Launch balloons into the sky to keep your cat afloat while helping them grab tasty treats. But beware! Birds, lightning, and gravity are all trying to hurt your precious tiny baby. Keep them safe and go for the highest score you can!
My entry for Ludum Dare 56, I got the idea while trying to come up with a game design and my cat kept jumping on my lap haha. I figured cats are tiny critters in their own right, and this simple game is meant as a cute twist on the game we used to play as kids with leftover party balloons. Hope you enjoy!
GAMEPLAY:
- Launch balloons to stop your cat from falling thru the bottom of the screen
- Knock treats into your cat to increase your score, and to fill up your treat meter
- Once you have 5 treats in your treat meter, you'll gain an extra life
- Hitting birds and/or lightning will make you lose a life
CONTROLS:
mb left - click or click and drag to launch balloons
The pixel art graphics were probably my favorite part of the game - the gameplay was a bit generic but its very impressive that you made a complete game!
It definitely took a while to figure out what I was supposed to be doing, but once I did I was in the zone! Music and visuals are great, only thing I'd want is more explanation at the beginning.
Specifically, I still don't really get the number at the top---it seems to be my altitude or something, but also my score? I seem to get the highest number by just letting the cat fall, which is definitely not the intended gameplay... The treats also looked too much like gears to me, so I was confused about what to do with them (I think those are treats, right?)
@ember44 haha yes they're treats! I went for the star shape so the 5 treats = 1 extra life mechanic would be nice and cleanly indicated. Clearly not my best choice! it is your score. you're probably spamming balloons too much bc they cost points. It's a mechanic to prevent balloon spamming since that's the obvious way to prevent the cat from falling and dying. It's possible to score >1,000,000
Cute game! I couldn't quite figure out what I was doing for a bit, Even tried mashing balloons for a bit 😅. Eventually I got into a rhythm and I really enjoyed it! Great work!
Pretty fun once I figured out how to play! I think the audio was my favorite part; I loved the music and I also really enjoyed how the balloon sound seemed to fit with it. The graphics and overall vibes were lovely but I wish the cat had been a little more animated (though I understand that's a lot to ask in such a constrained timeframe). Overall, great job!
Fun little game, though the way the treats work is rather punishing. Having to not let any drop past and having to make the cat and the treats bounce into each other is kind of demanding for the player? Good music for it though!
@brotherbrody haha, I'm a huge souls-like fan so it's not a game for me unless there's a way to punish you lol. Thanks so much for the feedback and for playing!
Awwwwwwwwww XD. Cute little game (: I think the gravity is a tight bit too high though. So its more of a "spam balloons" thing for me which is a bit at odds with the cozy game aesthetic.
Wow ! That game is hard on a touchpad ! Very nice pixel art that reminds me of some colorful Amiga games :) The music is peaceful but I think I'll need to play with a mouse to enjoy more of it as I last like, 3 seconds :D I need to git gud :)
🎈 How cute and fun! A real treat for cat lovers! 😻 Controlling the balls to keep the cat in the air is so much fun, and the pixel art style is just charming! 🎨 The music creates a relaxing atmosphere, and the exciting gameplay makes you smile! 🎶 Although the game may seem difficult at first, once you get the hang of it, you get a lot of fun! 🐱✨ Overall, great job!! ! 👍
Really nice entry. The game is pretty challenging which makes me want to keep playing. I got far enough that the background transitioned to night time which I thought was a really cool touch. Overall very good.
I do wonder what happens if you collect enough treats--I could never get more than one or two before the meter reset
Woaw, a nice a very polished entry, congrats! I'm impressed you managed to make a full mobile-ready game in 48h!
The gameplay is nice, but a bit too challenging for me when played with a mouse. Maybe, as someone else also suggested, you could try to lower the gravity, so the game would require you to shoot balloons less often, allowing you to focus / think more when to shoot. Right now the best strategy seems to be spamming balloons just to be kept afloat :)
The audio and graphics are wonderful, the game has a nice relaxing/casual mood.
Congrats on this great entry! You should release it on mobile stores, players will love it!
This guy is fun, but not gonna lie, IT'S HARD! I think it's more of a skill issue from my end, but still wanted to give you this as feedback. I really like the concept, and I can totally imagine playing this on my phone while waiting on a bus or something. Cute, simple and fun. As a Jam game should be.
Update after playing on windows : the game is far easier on this platform, for some reason it was crazy fast on MacOS and balloons didn't had much counter strength there. It's actually a pretty chill game on Windows :)
Really cute entry! I liked the mechanics of trying to knock the treats into the cat while keeping both on screen, it was definitely a challenge. I think the click+drag would've worked well on mobile, but it felt a little clunky with a mouse. Overall great job, the art looked fantastic!
Let me be honest, I didn't expect much from the screenshots alone, but the gameplay turned out to be quite enjoyable! For some reason I felt nostalgic for the old mobile games from jar times... Nice one!
Definitely a good entry that could be a damn nice mobile game. The art is cool and sounds fit very well within the game. It's a bit hard to play with the touchpad, especially on a small screen as you can't really fit the whole screen in there. It's far from being easy, considering that you are not supposed to spam the balloons and sometimes those treats are really getting in the way at the wrong time 😄 Cool entry!
Nice audio and graphics on this. I tried slow but realised I needed to spam baloons to play properly. Also, awesome that you have a leaderboard! nice work.
Awesome work! Really punchy and fun, and the effort put into the audio and visual flair really made a difference. Simple mechanic done well, and everything is pretty intuitive.
Loved the graphics, the music and sfx, and the game concept was really nice. I'd like to be able to control the force of the baloon (eg. clicking down for more time would push the cat further). Kudos for the polished submission
Awesome game! I love the soundtrack and the art is very pretty too. At times using a mouse the balloon wouldn't release without doing a click afterwards which was a little annoying. Probably it would work better on mobile :).
Comments65
The pixel art graphics were probably my favorite part of the game - the gameplay was a bit generic but its very impressive that you made a complete game!
Specifically, I still don't really get the number at the top---it seems to be my altitude or something, but also my score? I seem to get the highest number by just letting the cat fall, which is definitely not the intended gameplay... The treats also looked too much like gears to me, so I was confused about what to do with them (I think those are treats, right?)
it is your score. you're probably spamming balloons too much bc they cost points. It's a mechanic to prevent balloon spamming since that's the obvious way to prevent the cat from falling and dying. It's possible to score >1,000,000
Maybe too messy with displaying treats, but showing HP around the cat - nice trick!
gameplay is clean and satisfying. I like it a lot
The game is pretty challenging which makes me want to keep playing.
I got far enough that the background transitioned to night time which I thought was a really cool touch.
Overall very good.
I do wonder what happens if you collect enough treats--I could never get more than one or two before the meter reset
my score:
The gameplay is nice, but a bit too challenging for me when played with a mouse. Maybe, as someone else also suggested, you could try to lower the gravity, so the game would require you to shoot balloons less often, allowing you to focus / think more when to shoot. Right now the best strategy seems to be spamming balloons just to be kept afloat :)
The audio and graphics are wonderful, the game has a nice relaxing/casual mood.
Congrats on this great entry! You should release it on mobile stores, players will love it!
this was good man!
It's a bit hard to play with the touchpad, especially on a small screen as you can't really fit the whole screen in there.
It's far from being easy, considering that you are not supposed to spam the balloons and sometimes those treats are really getting in the way at the wrong time 😄
Cool entry!
@designernap high scores happens to be a native feature of gamemaker haha, so that one barely requires any work from my part :)
Enjoyed this little crazy ballonfest for a fair bit!
Pixel art is my jam (uh uh), so I loved the cute cat and balloons. Well done
I think i need to try this again on my cell phone..
really cosy game