Brutally Shifty Dance Crew by Franklin's Ghost
Another Ludum Dare and another game where I ran out of time. You'd think after having done a few of these I'd have learnt by now.
The entry is my attempt at a dancing game. My interpretation of the theme was that breakdancing is shapeshifting.
You have to keep dancing as long as you can by keeping your red energy bar across the bottom filled. If it runs out so does your time. The crowd will yell out shapes and you have to click the corresponding shapes to refill. You only have a small window to click the button so you have to be quick. Keyboard recommended for computer and icons are more for touch screens and mobile. It is meant to be a quick experience so you will lose to time eventually.
Keyboard will also work and the following buttons correspond with the shapes. Make sure game is in focus though or keys won't work.
1 or C = Circle
2 or V = Rectangle
3 or J = Triangle
4 or K = Square
Any button to skip screens.
UPDATE POST LUDUM DARE VERSION 28/04/2016
Thanks everyone for playing so far and sorry about confusion with controls. Feedback has been heard so I have updated with a post ludum dare version that has more moves, more little tweaks and makes it clearer that the buttons can only be pressed at specific times. You are only meant to be able to press the buttons/keys when the shapes are called out once. If you press the wrong button/key when it hasn't been called then you lose more energy.
Also new menu animations and ending.
Any questions feel free to ask me on twitter
@FranklinsGhost
The entry is my attempt at a dancing game. My interpretation of the theme was that breakdancing is shapeshifting.
You have to keep dancing as long as you can by keeping your red energy bar across the bottom filled. If it runs out so does your time. The crowd will yell out shapes and you have to click the corresponding shapes to refill. You only have a small window to click the button so you have to be quick. Keyboard recommended for computer and icons are more for touch screens and mobile. It is meant to be a quick experience so you will lose to time eventually.
Keyboard will also work and the following buttons correspond with the shapes. Make sure game is in focus though or keys won't work.
1 or C = Circle
2 or V = Rectangle
3 or J = Triangle
4 or K = Square
Any button to skip screens.
UPDATE POST LUDUM DARE VERSION 28/04/2016
Thanks everyone for playing so far and sorry about confusion with controls. Feedback has been heard so I have updated with a post ludum dare version that has more moves, more little tweaks and makes it clearer that the buttons can only be pressed at specific times. You are only meant to be able to press the buttons/keys when the shapes are called out once. If you press the wrong button/key when it hasn't been called then you lose more energy.
Also new menu animations and ending.
Any questions feel free to ask me on twitter
@FranklinsGhost
| Web | http://bit.ly/1WaRtro |
| Windows | http://bit.ly/1qAjJYp |
| Android | http://bit.ly/1qRMHTX |
| Post Ludum Dare | http://bit.ly/1QrGzXa |
| Source | http://bit.ly/1U13bol |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-35/?action=preview&uid=35424 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 94% | 2 |
| Overall | 2.88 | 733 |
| Audio | 2.82 | 407 |
| Fun | 2.61 | 783 |
| Graphics | 4.05 | 72 |
| Humor | 2.31 | 423 |
| Innovation | 2.73 | 703 |
| Mood | 2.98 | 440 |
| Theme | 2.70 | 811 |
The controls are odd and difficult. Can't activate the circle and the square, no with any keyboard keys or by cliking on it. Is there a limited time to activate them ? Maybe it's to small ?
I've seen your animations before, and this was a cool use of them.
The voices are scary!
You did say you ran out of time, and yeah, it feels a bit short on difficulty, but it was a nice experiment and definitely something that could be developed further.
Like many others, my biggest gripe is with the controls. I really think you should've assigned the shapes to keys and made it more like StepMania for example. Mouse worked for now since the game was so easy, but for higher difficulties it just wouldn't have worked (touch screen controls might have worked, tho).
Would've been fun to dance to a long and speedy song using the keys. c:
I don't reeeeally see how it fits the theme tho TBH. There's a vague implication since you're clicking different shapes, but the shifting part isn't really there IMO.
Anyhow, I like the concept!
The only thing that's missing (at least in the web version I played) is some kind of score that tells you how long you were able to dance ;)
Apart from that it's a fantastic entry, well done!
Unfortunately the music was a bit grating and it took me a while to understand that I had to push each shape multiple times to stay in the game.
One complaint: You might have chosen to punish hitting the wrong key as the game is easily winnable by spamming all four keys at the same time.
I did not try the updated version though
I liked it !
Good stuff.
I feel like a design similar to the duel in FF9 would be better ( perhaps a dance off?), e.g. you press the button only once after each one is called.
If you want to return to this no longer beholden to not using outside assets, definitely find some hip hop, or some vogue beats to set this to!
Very very smooth and enjoyable animations on the breakdancer...I've only seen that animation technique a few times but when it's pulled off nicely it's great.
I admit I wasn't sure if my inputs were on time or not at first, perhaps consider a bit more player feedback on the important inputs for future projects.
On the bright side yours is one of the few entries I've played that has all it's elements (music, sfx, graphics, gameplay, etc..)intact and feels 'complete'...taking this and the fact that it's a safe bet you ran solo (I see no mention of a team) that's an impressive feat.
The audio lacks something, I don't know, the music feels like in a club, with a crew and all, but I think it lacks some "punch". The voices are kinda creepy, like the audience is talking with a deadpan face, so more variations and feeling would give a real great vibe! :)
The controls are simple, but enjoyable, maybe adding more combinations, people yelling shapes in sequence, could give a bit more challenge! :P
But really great! Nice work! I want to do a dance/music-based game too now! :P
well done!