Beneath the surface of Life

by ab200
Overall★★★★★★★★★★2.49
Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.37
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.07
Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.72
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.63
Audio★★★★★★★★★★1.65
Humor★★★★★★★★★★1.88
Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.59
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★81%
Game is some kind of metroidvania if man can make metroidvania in 48 hours.

Main protagonist is killed man. Love of his sister was so strong that he hasn't die completely. He went astray to some sort of hell, deep beneath the surface of earth. There, he have to defeat death himself to retrieve his life.

Sorry for lame boss fight and starting screen, but I haven't enough time to fix it.

Controls:
z - jump
x - use item
c - change item

I's my first real LD. Before it i have taken part in Sharkjam (MiniLD#46), but it was mini in fact. This game is much better.

Have fun.

-=EDIT=-

I added Windows version in which you can change controls if you don't like standard.

-=EDIT=-

Thanks for feedback. I just have fixed jumping - now you can't jump so high, but you should see platform on which you want to jump. I also added animation of taking hit according to your advice, and put on map several bottles with life potion more.

Added alternative controls if you hate standard:
space - use item
right alt - jump
right shift - change item

Link to new post-compo version: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/232505117/BtsoL%20post-LD/BtsoL%20post-LD.html

Comments18

lief28 Apr 2014, 11:50
Good job. Back in the day that wall grab/climb thing would have been advanced stuff...

The jump seemed a little overpowered.

Nice feel to the controls apart from that and a good bit of slashing fun.
RikardKarlsen28 Apr 2014, 11:58
For me the controls was a little confusing. I always forgot which of the three I needed to press to to things. I t'd be easies if jump was UP or SPACE or something.

Other than that a nice game idea!
Tuism
Tuism28 Apr 2014, 16:45
An interesting collection of ideas, I think overall the game is just a bit unbalanced - the jump is powerful but I can't see where I'm going, the attacks don't feel meaty enough, lack of feedback on getting hit/hitting... But I really like the health system, the climbing... Yeah there's a lot of systems in there, they just aren't fine tuned enough.

Oh the key mapping is tough to play with. I've never understood how games are mapped there so popularly XD
icereci
icereci28 Apr 2014, 19:14
TIL we don't wear pants on hell :) GJ
Reinkout28 Apr 2014, 19:17
The health system is great!
Kragnir28 Apr 2014, 19:32
Lots of nice ideas in this game. The jumping is a bit poorly planned a few landing on platforms you can't see is fine but here it is pretty much every jump. With the kind of combat system that seems to be intended things deal damage too fast.
daandruff29 Apr 2014, 12:23
To much leap of faith and a bit to fast to feel that you are in control of whats happening. But nice first LD-game!
Clinthoney29 Apr 2014, 12:26
Overall looks great but I wish there would be some sounds as well as controls that make a bit more since (For example change z to space) because its best to keep the controls most games use. Still love the game!
Liens
Liens29 Apr 2014, 12:32
Loved the Doom style health meter.
SFBTom
SFBTom29 Apr 2014, 12:39
Controls were hard, but I love that wall jump/slide, and there's a good amount of stuff to see here!
Mekuri29 Apr 2014, 18:13
Nice game for a first entry! - I found myself jumping and climbing around, more than fighting. The controls (keybindings - webplayer) was weird to say the least. Since you can climb, I don't see why the jump power have to be so crazy :P - The graphics were nice :-)
rylgh29 Apr 2014, 21:53
good job! nice feeling attacks and platforming, cool minimal HUD system
Oddly Shaped Pixels
Oddly Shaped Pixels1 May 2014, 10:36
Some nice ideas, feels like Prince of Persia meets Wolverine.
IT's quite hard but the wall jump mechanic is enough fun to keep you busy!
Nice first entry!
BlazingFanfish
BlazingFanfish4 May 2014, 11:48
Nice mechanics. But I'm not sure what to do. Some direction or arrow like pointer to show the objective might helps. :)
alvivar11 May 2014, 16:11
Nice first Ludum Dare! I like the mood of the game.

Things to improve:

+ More tuning/polish on controls and collisions
+ Sound Fx (https://freesound.org)

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