Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD48 → How to Swim!
By backurio and MerlinnSound
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 352 | 3.86 | 74 | |
| Fun | 413 | 3.70 | 74 | |
| Innovation | 217 | 3.90 | 74 | |
| Theme | 148 | 4.22 | 74 | |
| Graphics | 1260 | 3.35 | 74 | |
| Audio | 427 | 3.70 | 71 | |
| Humor | 115 | 3.98 | 71 | |
| Mood | 791 | 3.58 | 71 |
This game has convinced me that swimming was a fluke. It shouldn't be possible. Anyways, the gameplay was clean and QWOP like, but relaxing as opposed to QWOP's sense of urgency. Could definitely see myself trying to figure this out some more later. Good job!
@spacelawnmower Yeah, swimming is a rather complex task (at least if you are ignoring your feet). People who can swim take it for granted, but we forget how hard it was to learn at a young age. We wanted to reflect this with the game and the opportunity was there to finally work on a cool rage game π We hope you come back and give the game another try. Once you get the hang of it, it's quite easy and doesn't take long to finish.
Nice tutorial, the game gave strong QWOP vibes, I made it to 30m but found it hard to correct myself, I would be interested to see how the game would play if the steering of the player was easier to tame, the music and sound effects gave the game a nice ambience, decent experience overall.
I don't usually go for these kinds of game experiences, but I ended up making quite a few attempts. Being able to use a controller was particularly nice. I feel like I got a handle on the swimming itself rather quickly, but most of my frustration came from fighting the buoyancy of the player character. Don't know if that's a criticism, it's possible the mechanics could use some balancing, but it could also just be my own skill. (was never good at QWOP lol)
The music was very relaxing, and definitely kept me around to keep trying longer. The sfx are nice as well. I also liked the bubble particles that showed up whenever you completed a stroke successfully. Not only was it a nice touch, but it was a useful hint to show you've executed the move properly. It would be cool if the PC had some more character to it, like a diving or swim suit. I think some texturing, color, and size variation on the background elements would be nice too. However, that's pretty nitpicky, it looks good enough to service the game and that's perfectly fine!
@paragonraptors Thank you very much for this detailed feedback. Tweaking of the game was really one of the hardest parts. On the one hand we wanted to create a game that is equally frustrating as QWOP and Getting Over It, but on the other hand it would also be nice for players to finish it and give us a good rating for this jam. In the end, we decided to go the QWOP route to see who is really determined enough to make it all the way to the end. This might cost us some rating points, but we stayed true to our initial idea.
You gotta do what you gotta do, but if you get the hang of the controls, it is really easy to make it to the end. To be honest, I was never good at QWOP either, but I was fascinated by the game. I would say that our game is easier than QWOP and not as frustrating because you don't have to start at 0 when you fall and the controls are symmetrical for controlling your arms.
spent some good time trying to do this. i made it to 10... eventually. so hard. but really fun to try to get to figure out the physics. once i got turned around it was all over. fun game.
This is like a better QWOP, at least from my perspective. The swimming mechanics are weird but fun, and make sense after a little bit of trying, and being able to mess up but not restart helps eliminate any frustration. The music and SFX were also really good. I did notice one bug - when I click out of the tab, the music continues to play but stutters. I'll probably come back to play this one more later! Great job :)
@oeschmid Better than QWOP? Wow, that's a cool feedback. Thank you very much. Also thank you for mentioning the bug. I'm quite sure that this might have to do with FMOD, because we are having all kind of problems for the WebGL build. If you want the best experience download the Windows or Mac version. Let us know if you make it all the way to the end. π
@backurio I've been hearing that WebGL has been causing a lot of the participants problems this year, that's unfortunate It's a real battle to get past 50m for me - I'll let you know when I get to the bottom :P
@oeschmid Yeah, executables are the best bet when it comes to stability, but for accessibility a WebGL version is just better, because people can simply play the game without downloading anything. I usually go for the Unity Audio System, but it's so much easier to get good sounds with FMOD that vary with the depth like in our game. Shoutout to our musician for creating such a nice sound track and sound effects. Hit me up on Twitter if you need some tips :wink:
This game was an emotional rollercoaster, I saw the page and was like "I love physics based games this sounds like it will be fun!", words of a fool... I started and was wiggling about like a worm. until I started to form an idea of the movement(I was mimicking that of the butterfly technique). Then I began trying to turn down to the seafloor to reach my beloved treasure. When I began heading downwards I was taken away by the breathtaking scenery(Splashing, waves, walls and fish that release bubbles from there faces) Once about half way down I started to notice the effects of buoyancy, it was slowly trying to bring me back up. I hated buoyancy more than anything! After quite the struggle I've reached my treasure! I was thinking I'm about to beat this game and say how easy it was... But alas (donβt count your chickens before they hatch) What I thought was the end was truly the beginning. I began swimming to the surface of the sea, soon I found that the weight of my doubloons was bringing me back down. after awhile I could really feel the weight. "I'm sorry for all I said... buoyancy... I wish you would return to me." I was losing height and without much choice... I closed my eyes listening only to the sounds. After awhile I peeked to see I was much higher! and then full of joy I closed my eyes once more! Then when I peeked again I FELL LIKE 20 METERS! I started to fight back and was gaining height(but slowly) Then after I was near to the surface! "Soon I can by a submarine" Then I started losing ground and fast! I was at the depths of around 20 meters before I started to recover. Well trying to swim up I was stuck hitting the wall (for a very long time) I was trying hard to swim back only moving at a snails pace. I was scared I would have to leave, but I was to scared to check for a pause button.(My eyes were fixated on the arms, so I could not check) After much struggle I was once more near the surface, at this point the fear was real. Clawing through the liquid once used as a beverage, I reach my hands up for one final stroke and with the hopes and dreams of the fish around me I surfaced! After all he had been through I feared that the money he had gotten would all be used on his arm repair surgery...
ThePainOfSwimming.png
@ratrat44 OH MY GOD. I'm speechless. ... Your comment was FUCKING AMAZING. I was crying tears of joy while reading through it. ππ I was completely hooked by it and it just kept getting better and better. You sir (or madam) have just made my day (or night, because it's already quite late π) and your comment alone makes all the hours I put into the game worth 10 times.
I think you are the first player after the official release who really made it to the end. Maybe you spoiled it a little bit for others, but I guess not many will check the comments before they play the game. Nonetheless, you went through the exact emotions that we tried to evoke with this game and you explained everything in the best way possible.
I hope you have a great day and I can't wait to checkout your game soon.
Add a big mario eel.
edit: This comment wasn't meant for this game, but it's still not a bad idea
@smelly-games I will add it to the list for future development, but for the Ludum Dare version we really focused on the core gameplay and didn't want to add anything that is disturbing the simple but already challenging enough game loop unnecessarily.
You got me with the tutorial, I hate you x)
It is really good, quite simple but it's the "come on I can do it, one more try" kind of game. The visuals are nice and music is really cool and goes well with the atmosphere. Good job on the sound effects too, the "arms against water" is very satisfying.
Good entry!
@rolly Yeah, the credits for this idea goes to one of our playtesters. At first I was not sure if we really want to add it, but then we decided to do so and I think it's perfect. At least it should get us some humor points in the rating :sunglasses:
Thank you very much for the feedback. The "arms against water" sound is called "swim" sound. It was first planned to be connected to the arm movement, but the sound was just not playing smoothly due to the different ways player can move the arms which sounded like shit. In the end the sound is simply connected to the forward velocity of the diver. Why go complicated when the solution is so simple
Definitely nailed that QWOP experience, nice work. I couldn't help but feel I always rotated to the right?
This game is heally hard. Probably I could figure the swimming mechanic if I practice enough, but I would probably have to leave this plactice for later.
Also the game kind of does a good job of showing there is a goal. Without the montage at the beginnign showing there is a treasure just 100 meters away really helps to aleviate the frustration of struggling with the controls.
The sound effects are nice. Though I couldn't hear nay music despite there being a volume slider for it.
@hilvon Yes the game is really hard, but this makes reaching goal so much better :sunglasses: It's ok if you come back later. The game will always be ready for you. The question is: Are you ready for the game :laughing:
Yes, having the objective animation at the start is a prime example of "Show, not Tell" when it comes to game mechanics and objectives. Showing the player where they should head is always better than just telling them "Dive down 100m"
Just keep reloading the game. The Music should then work. Thanks to FMOD for fucking with the WebGL build...
Realy fun litle game! 10 meters overcomer vibes :sunglasses:
God... I was prepared for QWOP and boy did I get QWOP! Every time you think you got the hang of it, you completely lose it just a second later and flail around like an idiot... Damn this game is good. My fingers hurt, but it is good. Really well done!
I saw a few QWOP's already, but yeah... QWOP lol. Fun game, tried waaaay too long to try and reach the bottom haha.
This is very cool! The graphics and music are very nice! It reminds me a lot of QWOP. I'm just glad you don't have to control the legs as well because that would be truly chaotic. I'm proud to say I reach about 15 meters. Also I like that you included a restart button, because it's so much easier to swim down when you can start upside down.
It is an amazing idea and execution. I really liked the learning curve in this game. I got to over 90 meters and it felt good. Big props! :)
Damn, my fingers are hurting and my diver seems to have died from exhaustion. I've played it for an hour straight. This game is on point. Nothing more to say. Now please excuse me, I've got some treasure to spend on a good hand-surgeon
This game was very much infuriating, but I kinda loved it ^^
Nice QWOP variance. Needs a mobile version!
Oooh this game is hateful. The dev hung out with me on stream and chatted with me as I played this game (very badly).
It's an excellent example of the genre (QUOP and Getting Over It were provided examples and they suit it)
My favorite thing is the "tutorial button" that takes you to a Youtube video. Such a troll. Love it. Glad this got made for LD. You're awesome.
This is a really interesting game. I had a lot of fun, and frustration, playing it. It's very stylish in every way--very calming, even though I was raging inside.
I really want to make it but I fear I never will. I might give it another go, but my enemy buoyancy is really persistent... I liked the tutorial, and strangely it actually did help :smirk:
Excellent work with it. I feel like it could be a classic like QWOP.
@ezgoodnight Thank you very much for the feedback and playing our game in your stream. I would be lying if I say I didn't laugh seeing you fail to swim π But that's the point of the game. Send it to a friend and watch them fail.
I really enjoyed how you celebrated the trolly tutorial button, but as others also mention, it is actually helping, because it describes the movement you have to perform. There's a reason why I used a timestamp in the link.
@arancutter Thank you very much for the feedback. I made the deliberate decision to see how the game can look without using any third party graphics and I think it really turned out great. All the sprites you see are either Unity internal sprites or done with systems that Unity provide.
We are sorry for any frustration or rage caused by the game, but we hope you come back later and make it all the way to the end. I wouldn't call buoyancy an enemy directly, but you will find out why soon enough.
We really hope that **How to Swim!** will be a classic like QWOP but for that to happen, we need some big streamers to play our game, which is not that easy.
@backurio I'm always glad that my suffering can bring some joy to others haha. I did piece together that there might have been some method to your madness but I love the additional layer of it just loading that YT video. Great job all things considered!
This game is really cool, and definitely one for the QWOP fans. Sadly, after flopping around like a useless fish for a few minutes at the surface and failing to get myself pointing in the right direction for more than I few seconds, I gave up. Nonetheless, its exactly what it says on the tin, and delivers it as well as you could ask for. Great job guys :) Reading some of the comments shows that victory is definitely met with the right kind of satisfaction!
@gimmers Thank you very much for the great feedback and yes, we really think that we got the QWOP essence very well implemented in our game. However, I'm right now testing a hard mode, which is switching the movement of one should and the other elbow around. I can tell you, that is the final endboss. I'm really good at my game, but that mode is just pure nightmare π€£π€£π€£
I think you are talking about the comment from @ratrat44 who described the emotional rollercoster, that we tried to achieve in this game, spot on. That's the best comment I ever got on any game π
I CANNOT do this. Like holy crap. Here's the VOD: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1004005112
Good concept but I don't have the patience to figure it out, even when I got the pattern down the character always seemed to be rotating counterclockwise, and correction was pretty difficult.
haha awesome take on QWOP.
I quit after 40m but it still took me so much time to get there! I love the calm music and the tutorial, makes for a very relaxed experience.
Great game, I love QWOP, my jam was also inspired by it / physics games! Had a lot of fun figuring out the techniques.
It was very fun and difficult XD
Amazing game. Really cool. Awesome balance of challenge and fun.
Oh my god so hard. Love but I'm absolute trash at it lol. Great work!
This is a serious forearm workout.
Awesome QWOP-like game! I almost got till 60m...
Found it relaxing, although a little frustrating. The music is great, I'd just add some more bubble sounds and maybe more fish.
Hey I'm sorry but the tutorial didn't really help, it taught me to swim but I still don't know how to dive!
Jokes aside, very funny game, good job!
Very nice game, fits the theme obviously well, and really reminds me of QWOP! i loved it.
Great job on the controls. It was challenging and really fun!
π
Very difficult but very fun game, I even I managed to get past 50m, once... :D
I only managed to 10m, it was so hard to figure out how to swim. I feel like I kind of had it, but then I was feeling too frustrated. Still a very good take on the theme!
Apparently I can't swim :( Great game anyway.
I did it! and now my muscles feel sore. Once you get into the rhythm it's not too bad, I never felt frustrated enough where I considered giving up (although I kept barely missing the chest a bunch of times before I finally made it). Fun!
@silkworm-sweatshop Congratulations. Another one that made it. Thank you very much for finishing our game. We know that it's not easy and many will not make it (which might hurt our rating), but we decided to stick to our initial inspiration QWOP. And, as you mention, as soon as you get the right rhythm, the game isn't that hard anymore. If you then start to increase the stroke-frequency (weird wording sorry) you easily make it to 100m. The game was actually tweaked around 10% harder, but we made it a little bit easier.
But, we have a nightmare mode in the makings, which we might release after the voting, together with leaderboards and other improvements.
Who wakes up one day and think "You know what the world needs, SWIMMING QWOP". This guy did and the world has a litle more rage in it now hahaha. Thanks for submitting it! -PomoTheDog
@arthurds It's been quite some time since I wanted to do a QWOP like game or a rage game in general, but I didn't had a good idea. I almost didn't participated in the LD48, but it turned out that it was a really good decision and I now have a rage game in my portfolio. And I think it's a quite good one. The challenge is on a nice level and the controls feel really good.
Thank you very much for your feedback and sorry again for the rough start to your stream. I really wanted you to finish the game. Btw. 2 other streamer made it all the way to the end ;)
This is an accurate representation of how my real life diving attemps actually look like :D
I didn't get very far but we had a good laugh with my partner watching each other try :D
@romana-kapustova Yeah, diving 100 meter deep in real life isn't that easy. You are right.
We are currently working on some modifications which might have an easy mode for beginners and nightmare mode, for those who really like to suffer π
And yes, we also had the most fun watching our playtesters play our game. Watching others struggle is one of the funny things about this game.
Very difficult which gave me a great sense of satisfaction as I made it past 10,20, and ... almost ... to 30 deep. Nice atmosphere and I like that you show the chest at the bottom to give the player a reward to shoot for.
That was very fun. I found the rhythm and got all the way to 50 meters but then got into a slump and floated back to 40!
Most I made it to was 80 meters. It was fun to flounder around for a while.
@dae-udain It's sad that you got so close but didn't manage to get to the treasure chest. If you made it to 80 meters, then it means that you got the main swimming rhythm right and what you should work on is your stroke-frequency. Try to perform the next stroke faster. That should usually get you to the chest quite easily.
Thanks for bringing your game by my stream for playtesting! If youβd like to revisit the play and commentary you can view the highlight at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1008703436
@marcmagus Thanks for playing. I watched the video. It was really great, that you pushed through to the ending. I remember that during development I struggled a lot before I could finish it :-)
Tutorial had me rolling. I couldn't beat it though, I'm bad at swimming :'(
After a couple tries I was able to reach 30 meters :fist: Is there a way to turn around once the character is facing up? The art and the music are very nice. Congratulation! :)
I saw @chrisap playing this game on his stream and I knew I had to be the better Chris. It took me quite a while but eventually I figured out the rhythm of the game. It got harder the deeper and deeper I got. Eventually I got to 100m. But then I couldn't get myself in the center of the screen. Like 15 minutes later I finally hit the center. Nobody on the stream is believing I did it, so I gotta post this screenshot to save face. Thanks for the experience
proof.png
HOW!?! @chris1919
I got to 70M and flipped around and it got crazy.
@chrisap Not all Chris's were created equal
Also, I forgot to mention, the key to figuring out the game is to watch the tutorial. I cannot stress how important it is to watch!
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https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/how-to-swim
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