Ascent by sstrandberg

[raw]
made by sstrandberg for LD29 (COMPO)
A six-degrees-of-freedom first-person-platformer/racing game.

Right, so, this is a bit complicated to explain. The short version is as follows:

WASD to run
SPACE to jump
Mouse and QE to change what way you're facing
SHIFT for brakes (you'll never use those)
R to restart from the most recent checkpoint
T to restart from the start of the game

Here's where it gets a bit complicated: while you're in the air, WASD does absolutely nothing at all. The only thing that matters is the way you're facing - you'll automatically glide forwards whenever you're in the air. The trick is, you have more control over the glide the closer your aim is to the angle of the momentum you've got. If that didn't make any sense, just remember to take smooth long turns whenever you can - it's faster.

Something to take into consideration is that the runspeed is FAST. So fast, in fact, that you can run straight up walls. From a standstill, if you want. That being said, the way your legs work is that they don't really care in what direction you run in as long as you're touching something - basically, if you want to stay on a wall, you need to run "into" it a bit, otherwise you're likely to fall off. Not that you can't pretty easily glide back on at high speeds.

If it's still confusing, feel free to send me an email at sfdstrandberg@gmail.com. I'm also on twitter with @sfdstrandberg if that's more your type of thing I guess. Oh and http://sstrandberg.tumblr.com is a devlog of sorts. I think that's everything. I'm tired. It's 2:18AM here and I've been making myself seasick with videogames.

Ratings

Coolness 53% 3
Overall 3.47 278
Audio 2.63 626
Fun 3.52 189
Graphics 3.30 462
Humor 1.90 924
Innovation 3.78 128
Mood 3.22 352
Theme 2.02 1199

Feedback

greg-anims
28. Apr 2014 · 01:06 UTC
ay yo dis is sum ballin ass game son! just 2hard4school if u feel me
benmcnelly
28. Apr 2014 · 04:01 UTC
The learning curve is high, but it was a lot of fun once I got a few runs at it.
conormn
28. Apr 2014 · 04:58 UTC
Neat look n feel. Controls were a bit hard, but I didn't mind it.
Perry
28. Apr 2014 · 09:46 UTC
So I think I'll be one of the few who actually finished this... Twice. So that says something about the game. The design was really good, level design was pretty darn great, I took a run at doing some sections in reverse and they're a lot funner going down than up. Going fast in this game felt good, I've told you this already, but I have to emphasize it. If you ever revisit these mechanics I think they'd make a decent "Descent" game.
Jonathan Whiting
28. Apr 2014 · 12:18 UTC
This s really interesting, but I really need some easy intro terrain to get a feel for the controls, it's just toooo weird.
Zazibar
28. Apr 2014 · 16:17 UTC
Like others I had some issues with the controls, very interesting entry though.
kmakai
28. Apr 2014 · 16:21 UTC
This was fun and interesting, you might want to double check your FPS controller, turning in the air caused me to have a (somewhat) permanent "roll" rotation, which was cool in the air but seemed odd/hard to work with on the ground. Good job!
Chris Mondok
28. Apr 2014 · 16:24 UTC
This game is really cool, but it could use a less technical course. As a beginner, it was not an ideal environment to grasp the controls / feel.
Evilion
28. Apr 2014 · 16:58 UTC
Very good feeling in this one, the flow is efficient and hard to master !
🎤 sstrandberg
28. Apr 2014 · 18:36 UTC
Thanks for the comments so far!

kmakai: this is intended behaviour. you can use Q and E to correct the roll.

Jonathan and Chris: You're absolutely correct, I just sort of ran out of time and chose to make the course I made as interesting as possible instead.
KyleDAudio
28. Apr 2014 · 18:54 UTC
The sounds communicate information really well in this game. It's also really cool and fun! Great job!
DesignerNap
28. Apr 2014 · 19:06 UTC
Had fun with this game until I got stuck. Hit a wall and couldn't seem to get past it. I would love to spend the time mastering this so will come back to it once I played some of the many other LD entries! Great execution though and looks awesome.
Crawler Studios
28. Apr 2014 · 22:12 UTC
Controls are pretty different than most games, but that's awesome. Very fun game and very challenging. The game has great ascetics but low geometry, but that doesn't take away from the fun. Great job with this, really enjoyed playing it.
Seraphic Media
28. Apr 2014 · 23:08 UTC
Wow, it was super hard at first but really awesome!
Cosine
28. Apr 2014 · 23:51 UTC
Love the style, REALLY COOL mechanic. Really fun. But. So. Hard.
darkflamejam
29. Apr 2014 · 08:12 UTC
Quite a difficult game! But teh gliding mechanic is quite fun... the take off needs a bit of work
Pitoum
29. Apr 2014 · 09:13 UTC
Everything is cool in this!
Thanks a lot for bringing me some challenge right in the morning :D
The feeling is so neat!
martinysa0311
29. Apr 2014 · 10:42 UTC
great game & excelent idea.
martinysa0311
29. Apr 2014 · 13:15 UTC
great game & good comcept.
SaintHeiser
29. Apr 2014 · 15:33 UTC
Very and very strange controls...
Can't find any links with theme...
Vinyl Pixels
29. Apr 2014 · 18:17 UTC
Very challanging! There should be more red plates near the start :) Overall a nice fresh runner game :)
Meedoc
01. May 2014 · 12:42 UTC
The best physics I've seen for a while! It's impressive how you embrace the avatar after failing several times!
Roman Kornev
01. May 2014 · 12:43 UTC
Amazed by the game! So unique and innovative! The idea of conserving momentum while still trying to turn is very challenging! You should totally develop this concept more!
The only thing I dislike is that the gameplay feels kinda slow. It has to be more fast-paced.
10/10 anyways!
Chronodrax
01. May 2014 · 14:23 UTC
The feels :
1) wtf I'm falling
2) how am I supposed to do this ???
3) Oh ok this is how it works... ouch damn wall
4) wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee this is so much fun !!! oh I missed that platform. oops.
5) nailed it ! 16 min >_<"
I've tried to speedrun this again today and finally got a highscore of 06:15:79 !
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/?attachment_id=358795
This game is the best race-style game I've played in years! Thank you so much !!
Chronodrax
01. May 2014 · 15:58 UTC
There's a sortcut near the beginning which can make you gain like 20 seconds : instead of going through the 4-5 successive holes turning to the right, use your speed to go directly up and on the right, on the last platform used to gain speed and reach the far inclined platforms :) you may lack some speed if not done correctly though :p
rincewind_cz
01. May 2014 · 17:16 UTC
Wow! Great racing game here! Too hard for me, but still .. i was trying at least for 20 minutes.. Good job!
baykush_figtree
02. May 2014 · 00:50 UTC
Where is the "Trippiness" field for apropriate rating?
I might need a few pills.
moonmagic
02. May 2014 · 04:10 UTC
KSHHHHhhhhhaaaaaaaa during the first banked turn through gateways is a tremendous feeling, sound in ears when Success Jump is exhilarating Dream Feeling. Played for too long.
guimonpa
02. May 2014 · 16:27 UTC
Really tricky at first, but great fun once you get the hang of it, nice concept!
MintArcade
04. May 2014 · 20:33 UTC
Strange controls, but I like the ambiance of the game - very promising.
kristoffer zetterberg
11. May 2014 · 11:26 UTC
okay, this was a bit tricky, and hard, and i can't say i got very far, but it's an innovative runner/platformer.
DavidErosa
19. May 2014 · 13:40 UTC
Pretty fun but a bit frustrating sometimes. It took me a good amount of tries to get past the first zone!
7elephants
19. May 2014 · 14:30 UTC
It took me some time to understand the gameplay, it's a little bit difficult to get the point of the controls, but the game shows lots of potential and imagination! Congrats!