LudumData

Pow! Pow! Pow! by Cake&Code

[raw]
made by Cake&Code for LD23 (JAM)
Pow! Pow! Pow!
aka; A Game About a 16mm Hero Who Fights Off Invading Aliens
from Supersizing His Home Planet

You play as the leader of the faraway small-sized planet Pipbit
who sets out to kick out invading aliens from supersizing and
completely taking over his home planet.

With your powers of Minification and your army of micro-fighters,
go out and get rid of these invaders and restore your home back to
its rightful small state.

This was made by....
Matias Giachino (Zeik) : Coder extraordinaire.
-Flashpunk
-AS3
Christina Pham (Cake / microcake): Artist, UI Designer, and Level designer.
-Photoshop (level design and raster work)
-Illustrator (raw artwork)
-InDesign (level layout)
-Dreamweaver (level creation via XML)

Web http://microcake.org/powpowpow/
Timelapse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvX55cp0QOo&feature=youtu.be
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=10976

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 3.24 93
Audio(Jam) 3.02 105
Fun(Jam) 2.64 154
Graphics(Jam) 4.37 17
Humor(Jam) 2.40 118
Innovation(Jam) 2.63 170
Mood(Jam) 3.34 58
Theme(Jam) 3.05 114

Feedback

23
23. Apr 2012 · 12:41 UTC
This is absolutely gorgeous. I almost have to give it full marks on the strength of the graphics alone.

Unfortunately, it's a little too hard - I have a lot of trouble making jumps even once I figure out the timing. It might be easier if there were fewer small gaps to fall down and if gravity were a bit softer.

Also, a smaller issue, but I wish the punch had more of a visual indicator (or sound effect).
caranha
23. Apr 2012 · 12:48 UTC
That was a very good looking game, thank you! The general idea is also really cute. I found myself immersed in the mood while playing this.

That said, the controls are a bit unresponsive. Timing the jumps with the unminimization is really hard, specially because the item takes a bit of time to pop out even after the "aura" had disappeared.

Thanks for the nice looking game!
robbiehunt
23. Apr 2012 · 14:07 UTC
Definitely gorgeous game. But the cuteness sort of masks how difficult this.

But I think that's okay. Hard games are good as long as their not torture for the user. I liked it.
spooks
23. Apr 2012 · 14:54 UTC
The art style is really well done and great audio! That said, I found the controls to be a bit unpredictable
Hazard
23. Apr 2012 · 16:57 UTC
Amazing Art-Style, but fiddly controls. It feels a bit odd that you have to hit objects multiple times before anything happens. A smooth shrinking animation with every hit could improve that.
🎤 Cake&Code
23. Apr 2012 · 18:12 UTC
Thanks everyone! We really appreciate the comments and critiques. You can blame any level-based difficulty on Cake. :)

For our post-mortem we'll probably add in easy levels at the beginning so people can ease into the gameplay, and we'll tweak the controls for better results as well.

Keep 'em coming!
madpew
23. Apr 2012 · 18:49 UTC
First, please add Y as an equivalent for Z for us non-english-layout users so we can properly play. Second, it's really hard to dodge the bullets while trying to shoot the "bumpers" and getting the timing right. maybe reduce the shooting-frequenzy. I dunno. I gave up after the 4th Bumper. :/
madpew
23. Apr 2012 · 18:49 UTC
But I like the artstyle and the music. Too bad there is so little SFX going on besides to that.
bms
23. Apr 2012 · 18:57 UTC
Love the art, but gameplay was a bit odd for me.
Alex Gilday
23. Apr 2012 · 19:12 UTC
I love it! The graphics are great, the story is nice, the controls are usable and it's fun! I wish you good luck, I think this will go far :D
totorotonio
23. Apr 2012 · 21:50 UTC
good graphics but the gameplay is not really good.
Jacic
23. Apr 2012 · 22:43 UTC
Amazing art and sound, fun to play, you nailed it! :D
Peter Cooper
24. Apr 2012 · 01:48 UTC
Definitely a nice focus on the design, as other people have said :-) It's odd to see a game that has such nice "design" although the art is quite simple.
BenW
24. Apr 2012 · 01:56 UTC
It looks great and the music is really nice. Unfortunately the fact that there were no sound effects and that the jump timing was so difficult made this a chore to play. I feel like it would be really good with some gameplay tweaks.
chambers
24. Apr 2012 · 07:54 UTC
I found it kind of boring to wait for the stuff to grow to the right size to use them as jump. I like the art style and the game name a lot XD
ccscanf
24. Apr 2012 · 15:13 UTC
Nice Art.
Keirua
24. Apr 2012 · 18:57 UTC
That's really not an easy game, but the art is among the best I've seen in the indie game world
Darkfrost
24. Apr 2012 · 23:15 UTC
Very nice! The art style was unique, beautiful, and yet strange! It was pretty difficult, but I managed to finish it (Atleast, I think I finished it? I got to to the end of the stage where it wouldn't scroll anymore ,but there was no kind of end? :p)

Good fun, some sound effects might have made it a lot more immersive though!
gritfish
25. Apr 2012 · 00:46 UTC
I think the two-step growing could be chucked out, and have the "springs" just snap right back to full size.
Sound effects would have been nice, but the graphics really steal the show on this one, the translucent style you guys went for is really cool. I couldn't get past the bit where there was a mushroom, and then a floating platform with spikes, but it's a really solid, great looking platformer.
CherryNukaCola
25. Apr 2012 · 07:50 UTC
Lovely graphics, nice mechanic with the shrinking and flinging. The platforming did feel a little off - I really like what Scott Rogers has to say about making great feeling platformers: http://mrbossdesign.blogspot.com.au/2008/10/platformer-primer.html . Cheers!
GreyShock
25. Apr 2012 · 10:55 UTC
Nice design and graphics :3 About the gameplay, i got killed a lot and I don't get the difference between firing and punching :O Great job anyway :)
Daniel
25. Apr 2012 · 14:36 UTC
Nice idea and the mood is very cute.
davidllanos22
26. Apr 2012 · 03:32 UTC
Quite difficult! Nice graphics and story! ;)
KevinWorkman
26. Apr 2012 · 03:53 UTC
Very pretty game, interesting mechanic with shrinking things to solve puzzles. Could easily by made into a more full game. Well done.
robcozzens
26. Apr 2012 · 04:28 UTC
Looks fantastic! The controls didn't feel as good as the game looked though.
moonmagic
26. Apr 2012 · 04:41 UTC
The art in this game is gorgeous, and the sound felt mostly appropriate (the blip when shooting is slightly jarring; a more melodious shot would have felt better to me). I understand that movement was probably limited to emphasize the smallness of the protagonist, but I wanted to explore the weird shapes in this world, and I was frustrated at the rate of my progress. Moving felt slippery.

I also realize the text is probably placeholder, but I definitely think less is more, here. The art and music are so compelling, the less exposition in the game, the less likely it is that the mood will be disrupted.
edbadiux
26. Apr 2012 · 04:52 UTC
I REALLY liked the direction and art style of this game. Really good looking =).
neocrey
26. Apr 2012 · 05:45 UTC
Very nice graphics and mood of the game. Gameplay is addictive and simple. Nice ^_^
matthias_zarzecki
26. Apr 2012 · 05:52 UTC
Beautiful graphics. Gameplay could be a bit punchier, though.
liger13
26. Apr 2012 · 09:05 UTC
Really good entry. It's amazing how you got all the sound and looks and gameplay working really well together in such a short amount of time. It's a bit hard, but the continues made it a lot more enjoyable.
marudziik
26. Apr 2012 · 09:27 UTC
Looks really nice, feels very consistent, but is hard as hell - to the point where it's being almost unfair. Almost, because I can continue as many times as I want, which is good. I was able to finish it, but it was a little frustrating (not realising I could shoot the spikes was also the issue here). Kinda short.
RandomOutput
26. Apr 2012 · 15:07 UTC
As everyone else has said, the art is beautiful! Agree that the timing bits, where I'm shooting and dodging are difficult. I think its primarily the repetition within a single challenge. If perhaps it took fewer shots to shrink an object it would alleviate some of the frustration. Great work though, its beautiful and I much enjoyed playing.
01101101
26. Apr 2012 · 19:32 UTC
I really like the art, so fresh and neat! :) Nice job, congrats to you two!
Rabbits...
27. Apr 2012 · 05:24 UTC
definitely a strange game...I like it though
TenTonToon
27. Apr 2012 · 06:32 UTC
Beautiful and moody, with a great sense of style.
The game parts, though, are a bit lacking. The controls are a bit unresponsive, and the rhythm of the action is a little bit strange. It is also quite unforgiving - maybe you should ease the player's introduction to the core mechanics.
BlackDogg
27. Apr 2012 · 20:33 UTC
I'm not going to be really original with my comments, I like the art (but a bit more in the introduction, it seems different, I don't know if it's real or just me) but the controls made the game harder the it should be.
Kendja
28. Apr 2012 · 07:16 UTC
The art style is amazing. But the game is quite hard. May be it's controls or something.
jeffz
29. Apr 2012 · 04:31 UTC
The music sounded generative, like one of those cell based music making programs, I think it worked. The artwork was lovely but the gameplay felt a little empty, would have benefited from some sound effects. 5/5 for graphics.
Andrew
30. Apr 2012 · 23:45 UTC
Great visuals and interesting mechanic, but unfortunately the sound got annoying really fast.
Niavlys
01. May 2012 · 20:40 UTC
Really hard to play, it was difficult for me to get into the game. Beautiful graphics and music, but not enough fun.
gregdevice
03. May 2012 · 05:23 UTC
The art was fantastic! It made the whole thing work for me.
Birchmountain
03. May 2012 · 07:14 UTC
Cool gameplay, a little hard to use the "growing stuff" to jump higher sometimes. But what really made the experience great was the art. Well done!
deejorg
04. May 2012 · 03:31 UTC
Graphics are gorgeous and the story/ introduction really gets me excited to play but the gameplay seems a little slow and hard. The checkpoints happening often was a good balance with the difficulty. Nevertheless i really liked it!
ragnister
04. May 2012 · 16:36 UTC
Everything's fine, but the gameplay could be better!
MadGnomeGamer
07. May 2012 · 21:28 UTC
What the...I forgot to rate this one, even after putting it on my favourite games list! Lol. I'll fix that now. Great art btw.
ratking
07. May 2012 · 22:00 UTC
The graphics are just awesome!!! Impressive overall look.
The controls worked a bit hard, because in german keyboards the Z is were your Y is :/