Don't Mess With Totems

by wine
Overall★★★★★★★★★★4.08
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.66
Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.40
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.82
Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.55
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.95
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★89%
​Two button vertical platformer game. Adventure of a small brave hedgehog who's fearless hunting for his Nut on dangerous growing totem!

Controls:
X or Up- jump, hold to double jump,
Z or M - dash to the opposite side​

Game by Noclip: Aleksey Stepanov - code, Ekaterina Frolova - art
Special thanks for the "SimpleStamp" font by Oleg Stepanov

Made With Unity
Free music by Blue Dot Sessions
--- --- ---

* Thorns
Sorry for the bug with RNG - when you cannot avoid thorns
We played around with different ideas way too long, and simply ran out of time :)

Genres: platformer
Tools: Unity

Comments99

Rnd15 Dec 2015, 02:15
Cool game...
Monsieur.N15 Dec 2015, 02:53
Ok, first it's absolutely pretty, the graphics are really cool (congrats to the graphic artist) and the sound design really follow this atmosphere.

Speaking about atmosphere, I love the way you've mixed a peaceful and a more and more difficult/stressful gameplay.

The gameplay by the way is pretty simple (even if the action to go at the other side of the Totem was cool and needed some practice) but effective. So an other good point!

Nice job comrades, I'll follow your future project with joy! ;)
Yaroslav Kravtsov
Yaroslav Kravtsov15 Dec 2015, 07:42
Visual aesthetic is over awesome. Gameplay is solid and consistent. My best record is 9th totem. Not too much I think. It hard to avoid thorns when they on both sides.
It's amazing, I love the gameplay *and* idea, *and* the control scheme, and of course the graphics, they're SO professional. Bravo, Ekaterina, bravo Aleksey and Alyeg
Pixelfan Games
Pixelfan Games15 Dec 2015, 10:03
i love all. Awesome graphics, nice gameplay, really good job to all :D
anael15 Dec 2015, 10:06
Beautiful, wonderful game! I LOVE it, it's a very good idea, and the art is amazing, it moves super good, it's dynamic, Congrats!!
jsmars
jsmars15 Dec 2015, 10:35
Very nice work, nice graphics and mood and challenge!
gogo19943215 Dec 2015, 10:43
Very cool game, the graphics are amazing! Am I right that it's randomly generated? Because not once did I have the problem that there was no way to continue, thorns on both sides. The slowing time is a bit irritating after the 3th time I think, but whatever. Nice game all around, thanks for making it!
OwT
OwT15 Dec 2015, 12:09
Awesome graphics, it's really beautiful and so colorful! And that music is so nice :) I wanted that nut, I really wanted to give it it to that fuzzy ball, so I was keep playing and playing and... This game is nuts! XD
ManuSaiz
ManuSaiz15 Dec 2015, 12:54
Amazing art and mood! Good job guys
Eingya15 Dec 2015, 12:56
This looks gorgeous! Well Done!

Game is also quite fun!
krashja
krashja15 Dec 2015, 12:57
Nice entry, Sometimes you cannot avoid thorns :(, Very nice effects and graphics! Nice work!
RadStar
RadStar15 Dec 2015, 12:57
So Pretty ! Nice polishd game and cool grph and gameplay, love it!
UgiWithAKnife15 Dec 2015, 12:59
A very Monkey Islandish vibe, I like it very much.
Dege
Dege15 Dec 2015, 13:01
The Graphic is gorgeous and I really love it!
The idea is really nice.
The controls feels not so reactive to me.
There are lose conditions where the player feels that the game is unfair (thorns on both side...)
Janacek15 Dec 2015, 13:04
Pretty game :)
tyrants.not.found.team
tyrants.not.found.team15 Dec 2015, 13:06
Well...yeah...absolutely nothing bad to say or to critique or to improve.
Fantastic visuals, solid gameplay, very polished, very amusing, this can actually be put in a store as-is.
Very very well done!
Slothmachine
Slothmachine15 Dec 2015, 13:08
Wow! I always love it when someone combines gorgeous graphics with simplistic gameplay. Absolutely beautiful!
djfariel15 Dec 2015, 13:09
One of the most unique games I've played so far, a lot of fun. Only two complaints: 1. The controls could be more responsive, and 2. Sometimes the next falling totem has spikes that reach down and kill me before I have a chance to react to the next challenge. Since the game requires fine tuned control, the character controller response needs to be very accurate. Other than that, flawless. A great entry.
limered15 Dec 2015, 13:13
Wow, just wow. Beatiful graphics, challanging, solid gameplay and fun! Nicely done.
DrTeaSpoon
DrTeaSpoon15 Dec 2015, 13:16
So far coolest I've rated (from the 5 previous but still).
winesays
winesaysauthor15 Dec 2015, 13:33
--- --- Tnanks & Thorns --- ---

Great thanks for all your kind words guys!
We can't stop smiling reading new comments :)

Sorry for the bug with RNG - when you cannot avoid thorns.
We played around with different ideas way too long, and simply ran out of time
David Cookie
David Cookie15 Dec 2015, 13:39
Woaw, ok you won! Very professional and mostly fitting the theme of the jam. Graphics and audio are exceptionnal! Could be a Rayman game (with these typos) ^^ Just too bad there's some situations where we can't escape death (stuck by a wall in one side and by thorns on the other side :/). Anyway.. Very well done!
NidzaKornjaca15 Dec 2015, 13:49
This is excellent!
Amazing graphics and simple and fun gameplay.
- Don't quite like the music, effects are cool though.
vidarn
vidarn15 Dec 2015, 13:53
Wow!
So polished, so much fun!
Great job!
Leaghorn15 Dec 2015, 14:11
wow. Thats some serious graphics skill.
Didi
Didi15 Dec 2015, 14:12
Beautiful graphis and sound, I found it a bit hard and don't passed the first 'osbtacle' got 10 totems. Some kind of lag and didnt get able to jump. But overall is awesome!
philipp15 Dec 2015, 14:14
Absolutly stunning art. Gameplay quite simple though
Lo-X
Lo-X15 Dec 2015, 14:16
Okay, at firt, the game is beatiful. But it only gets better once you play :D The game is original and addictive. A really good mood for a really good job!
Riftpoint15 Dec 2015, 14:41
This game is amazing! The art is incredible, as well as the music and sounds. The GameFeel is also very good.
dalbinblue
dalbinblue15 Dec 2015, 15:07
Your game is absolutely beautiful and very funny. The only criticism I have is that the randomly generated nature of the level generates impossible situations, either where there are thorns on both side close enough that you can't swing around the totem without getting hit, or a totem is shifted so that you can only go up one side but there are thorns at the bottom. In the end, the highest I got was 20.
TaylorAnderson15 Dec 2015, 17:12
oh man this was amazing. i have no idea how you made such stunning art in 72 hours, and then made a pretty good (if simple) game on top of that. bravo.
Tuism
Tuism15 Dec 2015, 18:41
On OSX... Downloaded, unRARd into two files, both of them doesn't run :/
Tuism
Tuism15 Dec 2015, 20:41
Off the charts! So pretty! The effects are great! The mechanics are spot on! There's even humour! You've got everything!

I really wanna know if you ever can get to the nut. Because I really feel like I can. Until I realise it was an endless runner.

Sometimes the setup feels really too difficult for the imprecise controls. Sometimes the thorns just end up giving you a small ass gap which basically felt impossible.

The one thing I would really want to see is a bit of button memory, or "forgiveness" on pressing too early. Say I want to jump again right when I land, I have to hit the button EXACTLY THERE or else you'll slide a bit, and if you're jumping right behind a thorn bit, then you're screwed. Many games have this thing where if you press again mid-jump, it'll remember you did that and jump as soon as you land. Fighting games have that especially.

So yeah. SHIP IT! I TOTALLY WANT IT :D
NirabazGAMES
NirabazGAMES15 Dec 2015, 21:21
Very good and interesting game. Nice graphics and gameplay. Very well selected music. Great job!
blackmagic15 Dec 2015, 21:23
Wonderful graphics, the jump mechanic and RNG are harsh.
TijmenTio15 Dec 2015, 21:24
That's a lovely totem. Game felt really adorable, however there isn't much to do, so I didn't play a lot of it! I think the game mostly thrives in graphics and audio.
Kimau
Kimau15 Dec 2015, 21:27
That feels slick, the humour is great spot on for the theme and overall just a fabulous game! Really top notch.
hiki911
hiki91115 Dec 2015, 21:32
like this game, gorgeus graphics, but controls is a little bit uncomfortable (require some space between keys)
Zulgot15 Dec 2015, 21:35
Wow awesome graphics, nice music and pretty challenging - excelent game! :)
fistmaker15 Dec 2015, 21:37
Beautiful Artwork! Good gameplay! Sometimes it wasn't possible to progress. Stuck to the theme well!
Chewie15 Dec 2015, 21:38
Visual are great, colorful and polished.
Controls scheme is easy but I think double jump by holding X isn't the best choice, players are used to double click.
Sometimes obstacles on totems line up in the way that cant be jumped through.

Overall it great looking nice game, good job guys ;)
Tuism
Tuism15 Dec 2015, 21:41
Off the charts! So pretty! The effects are great! The mechanics are spot on! There's even humour! You've got everything!

I really wanna know if you ever can get to the nut. Because I really feel like I can. Until I realise it was an endless runner.

Sometimes the setup feels really too difficult for the imprecise controls. Sometimes the thorns just end up giving you a small ass gap which basically felt impossible.

The one thing I would really want to see is a bit of button memory, or "forgiveness" on pressing too early. Say I want to jump again right when I land, I have to hit the button EXACTLY THERE or else you'll slide a bit, and if you're jumping right behind a thorn bit, then you're screwed. Many games have this thing where if you press again mid-jump, it'll remember you did that and jump as soon as you land. Fighting games have that especially.

So yeah. SHIP IT! I TOTALLY WANT IT :D
Jakob37
Jakob3715 Dec 2015, 21:52
This might be the nicest looking game I've seen this far in this Ludum Dare! Nice atmosphere, and enjoyable game/controls. The difficulty curve didn't work out so well for me though, it was mostly quite easy to jump along, and then suddenly a two-bush-combo appeared on both sides with a tiny distance between which always killed me (I realised now that you mentioned that in the text). I think you have almost all in place here. Some polish on the difficulty curve, and it is ready to market!
ajopart
ajopart15 Dec 2015, 21:52
Great entry ! Amazing art and mood. Some tricky situations come to disturb my sessions : the squirrel falls off the screen if I stop pressing x at the beginning and the game doesn't restart.
Darkflint
Darkflint15 Dec 2015, 21:58
What else can i say what the others didnt already said? Except for: 14!
Galvesmash15 Dec 2015, 22:16
Special effects are awesome and soundtrack very relaxing.
Jeroenimoo0
Jeroenimoo015 Dec 2015, 22:17
Perfect sound/fx combination!
Arowx15 Dec 2015, 22:25
Excellent work.
Imagos Softworks15 Dec 2015, 22:25
Awesome. really fun! Is there an ending? In my dreams there's an ending and I can get past totem block #9 :)
wilsk15 Dec 2015, 22:26
Looks fantastic!
Ithildin
Ithildin15 Dec 2015, 22:28
I love this one, the visuals are just beautiful, and the mechanics are great: simple, they really fit the theme and they're challenging. I also appreciated the humorous touches, congratulations for a solid entry! :D
atrodo
atrodo15 Dec 2015, 22:42
Awesome job, really fun and easy to learn.
nelskj15 Dec 2015, 22:48
Nice game and poor squirrel! Great graphisms and intuitive gameplay.
Pusty
Pusty15 Dec 2015, 22:50
Beautiful! Nice to play! Overall amazing!
scriptorum
scriptorum15 Dec 2015, 22:52
Gorgeous game. My best was 35, but I had a lucky string of totems. The ZX keys cramped up my hand pretty quick, putting the keys on opposite sides would help. Nice job!
Jishenaz
Jishenaz15 Dec 2015, 23:38
Wonderful game! Had a very cozy atmosphere to it.

On occasion, I find a shifted edge of the totem above me too hard to jump over, but I can't warp to the other side because there are spikes there. This is fortunately very occasional, and I otherwise really enjoyed this game!
tgrehawi
tgrehawi15 Dec 2015, 23:40
Very beautiful game! It seems a bit broken though, Around 6 or 7 I always seem to get a vine I can't avoid.. If you fix that bug you'd have a perfect game!
Soron
Soron15 Dec 2015, 23:58
Absolutely beautiful graphics. I am impressed.
GwakamoleStudio16 Dec 2015, 00:43
Really love this graphic style.
The gameplay is effective but some jump distance are not intuitive and some thorns are totaly unfair :(
The music is really cool and relaxing, good point in a scoring die and retry game :p
Good job ;)
SaintHeiser16 Dec 2015, 01:33
Very good entry! Game is pretty well made, nusic and visuals are awesome! Game mechanic looking good but doublejump has strange behavior, I can't perform it when I want. Maybe this issue because of WebGl version. I'll check it out later with win executable =)
Big Green Pillow ft Mgaia
Big Green Pillow ft Mgaia16 Dec 2015, 01:49
I Love this!

The artwork is amazing, and it has those little details (like how the camera gently rocks sideways) that add so much character. Skull for game over is also a very clever solution!

As far as gameplay goes, I think you could make things a little more agile. It's not bad at all, but maybe if I could cover a totem-face thing in like two jumps I would be forced to make meaningful decisions more often. Also, I'd test double tapping X to double jump, instead of holding.

Overall, beautiful entry! Good job :3
jdoughty16 Dec 2015, 03:14
Very nice! Very Pretty, and the game play is that right mix of simple and fun!
_HopFrog16 Dec 2015, 05:27
Very well polished! Loved it!
Warboys16 Dec 2015, 09:29
Beautiful with some great feedback for the SLAMdown! Not a tremendous fan of the gameplay, although I didn't realize you could double jump until I just read the controls here :P I was about to comment that some of the generated obstacles are impossible to pass, but I suppose a double jump would have made it ok.

It felt like there was pretty much no pressure at times to advance up when I got stuck trying to jump a ridge, so I could just take my time and spam jump without any consequences.
Tipyx
Tipyx16 Dec 2015, 10:57
Very beautiful, effective gameplay, but the random sometimes force you to loose :/
metalchouchen16 Dec 2015, 12:39
Really nice art but the gameplay looks to be a bit too much random for me.

Congrats!
Farelle16 Dec 2015, 12:39
I think this is the first game where I have like nothing to say...really...it's just awesome, can't believe this was made within a ludum dare :D
Tapehead
Tapehead16 Dec 2015, 18:27
it's a very cool game. controls works great, it's challenging, beautiful graphics and a cool idea of the whole setting
cynicalmonkey16 Dec 2015, 19:50
i absolutely love the look of the game, the colours set such a great tone
Manu & Wan
Manu & Wan17 Dec 2015, 08:09
A really cool game with nice graphics ;)
alpha_rat17 Dec 2015, 11:38
Really good entry! I love the visuals
bloomingbuds17 Dec 2015, 15:44
Really pretty and fun. I enjoyed it.
Gamepopper
Gamepopper17 Dec 2015, 19:24
That was pretty fun, liked the effects and it was hilarious seeing the totem poles just shoot up just as you were about to reach the top. Avoiding the thorns is surprisingly tricky but solid gameplay!
Pat AfterMoon
Pat AfterMoon17 Dec 2015, 23:16
Very nice graphics and mood. The control scheme works well.
I like the big skull when you die.
jim3wg
jim3wg17 Dec 2015, 23:46
Very Nice game very polished, but some times there is no way to continue due to the way things are stacked and the opposite side is blocked by spikes
pjimmy
pjimmy18 Dec 2015, 01:52
perfect, especially the designs, superb! beautiful game :D
mike.cullingham18 Dec 2015, 05:38
Gorgeous graphics, and excellent incorporation of both themes. Definitely one of my favourites.
theholychicken18 Dec 2015, 07:45
Gorgeous! And the tiny fur ball thingey is so cute and hilarious!
The random totem generation wouldn't be hard to fix at all, and bug fixes after the 72 hours is allowed in the rules if I remember correctly.
YoungHorses
YoungHorses18 Dec 2015, 17:15
Simple, nice to play, and with some fun character/humor.
zguerrero18 Dec 2015, 18:49
Nice little game, graphics are great, sound design and music to! easy and fun to play!
inbetweengames
inbetweengames19 Dec 2015, 03:45
Absolutely stunning graphics and great audio!
Gameplay is simple but works for most of the time.. apart from these unfair "dead end" moments - when you're not able to pass the thorns (i.e. they're growing on both opposite sides, one only slightly higher than the other). Would be great to have some rules there - allowing a player to pass obstacles. Maybe thorns could stick out more? (color -wise).

But all in all extremely polished, beautiful entry. Thank you! :)
scorched
scorched19 Dec 2015, 17:31
Pity that you lose eventually due to thorns placement... Liked the game!
Ganilder19 Dec 2015, 18:39
The game doesn´t work on Mac. Fix soon?
Tselmek
Tselmek20 Dec 2015, 11:25
Amazing graphics and audio. The jump mechanic feels a little clunky at times. Great job nonetheless.
Miltage
Miltage20 Dec 2015, 11:43
Gorgeous game. Loved the slow down effect when new totems appeared sometimes. Couldn't figure out what I was supposed to be though.
Joror
Joror20 Dec 2015, 17:08
Very nice graphics and jump / screenshake feel! The mechanics itself are nice, but a bit simple - maybe a few more variations would have been nice (powerups? slimey totems?)
Patomkin
Patomkin21 Dec 2015, 09:17
Fits both themes, is fun and pretty. Amazing game!
Drauthius
Drauthius22 Dec 2015, 11:32
Nice entry. Very cute and funny. The Windows download is missing a .zip extension, and had two .exe files in it.
Ludipe
Ludipe22 Dec 2015, 22:30
Hey! Great game! Gameplay was superpolished and art looked awesome. Can't say much more.

Good job! :)
AndreasL
AndreasL23 Dec 2015, 16:55
The graphics are really really cool. Probably the best I've seen in a Ludum Dare entry.
I would have loved to keep playing if not for a couple of things gameplay wise. I was not a huge fan of the hold to double jump. It feels unnatural. I would much rather prefer to press the button twice to double jump.

Also the slow motion was really annoying. It interrupted my flow as I didn't know when the game was gonna slow down and when it wasn't.

Solid entry! Good job!
crazya0223 Dec 2015, 17:49
*SLAM*

Oh! Come On

I made it to 30. Love the visuals and the juxtaposition of peaceful aesthetic with hectic gameplay. Sometimes a thorn slams down when I'm already in midar and unable to react, but otherwise well done!
Dayko27 Dec 2015, 02:03
Awesome graphics and polish ! Maybe gameplay could use a bit more depth though, it was boring quite quickly
Miziziziz29 Dec 2015, 01:39
Very great visuals, wish there was more gameplay to go with it though.
dialogue is a nice touch wishm but there was more, as that would inspire me to play longer
dx0ne
dx0ne30 Dec 2015, 10:43
Absolutely top notch in production values.Everything is super polished.

One thing(aside form RNG) is that it could be better without blocks falling just before you, it's breaking the pace and constant screenshaking is little dizzing after a while.
pixelpotions
pixelpotions4 Jan 2016, 15:15
Awesome! Difficult but fun, I'd like for the double jump to just be an extra tap instead of holding the button.

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