Hack::R0ute

Okay, so it took me some time to understand what's going on, even after reading the tutorial.
(Well, I didn't realize the controls straight away, that you need to select the start node with the mouse, then use directional arrow keys to move in 4 directions to connect it to the end node)
Also, for both versions I had "Failed to execute script game" error, so I couldn't start the executable shortcut, but the executable itself in the "game" folder worked fine. (Antivirus was turned off)
But once I got it, it became really satisfying!
I would say some parts could be improved (like the visuals) but overall the gameplay part is solid and I had a great time playing it! The music is nice too!
P.S: what does the alarm do? I triggered it a couple of times, but didn't understand the effect, only panicked and rushed to end the level :D

@Yaro Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you liked the game, even if I still haven't got the hang of how shortcuts are made. Triggering the alarm will send a signal back to the start node slowly (you'll see it as a red line moving from the alarm), if it reaches the start node that node becomes unusable. Also, great high score!

@Baconinvader Thanks, I got lucky sometimes, exit nodes very spawning a couple of times in front of the start nodes, haha :D As I said, once you get it, it's a cool game! And I guess I was always panicking and ending the level before the alarm was reaching the node :)

I can't find a way to play it, on both the "Windows" download and the "Backup" one, at the moment the file is unzipped, the .exe dissapears =( I guess it must be tagged and removed by windows built-in antivirus?

I have problem with turn on this game to.

Lol Calling your game HackR0ute was probably not the best idea for antivirus evading. Interesting that both Bacons decided to go with a Node based movement game =P

I get "failed to execute script game" when I try to start this :(

@wolfingame
@AaronBacon
@Colisan
Sorry the game is not working! If you want you can try the new "antivirus" package in the gamejolt link or just diectly via https://we.tl/t-OcQ7JvqNIn . If that doesn't work then… idk…

@ratogue
Sorry the game is not working! If you want you can try the new "antivirus" package in the gamejolt link or just diectly via https://we.tl/t-OcQ7JvqNIn . If that doesn't work then… idk…

@BaconInvader still no luck with the "Game_Safer.zip" =(
In the past, I had some trouble with input fetching librairies triggering some keylogger detection, it may be that? I don't know =(

@AaronBacon yes, "baconINVADER" triggering antiviruses when installing a .exe called "HACKr0ute" on my computer sure makes for both a interesting game lore… and a lot of red flags ! ='D

@Colisan sorry to hear dude. For my next jam I'll have to look into this sort of stuff a lot more. Thanks for trying anyhow.

Like others, the shortcut didn't work for me, but the .exe in the "game" folder worked fine.

Anyway, this was cool! It's a neat concept, solidly designed, and a lot of fun to replay. My main gripe is that the game needs an undo button or the ability to backtrack. Several times, I put myself in a position where it was impossible to complete the level because I misjudged a step or accidentally advanced one node too far.

Also, you kinda need three hands to play it comfortably: one on the mouse, one on the arrow keys, and one on the X/C keys. This could be remedied with the ability to play the bonus cards by clicking on them. Or, for players who prefer to do without the mouse, you could use a key to toggle which start node to select.

I also wonder why the timer is so much longer on the first two levels than the others. I enjoy the game at both the slow pace of the first level and the quick pace of levels 3+, so it's not a big problem, but I do find it strange how suddenly it changes.

To cap it off, I found a bunch of bugs, in no particular order:

• During one run, the game froze and I had to force quit it! I'm not sure why, as I couldn't reproduce it, but it happened the moment I clicked the button to advance to the next level after completing level 15. Thankfully, it only happened once, and I made it past level 15 and improved on my score in subsequent runs. (If you find the cause of this one, I believe you're allowed to fix it during the rating period, since it's a game-breaking bug.)
• On the rules screen, clicking on the "Menu" button briefly advances to the next slide before returning you to the menu. This one actually worked out in my favor, because I wouldn't have realized that there were other slides if that hadn't happened.
• If you skip a level while the bright green line is making its way across a connection that you have established, you will still hear "access granted" and be awarded points for that connection while you're on the next level- even if you would've run out of time on the original level.
• Speaking of "access granted", I heard it once - and was awarded 600 points - on level 1 before I had even made any moves. This happened while I was rapidly clicking around the skip and stop cards to see if you actually could use them by clicking on them. I could not reproduce this bug.
• Whenever I exit the game, whether via the escape key or the X button at the top-right of the window, I receive the same error that I (and many others) received from the shortcut: "failed to execute script game". I mean, it still exits, so this one isn't a huge deal.

I hope that helps! Despite all that, I still really liked this one.

@Baconinvader

I think python is required!? I don't have it installed.

@wolfingame sorry to hear man. Python shouldn't be a requirement but I'll look into for future jams.

@Birdwards thanks for the heavy feedback! And the buglist too. I think most of those should be patchable, but the last one is one that I have been unable to fix for any jam and I kinda just leave it at this point haha. I like your idea for the control scheme modification, it makes a lot of sense. As for why the first couple of levels are so long compared to the other levels, I wanted to make all the levels somewhat short but realised that I needed a sort of "test" level where people could figure out how the game worked, so I jacked up it's time.

Sorry, I go a 'severe' virus warning as well. Can't take the risk as the windows box is my work PC. Maybe this screenshot will help.

@remco Yeah, this seems to be happening to a lot of people. I think it's due to the name. I just uploaded a name-changed version on GameJolt, which I swore I did before but I guess gamejolt removed it??? If you want you can try and run that version? It's a separate package.

@Baconinvader Sorry, still no luck with either of the downloads … There's a difference though, the second one only sets of chrome, not chrome and windows.

@remco What a shame. Thanks for trying, anyhow.

Sooo, the game has pretty good fundamentals but I feel like the card systems and bonus features aren't neccessary and kinda take away from the action.

I think you'd fare well to strip some of the features and really tighten up the game loop. Looking for paths is fun and coming back from the timer having almost ran out feels great.

The tutorials could be stripped out completely and the game wouldn't be worse for it. They are overladen and by the time I got into the game I forgot at least half of the things they tried to teach me. -> instead the decision to give a two minute timer in the first level was great, because figuring the game out by playing it worked way better.

I think the game functions really well as a puzzler and could work with a bigger time-limit but having both connections be mandatory. If only one connection suffices it feels a bit pointless going for another. I know it increases the score. But yeah, I think your game could work better as a relaxed puzzler than a timeattack game.

@elZach Thanks for the feedback!