Trapezoids From Space!

Hello! Thank you for traying out my game. This was created during the ([GMTK 2025 Game Jam](https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-2025)) with the theme loop.

This is effectively my 4-5th `Godot 4.X` project, but the first (and currently) only project I've ever pushed to the finish line.

I wouldn't consider this game "good"; however, I did learn a lot over the last few days of jamming it together.

Controls

The game can be played with a keyboard, mouse, and controller

Keyboard

• WASD to move the triangle in the 4 cardinal directions (Up, Left, Down, Right)
• Space to Jump

Mouse

WARNING mouse controls are a bit tricky - consider this hard mode!

• To enable/disable mouse controls press `Escape`
• Move the mouse in the 4 cardinal directions to move the triangle (diagonals are a bit tricky to hold)
  • It works a bit better if you swipe the mouse as if it was a joystick

Controller

• Left joystick controls movement of the triangle in the 4 cardinal directions
• Bottom face button (PS X, Xbox A, Nintendo B) to Jump

Game files

I had to learn how to export games out of Godot, so apologies for not optimizing file size... Turns out the engine files are ~90MB while my game's raw state is less than 10MB. But you do need both the `.exe` (engine) and the `.pck` (game assets)

Project Information

History

Day 1/2

When I first booted up Godot with the theme `loop` in my mind I first envisioned a cross-over between F-Zero tube driving and Sonic the Hedge Hog 2 emerald bonus stages.

Basically the player would control some kind of hovercraft and strafe left-right along the outside of some large cylindrical mesh, effectively `looping` the mesh to dodge hazards.

In my research I learned that the solution was some Math that was just added to Godot 4.2 called `barycentric coordinates` and involves averaging the weights of a triangle's vertices against some point within. This should be usable to manipulate the object's rotation over a mesh's normals.

I spent the first 16 hours trying to implement this and completely failing!!! After burning the entire first day and some hours on the second day of the jam I ditched this idea. That said I would love to give it another shot outside of time constraints.

The next idea was to simplify the math by limiting movement to a circle on screen where the player can `loop` around to dodge hazards. I spent ~5 hours getting the controls working how I liked and I ended up having to learn how to use `Quaternion` which is some pretty amazing math for smoothly rotating objects in 3D space with lerp (linear interpolation).

Day 3

Was spent creating the `barrier` object the player must dodge and the `spawn` system that randomly creates them. I also added `Sykozealot's` song track to the game and created basic UI buttons to toggle music and mouse controls.

Day 4

Was all about polish and random bells and whistles:

• Improved visibility by modifying the material applied to the barrier and added a light on the player's back to interact with said material
• Made barrier collisions kill the player
• Added `R` to reset the game after death
• Created scene that explains the controls
  • Added text - with BBCode formatting
  • created an arch/circle with code
  • Used tweens to animate an intro that shows the portal in the sky opening up (a tad bit of narrative)
• Refactored code so that root node is a scene that holds the UI and can transition from the menu to the main game
• Created manually placed barriers and timed randomly generated ones to appear after
• Created text for `avoid red!`
• Added visible timer so there can be some objective or reason to try again and do better
• Added a Jump mechanic so a player could dodge the rare time when the spawner tossed 8 barriers (a impassible wall)
• Added the mid text explaining the jump button

Day 5

Was spent writing this doc, learning how to export the game, and submission.

What is missing from the project?

• Better mouse controls
• particle effects when your triangle moves
• a nice 3D model for the player character (other than a triangle)
• Additional barrier types
  • maybe a shooting mechanic to break them
  • maybe a one that you want to hit for a reason
• Health system (instead of 1 shot death)
• Additional levels and/or better progress/logic for the spawn system
  • FYI the spawn system just flips a coin to see if a barrier spawns at each spawner, so small chance you get a wall of 8
• More music and better code connecting it to the game
• Audio sound effects
• Improved visual clarity... The barriers can be a bright mess.

Credits

Music by ([Sykozealot](https://www.youtube.com/@respecttheskull))

Everything else by ([Weevil](https://weevil0.itch.io/))