Ludum Dare #48compo

Canyoneer

by kieron-woodhouse

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.67

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.69

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.87

Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.19

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.19

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.34

Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.29

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.42

Try exploring deeper and deeper down this canyon with nothing but your trusty rope. Can you survive all the way? Can you be the fastest to reach the floor?

Welcome to life as a... professional canyoneer? Whatever the backstory, it's your job to get to the bottom of this canyon as quickly as you can.

Make daring leaps across the chasm and set up epic rappels down sheer cliffs.

Run out of rope and precariously time your swing to aim for the nearest ledge.

And occasionally miss!

Who knows what awaits you at the bottom...

This was my first Ludum Dare and I had a lot of fun doing it. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. If you get unlucky, you might still hit some issues with the rope physics or find some impossible terrain. There's a bit more info about how my jam went, and those issues in particular, over on the itch.io page.

How to play

Don't forget to share your best scores!

Tags: #2d, #casual, #exploration, #pixel art, #short, #singleplayer, #unity

Genres: adventure, platformer, simulation

Comments50

ehtd26 Apr 2021, 06:39

The controls definitely took a bit to get used to. But once I got that, I enjoyed swinging on the rope and making my way down. Good game.

Storm_Rider26 Apr 2021, 08:59

Can u please provide me with a 32 bit version

Kieron Woodhouseauthor26 Apr 2021, 09:48

Hey @storm-rider, for Windows? Just uploaded one for you!

Storm_Rider26 Apr 2021, 10:26

Thank You^^ sorry for the problem

Storm_Rider26 Apr 2021, 10:39

LOVED IT PALYED IT FOR LIKE 15 MNUTES! THANKS FOR LETTING ME PLAY THIS FINE PEICE

alexjdg26 Apr 2021, 10:57

Love the screenshots and video tutorial, adds a nice bit of polish!

AnthonyHarmitage26 Apr 2021, 10:58

Easy to learn, hard to reach the bottom fast enough)

DrunkardWolf26 Apr 2021, 10:58

Loved it, lots of fun and love the pixelated gore as you hit the floor

Retrisma26 Apr 2021, 10:59

Cool idea, and the mechanics of using the rope (as well as the rope physics) worked well. The controls were pretty difficult to understand and use effectively, though. I also found it difficult to see sometimes with the motion blur.

Substr26 Apr 2021, 10:59

I had fun with this, though it took a moment to understand that I needed to move "down" the rope even if I was standing on a platform and would move to the right or left a bit first. I loved the graphic style you came up with and the slightly shifting textures. Nice job!

LDJam user 23741326 Apr 2021, 11:01

Was fun! Struggled to get used to the controls, but well put together and very unique!

LDJam user 23758826 Apr 2021, 11:04

Fun idea, was a little bit hard to understand at first. The video was helpful, maybe you could put the same explanations in the game itself.

Kitsomo26 Apr 2021, 11:05

Had a really hard time figuring out the controls. Ended up quitting, it was pretty tilting...

Chalivat Quentin26 Apr 2021, 11:07

A tiny bit akward to get the inputs but i'm amazed how long the game made me stay !
Great job, it is as simple as it is fun ! Happily surprised, love it !

azakharov26 Apr 2021, 11:07

It was hard to understand how play, but interesting idea. And unusual visual effect.

axeltherabbit26 Apr 2021, 11:09

That must have been fun to code :D.
Thanks for the tutorial it was clear, my little record is 125

JedeMac26 Apr 2021, 11:11

Amazing game, my favorite so far. Haven't finished it yet but I will 100% give it more time to try and reach the bottom.

Clearly a lot of efforts was put in this one.

I had a few death because I clicked (instead of just releasing) when throwing the rope. Maybe a short delay after you throw the rope, before you can throw an other one, would be a nice little addition.

BarinDwalin26 Apr 2021, 11:22

It's hard to start. I've thrown the rope to nowhere many times for a long time)) Cool rope mechanics.

Voxel Forest26 Apr 2021, 11:41

"This is you" If the cube is me, the the cube says that's a very good game!

goodwincek26 Apr 2021, 13:02

Things I liked:

* humor in the tutorial
* great rope physics!!!
* challenging
* THE BLOOD SPLATTER!!!

Things I would have liked

* some ability to walk a little bit to set up where I want to throw a rope
* ability to grab back onto the rope if I accidentally pressed spacebar too soon :(

liammasters26 Apr 2021, 13:31

Such a cool game! The graphics style is really well done for something so simple. I also really liked the music, it set a great mood. The ropes made this a really creative take on a falling platformer game, loved it!

nessie26 Apr 2021, 14:18

Love the graphics. I really struggled with the mechanics, but still made me laugh. Good job!

lb0126 Apr 2021, 15:50

Took a bit to understand the controls, but when I did, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The game is very smooth to play, and whenever I fell to my death it felt like it was my doing and not the game punishing me for no reason, which isn't an easy feat to pull off with games that rely heavily on physics. Great job!

minibobbo26 Apr 2021, 16:19

This was short, sweet and to the point. Simple mechanics that were fun but not overly difficult. This is a great jam game.

The controls were a little tricky to figure out at first, but once I figured out that up and down went up and down the rope even when I'm trying to move horizontally it was fine.

I like the intro!

JaviCoder26 Apr 2021, 16:59

The concept is amazing, I love the physics and how you made the rope.

RefraX29526 Apr 2021, 18:56

Awesome game! The rappelling mechanic was pretty cool and surprisingly intuitive to use.

mdotedot26 Apr 2021, 19:45

Too hard for me but it looked cool. It would have been cool if that video was IN the game. But regardless I keep seeing red... Release was ok, but the 'feel' where you could land wasn't there. Sorry, must be my fault because a lot of people seem to have got it right :smile: Good job.

Thulium Games26 Apr 2021, 20:09

I love the rope mechanics and the intro/tutorial. Motion blur is a bit intense though.

Pierre.F26 Apr 2021, 20:51

Good intro, great art (man that background just works so well), the music is a bit unnerving after a few minutes, thank god you made a "mute" button.
the game mechanics are on point and it's fun to go deeper !

rhoff9526 Apr 2021, 20:54

Great game and nice music. Controls were kind of confusing to me.

saintchristopher77726 Apr 2021, 21:33

A bit hard to figure out at first, but fun! Definitely hits that "just one more try" spot - quite compelling (tried for a "rappelling" pun here, but meh).

Rope physics are cool. It'd be nice if you would just stop at the end of the rope, rather than automatically letting go. Or maybe I'm just not coordinated enough :)

Never did make it to the bottom of the darned canyon, but I might give it another try. Or a dozen. Great entry!

MadMystic27 Apr 2021, 03:44

Well done!

Kovi27 Apr 2021, 04:47

Really neat concept, and the aesthetic all ties together very nicely for how simplistic it is. I think it's the title screen that does it for me in that regard, I think it's that the physically hanging letters just do it for me for some reason.

The random generation is definitely a little sketchy yet and would occasionally leave me in some really problematic situations, but it didn't seem to happen particularly often. There could even be potential for turning that into a secondary mechanic, giving the player a way to setup another rope point while still hanging from the previous one but only in very limited numbers or on a certain duration or something. Hard to say how that would impact the game, but I certainly felt the desire to have something like that at times.

I also really like the blood splatter effect. Maybe slightly too much...

ErkaNec27 Apr 2021, 05:38

Solid game!

XeduR27 Apr 2021, 15:05

I managed to glitch the rope and climbed quite deep. I took a few dives before realising how to properly control the character. :smile: All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable little game!

eldogg27 Apr 2021, 15:07

Really nice game. The use of the rope mechanic was done really well and was really fun to slide down and swing off it. The use of the noise filter in the graphics is another cool feature that both made it look more interesting and helped with the video cam aesthetic.

korfi27 Apr 2021, 15:17

I really liked the rope physics! It was a fun game to play, sometimes I felt like I should've stopped at the platform when I had a bit too high velocity for me to stick the landing, but that might only be me. Nice idea!

AfutureV27 Apr 2021, 15:31

I liked the small gradient effect that both the background and character had. The music also fit the mood perfectly. The game loop was really easy to get and adapt to, and very fun. It felt at times it was impossible and the terrain generation was too sparse, but other than that it is a great offering.

Taek27 Apr 2021, 16:09

Definitely my kind of game, but the player is very slippery. Good work!

Phobos00127 Apr 2021, 16:14

Super fun little game! It's kinda hard to tell when you're about to reach the end of the rope though. Rope mechanics feel fantastic to use! You did a great job :)

Nivbeth27 Apr 2021, 20:52

It's a sweet little game, but I don't have much patience to be honest xD I alwawys ended up letting the rope go and dying tragically (but enjoyed the animation) xD
Nice first LD :) Keep going

JCMonkey27 Apr 2021, 22:14

so the game was confusing at first, when i saw jump i thought i had to jump and try and hit the rope, but then i tried to just move and figured it out. the game is pretty good, the shader effect is nice, the music is repetitive but it fits the game, and doesnt bother me too much. throwing the rope could be a bit more easier to aim, but thats alil nitpicky and my personal opinion. over all nice job on the game, its pretty fun to play!

Dyroks27 Apr 2021, 23:25

Great compo, it's fun yet challenging, and the graphics and sounds are simple but effective!
I kinda struggled to grasp the controls at first, but when I got the hang of it it was fine.
I feel like there could be some pickup coins in the canyon, which would let you buy upgrades once you're at the top, but it's still a great entry considering the short time limit, good job!

nyanpierre28 Apr 2021, 02:13

the gameplay is cool ! good job

Gaminghamster28 Apr 2021, 06:04

I loved this

iGala28 Apr 2021, 10:41

OMG! I neither confirm nor deny that I am hooked on this game trying to raise my score. Congrats, it's very funny :)!

exewin28 Apr 2021, 18:12

I died at 163m. Rope works really cool.

Devastus28 Apr 2021, 19:59

Took a little while to get the hang of how it's played, but very cool once you do and the rope mechanics are great! Player is a tad bit too slippery, but nonetheless it was definitely a fun game. Very well done!

Papaver2 May 2021, 20:06

Great game! Very cool mechanics. Once you know how the controls work, it's quite addictive! I got till 308m in my last try.

Well done!

jitspoe12 May 2021, 11:06

Pretty fun -- just some quick thoughts on things that could possibly be iterated on to reduce frustration:
- Sometimes it felt like you died after not falling very far, while other times I survived falling what seemed like a greater distance.
- Sometimes you'd make it to the platform and slip off when it felt like you shouldn't
- Due to the RNG of the level generation, you could get stuck in areas where the platforms were almost completely embedded in the walls and didn't provide enough surface to rand on.
- Using a key to switch between rope and jump, then a 3rd key to activate it felt cumbersome. Would probably be more comfortable just to have dedicated buttons for jump and throw rope (like left and right click).

Enjoyed the game -- just hoping this is helpful feedback for the future if you make more like this.