FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD40 → Lava Cave

Lava Cave

By goplite, ongomato, Fantdragon and Rosik

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall10202.8948
Fun9032.8750
Innovation9562.7049
Theme10302.7051
Graphics10222.4051
Humor8732.2345
Mood10102.5447

Comments

cubictimeline 2017-12-05 03:37

When I try to move into the next level segment the plug drops and I die. Not sure what I'm missing.

goplite 2017-12-05 03:41

You lose if you leave block without at least one artifact

goplite 2017-12-05 05:10

Made it a LITTLE clearer in game.

csdoescs 2017-12-05 06:25

I like the climbing! Also nice work on the LAVA !!!

hertz14 2017-12-05 06:28

A neat little game, a bit rough around the edges but definitely playable. There's a nice little challenge in trying to go back for extra artifacts and risking the lava, which is I guess how you addressed the LD theme? I missed not having a wall jump feature, which would make the gameplay a lot smoother, but the impulse gun did help on that front - although that felt a bit too weak and I didn't use it a huge deal. Otherwise an entertaining entry, nice work!

goplite 2017-12-05 06:33

@hertz14 @csdoescs Thank you for feedback. Yeah, game was rushed a little, I'm looking now how to fix few annoying bugs.

almost 2017-12-05 08:04

I like the idea of trying to decide whether or not to be greedy and take multiple artifacts, but the platforming is tricky enough that even trying to take 2 artifacts seems really difficult.

Sometimes when climbing onto a ledge there is a bug and the player ends up hanging from the ledge again. Additionally, I would prefer if I could climb up ledges automatically by just pushing right or left, and jump off by pushing down. Needing to use the mouse to jump a tiny bit higher seemed weird to me, so I often forgot to use the mouse.

cubictimeline 2017-12-05 08:11

I should read the instructions better.

This is a fun little platformer. The levels look pretty nice, albeit limited. The character graphic is a bit disappointing for how nice the level tiles look. The wall grab mechanic is a nice tough gameplay wise but is a little touchy.

michal 2017-12-05 12:40

Very nice game :) its so good idea for climbing I like it so much <3 but its too fast for me.

rosik 2017-12-05 12:47

@cubictimeline funny, that I made both tiles and character. Just realised, that I had no time to animate more complex character, so just replaced him with stickman at last hours. Previous our attempts on the old site were more pretty, but we never managed to finish them in time.

machocodes 2017-12-05 15:55

Great but could use some improvement

tobiasnl 2017-12-05 16:42

The mechanics were still quite rough and jumpy. The game itself however was very easy. Really liked the ledge grabbic mechanic together with the boosting :) nice job!

mathiouza 2017-12-05 16:48

Good job but I think you can do something more polished. I am talking about the tutorial that is quite invisible because behind the level, maybe you could make a tutorial level ? There is no titlescreen also, and it does not seems there is an end (maybe I just did not reach it, but nothing in the game let me think that there is an end in this level. There is no music also. Your game is cool nonetheless, for exemple, you added a kind of boost jump that is cool when achieving using it (maybe could you go further by making levels with passage where you just have to use this gameplay ?), and a edge catching that is well done too !

But anyway, even if the game could be improved, you made a great work ! Keep coding :)

dr-binary 2017-12-05 16:55

I thought this one was pretty well put together. The jump mechanics were tight and easy to pick up. I didn't even pick up on the tie to the theme until I read the comments however. It makes more sense now. I thought the graphics were decent, given time I think it could have been similar in visual style to Fancy Pants. Some of the inescapable traps were well placed too.

goplite 2017-12-05 16:58

@dr-binary There is no inescapable traps(as far as i know), you can do vertical jump from ledge grab and use impulse cannon to escape from almost anywhere.

dr-binary 2017-12-05 17:05

Oh. I fell in a chute that would be hypothetically escapable then, but struggled to implement the technique you just described. Probably was my timing.

dogydogsun 2017-12-05 18:00

I like the way you chose to tackle the theme, making the player decide whether they want to take their chances with bringing up more artifacts for mor points, or play it safe by bringing just a few. The climbing also feels really nice, I particularly liked the way the impulse gun affected the platforming elements of the game. Also good job on the ability to hang on to edges as I feel like this game would have been really frustrating without that.

I feel like the artifact mechanic needs a few changes to really shine though. The biggest problem I had was the fact that they didn't duplicate in your inventory, just made them a bit tedious to deal with. It was also a bit into my first run that I realised that I should have brought multiple artifacts with me and then just thrown them to get them all with me. If you could maybe make it so that the player is carrying the artifact in their hands or something just to make that a bit more clear.

kukiri 2017-12-05 19:25

It is a great idea! I love the climbing animation, it is so cool. Also, using the impulse gun is pretty fun. I think the game can improve a lot, Congrats!

josefnpat 2017-12-05 20:39

I had problems finding any artifacts. Do they show up at some point, or are they supposed to be on the map?

Regardless, nice job! Add some music and you're good to go!

goplite 2017-12-05 20:43

@josefnpat Artifacts are the ball things that you spawn with.

micahtron 2017-12-06 00:30

Nice work with the jump/climb/ledge mechanics. I also like how it gets more difficult as you get higher. Wasn't expecting progression or level design in an LD game! After a while it did start to feel repetetive and became an exercise in jump coordination, but if more "doodads' were added as the player ascends I can see this being a really fun game.

beanslasher 2017-12-06 06:50

Really nice climb mechanisms, It was really fun, makes me think of the floor is lava game, I played as a kid. But put into a game! This is awesome, great job!!!!!!!!!!

cawrtz 2017-12-06 11:49

Very fun to play. Didn't understand the point of artifacts though. Nice level design, the impulse gun is a nice touch. Great job!

pcmxms 2017-12-06 20:57

Nice platformer. Very well done for the Jam time. Congrats!

kerdelos 2017-12-06 21:01

I liked the music and the climbing animation is gorgeous. The game is hard and not easily understandable though. The tutorial was most welcome but wasn't clear enough and I still didn't understand what I'm supposed to do with the balls I take =/ The impulsion gun is also very hard to use because it doesn't do anything except if you just jumped before, adding a bit of flexibility to the timing would greatly improve the game in my opinion. (Also why add a jumping gun and not making the jump go higher in the first place ? )

goplite 2017-12-06 21:03

@kerdelos It's more flexible that way, you can speed yourself down or to side while in air, also I find it kind of fun to propell myself through the level.

kerdelos 2017-12-06 21:20

@goplite I guess I'm not as good at platformers as I thought then :p thanks for the answer ;)

drazil100 2017-12-07 03:57

OH MY GOD LEDGE GRABS! PogChamp

Not going to lie this was not the most fun game I have played but I liked the idea behind it. I love that the game not only has ledge grabs but an animation for climbing up.

The concept was pretty good too of carrying the artifacts up and throwing them through the hatch to multiply them though I wish it was executed in a more clear and forgiving way to where I would actually want to get greedy with it.

The aiming mechanic for throwing the artifacts through the hatches was pretty janky and it was a struggle to get it through the hole.

As much as I loved the ledge grabs the fact you needed to be pushing into the wall was an issue for me that would often lead me to overshoot a platform I want to climb up from the ledge.

Conclusion ---------- Overall this was a pretty solid game. I had several nitpicks listed above but nothing was completely game breaking or experience ruining. The physics while not perfect were solid and I did play it multiple times!

veralos 2017-12-08 05:15

Cool game with some nice music and visuals (the stickman character isn't great, but it is well animated). It's fun trying to outrun the lava and I really the ledge grabs. The impulse cannon is cool but I would've liked it to be a bit more versatile. It doesn't seem to do much unless you use it right as you jump.

le-slo 2017-12-08 12:25

I didn't get the artifact mechanic during my first playthrought but it seemed like it wasn't necessary for playing. I got like 22000 just going up as fast as I could, carrying an artifact always with me, no more, in the end I stopped because the lava wouldn't catch me any time soon. After reading the use of artifact I understand how this game fits with the theme, but you should tweak difficulty for "punishing" the way i played the game. Controls felt a bit clunky but I liked the idea of the extra push with the gun. Nice entry.

goplite 2017-12-08 12:31

@le-slo actually lava is getting faster with every new level, so, eventually it gets too fast to run from it, but artifacts reinforce hatches enough to keep it at bay if you bring more of them, but I agree, we simply didn't have enough time to balance those things. Anyway thank you for feedback!

saramartins 2017-12-09 06:03

This game had a very cool base idea, however it felt a little bit too difficult for me. The whole jumping mechanic was really difficult and I kept getting frustrated failing multiple times everytime I have to jump. The boost with the gun makes sense, but actually doing it control wise was too difficult. The game had a really cool sound effect + music combination, and the stickman animations were nice. I frequently kept droping orbs buy accidentaly clicking on E. Also, I didn't feel the lava was a real danger, I took too long to advance each time but didn't feel that I needed to hurry or was going to die. The tutorial didn't stand out from the rest of the level, maybe the whole background and level could be light, to notice more the stickman, the orbs and the tutorial. But hey, having a tutorial is even more than asked, so kudos to that!

Overall nice game, had fun, with polish can become even better. Congratulations :)

zorg 2017-12-10 08:36

Hey, thanks for having commented on my game, so i played your game and rated it, here is my comment: I think the base is very solid. The ledge climbing is nice and works well, but the level design sometimes poses impossible situations for ledge climbing where you can't stand up and are forced to fall off. I did not really get the idea with the artifacts. I know they are used to enforce the hatches, but It would be cool if they were scattered around the map. You could pick them up automatically on reaching them and being able to spend X amount to a door with E -> less treasure for more safety deal. The doors could get worse over time and need more artifacts so you would lose to the lava at some point and the real score could be the number of the floor you reached (or you could reach the surface if you play really really well and spend all treasure. "the more you _keep_, the worse it is"). I would have loved another use for the gun, for example destroying specific walls, which takes a bit of time for a shortcut or more treasure. But after all, it's a jam and the time is limited. There are always more possibilities left to explore. You did a good job! :)

jecr 2017-12-23 08:41

can't play in 32bits

bastienre4 2017-12-23 13:21

Nice controls, its quite fun to climb everything. I didnt really understanted the artefact mechanic but I had fun anyway :)