Sling by Novodantis

[raw]
made by Novodantis for LD32 (JAM)
Azimuth. A world of floatrock cities and endless skies.

You are a Cloudgazer; one of the fortunate few to wield the Sling. A wonder from the technological zenith of the Gold Age, this flexible multitool is not only a handy form of transportation, it also makes for a rather unconvential weapon! Which is a good thing, because Ganzabar have captured your home settlement. Time to show them a thing or two...

CONTROLS:
WSAD - Movement
Space - Jump
LMB - Fire Sling
RMB - Retrieve Sling
Q - Pull/Reel-in clamp or yourself

"Sling" is my second completed Ludum Jam, and probably the most hectic. I've had a blast doing it. Unfortunately there's a few minor issues: At some point the Esc menu broke (edit: FIXED), plus there's a number of niggles like the clamp going through colliders that I could fix if I had more time.

Anyway, enjoy!

--

Update 21/04/2015 : Fixed the mac download. Hopefully. WebGL may follow soon.

Update 25/04/2015 : Fixed issue with the menu not working (I am such a dork; last-minute full screen image was blocking the clicks). So it's now way more usable. Also added a credit note and extra control instruction. Webplayer still pending- sorry, it's been a busy week!

Update 28/04/2015 : Added Webplayer. Been trying to also get WebGL version working but it's just so flakey. Remember the good old days when Unity, Chrome and Webplayer was all so simple...?

Ratings

Coolness 45% 1497
Overall(Jam) 3.62 195
Audio(Jam) 2.91 457
Fun(Jam) 3.42 248
Graphics(Jam) 3.69 316
Innovation(Jam) 3.35 339
Mood(Jam) 2.75 731
Theme(Jam) 3.58 358

Feedback

PapaCheech
21. Apr 2015 · 01:39 UTC
good pictures
mattmirrorfish
21. Apr 2015 · 01:48 UTC
OS/X version seems to be a bad link. Maybe make a zip file? Empty g-drive folder. Pictures look good!
NoxiiStudio
21. Apr 2015 · 01:49 UTC
Good concept,
Too bad the sling acts like a sniper with an integrated hook. The gameplay could be more diverse (use the pull function to resolve puzzle ?). The gameplay could be really fun with more things to do.

The few sounds there are are pretty good.

The graphics are great and gives a good mood for the game.
petey123567
21. Apr 2015 · 01:58 UTC
Pretty cool! Want more sling/pull action though rather than just tagging the guys like it's a gun.
Hyoga-3D
21. Apr 2015 · 02:37 UTC
The aesthetics of this games is very nice. But I could not go for the other areas o the game, also the aim you could make a somple change on the render queue of it, to make it always render in front, pretty much what games like COD and BF do with their guns.
🎤 Novodantis
21. Apr 2015 · 07:46 UTC
Thanks guys! Yeah I wanted to make the pulling mechanism more varied but physics just wasn't playing nice to allow time for it!

Regarding the crosshair, it is a very hacky rangefinder how it currently is. As the aiming point moves down and to the left the closer the target is, it actually helps to show only the furthest relevant dot. Of course, one that is painted on a "laserpoint" raycast would have been even better.
Horsed
22. Apr 2015 · 08:00 UTC
The game is completely white (except the skybox) :-( Can't play. The screenshot make me want to play :-)
🎤 Novodantis
22. Apr 2015 · 11:09 UTC
Oh, well that's annoying! I'm not sure why that might be; perhaps a problem with PBS rendering? I'll be making some webplayer versions so hopefully you might have more luck with those.
jk5000
22. Apr 2015 · 17:00 UTC
The game is a bit too difficult. And I couldn't restart the game. Graphics, music and gameplay was great.
Nikteddy92
23. Apr 2015 · 14:43 UTC
I really like the way you interpreted the theme of this time! Also nice graphic, well done!
ironleonem
27. Apr 2015 · 08:54 UTC
I REALLY want to see more of this. I loved the sling mechanics. I think it would pair really well with a stealth mechanic, maybe... Such as using the hook to hide bodies so patrollers don't catch him.
kabutakogames
27. Apr 2015 · 13:49 UTC
Fun mechanic, though I wish there was more of a goal
🎤 Novodantis
27. Apr 2015 · 21:41 UTC
@ironleonem - Yes, indeed! On my original To-Do list (sadly unticked) are for the soldiers to move around every now and then and for them to be alerted by the sight of the clamp or a body. I'd like to add those in post-jam, but then I always say that and never seem to find the time...
TeamQuadratic
28. Apr 2015 · 00:57 UTC
Great graphics. I feel like the start of something really great is here, but I agree that the hook isn't really used to its full potential. PLEASE keep working on this!
java the hutt
28. Apr 2015 · 01:16 UTC
I thought it was hilarious when I shot a guard. Some of their detection seemed a little strange, I was able to walk right next to one without them knowing.
srakowski
28. Apr 2015 · 01:17 UTC
This is an incredibly good start to a game, please polish it up and release it! I had a lot of fun slinging from plat to plat while avoiding the guys with the guns. It would be cool if you could use the sling to grab them and pull them off the platforms instead of it killing them. Very well done!
Xanjos
28. Apr 2015 · 01:21 UTC
Pretty cool concept and the level design is spot-on as well.
Horsed
28. Apr 2015 · 06:22 UTC
I tried the Windows and Web version again and it's still completely white (except the background). I'll give it a try on another machine.
Evergreen Games
02. May 2015 · 07:20 UTC
Really cool. I've seen a couple games with a this mechanic, but this is the best so far. i like how it doubles as movement and weapon. maybe add more in air shots/chains. definitely develop further!
Perjoka
07. May 2015 · 07:27 UTC
nice game, what i didn`t like is that the crosshair isn`t visible most of the time because it`s the same color as most of the environment and even the enemies are half that color.
waveformmodulations
08. May 2015 · 23:25 UTC
I loaded it and it was untextured and my grappling hook was far off. Couldn't play properly
pixzleone
11. May 2015 · 12:27 UTC
Cool game!