Ludum Dare #11compo

Leap

by devo

Overall★★★★★★★★★★2.76

Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.32

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.75

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.88

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.00

Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.63

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.33

Food★★★★★★★★★★1.84

Journal★★★★★★★★★★3.00

Polish★★★★★★★★★★2.52

Technical★★★★★★★★★★2.19

windows exe in zip file
run leap.exe to play
source code and media in zip file
run leap.py to play (PyGame and Python required, but should run on mac and linux then)
feel free to do whatever you want with the source code and media
Press SPACEBAR to jump, avoid falling tanks -that’s it!
I was working on this until there was 15 minutes left, so this is mighty unfinished. But it is playable and at least okay to look at. I think it has a lot of potential…
I haven’t ever used py2exe before so I’m sorry for the mess of a zip file. Just run leap.exe. Hopefully it works for you guys, it works on my end.
Leap was(is) planned to include more of a strategy element with raising blocks and a real objective. Initially I thought it up of being reference to Kierkegaardian existentialism and the “leap of faith” (notice the religious icon blocks in the spritesheets..) and the initial leap from objectivity (notice the emotionless faces and math symbols in the grasshopper’s home…) to the hearts, love platform that you can’t reach in the beginning. Tanks and money and gameplay and love were going to make some statement about religion, but none of that is probably evident in this buggy “physics” demo. And it may not actually be successful as a thoughtful philosophical game if it does get there… hopefully I can make it fun at least :). I like the grasshopper in anycase!
I spent 50/50 graphics and programming on this. I should’ve spent more time programming! Since this is the second program I’ve ever written with user input, I think it isn’t too bad for roughly 20 or more hours work. Sadly this is more finished than my first game that I’m still making with PyGame after starting 3 months ago with python.
All in all this competition was a lot of fun and a lot of work, I’m getting the hell out of this apartment! I can’t wait to play the other games and maybe download an IRC client and join the group, since I didn’t have time to do that this weekend!
Good game everyone!,
Devon

Tools: pygame

Comments21

pekuja

The collision detection seemed to be weird. Sometimes a tank next to me would hit me, sometimes not. Anyways, nice game idea, although the game gets pretty hard quickly. The graphics had a cool style, although the grasshopper looks kinda sketchy. (a lot of pure blacks, I guess)

Hamumu

I love the art, but uh, not so much the gameplay or lack thereof. It's very interesting to read where it was supposed to go, like a whole art thing. The first screen certainly suggests that.

I thought I was scoring points by making jumps, as I watched the numbers go by in the console window... then I got to the right edge and started heading back only to discover that was just my X coordinate.

Anyway, I'm glad you discovered the wonders of 48-hour developing. It'll teach you really quickly what matters and how to actually produce something instead of futzing around with things (incidentally, I am judging games right now to avoid working on my actual game project, so the lessons aren't particularly permanent).

DrPetter

I love the graphics, obviously. Jump sound is very soft and sweet on the ears, as opposed to the death sound. Collisions are unforgiving and rather nasty at times. The idea is interesting and could be a lot of fun if the player was faster and more responsive. The current long delay between hitting space and actually jumping away leads to some delicacies with timing and prediction, but it also means that it's often pretty much impossible to get out of a situation. If the jumping had been a lot more zippy, then maybe you could have frantically jumped around back and forth to sneak out of an impending tight spot. I dunno, it might be worth exploring.

jlnr

Not a too bad idea for a minimal game, and would probably have been a favorite if it were complete :)

gustav

Good art and as Hamumu said, it was cool reading about what you where aiming for, good luck in finishing the project!

dgriff

Weird... The grasshopper looks like a skeleton. I like how you can't reach the heart blocks in the first screen. The bad collision system and the lack of scoring made the game not very re-playable. Good job for one of your first games. This was my first 'finished' game, too.

jolle

I like the graphics, but the game isn't fun to me, especially since there's no scoring.

Surrealix

Became impossible in some situations, so was mostly just luck how long I lasted. Good idea though, and graphics were interesting.

philhassey

Really cool look :) I'd like to see this game with a bit more gameplay :)

pansapiens

Pixel art is awesome .. I like the black and white asthetic too. Gameplay fits the minimal theme, and it's basically fun, in a "single minigame from Warioware" kind of way. Sound was decent (although when it comes to reverb, 'less is more' if you are playing a pixelated game). I would have like a a little 'death' animation upon tank collision, but I can see that you ran out of time. Probably worth putting in a few hours more to make a finished minigame (lives, score, "You died" losing sprite).

robot_guy

Nice idea with good monochrome graphics but between the inability to choose the direction of jump, poor collision detection and inability to restart when you died, not really playable.

phren

Nice graphics and the physics are ok, except for the collision detection at times (which is quite unenjoyable). Pretty minimal gameplay, but it could've been nice with levels or a score meter and proper collisions. Pretty nice work, learning new stuff this fast. :)

drZool

I like the style

Wiering

Yet another game using one-button controls! The game looks nice, but becomes very repetitive after a while. There seems to be a small problem with the collision detection (different for left/right).

negativegeforce

sweet retro bw art. one button gameplay. how much more minimal can you get?

saluk

A little too random, I found myself in impossible situations far too often. I liked the graphics and idea though.

HybridMind

as i've said in non-ratings area comments, loved the art style- very well executed. Would have loved to have played this in a more finished state as the idea of only being able to jump introduces some interesting minimal game elements to the strategy (mainly focusing on timing only and pattern recognition of what/where jumping will take you.) Anyway- didn't survive too long on 'tank level' due to odd collision detection code in places. (Seems when tanks 1-tile left of grasshopper, you die)

keeyai

Very impressive for just learning python and pygame. It's a good start, and your extreme expressionism (at least what you were planning) is entertaining. Biggest complaint - no way to restart. Maybe its a bug, but when I die it just sits there, tanks keep falling, and that horrible death noise plays every 10 seconds or so.

SethR

Unfair collision detection! Neat idea.

GBGames

I think you're right. This game has potential, and I love that you tried to get philosophical about it. Even in this minimalist game, there is a message.

mjau

What Hamumu said.

Other games by @devo

★1.94

★2.03

★2.76