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Free A.C.E. - A Chromatic Experience [Win]

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347_Jake

Guest

After roughly one year of development, my newest game A.C.E - A Chromatic Experience is now available for free on itch.io! It features a lovely soundtrack composed by Vincent "GreenWyvern" Wright.

A.C.E. is a game that revolves around color. Color affects everything from what abilities you can use at a given moment, what you can collect, to what doors you can go through.

Solve puzzles by finding the right color mixture, hitting buttons, and powering receivers to reach the exit.

Additionally, the game features a powerful Level Editor, designed from the ground up to make the most of the mechanics the game has to offer. This editor was used to create every level in the game.



CONTROLS (Configurable from the Options Menu):

Move - Arrow Keys
Jump - X (Jump with Up can be enabled in the Options Menu)
Action - Z
Pause - Enter


LEVEL EDITOR SHORTCUTS:

New Level - Ctrl + N
Open Level - Ctrl + O
Save Level - Ctrl + S
Save Level As... - Ctrl + Shift + S
Play/Pause Level - Ctrl + P
Undo - Ctrl + Z
Redo - Ctrl + Y
Toggle Grid - Ctrl + G
Place Object - Left Click
Place Multiple Objects - Shift + Left Click
Alter Object (If applicable) - Right Click
Recolor Object - Ctrl + Right Click
Delete Object - Shift + Right Click
Move Object - Ctrl - Left Click
Switch Current Object - Scroll Wheel
Switch Object Color - Ctrl + Scroll

PLAYING USER LEVELS:

To create a group of user levels to play in sequence, move all the .nlvl files you'd like to include into their own directory, and name it whatever you want your title to be. Move the new directory into "%localappdata%\ACE___A_Chromatic_Experience\USER LEVELS" without the quotes. Open the game and your new group of levels should show up in the Level Select!

If you make any cool levels in the editor, feel free to share them in this thread! I'd love to see them!
 
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Alunite

Guest
Hey so I tried out your game, it's pretty fun but... are the tutorial levels the only ones in the game? The core idea of the game is great but all the levels are reeaaaaallly easy, some levels I didn't even have to do anything!

If I were to go through everything, the graphics are nice, the music, sound and everything else really fits in with it all to make a nice minimalistic experience. It confused me a bit at first that the character is not an outline of a square but actually filled in black. As the background was black it felt a bit odd for the character to also be filled in black. The level design I am not really a fan of. Every level kept adding mechanics, confusing me, but also meant I had to try and remember all these new things quickly before moving onto the next, not having time to really cement it in memory. The levels never tested my knowledge of the abilities either, most levels it was a case of running from one end to the other and jumping a bit to achieve the goal. The thing is, all the mechanics are there, just none of the levels seemed to show it off.

Overall this a compliment, I'm asking for more levels! Harder ones please!
 
F

FruitPunchGuy

Guest
A.C.E A Chromatic Experience
@347_Jake
Writing by: @FruitPunchGuy
~ ~ ~

The game itself is solid. The mechanics work, and the concept itself is great. The color-ability system and the hindrances/systems such as the turret and the locked walls were a neat addition. But I was very disappointed by the levels.

The levels are on a single screen, which means only a select amount of systems can make the cut. Besides that, there's hardly any challenge. There's no penalties for poor performance in the game, which grants me no reason to try my quickest. The small level size only harmed the experience for me. Instead of providing a large connected web of systems, there's only a select few to tackle. The game's mechanics and systems are already good, and could easily have been used to make a level full of connecting systems and with a 'flow'. While the levels had systems, they didn't show them off or properly utilize them.

This is probably minor, but the sprites aren't as good as you could have made them. The character's a black box, the background's black, the paints look the same, etc. Design plays a fair role in video-games. Just because the game is simple doesn't mean you have to sacrifice design. If you have the potential to make great sprites, then utilize it.

Overall, the game lost me because of the levels. It's solid, but the lack of level variety is my biggest complaint. I'd suggest improving the levels and providing a challenge, as well as giving me a reason to try my best. This along with changing the sprites would definitely improve the game.

The opinions and points of view offered in this review are not the opinions and points of view of the GMC Rad Reviewers, but from the author of the review. We are all humans; as such, we might have made a mistake or misinterpreted something when playing your game, so please share your thoughts of this review with us.

[GMCRR]
 
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