A short platformer game we made. First time participating in Ludum Dare and we are very happy with the result. We are looking to get some feedback as we are new to making games. Hope you enjoy.
Play at itch.io : https://redwing646.itch.io/cell . Download link for exe is also at the itch.io site. If the webGL version doesnt work well for you there is an executable attached as well. The executable is the better experience for the game.
Controls: A + D to move. Space to jump. Left click or Ctrl to shoot. Hold Space to fly. X to interact. Esc to close game.
Programmer: Austin Leach
Art: Maxwell Schwartz
Music: Noah Wise
Edit: added left click to sprite in game that shows instructions for shooting because of ctrl having issues with web browsers.
Keep up the good work dude. I really like the sound effects especially when you collect objects. I also like the animated sprites used, one suggestion would be to add checkpoints often because i am really bad at platformers and it would help a lot rather than starting from the beginning every time :smile:
Cool game, guys... First of all, you should add the link to play the game, in the specific area for that. Some people don't check the description, and go straight to the links, and also there's some tools which index the links.
About the game
I really like it... I had some problems when I press jump while I'm moving forward, seems like that sometimes the key don't get processed.
Also, would be nice to have checkpoints when you get new "powers"... Is very frustrating when you're very advanced, and die... And have to start from the black blob thing.. =)
The character design is cool, I like how modular-looking the upgrades are (like "glue this bit onto yourself"). The level backgrounds were a bit placeholder and didn't really match the character aesthetics but hey, it's a jam :) .
I thought the sound design was really strong, I liked the effects and background music a lot :thumbsup:
Very interesting approach to the whole there! Love the progression and the character is neat. Controls a bit hard when in the air - some more snappiness there would make the game even better. Well done!
Hey this is pretty good for your first LD. Great job adding new layers to the music as the player gets new abilities. The controls could use some tightening and the flying in particular was really difficult. But overall good job!
Level design was surprisingly well done, the 'huh?' moment at the door after the gun was great. Camera zooming back to the start when you die is headache-inducing. Had to give up at the wings, the controls are just far too floaty for that space. Oh, and the second moving platform in the first area doesn't seem to always let you jump.
Fun platformer! It was pretty difficult once you got to the spikes due to the weird controls. I would've put jump as a different button than space in this instance due to it needing to be really precise. Love the audio and graphics, and the gameplay was much better than I had expected. Good job on this :)
@ketura@appix@jake-bekker@ljfmx I wish that I had some more time and understanding of Unity to really get the controls how I wanted them to feel for the flying. I did make the section easier than it was in the beginning, but judging the feedback it was still to difficult. Thanks for playing anyways and I will look and see how I can make it better.
Really nice game! Loved the graphics, audio, and interesting take on the theme. The only suggestion I have is to not restart the music when you die, dying often really made me notice it and it started to distract me a bit. Not sure how easy it would be from a coding perspective.
Regardless, I really enjoyed this game! Good luck in the ratings.
@mildmelon I did try and fix that but I implemented the checkpoint system in the last hour of the jam from early feedback so I didnt get it exactly how I wanted it. Appreciate the feedback.
The first time I tried the WebGL version it didn't work. The second time, it worked after I switched to fullscreen. Not sure if that will help other players.
The controls could use some work. I got comfortable with my left hand on WASD as usual, and right hand on space to jump, but when left-ctrl had to be used to shoot I had to awkwardly readjust. If right-ctrl would be accepted to, it'd be easier for two-handed play.
Aside from that I liked it. The concept of having to evolve to gain new abilities is really cool. The music was pretty good.
@shaolin-dave thanks for the feedback on the webgl. I made sure to have an exe in case that happened since 1 of our testing computers was having issues with it. The control feedback is noted and i hope in the next game to have some way for custom contols. Thanks for playing.
It's funny, we have talked a lot about this game story and finally we did something completely different. The game is fluent until the wings, I didn't succeed to finish the level. Maybe the music should be less repetitive.
Fun game! Would be great if the right ctrl key would also work for shooting. I prefer to play with WSAD and with my keaboard layout it was kinda impossible to reach the left ctrl key as well. Wasn't a big deal just switched to arrow keys but might be neat to be added in at some time.
Love upgrading my demon and seeing how he changes! Great design, but the physics/player control could've used a bit of work for that "feel-good"-ness. Lot's of potential here!
Cool game, I liked the weird character. Having ctrl as the shoot button in a web game is... not the best idea, as there are several shortcuts (ctrl-D, ctrl-W) in most browsers. The sfx were simple but good.
This game definitely fit the theme, and the audio and graphics were really good! The creepy atmosphere fit well with the design of the character! Overall, this is a very entertaining experience and a really good jam entry!
I really enjoyed this game! I think my only complaint would be it felt like the movement was a bit overly responsive in a way. Like i would tap space and it would last a lot longer than i actually hit it for.
Nice work. Was the adaptive audio for the music? Really impressive addition for a game jam entry. Only feedback is I think the graphics were a little inconsistent in style like if you're going to illustrate the character you might as well also illustrate a box to be the tiles that you're gonna place everywhere to keep the whole game aesthetically consistent. It's also not super time consuming to take an extra 2 minutes to draw a simple box tile for your game and I think it would add a lot. Great entry!
@adam-konig We focused on getting the character done and just ran out of time in the end. I wish we were able to have made a better tileset and background, but c'est la vie. And the adaptive audio was for the music. Thanks for playing.
Great work, and congrats on your group's first LD submission! I really liked how new music layers were introduced as new mechanics were introduced. It allowed for a nice, cohesive sense of progression. The platforming was pretty difficult at first, but I enjoyed it altogether.
Nice! I continuously build up over time while playing. You really captured the core essence of the theme for this Ludum Dare and it's really fun! Good job!
This was super tough, but I'm glad I stuck it out. The ending was super neat. The gameplay was interesting on the whole, and I liked that challenges got progressively more complicated as you obtained powers. The audio and graphics served their purpose pretty well and generally fit pretty well into the piece. One point of criticism is that I felt the flying was a little too tough due to the delay between pressing space and getting some feedback. If you were dead-set on the floaty, delayed flying I think it would've helped to make the animation for it a little snappier in order to let the player know that their input was doing something.
The last part with the spikes is pretty hard, I would've put another checkpoint somewhere around the wings and the crown. It was pretty fun though, after multiple tries, I finally reached the crown and that was satisfying ^^ Especially for a first entry, that's pretty good, keep it up !
Nice tie-in with the theme! I like the style as well, it sets a fun tone with the music and art. The progressive music is a nice touch. I think a bit of extra audio could have added a nice "punch" to the game, like a small wing flap noise or a splat for when your fish bullets (?) hit something. Honestly I wasn't too put off by the flying mechanic, rather I think the level design was just a bit too brutal right after you get the wings and for the flying portions in general. I didn't have too much of a problem until the second spike corridor with the target at the end. With a little more space I think it would have been fine. Nice entry, it was really enjoyable!
If you keep on it, this could be smth great - I liked the character art and the idea of starting with a shadow and getting upgrades on the way. Maybe it could be a little less linear. As i said, with some polish and more intriguing level design this could be smth great!
Well done guys, Im really digging the art. my criticisms would come from the floaty nature of the movement. I would suggest for a precision platformer you have to get those controls to feel responsive and floaty gravity does feel confident. but overall Well Done
Thanks for the checkpoint system, I'm really bad at those games ^^ Really good first entry! The movement could be a bit snappier but I like the evolving idea and the growing difficulty.
a very nice game with an unexpected endings the controls are just a little unresponsive and the music doesn't fit but everything else is perfect: bizzare art, nice sound affects (other than music), fun gameplay. Keep up the good work!
Cool game. I like how music changes with upgrades. The game needs more polish tho. Art is fine; not great in my opinion but does a good enough job. The movements needs some improvement. Try making the movements more firm and it will be a better platformer.
Good concept on building platformer mechanics when player progresses. Player starts as a black blob and turns into this demon-like red cell. I like the idea of metamorphosis. Maybe it could have been used to more extend.
I found that the first checkpoint on the wings was well placed. After that I would have placed another checkpoint closer by.
Dynamic music was pretty nicely done. Picking up upgrades trigger more intense music loop. Mechanics like jumping and flying could have used some sound effect.
Graphics are functional. Everything is clear and use of color is well thought off. All the important things in the game use red.
Press D to go right and Control to shoot. Control+D favorites the page on firefox, was this intentional? :rofl: Flight felt a bit unresponsive, though this is not a bad thing it just took me longer to get good at it. Dying so easily makes you wanna go through the game faster, and going faster will only kill you more often so yeah, it is a game that forces you to play how it was planned and respect its mechanics. I loved that I could shoot the lasers, found that by mistake but loved it anyway. Clever level design, good game overall!
@hcursino the ctrl d was not intentional. The game was designed with an exe in mind at first and then was converted to webgl for submission. Thats why there is also left click to shoot. Thanks for the feedback and thanks for playing.
Comments58
First of all, you should add the link to play the game, in the specific area for that.
Some people don't check the description, and go straight to the links, and also there's some tools which index the links.
About the game
I really like it... I had some problems when I press jump while I'm moving forward, seems like that sometimes the key don't get processed.
Also, would be nice to have checkpoints when you get new "powers"... Is very frustrating when you're very advanced, and die... And have to start from the black blob thing.. =)
I thought the sound design was really strong, I liked the effects and background music a lot :thumbsup:
Still, competent enough for what it was.
I wish that I had some more time and understanding of Unity to really get the controls how I wanted them to feel for the flying. I did make the section easier than it was in the beginning, but judging the feedback it was still to difficult. Thanks for playing anyways and I will look and see how I can make it better.
Regardless, I really enjoyed this game! Good luck in the ratings.
The controls could use some work. I got comfortable with my left hand on WASD as usual, and right hand on space to jump, but when left-ctrl had to be used to shoot I had to awkwardly readjust. If right-ctrl would be accepted to, it'd be easier for two-handed play.
Aside from that I liked it. The concept of having to evolve to gain new abilities is really cool. The music was pretty good.
Maybe the music should be less repetitive.
Love upgrading my demon and seeing how he changes! Great design, but the physics/player control could've used a bit of work for that "feel-good"-ness. Lot's of potential here!
Overall though this was a solid entry. Good work!
I found that the first checkpoint on the wings was well placed. After that I would have placed another checkpoint closer by.
Dynamic music was pretty nicely done. Picking up upgrades trigger more intense music loop. Mechanics like jumping and flying could have used some sound effect.
Graphics are functional. Everything is clear and use of color is well thought off. All the important things in the game use red.
Overall good entry. Well done!