Hopper

lars-dk 2017-04-29 16:55

This is a stellar game! Wow!

Obviously the sound and music aren't judged here but they do complement the game well, and suit the game. More music variation would be nice.

Art style is minimalist and excellent. The vector graphics are impressive, as are all the animations and effects. Also I know I'm not really supposed to look at this but OMG your source code is so neat! Puts mine to shame anyway. I didn't spot any bugs and had a lot of fun. Physics seemed on point, though I kept annoying myself by dying due to friendly fire. Wish I could turn that off. Other than that the difficulty was ok overall.

The C/X system for firing / jumping was a little confusing even after reading the instructions. C and X don't logically relate to those ideas in my mind. It felt restrictive to have to fire vertically and I wonder if mouse input might have been an acceptable alternative. Given the arcade-like vibe of the game though this wasn't a major concern.

Overall I have few complaints with this game. If anything it could be more innovative, or link more closely with the thenem but it's a very impressive showing given the time period it was made in, and I have every confidence it should do well in the scoring. Had lots of fun with it!

rombus 2017-04-30 00:18

Great game man! The mechanic is awesome, it would be great to see it on mobile. I can see myself playing it on the go :P

Good work!

technonugget 2017-04-30 00:26

Hey thanks Lars! I'll be sure to check out your game too!

Also just so you know, the code you were looking at was actually transpiled code generated by BabelJS. The code that I wrote was written in javascript ES6, which isn't compatible with a lot of browsers(but also a lot more understandable to read and write), so I transpiled it to ES5. I just uploaded the source code though, it is on the itch.io page available for download if your curious about what my source actually looks like.

lars-dk 2017-04-30 01:51

@technonugget Dude your ES6 code is no less impressive. I'm learning by reading it!

fell-trsi 2017-04-30 10:57

Coooool mechanic, with great clean execution. Congrats! I'd love to see this game on Vectrex :)

euske 2017-04-30 11:21

Very smooth and addictive gameplay. I think the control could be a bit more intuitive (like using mouse to aim) but overall it's a well made game.

carsen-d 2017-05-01 03:53

Pretty fun game, but I ended up wishing for it to be a little harder. It might get too frustrating though. as the controls can sometimes be a little finicky for jumping and shooting. If you thought about changing the controls around a bit to make them more responsive and making the difficulty maybe ramp up a bit faster (so there isn't quite as much time of just a couple ground enemies on the screen) it would be really addicting and fast-paced. I think that sort of "addictingly difficult" direction could be really fun!

danbolt 2017-05-01 07:11

I like the "explode" effect when you or another character dies. The way they hit the planets and make little sounds is really entertaining! The feedback, shapes, and colours are good fits for this. I appreciated that "charging" moves like jumping and shooting had previews so you could see their trajectory. A skillshot felt really rewarding.

The only thing I'd be tempted to suggest would be a few sprites here and there, or perhaps more colours? Otherwise, it's a great way to kill time on a computer.

jaimuepe 2017-05-01 11:46

I like your game - I think the mechanics are pretty solid, and I love the effect of the vectors when you shoot/jump, i think they look great and give a great feedback to the player. Good job :)

bram-ve 2017-05-01 11:47

Fun game, the art style while simple it works great for this game in my opinion. Also jumping and shooting feels great. Overall good job on this one!

gerardb 2017-05-01 11:54

The gameplay is just too good! I really like the shoot and jump indicators. Good job man!

renatopp 2017-05-01 12:08

Hey, nice game and solid mechanics! Sorry you couldn't make it for the 48h, but I'm glad you did it in time for the jam.

conk 2017-05-01 12:20

Played that way longer than I was expecting too! Mechanics are really fun and engaging and the difficulty is very well balanced, found my self using the gravity to bend bullets around corners to get annoying enemies, absolutely fantastic! Graphics are simple but get the job done and the controls could be a little better, took a few plays before getting the movement + jumping down. Perhaps making jump space bar instead would've stopped me from shooting by accident, might just be me though!

Overall a brilliant game! Well done (:

takusan 2017-05-01 13:30

Brilliant! A very fun idea and mechanics, and really skillfully coded on that. I haven't found any inconsistencies, everything plays out, and from design point of viev, an excellent way to introduce player to determinism and rules of your world.

This would barely need any more polish, it's a game that's ready to publish after some playtesting (to check if there are any bugged situations in unlikely scenarios, and if the input is comfortable enough for most players). Really, really good job.

I'm leaving a rating, and I'm very jealous :D

mundell 2017-05-01 15:20

Very nice trails on the jump and explosion!

I had a lot of fun curving long jumps.

ratking 2017-05-01 15:22

Very polished entry, congrats! I love the minimalism. Would play it on mobile!

justus954 2017-05-01 16:56

Simple yet satisfying game that has skillful engaging gameplay, wow!

I really love the gravity and how it lets you to jump between planets and even launch yourself between over 3 planets!

The trails work as great rewards for hitting your shots and make the hits feel so much sweeter.

dink-dunk 2017-05-01 17:59

Nice entry, controls felt really weird to me and getting to really small planets was a pain! The gravity system is impressive!

nickzangus 2017-05-02 11:49

Nice little game! The controls are a bit difficult to master. It would be really fun to play in local multiplayer!

powerspark 2017-05-03 00:37

Wow really clean game! Controlling movement and aiming shots was hard to adjust to but it's probably the right difficulty. I was impressed with the smooth gravity system. Local multiplayer would be awesome too! Great game overall :D

tdennist 2017-05-03 01:01

This is really great. It feels very polished, and although each round can be a little short, the different tiers of enemies definitely lend it replayability. The controls felt tight and responsive, although I wish jump and shoot were buttons a little farther apart, since a few times I shot when I meant to jump. I think this could be even better if you can figure out a way to make trick shots/exciting shots a little bit easier to achieve or more common, as it's very satisfying to make a long distance shot.

rayriver 2017-05-03 02:16

Nice and clean game, I like it!

skullpixel 2017-05-03 02:32

I get a feeling this will score very highly in innovation. Congratulations on an amazing entry. My main suggestion would be to make the line for the jumping/shooting a little more bold. Otherwise, I was really impressed when I booted it up. Well done.

porcus-pie 2017-05-06 06:17

Hello "Hopper" twin :)

I enjoyed this game, it was fun to move and I enjoyed the strategic element of lining up the perfect shot before letting it loose and destroying the enemy. The graphics were simplistic, but really worked in favour of the game, and I liked how when you jumped or shot, there was a trail, that gave the game some extra character. I did find that, whilst the game did keep adding more and more enemies, it just kind of gets monotonous. The music also doesn't loop awfully well, and it was jarring any time that it replayed. Other than that however great game, well done.

potatolain 2017-05-07 02:06

Fun little game! I really like the gravity quirks with jumping and firing. X and C felt like odd keys to me (I come from a world where I use a lot of emulators where I find myself using z and x a lot... so I kept accidentally being one key over!)

I got to around 1,450 I think.

la-mecanique-du-plastique 2017-05-10 14:54

Very addictive game ! It was hard, but it felt like the progression ladder is well balanced. I reached in the end the honorable score of 1150 points :P Your idea is really clever and produces a very simple and efficient gameplay. I could easily imagine myself playing it quite often on a mobile device. I liked it very much. Congratulations !

jishenaz 2017-05-13 15:08

Absolutely flawless game! Love the jumping/gravity dynamics, diverse enemy behaviors, and graphical effects.

terryg 2017-05-20 09:28

Hi. this is Terry from TM. Nicely done. Sorry my vote is so late but here it is. I liked the planet jumping. I know how hard that can be :) nice entry and good take on theme.

davision 2017-05-21 11:34

Congratz fellow 14th placed in Fun! It certainly is a lot of fun. I ended up always charging my shots and jumping full power and then just going straight since that is easier which is kinda sad since that ignores the gravity part a lot. I think it would be much more interesting if you have to make shots where you have to take the gravity in account and jumping in arks. More space between the planets and the projectiles with big explosions might be a way to go for that. Is is very cool in any case though, jumping around, dodging enemies, shooting at them. Great mechanics! I also like how it displays all the trails but maybe it is bit too much helping. If you like to check out my game which also plays with planets, gravity and shooting it is called Dots In Space... https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/dots-in-space