Ludum Dare #54compo

Too Much Car

by pkenney

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.80

Fun★★★★★★★★★★4.06

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.52

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.40

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.90

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.22

Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.50

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.28

This compo was fun, but a crunch.

It took much tinkering to get the driving controls to where I wanted.

I like where the feel ended up, but I ran out of time for a title screen, instructions, or scoring.

There is just you, and the cones.

Here is what you need to know:

- Driving this car takes a DEFT TOUCH, and is done with the mouse only
- Mouse left/right to steer
- Mouse up/down to adjust how much gas you're giving it
- Either mouse button to slam the brakes

Once you park your car in the spot on level 6, you have won. The game will just loop from there, so that you can experiment with going faster and faster.

Hope you enjoy!

Notes on Dev:

I used a new art tool this time, blockbench. For this sort of low poly + pixel art style, it balances simplicity with sufficient functionality well.

I recorded, mixed, and integrated the sound effects in the final 40 minutes. I was desperate. The cone impact sound is an accidental recording of bumping something, and the engine is me drumming my fingers on Gamma et al's "Design Patterns."

Genres: racing

Comments18

MrSamafu2 Oct 2023, 07:13

Driving is really fun, you just have to get the hang of the game and then you become an ace driver.
Physics is well managed.
I want more levels, but for a Compo game, it's really cool :D

red-stake2 Oct 2023, 16:57

Driving actually feels really good, so I think the time you spent paid off. I liked taking big swings around corners, and accelerating out of tight stretches feels so much more satisfying with this mouse control scheme, rather than simple button presses.

My only complaint is that I know the theme is about limited space, but hitting the cones restarting you feels a little too restrictive.

I could imagine a setup where you're allowed the complete levels however, but you get a gold star for not touching the cones, or something similar.

I would totally play more of this!

Francisco Lucas2 Oct 2023, 21:01

The concept turned out really cool!! I liked the controls; it could easily be competitive. I can imagine people playing and doing speedruns!! If you continue working on the game after the jam, I would recommend going in that direction hehe!! Congratulations on the game!

khaotom2 Oct 2023, 22:14

Echoing what's been said here, the driving is very satisfying. It has a great balance of control and zany. The art turned out excellent as well, I'll have to check out that blockbench. Despite the rush, I enjoyed the improvised audio effects. I went all gas and no brakes (I didn't read before playing :rofl: didnt realize I had brakes)

Logicon2113 Oct 2023, 01:35

I forgot that the game loops after 6 levels. I just kinda kept going trying to speedrun each course as fast as possible. It's pretty cool how fine tuned the controls can be just by moving the mouse around. It was fun to spin out I almost wish there were sick jumps to hit. The whole thing felt very kinetic. The car looks great too :)

Very solid game! I'm always impressed what you manage to get done in just 2 days solo. And with homemade sounds to boot.

BalimaarTheBassFish12 Oct 2023, 05:53

Ok! The driving controls was a little learning curve for me (its a lot harder to use than my wheel and pedals for sure!) but that was swiftly learned.
All in all it was a fun game and I'd love to know how you made the car sounds!

LDJam user 012 Oct 2023, 20:39

The control scheme is a fun challenge and the graphics and physics have definite charm. Could do with a scoreboard!

SleepyStudios14 Oct 2023, 22:21

Actually super surprised by how intuitive the driving felt (maybe more games should adopt this). Definitely a lot you could do with the levels going forward but great as a starting point, nice work!

notime4games16 Oct 2023, 22:23

Very cool! Controls felt like you could really become quite good at this. Too bad about missing features that were mentioned :) gotta check out blockbench! Maybe give this game couple more hours to make it into something small? :D

LDJam user 26536017 Oct 2023, 04:13

while the controls are a little unusual, I think they work great! As you already mention on the itch page, a scoring system or even just a timer on each level feels like the logical next step

INCD02117 Oct 2023, 07:47

@pkenney I'm on linux OS, so can't play you game.. Sorry. :( Thanks for playing and rating my game.

beats17 Oct 2023, 08:33

The controls are intuitive and the movement of the car has a good balance of control and unpredictabilty. Like you said be great if there was a timer, in each level as well as a master timer.

Hare Software17 Oct 2023, 13:55

I really love the controls and the sense of speed when it goes full speed. The drifting also is very well implemented in my opinion. All it needs is perhaps some time pressure or other game rules to encourage to drive faster (since that is really fun to do) but I can really understand how there was no time left for such extras. Very solid entry, well done!

jk500017 Oct 2023, 14:25

The idea is fun and I love the controls. The only small complain is that the game is a bit too easy, but else a pretty good compo game. Well done.

ThaProfesional18 Oct 2023, 10:05

This game was great.

Loved the graphics, and the controls, and the way the controls tied into the sound. The sound + control combo. was so good I didn't miss music (which I normally do).

Really loved the way the car controlled at speed.

Liked the levels and the progression. Wish there was a timer so I could see how long I spent mucking around.