Our submission for the Ludum Dare 47: Stuck in a loop.
A 2D sidescroller with the fun twist that your character is stuck in a loop and cannot move outside it - he has to swing the bubble and launch it off magic crystals to progress.
This game is really hard! I really wanted to finish it but after dying by the fire so many times, I stopped. I don't mind it being hard but I think you should have put more checkpoints. It is a really good idea though that you should totally develop more. The controls were a bit weird at first but I got the hang of it later on. Overall, this game kept me engaged for a long time and I had a lot of fun.
Cute game, but it was really difficult to control the path you take through the air. The concept was pretty unique and there is a lot of potential for the mechanic you have. I think focusing on reducing the difficulty will help improve the game. A good tip is to ask someone who is really bad at video games to playtest your game, and see how they react. Even if you want your game to be difficult, most players should be able to get through a few levels. Overall nice job, you should keep working on it!
I like hard games so the challenge was here, but at a moment I had to stop because of the sounds (music loop is a bit short). A button to turn it off would be really cool! Other than that, it is working well, the mechanic makes me think about the game Get Over It which I enjoyed :D
@tigerchris2000 I got past the first 3 levels, so the last one I completed was the one that introduced multiple blue blocks. On the 4th level, I gave up since I had died so many times.
Gameplay: The quick failure/respawn state makes up for the "difficult to dial in" controls. The momentum acceleration ramps too quickly to turn it into a skill the player can build in order to take on the difficulty ramp of the level obstacles. The CONCEPT of this is amazing and zeroing in on getting the player to have semi-consistent "Good Jumps" is the best way to combat "retry frustration" here for mess ups. Right now it doesn't quite feel like it's my fault I keep dying, and I want it to feel like it's my fault. But also, it's definitely my fault.
Art: I would prefer a flat color BG over the landscape blocks considering the arcade feel and active art elements, HOWEVER I like the idea of a bubble bird enough to want to see what this would look like built out, regardless of what the final concept would be. Clown in a hula-hoop. Spaceman with a gravity shield. Hamster in a wheel. Small circle in a bigger circle. Two chickens in a bubble. Limitless potential. Everything important was presented clearly and was in service of the gameplay!
@greebs Thank you for your suggestions. With more time we would definitely try to make it feel like it was your own mistake but we didn't quite got it.
I had tons of fun playing this game. Really fits within the theme, has great audio and graphics, and has a chicken. I felt that the controls were a bit jerky, and it startled me when the music started over when dying, and when the smooth chill music transitioned to the rock/ska-punk. Overall, great game!
I think, that the mechanics is really cool, brilliant idea and you should definitely expand the game. I would recommend tweaking a bit with the sensitivity of controls because with this setting the game was extremely hard and at least for me less enjoyable than it could be.
Nice game concept! I liked the pixel art a lot! One thing I think that could improve the gameplay would be to reduce the amount of swing generated by pressing one way or another. It feels like pressing 'a' or 'd' results in the character being swung incredibly fast when I think a more gradual pace would serve the game's physics puzzles well. Gameplay still really fun though!
Comments19
A button to turn it off would be really cool!
Other than that, it is working well, the mechanic makes me think about the game Get Over It which I enjoyed :D
Gameplay: The quick failure/respawn state makes up for the "difficult to dial in" controls. The momentum acceleration ramps too quickly to turn it into a skill the player can build in order to take on the difficulty ramp of the level obstacles. The CONCEPT of this is amazing and zeroing in on getting the player to have semi-consistent "Good Jumps" is the best way to combat "retry frustration" here for mess ups. Right now it doesn't quite feel like it's my fault I keep dying, and I want it to feel like it's my fault. But also, it's definitely my fault.
Art: I would prefer a flat color BG over the landscape blocks considering the arcade feel and active art elements, HOWEVER I like the idea of a bubble bird enough to want to see what this would look like built out, regardless of what the final concept would be. Clown in a hula-hoop. Spaceman with a gravity shield. Hamster in a wheel. Small circle in a bigger circle. Two chickens in a bubble. Limitless potential. Everything important was presented clearly and was in service of the gameplay!
Was it FUN?
YES. A lot.