boltkey 2019-04-29 02:22
I got stuck in the second level. I didn't get any upgrades and couldn't get to any higher places.
Also, alt-tabbing made my computer go nuts.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD44 → The Oarsman
By sefrz
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 184 | 3.47 | 49 | |
| Fun | 188 | 3.36 | 49 | |
| Innovation | 395 | 2.69 | 48 | |
| Theme | 340 | 3.08 | 49 | |
| Graphics | 174 | 3.58 | 49 | |
| Audio | 109 | 3.46 | 48 | |
| Mood | 149 | 3.39 | 49 |
I got stuck in the second level. I didn't get any upgrades and couldn't get to any higher places.
Also, alt-tabbing made my computer go nuts.
@boltkey Were you using the dash as well as the jump? In my testing, I could get everywhere and then some. Not sure about the alt-tabbing, but you can play in windowed mode via the options. That should help. Thanks for playing!
Nice game! I like the spooky mood
Nice game ! Wanted to go further but i got stuck, may be a bug with interaction... Cool effect and mood, the ghost effect could have been more transparent to win scene readability. Thanks for this game :)
@ldjsq Thank you <3
@mrschlag2 Just from knowing how the game works, I can guess that you couldn't pick up a soul because doing so would have killed you. You have to collect coins or preserve health to do that and finish the level. Thank you so much for the feedback and playing!
Love that!
Interesting mechanics, especially dash-jumping, it took me a while to understand how to use :smile: But why is he dashing in the opposite direction? That's probably a bug...
Pleasant, spooky mood. Besides weird dash, responive controls. Nice graphics.
Good job!
Really nice mood and visual style. And thanks for the Linux release, it works well.
It's unfortunate that there's no gamepad support for a platform game, I'm really bad with the keyboard.
The art is quite good, and the vfx are well done.
Couldn't get past the first level. I think it was because I couldn't interact with whatever was behind the force field after I unlocked it. I also went to the secret spot under the boat and I purchased something but nothing changed. Last thing was that it seemed the sprites were doing some z-fighting. Other than those minor bugs, it's a solid platformer and I'd like to see it all tidied up into a playable game. :smile:
(deleted)
@noobexception Dashing in the opposite direction when you're standing still is a bit of code left in from the original idea. It's meant to be a back dash, so intentional but not intentional.
@nyri0 Gamepad is something that completely skipped my mind during the crunch time. It's definitely something I'll put into the game when I do more with it.
@fanmanpro Because you use your life to interact with things or save souls, if you only had one hit point left, that's why you couldn't. I probably could have explained that better. But if you have two hearts, you can do it. As for the upgrade, the name is above the upgrade lamp. I need to put something to indicate what you chose more than just the effect of it, but I ran out of time ><
@tractorfarm and everyone else mentioned here, thank you so much!
Very nice graphics, also really loved the music, its very good.
I enjoyed The Oarsman. This seems like its a great start to a nice little platform game. A few comments though:
- It wasn't clear that you could dash jump. So I got stuck in the water a few times and didn't figure it out until the second level. - On the second level I got stuck inside one of the disappearing platforms for a few seconds because I was jumping through it when it became solid. (Bug or feature? You decide :wink:) - Did you use a capsule collider for the character? Or some other collider with a rounded bottom? I found that the jumping was plenty accurate but when I landed, half the time I would slide off if I was too close to the edge of the platform. - The dashing seemed a bit unpredictable. Sometimes it would dash exactly where I wanted to and other times I would end up dashing in the wrong direction or not dashing at all.
All in all a neat, fun game! :thumbsup:
@vinmh Thank you! Glad you liked it!
@wubbaduck If I had had more time, I would have put in a tutorial or controls to show what you could do with that. I'll remember to be more clear the next time I make one of these. The platforms thing is definitely a bug, but one I know about but didn't have time to fix and that wasn't completely game breaking. You can get yourself out by dashing up though! I did use a capsule collider for the character, mostly because I didn't want the character hanging out in the air if they were on the edge. And the backward dash is from an earlier build that didn't get fixed. If you stand still it's supposed to have been a back dash to avoid traps. As for not dashing, there's a cooldown you can reduce to dash. Thank you so much for the feedback and for playing! Glad you enjoyed it!
Interesting spooky game. I really liked the graphics, mood, mechanics, music and idea! It was fun to play overall
This was a fun little platformer. The aim-able dash combined with jump is something I don't think I've seen before. It really opens up the possibilities as far as how you can navigate the levels. I liked the art and the audio; they set the mood well. The level design is pretty good, but a little unintuitive at times. Definitely good enough for a game jam game. Nice job!
This was Very Good. Music, graphics, gameplay; every damned thing. Full marks!
nice idea. the graphics were nice at the beginning but started to hurt my eyes after a while :) still good job
@c0d3d and @nick-rafalski Thank you very much!
@cem-adiloglu Thank you, but may I ask what exactly was hurting your eyes? I'm always trying to focus on accessibility, so having an idea of what that might be will help me make adjustments to future or even current projects.
Pretty fun game. I managed to beat it, but I think I would have preferred if the controls were a little less slippery, since the platforming required a lot of precision. I liked how the levels all had many ways in which they could be approached, and how exploring the entire level often paid off with an easier route.
(Also, I very much did not like the trail effect and the water effect, as they made it much harder to understand what was going on.)
@boxedmeatrevolution Thank you for the kind words! And noted on the trail and water effects. I'm always trying to find ways to improve quality of life or accessibility, so the feedback is greatly appreciated. I think what I'll end up doing when I work more on this is add options like turning the shadow trail off and lessening the water effects. I unfortunately ran out of time to put those in.
Good game! Good controls, good graphics, good audio. Good luck!
Nice entry! Interesting concept, but I also had some problems with the controls.
How did you make this for the Compo?, like HOW, this is too good, my congratulations!
Really nice menu and overall pretty fun game just one flow on the first level there's water on the right side once you fall in it there's no going back you have to restart the level.
@coder-channel @drauthius @nayrahbbt @bleyo Thank you for the kind words. As for not being able to get out of the water on the right side (or the left side for that matter), you can combine jumping and dashing. Not only does it open up a lot of ways to play the game, but you can easily get out using that combination.
This is a fun game! The trail effect was super satisfying to me, same with how some of the sound effects matched the key of the background music.
A beauty game !!! graphics and music are awesome !!! great game dudee
Dash also works for up, once I figured that out I figured out that the game is tough. Really well done. Everything felt cohesive and stylish. The character was a little too floaty for me though, by that I mean he was hard to control due to how fast he was and how much he would move per key stroke. Overall, one of the best I've played so far. Nice work!
@repine and @castrolol Thank you so much for the kind words!
@sondrian Thank you for the feedback. Character movement is probably the hardest thing for me to get right, but lowering acceleration made it feel floaty to me. The settings I have there felt very tight for me, but I think that's a place where playtesting is really needed for games. Thank you for the kind words!
Love the dashing mechanic, though it would be better if there's a cooldown meter somewhere near the player instead of at the corner of the screen!
I like the artistic design, but it's a bit dark, some platforms were hard to see, but the game is very good, I like it
Solid platforming controls, really nice early-2000s newgrounds aesthetic, loved how the audio matched the visual elements in that way. The dash jump was a little unpredictable but also felt, powerful? It was fun and has a rewarding "feel" to it
I couldn't get past the 3rd level myself. Everything was extremely solid in this game, and the dashing was very satisfying. I enjoyed the controls, I thought they felt really good. The precise platforming felt like you were rewarded for being skillful, and no platforms ever felt like they were too far to see where to land.
This is a great entry, awesome work!
The pixel art and the music are both very nice! Had lots of fun playing it. I find the dash a bit hard to control because it's so powerful. I even have the feel (which may or may not be correct) that upward dashing gives more height than jumping. I'd prefer if there isn't a maximum health limit, so that you can't waste heals from the coins. But anyway, nice work!
Thank you for submitting your game to be played on my stream!
Once the stream is finished you can find the video here: https://www.twitch.tv/ursagames/videos If you want to know when it was played you can find your game in the queue here: https://tinyurl.com/y5rdokvp
The game was fun to watch you build, and it was fun to play; pretty difficult though as I did find myself getting stuck here and there! Otherwise, I liked the game. Kudos on the entry! :)
Nice, snappy platformer! It's pretty insane that you were able to get this all done by yourself in a weekend.
The controls were really satisfying and responsive, pretty rare for a platformer game made in this short amount of time. :) I also love how the visuals were dynamic and pleasing to look at, it really feels like you had all the time in the world for this!
I will say that I did have some initial confusion about the life depleting system. I opened a BUNCH of doors before I realized what was happening. Also, I maybe disagree with the fact that picking up souls depletes health as well. It can kind of get you into some situations where you're soft-locked out of a level and have to restart (which is not insignificant given how long some of them are).
This kind of stuff comes to light with playtesting though, and few if any compo games have time for that. This is a SUPER well put together game, regardless!
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/419497157?t=07h14m31s
I played your game in my latest video and realized much too late that I could dash upwards as well. "Late" meaning during the edit 😅 https://youtu.be/lVCsQbSi-js