Welcome to the Tightrope Theatre! it's showtime and you are the main star, so hop on a unicycle and start performing! Watch out though: The unicycle is hard to control, and the stage keeps getting more and more various traps, err, props, the further in act you get! Tightrope Theatre is not responsible for death or dismemberment.
CONTROLS: Arrow keys or WASD to move and jump M mute music Esc return to stage select.
You can use enter and esc to move in the menus without clicking buttons.
MISC: For Ludum's theme, I went with a theatre setting for my game so it looks like the whole thing takes place on a single stage, with just props changing between curtain calls.
Great job. Super charming art. very smooth. Seems very complete. I was raging at the computer because that was super hard. But that was probably the desired effect. ARGH IT'S SOOO HARD!! Nice job! :D
Very well made classic platformer with some new elements. The 24 levels were very impressive and didn't feel like they were just mass produced, but they actually all had something unique to bring. The difficulty curve was not completely coherent for me, and there were a few times where I felt two levels should have changed places with each other to make it less jumpy (this is being harsh, because the game is very well made). The challenge of the difficulty curve takes on a new meaning when making 24 levels though, compared to just a handful. The additions to classic cookie cutter platformer in terms of the unicycle really works and adds an interesting element to the game. One of my good friends is a tightwire artist and my girlfriend used to be a spotlight operator, so the theme hit very close to home for me :)
Beautiful graphics; simple gameplay; amazing music and sound effects; but i think it does not fit the theme =/ i mean, there are a lot of screens like level selection, initial menu and credits
Hi there. Loads of content even just seeing early levels (I'm bad at platformers which 'keep moving' even with no control inputs... The theatrical presentation is nice, like the sounds and graphics too. Good job!
This was cool game. I enjoyed playing it :) Good job
S
Sheepolution8 Dec 2014, 20:23
Art and audio are really good, as expected from you, as well as the rest of the quality of this game. Maybe a bit generic but you managed to make it fun with all the props. Keep up the good work!
Really amazing game. Definitely spent the longest out of any LD entry on this by far. All I could ask for really in a 48h game. Maybe it could stick a bit closer to the theme though.
Brilliant little game! Good controls (well, its supposed to be tricky) and beautiful presentation. How you made this in the allotted time I will never know.
I was very impressed by your previous entries and was not disappointed by this one. There are wild and wacky Ludum Dare games and there are polished ones, but rarely do the two meet so nicely.
The graphics were great and it was a neat twist on a ordinary platformer. However, I thought it did not meet the theme. If it was "entire game in one scene" then I think you would have had an incredibly creative interpretation.
The game is great, and I guess it on theme, but I feel like its stretching it a little. But the game is very fun and enjoyable, and the graphics are amazing. I did feel that the learning curve was a little sharp, but other than that, probably the best game I've played!
I really really enjoyed this. Unicycle platforming is really a special idea, and you executed it brilliantly. This is just an all around great experience. Side note, I would speed up the curtain transition a bit (it was a bit tedious).
Woaw, this is an incredible entry! Arguably the best I've played so far (except on the theme interpretation). That music is PERFECT, totally fits the game, the graphics are amazing, the gameplay is challenging but rewarding, the pace of the game is excellent due to well thought level design... I can't imagine how this game doesn't end in the top 3 of the Compo results!
Nitpicking suggestion: add somewhere on the screen the number of the current level, so we can now how far from the game ending we are <= helpful fulfill an accomplishement feeling even more.
Somehow, Playing this game brings back fond SNES memories... :)
Beau-ti-ful! Quite challenging but not unfair. I liked the sluggish but predictable controls :) Sound and graphics are also really polished, well done!
Very cute game! Difficulty was spot on, fantastic level design and graphics as per usual. It's insane how you made so many levels in 48 hours and they're all original and challenging. The music really reminded me of Roller Coaster Tycoon for whatever reason, I guess it's the carnival theme.
The only problem I felt was that the tight ropes felt incredibly rigid - it would have been really cool to have them sort of bend to the point of contact when you landed on them, but obviously that would be really hard to do in Stencyl and would kind of demand a custom engine. :P
One small bug: on level 15 I found you can easily win just by dropping right off the start rope. But really, that's the only thing I could find! Excellent work. :)
really polished and well done! pretty much perfect. Though something i did find annoying was that the jump did not do its full height rarely, and one level can be entirely bypassed. Otherwise, well done!
Thanks for your comment :) But wow your game is sooo...I feel I used up all the positive words already on other entries, but you deserve them all. Brilliant interpretation, idea, realization, graphics, gameplay mechanics, sounds, this game has it all! So much fun. We will share it on Twitter. More people should play it :D
I hate when I'm forced to give high rating on pixel-art game. It's such a cheap trick that always works. Everything in this game is at least 4/5 as well.
C
Cake&Code10 Dec 2014, 16:11
Very polished game with nice controls and tons of fun to play! Getting through the stages was awesome because you never knew when the next stage would have a new mechanic to try out. The ramp up in learning was very well done and the platforming felt good.
The best game I played so far. Thank you for this masterpiece. So much different levels, so nice music, sound graphics and use of the theme. A true gem.
Wow, it's impressive what you did in so little time. The game seems pretty polished, it has many levels, and with different challenges. The art is great, and love the idea of the light focus pointing to the end of the level -the end of the show for the character!-. Congrats! Your game is really cool! :)
Alright, very solid game! love the curtains opening and closing. It all feels so polished since every aspect of the game fits in the theme (the theatre theme) and needless to say, you're pixel art is crisp as always :) I kinda missed a climax though and I felt like not all stages' level design were as good. Although there is a lot of content (which is great for48h), maybe less stages with better thought out level design would've made it better. I've seen you do great level design so you could've ;) Also, it reminded me a lot of Penarium, Know it? Anyways cheers, great entry as usual!
I like the art style! The thematic (circus/theatre) is great and creative! The music fits the thematic, what's is great too!
It's a simple game, but creative e solid! Good job!
The game fits the theme? i don't know, i don't even know what who created that theme was thinking about exactly! We can interpret the LD31 theme in a lot of ways, to me the way you did it's a creative way!
Played this on Newgrounds. Could not get past the 3rd level I think cause of the closeness of an obstacle. However, this was VERY well done! Excellent job!
Loved the game, the controls are hard, but it is a good thing. What I think you can do for a better experience, is balance the difficulty curve. Do a better progression, offer an opportunity to learn and master the controls before the real challenge :)
Great game! Love the mechanics, it does feel like tightroping, except... yeah, it doesn't fit the theme! And the music is a bit grating - It's GOOD, just not for a long long time :)
You've balanced the difficulty very well while introducing enough new elements to keep things fresh. Nice. I almost gave up at the last level but somehow my brain adapted.
Very well done game, especially with that many levels for a 48h compo ! First, I thought, just by looking at the pictures without playing the game, that you would have implement a "balance" kind of pendulum mechanic to your unicycle, but when I played I saw how much just that "slippery" physics was doing most of the job and I say this in a good way ;) If this going to release on iphone, I would gladly play it !
Very well done! I think when the unicylclist falls, it would add a lot of "feel" to have a crowd boo or gasp in horror. Likewise, some cheering in addition to the win music would add a lot I think. One nitpick is I wish the restart level curtain transition was a tad quicker. I want to get back to retrying immediately :D Well done overall!
very nice gfx and sounds/music! i disliked the floatiness of the controls at first, but when i got the hang of it really started to feel like i was balancing on a unicycle, with the tapping and all that! Still a tad too frustrating for me, but great job nonetheless!
Congrats on the Newgrounds feature! This is more polished than games that have been worked on for a month. Really blown away by what you've got here, it's super great!
Really love the tightrope mechanics and music! I had no idea it was procedural until I looked up CGMusic, I'll need to keep that in mind for future dares. I'd have liked if the ropes responded a little to the player, but I assume that's a stencyl limitation more than anything. Your game is full of character as always, and the difficulty curve is great for a game of this length. Keep up the good work! :D
Amazing. Normally I loathe games that used loose controls as a mechanic but I played this one to the very end and enjoyed it. I would occasionally encounter a bug where I wouldn't finish the level when I stood on the end platform.
Very fun! The controls were excellent, I never felt cheated by death, despite the intentional sliding due to the unicycle. Really well done experience. If you're planning on continuing development, might I suggest a Rayman-style 'Oooo! Ahhh!' system for particularly tough jumps?
Art and sound are great. The overall amount of quality, polish and content is absolutely astonishing for a compo entry. Some (high-level) criticism: I do suffer a bit of platformer-fatigue. It's probably the most common LD genre and it's getting a bit dusty. The tightrope idea is a nice twist, but impacts gameplay only slightly. Also that movement physics work very different on moving and static ropes is quite irritating. Finally, i get that the idea is that you look at the same stage the whole time while the scenes get set up behind the curtain, but i think it doesn't carry the theme too well. The levels still feel very disconnected from each other, the curtain just like a loading screen. Some connection between gameplay and theme would have been nice. But as i said, that's complaining on a high level, as this is certainly one of the most incredible compo entries.
Brillant graphics and music as always! The game itself isn't very original but really fun to play! It wasn't too hard, though I died a few times because I thought the borders would stop the dude... ^^
extremely polished, although not terribly unique or interesting. Everything felt very tight and responsive, though, and I'm hard pressed to find any serious flaws in this game. One minor gripe I had, however, was that restarting a level felt like it took too long. A slight increase in the speed of the little curtain animation would certainly be a large improvement.
I don't know if the controls just happened to be that hard once you implemented it, or if you did that on purpose... but this is not how I was expecting a monocycle to work, and with those pixel-perfect collisions I felt like I was fighting with the avatar rather than controling it. The levels were pretty well made, but I would have ordered them differently (especially the first few ones) I gave up on level 19
5 star Graphics and Overall! Awesome job! You got so much done in 48 hours, you must have not slept! This is one of my favorite games so far. Definitely top 100, maybe even top 50!
The graphics and music were a delight, I think you've nailed the presentation here! The controls are also super satisfying, but on the moving platforms it seems to get stuck a bit for some reason (I noticed this on level 16). The level design is pretty good, considering the simplicity of the mechanics.
I thought it was a bit too easy for me, none of the levels were much of a challenge. That being said, I wish there was some kind of measurement of how good you're doing (completion time, perhaps), to improve the replayability and make it more interesting.
It's not an innovative game. It's a tried and trusted formula which works very well and is fun to play. It's lacking something unique to make it stand out. Your previous games were also platformers and they're all very fun, but I'd like to see what you would come up with if you leave your comfort zone and tried something new. =)
Pretty fun little game. I like how the unicycle moves without you doing anything and how it is realistically difficult to control. One thing I might have done would be putting physics in for the ropes. Good job.
Iam not going to talk about art, because the guys already told you how cool they are. the great thing about this game is the controls, because it really felt like balancing. once you loose balance its over, it feels like slipping.
I loved it, I would really love to play more levels. I made it to the end no problem.
I loved how the clown always facing one direction, that enhanced the feeling that you are actually trying to balance this thing. not best use of theme in my opinion, but its not bad either.
I also liked how old school the game felt, thank god you did not ruin it by putting 3 stars and collectibles every level, it just wont go with the game. great work over all!
Really solid platformer physics - the unicycle really adds a new dimension to it. Some of the levels are really tricky. My only major gripe with this is, since you're dying so much, the curtain animation takes a little too long and you spend more time watching curtain transitions than you do playing once you get to a certain point. I'd really like to see this turned into something bigger though, perhaps have circuses in different towns and completing one moves you to a different town (with perhaps some UI changes to keep things interesting). Overall, very well polished, nice pixel art, nice music. Good entry.
A really solid and fun game with great graphics. The level design was good and how the introduction of new thing was good. The music was a good fit and it feels really polished. All I'm missing is some kind of sound when jumping.
I would have to agree with what a lot of people, to me it didn't really fit the theme. However I really enjoyed playing it! One comment is I wish the curtain would go a little faster, especially after dying, I just wanted to get up and play again! It's amazing how much art, sound and level design you got in for a compo entry! That is pretty outstanding. :)
I played through all the levels and really enjoyed it. The visuals and music felt nice and fit well together and the controls are smooth. The connection to the theme is a bit weak and I wished it would be more clear that these screen borders have no collision... grrr ;D good job anyway!
Seems so simple yet perfectly executed, like a balancing act ! I love how the controls feels, the level design is excellent. Love the visuals and music too, I think I love everything about this game :D (restart feels a bit long when you die often).
Very nice entry. Trying to give really tough feedback as I know you are a real pro. :)
First of all, the good job with graphics. The levels get more difficult. The idea of the game (or how to win) is marvelously simple and well explained right in the beginning. Perfect amount of "tutorial" if you may. First level is also a great introducer.
My main ideas for improvement would be: - collision accuracy. I wasnt totally sure where the hitcheck occurs. I could go under spikes without getting killed (head/hat touching em) but then hitting a barrel with a feet/wheel killed me. - falling off the cliff: I felt that I should have not felt couple of time right from the edge (of final goal). I guess this again is a something that requires more testing, but I would have liked slightly wider collision area there. (so that I wouldnt fall off) - the bike is pretty good, but not sure if i liked it. Of course unicycle is what unicycle is. Anyhow, it kind of didn't do exactly what I wanted it to do.
A good entry. Very well done. Amazing that you could do this all in just 48 hours.
Wow, that was really great. I really liked the interpretation of the theme, the controls and gameplay mechanics worked very well. Visuals and audio are very nice and the amount of levels is impressive. Amazing job overall!
<b>Content is King!</b> Loved Duke Dashington and love this one too. Its attention to detail, simplistic gameplay yet new mechanics every few levels(and alot more content than duke). Maybe a tad too easy and your social network buttons didnt work for me. Overall my Favorite LD31 so far.
I really enjoyed this game - it was really frustrating, yet fun. I think you nailed the feeling of balancing on a unicycle (as someone who has never ridden a unicycle). I wish there was a litter more leniency on jumping near the edges of the platforms as I found myself falling off the platforms multiple times when I felt that the jump button just wasn't being registered. The graphics were very well done and the music was super thematic. The death sound was a little harsh, but other than that, nice job!
Comments144
did you spent more time in art than coding ?
P.S. I got through every level except the last. The unicycle is exceedingly hard to control on a pixel-perfect scale.
Music - Great!
Gameplay - Cool!
A lot of platformers around here have pretty rough and buggy physics, but this... so smooth and responsive. Great job!
i mean, there are a lot of screens like level selection, initial menu and credits
Good job
Graphics are cute and the game felt polished!
But I'd have really liked if you had to keep moving, and fell when moving really slowly for a while.
Very well done! Couldn't stop until I beat it.
My wife has attempted to play this game for her "Mum plays..." series: http://youtu.be/VKfIMzutXQ8
In fact she may still be playing it now.
Nitpicking suggestion: add somewhere on the screen the number of the current level, so we can now how far from the game ending we are <= helpful fulfill an accomplishement feeling even more.
Somehow, Playing this game brings back fond SNES memories... :)
I used a theater/curtain effect too! (Yours was way better though haha).
The music was very fitting, the animations cute and the mechanics simple but effective.
Nice art and style, I like the burning animation. Nice shortcut in level 15 as well ;-)
Very good entry!
The only problem I felt was that the tight ropes felt incredibly rigid - it would have been really cool to have them sort of bend to the point of contact when you landed on them, but obviously that would be really hard to do in Stencyl and would kind of demand a custom engine. :P
One small bug: on level 15 I found you can easily win just by dropping right off the start rope. But really, that's the only thing I could find! Excellent work. :)
A+++++, would play again :)
Very well made!
Congrats! Your game is really cool! :)
It's a simple game, but creative e solid! Good job!
The game fits the theme? i don't know, i don't even know what who created that theme was thinking about exactly! We can interpret the LD31 theme in a lot of ways, to me the way you did it's a creative way!
What I think you can do for a better experience, is balance the difficulty curve. Do a better progression, offer an opportunity to learn and master the controls before the real challenge :)
Good job <o/
But still damn solid! And so much stuff! WD!
I almost gave up at the last level but somehow my brain adapted.
The concept is incredible and all fits together nicely.
One minor gripe I had, however, was that restarting a level felt like it took too long. A slight increase in the speed of the little curtain animation would certainly be a large improvement.
Another beautiful and awesome game! shut up and take my ratings
One of the best!
"Sluggish" controls felt great and matched perfectly the theme of the game.
The levels were pretty well made, but I would have ordered them differently (especially the first few ones)
I gave up on level 19
I thought it was a bit too easy for me, none of the levels were much of a challenge. That being said, I wish there was some kind of measurement of how good you're doing (completion time, perhaps), to improve the replayability and make it more interesting.
It's not an innovative game. It's a tried and trusted formula which works very well and is fun to play. It's lacking something unique to make it stand out. Your previous games were also platformers and they're all very fun, but I'd like to see what you would come up with if you leave your comfort zone and tried something new. =)
good levels, good difficulty curve (the last level take me a while...). I love this horrible inertia...
the great thing about this game is the controls, because it really felt like balancing. once you loose balance its over, it feels like slipping.
I loved it, I would really love to play more levels. I made it to the end no problem.
I loved how the clown always facing one direction, that enhanced the feeling that you are actually trying to balance this thing.
not best use of theme in my opinion, but its not bad either.
I also liked how old school the game felt, thank god you did not ruin it by putting 3 stars and collectibles every level, it just wont go with the game. great work over all!
Congratulations sir !
I would have to agree with what a lot of people, to me it didn't really fit the theme. However I really enjoyed playing it! One comment is I wish the curtain would go a little faster, especially after dying, I just wanted to get up and play again! It's amazing how much art, sound and level design you got in for a compo entry! That is pretty outstanding. :)
It's no biggie though, it did ramp up in challenge which is a great thing if you're a level designer, as it means you've done the right thing.
First of all, the good job with graphics. The levels get more difficult. The idea of the game (or how to win) is marvelously simple and well explained right in the beginning. Perfect amount of "tutorial" if you may. First level is also a great introducer.
My main ideas for improvement would be:
- collision accuracy. I wasnt totally sure where the hitcheck occurs. I could go under spikes without getting killed (head/hat touching em) but then hitting a barrel with a feet/wheel killed me.
- falling off the cliff: I felt that I should have not felt couple of time right from the edge (of final goal). I guess this again is a something that requires more testing, but I would have liked slightly wider collision area there. (so that I wouldnt fall off)
- the bike is pretty good, but not sure if i liked it. Of course unicycle is what unicycle is. Anyhow, it kind of didn't do exactly what I wanted it to do.
A good entry. Very well done. Amazing that you could do this all in just 48 hours.
Loved Duke Dashington and love this one too. Its attention to detail, simplistic gameplay yet new mechanics every few levels(and alot more content than duke). Maybe a tad too easy and your social network buttons didnt work for me. Overall my Favorite LD31 so far.