have the most fun at, and that I feel like is fair. Even though I've been making games for 10 years now, I still fall into that trap. I know this game would never win a jam, but I'm glad I made it, and I hope to make it even better in the future.

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