Platform43 - Die to progress!

If someone of you played this on sunday, try it again. we fixed two small bugs which appeared.

Hey there,
I really like the idea of the game. Its simple and makes fun.
The classic mode and an tutorial bring a little more varity into the game :D
The Artwork is so cool It looks so good especially the character, great work!
The music fits very well and gives it a matching mood.
As I died the first time cuz i didnt get over a higher platform, i pressed back to menu and when I started it again, it unfortunetly hanged so I had to restart the game.
But overall its a awesome game, great job and keep the good work up! :dove:
P.S: Excuse my english^^

The concept is really interesting and original. I found it a little hard to control the character. I also was unable for some reason to land on the platforms once they appeared, I always got through them for some reason.

@fullmontis this is the point. You sacrifice yourself. But you can get your life back afterwards by collecting the heart. (Btw I just uplaoded a bugfix as the hearts disappeared too fast)

@poodle-in-need thanks for the review! We did not create most of the graphics as my GFX guy was on holidays. This is why I opted out for graphics.

Oh I see, my mistake! I replayed the game knowing this, and I think my confusion came from the fact that I spawned after the platform I had just created, so I though I was doing something wrong. Overall it is an excellent mechanic, simple and effective, but I think it needs a little balancing since it's really easy to slip off a platform without wanting to.

@fullmontis yes indeed! We changed some of the mechanics. the original version was better but had a problem: if your last platform was too far left you wer instant game over after losing a life.
This is why it's a bit strange now. Unfortunately there was not enough time to build a better mechanic. (I know the jam is not over but I am preparing our last LD game for early access on steam and need lots of time for it)

Oh I definitely understand. I think that with some work it will become a solid game!

@fullmontis Thanks! We plan to make more platforms and some polish and put it on steam if the feedback is positive. But we will chaneg the secrifice-part... That annoys over time...

PSA for anyone unable to jump, set graphics to ultra. the game probably counts frames to send the player upwards, and low settings will yield maximum framerate. For the developer, use void FixedUpdate() this will fix the issue.

@blobo thanks for your hint. Well in fact we are using physics for the jump which shall use FixedUpdate AFAIK.

Can you give me a hint (probably a video) what the issue looks like?

I couldn't get the jump to work, it was jumping just a little with spacebar but not enough to reach any platform, it's a bit confusing. Is this a bug or is it normal?

I used medium graphics settings and jumping seemed to work fine :) This game is very well executed and polished, the highscores were awesome! We seem to have come up with similar mechanics too ;)

@morg someone reported you have to set graphics to ultra on some systems. Will have a look at this later.

Overall a decent idea, but I felt the combat was out of place and just too unfair. The sacrifice mechanic was okay once I got it but I still think it could have been executed better. Good work in general. Fun game and the leaderboard was a nice touch. 4th!

Yep. Definitaly a bug in the Jumping mechanic. I suspect there is some multiplication on the Time.deltaTime where there shouldn't be (which is funny since the usual problem if not making the multiplication where it is required).

Having the settings on Ultra helped... probably too much as I was now able to jump across gaps sometimes. :smile:

Love the graphcs and sounds.

@hilvon our jumps are in fact time based. the jump is calculated by physics engine using a negative gravitation scale. After a fixed amount of (delta)Time the gravity is normalized again.
This "fixed amount" is calculated using the current game speed and a base value.
I think we need to implement jumping the usual way though...

@firesplash-entertainment Hm... So you are using a FixedUpdate? But were you adding up time using Time.deltaTime or Time.fixedDeltaTime? Or were you counting time using just a set number of updates to pass? ((In this case you get the issue if FixedUpdateSteps is different in different quality settings)).

Also this way of implementing jumps is... functional I guess, but usually you use rigidBody.AddForce for adding upward speed, or directly add a vector to velcity...

@hilvon I think I got the issue... the time difference is catched by Time.deltaTime instead of fixedDeltaTime... Guess I should not code that late...

Your game was played on my stream ( https://www.twitch.tv/ursagames/videos ) on the third day of Ludum Dare streams. Thank you for sharing your game with us! You can find the timestamp of when your game was played here: https://goo.gl/N2rkr8

@firesplash-entertainment Hi, I tried to play your game, but unfortunately jumping didn't seem to work. I would still like to play it if you can make it working

I like your interpretation of the sacrifice mechanic. A lot of games have you sacrificing yourself, but in doing so you have to replay a lot of stuff you've already seen where here you're right back into the action. The goal is simple but clear and fun - I managed to climb pretty far in the leaderboards but expect to get stomped off quick as more people play! The aesthetic is cool and charming (I recommend adding a screenshot to your description to let potential players see this better). Controls can get a little frantic but are tight overall. Really nice work!

@jens-steenmetz could you try the new version please? I think we fixed it.

Interesting concept. The jump felt a bit loose for my tastes. I also wasn't fond of having to hit the snowpeople with a melee weapon. Most of my attempts to do so wound up with me landing on top of them. I liked the idea of doing a sacrificial jump to spawn new platforms.

Cool game. I managed to get 105 points eventually :) I did get some cases where the platforms would spawn at places which I think were unreachable given the jumping height, not sure if it's a bug or if I had a way to double jump to get to them. I really liked the art style!

@matank I wonder if maybe the fix made the jump a millimeter too low... Are you talking about normal platforms or sacrifice-spawned ones? 'cause Sacrifice-spawned ones can be placed wrong by the player.

@firesplash-entertainment Oh, I guess I didn't realize the timing of pressing the jump button controls the placement of the sacrificed platforms. That makes sense! Yeah, I just played again and verified - I could always reach the non-sacrifice platforms (as long as I placed the sacrifice ones correctly)

@joshanthony1990 Thanks! Yeah the melee is tricky when you try to do it whil jumping. We noticed that.
Best practice is to land near and hit them or just land near and ignore them. They are just there to make the game a bit harder.

@matank Glad to hear this!
Yes you do even get bonus score for placing the platforms eactly where the effect is. (The actual distance Center of effect Center of platform is used for calculation. You get between 0 and 10 points per spawned platform.

The Effect always indicates the position where the level gen would have spawned it. (Level is "procedural")

@firesplash-entertainment This is what happens when jumping

@jens-steenmetz You tried the bugfixed version? Because this is exactly what happens in the buggy version.

@firesplash-entertainment Yes I tried the fixed version

Nice concept but I am unable to get more then 20 points. Most jumps are impossible to make the jump should be a bit higher.

Cool idea! Nice little game

I am playing the latest version with the bug fix and the spacebar only nudges my character upward very slightly. Due to that, I am unable to play the game or even get any score (highest score was always less than 10) because I cannot jump beyond the 3rd platform. As such, I cannot comment on the gameplay which is a waste as it looks really fun:( Nevertheless, nice graphics and the character even has a little animation and sparkly effects. Cool stuff!

I think we need to rework the jumping mechanism. Currently the "buggy" version seems to be more stable... You just need to run it in "ultra" graphics.

Very interesting idea! I like that you included a classic mode!

Impressive tutorial implementation! I was wracking my brain on how to produce a tutorial in this amount of time, and you guys really nailed it. Nice production quality there.

Unfortunately, that's where the success ended for me. I seem to be one of the victims of the jump not working (even in the post-jumping build). Sad to see an interesting, high-polish game undermined by an unfortunate bug! I'll be checking back to see if you guys manage to fix it. Good luck!

@lanedavis @yyz @alleskapaul @jens-steenmetz @hilvon
You all are affected by this naste bug. If you want to try now, for you the original "buggy" version would be best I think, with graphics set to *ULTRA*.

I will try to have a closer look at it on the weekend to hopefully finally fix it.

@lanedavis What would you say, if I'd tell you it is actually nothing but a screen capture with a bit of narration :laughing:

You can find the whole LD progress on our Twitch channel btw (youtube coming soon)

A really slick entry. Everything well considered and executed. Solid game. Kudos on your splash, something I definitly need to work on!

@arron-fowler thanks for playing :) Hope you didn't encounter the jumping bug!

@firesplash-entertainment If I did I probably put it down to my mall co-ordination

Nice game, but the jump doesn't work properly for me, it's too small, and the game is unplayable... Good graphics and audio though. The game concept is really cool! Congrats :D

@game-mon did you try the "buggy version" with graphics set to ultra? this seems the most stable build at the moment.

@lanedavis @yyz @alleskapaul @jens-steenmetz @hilvon @game-mon

I just uploaded a fixed build. Use the current Windows.zip - I hop it works now. completely changed the way jumps work technically.

It's now fixed, thank you :D Now I can really enjoy the game! Like the way it gets faster and faster. Congrats! :D

@game-mon thanks for re-testing and your feedback. Really appreciate it. Glad the new jump is working :)

Loved the concept!!!

The concept is cool, and I enjoyed the time-warped music, but it felt really jarring to keep getting pulled out of the action every time I had to spawn a platform. Controls were good (although it was possible to scroll the screen too far so that you re-spawned behind the kill zone ---maybe that was part of the challenge?). Good use of theme.

This is a very good platformer with some differences, I liked the gameplay, thanks for your work and good luck in the future)

Meh, a lot of the platforms were impossible. There is a frequent problem where the golden platforms spawn way too low and the next jump is impossible and you loose all of your lives to that.

Hey FiresplashTV! Thanks for submitting your game for me to play on my livestream!

If you'd like to rewatch the playthrough, you can find it here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/346056526?t=02h01m50s

Good luck on your ratings, see you next LD! :D

💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady

https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin

Really interesting take on the theme and the game is really fun to play. The leaderboard is a really nice touch. Good job!

There is a lot of great work. And there is even a tutorial and an online classment (I'm impressed). For the game itself it really works because of the arcade feeling. graphics and sounds are good. Well done!

I liked how polished the game was. The tutorial, gfx, leaderboards... Good job!

Just a hint for the anonymous comment above:
You decide where the platforms spawn by jumping. There is an area around the sparkling effect where you can hit "jump"(Space) to spawn the platform. That is actually part of the challenge.

@sorlok Well that should not happen. You should never spawn more left than about one platform-width right from the left edge (sounds complicated... Look at this graphic (explaination below):

When you are respawned you will always spawn on the last platform you were standing on if it is still valid. If it is not, a random valid platform will be selected.
Platforms are invalidated when their pivot (which is the center) crosses the invalidation line. This causes a no-spawn-zone at the left side of the screen having a width of about one platform.
If your character's pivot crosses the orange "Game Over Line" you are instantly game over, no matter for your remaining lifes.

Thanks for all your comments and votes @illaks @acaral @rodrigo-denubila @elysiagriffin @syrok @sorlok @pelicanodepico

I really appreciate it! Same goes for all the others of course!

I played the jam version, and yeah ran into the dying twice issues you talked about -- shame you couldn't fix that during the compo! But on the whole that didn't bother me all that much.

I felt the jumping and movement was a bit off, it felt a little slow not that responsive? Also there are a lot of jumps that you can almost but not quite make, it's a little frustrating getting really close but keeping dying. Maybe if the jump distance was increased (or even decreased) so that you have less narrow misses it'd improve the feel of the game.

Also, maybe a better way to make the mechanic work would be if you lost a life but landed immediately on the platform, rather than dying and having the game continue to scroll? It was a bit weird having the music reset and everything.

I found it interesting there was a lot around the game like highscores and a decent menu system, but I think the gameplay itself could use a bit more polish, at the moment it's a fairly minimal endless runner without all that much gameplay to it. Still, impressive you could set up the highscores during the competition!

@jezzamon Well depending on which version you played you might have encountered the jumping bug. We noticed this afterwards as it did not affect any of the testers.

The orange platforms are spawned by you. You CAN build a death trap. They do not have a fixed spawn position.

And when it comes to the losing life mechanic: We discussed that on stream. I made it that way as of the theme. I am planning to integrate that game into a minigame compilation later on. There it will be similar to the way you described.

Thanks for your detailed feedback!