Run Under Duress

by iajrz

co-authored: @aapr

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.35

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.23

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.92

Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.95

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.05

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.48

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.50

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.10

This is a silly platformer -- we mostly worked on getting a few things wrapped: player animations, environment animations, getting the hang of playing music and sounds.

The game is very emphatically not polished; because of our responsibilities we couldn't dedicate as much time as we wanted to the game. I must say I am happy about the concept in the music, it looks like something that could grow up a bit, and about getting the code in place that would allow us to have a smoother start in future game development endeavors.

Only key needed to play is "x".

Tools: PICO-8

Comments15

ObsceneBard5 Oct 2021, 03:24

That was an interesting experience, good job on the level design, it really paired well with the janky jump mechanics, I'm surprised at how robust it is I was half expecting to fly through walls most of the time but it held up. The art style really suited the type of game and the music backed it up, overall a pretty fun game! gj!

Prismapunch5 Oct 2021, 03:29

Fun game, good graphics, nice seeing pico-8 make an appearance

Zapturk5 Oct 2021, 03:29

I was able to skip some of the levels with a well played jump. Over cool game.

craigalancarroll5 Oct 2021, 03:30

This was a charming entry! I dig the very NES feel of everything, including the music. I would like to see the track loop expanded to maybe twice as long. I like the ideas behind it, but because it is so short you are listening to the same ideas often. The single button mechanic is neat. I always love when a game can pull that off in a way I haven't seen before.

cromo5 Oct 2021, 03:31

Ah, everything contributed to a mood. The music, the art, the frantic mashing of the X button. If the jumps through one-wide tiles were a little more predictable, it would be perfect! As it is, an endless runner/dungeon exploration game is a fun combo - kudos to you for coming up with the concept!

LachlanM5 Oct 2021, 03:32

I loved both the music and the art style, and the simple gameplay led to surprisingly difficult levels! Nice game, good job

iajrzauthor5 Oct 2021, 03:39

Thanks everyone for the kind feedback so far.

@craigalancarroll indeed, while I don't think the game will be expanded upon any more, the tunes were what I enjoyed the most and I think I will expand upon the themes.

The weekend was gruelling :joy: I did the music at the end of Yesterday, the last thing I did on the game, and my brain was mushy - so I stopped before I spoiled it. I am glad you like it.

Toomblercazz5 Oct 2021, 04:00

Nice work!

I did get a bit frustrated at points (I felt like a pinball trying its best to will itself upwards), and at one point I realised mashing the button is sometimes the best strategy which I'm not a huge fan of (although I could only finish the last level when I stopped mashing funnily enough). I think I enjoyed the beginning better when it was a bit more lenient.

I really like the music though, and the animations and sprites are nice.

I think the restart on finish bugged out for me; both texts display over each other and it doesn't restart.

Bakenshake5 Oct 2021, 20:09

Incredibly clever for such a simple mechanic. I made it through a few levels, and you really have to start thinking about the jumpback effect you get from running into a wall. Had to completely rethink how I go about platforming. Well done!

DDRKirbyISQ6 Oct 2021, 23:14

Wasn't expecting to finish this! That last level was pretty brutal, haha. Feels like this would actually be pretty interesting with some slight tuning (probably just slowing things down a bit), but I understand if that perhaps isn't in the cards.

Iacopo13 Oct 2021, 22:13

Bookmarked it! It really kept me entertained, I liked it a lot :D Sometimes the jumping is exploitable!

MFauzan13 Oct 2021, 23:34

good concept and fun game.

alpacalypse17 Oct 2021, 00:16

I wasn't sure it hit the theme at first, but there's a real feeling of instability arising from the inability to stop moving. Could be a gem with more tuning.

LDJam user 25910319 Oct 2021, 11:20

I think some of the levels were a bit frustrating, and that the colour palette could be adjusted (I know Pico-8 is limited, but these colours specifically don't really do it for me), but overall this is really fun and has a lot of potential!

Good work :)

epb900019 Oct 2021, 14:58

A PICO-8 ENTRY! (I may have got overly excited when I saw that 'boot' screen.) Clever use of the theme, the character itself being under duress and thus not really controllable. Watching on in terror has they ran directly into fire was actually somewhat amusing.

This idea actually has a lot of potential. I have an auto-runner on Google play store with a similarly simple single-input control mechanism. (Tapping jumps. No one plays it - like 4 people have it installed - but really I made it for my nieces and nephews anyway.)