FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD50 → Waking Gerald

Waking Gerald

By funemaker, Fish Sticks and Melon_spirit

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall9283.3428
Fun11032.9628
Innovation8803.1128
Theme11483.1725
Graphics5003.8827
Audio3413.6928
Humor5673.1226
Mood3203.8427

Comments

timur-bahadir 2022-04-05 17:27

I loved the presentation. Visuals and Audio were really really cool!! Small note; the platform clouds were kind of blending into the background. Made it kind of hard to tell on which ones you can jump on.

funemaker 2022-04-05 17:29

@timur-bahadir Hey thanks for trying it, and noted about the too-transparent clouds!

terylangosh 2022-04-05 17:31

Hi! I loved the graphics and the dubbing, but I couldn't figure out, how to jump on the cloud or on the plant where the cloud is (if you know where I mean). Could you tell me, how to continue? The banana monster always kills me before I figure it out.

duckonaut 2022-04-05 17:34

This game looks nice and the sounds and dialogue are pretty cool. It's not exactly intuitive to triple jump right away though, and it took me a while to figure out you can do it and actually get past that first cloud

funemaker 2022-04-05 17:39

@terylangosh Hi, you should be able to jump using the space-bar - and you can jump in the air multiple times (triple jump ability) so you should be able to get up high enough to continue. Please let me know if that helps or if you think something is not working.

funemaker 2022-04-05 17:40

@duckonaut Thanks for the feedback - yes, I see that the triple jump is not explained anywhere so could be frustrating if you didn't think to try jumping multiple times - I think I'll put a note in the instructions on the itch page at least.

terylangosh 2022-04-05 17:47

@funemaker Oh my god, I feel stupid now :D I tried pressing the button for a long time, but not the double-jump. I got further than before, thank you! :)

sagiii 2022-04-05 17:49

Hi! I liked this game its really abstract. There is a weird spatial sound bug on the embience song.

funemaker 2022-04-05 18:01

@sagiii Thanks for the feedback - if you could tell me more what the sound bug is like I can look into to it - not exactly sure what you mean.

helen 2022-04-05 18:38

The game really feels like a weird dream. First attempt jumped into the glas :tada: I also had some problems figuring out how to jump over the big plants. Finally I managed it, but I didn't get far in the level :) I had fun playing it, liked the graphics, the narrator and the banana monster. Well done!

funemaker 2022-04-05 18:51

@helen Thanks for playing! I found the game hard to finish myself, but you do eventually get woken up when the clock runs out - inevitably!

sagiii 2022-04-05 18:56

@funemaker The sound were coming from the left everytime. Its weird for an ambiance song.

funemaker 2022-04-05 19:00

@sagiii OK, thanks for letting me know, not sure why that is - doesn't happen for me for some reason.

sasquatchbstudios 2022-04-06 00:57

Wow, really great job. I loved the game idea, it was really fun.

Your audio is fantastic, the voice acting really pushes it over the top, and the music intensifying as you progress really adds to the atmosphere - the rain does as well! Overall, just really great mood/atmosphere, and I love the silly story.

My biggest complaint was the controls, I really hate having to use my pinky for the dash and my hand just didn't feel natural on the necessary keys. I would have had lot more fun on a controller, I think it would have added a lot and I would have played a few more rounds. (I still played maybe 5 rounds though!)

One other area that could be improved for me is vertical movement. Despite the triple jump, I still found it challenging at times to get up on the clouds. A nice feature maybe could be jumping through the bottom of the clouds to get up.

You have a great little game here, very impressive for a weekend!

funemaker 2022-04-06 01:10

@sasquatchbstudios Hey, thanks for playing and for the thoughtful feedback. I agree with you about the controls - I haven't tried implementing controllers in the engine but shouldn't be hard - on the todo list for next time!

olimarrex 2022-04-10 08:53

This was a great game. The dynamic music ramping up as it got closer to the end was a very neat touch. Loved the voice, works very well for a short game like this where you're likely not gonna be repeating it enough for it to become annoying, and it does seem there were quite a few initial dialogue options. I actually managed to jump over the right-most dolphin by double dashing onto the tallest platform and then over. After that I kept running right 'till I fell into the void.

I'm not sure if there was any way to actually delay the inevitable, or whether it was just a case of surviving until the time ran out. Plus, the camera could probably have done with being made smoother, rather than making it rigidly follow the player (this demonstrates the concept, don't know if there's a tutorial out there for KGE) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd54vNc2N4E

funemaker 2022-04-10 12:20

@olimarrex Hi, thanks for the feedback! Oh no, not supposed to be able to jump over that! If you survive until the clock runs out you will "wake up", which happens just before both of them close on in on you...in any case thanks for letting me know.. understood about the camera motion, I just didn't have time to add it but it would be nice.

realtanhen 2022-04-10 14:09

I never knew how tricky a thing triple jumping could be until this game, whew! The feeling and mood of this game is so brilliant- the voice over, music and colour palette used makes it really feel like its own world. I'd love a "peek" kind of camera system where it sticks to the player and slightly pokes out into where the player is pointing the mouse, especially with the mouse based shooting, some of the jumps were so long I couldn't see the death I was falling into!

funemaker 2022-04-10 14:14

@realtanhen Thanks for the comments. I know what you mean about not being able to see where you are falling to..We did add some camera pullback when you are up higher, but the vignette effect was also compressing so it didn't help a lot and didn't have time to adjust that.

tomatoomelet 2022-04-10 16:22

Like the audio, helped creating the feeling of dream pretty well.

ldp 2022-04-10 16:45

Loved this game, the sounds, the music, the art really serve the mood. It's beautifully weird. The gameplay lack a bit of polish, we have to spend some time to be used to the gameplay, physics and collisions but when you understand it well, it's easily playable to end. A short, nice experience overall, worthy of a jam game.

melon-spirit 2022-04-10 16:52

@ldp Hi, thanks for the comments!

meta-link 2022-04-10 22:09

Cool game ! The gameplay is classic but works well, the pixel art is really cool and having a narrator is a nice touch.

Good job :slight_smile:

funemaker 2022-04-10 22:13

@meta-link Thanks!

bastilo 2022-04-11 09:22

Very nice! I don't know how to escape the dolphin though.

funemaker 2022-04-11 10:59

@bastilo Hi, thanks for playing. Once the clock runs down your alarm will "wake you up". The clock runs out right around the time the two dolphin/bananas converge on you :)

marvis 2022-04-13 17:40

I love this pixel art!

funemaker 2022-04-13 17:45

Thanks!

bomb-x 2022-04-15 19:50

Nice entry! I like the music, mood, the voice, the graphics but feel like every part didn't fit well with each other, difficult feel to explain though... Well done Fisher guys and girls

andre-sadie 2022-04-15 19:55

Really cool idea. Loved the mood and naration. Liked the variation in naration on restarts. I was a little confused until I realised you could tripple jump. I had to check the comments to realize there is an ending.

Unfortunely the controls didn't feel very snappy and I struggled the jump where I wanted. But I guess it helped build the tension towards the end until you wake up.

funemaker 2022-04-17 12:24

@bomb-x @andre-sadie Thanks for playing and the feedback!

madbarron 2022-04-19 00:49

This is a tough one. I love the aesthetic. The calming Receiver-style narration was great, but too quiet. The graphics are super.

Unfortunately, the game was really upsetting to play. I had no clue that triple-jumping was a thing until I died four times and checked back here. Then I didn't get much farther without lots of deaths and gave up. Maybe it could feel more dreamlike and be more forgiving?

But great work on the art!

funemaker 2022-04-19 01:04

Thanks for the feedback!