FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD21 → Esca

Esca

By tnelsond

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Innovation383.81
Coolness687
Community1183.08
Humor2971.67
Overall3542.55
Fun3592.24
Audio3711.00
Graphics4501.71
Theme4681.90

Comments

daandruff 2011-08-22 15:51

I loved the way you controlled the character. It would be nice to be able to stack commands like code though :)

tnelsond 2011-08-22 17:00

You can kinda "stack" commands by typing commands really fast.
All you have to do is type a command, then a space, then another command.
Or do you mean like create new commands?

tnelsond 2011-08-23 04:34

Or do you mean stack commands like "walk 5"?

jhelle 2011-08-23 20:23

Didn't get past the flap command, but interesting control mechanic. It would be nice if it would automatically press enter after every successful command.

tnelsond 2011-08-23 22:41

I considered not requiring the space between the commands, but then I figured it wouldn't help people's typing skills as much.

Yeah, I should probably polish and simplify it and make the learning curve easier, I'm the only one I know who actually beat it.

For a post compo version I'm envisioning two lines of text, one for running, another for jumping. If you type the text from the first line then your character moves, and if you type stuff from the second line your character jumps. And as you progress through the game you'd have to type more and more to "escape" bad guys chasing you or something like that.

Shadow 2011-08-24 03:34

Loved the command-based mechanics, although i would have appreciated to end simple commands with ENTER. I know later in the game you need to input them fast but having ENTER as an optional delimiter would've been great.
Sometimes the 'hints' are a bit misleading because when you find them you just go and try to input the command and sometimes the result is instant death. LOL.
It kinda feels good once youn manage to finish.
Good job.

rudy 2011-08-24 17:26

Very cool concept! The character could move slower, or it gets too hard.

andrew-2 2011-08-24 20:05

The flapping eventually got me, but it's a very interesting approach to typing games, I'd like to see it expanded upon (preferably with less flapping)

chaoslab 2011-08-25 10:11

That was some entertainment tnelsond thanks! :-)

thristhart 2011-08-25 13:15

I would love the ability to list the things I want done then see them done (i.e., "jump flap flap flap flap flap<enter>" but then it wouldn't really be a typing game would it.

d_m 2011-08-25 15:21

Neat idea, but I couldn't figure out the commands myself, and am also (apparently) a wuss at typing things over and over again. Good idea, maybe create difficulty levels where the game is in slow-motion and/or lets you know which words are available?

tnelsond 2011-08-25 18:03

d_m: Well there are ingame hints. You just have to look for them.

shigor 2011-08-26 17:38

Very interesting idea, one of the few games in LD which tried something genuinely new (never expected to play platformer with "command line" controls), but the difficulty is over the top :) (btw I'd never ever thought of "flap" myself, but I've seen it in the level :) So question of curious non-native english speaker... is really flap correct verb for the very small hop? :) I don't remember that I'd ever seen it used like this.

summaky 2011-08-27 14:28

Nope, can't end it... It is an original control schema, but I don't particularly like it.

tnelsond 2011-08-27 17:13

Shigor: "flap" is what birds do when they fly, they flap their wings, thus in the game if you type "flap" fast enough you fly, not just "hop"

legacycrono 2011-08-29 10:52

I flapped so fast my hand now hurts. :P At least I escaped. Whee! Very neat concept, it was really fun! Except when I dug to death and had to start all over again...

jwfrosty 2011-09-03 19:14

Phew! The last lot of flapping was very very very hard (it's not an easy word to type!) but I finished the game and 'escaped'. A cool idea, the hints dotted around the level were very helpful. I liked the way you could e.g. move around slowly or quickly depending on how you typed the word. Didn't really fit the theme, I'm afraid, but still a nice concept.