The Ball and the Island

by neontropics

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.49

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.37

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.28

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.15

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.72

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.45

Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.32

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.55

Hike the island, light the campfires, eat the strawberries, summon the penguins, evade the robots!

A short little game made for the Ludum Dare 55 Jam.

Controls:

WASD / Arrow keys: Move
Spacebar: Summon Penguin
Mouse: Rotate camera (horizontally)
M: Menu
H: Hide menu control help text

Inspired by A Short Hike, Super Monkey Ball and Dark Souls.

Tools used:

* Unity
* Blender for 3D models
* Procreate for textures
* Ableton with BA-1 & Lofi Panda 3 VSTs for music

Changelog

I’ve added some small bug fixes below as allowed by the rules. No new features have been added and I recommend you play the latest version (v0.8, which is the one the Web version defaults to), but you can still download the original entry (v0.6) if you want to test it instead.

[2024-04-16] v0.8 Small bug fix

* Fixed bug where you sometimes couldn't make anymore summons until you died and restarted

[2024-04-16] v0.7 with small bug fixes:

* It now locks and hides the mouse cursor
* Fixed menu screen showing wrong entries when you first enter it
* Fixed typos in strawberry text

[2024-04-16] Added a WebGL version.

* I haven't tested it much but it seems to run well if you run in full screen! If you don't run in full screen some of the UI text looks a bit weird.

[2024-04-15] v0.6 Initial Jam release

Tags: #hiking

Genres: adventure

Tools: Blender, Procreate, Unity

Comments24

treehuggerbear16 Apr 2024, 14:58

I was skeptical at first because the movement controls are very difficult, but I ended up playing through the entire game, getting all the strawberries, and just messing around even more. The turning point was when I realized that I could sacrifice one health to have the robots push me up the hills, lol. With a little work on the movement to make it more satisfying and a more fleshed-out story, this could be a great game!

Unbreakable16 Apr 2024, 15:03

I feel like I was on a short hike.

gold.daniel16 Apr 2024, 15:03

The web build does not lock the cursor to the game window, makes it difficult to move the camera.
I like the cell shading, art style and music makes the game have a cozy vibe. Though I would describe the gameplay as a "rage" game, quite difficult to climb the terrain with the enemies knocking you off. The summoned penguin friends are a nice touch to help with that.

Overall good entry, great work!

zablas16 Apr 2024, 15:04

Quite a chill game. As a dark souls fan I've enjoyed the bonfires :D

ValentinWB16 Apr 2024, 15:07

I felt like some slopes were harsh to climb and it impacted a bit the pace of the game, on the other hand the momentum jumps felt very good ! and I got all of the strawberries :yum: Very cute game !

pwrs16 Apr 2024, 15:08

Loved playing as a beachball... life goal acheived. Movement a little challenging, but generally pretty cool game. Impressive graphics and fun idea!!

Bollatix2350016 Apr 2024, 15:21

Its fun to play but, the spawn points are a little strange, making you involuntary move in the moment you spawn, and the controls are a little weird, but overall great work

Jawdan20 Apr 2024, 14:16

This was quite nice and fun to play! I could definitely see it being a full game if more content/story was added.

Eric Nguyen21 Apr 2024, 22:33

Super fun and very nice satisfying controls. I had a really cool moment where I used an enemy to damage boost up a steep hill, that was awesome. Super pretty lighting and great vibes too. I would totally play more if this was a full game. Amazing submission!

anaastaska21 Apr 2024, 22:52

I love the game, graphics is really goood. I enjoy gameplay a lot. I am impressed that you created this game only by yourself during Jam! Great job.

PieRo_PBeS_studio22 Apr 2024, 06:02

the idea is good and the graphic design is cool, on the other hand the mouse keyboard handling is already not really my thing and here I find that it's a little stiff between the ball which already has a particular behavior, plus the enemies , plus the water all around... it's a bit steep. Maybe to get used to the physics and handling a bit we could start somewhere a little safer. It makes you want to dig.

Lisek Gagatek22 Apr 2024, 10:17

I tried, but didn't manage to complete it, the steep hills are really hard to navigate and the camera seems to be against me (I can't see where I'm going). Also the penguins seem to be kinda weak? They can't beat any enemy 1 on 1, but I can only spawn one penguin.

Garywiss22 Apr 2024, 10:31

Fun and simple game, I feel the summoning mechanics is a bit off but overall the graphics are great and it's really chill
Great work !

magicdweedoo22 Apr 2024, 10:40

cool little game! just the right level of challenge and play time for me

KingPotatoCannon25 Apr 2024, 01:34

Love the music and the art style! Controls took a while to get used to, but once I did, I was on a missing to 100% the game! Loved that the penguins and robots transferred momentum. Was a really cool mechanic (to exploit :D)

Gave me Glover (from the Nintendo 64) feel! Great work!

Geckoo133725 Apr 2024, 14:20

Clean aesthetic for a little game. The physics and the control work well as expected. I like to explore the island. Well done ++

AmunOnra26 Apr 2024, 12:46

Summoned penguins fighting robots - now thats a super hillarious game idea :D Your game feels very polished with easy to understand controlls and soothing music. Good job!

mitur26 Apr 2024, 22:38

Never expected such a concept, nice job!

EloraBrynn30 Apr 2024, 01:16

Loved your game, I highly appreciated the spawning penguins. It's a win.

Shredmer30 Apr 2024, 01:22

Cute game summoning penguins, great idea! I enjoyed playing and found it challenging to reach that last campfire. Not sure the correct way to do it but I boosted off of an enemy to reach that last campfire. The only thing I didn't like was how I felt I had poor control over choosing where to spawn a penguin. But overall great job!

Jajo30 Apr 2024, 18:17

penguins are an excellent choice! I felt it didn't perform well in the browser, but that could be my shocking internet and isn't really in your control. Art was excellent and the game was presented very well, although the text boxes could probably have been less obtrusive

spilth1 May 2024, 16:14

I love me a marble game and I love that you went with a cel-shaded style. I managed to get to all the campfires and tried for too long to get that last strawberry!

What a wacky and fun game :-D

Volkolak3 May 2024, 12:54

It was quite fun, I liked it. Relaxed and at the same time a challenge.

LDJam user 3848294 May 2024, 21:44

Brilliant game. I hope this one wins, the graphics are nice, the music is soft and mellow, and the gameplay is amazing. Much better than some of the AAA games coming out these days! And to do it in just 3 days? Brilliant

Other games by @neontropics

★3.89

★3.55

★3.62