FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD26 → Speed, Run!

Speed, Run!

By thebenjaneer

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Coolness360
Audio1893.19
Humor2042.42
Theme3163.16
Mood4792.19
Fun5012.15
Graphics5132.19
Innovation5162.00
Overall5232.32

Comments

ilovepixel 2013-04-30 02:54

I didn't understand much was going on. After jumping the first platform I just started floating around empty space.

thebenjaneer 2013-04-30 03:00

@ilovepixel Look at the Messages in the box at the top.

You'll have to double jump, and then you'll land on another platform. The game has a lot of 'leap of faith style' jumps.

messiano 2013-04-30 03:10

I think the idea could be better executed, I don't like jumping into the void and trying to guess what comes next. Jumping also feels weird. Anyway, thanks for sharing, hope to see more of you in the next LDs!

thebenjaneer 2013-04-30 03:33

@messiano, thanks for the comment. I think i may have gone a little overboard making it challenging to be honest. Though in play testing most people seemed to make it at least a few platforms in before they had to restart, and they seemed to learn the level pretty well until about 1/2 way through ( as of last night's build, so I was hoping that while challenging, it would still be an entertaining challenge.

Oh well, better luck next time I guess ( and a more fun theme i hope :P ).

myachin 2013-04-30 04:35

excellent music! but i didn't understand how to play((

xandy 2013-04-30 04:37

cool music, cool interface. but a background image would help for orientation.

tehskull 2013-04-30 04:49

Needs something to be able to tell where I'm going. Leap of faith is cool, but not when double-jumping happens automatically, and you overjump the platform 90% of the time.

thebenjaneer 2013-04-30 05:03

Point Taken on the Background.

Double Jumping only occurs automatically if you hold down the key, letting go of the key before the first or second jumps run out will prevent you from going further.

I think i needed clearer instructions and a background. I started to make a background but decided to keep it out in order to keep things minimal. In retrospect, that was a bad decision :/

@myachin, Thanks!, Tsubasa did a great job on the music.

thebenjaneer 2013-04-30 05:05

@xandy, thanks. Yeah, i might have to do a post LD with a background.

Not sure about the leap of faiths though. I might need to remove them all-together?

HelkeGames 2013-04-30 09:53

Cool music and graphic, very minimal ;)

thebenjaneer 2013-04-30 17:40

Thank you! :)

8bitpimp 2013-04-30 19:41

The game is a little unforgiving and could use some changes to make it more playable. I used to speed run all the Mario games and it is essential that you can see where you will land. Perhaps some kind of zooming camera would have helped, so it could zoom out.

thebenjaneer 2013-04-30 20:09

@8BitPimp, interesting idea.
The way i saw it was, you make the first 'jump' which usually takes you roughly halfway there and then you press jump again and hold it for a variable length of time, as well as using the other movement keys to control where you land. I Think i need a more detailed introduction/tutorial and possibly easier jumps. Maybe for Post LD i can simply increase the window size/scale the view to show more of the map.

Not showing the landing place was intentional though. It wasn't meant to be easy. Though I've since gathered that well, it's too hard. Maybe if I haven't been consumed by another project I'll do a post LD fix.

Thanks for the comment! It's very helpful to get more feedback. :)

fussycashew 2013-04-30 20:30

Liked the use of the message box at the top, but I feel the game could have been executed better overall.

bernhard 2013-04-30 20:41

Couldn't get over the first gap :o Yeah a background, or a further zoomed out view might help.

thebenjaneer 2013-04-30 20:48

The first gap is *exactly* a double jump for anyone else who plays. It was made wide as a way to let the messages ( in a somewhat humorous way), explain the rest of the controls.

How long you hold the jump key, and when you press/release it Matters!

Thanks to everyone who's attempted it and rated/commented. While i don't plan to be doing a similar game anytime soon (Except maybe an update to this one), It's been quite nice to receive feedback :)

davidemo89 2013-04-30 22:36

Argh, it's very hard! I don' see any platform :-(

thebenjaneer 2013-04-30 22:38

@GetFun, sorry :(
You have to take a good long jump for the first one. Make sure you HOLD the jump key in order to make it.

zazery 2013-05-01 02:21

Made it to the second platform. This game is really hard without visuals in the background to tell your velocity. It sounds like this was intention because of the theme. One way you could have done it without adding visuals is make the camera lag slightly behind the character. Congrats on your first LD!

thebenjaneer 2013-05-01 02:42

@zazery Thanks! Now that you mention it, I actually did try that, but the response from my testers was that it made it look worse. I probably should have tried to tweak it more but i scrapped it.

That might be a good way to do a post LD fix.

Thanks for the Tip!

pvwradtke 2013-05-01 03:29

Very good,grate music and good minimalistic art. However, it's a bit difficult to play because the view area is much smaller than the jumps we have to make. Difficult to know if the speed is enough or if we need to double jump. Also, adding a line to set the horizon would definitely help understanding how high in the jump we are. Easy to fix, I think, and would improve a lot the play value.

infernet89 2013-05-01 14:26

I liked a lot the music, but not the gameplay. You took the canabalt style but hidden any possibility to see where are the platform where you are jumping, or how high you are.. I'm sorry for being so rude, no offense..

pplo 2013-05-01 14:31

... is not a valid win32 application :(

SuperlevelSebastian 2013-05-01 22:14

Sadly I can't play it with my Win XP (32-bit) laptop. :(

thebenjaneer 2013-05-01 22:58

Strange. :( I built it with cl.exe bundled with VS 2012; after running vcvars32.bat, also from vs 2012.

Sorry :( I didn't have an XP machine handy.

thebenjaneer 2013-05-01 23:07

@infernet89. none taken. I made a challenging game not realizing most people on LD seems to prefer simple, easy games.

You're supposed to tap jump once, then use the remainder of your jump to aim for the platform. If you overdo the jump, or don't jump at all, you'll miss it by so much that you can't see it.

As per canabalt, i've never played/seen it. I'll have to go look at it.

****

No, not really. Canabalt seems to be and endless game where the screen forcibly sidescrolls. You can always go backwards in my game, and the screen follows the player.

**spoiler:
Also, the level does have an end. And an easter egg
**

****

@pvwradtke , thanks, yeah, it was meant to be hard and I overdid it. Everyone here who played it during pre-release said it was hard, but got at least 1/2 way through the level after a few attempts.

I think If I do a post-ld, i'll tweak the camera and the jump settings.

As per the horizon, I'm not quite sure what you mean? If you see this, I'd love to hear a re-phrasing/explanation of what you mean by that.

I normally wouldn't make a game like this at all, the idea for a minimalistic speed-runner came purely out of trying to find a game for the theme; but If I have the free time later, I'd love to make it more enjoyable.

snail_man 2013-05-01 23:45

When I first looked at the screenshot, I thought it said "I peed, run!"

The game was pretty good, though a bigger view would have been nice. I kept overshooting platforms.

2013-05-02 18:51

I'm glad y'all like the music. We went through several ideas and beats before we came up with the final song. If you haven't found the easter egg at the end I encourage y'all to bypass everything by pressing "c" to go to the end. It's worth it guys.

thebenjaneer 2013-05-02 21:41

Haha, glad someone liked it. That title would make for a pretty funny game xD

I'll see about releasing one with a bigger view for post ld.

mortl8324 2013-05-03 03:06

Cool concept, but a bit difficult to play

donan 2013-05-03 22:15

The idea its hard to get, but sound seems good.

make-a-game 2013-05-08 15:41

I liked the instruction bar and the audio amazing.
Congratulations on your first entry =D.
(I cheated after a while)

thebenjaneer 2013-05-09 23:38

@ Make A Game thanks :D I was mostly happy that it ran smoothly.