Jeffrey with a Sword

Overall★★★★★★★★★★2.43
Fun★★★★★★★★★★1.96
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.17
Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.48
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.92
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.00
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.26
Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.46
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★87%
Ludum Dare - 35 - Shapeshift

Jeffrey with a Sword

by: ShuddaHaddaLottaFun

Alex Schuster - Game Design, Title Art/Graphics, Music, SFX
Brian Greenwood - Game Design, Programming
Mikhail Delinois - Art/Animation

Jeffrey's life is flashing before his eyes. Collect the anti-aging pills before he grows too old. Good thing he's brought along his family sword to help him out.

Controls:

Left/Right Arrows - Move

Up Arrow - Jump

X - Attack

Let's start by saying we know the controls and animations are really janky. A combination of learning new things and nice weather left us with pushing out a game we aren't super satisfied with, but totally glad we made and got something completed. Our concept for Shapeshift was that as the player got older, their body would transform, changing how fast they move, jump, and how they attacked. Too old and it's harder to move, and then you eventually die of old age. The idea was to carefully collect the anti-aging powerups to float your age in the middle, where you would be the most skilled, and can last the longest to get a higher score (score combo of kills and time). This is not super evident in execution however. I myself (Alex) spent waaaaaaay too much time working on how the title looked... which in retrospect... #NoRegrets, because it's rad looking. But, might have taking time away from the game a bit.

Also, pretty happy with the music. Sound effects, not so much. they should be seperate categories, just sayin.

yadda yadda keywords yadda yadda HTML5 yadda yadda Unity yadda yadda

screenshot
Genres: action
Tools: Unity

Comments29

Le_Sarus19 Apr 2016, 22:39
The sword attacks don't seem to happen half the time, which is a shame since the opening makes this seem badass.
Aaranos
Aaranos21 Apr 2016, 16:24
The sword animation doesn't end until you move. I had to just let the sword sit where they fall to collect kills or risk dying from the attack not working.
Andreas Brandt21 Apr 2016, 18:05
Nice intro hahaha, pretty difficult to control, but good job finish it!
ryjcio
ryjcio21 Apr 2016, 18:08
Yeah, very cool art I see here! But the game is very unbalanced. The animation attach seems to be triggered with delay. It makes exteremly hard task to kill someone with so overweight sword :)

Very nice approach on theme!
arzi21 Apr 2016, 18:46
BIG SWOOOOORD!!!!
mooncalf21 Apr 2016, 20:03
Not a lot of criticism I could level you don't cover in your own comments. Its playable and a great effort. Congrats!
joemid
joemid22 Apr 2016, 00:09
Great effort! I jumped right in and was trying to figure it out- the sword was slow- then i realized i could jump and kill mario-style, then i almost got old- then I read your write-up! P.S. - Those titles are rad!
djfariel23 Apr 2016, 06:04
I also experienced the attack bug.
I found that the sword has a permanently activated hit box, so if you simply let the enemies run into your resting sword, you win, haha.
Riftpoint23 Apr 2016, 16:03
It seems a little confusing, I didn't understand what's going on in the game. I believe that the attack have a bug. The sound and art are really cool, a beautiful pixel art.
gnerkus
gnerkus24 Apr 2016, 07:50
Is Jeff's surname Strifer? Just saying.

I thoroughly enjoyed the music. A few retro sound effects would have made the game more awesome.

The attack controls were a little too slow. I had to move after each attack to perform the next.
tayl1r
tayl1r24 Apr 2016, 12:20
Nice idea, but I cannot attack consistently at all...
marmpa
marmpa24 Apr 2016, 13:14
I liked the game. You could improve the jumping system(I could jump beneath the floors for ever :P).REally nice entry though
goibon24 Apr 2016, 15:30
Someone clearly likes Super Crate Box :P
domrein24 Apr 2016, 15:39
I really like the idea of this game, but the controls are sooooooooo bad. A for effort! Of, and the title screen and music are amazing.
DSSiege11
DSSiege1124 Apr 2016, 16:52
The concept in the description sounds quite cool, too bad the execution isn't that great. You should definitely continue working on it to polish it more :)
LeReveur
LeReveur24 Apr 2016, 18:26
It would be better if the sword behavior linked to age was more obvious (and if it's not, so there is a big bug XD).
Odyssey24 Apr 2016, 19:30
The combat got annoying but at least the title looked good
LinealGames24 Apr 2016, 20:25
I found this to be too difficult because of the delay on the sword swing and not being able to swing multiple times
tomlum
tomlum24 Apr 2016, 21:39
Cool concept, and also, fantastic title haha
okoto26 Apr 2016, 03:19
man, the main mechanic is very buggy ...
toastedgames
toastedgames27 Apr 2016, 15:28
Having issues attacking, the sword doesn't seem to work half the time. Also, getting hit once by an enemy and dying seems to be a bit harsh.
AnaGF27 Apr 2016, 23:49
Graphics and sound are cool! I like the idea too. However, controls are buggy, so it is a bit hard to play.
Rock Eaters
Rock Eaters28 Apr 2016, 23:30
problems with the attack i think or there is something i dont understand
Alphish
Alphish29 Apr 2016, 14:13
Creative concept, but kinda killed by poor mechanics. Just for the record, I've found the most efficient strategy to stand around and do nothing, with a sword lagging behind; enemies would then walk onto the sword themselves and I'd be virtually invincible, if not for the aging.

Graphics are alright, but not stunning. Music works fine, though I haven't heard sound effects.

Next time, you might want to focus on the mechanics rather than title (or at least in-game art player will see 99% of time, rather than a title that player will see only for a bit). ^^'
MintArcade
MintArcade1 May 2016, 08:54
Very innovative approach to the theme! Great fun.
trulyvile3 May 2016, 18:07
Haha you're right, the title screen IS awesome. I do really like the idea of aging as a shapeshift mechanic. Control difficulties aside, the biggest issue I had was that the sword dealt damage without moving so by positioning yourself right you don't even NEED to use controls, just let the bad guys fall onto your sword from both directions!
TheCams4 May 2016, 12:21
Also had this attack bug that made the game a bit unresponsive :(
Nice graphics and nice sounds design though :)
11Schotter8 May 2016, 08:46
growing older for shapeshift is an awesome idea!
davidB
davidB8 May 2016, 19:28
controls react slowly or strangly.

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