Vanilla JS game for Ludum Dare 49, theme 'unstable', category 'compo'.
Time to beat: 1-5 minutes, depending on whether you're speedrunning or going for high score.
Controls & Rules
- Move mouse to, well, move. Dodge the squares flying at you. - Press the left mouse button repeatedly to increase size of your cube. It shrinks over time, don't let yourself disappear. - It's a short game with a linear story and an ending, you don't really have to try hard to get to it.
Warnings
- Not suitable for people with epilepsy - flashing lights, loud sounds - The sound only works correctly in Chrome-based browsers . You can turn off sounds by clicking the speaker icon in the header of the page tab. - The game is generally run slower on Firefox than on Chrome and derivatives, I'm not sure why, but it doesn't really affect the gameplay too much.
Dev Notes
Aside from the Ludum Dare rules, the challenge I set for myself was to make the game from scratch on plain JavaScript, with no frameworks, libraries or assets whatsoever.
Somehow I managed to pull that off, so the entire game, including the sounds, fit into a single .html file less than 32 kb in size. Source code is available on GitHub.
Hey, nice game! I like how you need to balance yourself between being big and not losing, and being small to avoid obstacles easier. Also, the left mouse button spamming makes this kind of a multitask :sweat_smile:
It's a simple game, but it's very fun to play. The addition of spamming the mouse button was slightly confusing but once I learned how it works I found it to be a pretty engaging mechanic.
@mordrick Now that you mention it - haha, yes, there's definitely something to that!
And about my code's cleanliness - I had to rewrite it twice while tuning core gameplay as I quickly got lost in it. The idea of putting all the code into one file is rather romantic, but not very practical :smile:
Too bad I messed this up anyway when I added the "bugs" later, by flooding the whole place with chaotic checks and conditions
Haha I cracked twice at the end screens. First one because I read the instructions and was "oh, I need to click a lot", until I realized I was too big in the level and that I could get away with being small. When I died I had the instruction telling me exactly that. I learned something! So next time I go in and try to play being small, and it was a bit more successful. Then the end screen surprised me again with this one :)
edit: Played a bit more to see more endings, haha, great job! Also, the visuals of the squares reminds me of the After Dark Flying Toasters screensavers, were you going for that?
Awesome concept, I really like it. Starts out really simple but if your paying attention it becomes a very interesting experience. The actual gameplay is quite interesting as well because I tended to look at the top of the screen to figure out what to dodge but would need to keep looking back at my character so they didn't disappear until I got a good cadence down.
THis is really fun! Its an unstable particle, you have to spam the mouse button and simultaneously dodge the falling rocks. Its really cool! Unbelievably its made in 32kb of Javascript and even more unbelievably that includes the SOUNDS! Wow and its really fun because you cant go damageless and if you know that and look at the source you will see theres a fun story here thats not immediately apparent. I love how the graphics change as you progress. The aesthetics in the process are really nice and attractive.
I enjoyed it, although I wanted there to be more going on with the dialog when you finish a level (although, it's possible I just didn't stick around long enough. Props for straight up js.
You are now a JS programmer. The risky thing when thinking about starting a project in js is performance, sometimes it ends up being a bottleneck way after the game has been developed. The dialogue felt meaningful. The gameplay was a ton of fun. The game design overall is something to learn from.
I did not expect a game that looks like it came straight out of an Atari 2600 to have a storyline and lore. I don't finish games that often, but I had to see this one to the end. Not going to spoil it for anyone that hasn't played it yet though :)
not only did this game give me gamer rage, it also gave me carpal tunnel haha :). All jokes aside, the game's core mechanics feel really strong and the foundations are honestly very robust it seems. Even though the game has very minimalistic graphics it sorta fits with the audacious statements at the end of each round :). Added together the game gives me huge Thomas Was Alone vibes and honestly feels like a really good solid and simple jam game. Hope this does well!
Now I wan't to do that challange too :D Really good game. Not really a fan of both clicking and dodging stuff maybe it could have been something more satisfying but the story kept me going. Even tho its just simple polygons the style is really cool. I don't think it would look as good as this if it was pixel art etc. Keep up the good work!
Woah, I'm genuinely overwhelmed with feedback. What a morning to wake up to!
I didn't think I could accomplish it, but everyone seemed to be able to find an gameplay, graphics or story aspect they liked about it! Thank you all for the comments!
I will try and review your games too! And in the meantime, keep pushing forward, and don't let anything stop you! :wink:
4000! Ahem, back to topic, it's nice to see the theme being used as tool, giving choice to players to stay big but unsafe from rain or stay small but unsafe from vanishing.
Awesome job, especially in 2 days using only JS. Fun to play and the humor and minimalistic design add a lot to the urgency feeling. I would love to see more mechanics being in play, like sometimes the character changes color and you grow instead of shrinking, and clicking makes you shrink!
@romfactory Good thinking! I'll add more mechanics and different variations of them if I do part two. By the way, if you stay in the game a little longer, you will see that character actually changes color, as part of the story :slight_smile:
I liked this game a lot on my first couple attempts, and absolutely loved it by the time I hit the final end screen. I hope that everyone plays enough to see the final end screen. Really looking forward to see whatever you make next.
@wafflecomposite Oh I would love to stay in the game longer, I just suck too much :laughing: Granted I was using a touchpad, I'll try it on a proper mouse later :)
@romfactory oh, you are brave to try this game on the touchpad :smile:
I realized too late how challenging it would be to play it on the touchpad, let alone the touchscreens. So if you liked it anyway, then yes, I recommend trying it with the mouse!
Nice game, really challenging! I think your visuals combined with your sound design are interesting, reminds me some techno music video aesthetic. The concept is simple but it works, and I enjoyed playing this game to find a balance between spamming and dodging: it fits with the theme. That was unstable, well done! :smile:
This is just such a good idea. I love that you force the player to keep clicking or they lose. But there's also a desire to click as little as possible to decrease the size of your hitbox. The mechanics are simple, but really fun.
I love the trade off of keeping yourself small to avoid obstacles, but then being on the verge of death the entire time. I also liked the sound effect that you used, and would love to hear it against music :)
Also, impressive that you were able to do everything in just vanilla JS and keep it small. Great work!
Clever and fun! The core concept is simple and engaging (even if spamming the mouse button seems a little odd at first). I like how the game is viable on its own as an arcade-like game but develops its own funny meta-narrative over multiple attempts. I was wondering how many people would interpret the theme as "the game itself is unstable" and this pulls off that concept pretty well!
I love how it starts as a simple game where you avoid the obstacles and click to get bigger to stop vanishing, with funny dialogue, and then you notice the story in the dialogue, the glitched score, and the game itself becoming increasingly unstable. Amazing work!
This reminds me a lot of those old flash games I used to be, specifically the one with the stickman that could lose parts of his limbs to stalactites. +5 stars for nostalgia!
Really impressive, and such a small file size! My 32 MB game is downright monstrous in comparison :stuck_out_tongue: I really liked the progression of dialogue combined with the bullet hell elements. The end was very pretty and drove home the theme. Impressive work :D
I liked a lot the concept, the gameplay is simple and easy to get. Reached 2000 score easly but the theme in my opinion is not very well presented. Good job tho
Got a bit over 4000 as my high score! Fun little game, I was afraid that you'd have to spam the mouse button to not die, but after a couple of tries I got the hang of it and that certainly wasn't the case. Nice game overall! :D
I enjoyed this one more than I thought I would! Having to not only dodge the falling blocks but also manage your size makes it very engaging. The SFX fit perfectly I think, really added to the intensity of it. Nice work!
Interesting balance between dodge ability and not dying! Would be a cool one to expand with some progression perhaps? I also found that the art served its purpose but could have been expanded upon at least a little. Solid game!
I really liked the super simple art style, you made it work very well. The timing on the sound effect really help boost the feeling that things are breaking down into an unstable state. Nice job!
I got to the end, and wow, that was actually a much neater experience than I thought I'd be getting.
I actually kind of want more stupid finger-breaking action, I'm not gonna lie, but I also think that where it ended was pretty interesting.
For a second even _I_ thought I was losing it when it just started getting harder.
The only thing I really have to say is that the clicking might be an accessibility issue (RSI and everything). It'd be neat if I could also hit any button on the keyboard or use the scroll wheel instead of clicking to grow in the base game, but the one-buttonness does help that final section stand out.
Here's the obligatory scoreposting:
S
Starlight Glimmer is best poney21 Oct 2021, 19:36
I consider myself good at games but this is 3hard5me (capped at 5k). Maybe I did something fundamentally wrong but it feels very busy even for a dodging game. I played on Firefox and Falkon. I think something might be up with difficulty resetting because after playing for a bit I started getting completely swarmed right after restarting.
The idea of trying to stay as small as possible but not too small is very novel and something that has a lot of potential. It's very well executed, just a bit too random and difficult (or I just need a proper chromium browser).
There's a funny little glitch: score keeps changing if you lose.
Comments75
maybe i should try that one day :thinking:
my high score was 2600 for anyone wondering
Plus: Your code looks way more clean than the code of my vanilla JS games ^^.
Also, some easy features can be implemented: Pickups that slow down time or give you a one time shield.
Very neatly done!
;)
The addition of spamming the mouse button was slightly confusing but once I learned how it works I found it to be a pretty engaging mechanic.
And about my code's cleanliness - I had to rewrite it twice while tuning core gameplay as I quickly got lost in it. The idea of putting all the code into one file is rather romantic, but not very practical :smile:
Too bad I messed this up anyway when I added the "bugs" later, by flooding the whole place with chaotic checks and conditions
Haha I cracked twice at the end screens. First one because I read the instructions and was "oh, I need to click a lot", until I realized I was too big in the level and that I could get away with being small. When I died I had the instruction telling me exactly that. I learned something! So next time I go in and try to play being small, and it was a bit more successful. Then the end screen surprised me again with this one :)
edit: Played a bit more to see more endings, haha, great job! Also, the visuals of the squares reminds me of the After Dark Flying Toasters screensavers, were you going for that?
Glad I was able to leave some actually helpful prompts!
> the visuals of the squares reminds me of the After Dark Flying Toasters screensavers, were you going for that?
Not really, but now I want to think that I was :smile:
High Score 19700!
The dialogue felt meaningful. The gameplay was a ton of fun. The game design overall is something to learn from.
Keep up the good work!
I didn't think I could accomplish it, but everyone seemed to be able to find an gameplay, graphics or story aspect they liked about it! Thank you all for the comments!
I will try and review your games too! And in the meantime, keep pushing forward, and don't let anything stop you! :wink:
Ahem, back to topic, it's nice to see the theme being used as tool, giving choice to players to stay big but unsafe from rain or stay small but unsafe from vanishing.
Hopefully those who stayed only for half a minute or so had fun too!
I realized too late how challenging it would be to play it on the touchpad, let alone the touchscreens. So if you liked it anyway, then yes, I recommend trying it with the mouse!
Also, impressive that you were able to do everything in just vanilla JS and keep it small. Great work!
I do have to admit, I felt like I was even cleverer and simply used an autoclicker. Jokes on me, I guess :'D
+5 stars for nostalgia!
I really liked the progression of dialogue combined with the bullet hell elements. The end was very pretty and drove home the theme. Impressive work :D
:purple_heart: :dart: :frog:
If you’d like to rewatch the playthrough, you can find it here:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1173664587?t=0h41m42s
Good luck on your ratings, see you next LD! :D
💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady
https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin
I actually kind of want more stupid finger-breaking action, I'm not gonna lie, but I also think that where it ended was pretty interesting.
For a second even _I_ thought I was losing it when it just started getting harder.
The only thing I really have to say is that the clicking might be an accessibility issue (RSI and everything). It'd be neat if I could also hit any button on the keyboard or use the scroll wheel instead of clicking to grow in the base game, but the one-buttonness does help that final section stand out.
Here's the obligatory scoreposting:
The idea of trying to stay as small as possible but not too small is very novel and something that has a lot of potential. It's very well executed, just a bit too random and difficult (or I just need a proper chromium browser).
There's a funny little glitch: score keeps changing if you lose.
Anyway, thanks for trying it and for the review!