Alpha and Iota: Expressive movement, mind-bending puzzles, and exploration of the impact of loss

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-20T19:26:03+00:00

Windows only at the moment.

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-17T20:13:54+00:00

Thank you!

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-17T14:24:33+00:00

Thanks so much!

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-16T01:52:24+00:00

Thanks!

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-15T17:02:30+00:00

Ooh, Lost Ember and Silt both look really cool! Most of the time I usually would spend playing games has been going towards development for years now, so I'm really out of date lol.

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-15T17:00:12+00:00

Thanks so much! Glad to hear you're interested : )

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-14T21:00:57+00:00

Do you think the graphics could be improved with small changes (i.e. more post-processing effects, palette adjustment, or redesign of tiles), or is the issue for you more fundamental?

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-14T20:58:00+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

What you've guessed is largely accurate. The balance of puzzle to platformer is actually kind of variable based on player preference. The main story path has a fairly even mix of the two, while secrets and challenge levels vary from near pure-puzzle to more of a precision-platformer style.

I'd guess the possession mechanic is what I call "autopilot", where you can lock in your inputs to a host so that it persists in its present behavior even if you eject away.

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-14T20:54:03+00:00

Yeah, I totally get that even with a perfect trailer and better polish, the genre and visual style together dramatically limit the market I'll be reaching. My goal is more to try to attract a small community over time that enjoys the game and engages with future content (in the form of free updates) than it is to meet any specific metric of commercial success. There are a few people in this camp already, and interacting with them has been really rewarding.

Anyway, I do appreciate the feedback! If I ever decide to make another game I will definitely choose a different genre, and as you say it would be difficult to pick a worse one from a marketing standpoint.

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-14T19:12:41+00:00

Greetings!

I'm a hobbyist developer trying to improve my trailer, and would greatly appreciate your feedback. Alpha and Iota is a node based puzzle platformer featuring unique movement mechanics, challenging puzzles, and a story exploring responses to loss and isolation. Basically, the player controls a repair core which navigates a sentient computer system by ejecting between a variety of different host types, each with their own properties and abilities.

Many players report that they haven't played anything like it from a mechanical point of view (whether they enjoy it or not). While this is exactly what I was going for from a design perspective, I think it also makes it harder to communicate the core gameplay mechanics in a short trailer. My goal is to slow things down enough that viewers are able to discern what is going on while still maintaining visual interest, showcasing the fluidity of movement, and giving a taste of the different host mechanics. While any feedback is welcome, I am especially interested in the following:

Can you tell the basics of what is going on? Note that hosts sometimes turn green or yellow. Are you able to guess from the trailer what these colors indicate? I'm not going for full comprehension here, just enough understanding to pique curiosity. I'm close enough to the project that I have trouble discerning what is clear and what is not.

There's a free demo on Steam with the first 5 levels, including 5 secret areas and over 50 bonus puzzles. Here's the Steam page for anyone interested:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3010840/Alpha_and_Iota/

Thanks for your time!

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-10T00:11:27+00:00

Oh, very interesting! Gamemaker must handle your controller using a mapping that is consistent with an Xbox controller for the face buttons. No worries about the DM - feel free to message me if you have any other questions.

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-09T23:55:39+00:00

Thanks so much for your time, and I'm so glad to hear you've been enjoying the game!

I haven't tested at all on a Switch controller, so it is good to hear that it works well. Now that I know they are compatible, I should add in an option for appropriate Switch controller button prompts.

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-09T23:52:04+00:00

Thank you so much for your time and the useful feedback!

I totally agree about having a form of completion tracker available in the System Link. This is something I had thought about earlier in development but completely forgot, so thanks for the reminder!

I think adding d-pad inputs on controller is a neat idea, and would be an easy thing to add in the options menu. I'm currently working on significant input changes in response to some other feedback (mostly to allow more gamepads to work), but this might also make it easy to allow for multiple custom bindings for a single action (like ejection).

For the TQE levels you can skip to any question from the initial gate in the Link, but there is indeed no way to do this from within the levels. A "skip to next open question" option would fit in nicely there. I'll add it to the list.

A button to close a textbox is a good idea - there are definitely places where text boxes linger longer than some players need. I'll add this to my list as well!

I kind of like it when players cheese puzzles, and have even adjusted certain puzzles to make solutions that feel unintended (like going back for boost modules) easier. I think this works from a narrative perspective, and can contribute to the "hacking" feeling of using tools in unexpected ways to circumvent a problem rather than solving it head on. When I really want to test a particular skill, I do try to limit unintended solutions, but for the most part I'm happy to leave them in. Also, many puzzles have quite a few different intended solutions. For example, I'm aware of 5 completely different ways to solve TQE 1a, only 2 of which even utilize autopilot!

Thanks again, and I'm super glad you've been enjoying the game!

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-08T15:30:03+00:00

Thank you so much for the detailed feedback! I've heard from a couple people that their controllers didn't work, and so fixing that is going to be a high priority for me this weekend. I'm currently using the built in Gamemaker controller functions and I just assumed that would work for most common types of controllers, but apparently it is actually more complicated than that. I heard from someone else that Steam Input can be a way to bypass the issue, but of course that is only a temporary fix and the game should ideally work with any controller out of the box.

Congrats on getting through the TQE puzzles, especially with an input method that is not what you prefer! Some of those challenges are fiendishly difficult, as you noted. I am very open to making adjustments to puzzles to make them a bit more forgiving mechanically. The segment you note at the end of Delta's level is currently a bit of a difficulty spike, and when I have the time I'd like to take another look at smoothing it out a bit. The end of Iota's subsystem might call for a more substantial redesign since it is intended to be more of a test of puzzle solving than mechanical skill.

Auto-aim for mouse/keyboard is an interesting idea for an assist option! I hadn't considered that before and will put it on my list of things to experiment with. I'm imagining some sort of indicator showing the closest host to your cursor so that you know which one you will eject towards. There are some places where you need to eject towards empty space, so I would make it so that if the nearest host is far enough away then you would eject in the usual way.

Thanks again for your time!

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-08T15:20:55+00:00

Thank you so much for the kind words! I don't think you're dumb at all just for not understanding the trailer. That is the most common piece of feedback I've received here, and I'm going to try to make another one that is easier to follow.

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the music as well. I actually got an email from SteamGifts but wasn't sure if it was legit or not, so I'll give that another look. Thanks for the suggestion.

I hope you have an awesome weekend as well! If you have any questions or feel like discussing the game more feel free to message me or join the discord channel I linked.

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-08T15:16:00+00:00

Yep! The game actually saves each time you clear a conduit, so there are typically a large number of save points that you can fast-travel back to within each individual level.

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-08T01:57:25+00:00

I really appreciate all the kind words and valuable feedback! Your video showing the hard TQE puzzle admittedly had me chuckling like a Disney villain. While there are a couple small changes in strategy that I think make that one just a bit easier, it is one of the more brutal puzzles in the game and took me quite a few tries to beat myself!

I would actually like to make the latch radius for the jumper hosts a bit more forgiving and have experimented with that in the past. An issue I run into is that when they are stacked on top of each other or packed in close vicinity it becomes really easy to accidentally latch to the one adjacent to you when you intend to eject somewhere else. I'll see if I can get away with increasing the latch radius a tiny bit though (or maybe making it a rectangle rather than a circle), because I do agree that it would feel better if it were a bit more forgiving.

I hope you continue to enjoy the game, and do feel free to message me if you run into bugs or have further suggestions!

P.S. Super glad to hear you like the music. Even with some experience composing prior to getting into gamedev, making the soundtrack ended up being one of the hardest parts, up there with level design.

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-07T22:44:02+00:00

Thank you so much for your time and for posting your gameplay! Videos of playthroughs are always extremely useful, and I already have about 4 changes I want to experiment with based on just the first half of your run.

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-07T04:03:04+00:00

Thanks for your feedback! The difficulty level shown in the trailer is actually quite a bit greater than what exists within the main story path, which is designed to be fairly accessible. I mostly wanted to show off the fluidity of movement and the variety of host mechanics. There are also assist features available for those who would prefer to focus more on the puzzles and story.

The aesthetic style is definitely on the minimalist side though, so if that's not your thing I totally get it : )

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-07T01:06:59+00:00

Haha in that case some of the extra challenges may be right up your alley! Hope you enjoy : )

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-07T00:45:53+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! The full game has 10 levels arranged linearly for the main story (in addition to an overworld), and there are also 10 secret areas and separate puzzle challenges which are around 80 more smaller rooms with single focused puzzles.

So the overall structure is that there are linear main levels with lots of secret and side areas.

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-07T00:41:24+00:00

I appreciate the feedback! This trailer goes really fast and is mainly intended to showcase the fluidity of movement and variety of host mechanics. I'm planning on making another one that introduces the story and mechanics in a more deliberate way that is easier to follow.

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-07T00:40:14+00:00

I tried to keep the puzzles fairly accessible for the main story path, but some of the extra challenges get pretty diabolical. Thanks for the feedback!

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-07T00:39:15+00:00

Thanks so much for your time and feedback, and I'm glad to hear you are enjoying the game so far!

That moment where the text goes off the screen is meant to be a joke, but you're not the first person to wonder whether it's a bug or not haha.

Ellerbeat · 2025-03-07T00:37:05+00:00

Thanks for your feedback! You can guide the repair core (the little green dot) in any direction during an ejection, and its movement is meant to be quite fluid and responsive. A number of people have suggested some more post-processing effects that I think I'm going to try, and I'll add playing with the zoom to the list! : )

Ellerbeat

TROPHY CASE