Too Many Windows
Too Many Windows is a game about having too many windows and too little space. Made for Ludum Dare 31 over 2 days.
The theme was 'Entire game on one screen', and It did fairly well, scoring top 50 in theme and innovation. The scoring is done entirely by other entrants to the game jam and I think they related well to the struggle that comes with working on many things at once under a time limit.
I went with something very simple and focused on making it as satisfying and juicy as possible. The windows bounce back into play, The timer flashes, particle effects everywhere, and frequent 'explosions' that shoot your windows out disrupting your strategy.
Many people reaching high scores said they'd played the game for long periods. I think the main cause for this was some very sneaky design:
a. Above 3 seconds, each button press will award just 1 second back. Below 3 seconds will award 2 seconds. This keeps the player constantly on the edge of defeat.
b. The timer is one of the windows. The players must sometimes sacrifice progression for information. Even so, the timer will beep at the player when it's at less than 3 seconds. Joined with the first piece of sneaky design this helps to heighten the adrenaline rush of staying afloat.
