Ludokultur [Lexaloffle Blog Feed]

CIPHER-8

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 09:35:57 UTC

CIPHER-8

by Ludokultur

[Click to Play]

You just couldn't let go of your dream to become some sort of cyberpunk Robin Hood, so you invented a device that connects your brain to the inner world of a high-security safe’s digital lock. Somewhat irritated, the safe suggests you play a game to make up for your intrusion. Lose and be locked in forever, or win to attain unimaginable wealth (to redistribute among those in need of course). Can you crack the cipher?

CIPHER-8 is a brain-twisting game where you push numbers into a grid. Well, numbers or all kinds of manipulatory tricks. Or bombs apparently. Anyways, after all it’s about making the total value of each column match its goal value. However, changing one column affects the others as well. Oh and by the way, bonus points if you manage to plan ahead a few turns to keep your cipher streak going in the process!

There are two game modes:

BLITZ asks you to reach a target score in just 90 seconds, so you better get that brain juice flowing fast!
PUZZLE mode on the other hand is all about planning since there’s no timer, but you lose energy if you go without scoring for too many turns.

Both modes track your skill separately and become more challenging every time you beat them.

Fabian Fischer does not like raw arithmetic in games, so he created this game that makes you do arithmetic "the fun way", i.e. in relation to spatial dynamics. The transformation of the player’s thinking while making their way through the game can be seen as an illustration of Frank Lantz’s model of games being "a way for thought to become visible to itself".

At the same time, the game is an illustration of Fischer’s 2014 master’s thesis on game design in digital game-based learning, where he argued that educational games should weave their teaching into their core mechanics instead of serving it on the side or sugar-coating it with the "real" game.

Website: https://ludokultur.de/
Twitter: Ludokultur

Alien Disco

Sun, 03 Oct 2021 13:13:15 UTC

Alien Disco (Ludum Dare 49)

by Ludokultur

[Click to Play]

“The one thing that can solve most of our problems is dancing.” - James Brown

You’re a little alien trying to impress your alien friends on the dance floor. They seem particularly excited when the dance moves they want to see match the disco lights you move through.

Unfortunately these lights as well as the audience's taste are quite unstable and change their patterns constantly. And oh no, add to that your unstable little alien body that leaks stamina every second you dance. To crown it all, the unstable sound system pumps out increasingly alien (duh!) music over time as well.

Can you still find the matching moves in all this craze and keep the buzz going?

Made by Fabian Fischer (Twitter: Ludokultur) for the Ludum Dare 49 Compo (theme: unstable).

Instructions:

Arrow keys to move
Hold X to dance
Press C to start game

Footy 560

Fri, 25 Jun 2021 08:26:32 UTC

Footy 560 (Tweet Tweet Jam)

by Ludokultur

[Click to Play]

A one-button soccer game whose code fits into two tweets.

Press X to shoot!

Fabian Fischer created the game for Tweet Tweet Jam 6.

Martial Cards

Fri, 14 May 2021 07:05:09 UTC

Martial Cards

by Ludokultur

[Click to Play]

Not sure how a specific thing works in the game? Check the one-page PDF manual!

You signed up for the biggest martial-arts challenge in history! In a gauntlet beyond example, contestants from all around the world face myriads of artificial monstrosities to find out who can deal with them performing the most stylish and efficient combos. There’s a twist though - you can only move in accordance with the hand of cards you’re holding. Ah, there’s nothing like the beautiful arbitrariness of game rules...

Features:

Exceptional replayability: No two playthroughs will be alike thanks to randomly generated arenas, monster spawns and a shuffled deck of movement cards!
Simple, but deep: The game is easy to play, but a considerable amount of complexity emerges from the dense interactions between all its elements!
Killing in style: Find creative ways to kill enemies by luring them into pits, smashing them into walls or other monsters, shoving them out of bounds or exposing them to the meditative power of your “spirit bomb” special move!
Ranked mode: Reach score goals to win matches and move up through the ranks, making the game progressively more difficult. Can you win on rank 24?
Endless mode: In case you like going for insane highscores, you totally can!

Fabian Fischer created the game to explore the possibilities of connecting a variety of contextual interactions to a simple core mechanism of card-based movement.

Website: Culture of Play
Twitter: Ludokultur

Ghost Drivers

Wed, 12 May 2021 15:47:46 UTC

Ghost Drivers (tweetcart)

by Ludokultur

[Click to Play]

"What if you're right and they're wrong?"

A tweetcart (276 characters) you can actually play!

m,x,y=128,43,0e,s=x,y::::cls()rect(30,-1,96,m,6)for i=-m,m,32do line(64,i+y/2,64,i+y/2+14)end
if(btn()==1)x=43
if(btn()==2)x=78
print("웃",x,86,11)if(y>m)then
y=0s+=1e=rnd()>.5and 43or 78end
print("🐱",e,y,8)y+=7print(s,84,116,10)if(y==91)and(e==x)then stop()end flip()goto

Made in homage to the old single-game LCD handhelds that had you dodge oncoming traffic with your racing car.

Twitter: Ludokultur

Orthoblaster

Sat, 28 Nov 2020 15:56:44 UTC

orthoblaster

by Ludokultur

[Click to Play]

Orthoblaster was made in a day, learning how to use the PICO-8 development environment.

It's a tiny game about orthogonal pattern recognition in randomly generated arenas.
The gameplay kind of feels like a constant dance between danger and safety.

Check out my website for my ludography, game design articles, indie recommendations and more!