Strawberry in the Underworld by Manky

[raw]
made by Manky for LD29 (COMPO)
CONTROLS
WASD == Movement
Spacebar == Jump
S + Shift == Dig
W == Return to surface (next to a vine)

As HTML5 does not natively support gamepads, I recommend downloading JoyToKey and mapping the inputs that way, although the game is perfectly playable with a keyboard.

You can download JoyToKey here:
http://joytokey.net/en/

Music and sound effects were created using pxtone Collage, which you can download here:
http://www.cavestory.org/pixels-works/pxtone-collage.php

Aside from a few basic systems I've made in previous projects (asset management, handling of animations and audio elements, etc), everything you see is coded from scratch in Javascript. This game was not built on any external framework and all physics and systems unique to this game were built from the ground up.

I hope it's as fun for you to play as it was for me to make!

NOTICE: I recommend playing this in either Firefox or Chrome, as Internet Explorer seems to crash as soon as you go underground and the sound doesn't work. I'll look into fixing this as soon as I'm able.

5/10/2014
I've now posted a link to the post-compo version, which fixes a number of issues people have been having with the game. I'll be making updates to this periodically, as there are still a number of bugs to fix and some polishing work to be done.

For the sake of fairness, PLEASE do not play the post-compo version until you've played and rated the original!

Ratings

Coolness 69% 3
Overall 3.31 425
Audio 3.53 138
Fun 3.16 427
Graphics 3.80 192
Humor 3.12 199
Innovation 3.15 487
Mood 3.38 260
Theme 3.96 56

Feedback

CaptainKraft
28. Apr 2014 · 02:24 UTC
The art isn't bad and it seems pretty complete. Not too bad.
Danman9914
28. Apr 2014 · 03:15 UTC
Great use of the theme and nice art. The controls made it a little frustrating for platforming sections.
Crefossus
28. Apr 2014 · 03:15 UTC
Interesting level design and great audio/sfx.
atombrot
28. Apr 2014 · 03:16 UTC
Cool idea with the over- and underworld. It took me a while to get that the goal is to find 3 carrots. Nice puzzle game. Only thing that bugged me is that the controls are a bit floaty.
andrewkennedy
28. Apr 2014 · 03:17 UTC
It was all bright and cute - then I dug in the ground :(
dylanwolf
28. Apr 2014 · 03:18 UTC
I like the world swapping mechanic--I tried to do that with my game as well, but you used it much better than I did.
Brian Corr
28. Apr 2014 · 06:04 UTC
This is really nice.

I found the controls a bit floaty, and it was frustratuing to lose my progress when i died. Hoever, the puzzle aspect was really well done and it looks great.

I wish there was more than one level!
BeeintheCarGames
28. Apr 2014 · 09:18 UTC
Great take on the theme. It was cool to have two distinct levels line up like they did. I liked the graphics as well, it gave the game an overall cutesy tone.
Somfunambulist
28. Apr 2014 · 17:19 UTC
Excellent art, amazing music, but wow I got frustrated with the platforming. If it was a little less floaty this would probably be my favorite game so far.
dector
28. Apr 2014 · 20:35 UTC
I thought I'll fail to complete this entry but I tried to dig not only where plant grows. And it works. :)

Art and music are like fun old-school console. Enjoyed it.

Also, it's not very comfortable to move with left hand and jump with space. So I attached gamepad. But may be it'll be good idea to duplicate WASD to arrows.

Good entry!
john_conder9
29. Apr 2014 · 02:10 UTC
Great job man! The only complaint I have is that the jumping is a bit loose, makes those pesky platforms frustrating. Other than that, the art is good, the music is good, the use of theme is great! Very well rounded entry, good job!
NoorStudios
29. Apr 2014 · 21:09 UTC
really cute game, I like the double worlds, and I love that your game is html5. I sometimes had trouble with the underground world going in black though.
Udell Games
29. Apr 2014 · 21:13 UTC
Got stuck, but I like the idea, nicely executed.
garygreen
29. Apr 2014 · 21:17 UTC
I liked the contrast between the Strawberry world and underground. Cute graphics. Like others have said I found the movement controls a bit tricky too.
stigmawall
30. Apr 2014 · 00:11 UTC
Like the art and the music. the sound effect stopping when he's digging remind me the good old games
Jonochrome
30. Apr 2014 · 12:07 UTC
My complaints are that the camera does a poor job following the player and the input keys feel really unnatural. Aside from that, fine job, the contrast between the overworld and underworld is humorous.
Armanky
30. Apr 2014 · 17:04 UTC
Appreciate the feedback, guys! It would seem the universal grief with my game is the floaty platforming, and the real tragedy is that fixing most of your problems (including the camera) involves nothing more than tweaking a few variables. I've gotta stick to the rules and leave it the way it is, unfortunately.

I wish the keyboard was more suited to platformers, but it's really hard for it not to feel awkward, which is why I recommended using a gamepad. Even so, giving the option to use arrow keys is a pretty stupid miss on my part.

I'll definitely get a post-compo version out that feels a little nicer to play and relies less on strict platforming. Again though, thank you for playing and possibly enjoying! This was definitely a fun one to make! :)
pancakecity
30. Apr 2014 · 17:37 UTC
Lovely music, really adds to the feel of the game.
rnlf
30. Apr 2014 · 22:10 UTC
Really enjoyed it. It's a bit glitchy here and there (once fell through the floor in the underground, jumped out of the top screen of the screen -> window turns black), but really cute character, really love how happy she looks when she's running.

Good job!
VictoryGarden
01. May 2014 · 00:32 UTC
This is beautiful! The mood's great and it's truly adorable. That said, the platforming controls were so slidy and floaty that I pretty much couldn't get anywhere with it... and, if you'd had any more time, I would have really appreciated an animation of the pooch going up the vines in the underworld. As-is, the transitions were really harsh and kind of disorienting.
Ellian
01. May 2014 · 09:42 UTC
Very, very solid entry. Took me a while to realise I could dig anywhere and not just on a vine, and there's too much momentum in the controls, but very, very good thing you've got here!
Amazing art, good sound/music.
tomvert
01. May 2014 · 17:32 UTC
That's really hard ! But fun :D
ThingoStudios
02. May 2014 · 02:05 UTC
The game is super polished, given that you made it in forty eight hours. That being said, the physics are really really wonky, and the platforming felt artificially difficult due to the weird lack of traction.

Sort of reminded me of Eversion, but stylized and much better than Eversion.
Jupiter_Hadley
02. May 2014 · 19:39 UTC
Love, love, love the graphics! I included it in part 9 of my Ludum Dare compilation video series if you'd like to take a look http://youtu.be/ln7f84GPnPg
Xaychru04
04. May 2014 · 14:49 UTC
Nice game, I liked the concept, the music was pretty cool too! Unfortunately, the player was really hard to control, but I enjoyed the game! :)
King_Mew
04. May 2014 · 16:59 UTC
Cute and fun! Great job!
Kragnir
05. May 2014 · 02:10 UTC
I like the graphics.

The dig idea is interesting but in this case doesn't really seem to add anything other than complicating the gameplay for no gain.

The game camera seems to work in an odd way and is in the wrong place most of the time.

The amount of momentum the character can build up make the controls feel bad for a platformer which is something you seem to have noticed considering you don't need to do a single difficult jump to complete the game. There are plenty of platformers where you can have good control of your character even with a keyboard I don't think that works as an excuse.

When you notice yourself redesigning the levels to fit your controls and camera you should probably take a step back and think about what you really want from your game.

Overall a pretty nice looking platformer. Some depth and difficulty would be nice.
tanjent
06. May 2014 · 16:39 UTC
This is like playing NES Metroid again. Really good graphics and music.
BadgerPriest
06. May 2014 · 23:50 UTC
I love the above/below ground puzzle style. Agree with all the other comments though about the floatiness of the jump mechanic.
loxo
08. May 2014 · 18:55 UTC
Great and unique idea! Nice graphics, audio and gameplay. The game fits the theme very well and it's fun to play.
gre
10. May 2014 · 20:41 UTC
I love Ludum Dare games like yours which have took the "Beneath the Surface"+"Two world" approach. Only a few of you :)
About the controls, I think you should support arrows next time, and also maybe just holding one second the down key is ok (no need of shift).

Really cool concept and nice execution.
misterwalter
13. May 2014 · 15:54 UTC
I enjoyed it. The controls were definitely frustratingly floaty, but I really liked the two different worlds. having them merely touch instead of being almost exactly the same doubled the explorable world, which I liked.
Seme
17. May 2014 · 20:09 UTC
Wow. Very nice! I really liked the graphics and sounds! It took some time to ge used to controls but I got hang of it. Good job!