Mike Rand in Fantasy Land by BrainSlugs83

[raw]
made by BrainSlugs83 for LD35 (JAM)
Fair warning, this game isn't complete.

This is a metrovania style game that I put together to make a jab at a couple of my co-workers. (Namely, Mike Rand who "works in Fantasy Land". I wanted to add in a couple of others, make one a quest fairy, and the other a boss, but I didn't have time for any of that. -- Also, sound effects would have been nice...).

Anyway, It may not be complete, but it's the most complete Ludum Dare entry I've done so far, and it's even playable for a few minutes.

It's got several screens of bad guys, a half complete dungeon level, a quest item that unlocks a power up for you (enabling some some back tracking), and a couple of hidden messages to discover. See if you can find them all! :-)


The game should explain the controls pretty well, but just in case:

Arrow Keys / Game Pad Left Stick .......... Move Rand (up to enter doors)
Keyboard Z / Space Bar / Game Pad A .... Jump
Keyboard X / Game Pad X ..................... Attack

F11 ................................................... Disable Debug Information (Whoops)

Notes:
Most of the graphics are mine, some are not. The tileset and the bad guy were a CC0/public domain license, so I borrowed them (though, I animated the bad guy manually in Spriter). -- And the main player sprite I spent a couple days on prior to the jam.

Ratings

Coolness 71% 3
Overall(Jam) 2.86 898
Fun(Jam) 2.97 667
Humor(Jam) 2.91 316
Innovation(Jam) 2.06 1093
Mood(Jam) 2.64 857

Feedback

toastedgames
19. Apr 2016 · 04:17 UTC
Cool game guys! I wish there was more content, but I totally understand why there isn't because I had to do similar cuts for my game. Hope you expand on this in the future!
LordKawaii
19. Apr 2016 · 04:21 UTC
Fun. I like the art for the Mike Rand sprite!
MeritLeave
19. Apr 2016 · 05:20 UTC
Fun start! I really like Mike Rand's sprite. Something about this guy going around stabbing things mercilessly with that expression is really engaging.
Peter1992t
19. Apr 2016 · 05:22 UTC
Was this supposed to be for Shapeshifting? Cause theres none.
dcolgan
19. Apr 2016 · 05:24 UTC
I liked the look of it most. Play was smooth though and everything worked well. I don't think there is much I can say that is not already obvious apart from that.
🎤 BrainSlugs83
19. Apr 2016 · 05:39 UTC
@Peter1992t That's why it's not in the voting categories for this entry. Since it's not a hard requirement, I opted out of following the theme. :-)

(According to the rules page, the theme just there to help you with the "Blank Sheet of Paper" problem. I didn't have that problem, so I didn't use the theme.)
🎤 BrainSlugs83
19. Apr 2016 · 05:41 UTC
@dcolgan Thanks, I'm glad to hear it's running and working well for everyone. I was really worried that there was going to be some start-up bug that made it unplayable or never load or something. Glad to hear it's working well. :-)
ottohak
19. Apr 2016 · 06:30 UTC
Fun game, pretty good graphics.
Remdiky
19. Apr 2016 · 06:38 UTC
Cool game)
bazkur98
19. Apr 2016 · 22:45 UTC
I don't mind the game play, seems like it could be solid with some work. Where does the Shapeshift theme come into play? I didn't find anything on my adventure but maybe I missed it. I like the pixel effect when you destroy an enemy, that was pretty cool.
Hyoga-3D
19. Apr 2016 · 23:35 UTC
I definitely know this game cover from some place haha :D
Unfortunately he boss was not ready, nice entry.
🎤 BrainSlugs83
20. Apr 2016 · 01:24 UTC
@Hyoga-3D thanks for noticing! -- I had a lot of fun making that cover. :D -- did you find the double jump power and the hidden messages? :-)
namrog84
22. Apr 2016 · 04:58 UTC
Mike Rand is great! Also love the enemy dudes!
Weeping Rupee
22. Apr 2016 · 05:06 UTC
I found everything! This was pretty cool. It's awesome that you incorporated your friends. I'm sure they'll get a kick out of it.
norseware
22. Apr 2016 · 06:11 UTC
This was a fun little game! I feel like a lot was missing (especially because of the comments pointing it out haha) but I feel like there could be some potential here with some polish, and scope. Nice work :)
siryakko
22. Apr 2016 · 06:18 UTC
This very humorous game needs to have more content. I'm still searching the theme btw. Fun game though
Decentsauce
22. Apr 2016 · 06:41 UTC
Nice game, some sound effects would have been nice though!
Strike
22. Apr 2016 · 07:39 UTC
Good entry with some nice humour in it. Sadly there is no sound at all and art style is inconsistent, but I totally understand since you made this game alone. I wish you can continue working on this game after the Ludum Dare is over so we can play it longer :)
TheMeorch
22. Apr 2016 · 22:20 UTC
Nice work on this! I enjoyed playing through (I think) all of the content.

The jump feels a bit jerky -- I can't tell whether that's because of the camera movement at the top of the jump or just the physics of the jump itself. Also making the attack radius larger might make the game more exciting, in that players would be better able to run around and attack, rather than slowly inching toward enemies.

The art that you made is great, especially that game cover!
mike.cullingham
23. Apr 2016 · 20:02 UTC
Not really on theme, but your mechanics worked pretty solidly. Like how the bad guys broke down when killed. Nice job getting something playable.
Freank
26. Apr 2016 · 16:51 UTC
Hi, nice game ! We're realizing a video with several games of the Ludum Dare #35.
Can you add your game on indiexpo.net ? (it's free)
So we can include also your game in the video ;)
p.s. write #LDJAM in the game's description
🎤 BrainSlugs83
26. Apr 2016 · 20:52 UTC
@Freank sure, I'll give it a shot.
🎤 BrainSlugs83
26. Apr 2016 · 21:02 UTC
@Freank, I added the link to indie expo. Take a peek.
danbolt
06. May 2016 · 07:10 UTC
I love that you have gamepad support! I find playing the games are much more enjoyable that way.

I liked exploring the world, especially with how you could go indoors and outdoors. The jumping physics was a bit hard to master, but it was fun when I got a good double-jump and killed a baddie before landing on him. If there was an option to crouch and attack (à la Zelda II). Otherwise, it was fun exploring. Good Metroidvania mechanics!
🎤 BrainSlugs83
08. May 2016 · 23:44 UTC
@danbolt, yes up/down attack are planned. -- The jumping physics are basically the same as any modern platformer, the longer you hold the button, the further you jump.
🎤 BrainSlugs83
08. May 2016 · 23:46 UTC
@danbolt -- one of the things I'd like to do, is change the direction of the attack with the mouse / second stick -- could work well with items too, like wands and stuff -- but I'd have to redo how the spriter models are imported...
toastedgames
09. May 2016 · 20:15 UTC
Cool game guys! I wish there was more content, but I totally understand why there isn't because I had to do similar cuts for my game. Hope you expand on this in the future!
--EDIT--
Thanks for rating my game! Sorry that you didn't enjoy it every much, and I just wanted to clear things up. We *just* imported the game into Gamemaker Studio, when we finished, and we didn't know that there were other options than the installer. The keybinding menu was just slapped in there, so I can understand it being bad. Not sure what you meant by the interface being 'painful,' and the enemy count was insane because we had been developing the game with a glitch limiting enemy spawns, and then we fixed that glitch after the jam ended, but we couldn't change the rates because that would be against the rules.
🎤 BrainSlugs83
09. May 2016 · 21:48 UTC
@toastedgames it's all good -- it was a solid entry. Just some things that kept me from enjoying it to the fullest (the "painful" part was fighting with the settings, they weren't taking, and some things seemed to not be intuitive or work as you would expect). -- I know the time limits can be pretty harsh, and cause some of this stuff too -- but hopefully my feedback is helpful to you in some way. :-)