Speed Journey

Overall★★★★★★★★★★2.79
Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.65
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.65
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.12
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.71
Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.73
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.50
Note: You can now press R to replay the game (both in the game and in the game over scene). This is a new feature only in the web version of itch.io, NOT in newgrounds.

Note: the problem with the jump was fixed, thanks everyone for reporting this issue (there was something wrong with my unity GetKeyDown, so I changed it to either that or GetKey)

​Follow Tinky the butterfly in a dreamlike world! In her world, rainbows are not what they seem to be, as they destroy good creatures, including butterflies. Help Tinky collect the magical lights to bring back the goodness in rainbows. Only in the mythical lava lamps can the magical lights be found!

Tinky can run, jump, and fly upwards. She can gain boosts that help her fly further or higher. But beware, not everything is good as it seems to be. The more boosts Tinky has, the worse it is for her to control herself.

2017-12-04 (2).png

There are 4 boosts in the game:

- Green Orb: increase run speed

- Blue Orb: increase jump height

- Yellow Orb: increase fly speed and the height that Tinky can reach when flying

- Pink Orb: increase Tinky's size, make her bigger

Try to stay away from the boosts in your path!

There are currently 4 levels in this game. It will get more difficult in the 3rd and 4th levels, even though level 1 is not that easy at all.

Movements (if you are too lazy to read the instructions in the game):

- Left Arrow, Right Arrow: move horizontally (can move while falling from the sky)

- X: jump upwards (only vertically). Can hold Left Arrow or Right Arrow while jumping to move horizontally.

- Z: fly upwards and also moves horizontally at the same time. Cannot jump or use Left Arrow nor Right Arrow to move while flying, but can use Left Arrow and Right Arrow while falling after flying.

Special button: R - replay (or restart) the level (can be used both in a level scene and in the game over scene).

Words from the developer: This is the first time I participated in Ludum Dare, also the first time I've ever completed a game in such a short amount of time. I did all of the work, but couldn't submit it in time for compo, so I submitted it to the Jam instead. I would really love to see your comments. I used Unity, GIMP 2, Audacity to make this game. For the audio, I had to pitch my voice up really high, from a man's voice to a fairy-ish creature. If you notice any bugs, feel free to comment, so I could improve my codes next time. Ludum Dare 40 is on the weekend before my final week of class as a freshman at college, so I was busy and could have bettered a lot of aspects of my game (i.e. make it easier).

Thank you for playing my game! Good luck on playing my game (it's really hard). Tell me if you get to the first lava lamp (finish the first level).

screenshot

Comments23

Royale With Steez5 Dec 2017, 03:24
the visuals are pretty funny, and I quickly realized that I suck at your game
It would be nice to have some sort of indication of what the orbs do on the menu screen as I was consistently looking back at the description to get a sense of objective, solid game :D
Manan5 Dec 2017, 03:25
This game was really fun to play. My only complaint is that the jump did not work 100% of the time. Other than that, this is great!
mao
mao6 Dec 2017, 05:10
I have yet to beat the first level, but here are my impressions so far.

Stuff I liked:
- Graphics are pretty cute
- Music is nice
- Powerups increase the difficulty in a tough but manageable way
- Creative subversion of typical platforming mechanics

Stuff I didn't like:
- Left/Right controls are weird (tapping left while you have rightwards momentum stops you instantly, for instance)
- Jumping doesn't work half the time, creating unnecessary deaths

If you're making a high-difficulty platformer (or really any platformer), the controls should be spot on. My advice for Unity is to make sure the player's velocity is not affected by the turning animation (perhaps by putting the Rigidbody on an otherwise empty parent of the Sprite), and having a cooldown which allows the player to jump a few frames after leaving the ground.
Kyle Phamauthor6 Dec 2017, 05:49
@mao and @manan Thank you for your comments. I just found out why the jump sometimes does not work. Apparently it still works in my Unity version but does not work in the HTML 5 and the PC versions. The GetKeyDown did not always work so I change it to either GetKeyDown or GetKey and it works perfectly now! If you like to try again, you can play it on NewGrounds with the HTML 5 version. Again, thank you guys so much for pointing the bug out!
Kyle Phamauthor6 Dec 2017, 05:52
@mao I actually did not use RigidBody2D. I made my own version of collisions and RigidBody2D. But I will take your comment and find out what I could do in my game. The jump bug is now fixed (because of the GetKeyDown in Unity)
eric-lathrop
eric-lathrop7 Dec 2017, 04:49
Pretty solid first Ludum Dare game! The controls were responsive, the graphics and sounds were cute and it was fun to try to get further. I'd like to see a way to restart with just the keyboard so I don't have to keep grabbing the mouse when I die.
King Kujito
King Kujito7 Dec 2017, 05:36
If you play the game for more than a minute, the controls are easy to get used to. Was very invested in beating at least one level but couldn't get past the second (I probably could but I gave up). This game is weirdly interesting. The strange music, colorful graphics and punishing gameplay would go great along a very dark/serious story to accompany the levels. It is a difficult platformer I'd be happy to complete if it had something like that. Very well done. I am very interested in this.
LandoSystems
LandoSystems7 Dec 2017, 06:27
This game is super hard, the juxtaposition of that and the visuals is pretty interesting, but it was too tough for me to get far.
justking144
justking1447 Dec 2017, 07:16
Crazy hard game, but definitely beatable after a bit of practice

love the sound
Flaterectomy
Flaterectomy7 Dec 2017, 11:13
A clear concept, but damn this was unforgiving. :smile: I think my biggest gripe, however, isn't the difficulty but the fact that I had to lift my hands off the keyboard to do a mouseclick on [try again] to restart each time. In order to progress (since you cannot clearly see the path ahead sometimes) you *need* to die sometimes so you learn how to jump that gap, and having to change controller each time felt a little frustrating. The hitbox on the rainbow seems a little harsh as well. I'd suggest a hitbox that's actually a little smaller than the rainbow itself, so I as a player am more likely to think "wow, I only *just* made that jump" rather than "oh come on, I didn't even touch it!" :wink:

The art is sickly sweet in palette here and there, but that seems suitable for a rainbow world. The music felt a little creepy in contrast though. I'd have expected something more cheerful.

Good job on delivering your first LD game!
jellycopter
jellycopter7 Dec 2017, 16:26
Fun game! Should've known just collecting everything doesn't help;) As I saw above, fixing the jumping bug for the web version cleaned up movement. I think the looseness added some extra challenge. The graphics are cute, and the music isn't so intrusive. Taking my hands off the keyboard to interact with the menu was a little disengaging. Otherwise, great job!
Elodeon8 Dec 2017, 03:16
I enjoyed the sickly sweet atmosphere, but I wish things has started out a bit slower. I found myself inching along to control the zippyness of the character.
B34k3rM33p
B34k3rM33p8 Dec 2017, 12:30
The html version kept lagging out and then I would suddenly appear somewhere else and die. I get the concept with the collectables though.
Kyle Phamauthor8 Dec 2017, 20:40
@b34k3rm33p can you describe the problem a little bit more clearly? I played the HTML version a lot and have never witnessed this. I don't know if there is any problem with your browser or Internet. Thanks for playing the game though. There is a Windows version so you can download (only 3-6 MB I think) and play on that instead. @b34k3rm33p
B34k3rM33p
B34k3rM33p8 Dec 2017, 23:06
@klye-pham The bug seems to have been fixed. I am not sure what it was but it was as if the scene would miss a few rendered screens.
AVAVT
AVAVT9 Dec 2017, 01:46
Congratulations on your first game jam! It's an achievement of its own to finish a game on your first try.

The game is lovely and the concept is clear (though very punishing).

I think the jump and fly up should use the same or at least similar sound. Right now they're quite different, as if belong to 2 different characters.

There's a bug with the red orb (increase size) that bumps me up when collected, not a big issue but I missed my jump timing some times because of it.

For the design of the game, I think the instruction screen is too cluttered and not necessary:
- You can put the control part (arrows, x, z) at the beginning of the game - for example as clouds resembling those shape or even simply as it is right now. Player can enjoy figuring out what they do by themselves.
- Touch rainbow & die: they can find out by themselves (it's more fun that way teehee)
- Effect of the orbs: you can display them as floating text when the player collect them. That way the information is available to the player immediately when they actually need it. In the current state I always have to re-check the instruction screen to lookup what they do.
- Collect lava lamp to win: also not necessary - they're already begging to be collected :smile:

As for level design, I think the game could be more fun if there's more than 1 path. Maybe if you collect too many orbs you can only go through the upper paths - which is harder. If you avoided collecting too many more options are available to you and you can choose whichever is comfortable to you. It encourage exploration and experiment - 1 less level in the game is no problem if each level is satisfying!
SaraMartins9 Dec 2017, 21:35
Congratulations on finishing a game on your first LD! Something to be really proud of. The visuals are really funny.
I liked the background music but I think it doesn't fit with the whole funny visuals and funny sound effects, so it made me feel conflicted: dark game + funny game.

The jump and the fly didn't really make a difference to me, I used whichever key I pressed first. So maybe try and really differentiate them.

Like the other comments, it was hard to remember what each orb did and having to go back and forth was not ideal.

But overall it was a success for a first game and jam, and all alone! Be proud and don't feel unmotivated, with some improvements your first game jam game can be a cool thing that you will look back to in a few years ;)
frederikja16311 Dec 2017, 10:19
Graphics are pretty good, the mechanics are really good. I like the overall design and feel (including mood) of the game, the controls were a bit weird tho. I had to read the instructions because I couldn't figure out how to jump intuitively
Lucas Ferrantelli
Lucas Ferrantelli11 Dec 2017, 11:01
Nice game dude , thats a cute little entry !
Just a little proposition : make player restart when he is in the menu by pressing enter, because your game is a die & retry, and each time I die, I have take my mouse to click on "restart"...
But anyway, thats a nice game dude ! Gj
Flubz
Flubz13 Dec 2017, 05:07
I overall like the game, especially the game idea with the upgrades but god is it difficult, I can't get past the first level! :sob:

I feel like if the movement was a bit more responsive, I would enjoy the game significantly more. That said, it's a wonderful, cute little game. Well done :clap::innocent:
Cubeeo16 Dec 2017, 07:23
I agree about wanting a way to restart with the keyboard.

I never saw a single lava lamp.

There's a unique look and feel to this game. Why are you opted out of "mood"? - I think you'd get a good rating in the mood category.
Kyle Phamauthor16 Dec 2017, 07:41
@cubeeo the lava lamp is at the end of every level. I guess the first level is a little bit hard to pass (I am kind of bad with level design). But my friends all passed it after 10-20 tries (mostly to get used to the platformer setting).

I initially associated the "mood" category with something that makes you think deeply about. I can change it, but I don't know if I should, because I still feel like humor kind of fits more. And I don't really know if something will happen if I change it days after the submission date.
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