Missile Rider

by rylgh
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.51
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.47
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.95
Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.93
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.03
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.12
Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.09
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.05
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★100%
You are a ROCKET-SURFING KILLING MACHINE created by FROG. Destroy the NAVY. Or something along those lines.

<<CONTROLS>>
LEFT and RIGHT to <MOVE>
UP to <ROCKET FEET>
DOWN to <SWEET MISSILE GRAB>

<<INSTRUCTIONS>>
Get GENERIC YELLOW ORBS for <MULTIPLIER BONUS>
Destroy NAVY for <POINTS>

Comments103

Scott McBee17 Dec 2012, 03:44
Damn hard controls, enjoyed it, though.
monomanio
monomanio17 Dec 2012, 03:49
Hah, that was cool. Very hard, but very interesting :)
Zazibar17 Dec 2012, 03:51
Controls are quite difficult, liked the music.
CoffeeOnimal
CoffeeOnimal17 Dec 2012, 03:54
Wow, hard. I like it. I'll come back to this one!
Spierek
Spierek17 Dec 2012, 03:55
Hard to control, but really enjoyable.
sanderman
sanderman17 Dec 2012, 03:57
Which sadist designed those controls? Never mind. It's a great game though. :) Amazing concept.
Freakill17 Dec 2012, 03:57
Wow really difficult controls, took me some tries before undertsanding what was going on hehehe. Nice game though.
Manuel777
Manuel77717 Dec 2012, 05:43
Takes some tries before getting the hang of the gameplay, but after that it gets nicer :)
rylghauthor17 Dec 2012, 06:28
I was having a bug (where the camera wouldn't move with you, and the water seemed more solid than water should be), and it seemed to be caused by... pushing the PLAY button... I have been using the undocumented push-space-to-start method, which doesn't seem to cause the bug.

Anyway, I hope the reason you all thought it was tough wasn't simply because it was broken. It is a very hard game even when it is working correctly! Took out the play button for now.

If the bug still happens for you, I'd be curious to know. Can't seem to get it to happen when I push space to start, and too tired to try to figure out the cause right now!
ParaPup17 Dec 2012, 15:59
Hard but so worth playing ^_^
Slushy17 Dec 2012, 17:26
I had heaps of fun with this!
glbs
glbs17 Dec 2012, 17:39
I just spent HALF AN HOUR on this, trying to get a score higher than two!!! Loved it (first crush on 22 :)
char68
char6817 Dec 2012, 23:04
Such an awesome game, I can hardly believe you made it in just this one weekend :) Controls were difficult to get used to, but in a good way. Once I had them down well enough it was really cool to try out different missile riding tricks. It seems like a rough learning curve, but it's fun even to only get a score of 2. Thanks for that experience!
loren18 Dec 2012, 04:25
This was awesome, played for a while :) Great music loop and physics!
xandy18 Dec 2012, 05:05
hard but fun!
GeorgeBroussard18 Dec 2012, 05:28
Neat idea but I suck at it. I think I killed one ship in 10 tries :) Music was perfect and not annoying and added the experience. Work on the controls, which are very hard, and you have a winning idea? Maybe there are just too many rockets in the air leading to constant collisions (was in my case anyway). In the end it's too easy to fall and die and get frustrated.
dalbinblue
dalbinblue18 Dec 2012, 06:21
Oh my am I bad at this game. I made only one point in all 10 attempts at playing and that was accidental. The game is hard to control and the only thing I seemed to be able to do was boost down into the sea.
Rabbits...
Rabbits...18 Dec 2012, 06:28
I love this game! Can't put it down, good job!
boena18 Dec 2012, 09:24
Really hard! Nice sounds :)
LevelUp18 Dec 2012, 11:37
Fun but incredibly hard
Will Edwards18 Dec 2012, 12:48
What a deliciously simple use of a physics engine!
luke161
luke16118 Dec 2012, 13:53
Looks really promising, great fun, but very hard :p
Slushy18 Dec 2012, 14:12
really enjoyed this , nailed the fun factor for me
tompudding
tompudding18 Dec 2012, 14:38
Easy to grasp, but difficult to master. Awesome work!
MaTX
MaTX18 Dec 2012, 14:40
Super hard, but I loved it.
Good idea and really fun!
Mythalore18 Dec 2012, 15:16
Nicely done, very slick and fun.
rylghauthor18 Dec 2012, 15:33
@Will Edwards: no physics engine :)
CireNeikual18 Dec 2012, 16:24
I like the idea! The controls are a bit difficult, especially since I keep bouncing off the bottom of the rockets.
TijmenTio18 Dec 2012, 16:55
Kept me playing for awhile, but the controls are really really hard. And sometimes if felt like the left and right arrow keys send me turning the opposite direction of what would seem logical to me.
raarlac18 Dec 2012, 17:08
I can't even describe how amazing this game is.
Is incredible how you can get a high score in just a few seconds or you can play for long minutes and don't get even a top 10.
Release a iPhone version with accelerometer control, touch to jump, online scores and I would play it forever.
5/5
rylghauthor18 Dec 2012, 17:26
I agree that the controls are a bit unintuitive visually, if you expect that &larr; and &rarr; are going to turn your dude in that *relative* direction. What the controls do is accelerate your guy in that *absolute* direction, so if you're falling down, pressing &uarr; will slow your fall, even though it appears that you're boosting down into the ocean.
rylghauthor18 Dec 2012, 17:27
Sigh, if those arrows are showing up as well for you as they are for me, they were, respectively:
< > ^
rylghauthor18 Dec 2012, 17:38
And thanks very much everyone for your comments! I agree this game is hard as hell... but I'm having fun trying to get to the top of my own leaderboards again, even if I ragequit every five minutes.
ahm99
ahm9918 Dec 2012, 18:49
That was fun! A LOT OF FUN! I'll probably play it again later. I did have trouble getting a score higher than 3, but still fun :)
raarlac18 Dec 2012, 18:54
It would be nice if you could control the speed of the missiles, even if just a little. Like, if you are falling, it boost speed.
rylghauthor18 Dec 2012, 19:04
@raarlac: thanks for the good suggestions!
bwdevel
bwdevel18 Dec 2012, 19:20
Frustrating in a good way.
Flai18 Dec 2012, 20:19
I liked it, but as already mentioned before, controls were a bit difficult/uniniutive
EatenAlive3
EatenAlive318 Dec 2012, 21:10
Loved it! Got a score of 14, as well!

It's really tough...
LTyrosine
LTyrosine18 Dec 2012, 22:47
Best game I played at LD25 so far! Furious gameplay, very challenging and fun
cooper6581
cooper658118 Dec 2012, 22:51
Using firefox here and nothing comes up. Only thing I see is a pink page with a link to "More Games".
rylghauthor18 Dec 2012, 23:01
Weird, just tested on Firefox on OS X. Are you on windows? Can you see if it works in a different browser?
Alex Rose
Alex Rose18 Dec 2012, 23:08
I'm really, really terrible at this game, but it's amazing. Love the controls, love the physics, love the idea, charming graphics, appropriate music - It was great.
mikemacdee
mikemacdee18 Dec 2012, 23:13
damn hard to get the hand of, but funny and awesome as hell.
Mase
Mase19 Dec 2012, 00:13
Really fun concept, effective graphics. I wish the level scrolled infinitely. I was compelled to play it about 15 times, and eventually achieved an impressive high score of 2.
dek
dek19 Dec 2012, 00:57
I liked the unique gameplay and the fact that it is running pretty good! The "messages" are strange but funny!
amassingham19 Dec 2012, 01:18
Fun looking game, but I just couldn't get the hang of the controls, it was quite confusing. Wish I could figure it out!
Faust19 Dec 2012, 02:29
Interesting game with holy hard control!!
GreenPixelDev19 Dec 2012, 05:08
Very challenging! But, once you destroy your first ship, you're compelled to yell "HELL YES! GOT ONE!" Great job and bonus for adding a Leaderboard! :D
bigbadwofl19 Dec 2012, 07:42
Cool idea. Nice and hard and fun to play.
mutuware19 Dec 2012, 09:09
Tough but fun.
jujule19 Dec 2012, 11:13
Oh boy, I didn't manage to score more than 1 point in more than 20 tries but I love it.
I am amazed at the consistency of the work : simple but efficient gameplay, simple but beautiful graphics, simple but funny music and sound fx.
I'll bookmark this one.
Rex Peppers
Rex Peppers19 Dec 2012, 13:43
Really enjoyed it, quite challenging but still fun. The taunting at the high score screen is great...
JaJ
JaJ19 Dec 2012, 13:46
This is a bit too hard to play for me. You get little sense of movement when there is just one missle on the screen and nothing else. It's also not clear where the borders of the playing field are. These things make the game even harder than it already is. I do really like the concept.
wally2069
wally206919 Dec 2012, 17:04
Really tough game but having each play-through give a tip was a very nice touch.
fishbrain
fishbrain19 Dec 2012, 19:20
Very cool but quite hard! A lot of fun to be had here!
dvdking19 Dec 2012, 21:21
Great concept! It requires some adjustments though, but overall it is awesome.
blackmagic19 Dec 2012, 21:28
enjoyable...but hard to control :)
NeverAutomatic
NeverAutomatic19 Dec 2012, 21:50
Very fun and interesting game, but kind of tricky.
nitramgc19 Dec 2012, 22:41
Haha, nice gameplay mechanics.

But the game is freaking hard. My best score is... 1 !

It took me a while to figure out that in fact that increasing the score was not done by exploding missiles between them nor collecting coins... but by destroying ships haha.
cwilloughby20 Dec 2012, 08:00
Very difficult, awesome new idea though! Cool graphics. Great work!
zenmumbler
zenmumbler20 Dec 2012, 11:57
It's like a mix of Contra 3's missile riding boss fight and battleship. Fun idea but too frustrating for me to get into. Good idea and humour.
Gemberkoekje
Gemberkoekje20 Dec 2012, 12:28
Hm, can't install unity on my home comp. I'll try it at home though~!
brantkings20 Dec 2012, 13:30
Prety cool game!

But you should change the controlls, they get inverted when you are upside down (if you are falling upside down, when you turn left, the guys turns right, which happens to be the left side of the screen, but it is impossible to play with this, when you are moving up and you starts getting down, the controlls sudenly change the sides..)
rylghauthor20 Dec 2012, 15:30
@brantkings: try thinking of the controls as MOVING your character, not STEERING him.
raincole20 Dec 2012, 18:20
Very good game. The balancing technic is the best part.
mmorphinee
mmorphinee20 Dec 2012, 19:24
Didn't get how to play unfortunately. My best score is 2 :D
DustyStylus
DustyStylus20 Dec 2012, 22:38
Crikey this is hard, but what a superb concept! Has a cool 16bit feel to it as well.
DrSuperSocks21 Dec 2012, 00:31
Horrible controls, but pretty addicting
zkenshin
zkenshin21 Dec 2012, 17:50
Very difficult but very fun gameplay.
ReveLorenfield21 Dec 2012, 21:49
Damn your game is hard... I tried to be at least it the top score but I failed :(
rinaka21 Dec 2012, 23:35
Nice concept! It takes a while to get used to the controls (particularly moving over the missile to steer and remembering to grab it at the proper times) but it is fun.

As a suggestion, I think it would be helpful to have a more zoomed-out view or some sort of mini map. At times it is hard to know if there are ships or missiles nearby.
illugion
illugion22 Dec 2012, 06:51
This was really cool it had some kind of retro feeling to it, i liked that :D
Smaxx
Smaxx22 Dec 2012, 11:12
Interesting idea, although I agree: It's a tad bit too hard and I blame the controls/physics.
nilstastic22 Dec 2012, 14:07
Good: Excellent difficulty level (developer setting?) and great sound (punch out!).
Improve: a tiiiny bit to hard =) Also no goat.
chribbe1
chribbe122 Dec 2012, 17:25
Awesome. Fun to play and the whole experience is very polished. It's a good challenge though. Maybe it would be a good idea if it started off a bit easier to ease new players into it. Great job!
pereubu23 Dec 2012, 12:03
cmon so fucking hard to play, but i still can't stop xD
Mesene23 Dec 2012, 19:36
>.<

just 2... why I'm so bad?
Fortyseven
Fortyseven24 Dec 2012, 02:13
Love the retro ambiance, and the idea is pretty cool. Controls were a bit touchy, but with some tweaking this might be really fun. :)
Bouyer24 Dec 2012, 06:18
This is extremely awesome! I can't tell you how much fun this is! My only complaint: the ceiling is too low.
lotusgame24 Dec 2012, 17:58
A wall of fame ! Nice !! I had difficulties to understand how to survive and control my moves, but it's really original ! Well done :)
SimianLogic
SimianLogic24 Dec 2012, 21:27
Really really hard, but kinda fun.
matthias_zarzecki25 Dec 2012, 13:02
Fun control-scheme!
Pitoum
Pitoum26 Dec 2012, 09:37
Pretty cool but soooooooo hard!
I like the physic on missile this is a great feature that make the gameplay more fun and interresting!
Sergey Mohov26 Dec 2012, 15:28
This is a true NES-style hardcore game, congrats!
DDRKirby(ISQ)30 Dec 2012, 11:57
What a learning curve! Thought of some ways to make things more straightforward, I'm sure you could too. Nice job otherwise though :)
CappaGames31 Dec 2012, 20:02
Like the controls, adds difficulty and a unique way of playing.
GameRespect
GameRespect1 Jan 2013, 05:52
Fun game. I like the aesthetic, the music, and the sound effects, though it was difficult getting used to the controls.
recursive frog
recursive frog2 Jan 2013, 03:44
I don't think I ever got the hang of these controls, which is a shame because the graphics, sounds, and visual style are all top-notch. It's funny and cute, but I never felt like I could intentionally do anything I wanted to.
rubna6 Jan 2013, 19:46
Very hard, but REALLY fun. Great idea! You should polish it some more and release it on like IOS or something. You'd be VERY rich. I see this being the next jetpack joyride game, but this would actually be fun ;)
ddionisio
ddionisio6 Jan 2013, 21:07
Really hard to get used to the controls...as soon as I jump, all hell breaks loose. It gets more fun as you get a hang of the controls. I like the sound effects of the dialog and a nice music. Props for online score!
leafo
leafo7 Jan 2013, 07:41
This is really challenging in a good way. It's a lot of fun. I was able to get 2 points haha. Great game! Cool idea.
ConflictiveLabs
ConflictiveLabs7 Jan 2013, 19:54
Frustrating but fun!. Controls are a bit hard to master but it's a very innovative entry. Congratz.
Black Ships Fill the Sky
Black Ships Fill the Sky8 Jan 2013, 00:47
I feel like this is too frustratingly hard to be as much fun as its potential.

Just a couple mechanics that favor the player instead of screwing with the player would make this a whole lot more enjoyable. Like being able to jump upwards past missiles instead of being knocking downwards off of them, or explosions from missiles always shooting you at least a little upwards (instead of quite often firing you down at the sea), or a little bit better air control (like whenever you land on a missile you get back all your flying power), or something. I think a couple too many things interfere with the player as it stands, I felt more often than not I would die to no fault of my own.

Maybe just if the start of a game was a little more straight forward and then it ramps up the difficulty/complexity (to the current difficulty) it would feel a bit more satisfying?

Though it's a very cool, very elegant design. I must have tried beating my highscore of six twenty or thirty times.
impulse98 Jan 2013, 01:03
Cool game. Loved the quirky movement and funny sound effects. :)

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