hotaloca 2021-10-04 17:03
I can imagine the graphics being inside a computer, but somehow were too strong lights which was distracting. Good little game though.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD49 → Unpredictable Processes
By denatus
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 495 | 2.90 | 27 | |
| Fun | 480 | 2.74 | 27 | |
| Innovation | 524 | 2.40 | 27 | |
| Theme | 321 | 3.44 | 27 | |
| Graphics | 386 | 3.16 | 27 | |
| Audio | 311 | 2.98 | 27 | |
| Humor | 380 | 2.23 | 23 | |
| Mood | 382 | 2.94 | 27 |
I can imagine the graphics being inside a computer, but somehow were too strong lights which was distracting. Good little game though.
I really like the art style, the computer-y shader makes even the basic geometry look interesting, but the controls feel a little bit slow and somewhat "sticky"
The platforming definitely needs some coyote-time mechanic to be workable. I appreciate the quick iteration time (where there's no downtime between death and retrying).
Fun little game. The materials you used on the models look really neat, and cool music too.
@hotaloca yeah the lights are a bit so strong. I switched light mode from gamma to linear a bit to late in the process because I thought that was the problem with publishing to WebGL. Didn't have time to adjust the light afterwards.
@alice-02 thanks for the kind words. Yes, the controls needs some tweaking. The main problem is my IsGrounded() check which looks up the players Y velocity. The shape of the player model doesn't help either. return playerRigidbody.velocity.y < 0.05f && playerRigidbody.velocity.y > -0.05f ? true : false;
@bflatinteractive thanks! I spent a bit to much polish on the shaders at the expense of a nice background and other polish. Had planed to have some "corruption" showing up from time to time that had to be cut. Music is quite basic but while learning Bosca Ceoil I tweaked different effects and distortion just fit the over all theme!
The concept and the visual styles are good! The controls need some work though, sometimes I can't jump for no apparent reason. The audio is a little basic but it fits the settings. Good job!
@jackaljk you are right about the controls. I've reworked them and will update the build on Itch.IO once the play and rate period is over.
Interesting concept. Controls feel awkward; perhaps because landing on the bottom edges of the capsule can result in getting stuck. Also, grounded acceleration feels a bit slow.
Seems like the default strategy on green platforms is to constantly jump to avoid decay. Would be interesting to see if other types of decay (touch once; decays over time but returns; linked platforms where as one decays the other appears) would lead to more varied level designs.
I got destroyed by ludo-narrative dissonance!
Stable operation achieved! I like the concept and the emissive lighting. I feel the biggest drawback is that a lot of the levels seem like they're trying to push into the max range of what's possible with the characters movement, but not all that plausible with the characters movement. There are many times when you can push the jump key and not get a reaction presumably due to a few factors: the player can appear to be grounded when the code doesn't believe it is, or the input can be slightly early or slightly late in which case buffering input helps to see if the player pressed jump a few frames before being grounded,as well as checking to see if the player presses the jump within a few frames of no longer being grounded in which case the intent was very likely to jump while they were still grounded. The jump itself also feels quite floaty. It's difficult to tell whether the player will continue accelerating indefinitely or if there is a max velocity they can achieve, instead maybe consider trying out something like a "tiered" velocity system where if the player continues running in a direction long enough they move up to a higher tier. That way if you have two or so tiers of movement it becomes a lot easier to predict exactly where the player should land given the speed they were already going and the time at which they jumped allowing them to build muscle memory for future challenges. Lastly, the player should only feel like they're sliding on a platform if the visuals of the platform indicate they should in fact be sliding, as with a ice covered road.
Some videos that might be informative in case you're interested in continuing to work on some platformer controls: [Why Does Celeste Feel So Good to Play - Mark Brown](https://youtu.be/yorTG9at90g) [Better Jumping in Unity With Four Lines of Code - Board to Bits Games](https://youtu.be/7KiK0Aqtmzc) [Math for Game Programmers: Building a Better Jump - Kyle Pittman GDC](https://youtu.be/hG9SzQxaCm8)
Hope these comments are at least a little helpful.
Great materials, effects and emissive lights! Did you use Unity's shadergraph (just out of curiosity since I wanted to dabble into that myself and seeing you potentially use it made me curious again :P)? I also liked the background effect and the overall atmosphere! The controls were unfortunately a little frustrating for later levels for me (as others already mentioned too).
Overall good job - I can definitely see the effort you put into this one!
@ixchow Yes, the controls are awkward. The initial code was bad and I've reworked it to be more responsive and also fixed so that the ground doesn't feel so sticky. I will upload a new build after play and rate period is over. My initial plan was to have multiple types of platforms but I realized that I wouldn't have time for that so I cut it from my design in the planing phase. I like your ideas and might incorporate them if I continue working after the compo.
@apples-mmmmmmmm Thanks for the links! I will definitely check them out and try and make my platforming better. I've changed some things already and that have made a huge difference: switched from capsule collider to box collider, added better code to see if the player is grounded, change the color of player character when it's grounded and can jump. My goal was to make interesting and "gotcha" levels of increasing difficulty. Too late I realized that I had played so much that I could breeze through most of it.
@freeworld Yeah, the materials are sharders made in Unity Shadergraph using the universal renderer. Download the unity package and see how they are made. Spent too much time on them but it was so fun!
Neat little game, I made it all the way through, but just barely. The level where I had to go left after finally making all of the jumps to the right made me laugh =). Controls were pretty awkward, often didn't jump when I wanted it to.
@jimbly Thanks for playing to the very end! I had a blast playtesting, maybe too much, so I knew the levels too well. I actually made level 8 easier close to submission time since my kids couldn't finish that level to my amusement. :smirk: In hindsight I should have made the levels even easier and fixed jumping to be better. I have worked on it afterwards and it feels so much better now. I will upload a new version after the play and rate period is over.
Nice game, but very frustating control
@vivoubos Thanks and you are right! :laughing:
Nice game and I like the increasing difficulty in levels. The jumps were challenging and controls could improve, but overall it was a fun platformer! I love those dissolve shaders, emissive materials, and the post processing effects! Made me feel like I was hacking the mainframe through platforming. Great job on the game!
@datadazer Thanks for the kind words. I spent alot of time on the shaders to make the basic shapes feel like they where special.
Post compo
During the play and rate period I received some important feedback. An improved version that solves some of the issues found in the compo version have been released on itch.io.
Version 1.1 change log * Better detection if player is grounded. * Visuals indicate if player can jump. * Player can no longer partly land on an edge. * Player is a bit faster and feels more nimble. * Level is less bright and shiny. * End of level animation improved. * Game can be started with controller. * Corruption spreads on failure.