Welcome to the Laboratory!
You are a test subject in an experiment involving the effect of puzzles on the feline brain.
Procedure 1: All boxes need to be relocated to their designated sensors.
Procedure 2: Portals have been placed for your convenience. Use them wisely.
Procedure 3: Portals are not always stationary; they can also exist on boxes.
Controls:
Arrow Keys - Move
C - Select
X - Undo
Enter - Pause Menu
Credits:
- Coding, art, levels:
ooooggll - Ideas and moral support:
ummmm_ok - Playtesting
ddddpplo
ummmm_ok
Aidan Southam
Zer0dragon
And more! - Sprite help
ddddpplo - Inspiration
Paraboxical - Music
ummmm_ok - Label Image Art
Zer0dragon - Guest levels
ummmm_ok
Zer0dragon
About Lab Cat
This is probably the longest amount of time I've ever put into making a game (almost 10 months, although I didn't work on it much over the summer), and even before that, I was developing the idea. I'm very passionate about this game, but I think it's finally finished. Also, Lab Cat wouldn't be the same without my amazing friends who made music, art, and pointed out each and every bug they found.
Tokens: 8187/8192
Characters: 49790/65535
Sprites: 254/255
Map: 100%
Sounds: 48/64
Music: 44/64
I hope you enjoy it!
Play it on itch.io instead: https://ooooggll.itch.io/lab-cat
Full walkthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO0UBZiF-RA&t=6s
Changelog:
This is great, well done! I'm stuck on level 9, but my feline brain will work it out eventually.
First of all great game, and a nice base mechanic of boxes and portals.
SECOND OF ALL, achievements are cool
Lastly, HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO DO IT IN UNDER 9 MINUTES???
this is my best time so far:
9/10 game, can not for the life of me get under 10 minutes, let alone 9.
also, if you hold down undo for long enough, and keep it held down, you can go through walls :3
EDIT: image of it: (I'm at the bottom)
@Dando_ Glad you like it :) My friend noticed that bug directly after release and I'm trying to get it fixed right now.
Edit: Fixed in v1.1!
Awesome Sokoban implementation!
Is those "return to starting point" mechanic used in puzzles later or added just for fun and atmosphere?
@maleficmax For the most part, it's pretty easy to return to the starting point, but there are a couple puzzles that make it a bit trickier.
Fun game. Would recommend. Love the level design and mechanics.
Some of the levels are quite challenging and the theme, etc. is great. It's actually the first pico-8 game i've really got hooked on. I'm finding myself playing it on my Anbernic RG353V the whole time when I have a few minutes here and there to spare.
Things I appreciate too are:
- The ability to skip on levels to get back to where I was if I quit.
- The speed run achievement too. It really adds some replayability to the game.
Just finished all levels. Had to skip 26 and go back to it when finished. Overall game was fun. Easy to pick up when you have a few min here and there. Can see influence of Portal here 😁.
Thanks
Wow!! I saw a cute cat in the "new" section of splore, and I could not imagine I would find a game soooo good! My kudos, it's genius. Stray meets Portal meets Baba is you meets Superliminal in a retro environment. It should definitely appear on the "Featured" section.
I love this game so much, but i can't save my progress after restart or shutdown the console (on RGB30) does save feature is implemented?
@azurebit8 Currently, there is no way to save progress in the game. I'll look into that for a future update. For now, though, you can use the "skip level" feature to return to the level you were on.
@ooooggll, @azurebit8
32 level completion flags, 6 achievements flags, 6 settings flags, and maybe one or two integers to save the speedrun time.
that's 45 or 46 values. Fits nicely in the 64 values of cartdata, dset and dget. No extra trickery needed.
Oh, and instead of a 0/1 completion flag, you could use the number of moves. This way each level would have his built in high(low) score for extra replay-ability.
@laurorual I made a walkthrough for the whole game. I was meaning to release it earlier, but forgot about it. Here it is now: https://youtu.be/QO0UBZiF-RA?si=jsSdVykMd_LNgMyS
Amazing game! fun puzzles, art, and the features, there are not many pico 8 games that have the ability to undo the actions, skip levels, speedrun mode, etc. i got only 4/6 achievements (i couldn't make "speedrun" and "it's stuck") Final review: 10/10
A very good game, I loved the puzzles, the game is very well designed, congratulations to you
6/6 acheivements! Definitely a great game, had a lot of fun playing it.
@Edwinn For "It's Shtuck" you have to collide with a cube and a toggleable wall at the same time:
Also, in case anybody is having trouble with "Potty Break", one of the walls is fake. You can see it more easily if you point the laser cube at it (look for the particle effects):
"Really Big Mistakes", "Bonk", and "My Dearest Friends" are all self-explanatory enough that I don't feel like I need to belabor them here, but that still leaves "Speedrunner", easily the hardest achievement in the game... though not quite as hard as it first seems. Sure, the average completion time per level is just 16.875 seconds, but most levels can be completed in about 10 seconds, and you'll save enough time on those levels that you'll have plenty of time for the more complicated levels. (The trickiest level is the last one, and even that one can be completed in under a minute with a couple of mistakes.) Furthermore, time spent in dialogue does not count toward your total time, letting you mentally solve the puzzle in advance. (Time from an undone move or spent before restarting a level, however, does count, so be careful!)
Of course, it's still hard to beat the game in under 9 minutes, but if you're still having trouble, I prepared some GIFs of the final ten levels (the ones with the alternate music track) done quickly:
Good luck!
So much fun! I loved the pixel art, mechanics, and little bits of story sprinkled in. That last level was hard, but felt so good to figure out. Thanks for the great game!
Absolutely wonderful game! I enjoyed the mental challenge, especially the last level which was difficult but very satisfying to complete. <3
I played Sokoban in the 90s and now my 6-year old loves this game. Great choice to use a cat as an avatar, makes it approachable for kids. Thanks you! <3
Awesome game, it took me two hours to beat it haha the last level was very challenging
Very nice! The rotation mechanic introduces a lot of complexity, really dig it
First game played on the site and really enjoyed it.
Nice job!
😺⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This game is awesome! The way all the elements are introduced is fascinating. I also like the detail of how the dialog is said, as if it was an actual lab. Would definitely recommend playing this; My rating is 9/9 lives!
Also is that Mad World by Gary Jules?
Thanks for the game. It's awesome and clever. I think I see the inspiration from the Valve's masterpieces and Mod scene around them, but with a cuteness and charm of cats. Love it!
Playing on Anbernic RGCubeXX with native Pico 8 support and I can see the menu, see the cat waking up, but then black screen with music. Also this happens on other handhelds with Retroarch Fake-8 emulation. Anyone else get this? I'm confused cause it's happened on multiple devices now with multiple engines.
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