NEG [controller req]

Overall★★★★★★★★★★2.95
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.15
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.73
Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.71
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.72
Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.92
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.24
Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.66
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★82%
*REQUIRES CONTROL PAD*

A multiplayer platform fighting game.

I don't intend to add keyboard controls for now. I realise that not everyone will be able to play it so please don't leave a comment just to tell me that you don't own a controller. I don't think requiring a controller is any worse than making a game that only runs on Windows but people don't make such a fuss about that.

A list of supported controllers can be found here: http://www.gallantgames.com/pages/incontrol-supported-controllers

Controls (Xbox controller):

Move: Left Stick
Fire Grapple: Right Stick
Jump: A Button
Dash: X Button
Cancel Grapple: B Button
Retract Grapple: Hold Right Trigger/Bumper
Ball Mode: Hold Left Trigger/Bumper or Hold the X Button

Controls (Playstation controller):

Move: Left Stick
Fire Grapple: Right Stick
Jump: X Button
Dash: Square Button
Cancel Grapple: Circle Button
Retract Grapple: Hold R2/R1 Button
Ball Mode: Hold L2/L1 or Hold the Square Button

There are two game modes:

Battle: The aim of the game is to eliminate the other players. You damage other players by slamming into them as hard as you can while in 'ball mode'. You also take less damage and bounce while in ball mode.

Poison: Each player has been poisoned. Race each other to collect heath pickups and survive for as long as possible. (This mode can be played single player)

Many thanks to Sean Cannock (https://soundcloud.com/thane-1) for supplying the music and most of the sound effects.

There seems to be a small bug in the web player that causes the health bars to flicker sometimes. I'll see what I can do to fix it.

UPDATE:
Added a post jam version with improved menus, improved audio levels, improved physics, extra graphical effects and a new game mode that can be played single player.

*REQUIRES CONTROL PAD*

Comments37

SinclairStrange
SinclairStrange21 Apr 2015, 04:06
I feel the controlling of the characters to be somewhat floaty and stiff. However once me and my friend got used to it, it was a pretty fun and hectic multiplayer game. Pretty good job! :)
CreamyBacon121 Apr 2015, 04:10
Looks good. But I only have a ps3 controller.
catchthefloaty21 Apr 2015, 04:17
Great concept, clean controls. A few too many buttons to learn right away, but I won't rate you down for that.
JoshuaBurrauthor21 Apr 2015, 04:20
Playstation controllers should work fine
catchthefloaty21 Apr 2015, 04:48
hi joshua. you mentioned issues with my game. i uploaded a webplayer edition. please give that a shot.
komjaur21 Apr 2015, 10:56
too bad that i dont have a controller...or friend :D
Tselmek
Tselmek21 Apr 2015, 12:06
Controls clunky at times and unfortunately not playable without someone else. A 1-player mode could be of great value.
thecord21 Apr 2015, 12:11
looks interesting, please add keyboard controls
JoshuaBurrauthor21 Apr 2015, 12:16
There is no point in adding keyboard controls as the game is purely multiplayer and there is no way of having two players on one keyboard. I realise that this isn't a very accessible format but I didn't have any choice (without making a different game entirely).
DesignerNap
DesignerNap21 Apr 2015, 12:23
Really tricky to master but with some time, could be a great multi player battler. good work!
Awpteamoose
Awpteamoose21 Apr 2015, 15:23
Could be fun if the controls were better. It's really hard to do anything if you're new, I imagine you guys are well acquainted with your own controls, but think about others.
sandrohaag21 Apr 2015, 17:40
Please add keyboard controllers.
terpin
terpin21 Apr 2015, 20:55
Thanks for putting work into the control system! A lot of games put more work into style over substance and it's really nice to see that you didn't. Keep going buddy!
scorched
scorched21 Apr 2015, 21:03
Why can't 2 players use one keyboard?? Strange statement. Played so many games like that, also the very common 2 player hot seat pattern is gamepad for player 1 and keyboard for player 2
JoshuaBurrauthor21 Apr 2015, 21:20
Because you need an analog input for the grapple hook (ideally another one for the dashing as well) so each player would need a mouse. It is definitely possible for some games, just not this one. Yes, you could have one on controller and one on keyboard.
SmilingCat21 Apr 2015, 23:06
I have a controller, but only the left analog seems to be working in this game. It's an old USB Thrustmaster so nothing exotic.
ZoneOne222 Apr 2015, 00:52
Nicely done. Style/animations look great, and the grappling hook was fun to play with. I just tried it out alone, but could see it being really crazy/awesome with four people.
nutcrack22 Apr 2015, 09:00
funny game, but please add keyboard support!
JerryLeeLodbrok22 Apr 2015, 16:03
While I understand that it might not be accessible to most without controller, he kinda put that parenthetical in the title. So anyone coming in here acting surprised about that fact is kinda silly.
PachowStudios
PachowStudios22 Apr 2015, 17:31
I think you should still offer keyboard as an option. Most people only have one controller.
Taldius22 Apr 2015, 17:44
The physic is really nice, I love how using the grapple feels, however, it's really hard to damage the other player because they are really small.
Anyway, good job!
Jamezila
Jamezila22 Apr 2015, 18:27
I like how the bodies stay after deaths!

(used 2 360 controllers, worked great. Also, for those with PS4 controllers, you can use a tool to map input to 360)
JoshuaBurrauthor22 Apr 2015, 18:38
PS4 controllers should work automatically. I just tested on OSX and it worked.
CriticalMammal
CriticalMammal22 Apr 2015, 22:16
I checked it out solo to get a feel for the game, couldn't find anyone willing to play atm so I'll just go over what I thought about the mechanics in general.

There's a fair amount of polish to everything, and most actions come across very smoothly without any sort of graphical/mechanical issues. I was mostly surprised by how well the grapple hook mechanic worked, specifically that it would wrap around the corner of an object if it was attached on top.

I think it was also pretty impressive after learning the controls a bit to find how nicely the potential actions play with each other. Like grappling to an object and doing a dash to hurl yourself up on top of it.

I did find the controls somewhat awkward to learn however. They didn't feel very natural to pick up in some aspects. For instance, when I'm grappled to something, I think I may have found it more intuitive to push up on the thumbstick in order to reel myself in (since climbing walls works in kind of a similar way), rather than having to learn another button to do that functionality. It's really more of a thing that comes with lots of playtesting and feedback I'd imagine though, which obviously for a game jam you get little of while working on the game.

Also I found the movement to be somewhat floaty and difficult to maneuver precisely. Even just doing it solo I had a hard time trying to hit the non-moving 2nd player, so I can imagine two players trying to hit each other could be... time consuming unless both are somewhat experienced with the game.

There are lots of good ideas here, and plenty of solid executions of some of the things I've mentioned... but even though the majority of the game is very sleek and polished feeling... I can't help but think that the drawbacks mentioned above hold it back a great deal.

Also, as a side note: I'm not entirely sure why everyone seems to be so put off that the game requires controllers to play. I think that decision allowed extra time to get that control method working really well. If a controller + mouse and keyboard option were added it'd be great for added accessibility... but I don't like all the extra pressure put on the devs to add in mouse+keyboard support when the game isn't really designed to be played that way. We do Ludum Dare to experiment with game creation (and control methods), not to harass people who don't follow those norms.
JumbocactuarX27
JumbocactuarX2723 Apr 2015, 23:09
Controls feel good and the music isn't too bad either. Reminds me of high school days of playing Worms and getting entirely too creative with the ninja rope. :)
ianburnette
ianburnette24 Apr 2015, 01:02
Feels like N+ in multiplayer mode, which is awesome :)
kabutakogames
kabutakogames24 Apr 2015, 09:48
It looks cool - though I found it hard to get two controllers together to play
kirbytails726 Apr 2015, 07:20
Pretty fun. A couple of thoughts:
- Having to switch between buttons for movement and right stick for grappling is cumbersome. Is that deliberate?
- Have you ever played a Worms game? I'm thinking Worms World Party specifically. They do grapple + move + retract/extend on the same stick and jump + release on the same button, and I think that'd work well here. You might also be able to support keyboard that way.
- Wall movement is nice.
Archonthewizard
Archonthewizard6 May 2015, 19:58
Great job working with the time restraint. The game was simple but still a lot of fun. The art and sound were minimalistic but still felt great. Would have been fun to try the multiplayer verion.
tmpxyz
tmpxyz7 May 2015, 04:38
The control is a little hard, but it's fun.
yuigoto
yuigoto7 May 2015, 05:18
This simple, but is fun! :) Controls work like a charm and I liked this "grapple/ball" mechanic! :D

About not accepting keyboard input I can understand. After playing it with a controller, you realize it just wouldn't work with the mouse. And that's not a bad thing, it's like choosing the proper medium to send a message.

The game is quite refined and work on graphics are nicely done. There's also room for improvement, but the game, as is, is quite fun to play! :D
Jasonsumm
Jasonsumm7 May 2015, 10:29
Fun to control and stylish
Crowbeak
Crowbeak7 May 2015, 10:44
I won't rate this because I have no one to play with, but I did check out both compo and post-compo versions and I really love the rope swinging.
siryakko
siryakko7 May 2015, 13:14
Fun once you get over with the frustrating controls. Nice entry :)

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