Ever wondered how the heart of your favourite RPG protagonist feels like? Probably not. But if so, you can experience the thrilling adventure of a heart trying to keep its body alive in "Heartventure"!
This is our very first entry in a gamejam. And we are proud of at least finishing the game. We hope you will like our little game!
Let us know in the comments if you found the treasure!
Controls: -N or Left-Arrow-Key: Pull in Blood
-M or Right-Arrow-Key: Pump out Blood
-F: Fullscreen Toggle
-R: Restart Game
-ESC: Close Game
Gameplay:
-Pump Blood through the body of the Hero with oxygen, so he can do heroic things. Like punching pigs and snakes...
-Don't Pump too fast, or your stress meter will deplete completely, which may end in a heart attack
-Don't Pump too slow, if your stress meter is maxed out, you will continually lose life.
-Each successful pump will return oxygen to your body, which in turn will allow you to attack and take less damage.
-Pump just right to gain adrenalin, which will speed you up.
-Don't skip a beat! Stay in rhythm and always follow a pull with a pump. If you pump two times in a row... you may end up with a heart attack.
Tips (Read only if you have problems):
-Try to keep your oxygen levels as high as possible, just before an enemy is about to attack. This way you can tank most of the damage.
-If you are low on oxygen, don't panic. You should be fine if the enemy just attacked. Just be sure to have enough oxygen to attack yourself.
-Try to always end with a pump befor you rest. This way you wont mess up the order of your inputs.
-Try to pump perfectly. High adrenaline levels don't only speed you up, you also heal more hp per pump.
-If you are high on adrenaline, try to pump as slowly as possible. This way the chance that you loose your adrenaline is lower. Less pumps = less possible misspumps!
It took a while to get the rythm, but it's cool once you get it. The pixel art is cool! I also would like the bars to be closer to the action, so you can see both.
The idea to control the heart of a fighter is really cool. However, it felt like even when I played well, I end up dying after 3 or 4 ennemies, which is a bit frustrating. Also, sometimes my input was not taken into account
Really interesting concept, but it is quite hard to manage the heart and we don't feel enough impact of our actions on the fight which is frustrating. Also, the sounds have a too high attack. The graphics are really good. Good job!
This was great! I didn't manage to beat the game, and it wesn't from a lack of trying. I died both from exhaustion, strokes and well, just death by animal, I guess. The artstyle were amazing and gave a very nice mood. Game play was seemingly simple (just two buttons) but involved a lot of strategy, and it fun to watch your hero battle the monsters while trying to keep him alive. I also played around a bit, and had a few good laughs of a hero that died from a stroke or exhaustion before even reaching the first enemy. Sound effects were simply, but they fit very well as well. I loved the concept, and it was a very nice take on the theme! Good job, and thanks for sharing!
Art style is really nicely done. And your birds in the intro fly better than mine, so that gives You a big plus too ;) The heart could be slightly more visible in the chest (colors are blending), but the compo is ruthless and there is often no time for corrections ;) Pretty decent concept. And there are no errors, which is big plus!
Thanks for the feedback guys. Regarding the input problems, there was indeed a little bug which would keep you from pumping as fast as you want. Some inputs were dropped. Now all should be fixed.
I love the mechanics but it's pretty hard ! I can't focus on my health bar and my heart in same time. x) Good arts. Well done ! The concept of the o2 and stress is awesome.
@nurk Yeah it's a little tough at first, i had a hard time balancing the difficulty so it's challenging yet doable. I hope that you at least had a fun time :)
The games definitely innovative, but I think the game needs a little bit more elbow room for miss clicks since they are usually guaranteed run enders. Also the game doesn't really give any feedback for "perfect pumps" so its really hard to tell how it should be done.
@wolfier Thanks for your feedback. There is a perfect pump feedback. But i guess it's way too subtle. I may have messed up there a little. If you pump perfectly, the heart gets 20% bigger then normal, the bubbles around the heart burst out more violently and the adrenaline meter gets filled. But I guess if you don't know how the feedback looks, you won't notice it... Also you are right about the miss clicks. The balancing is a little bit off, although it's still doable. But admittedly as it is, it needs a little too much precision. Our number one priority was to present the concept as good as possible.
Thanks for your honest feedback! I will try to incorporate more noticeable feedback next time.
Interesting idea! I liked the graphics, though I wasn't sure how to beat some of the enemies that took away half the oxygen bar (without overstressing the heart). I also didn't know there were perfect pumps until reading these comments. Overall well done, though!
@ordineu the how to play option on the mainenu explains everything :) Also it's no problem to stress your heart a little. If you look closely you will notice that your stress meter fills backup exponentially. So you could just pump pretty quickly just before running out of stress and take a short rest afterwards. Your stress meter will be back up in no time. But yeah, I should have made the perfect pump more noticeable, even without reading the how to play section.
Hey, thank you for making this game. Maybe a remark, it would be nice if there was an indication for the beat. For example some outline that grows out from the heart that shows you when the alternate the pumping button presses. Very nice ! Liked playing it.
Cool entry! An idle hero with a timing mechanic like a "Pump it Pup" (literally)! There's a lack of music and ambience that would really improve the experience because of the "rhythm like" mechanic, It could work like a metronome to user's timing !
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However, it felt like even when I played well, I end up dying after 3 or 4 ennemies, which is a bit frustrating. Also, sometimes my input was not taken into account
I died both from exhaustion, strokes and well, just death by animal, I guess.
The artstyle were amazing and gave a very nice mood. Game play was seemingly simple (just two buttons) but involved a lot of strategy, and it fun to watch your hero battle the monsters while trying to keep him alive.
I also played around a bit, and had a few good laughs of a hero that died from a stroke or exhaustion before even reaching the first enemy.
Sound effects were simply, but they fit very well as well.
I loved the concept, and it was a very nice take on the theme! Good job, and thanks for sharing!
And there are no errors, which is big plus!
It's a very tight project for the time limit!
Thanks for your honest feedback! I will try to incorporate more noticeable feedback next time.
It was weird at first to see and control the heart of the hero. Anyway, it's indeed an awesome concept and a fun challenge.
Thanks for your feedback :)
Good job!
There's a lack of music and ambience that would really improve the experience because of the "rhythm like" mechanic, It could work like a metronome to user's timing !