Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD48 → HyperJack
By pkenney
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 249 | 3.70 | 37 | |
| Fun | 219 | 3.70 | 37 | |
| Innovation | 76 | 4.04 | 36 | |
| Theme | 289 | 3.82 | 37 | |
| Graphics | 251 | 3.75 | 37 | |
| Audio | 415 | 3.20 | 37 | |
| Humor | 204 | 3.18 | 32 | |
| Mood | 511 | 3.14 | 34 |
This is very interesting. I like the madcap feel of the physics, how the jackhammer bounces off the player character. A lot silly situations occur where I'm trying to get on the jackhammer and keep bouncing it away. I also like the way the blocks react to getting drilled, that's a nice detail!
I love the out of control nature of this game, and how chaotic it quickly becomes. Its a desperate struggle to keep the jackhammer in control, which lends itself to fun and hilarious gameplay. Love this game, but some things could have been polished out more, such as the physics, the art, and the sound.
Oof, this is a bit stressful! Hah, I did really enjoy this one, but I need a break after a couple intense runs. I'll admit my first playthrough I finished feeling like I must have missed some other feature, because I hadn't quite "gotten it" and was playing pretty naively. Once I felt out the mechanics a bit more with a second go it started to click, and this one does scratch that itch of great action puzzle games, where once you're "in the zone" it starts to become a bit of a Zen experience.
I'm not sure if this was intentional or not, but if it was, the combo meter going exactly to 4 is a bit of a master stroke of design. I avoided the spoilers in the description successfully, and I had an "aha!" moment when trying to figure out how to keep the combo running. Initially I wanted to let columns stack up so I could just dig straight down, but you can only preserve the max combo for one block that way, which was a letdown. I started thinking about how else you could possibly stack a combo, and that led me to the third trick in your spoilers list above, pretty critical for score.
As usual, this one is probably going to sit in my head for a bit and then beg for a quick replay later, to see if I can get a good score. For now the beet red blocks are consistently my downfall. I think this is the best score I'm gonna get for the moment:
hyperjackScore.png
Its very hard for me, but im not a very good player :smiley: . Afterall it was fun and pleasure to play it. :thumbsup:
Fun game! I included it in my compilation video series of a bunch of LDJAM games! https://youtu.be/5_7QHLz41l4
This one took me a bit to figure out. I love it, a simple premise but the precise movements to pull it off felt so good. Once I figured out that I shouldn't just be drilling to the bottom it got a bit easier, mostly trying to focus on whatever block was highest was the way to go. I couldn't keep up with how fast the levels start ramping up and so here's my best score:
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I'm always surprised at how much you get done solo in just 2 days and how good the game feels to play. The sound effects and art very reminiscent of old Gameboy games. The initial starting game tutorial by getting you to figure it out is fantastic. I'm a big fan of physics based mechanics and I think you got it down here perfectly. How the jackhammer always tries to bounce towards you and not just bounce randomly really lets you master it eventually.
As always, another great entry. Can't wait for the next :)
After a single minute it felt like I was a jackhammer master and was able to perfectly predict how how my jackhammer would move, the combo system made me want to really nail every jump. I really enjoyed the minimalistic sounds in the game, and the art is fantastic. Very cool entry.
Very interesting entry! The unique yet addictive gameplay of mastering the jackhammer to land combos and maneuver in the best way possible makes this a great arcade game. The graphics are great and as the previous commenter mentioned I like the minimalistic sounds. Great job!
Thats an oddly satisfying approach to mining, nice work!
Eyo Hyper Jack. This is a really unique and neat entry.
Amazing job on this!
Just amazing core gameplay, you still manage to uncover new kinds of game designs I've never seen before. After playing your game, I REALLY like the idea of controlling a separate, physics based object. It's sorta like a game where you manually kick around a ball, except in this case it's so much more because you have to ride it, and the bounciness gives it a life of its own.
I went in blind and it looks like I figured out your tips anyways, in that exact order. Like your other games, I start off awkward and clunky, but then ride a smooth curve of improvement and I always see better and better progress by the minute. That stuff is addicting.
The big key for me was indeed jumping off as soon as the drill started. From there I eventually learned to control my jump height so I could continue my combo across columns. By the end of my playthrough, I could dance around each column with a full combo unless the height difference was too much. I ended up getting to the red blocks which I think are doable, but require no more than a couple mistakes or you're done.
The game is great as is but I wondered if different kinds of tiles would help or ruin the experience. On one hand it seems good, to add to the decision-making and shake things up. On the other hand it feels REALLY good to time the tile rising and continue your combo. That wouldn't really be possible if you had to be careful about bombs coming up or something. Perhaps just a stun object that spawns so that you would have to do something fancy like jump off your friend to get over it.
Probably the most innovative game from you and one of my faves. Looking forward to the next!
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hyperjack.png
Well done getting a game done despite feeling like you wasted time at the start of the jam. I did too. I didn't have anything started until the following morning 11 hours after it started. I'm glad you and I didn't give up!
You found an interesting interplay of mechanics! I was sorta hoping it would be more of an exploration digging game not a tetris style game, but this is definitely a very unique take on that genre!
Great work! :wink: This game has a great and unique digging mechanics, that really enriches your took on the theme. Also both the pixel art and sounds are cool. First, the controls were hard for me, but I realized that it had more depth to it (for example that the drill jumps towards the player's location). I also liked that the game was self-explanatory without any instructions. The design of the main menu plays a big part in this (that you have to start the game by digging). Congratulations! :sunglasses:
Yep, I can relate to not knowing what to do with the theme. This was a really fun and interesting game. I'm no good at it, but I did enjoy playing it! :smile: The pixel art was well done and there was a good use of theme. Well done!
Хорошая работа! Интересная идея, что для копания нужно поймать отбойный молоток, который убегает. Живой отбойный молоток! ^_^
I think you settled on a good mechanic. A little hard to control but overall pretty fun. Good job
Cool game ! Really fun concept, I enjoyed trying to master my drill and dig deeper.
Good job :slight_smile:
Lovely frustration ! i really enjoyed this one,while being frustrated at the same time, but in a good way!
Awesome job,specially since its combo!
The main mechanic is quite unique, I initially thought the drill movement was random but after reading your description, it made more sense. I could feel this game getting quite addictive.
[Thanks for submitting your game to the stream!](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1015845981?t=04h46m23s)
I'm honestly super impressed with this one. The concept is super simple and yet super polished and fun to play around with, even without the game rules that it's wrapped around. On top of that, the art is super cute and charming. AND you did this all by yourself in a weekend? Now that's some talent right there. Well done!
I really liked the fact to you took the 'dig down' genre and add a twist to it, that's clever! The pixel art is beautiful, the SFX fit the game very well, the weird controls are fun to use. I just wish the game was a little bit more difficult. But that's a very good game! Good job!
Really interesting idea. I had a lot of fun with it. I avoided the spoilers and just jumped in.
I was frustrated at first, but I quickly realized how much control I actually had over the jackhammer. I started getting a much better feel for the nuances of the controls. It was very satisfying learning the rhythm of the game.
I'm glad you were able to overcome the initial block. I know how annoying that can be. It's interesting seeing complexity arise from relatively simple mechanics. You've created something really unique. Great work on it.
Thanks everyone for the comments! The feedback is really a big part of the enjoyment of the LD experience, and I've rated/commented all of your games back at this point. If I somehow missed you let me know.
Watching live play is great, so special thanks to @coleslaughter and the amazingly hard-working @jupiter-hadley
Some really impressive scores here. @justinmullin 4k is great! The combo meter paid off more than I expected, I've included them in games before but it seems like in this one it was really worth the effort. The interesting tradeoff between the easy-but-problematic vertical digging vs the harder-but-sustainable horizontal strategy was something that just emerged naturally from the system. I love how those things reveal themselves rather than get designed in, so I'm really glad the combo system helped to nudge players toward discovering it.
But wow, @peachtreeoath 7k??? That's mind-bogglingly good, you must have really mastered it. I'm impressed. I did wonder if other types of blocks could provide a shape to the level and force the player to do more on-the-fly planning rather than just executing a set strategy. I had imagined bonus gems that pop out which would be crushed by the jackhammer if you didn't snap them up first for bonus points, but I never found time to explore that possibility.
If I could have done a few more things:
As time I ran out I was like 90% of the way through adding little pieces of debris that fly off when you dig a block. I think it could be more viscerally satisfying to dig.
Next I wanted to add a full-clear bonus row of special blocks so that you'd NEVER have an empty screen, and if the player dominated the game it would fill the gap with more work to do (with those bonus blocks letting you get even higher scores).
Lastly, I spent some time practicing in FL Studio for this jam, and had a goal of adding music for the first time. Instead I ran out of time and barely added the sound effects. Hopefully next time! Music is definitely the next big level-up for me as a jammer.
Good luck in the results everyone, hope to see you next time!
I think my favorite part about this game is your instruction to "don't read, just play." That says a lot about the design on its own -- I really admire the miniature "tutorial" at the beginning. Sure there could be music and the audio could be better but this is a really well-rounded jam game otherwise, from the very unique physics mechanics to the satisfying clearing of the screen. Took me a while to get the hang of it, but when I got a rhythm going from left to right across the screen it was really nice. It's a pretty hard game (I managed to get 945... I don't know how others are getting such high scores lol). But yeah, very nice feeling game.