Evolution Jumper by UntitledQ 2012-08-29T18:40:00
zx81: Have you got the "DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2010)"? (link in description)
I didn't want to package that as it's 90 MB and many people might already have it through other games.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → UntitledQ
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | Co | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 59 | Signal | 👥 | Squint | jam | 440 | 3.55 | 3.65 | 3.44 | 2.60 | 3.61 | 3.73 | 2.58 | 3.28 | |
| 2025 | 57 | Depths | 👥 | Diggidy Dig Dig | jam | 173 | 3.89 | 3.91 | 3.76 | 4.21 | 3.29 | ||||
| 2022 | 51 | Every 10 seconds | 👥 | Critt-ical Paths | jam | 342 | 3.73 | 3.55 | 3.73 | 3.98 | 3.55 | 3.51 | 3.01 | 3.23 | |
| 2018 | 41 | Combine 2 Incompatible Genres | 👥 | Crash to the Past | jam | 498 | 3.52 | 3.94 | 2.94 | 2.54 | 3.07 | 3.19 | 2.98 | ||
| 2016 | 35 | Shapeshift | Blobby | jam | 156 | 3.70 | 3.76 | 4.29 | 4.29 | 3.23 | 3.29 | 48 | |||
| 2015 | 34 | Two Button Controls / Growing | HamsterX | jam | 66 | 3.96 | 4.06 | 4.24 | 4.20 | 3.67 | 2.71 | 3.81 | 3.28 | 90 | |
| 2015 | 33 | You are the Monster | Monster Factory | jam | 500 | 3.24 | 3.23 | 3.43 | 3.05 | 2.80 | 2.61 | 2.53 | 2.66 | 76 | |
| 2014 | 31 | Entire Game on One Screen | Towering Perspective | jam | 439 | 3.27 | 3.14 | 2.92 | 3.27 | 3.03 | 2.17 | 2.68 | 2.93 | 60 | |
| 2014 | 30 | Connected Worlds | The Amazed Rogue | compo | 446 | 3.31 | 3.15 | 3.29 | 3.42 | 3.12 | 2.13 | 2.44 | 3.05 | 45 | |
| 2013 | 27 | 10 Seconds | Unreliable Robots | compo | 548 | 3.06 | 3.26 | 3.88 | 3.73 | 2.82 | 1.44 | 2.29 | 2.23 | 63 | |
| 2013 | 26 | Minimalism | Poor Man's Tower Defense | jam | 266 | 3.15 | 3.09 | 3.59 | 2.88 | 2.88 | 1.60 | 2.57 | 2.77 | 62 | |
| 2012 | 24 | Evolution | Evolution Jumper | jam | 117 | 3.15 | 2.90 | 3.67 | 4.00 | 2.52 | 2.08 | 2.81 | 45 |
zx81: Have you got the "DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2010)"? (link in description)
I didn't want to package that as it's 90 MB and many people might already have it through other games.
I have two suggestions:
- Display the stamina as bar so I can easily tell how much I have left from the corner of my eye
- Add some kind of visual cue to sprinting like a slightly different or faster animation. At times I had difficulties noticing when I stopped sprinting (this might actually already be solved by a stamina bar).
Anyway, all-round a solid very simple entry!
You're right, good catch, thanks a ton!
Replaced it with a release build, should work now.
The most fun I've had with my numpad! :D
Sometimes it's hard to tell which face of which block you are currently pointing at due to all the glow without any shading on the surfaces.
Otherwise a fun little game. Perhaps randomly generating shapes would extend the gameplay by a few minutes.
Best "I'll smack the topic in the face!" submission I've seen yet. Great fun!
Interesting albeit confusing and sometimes frustrating. Very well done mood and close adherence to the theme.
It took me a while to understand which sound meant what (and that the sounds weren't just to help you track your movement).
At places the high sound seemed to guide me towards a wall with no way around it. I could imagine the concept working out pretty awesomely if the high sound always lead the way (and not just towards some fixed points). Perhaps even with conflicting visuals where the sound urges you to leave the visible path...
By the way, thanks for playing our game on stream!
Haha, yes, self-written collision code has always been a problem for our group as well.
The attack key seemed to not always work until I realized that holding it down work well.
Other than that the game performed great. Neat little first entry!
I feel this game could actually get pretty challenging if levels weren't generated from just straight lines. Nice idea though, good job!
Felt a lot like playing Super Meat Boy -- great!
At least the long wall jumps seem a little flatter than in SMB and it took me a few tries to consciously override my habits to hit that goal in the last level, hehe...
Thanks for all the comments!
I'm very sad the collision mechanics turned out as terrible as they did. They worked pretty well when I first wrote them (you certainly couldn't just go through walls at a 90° angle...), but then I had to tweak some acceleration values to balance a level and it all crumbled.
I'll probably look into integrating a proper engine like Box2D into this game as an exercise.
@Kyle Mac:
I chose 3D over 2D because I'm a terrible artist and I prefer the look I'm getting from defining some shapes in 3D space and putting on some simple textures. It also works quite nicely during recording, better than I'd imagine it being in 2D, although it's true that the gameplay ended up taking place in a plane only.
I'm not sure why you found the game confusing, but I can see what aspect could be tedious: something I definitely would have wanted to add in retrospect is an option to fast forward the simulation so one could begin recording immediately, without waiting for the cycle to end.
I can't play the game. The main menu and instructions appear to work, but when I select a character it hangs and the console spams with these exceptions: http://pastebin.com/p8Wrmfz5
(I'm using Java 7 for the record)
I think this game is the most fun of the ~40 games I've played so far! Also has very nice finishing with the music, sound effects, art and highscore.
Too bad that the theme did not work out, but I guess that's bound to happen to a bunch of entries with a theme like this...
Definitely reminds me of RoboRally as well!
The interface is a bit rough around the edges, but the game itself is quite fun and free of bugs (as opposed to my entry, which is indeed a very similar concept, as you commented in my thread).
Ow, right! It seems that key left of the '1' key is named differently in SFML depending on your keyboard layout...
Fixed it by adding the name on the US keyboard, but that means people using other layouts may still experience difficulty.
doos: Thanks for the heads-up, I added the Q key now; that should finally settle it. Aiming is indeed a bit too hard at the moment, especially in tight corridors where you can't avoid bouncing off the walls. Anyways, glad to hear somebody made it through! :-)
I'm not sure how interested the speedrun community would be since there's a good chunk of randomness to the map generation...
The gameplay may not be innovative or exciting, but I really like the way it conveys a feeling. The quiet music and the masses of visually bland people moving about without a sound (unless you touch them) underline this very well.
Excellent job!
An excellent execution of the theme's most serious interpretation. I have to commend you for pulling this off in a LD.
This is pathetic.
I see what you did there... ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Good job, solid entry. It was fun while I lasted!
For just 7 hours of work this result is amazing! Makes me wonder what my 72 hours of time went into...
(And for a jam entry it's still pretty good!)
I'm a bit confused by this freaky "new game+" mode I got entered into when reaching the green box at the very top. Is the whole game actually supposed to be solvable with two cubes in opposite modes at once?
You nailed the visceral feel, it got very frantic very quickly!
I'm not sure about the choice to put movement and attack on the same button, but maybe it just helps the craze...
Great idea, refreshing gameplay.
Saw your GIF in the channel the other day and had to come back to play/rate the final game. A bit sad to find this was the only level. Still a pretty funny game! :)
Nice idea and setting. I don't mind the graphical quirks much, but would have liked to see the gameplay be a little more challenging!
Short but neat!
Neat puzzle and lots of nice ideas, though maybe too many elements at once. The punishment of resetting the level when hitting water seems a bit harsh, too.
Very interesting implementation of the two button concept!
It appears to require Java 8, but outputs a confusing error message on Java 7 by the way.
@YinYin: you are in fact the first person (we know of) to breach the 6000 cm mark -- even amongst us 3 developers and 3 testers. Congratulations!
We were not planning on clearing the highscore lists.
We're excited so many of you enjoyed the game this much and are considering further development over the coming holidays.
Nice little puzzle game. Interesting use of the 2 button theme, but those sound effects... my poor ears.
The theme is not too applicable anymore after you changed it to a 4 button game, but it's a fine shoot 'em up otherwise!
Really like the setting and art!
Until now I didn't know that I wanted to be a Velociraptor Cyborg.
Somewhat frustrating :/
A strange submission for sure. I'm don't think it qualifies as a game, but I can appreciate the music.
Also, I'm not sure, whether this is supposed to happen, but it seems my screen is upside down (compared to the screenshots) and I can only walk backwards. An.. interesting experience?
Really cool idea!
really liked the sound :D
Nice game :D
Neat game! Reminds me of that Pokémon Stadium minigame...
Somewhat lengthy middle part and what feels like a neglected one-time ammo idea, but otherwise all-round a very enjoyable experience!
I felt like a palm hating cloud.
Nice game, I really suck at this kind of game tho :(
a bit too hard for me :(
This “sliding” is so evil.
Maybe let the tanks at least use the road.
Nice cat :D
Interesting idea and lots of levels!
Awesome game!
Meow
Oh God
A little bit rough around the edges, but a great incarnation of a two-button jump'n'run, well done!
Unfortunately, I couldn't make it past the first (?) boss fight. I gave it three shots to the head, but wasn't even sure, it damaged him.
Nice idea using the Patryoshka for the growing theme.
The meteorites are hard to notice on the last level.
Confusing controls :/
Nicely done, worked well. The shot strength meter was a bit too fast for me to be able to execute consistently.
As an aside, on very right edge in level 10 I got into an infinite loop where the ball kept dropping into the pit before i could shoot it.
Hi Lars
Thanks for your extensive feedback (more of a full review :smiley:) on our game. I probably won't be able to live up to that, but here goes.
What didn't work as expected (on my machine): > On Firefox I didn't see my cursor at all. On Chrome the cursor worked but had a few frames of delay, which is a little annoying in a game with rapid aiming. You can see the cursor delay pretty well on the instructions page where the system cursor is visible as well.
What I liked:
> I was impressed that you, as a single person, went all the way and and didn't just add audio but also made your engine from scratch; my time management is never good enough for that. I liked the concept of a city builder with action elements; I see the potential in this theme interpretation. The music was pleasant and fitting. I liked the simple, randomly generated, isometric map. The graphics were between adequate (the trees) and nice (most of the rest). I liked that you took hitboxes seriously; none of that "oh, they were close enough" stuff :smile:.
What irked me:
> Rabbit collection felt somewhat unfair: lots of rabbits spawn, but most only stay for a 0.3-0.9 second window. That is long enough for you to start reacting, but too short to realistically get the reward. More player skill or less cursor delay probably reduce the upper value on that window a bit. Anyhow, perhaps making such "troll" rabbits significantly rarer would tone down the annoyingness. > The "how to play" could have been much much shorter if it used pictures (e.g., "hut + market -> witch", "wand -> hammer -> hut button -> hut"). > Free terraforming removes the challenges a randomly generated map brings.
Overall a promising idea with nice execution (minus the too elusive rabbits, grrr), leaving one longing for more content.
Thanks for the kind words, everybody!
@Altron In the rotating cannons, if the player misses the correct angle only by a little bit, we do indeed help them out, as longer shots were quite frustrating otherwise. We considered adding in a "hard mode" without this help but didn't get around to it. It probably wouldn't be a lot of fun.
Neat!
I kept waiting for healing spells to show up, but it seems one has to make do with the occasional shield and otherwise just attack as fast as possible. In the end, I managed to vanquish six enemies.
There were a few confusing things, such as sometimes getting just two bindings (= Wordle guesses?) while other times getting seven, and like not being able to type the next spell yet because the last one was apparently still busy. A sound effect or any other effect when one is allowed to start mashing in the next sequence of runes one has prepared in one's mind would be helpful.
Reminds me a lot of Chants of Sennaar but with less hand-holding and far more symbols. An overview page with all the symbols would have been welcome.
"This" and "that" being introduced with the same yellow top bar whose reference was just claimed to be completed a page prior was confusing.
Reading the PDF seemed to be recommended to do up front and took more time and attention than the game itself.
Overall very cute!
Cute entry that combines Sokoban with Beambender. While there are not many levels, the puzzling is non-trivial and the amount of content is perfectly bite-sized for a Ludum Dare playtest.
I wonder whether the bug that sometimes lets beams continue to spread even when their source is cut off could be turned into a feature.
Clearly a bit rough around the edges, but it did capture some of that Minecraft feeling. The bomb mechanics kept me on my toes and prevented me from just digging straight. The metal detector didn't really seem worth it, but maybe I just didn't grasp how to use it efficiently. The large amount of shop options seemed a bit overkill, especially since different levels of rock/ore didn't require upgrades and movement was not a challenge, but I did enjoy picking up some drill speed.
Interesting concept pretty well executed!
I can't complain about the graphics or the gameplay at all, they're doing their job. The music and voice recordings were great!
The audio balancing could be improved (the logs are pretty quiet compared to the rest as well as overall) and subtitles would definitely help with absorbing the day numbers and names being thrown at the player. I feel like I missed out on the perspective of how much time passed between each log.
It strikes me as a bit odd that the two main concerns the protagonist has are whether Earth will actually bother rescuing him (which is assuaged through the incoming messages) and whether he can stand to wait for a few years. Being left to starve is mentioned once, but otherwise the situation doesn't appear to elicit any worries about shelter, food and water, mobility/crampedness, entertainment, human interaction, sanity. Makes you wonder -- perhaps in this future humans have trouble with the mere concept of waiting :D