FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD39 → Zombies 'n Kebabs

Zombies 'n Kebabs

By alaah

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall6122.6655
Fun6322.2255
Innovation6182.2554
Theme6372.3255
Graphics3163.2956
Audio2623.0053
Humor1982.7849
Mood3442.9150

Comments

automatonvx 2017-07-31 15:50

Tried the windows version and got generic windows messagebox with : https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2PhbR7agvTGMGZPU09vWmE4Qzg too bad i love ghosts and goblins

alaah 2017-07-31 16:02

>Tried the windows version and got generic windows messagebox with : https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2PhbR7agvTGMGZPU09vWmE4Qzg too bad i love ghosts and goblins

I always have to screw up static linking on Windows. Working on it now; thanks for reporting it.

sgt3v 2017-07-31 17:45

I had the same error, will stay hungry for kebabs until I play this game!

matoux42 2017-07-31 18:02

It was hard to launch it ! You forget to say that the Linux build have dependencies (libtmxlite in my case, but perhaps I have already some others dependencies installed in my PC).

So, after I have install libtmxlite:

* graphics and audio are nices * controls are a bit weird, but quite simple * overall, this game is cool, but I had some problems with HUD display : it was displayed in the top left corner and very smallest

krishnasism 2017-07-31 18:10

1.PNG

Really want to play this! :(

sivael 2017-07-31 18:30

libgcc s seh.dll is missing win7 64b

sivael 2017-07-31 18:30

duplicate post

alaah 2017-07-31 20:00

Both builds should be working now. I apologize for the failure; I know now NEVER to build win64. -static just didn't do anything on my 64-bit compiler.

>It was hard to launch it ! You forget to say that the Linux build have dependencies (libtmxlite in my case, but perhaps I have already some others dependencies installed in my PC).

Only SFML and tmxlite. They are now both included in the lib subdirectory (I did forget about tmxlite in the initial release, lel), and run.sh will automatically adjust ld_library_path. Big thanks for getting this to work despite the issues!

It's taken a while, because I had to download the entire 32-bit toolchain. And there was a new GoT episode. plz.png

automatonvx 2017-07-31 23:00

Windows version works now. hmm well I love the concept of a little pony clone of ghosts and goblins. Actually any clone of ghosts and goblins is fine with me. Pixel art is a pretty good clone for 48 hours, the ponies looked good and had a nice jump as you would hope. I was a bit confused by the gameplay, you can only shoot a couple of times before running out of energy..then nothing to do but run until you die. Maybe I am missing something. Took me a while to figure out I had to jump on the portals to go through them. Fun while it lasts, just wanted more. The music was suitably atmospheric.

mcjammydodger 2017-08-01 11:56

I liked the pixel art and the music in this game. The game was very hard, I ran out of energy quickly and so there was nothing I could do to defend myself against the enemies. It took me a while to work out how to jump between portals. Interesting game. Good job!

serval-games 2017-08-01 12:01

I I really like graphics and music but difficulty level wos unbalanced with enemies running everywhere

simon-millard 2017-08-01 16:35

Pixel art / animations are awesome. Unfortunately the controls are weird, the goal is difficult to understand (you run out of energy and then what?), and the game is way too difficult. However, I gave you a high score for graphics. Very well done on that part :)

red-fan-games 2017-08-01 17:52

Really lives up to it's source material in a good way. Art was fantastic, but maybe only because I like pixel art when done well(this was on of those cases). It's really nice to see a fellow linux developer! I feel your pain when it comes to static linking on windows. :/

essell 2017-08-01 18:34

Not sure about the My Little Pony stuff but enjoyed the Ghosts N Goblins-ness!

Best bit: good job capturing the style well. Weaker bit: Game design wise it didn't feel quite there - lack of air control during the jump feels awkward in a platformer, some odd quirks with the enemies appearing and the portals, etc.

But overall, cool :)

bartol44 2017-08-02 09:40

It would be better off to your game if the energy system was rethinked. Only way to restore energy (unless I'm missing something) is not jumping/shooting. But then you die. Some energy power-ups or energy restoration after killing enemy would be great. I immediately knew how to used potrals. The Pony-Kebab-Zombie mash-up, albeit weird, is interesting. Great music, and fantastic pixel graphics. And of course + points for kebabs.

alaah 2017-08-02 10:25

Thank you all for your feedback. It should have been more precisely specified that you have to kill a boss zombie on the right side of the map, and portals are activated with jump. I'm glad you like my pixel art!

@essell Lack of air control is very much intended and it's one of the main reasons GnG made a name for itself as a horribly difficult and punishing platformer. Unlike my game, it allowed to turn back while jumping, but I don't think it'd really change much.

@bartol44 I agree I didn't balance energy as much and I didn't have time to implement energy restoration. I'd make a full balanced version with it in mind, but I don't know if people would play it.

catbutt 2017-08-02 11:25

the energy restore system was way too slow, nice drawings though.

zelos 2017-08-02 11:50

The graphics are great and the music isn't bad at all. The gameplay feels very unfair though and I didn't quite 'get it'.

The energy cost for everything feels way too steep. The controls, especially for jumping, are not that precise, so I had the problem that I jumped up and basically wasted my energy. You said it's intended, but I say it's contradicting the energy mechanic. Because jumping up does exactly nothing except lock you in place and waste your energy.

The enemies spawned right inside of me multiple times, and there was no way I could've avoided them. And that was really annoying. They need to either not damage the player for a second longer after coming out of the ground or just don't spawn so close to me.

I appreciate that you tried to make it like GnG though. And I'm really not into My Little Pony, so that was a huge turn-off for me as well, but I guess different people have different tastes.

Overall pretty good, but it just needs a bit more polish. Good job.

milano23 2017-08-02 12:30

Nice game. I kept dying when there was nothing around me. My energy was at 50% and no ghosts but i would still fall off the level. Also i think i would have survived much longer if i wasn't getting hurt from the ghosts as they were coming up from the ground. You should give the player a little more time to react. Good Job!

simonhutchinson 2017-08-02 13:16

Looks like fun! Any chance of a Mac or web build?

alaah 2017-08-02 13:29

@zelos @milano23 @catbutt Thanks again for feedback. I'm working on pushing a post-compo version that will fix these issues.

@simonhutchinson Sorry, no chances. It's done in SFML and I don't have a Mac.

olowynd 2017-08-02 13:47

Wow, the graphics are excellent, it was really cool to see (and I've liked SGNG so I found it even more cool). I would totally like to play an enhanced and less unfair (but not necessarily less hard) version of the game ! The game absolutely need something to prevent you where the dead killer ponies will be spawning (or don't permit them to damage you until they are totally out the floor). Also, it would be really useful to be able to change the direction you are facing when jumping for shoot to both sides of the screen, and it would be nice to have slighty less delay until the jump start when you press space. I still haven't beat that unkillable master dead killer pony at the east but I try hard ! (The flying killers kebabs are pure genius). So, full of references, very good graphics & animation, nice musical theme too but too unfair. Nice work tho, I hope you will made a post-event better version with more funny things and a balanced challenge ! ;)

olowynd 2017-08-02 15:59

After testing the v2, I like the changes you made for the jump+shoot and power balancing and also the spawning ponies, it's really more enjoyable to play. But when I cross the river I die everytime without seeing anything (so I supposed it's a flying killer kebab spawning right on me), also I can't jump over the pony master because of other kebabs, so even with a lot of try I haven't be able to go really far to the east and find something to beat the boss. (Or maybe it's not at the far right and I'm missing something). So I'm a bit frustrated, but good changes tho ^^.

reggnos 2017-08-02 16:31

Love the vibe the game is giving with the retro look and the insert coin text, really makes a good mood. The game is ok, nothing super special but a thing that would really make the game better is not let enemies hit you when they are spawning that is really annoying. And I just wonder why is the game not called zombies and ponies

alaah 2017-08-02 18:38

@olowynd Thanks for trying the v2! As for the boss, my strat is to stay near the river until he comes for me first. But it's fluid. Kebabs might be spawning at a too frequent rate.

@reggnos Thanks for playing! > a thing that would really make the game better is not let enemies hit you when they are spawning that is really annoying.

This is a known issue and was fixed in the v2. >And I just wonder why is the game not called zombies and ponies

Ghosts and Goblins was called so, because, among other enemies, you had to fight ghosts and goblins; the game wasn't called Ghosts and Sir Arthur.

ex3d0 2017-08-02 20:36

Pretty good. Kind of hard to figure out what to do at first but you figure it out eventually. The hitboxes on some things seem a bit wonky and the controls are a bit weird in my opinion. I really like the graphics and audio however.

theflyingkeyboard 2017-08-02 20:40

Really neat idea (that flying kebaB was awesome ;)), graphics looks nice and sounds are fun.

deke 2017-08-03 13:56

The art is really good (although the walking animation for the main character looks a bit wonky) and v2 fixed a lot of issues I had at first (like the horrible energy balancing and enemies hitting you out of nowhere). v2 became a fun little thing, especially keeping the limitations of a compo in mind.

Still I feel like I missed some kind of in-joke? I don't really know a lot about MLP stuff so I guess, that's my bad, though.

alaah 2017-08-03 15:36

@theflyingkeyboard @ex3d0 Thanks for feedback.

@deke Thanks for kind words. The game's codename was Kebabs 'n Spaghettis, because the main character moves like spaghetti. The truth is, I haven't read any tutorials regarding animation.

The only MLP in-joke I could think of is the fact that the "armoured" version depicts [Snowfall Frost](http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_ponies/Unicorn_ponies#Snowfall_Frost).

hav24 2017-08-03 17:19

The pixel art animations are strange but I liked it! :D The zombie (ponies) are scary as fuck with this music. D: It is a good game overall, maybe you should put some more effort on the input side that are not so responsive (I don't know but sometimes I have to wait too much for the jump even if I got the energy!). Keep up the good work! :D

badly-drawn-rod 2017-08-03 20:22

That was a good laugh. I enjoyed seeing the zombie ponies, the music was excellent, and you really captured the art style of Ghosts'n'Goblins. The fact that I could only play for a few seconds before dying reminded me of playing the real thing in the arcades before retreating to spend my hard gained 10p coins in something easier.

sokette 2017-08-03 20:41

The mood was spot on, zombies + ponies was perfect.

The game is really difficult though, I had so much trouble moving the way I wanted to. Everytime I used the portal was on accident, never managed to do it on purpose :D

kunonooni 2017-08-04 00:13

What does Ghost N' Goblins, My Little Pony and Portal all have in common? They make one hell of a game together! You have a very keen imagination and it paid off here. This was a very interesting game. Graphics were good, as was the music. I'm wondering if a trotting and a jumping sound would have improved the immersion of the game. Something to possible look at for your continued development of the game. Good job!

mrerdalural 2017-08-04 10:54

Weirdest ghost n' goblins clone ever! Also the best one! I really enjoyed this game thank you for making it!

mrerdalural 2017-08-04 10:54

*Duplicated comment removed*

gil4 2017-08-04 15:58

Heya, thanks for the thorough write-up on our game, it was really fun to read even when I wasn't agreeing with some details.

Having voted "yes" on your strawpoll I felt inclined to make a list of the bugs and stuff I noticed so that it was easier for you to make a full version should you decide to do it. Still not entirely sure if the "delight and admiration" finale of your comment was sarcastic or not, but even if it was I would still be glad to see this project come to life in a finished form (post length is my proof). Mind you, I've never watched MLP/played GnG, so if some of these are an intentional reference, please ignore my blabbering and forgive my overall verbosity.

* The animation spritesheet seems to have an error in it, or maybe the options for it in the code do. In some of the running frames the rightest column or two of pixels seem to be cut and appear on the left of the sprite instead. As you probably know, that usually happens when the width of the frame isn't correctly passed to the engine for one reason or another. * The hat disappears immediately when you're damaged while on the ground, but doesn't when you're damaged while in the air - it does disappear correctly after you land though. * I've played both versions for 30+ minutes to rate this fairly, and while you say that enemies damaging you during their spawn is fixed I've found that to only be the case with the zombies in v2: kebabs are still spawning and instantly killing me in v2 just like in v1. It makes sense since their spawn speed is seemingly a lot higher, I'd just make them appear in the outer thirds of the screen only personally. * Several times while running in place (into the grave) the jump wasn't recognizing the horizontal movement buttons being pressed. Couldn't reproduce it perfectly though. * Probably intentional from GnG, but the inability to move horizontally while falling felt a tad weird. * That leads me to another point, even if it's intentional, that makes the first portals pair and the higher platform they lead to useless 'cause of inefficiency: if you could land to the right of the grave that comes right after by simply falling diagonally there and not jumping, that whole platform would be a neat alternate pathway to avoid unfavorable zombie spawns in the beginning. As it stands though, the top path requires 3 "jumps" (portal usage included, which I'd just make not expend any energy personally), while the bottom one only needs 1 unless you're jumping over some zombie ponies. From my experience though if you're being fast, there's no need to jump over anything but the grave there. * Another interesting tidbit about the top path - I had a strange bug of falling through the ground after jumping from the top platform, which makes that route (unintentionally) even worth. * While falling into the river without a jump doesn't trigger the post-river check-point, jumping into it (and dying around the middle of the river as a result) does trigger it. * The boss (if the pony guarded by the kebabs was it) would be a lot easier to recognize if it had a distinct recolor (or something better, but recolor is the easiest to do while in a tight compo environment), I had to spend a few minutes to figure out that this was basically the end of the level and the enemy wasn't just a powered-up edition of a zombie. * As a result of not realizing who's the boss immediately, I've ran all the way to right several times and tried overcoming the invisible wall of the world by jumping: I actually could jump over it to make most of the screen go black and die a few seconds later, imho it should be unpassable even with a jump to cause less confusion - still not sure if it was just a bug or the actual end of the level.

That said, I really liked the controls of the game, the cute and well done for the limited time you had pixel art, suitable audio and a fun setting. Great job and good luck with the full version!

P. S. You can add me on Discord if you wanna get some responses to your own comment, some clarifications of the bugs mentioned or just chat.

cenullum 2017-08-04 16:55

After get dll error I imported somethings and played :D I can't say anything after @gil4 lol. He is right. Game was awesome 4/5

klianc09 2017-08-05 12:15

I liked the graphics and animations. The music made me jump when it started, it's a bit loud.

I really had issues with the gameplay, the energy is used up really fast and I didn't really realize when I was out of energy at first, and didn't understand why I couldn't jump/shoot at times. The zombies are moving around really erratically. And once you are out of energy you are doomed.

librorumque64 2017-08-07 16:24

Graphics, and UI in particular are the work of art. They look great and actually give retro vibe, more than just "vintage" oversized pixels. Sound complements it nicely. Level design and balance need polishing, but that's somewhat expected from a game made in two days.

rothens91 2017-08-12 08:24

What the hell did I play with? :D Anyways, it was fun! :D

pkenney 2017-08-13 17:54

Wow, I think if you can make this game you can make something really good - the art and music are fantastic.

But there are a bunch of small design decisions that hamper my ability to engage with the game correctly. I felt a lot of frustration, and not the kind that I want from a hard game but more the kind that felt like it was cheap.

Since you've obviously got high potential here I want to list the dings I felt, I hope this is helpful not hurtful!!

- There's a hitch when I jump, the character pauses a brief instant before actually jumping, this does not feel fluid.

- The portals are activated by the jump button but they are so finnicky. My friend jumped into the big pit three times trying to activate the portal. I can see you also seem to struggle in your gameplay video with smoothly activating the portal. A difficult platformer is ALL ABOUT feeling smooth, so this is the kind of thing to focus on in your game imo.

- As you know, the zombies feel cheap when they come up and hit me out of nowhere. Especially in the first one second of the game when I don't even know the buttons yet.

- The energy meter is confusing, I still don't quite know what is happening there even after carefully watching it.

- In your movie, the flying guys at the end are clear to see. When I played for some reason on my screen they were ghostly outlines. I thought they were background images and had no idea why I was dying.

So I think I didn't have as much fun with this as the game's potential had, just because the difficulty was based on small splinters in the controls. If I had smooth powerful control and clear feedback on what happened and why, I think I could have really enjoyed this a lot.

So strong marks on a lot of the categories but maybe polish that core more next time!