Death By Balloon

by vonfuzzius

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.60

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.76

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.36

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.86

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.19

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.88

Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.05

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.40

DEATH BY BALLOON

Use left/right arrows to control Pop Knight. Bounce into balloons to wall jump. Press Enter to restart or use training mode.

Upon attacking Bouncy Castle, Pop Knight slipped on a puddle left by a fierce water balloon battle, which caused him to fall down the castle wall. Since he still has things to live for, help Pop Knight extend his life as long as possible before he will inevitably meet his untimely demise.

This game was created in Pico 8 by just me. Post your high scores in the comments.
Special thanks to Lazy Devs Academy and Gruber for their tutorials.

Tags: #pico-8, #pixel art

Genres: platformer

Tools: Aseprite, PICO-8

Comments19

beats5 Apr 2022, 03:08

The graphics are great and the soundtrack is nice. I think it would have been cool if the coloured balloons had a bit more upwards trajectory when stood on because I'm not if there was much difference between that and hitting the black ones, but decent entry nonetheless, my High Score was 3230.

JHax5 Apr 2022, 10:50

Really enjoyed this, the wall jump mechanic really gives the player something to try to master to really get the most out of it!

I've got a great deal of admiration for anyone who can make Pico-8 graphics look this good as well (no shade on Pico-8, I'm just not great with it).

Managed a high score of 3920

Would be nice to have another level or something and I did sometimes feel like it would be useful to have a button to reset the game mid fall if you mess up early on - but these are minor things for sure!

Great game :)

PurpledArtFrog5 Apr 2022, 13:11

Nice and simple entry :thumbsup_tone1: Well executed and easy to pick up :thumbsup_tone1:

DevVex6 Apr 2022, 20:49

good simple game, liked the retro feel :D. Not sure if I'm missing something but I didn't understand why some balloons knocked you up and others didn't?

VonFuzziusauthor6 Apr 2022, 21:05

@devvex Thanks! It's about the timing when you release the left/right arrow; but I realize now I should've probably explained this better.

milq6 Apr 2022, 21:50

1920 points! Are all balloons generated like this or is it procedural or mix? It see at first that it's the same but then I pay attention to the game and I'm not aware of it! Great music and very good use of colors knowing that PICO's palette is small. Great game!

Cookie_CHR6 Apr 2022, 21:57

Nice little game!

Toothwitch6 Apr 2022, 22:03

This is the first pico-8 submission i played. I love the graphics ans 8 bit music. Would love to see more levels.

Forgin Bits6 Apr 2022, 22:03

Beautiful, cute and colored little game ! Love the pico 8 aesthetics. As others have mentioned, I didn't really understand how to bounce off some balloons. Great submission, good job

TempoSparkz6 Apr 2022, 22:04

this game was really fun to play v good job fitting it with the theme nice work (:

pev6 Apr 2022, 22:10

Popping balloons is fun!
I just don't understand what are the black circles. Don't think they can damage the knight, but on some reason they are not balloons.

Joror11 Apr 2022, 19:24

Strong poppin game - I like that it is short and repeatable, makes learning easier! The controls were simple but effective. 2430 points max for me - tho I felt I could do more with some work. :slight_smile:

Terabyte16 Apr 2022, 20:16

hahaha! how much fun! stuck in this game for 30 minutes! great job!

LeReveur16 Apr 2022, 21:23

2490 is the best I can do. I tried a lot, but didn't manage to get more points. I think I didn't understand very well the slow down mechanic by "wall jumping" the baloons, or maybe I'm not good enough. Anyway, good job!

LDJam user 23365917 Apr 2022, 21:41

Just a solid arcade entry. Easy to pick up and play, no down time between games. I think it really clicked for me when I understood the wall jump. My best score was 3560!

VicSparkz18 Apr 2022, 03:13

Cool little highscore game. I like the idea of wall jumping to last longer. Reminds me of Downwell.

LDJam user 26711618 Apr 2022, 04:13

This is a really neat game! First pico8 game I've seen for LD so bonus points :sunglasses: I'm pretty bad at timing the walljump but it feels really nice when I can successfully execute it. Great sound design and art. Nice job!

Hawkin20 Apr 2022, 00:21

This was a lot of fun!! The graphics and the sfx and the music did really well together. The mechanic was pretty smooth, even if the "wall jump" off the balloons takes some work to master! It's a smart idea, rather than the knight just bouncing off the top of the balloons to get height.

Very well done!

ocwal21 Apr 2022, 11:22

I love balloons and this game sure had some neat ones. Music and graphics are lit!