FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD32 → SHiFT

SHiFT

By fanttum

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Coolness292
Fun5603.04
Audio5962.60
Overall7822.92
Mood8092.61
Humor8672.06
Graphics9972.21
Innovation10132.27
Theme10282.46

Comments

leon75 2015-04-20 02:18

Game itself is okay, but the music is unbearably loud. Also the player character moves weirdly, very jittery.

useranon 2015-04-20 02:31

sounds interesting, but can't play it on this web build, on chrome.

red_fan-games 2015-04-20 02:33

leave a linux build please

awestsecurity 2015-04-20 02:35

It was funny in it's crudeness. The gravity mechanic wasn't very original, but I think it was implemented very well. The audio did get overbearing at times. It was cool the way it developed throughout the level though

zqmony 2015-04-20 02:37

The game jitters a lot, but it still is fun.

sydan 2015-04-20 03:17

The gravity mechanic is not very original sadly... due to vvvvvv but my main issue with it is that I can't see it being a weapon? That may be because I can't get far in the game, I keep getting stuck on the sets of spikes that are opposite each other.

thebigshot 2015-04-20 03:21

Took a while to get it to work because the Unity web player was mucking up. But the game is really fun overall. It would make a great Mobile game :) The game is stuttering a lot. Maybe you should use delta time. Just a tip. Good game though

lynx 2015-04-20 03:24

Interesting concept to have gravity as a weapon and not just a tool. I will say, getting past the second set of spikes drove me mad... I don't know if it's just my system being jittery but it was hard to swap gravity and get the guy's inertia to change enough to get through. also the hitbox for the little guys seems a bit big. Common practice is to actual make the hotbox for obstacles and spikes just a bit smaller than the pixels so the it gives the player a little advantage

mantlair 2015-04-20 03:32

Conrols are bit sloppy. Idea was used before but yeah its not an exact copy. really cool game. And Music Rocks!

parahunter 2015-04-20 03:32

Not an original mechanic but well made. The music was pretty good and the animation on the dude was good. Not much connected to the theme though.

jacketsj 2015-04-20 03:51

Sometimes you can get stuck on walls, this concept has been done to death, and the graphics are almost too simple, but the game itself is fun. Good music too, I like how it changes throughout the level.

neonlare 2015-04-20 04:14

Music's super loud, but the game itself is pretty fun, if the gravity flip mechanic has been slightly over-done. Despite the loudness, the fact that music builds up as you play and progress was a REALLY cool touch. A little more in the way of mechanics and it could be a pretty damn interesting experience if fleshed out to it's fullest.

mtanton 2015-04-20 04:33

Nice mechanic. It's been done, but still fun. Good job.

fanttum 2015-04-20 04:50

Thanks for all the feedback so far guys.
I might work on getting some more builds out there, but it works fine on Chrome for me, but I have been using Safari to test.
The "Jittery"-ness is prob the camera movement, not anything about the actual game. I wanted a dynamic moving camera, but I didn't have too much time to polish it. I Just wanted to make sure it worked fine with the platforming.
Also I never played "vvvvvv" but I remember hearing about it. I know it's not the most original idea out there, and I am sure there are much better ideas out there for this cool jam idea, but was easy for me to do, can be expanded so much, and I had so many more ideas I wanted to put in but didn't have time.
Originally there was going to be a "gun" that would shoot. (That thing you pick up at the start), but it didn't look good (cause I'm no artists), and I thought it would look weird having you carrying it around all game. (It's actually still on the character, but I made it invisible, haha)
I thought the controls were a bit slippery myself at times, but I think it works itself out once your used to it. Unity's 2d physics is different in weird ways like how friction works, and I wanted the player's gravity to feel floating enough it would be fun, and have the enemy's gravity hold more weight so you can get around them.
Getting stuck on the walls is another thing because of the friction. I tried my best, but I didn't check every wall.
The hit boxes for the enemies were a little big, but I felt like it was't a big deal. Also I do remember that most people have smaller hit boxes, but I think I had the level design take care of it not being too big of a problem. Until the later and harder parts, but then it is meant to be hard.
Sorry the music is "loud", but just turn it down? Haha. When mastering the music it is a lot easier to just make everything louder then keeping things quieter, but with Unity's new audio tools I guess I could have then just lowered the volume on different tracks.
I'm also glad people are liking how the audio grows along with the level. Something I have wanted to do for a while, and glad I got to practice it here. Was a bit hard getting some of the loops to work right with compression and all that. But I mostly keep things the same tempo, and key for the most part, I think, haha.
I could totally make this into a mobile or even something bigger, but I would have to get a good artist or 5, haha.

Anyone made it to the end yet?

ewchap 2015-04-20 05:55

Using gravity once enemies were in play was fun. Not super original, very jittery.

shrimpgunpistolshrimpslingergunnershrimps 2015-04-20 06:22

The overall game is pretty charming. The controls feel very jittery and uncomfortable. The Hitboxes are too large and the game is far too difficult for the buggy controls. I got stuck multiple times in some wall.The wobbling mouth of the character in the walk animation is funny :)

paperblurt 2015-04-20 06:28

Impressive as hell...

jprogman 2015-04-20 06:42

I couldn't finish the game as it got too difficult. I think I was near the end since the level just got long and deadly. There are spots where controls are very touchy. Often the character accelerates too fast and the gravity is too heavy to get my reaction. The game is okay, but I don't like how there are long levels with multiple difficult parts with no checkpoints.

sally_anne 2015-04-20 08:02

why is gravity not the shift key?! Other than that it was pretty fun knocking all the blocks around.

flummox2d 2015-04-20 08:44

The music is a bit too much for me. Controls are a bit wonky, but manageable. Otherwise it's a nice little game :)

jerryleelodbrok 2015-04-20 09:05

The Momentum kinda takes over as the browser lags it out.

syawqy 2015-04-20 09:11

I'm bad at platformer game, got stuck on level 2

kaype 2015-04-20 10:40

That music is wayyyy too loud.

The gameplay is pretty good though, and while your original mechanic looks like it came from VVVVVV there are some major differences (e.x. how you can still shift the direction of gravity mid-air, how enemies work, etc).

The aesthetic is very pleasing.

Granted, I am skeptical about this fitting in with the theme. This mechanic only works as a weapon if the level design allows for it. But with that aside, great entry.

elpaulo 2015-04-20 11:13

Nice VVVVVV reference ! The beginning was so scary !

figglewatts 2015-04-20 11:19

The player moves quite strangely, but I found it quite fun!

kedume 2015-04-20 12:04

It reminds me to VVVVVV. I like the game.

daleth90 2015-04-20 12:27

Sadly saying, there's already a game called VVVVVV on Steam.

manicminer 2015-04-20 12:28

Nice VVVVVV inspired game - I enjoyed hovering in mid-air and flying around the levels.. also the "shift" sound effect is great, really felt good.

split82 2015-04-20 12:37

I really love the music :D It's kinda crazy. I had a lot of fun playing this.

pauljs 2015-04-20 12:39

For me it does not really respect the theme. There are more survival as there fighting.

tipyx 2015-04-20 13:05

Good job ! :)

pavel_insight 2015-04-20 14:24

Interesting game (it's like flappy bird, but better))), nice music!

fanttum 2015-04-20 14:55

Thanks for more feedback!
I wanted to put in checkpoints but ran out of time :/
I also wanted to use the shift key also but I ran out of time xD haha.
Also I think I should go play "VVVVVV" now, haha.
People are calling the idea unoriginal, but that is the only other game they are referencing. Guess it must be that popular? haha

dkoding 2015-04-20 15:38

Minimalistic and it has been done before. A little glitchy. 10/10 best game ever, would play again. :-) Please rate my game at http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-32/?action=preview&uid=16225

gruhn 2015-04-20 16:43

Should have some visual feedback of the controls.

recursor 2015-04-20 21:11

Very vvvvvv-esque. The music is indeed loud and a bit dissonant. It would be nice to have the option to mute it. My kids are enjoying this game as I'm typing this.

tomcat94 2015-04-21 00:48

Great level design, you placed the first enemy in a spot where we would instinctively shift, which would show us how to kill the enemy.
My only complaints are with the movement and gravity; the character would occasionally run so fast he would jitter around, and VVVVVV did the gravity switching thing well by making the gravity shift immediate instead of gradual.
Also, I feel like there was a huge missed opportunity here. You called the game SHIFT, but you press the mouse to shift gravity instead of using the shift key to shift instead.
All in all, a fresh coat of paint, some tighter controls, and switching shift to the shift key would make this game far more fun, but it's still a neat game nonetheless.

syawqy 2015-04-21 00:54

yeah, you should play VVVVV
there's even the free version that come with a level editor, but you can only play the fan made level with that

anokta 2015-04-21 01:20

one of the coolest games i've seen so far! the music, the art style, loved it! one minor suggestion would be avoiding fade out/fade in of the background music between the state changes, as it kind of hurts the mood. but still, amazing job overall! :)

fanttum 2015-04-21 01:27

Just went and played the "VVVVV" Demo, and yea that game is a bit tighter cause the camera doesn't move around at all. But I wanted to go back to my idea of shifting whenever you want, haha. I thought it was fun to float around. Maybe make a challenge where you never touch the ground? ;) haha
And I do love having me some nice level design, haha.
Also the shift in gravity is immediate, but because (Unlike "VVVVV") you can shift in the air, you have that momentum. Which I wish I could have done more fun things with too.
I'm still kicking myself I forgot to make it also the shift key to shift, but I bitterly ran out of time, haha. And does it really hinder your fun that much?

fanttum 2015-04-21 01:29

I also might have gone a bit overboard with the screen shake at times, and that might make it seam even more jittery to some people.
And if I didn't fade in the extra tracks then how would I have brought them in?

dyfer 2015-04-21 02:04

Not sure if that s a weapon. Still fun.

ianburnette 2015-04-21 02:14

Clever - I like how you use the gravity switching mechanic as a weapon. Wouldn't have thought of that, certainly. And I agree that it borrows from vvvvvv, but I really like that you can switch in mid-air, something I always tried to do in vvvvvv but couldn't. Nicely dev'd!

mattmirrorfish 2015-04-21 02:23

I liked the main character, music was good. Reminds me of vvvvv. Good job!

davidcmcdonald 2015-04-21 03:11

WELL DONE! its awesome to see a game created that actually uses some sort of non written tutorial (when you switch the gravity and the red dude dies demenstrating that is how you kill enemies. also the graphical style and gameplay elements are very similiar to my ios game so i love it :) tinyurl.com/galaxyc

skiddings 2015-04-21 04:19

It's a cool concept, a more aggressive version of vvvvvvvv and the music is cool.
But the player control is very juddery on my browser and the camera didn't keep up with the player when falling so that led to a lot of deaths.

diningphilosopher 2015-04-21 05:25

Playing with the cubes is funny

lukezaz 2015-04-21 05:30

Decent game, though it tends to get frustrating as you progress.

mildmojo 2015-04-21 06:05

Reminds me a lot of VVVVVV, with the gravity flipping and flip-flying. Not bad. Using the webplayer on this page, the game popped out of fullscreen mode every time I clicked it (Firefox). It looks like you left a development console turned on, too, which was always open with a note about a NullReferenceException. And the game froze on me in level... 3, I think? When I died at the first exploding dude.

It's got potential. The mechanic feels good, so it comes down to making interesting puzzles out of it.

pta2002 2015-04-21 08:32

RAAAAAAAAAGEEEEEEE
Great game :D Definetly gona try to beat it...

maunovaha 2015-04-21 08:58

cool concept and more work on the graphics could make a big difference. ! :)

kikijin 2015-04-21 11:20

Good idea but the 2nd obstacle is very difficult unfortunately

abuzreq 2015-04-21 11:43

It's hard ,not much motivated me to try over and over
the gravity shift although good idea might need some tuning in how it's implemented

raysandlazors 2015-04-21 11:45

The screenshake felt a little bit excessive, the motion felt jiggly and uneven. Outside the physics bugs, nice platformer there. I can see how using spikes and gravity can be considered an unconventional weapon :P

nov1kk 2015-04-21 12:28

The music so loud, but if you mute game its nice.

havacore 2015-04-21 13:37

Camera was jittery, but besides that I really enjoyed it. You also should've made the shift gravity button shift, could've worked on multiple levels, just sayin'.

Had a good time playing this one!

pinkmonkeyhead 2015-04-21 13:39

I like the details, the screen shake and she walking animation.
I think the sideways movement is a bit cropped, I dont know if its just on my pc. Still, it was fun.

helekopeter 2015-04-21 14:02

Damn unity webplayer!!!

teamcalcium 2015-04-21 14:04

A really nice VVVVVV-clone. I like the new elements you added but I think that the camera and controls are a bit too clunky.

purpleapes 2015-04-21 14:13

Awesome !!!!

hbocao 2015-04-21 15:07

The movement is a bit weird and the music is "loud" and annoying at certain point, but you did it! It may be no the most original idea, but it was fun to play it.

jukimv1986 2015-04-21 15:24

Plays like it needs adjustments to its mechanics. I couldn't get past the first level where there are spikes up and down. Music gets repetitive fast. Keep up the effort and improve on it!

mockthebear 2015-04-21 16:09

i think the bgm could just play and dont stop at each level change

elejdor 2015-04-21 16:09

I thought I need theese cubes in level 2 so I made an effort to push them through whole level (including the single first cube) :)

latency 2015-04-21 16:21

Was pretty cool, like the use of gravity although some of the puzzles are hard to get passed until you figure out how delicate the grav switch is. good job!

fanttum 2015-04-21 19:22

Glad everyone is still having fun! (And still thinking it was based off "VVVVV" even if I didn't play that game until yesterday)
I also think every game in the compo could have used more fine tuned mechanics, but I deff didn't have the time for that. Oh well.
I know about the bug with the bad guys, but the enemies were made with minimal effort so wish I could have spent more time on them.
Also glad to see people loving the blocks! I was going to try and maybe use then for a puzzle or too, but it is hard when you have to think about the main mechanic too. I kept them in case I thought they were fun to play around with too, and they get in the way more then help you so they are kinda like a soft obstacle. They can save you from the spikes, or push you into them, haha. Such is life.

nikteddy92 2015-04-21 19:50

Wooah This is nice!
Really Enjoyable! Nice job

fixitteam 2015-04-21 19:58

it is at least fun, nice :)

nicotuason 2015-04-22 03:31

At first I thought it was just going to be like VVVVVV, but the puzzles are actually quite clever! Killer music too, great job!

mrshoestore 2015-04-22 05:17

ok, I don't know if i'm impaired from being tired, but this seems to be stupidly hard. I have trouble getting very far in it, and I'm thinking it's because the controls/gravity switch are quite floated, especially when you play games of similar nature such as vvvvvvv

reismahnic 2015-04-22 05:30

Very cool. The way the music builds over the course of the levels really blew me away.

dusho 2015-04-24 12:03

nice game.. and yes, music became bit loud after time
sometimes reminded me of my flappy bird experience

blobo 2015-04-25 01:25

the music gets rediculously loud, and clashes with it's overlaping self. the game is rediculously challenging, and i feel like the levels could have been structured much better.

chuigum 2015-04-25 23:47

Nice idea, very cool game. I love the music too. Great job!