Game Time Evolution

by jacic
Overall★★★★★★★★★★2.38
Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.46
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.11
Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.17
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.11
Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.20
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.63
Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.40
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★88%
My take on the theme was to show the evolution - the progress - of games. The effect isn't great, as I didn't have time to finish all my ideas (but then, this is Ludum Dare. No surprise), but I'm quite proud of this game.

There is a prologue, which I strongly suggest you watch. This will give the setting and the story. There is also text in some levels, giving the minimum amount of info to play the game. But you really should go through the prologue. It's basically the whole story. Really. Please.

Controls:
Arrows/WAD - move and jump
Space - use Posi (when you have it)
Right/D/Space - advance text

Tips:
-You need to collide with the center of the portal to go to the next level.
-If you don't land on top of the ground, you will pass through it
-You can miss a platform by a few pixels and still 'pull yourself onto it'

(All of these features are by design, not bugs)
Anyway, thanks for playing. I hope you enjoy it! If you play it on Kongregate please rate.

-Made with Actionscript 3 and FlashPunk-

One last challenge: Can you name the systems that go with the controllers in each level?

Genres: action

Comments27

danlthemanl27 Aug 2012, 03:32
This game is great. Sure there's a few crazy design features *not bugs*, but I took those bugs as a challenge. I was very much entertained by this awesome game.
thewiseguy9928 Aug 2012, 03:33
Jump was tricky to get but once I got the hang of it no problem. I was hoping to see the character evolve to look like a game from the era I evolved to. Otherwise good entry.
gbellgames
gbellgames28 Aug 2012, 03:38
The controls are buggy! Most of my deaths happened because I pressed up and the character didn't jump!

The evolution theme here is pretty forced.

The level design is good, if there were more levels and the controls were responsive, I could've had more fun with this game.
Jacicauthor28 Aug 2012, 05:26
Yes, the jumping is somewhat broken, but I'm 99.99% sure I've fixed it in the post-compo version, if you want a better playing experience.

The theme is forced. I admit it. If I had time and skills I would have made the graphics slowly improve over the levels.

Thanks for playing :)
gbellgames
gbellgames28 Aug 2012, 20:37
Hope you didn't get the comments in the wrong way :D I actually had fun with the game, I was just annoyed with the broken jump. And I'd like more levels for it :D
Jacicauthor28 Aug 2012, 20:58
gbellgames: Well, I /might/ have another update on the way... ;)
vigrid28 Aug 2012, 21:40
The controls are tricky. A bit too tricky for my taste.
Yapikom29 Aug 2012, 17:06
Would've rated higher if it weren't for the unresponsive jumping. Kinda funny though.
Orni
Orni29 Aug 2012, 21:50
very nice to see that you keep on improving your game as a post-compo version - I'm curious to see how your skills progress and am definitely checking out your future ludum dare games
Jamin
Jamin31 Aug 2012, 03:13
Nice to see that you're working on game physics post-competition. Practice goes a long way!

I like the randomly changing background pattern. And no, I'm afraid I can't name all the systems. Never did own a master system. : )
Jacicauthor31 Aug 2012, 03:53
Thank you for your kind words. :) I really enjoy improving this game, and am glad you like it.
zakchaos31 Aug 2012, 06:42
a great start, Im really looking forward to see how this game evolves!
Josh @ Dreamland
Josh @ Dreamland31 Aug 2012, 21:03
I died 14 times; 11 were due to the jump bug, 2 were due to the lack of delay between respawn and death. One was because the enemies actually contacted me. I liked the theme; evolution of video games. The dialog was a bit cheesy, but overall nice.
codesavage
codesavage2 Sep 2012, 03:33
Despite the simplicity I like the look of the game; you have some nice details on the player model, such as the uncentered position of the hands, having the head and feet be larger than the body, etc. Not being able to jump while moving was pretty frustrating, but I see you fixed that in the post-compo version.

I was a little surprised the levels didn't change as I moved forward through time.
Jacicauthor2 Sep 2012, 18:20
codesavage: Thank you. :) I was planning on having levels slowly look better better and better, but that would require two things: more time, and better art skills. ;)

I'm trying to add something like that in soon.
airdeck
airdeck3 Sep 2012, 03:52
Overall enjoyed the game despite the buggy jumping. I liked the idea of using the posi to pause the enemies, however I wish it were more puzzel-like where you would be required to pause them in certain ways in order to pass (right now it seems like it just makes it easier to get past them but isn't necessary).
Drabiter
Drabiter3 Sep 2012, 14:01
The jump mechanism sometimes failed. Beside that overall this is fun game! :)
shard123
shard1233 Sep 2012, 16:06
I liked this game a lot! The game play was fun but sometimes the mechanics were a little buggy.
kibertoad
kibertoad3 Sep 2012, 21:57
Much more could be done with this idea.
Zelen3d
Zelen3d4 Sep 2012, 02:08
I played the post-compo version, and is the second level after the crumbling blocks possible?
Cake&Code4 Sep 2012, 06:40
The jump controls felt a bit strange...like the physics of the jump was very "floaty", and I felt like it wasn't very responsive sometimes. It made for a strange experience when I was trying to get through the levels. I liked the idea of having a limiting agent on the pause, it really helped make the game more balanced in difficulty.
Jacicauthor4 Sep 2012, 21:36
Zelen3d: It is possible; I've had several people test and beat it. Hint: You /need/ to use the Posi.

Cake&Code: The unresponsiveness was a bug. The jump arc is...odd, I agree. Fortunately it doesn't seem to get in the way of most people.
marudziik
marudziik7 Sep 2012, 15:36
The jumping was already stated before, and that's actually the only real flaw I could point out. Other than that, the gameplay is pretty decent. The post-compo version is much more playable, because of the jump fix. To answer your challenge I had to switch to post-compo version - the systems are, in order of controllers appearing: Atari 2600, NES, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, SNES, Sega Saturn, Playstation. Did I win something? ;P
Jacicauthor7 Sep 2012, 20:16
Very good marudziik! :D You win "you are the first one to complete this challenge!"
Rubsrub
Rubsrub9 Sep 2012, 11:07
This game is bad but gamepads force me finish it :)
galman
galman17 Sep 2012, 13:26
I really like the story of the game!
The challenging controls were actually fun:-) Well Done

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