SUPERCOIL, an electrostatics platformer

SUPERCOIL is a puzzle game in which you interact with the environment by changing its electric charge. Equal charges attract, opposite charges repel. Your goal is to guide the player by making him hover, stick to walls and ceilings and orbit around other charges. Explore an abstract world which revolves around the beauty of physics and is based on a detailed simulation of electrostatics. The goal of this puzzle game is to provide an intuition and appreciation for the concept of the electric field, which mediates forces through empty space and can only be made visible indirectly. The pictures of electric field lines you may have seen in your physics textbooks come to life in SUPERCOIL.

Latest build (Windows) here!
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Stunning! Love the visuals and the puzzles are paced nicely.

Obviously it needs lots of bzzzzng, crackles and hums.
Also needs a respawn (e.g. what happens if you go left when you start?)
On an older laptop (2008), the effects get a little expensive, dropping the framerate so you can't control but unless you're targeting wider or mobile (?), I don't think that should worry you.

Keep it up -- look forward to the electrifying release ;-)
HTH, R.

p.s. Any game where screenshots look like one of Tron or 90s trance will (a) have no problem attracting and (b) kind'a cry out for a throbbing electronica baseline ;-)

 

Arkade,

thank you very much for your positive feedback!

A friend of mine kindly supplied music which (I think) fits the pace of the game well, I will soon upload a new gameplay video with music

Other players reported serious framerate issues, too. I genuinely don't know how this happens since I always stop the (expensive) physics computation except for the one puzzle you are currently playing.

The section above, as well as video, are basically plate puzzles. Here is an example for spheres (separate the charges):

 

Maybe supply us a debug version with switches to disable things to help determine? (that or add some simple inline self profiling.) I'd wonder whether it's simulation or graphics (seems like my slow down happens when there's all the cool effects on screen).
HTH, Rupert.

 

Thanks Rupert!

What is inline self profiling, how does it work?
I know there are framerate scripts which are arguably more accurate than Unity's, but is there a detailed ingame profiling (such as draw calls, memory allocation, ...)?

 

Oh, sorry to get your hopes up. No I just meant add some code that times a few things. I have some self hacked code but I've also used FPS Graph which does a nice job.

 

Hey guys,

I am really very grateful for the feedback here!

Please help me understand my profiling:



FieldLineVisualiseParticles is my physics computation, so it seems appropriate that it strains the CPU most. Is there anything unusual here? Am I missing something?

 

First up, I'll say I don't have Pro so if they're are subtle this to your graph, I might not be the best person.

Second, I should reiterate "seems like my slow down happens when there's all the cool effects on screen" (sic!). At other times, it's fine. So best to profile before and during side by side. Ideally, it'll show something jumping from low effect to high. It could, however be related to my hardware /setup. Hence the suggestion of an included diagnostic.

HTH, R.

 

First off, I gotta say that's it seems rare these days to find a project that is both visually interesting and presents a unique gameplay mechanic. You accomplished that Well done!

Anyhow, I'm not an expert at the profiler but those particle physics are eating up quite a bit of CPU resources...I noticed quite a large lag spike when I got to the red and blue bridge. After the player respawned, it was okay for a bit but returned to that shortly afterward. I feel like there's a memory leak in the computations somewhere.

Anyway, keep us updated on your progress. It's already a fun little game you've got here!

 

Cool game! I'm also very interested in computational physics so I decided to post here. I don't know what techniques you're using to simulate the electric field, but if you're using a full finite element model or something similar I can see why it would strain the computer.

Another option would be to just use the analytical formulas for these things. The only objects in the game right now are planes and spheres, and analytical formulas for the electric field around these all exist. They appear a lot more complicated but it's a lot easier to calculate them once, for a single point, then use a numerical integrator over the whole area. The only thing you wouldn't be able to do is make those field lines (as far as I know). Perhaps you could have a "turn off field lines" option for those with worse computers, and then you wouldn't have to use the expensive numerical methods. Alternatively, you could compute the electric field for a very low amount of points, and use something like a bezier curve to combine them.

Again, I don't know what methods you're actually using, and I have no idea how these would go, they're just suggestions.

 

I am so in love with you right now!
This looks so fun, any idea when you will finish?

 

Hey guys, thank you very much for the positive feedback! It's just awesome to hear!

I am currently reorganizing and about to upload new improved demo and new video!

 

Hey guys,

I updated the webplayer link in the first post.

In this update I added more puzzles, added music made by a friend, added quick navigation to next puzzle with n and p keys (in case you are stuck), tightened bounding boxes and controls and decomposed into smaller sections so hopefully performance issues are gone.

Please let me know how you like it!

 

Flashy light effects. Good choice of music. Didn't run into any performance issues. I enjoyed it!

Didn't finish all the levels, but I rarely have the patience to finish non-story games.

There was a ball in maze-like box that I didn't need to push through the maze to pass the area. Not a problem, I think, but I was surprised to get passed without completing it.

I agree with Arcade, some buzzing and hums would be cool.

Cheers!

 

Hey Velex,

thanks for your feedback! I know exactly what you mean with the maze-like box, I'll fix it

 

Hey guys,

it's been a while! Get ready to be electrified! Finally a new build !

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You made a number of great suggestions in this thread, and I tried to address and fix most of them, as well as some other fixes:

• The ball now feels weightier to convey a sense of momentum.
• The camera is more elaborate and should no longer leave the player out of sight.
• The puzzles are now better lit and it should be much clearer where to go next.
• New camera angles and longer field lines gives visual rewards after solving puzzles.
• Charges are more balanced and there should be no crazy acceleration due to charges.
• Flinging yourself upwards is no longer reset but instead rewarded with nice camera angle.

This is a small build (only 8 puzzles), but more polished and refined than the last build (both old and new builds are linked in first post if you want to compare). I have many more puzzles and several additional game mechanics in progress, but first I would like to have a very good foundation on the physics parameters, control scheme, and overall style of the game. Then it should be easier to hit out puzzles factory style.

Please let me know what you think

 

Wow, visuals are stunning. You could include a bit more in-game help to aid new players, but other than that it's awesome.

 

Thank you

Which parts do you suggest would profit from more help?

 

General description of gameplay mechanics alongside controls would be nice.

 

Cats, I just realised you are the author of ArcReactor! I wrote to you asking about about its compatibility with Sonic Ether's Natural Bloom shaders, remember? Now you know why I was asking: For the electric field lines.

There is a massive problem with my field lines: Particles. I was wondering if I can achieve a similar effect with a Line Renderer (i.e. mesh) based method, like in your asset. This will likely be computationally much faster, but I may lose this saturated organic feel that comes from overlapping particles. Any input (views, ideas...) much appreciated.

 

Oh, that was you! Congrats on great effects =)

I think you'll be able to achieve this with LineRenderer, you'll just need custom additive shader with some funky texture work. Maybe overlap 2 noise textures and shake them a little.

There's some problems with linerenderer though, so the direction I'm currently going is combining LineRenderer for general shape definition and particles for details and hiding artifacts (linerenderer tends to produce them when "looking" at the camera).

 

Guys,

can I ask if you think that this game is fundamentally boring?

This game is having a bit of an identity crisis. Puzzle wise, I have a fairly clear vision what I want to do and and some prototypes for additional mechanics on top of the existing one. But I feel that this game has no identity.

• Is it a science simulation? It has fairly accurate electrostatics and now I am working on magnetism.
• Is it a platformer? Then it needs a story and setting. Possibly science-inspired. I don't want it to be too traditional but to offer something new.
• Is it a sandbox? If there were level editing capabilities, you could build mayhem or construct some classic physics experiments. You could play the electron in a mass spectrometry experiment, scattering, or a simple model of the atom. These could be built by users. This would require some serious investment into making level editing capabilities.

Please help me figure this out. I feel like my game is not exciting enough and I am not sure if making more and more levels (which I can) is the right approach.

 

This problem is really screwing with my head Any ideas?

 

"can I ask if you think that this game is fundamentally boring?"

I personally could say that yes, it is fundamentally boring to myself. But why is that?

"This game is having a bit of an identity crisis."

That's a start. This game has no identity. There is nothing about this game that doesn't remind me of the millions of generic moving geometry games found on mobile these days, not to mention that lack of seeing anything that would be considered an eye pleasing environment.

Why am I always controlling either a ball or a square or a blob? Why is everything in the dark? Can I be the only one who's sick of seeing this? No, I can't be. The developers themselves should be as well. Jumping around on a screen all day might not sound like a fun videogame, but Super Mario's been doing it for over 20 years and nobody will ever forget its existence for a multitude of reasons.

That ball can be something more interesting, and it can be somewhere that's better to look at. There's nothing wrong with having a working build. I have my own ideas for something like this but I don't give them for free. Not while I'm trying to be a developer myself.

 

Gameplay video of current build:

 

Just a quick update. Experimenting with other aspects of the mechanics and 2D physics.

 

I am working on new puzzles. A few update gifs!

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Work on UI elements for introductory section, and screenshot of a new puzzle coming along.

 

Working on tutorial.

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More work on introductory section.

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More explanations for the first minute or so of gameplay!

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Hey guys,

this is a new playable version of the first 3min of SUPERCOIL. I am making it more accessible by explaining what is going on with the electromagnetism!

PLAY HERE​

Please let me know what your impressions are of these re-worked first couple of minutes with the game.

 

Just played it! Definitely liked it, stages looked a little clunky, the play was a bit clunky as well, but in general it was a cool mechanic. Perhaps add a bit more to the levels themselves? they seem pretty empty at the moment imo.

 

Very cool indeed.

 

Thank you for the comments guys! Much appreciated

 

I don't really see anything different then before other than the images explaining the mechanic (which is easy enough to understand anyway).

 

Hi Antman, don't worry, new puzzle coming!

For instance, this one related to the Sierpinski pyramid!

 

A puzzle inspired by the Hilbert-Peano curve.

 

Tidying up files, I found this screenshot, which I took on March 28th which is almost exactly a year ago. Looking at this confused and early concept, I'm glad I made lots of progress since.

 

Wow the visuals of this game are great! I think electromagnetism could make some real cool puzzles
What are your plans on platforms, release etc.?

 

Fighting back the red exclamation marks in my upgrade to Unity 5...

 

A fairly challenging one.

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Hey guys,

from now on and starting with today's post, I am going to use this thread more regularly for actual builds. I believe that when releasing demos in the past on this thread, I was far too perfectionist about putting a reasonable amount of puzzles per stage in, polishing them as much as I can, worrying about details like a checkpoint system, a short cut to skip to the next level, transitions between stages, etc.

But actually, at this stage, all of these are not important. What is important now is to finalise many of my half-baked puzzles sitting on my computer, post them here, and discuss and optimise them with your help. So provided that this is OK with you, I will post a new build, with ONE SINGLE PUZZLE, every other day. I believe this is a reasonable time constraint for me as I have lots of material that needs optimising, and this is a reasonable time constraint for me that will force my creativity and practical thinking and that regular feeling of "getting things done". I hope you will be OK with playing my short bitesize sections, which will take you anything between 30sec and 3min to complete. Let me start:

play vertical reflection puzzle from 08 Jun 2015 ​

If you haven't played the game before, you should play the tutorial section to get familiar with the controls.

Curious to read what you think

 

Had a go at today's have you amped up the active field effect from the previous demo, looking good at any rate
Are you looking for feedback on puzzle readability? on difficulty?

Took me about 5 goes to get the bounce right and, after playing the longer demo on your website, I 'read' what I should be doing straight off.

 

Thank you overthere, really appreciate the comment!

One question: When you say demo on my website, do you mean the tutorial section that I linked to in the previous post? With that tutorial section, would you say the vertical reflection puzzle from 08 Jun 2015 is too easy?

 

Next is the

ball in a box (10 Jun 2015)​

recent history:

• vertical reflection (08 Jun 2015)
• tutorial (23 May 2015)

 

Was the demo on this webpage I think, http://www.airlich.de/supercoil/ might be wrong.

At any rate played the linked tutorial, I would say it was a natural follow on puzzle from the last one in the tutorial that was slightly harder.
Hope that's useful!
Cheers

 

For ball in a box, got it on the second go. Like the moving while attracted mechanic.

I get that it's a roll a ball style game but it does feel a bit counter intuitive when you are upside down attracted to a wall and pressing left moves you right. Might be worth illustrating that this will occur in tutorial?

 

Thanks for your feedback overthere! Really appreciate it.

Yeah, I can see why upside down motion may need a tutorial section. The fact that you actually can attract to ceilings etc. and keep moving, and that moving is reversed, should have a mention in the tutorial, thanks.

Next one:

weightless (11 Jun 2015)​

recent history:

• ball in a box (10 Jun 2015)
• vertical reflection (08 Jun 2015)
• tutorial (23 May 2015)

 

Change of scale is nice, I found this more of a challenge, in the execution than in the puzzling

Spoiler

I like how the field lines show were to leap from to the next orb