P.T. Bone-um's Fabulous Tightrope of Terror

by kyrio

co-authored: @helicule, @saad-memon, @zacharypinkham

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.77

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.44

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.82

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.77

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.62

Audio★★★★★★★★★★4.25

Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.71

Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.03

_Key art by @helicule ;)_

Come one come all, step right up and see a spectacle most astounding! Welcome to P.T. Bone-um's Spooky Circus of Skeletons and Screams! We have displays that will frighten, tableaus that will shock, and at the center of it all, the grand spectacle that towers above the rest (literally!): The Fabulous Tightrope of Terror, performed by our new rookie skeleton, the protégé of our fearless ringleader P.T. Bone-um himself! Watch as he crosses from side to side on his unicycle holding on for dear death!

Note to attendees: We are having technical difficulties with our lights. Please refrain from flash photography or throwing things at the performer, as anything that could endanger his afterlife might be catastrophic. We apologize for any inconvenience, when you cannot enjoy the sights of the act, please enjoy the sounds.

:warning: Update now available! (October 6, 2021)

We have now released a post-jam version that remains on the same scope as the Ludum Dare submission, but adds a host of gameplay improvements (from level adjustments to "coyote time" jumps) as well as all the sound effects that we had made but couldn't integrate in time. This version is still challenging but a lot more fair, so please try it if you enjoyed the initial release!

*Patch notes:*
- Added sound effects throughout the game
- Added jump buffering so you can press space a few frames early, making jumping more pleasant
- Improved hitboxes so that you can jump later at the end of a platform, land sooner, and trigger obstacles less easily (also less accidental bouncing!)
- Replaced the infamous first snake :snake: with a tricky :owl:, which you can glimpse before the lights go out
- More level adjustments

How to Play

- Progress your way to the end of the tightrope, jumping from rope to rope and avoiding the obstacles hurled at you!
- Just because the lights go out doesn't mean the obstacles will stop! Look ahead at all times, and try to dodge!
- Only one control, jump with the spacebar (or click :mouse_three_button:)!

Credits

Programming: Kyrio | Twitter

Art: Hélicule | Twitter | Instagram

Sound Effects: Saad Memon | Website and Noah Maruyama

Music: Zachary Pinkham | Website | Soundcloud | Instagram

Powered by Godot and Wwise

Genres: rhythm

Tools: Godot

Comments48

teshimoto5 Oct 2021, 00:45

The artstyle is super nice! Also the music is inspiring

funemaker5 Oct 2021, 01:01

The graphics were super polished and professional! It totally reminded me of one of those games that Google sometimes has. I have to admit, I didn't get very far; I tried many many times but kept coming up too short for the first jump with the owl, it was pretty frustrating. I'm wondering if maybe you could make the jumping more forgiving or at least make it so you don't bounce up if you hit the edge of a rope. The music totally fit the atmosphere though. Good job!

Ghatazorg5 Oct 2021, 11:06

Great game ! I really love graphics !

Kr0luK5 Oct 2021, 11:10

You made a very cool game!! One of the coolest that I saw in this GameJam. Graphics and audio create a very cool atmosphere and influence play again and again

voodinator5 Oct 2021, 11:44

Great Art style. Game is fun and challenging and fits the theme very well

Fernando Henriq5 Oct 2021, 22:25

The game is very well finished and I loved the graphics! But I can't make it through the first minute of the game, the lights go out and I fall down because of a snake at the end of the rope.

Kyrioauthor5 Oct 2021, 23:18

Thanks to everyone who's played it so far! I have finished coding a post jam version with a more fair (but still challenging) level layout and a lot of gameplay improvements so that your jumps finally feel right (I hope that solves your issues @funemaker)! The sound effects, which were ready but we couldn't add in time, will also come with this version once our sound designers are done balancing them out. Hopefully tomorrow!

Deborah Messaoudene6 Oct 2021, 15:55

I really love your graphic style !! Very neat and attracting ! Great game :)

BridgeFromTV6 Oct 2021, 21:27

Such a gorgeous game!! I love all the different obstacles and the music, plus the spooky folks in the background! I adore the art so much, the skeleton is so charismatic!

Hobzone6 Oct 2021, 21:38

It took me 30 try to pass the first snake and I only pass it three times after that. The difficulty is pretty harsh from the start. Except that the game is lovely I would love to see it more. Gorgeous Art, music is really cool (even if I didn't hear it full lenght) !

Kyrioauthor6 Oct 2021, 23:09

@hobzone We've just released a post jam version with many fixes, and sound effects! I'd be delighted if you tried it!

Remn7 Oct 2021, 14:42

Art is cool!

Kiwi6637 Oct 2021, 14:55

Very nice game. Perfect mood and art.

NikaZ7 Oct 2021, 14:59

Cool game! I like the graphics and the difficulty in it.

GrimaceOverload7 Oct 2021, 15:01

The art and music are incredible! nice work

josher7 Oct 2021, 15:03

I really love the graphics and the whole theme and mood of the game, it looks really good! I totally agree that its a bit too hard and the jumping could be more forgiving, but the new level design in the post-jam version helps out a lot. If you just didn't get pushed upwards if you clip the edge of the next platform and if the hitbox for hitting the animals was a little smaller then that system would be great. When the lights go out, its a good range to be able to jump platform to platform in time, just not avoiding obstacles like the snake in the jam version. Otherwise, its a good solid game and I love the artstyle!

TheWustache7 Oct 2021, 16:34

The gameplay itself is surprisingly difficult, you barely have any leeway. That's made up for by the gorgeous art and great music! I was seriously stunned when the game booted up, it's genuinely beautiful

BOOtak7 Oct 2021, 18:20

Wow, what a nice concept! Very theme-fitting, with unstable acrobat and unstable lighting. That's like 10/5 on theme. Great execution, too! You've got well-known gameplay, changed one part of it (periods of darkness), and this made playing this way more interesting. "One innovation" rule at its best. I love the graphics and music as well. I was not expecting this level of hardcode from the game with such cute visuals, well done!

Wizard7 Oct 2021, 18:47

Love the art style and sound. fun and addictive concept. Quite enjoyed the lights turning off randomly too, definitely made for a more difficult experience. Well done.

Vimlark7 Oct 2021, 20:52

Super cute! Love the art but I do think the level goes on a bit long.

lauchsuppe8 Oct 2021, 02:15

Love the presentation - art and music are great on their own and also go together really well. I was amazed by the level of detail (e.g. the crowd laughing when the skeleton falls)

kyboon8 Oct 2021, 10:46

At first I thought this is just a Chrome browser dinosaur game with fancy graphics and music, but the light randomly turning on and off makes it feels like a completely different game. It's interesting how a single mechanic can make a game feel so different.

Kamuniaft8 Oct 2021, 10:47

Absolutely awesome job! I loved soundtrack and visuals very much. And it's a fun theme interpretation! I wish the level itself was less difficult :)

Forik9 Oct 2021, 20:17

Funny game. Thank you alot for this work =)

paulhocker11 Oct 2021, 03:53

really love the game. the music was so fitting for it too. great graphics and nice use of the theme. thanks for making this game!

holbinski12 Oct 2021, 03:59

The visuals were some of my favorite of the jam, and the music my favorite! Just wish the game wasn't so difficult! The "infamous" first snake did me in so many times.. Great job still :)

juxipolo12 Oct 2021, 04:27

wow - the visuals and audio are really great!

LDJam user 26711612 Oct 2021, 09:02

Very cute game, I liked the way that the lights going out forced me to have my eyes on the whole screen.

Frozedon12 Oct 2021, 09:09

The concept was simple, but the game was super polished. I loved the art and music. I played this game over and over again.

Hydezeke12 Oct 2021, 13:12

Really great art style and music, wow! The game is simple but delivered really well.

The post-jam version especially had some really cool audio ideas. But I was happy to see the 'audience reaction' to jumps was already there in the jam version (visually)- it's a really immersive touch. Cool game!!

jaspior12 Oct 2021, 19:53

Great game. The post jam version corrected lot's of bugs, great work!

Jackaljk12 Oct 2021, 20:11

I'm sure is won't happen at the wrong time XD Great art, music and style, the gameplay is solid although the controls don't feel very responsive and it doesn't feel that unstable. I think it's a little too hard and it often seems that my input is ignored when given at the last moment. Overall it's great and humorous, great job!

Kyrioauthor13 Oct 2021, 18:02

@jackaljk I made a number of improvements in the post jam version so you can jump a little early before landing or late at the end of the platform. Hopefully that fixes it!

Iacopo13 Oct 2021, 20:12

An original twist to the classic jump scrolling game, the theme and graphics are nice, maybe I would have liked to see more ideas on the mechanics :)

ruofusun14 Oct 2021, 09:30

I wonder if there is an end? The art and sound is 10/10!

Brandon Hare14 Oct 2021, 11:38

a bit unforgiving but incredibly charming!

Krystal McDonald14 Oct 2021, 11:40

very charming! The art style was fantastic. You had me at skeleton on a unicycle

Sanemsky14 Oct 2021, 12:19

Wow amazing graphics! It's easy to understand, has a storyline and a humor aspect (loved the crowd going oohh when You jump lol :D) I sometimes wished it would react a bit quickly when I pressed (seems to me maybe there is a delay? could be the animation that gives me that feeling, I don't know what I'm talking about :P) But overall great job!

Kyrioauthor14 Oct 2021, 20:35

@ruofusun There is an end! But play the post jam version if you want a chance to reach it ^^'

@sanemsky Could be the animation! The actual jump is pretty reactive.

73015 Oct 2021, 19:35

(played the original jam version) Very nice graphics/presentation.
The collisions are a bit wonky (if you hit the corner of a platform it like... goes up).
Really hard so I couldn't get very far, but it's a nice little game. Doesn't help that my monitor is *also* a bit UNSTABLE at the moment and keeps producing the same lights off effect as in your game, but it goes completely black instead.
Edit: post jam version is way better, it's properly playable, though still really hard but mostly fair this time.

0x01F016 Oct 2021, 09:34

A really nice entry, feels very complete and professional, from audio, graphics, gameplay to the tutorial and puns ;D

Well done you guys!

pkenney18 Oct 2021, 20:27

Tried both versions. The art, sound, and overall ambience is really nicely done. The controls were already decent and most of the frustrating bits were improved with the follow-up version, so nice work there as well!

I could still use a slightly faster restart, and checkpoints would make me push farther into the game (if there were any I never got to them).

If I could tweak just one thing in the post-jam version it would be the collider on the little guy (lemur?) sitting on the ball. It felt a little rough that this was gameover, so maybe the kill collider here could be just a bit smaller:

But overall this was a really nice one, good job!

Proxy-Games19 Oct 2021, 07:35

It's a very charming game. I did play the original jam version of the game, so some of these complaints may be fixed. The sprite work, art style, and the music are all nicely done and cohesive. The gameplay is a simple but effective infinitive runner, and the introduction of failing lights as a mechanic to keep players on their toes is very well done. The main gameplay problem I noticed was that the player would be thrown up off the ground a little if they land on the corner of a ledge. This would often leave me flying into an obstacle I had no way of responding to since you can't jump in midair. Other than that little annoyance, I enjoyed my time with this. Nice work.