Walker by Catman

[raw]
made by Catman for LD23 (JAM)
There is a tiny world just before our eyes, but we can catch just a glimpse of it, through square and circular windows.
It is the world of the traffic signs, were the Walker lives.

However, our world has changed. GPS is everywhere, so there is no more need for Walker and his world...

Enter the roadroller!



This game has been made for the Ludum Dare #23 Jam by
Michele Pirovano of the Politecnico di Milano (programming, game design, 3D art, sound&music), Federica Tana (2D art, game concept) and Dario Campanella (2D background art & the "Hello").

Thanks to Pier Luca and his students and to Paolo for their pieces of advice.


This game was made with:
Unity3D
Blender
Gimp
Linux Multi Media Studio
Audacity

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 3.38 71
Audio(Jam) 3.03 102
Fun(Jam) 3.27 57
Graphics(Jam) 3.42 111
Humor(Jam) 3.28 39
Innovation(Jam) 3.73 27
Mood(Jam) 2.98 100
Theme(Jam) 3.00 118

Feedback

spooks
24. Apr 2012 · 00:55 UTC
very weird and different, but I liked it and wanted to keep playing it (actually it's making me late for a haircut..) which the landing pad in the sign was a bit larger. Gets really good once you make it to all the different signs!
brus46
24. Apr 2012 · 07:14 UTC
I really love this one :D
It's really addicting, please continue developing it!
Since you did it in unity you can aim to publish it for mobile, that would be really interesting!
Jigxor
24. Apr 2012 · 08:36 UTC
Fun game! My favourite part was the player animation. It was really smooth and had fluid transitions, it was also really cool when the second person joined you running around with a hat!

If you make an enhanced version I'd suggest that you let the music keep playing between levels instead of having it restart each time, as I'd only ever get to hear the first few seconds of the song. A more clearer design for the bottom of the 'platforms' would be good too, as it was sometimes hard to see where you could actually land.

The short levels made it compelling to keep playing. The music and sound effects were really well done too. And I liked the whole concept and setting of jumping on street signs. Very creative.

Overall, really nice job!
madpew
24. Apr 2012 · 10:11 UTC
Very good and creative idea and well performed. I really was like "WTF" until I got what you did there. Well done!
Lidfrid
24. Apr 2012 · 10:30 UTC
Great work!!But my score isn't so good -.-
jeffz
24. Apr 2012 · 11:08 UTC
this is really good, you've nailed a classic platformer, like mario or wario land!
amodo
24. Apr 2012 · 11:16 UTC
What an awesome concept and idea! Well done! only two things: at first I didn't get I was in the next level, and the controls could be a tiiiiny bit more responsive. apart from that: really great job!
🎤 Catman
24. Apr 2012 · 11:20 UTC
Awesome comments thus far, thanks for the feedback!! I'll make sure to tune the controls! :)
angrygeometry
24. Apr 2012 · 11:40 UTC
really loved the backdrops. do hope you continue to develop this! clean up the responsiveness of the controls a bit and possibly make the surfaces for the signs a tiny bit bigger and you'll really be onto something.
johanp
24. Apr 2012 · 12:43 UTC
Nice use of street signs for some of the mechanics!
Jedi
24. Apr 2012 · 12:48 UTC
It's all so good, there's not much to say! The midair controls seemed a tiny bit unresponsive and the platforms seemed a little too small on the round signs.
Riccardo Stucchi
24. Apr 2012 · 22:16 UTC
The idea it's fantastic, the implementation much more!!! :D.. This game it's very beautiful... and very hard in some point!! :).. Well done!!!!!! :)
A gem is the different coloring of the character depending on the sign :)
BenW
25. Apr 2012 · 02:38 UTC
Controls were a little unresponsive. Otherwise great.
Fireblend
25. Apr 2012 · 04:16 UTC
Music was a bit repetitive and controls were a bit clunky, but the idea of having all those signs come to life (and so many of them!) more than made up for that. Great job!
Orni
25. Apr 2012 · 09:42 UTC
incredible idea
this is one of my favorites so far - I'm sure you're going to rock the innovation category
jeroenimooo
25. Apr 2012 · 11:26 UTC
Awesome idea! Really loved all the different sign functions. Also the background was real nice.
onehandclap
25. Apr 2012 · 11:59 UTC
I liked the idea and the game is also fun. Good! =)
free_napalm
25. Apr 2012 · 14:19 UTC
Well designed and challenging. Especially the backgrounds are great! And you found a nice use for these signs.
Good work.
Jiddo
25. Apr 2012 · 19:01 UTC
Really weird concept, but also a good one! The physics and controls felt a bit off and made it hard to steer the guy around, but the amount of creativeness made it enjoyable still.
bitslap_
25. Apr 2012 · 20:08 UTC
I liked this. I beat it. Nice touch with the final level there. Graphics are fun and overall suiting. Audio was ok, together with the visual its pretty artsy and trippy, in a Terry Gilliam kind of way. Controls could be a bit tighter but works for now.

Good job!
moop
25. Apr 2012 · 20:23 UTC
Cool game but difficult sometimes to tell which parts of the signs were walkable.
lanoiadimuu
25. Apr 2012 · 20:49 UTC
This game is amazing. A Great concept developed well. :)
Sheep
25. Apr 2012 · 21:14 UTC
I like it how you used the traffic-signs as platform elements. Really innovative!
NAMKCOR
25. Apr 2012 · 22:02 UTC
I really did not like the audio, it got very annoying quickly.

The gameplay was alright, and was a neat twist, but the controls just felt messy, and I had trouble wanting to keep playing it.
🎤 Catman
25. Apr 2012 · 22:36 UTC
Thanks to everyone for the feedback!

@NAMKCOR yeah I'm sorry, I had no more time to fix the music :(
As I said, I'll try to tune the control for next version!
leafo
26. Apr 2012 · 06:44 UTC
very cool concept
namuol
26. Apr 2012 · 06:50 UTC
Fresh ideas here -- can be quite fun if not a little frustrating at times. The sort of stuff a some time-honored tweaking would take care of. Love the walking dude. :)
🎤 Catman
26. Apr 2012 · 13:42 UTC
Thank you :)

I aim to tweak the controls, but only after the voting has ended! I think it's fairier that way. :)
Pacifist Games
26. Apr 2012 · 19:57 UTC
I really like the idea, very original! As the others have said, the controls are very difficult and imprecise, but I loved what you did with all of the different signs. :) The music and sound effects were a bit annoying, but all and all a great game!
ratboy2713
26. Apr 2012 · 20:01 UTC
It was hard to tell where on the sign you would land and when you would fall through. Still, loved the art style and the menu at the beginning.
pighead10
27. Apr 2012 · 13:35 UTC
Fluid animations and graphics, but slightly awkward player mechanics.
Hegemege
27. Apr 2012 · 13:45 UTC
Awesome visuals O_O

Loved the soundtrack, the gameplay is cool and rather original and innovative
dr_soda
27. Apr 2012 · 14:22 UTC
Like all the others I really enjoy your graphical treatment in this game, and how the man blends into the signs. The loop isn't bad either.

The controls on the other hand felt very floaty and twitchy. It was very hard to make the little guy jump precisely when I wanted him to, or land where I thought he was going to. It's one of the things you learn to deal with over time in Unity I suppose, as I ran into things like that during development in LD22.

Very creative idea overall!
omaha
27. Apr 2012 · 18:14 UTC
The sounds were awesome! The levels were pretty cool, definitely a nice progression of difficulty as you move through them. lots of fun.
Shadow
28. Apr 2012 · 01:39 UTC
Hahaha, awesome. Quite innovative in terms of concept. Loved your take on the theme. It needs a bit of polish but it's a good game. Music was also good. Landing was a bit difficult sometimes, perhaps there's a problem there with collision detection there, but it wasn't THAT terrible. Good job.
spiral
28. Apr 2012 · 02:04 UTC
Strange game!
I like the art. Controls are a bit glitchy but you get used to it. Enjoyed bouncing around!
Wyzfen
28. Apr 2012 · 15:27 UTC
the screaming got annoying - guess i shouldnt die so much :)
R3ason
30. Apr 2012 · 03:24 UTC
What we have here is a great little game! LOVE the take on the theme; very original and a nice break from ant/bacteria/pixel games! Am just in awe of the art; love the color switch of the player between signs. This is just great; thanks!
mooosh
30. Apr 2012 · 23:30 UTC
woah, awesome concept! the platforming was a little slippery, but once I got the hang of it it was cool.
MattChappUnity
01. May 2012 · 17:09 UTC
Great Game!
rvmook
02. May 2012 · 21:38 UTC
It was a bit hard and the music was a bit repetitive and sometimes the snapping on the boards could be a bit better. But eventually I was playing it for a while and I found it was quite addicting. It was fun!
Scott Baker
03. May 2012 · 05:07 UTC
Great concept. A little frustrating and hard at higher levels because the circle signs were difficult to see where to jump at. And the controls were not quite right.

But all in all... I had fun.
caranha
03. May 2012 · 13:37 UTC
Very cool game! I liked how you played with the idea of everyday signs to introduce game mechanics.

The movement was a bit sticky though -- for example, when I was in the "90" signals, I could not jump - and sometimes while waking jump would get stuck. But great game!
Andrew
04. May 2012 · 12:01 UTC
It ran a bit too slowly on my machine to make some of the jumps, but I liked the idea. Not exactly tiny world-ish but it works.
hungyg
05. May 2012 · 11:26 UTC
graphics and the idea were nice, the collision boxes seem unsure...
Madball
05. May 2012 · 12:26 UTC
I totally loved this game for signs.
Madball
06. May 2012 · 10:01 UTC
I found a bug: if the roadroller runs over a sign (only tested on long titled arrow signs) you stand on the player either drops with the sign or (rarely) becomes wierd, like big and rotated. Try standing on the right side of "Lodi" sign on the 1st level.
Pierrec
06. May 2012 · 15:18 UTC
It was funny to discover how things works! Great idea, great theme, big fun. The graphics could be clarified though
matthias_zarzecki
06. May 2012 · 15:49 UTC
Lovely scenario!

The first 5 mins of the gameplay were pretty much random deaths for me as I tried to figure out the controls and the rules, there is a lot of room for balancing.
elektron
06. May 2012 · 16:06 UTC
Nice use of the them!
leanderCorp
06. May 2012 · 17:25 UTC
i died too much and didnt like it
MadGnomeGamer
07. May 2012 · 04:25 UTC
I love it! Very weird and different, as spooks said. Very innovative! Cool execution of the idea as well. Good graphics too! Wish the music wouldn't restart every time I died. I actually found the controls to be very good.

The Walkin Dude is comin!
🎤 Catman
07. May 2012 · 08:13 UTC
Thanks to everyone for the comments and to Madball and MadGnomeGamer for the spotlight! :)

To Madball, thank you, didn't notice that, added to the bug list ;) It happens because I actually put the Walker as a child of the signs, so that when they move the Walker moves with them!
Rex Peppers
07. May 2012 · 19:06 UTC
Nice work on the audio!
TobiasNL
10. May 2012 · 12:24 UTC
Awesome concept, really. Some sounds were pretty funny as well. Gameplay nailed it. Good job
Puzzlem00n
10. May 2012 · 19:45 UTC
Some thoughts/impressions:
A- What on earth influenced you to come up with this madness? You got from tiny worlds to roadsides, man?
B- Really tiny signs? Ones that move up and down? What kinds of roads you been driving on, brother?
C- What strange forces of physics cause the walker to be torn limb from limb and tossed up into the air when below a specified altitude? Some sort of over-pressurization?
🎤 Catman
11. May 2012 · 07:34 UTC
@Puzzlem00n
I swear I don't drink alcohol, it's just how my brain (and my fiancée's) works! :P
Christina Antoinette Neofotistou
12. May 2012 · 22:28 UTC
ah, this is one of the first I played. Lovely graphics, innovative and weird. Thank you for this, and thank you for the post mortem!
AD-Edge
13. May 2012 · 13:31 UTC
Interesting idea, levels could have been a bit longer tho. Well done on making a game which is quite out there!