Nice concept. I got engrossed for a bit, but fell out of it once I died and practically had to start over. It'd benefit from checkpoints (maybe every time you hit a green point, it sets your spawn?) and a better hitbox on the player's character. You're wider when you jump and the legs at the bottom make platforming a bit difficult.
Nice game, but the controls are a little bit frustrating, the collisions a bit off and the game seems to lag a bit? It's still fun, but I had some problems with it. I'll play some more and get to the end later this week :D
I agree with BtheDestroyer. Checkpoints would have been great! Otherwise the game was pretty engrossing! I felt like the character could collide too easily with the spikes, too. Every now and then I would lose myself because I didn't realize I had died!
Classic platforming is always cool. There's some clever misdirection going on here with how the keys are in different rooms requiring a slightly non-linear approach to the 'levels'.
The collisions are a little imperfect and the controls feel slightly rough and I think when you make a game in this style these are things you really need to have nailed above all else. Pixel perfect collisions and a smoother jump arc would definitely improve things!
This aside there are some slightly awkward areas in the level design. Many seemingly unplanned low ceilings in areas that make jumps particularly unforgiving, but perhaps this was desired. The game also requires a significant amount of backtracking at times and re completing areas you have already passed.
Be careful of instant respawn on death. The benefit of a death animation or brief pause is not just aesthetic, it gives the player a chance to see exactly what mistake they made, whereas if a player just snaps to a respawn point the transition can seem very jarring and confusing, as it takes the player a moment to realize that they died, and how they died.
Overall I think it's a solid use of the theme and all round strong attempt! Gratz on making it!
Such a fun, challenging game. I Included it in part 2 of my Ludum Dare 31 compilation video series, if you would like to check it out :) http://youtu.be/QrqYJieiXWs
Collisions seem a bit screwed and pixels a bit stretched, potentially due to non-power of 2 textures loaded into graphics memory! Makes it not fit through a bunch of places smoothly, and turns badly when it flips (position is right but the sprite is too wide?)
Fun idea over all, the music was nice sitting in the background and set the scene, more audio feedback for stuff happening would be nice but I know how LD goes, haha.
The platforming was a bit obnoxious in place, cant rememeber if it was you gloating in IRC about how trolly it was going to be but I would have preferred less fiddly jumping with the collisions being fucked :)
I love the level design here and how you handled the concept of having everything on one screen. There were some frustrating bits involving block collision--sometimes I'd get stuck on the corners of blocks, and trying to jump straight up through a 1 block gap like on screen 3 was far more difficult than it should have been. Still, this was really delightful!
Its cool to have some cross-level relationships (go back to last stage and ), great concept! The 8 bit music style fit the pixel art quite well. Good job!
Great concept, I really "got it" when I had to go back for the red key on an earlier screen. As others have said checkpoints would have been an improvement but it was fun anyway.
I find it very annoying that people create games with spikes that point upward yet kill you even if you approach them slowly and/or from the side. That makes no sense. You should have used some sort of danger that is velocity and approach angle agnostic like fire or even a ball of spikes.
Also, I'd like to note that I played your game to the end, almost two times. The first one I fell through the part of the screen that says the name of the game, then fell off the borders of the screen and never returned. There was a gap in the ceiling of that part that makes it look like it was done in purpose, which is very annoying. The other one I got to the end and only got a "You win!" text, which is quite a disappointment. I tell you that I played it to the end because one of the reasons I do Ludum Dares is so that people play my game, and I realize many people give up easily and do not finish, even if your game isn't that big. Also, even though this comment may sound slightly harsh, it tells you I actually appreciated your game.
I liked it, however there were collision problems, as well as some other odd behaviors.
I liked the basic concept, however it seemed like the teleport pads were just a drop in replacement for moving to the new place by ladder or just walking. It mostly seemed like this because there wasn't anything stopping you from changing level by walking, dropping or hopping. I did like the basic idea you had, and I enjoyed the trickyness you employed in some of the level design, I just felt like some of the gameplay idea was lost when the importance of the teleport pads was reduced.
Some neat ideas with this one, I liked having to remember keys from previous stages, pretty clever. I like the classical-ish chiptune music. Some iffy platform controls with the collisions and whatnot, but otherwise great.
Comments31
The collisions are a little imperfect and the controls feel slightly rough and I think when you make a game in this style these are things you really need to have nailed above all else. Pixel perfect collisions and a smoother jump arc would definitely improve things!
This aside there are some slightly awkward areas in the level design. Many seemingly unplanned low ceilings in areas that make jumps particularly unforgiving, but perhaps this was desired. The game also requires a significant amount of backtracking at times and re completing areas you have already passed.
Be careful of instant respawn on death. The benefit of a death animation or brief pause is not just aesthetic, it gives the player a chance to see exactly what mistake they made, whereas if a player just snaps to a respawn point the transition can seem very jarring and confusing, as it takes the player a moment to realize that they died, and how they died.
Overall I think it's a solid use of the theme and all round strong attempt! Gratz on making it!
Fun idea over all, the music was nice sitting in the background and set the scene, more audio feedback for stuff happening would be nice but I know how LD goes, haha.
The platforming was a bit obnoxious in place, cant rememeber if it was you gloating in IRC about how trolly it was going to be but I would have preferred less fiddly jumping with the collisions being fucked :)
Still, this was really delightful!
Also, I'd like to note that I played your game to the end, almost two times. The first one I fell through the part of the screen that says the name of the game, then fell off the borders of the screen and never returned. There was a gap in the ceiling of that part that makes it look like it was done in purpose, which is very annoying. The other one I got to the end and only got a "You win!" text, which is quite a disappointment. I tell you that I played it to the end because one of the reasons I do Ludum Dares is so that people play my game, and I realize many people give up easily and do not finish, even if your game isn't that big. Also, even though this comment may sound slightly harsh, it tells you I actually appreciated your game.
http://www.twitch.tv/crefossus/c/5661356
I liked the basic concept, however it seemed like the teleport pads were just a drop in replacement for moving to the new place by ladder or just walking. It mostly seemed like this because there wasn't anything stopping you from changing level by walking, dropping or hopping. I did like the basic idea you had, and I enjoyed the trickyness you employed in some of the level design, I just felt like some of the gameplay idea was lost when the importance of the teleport pads was reduced.