Zero Gravity Escape by wonderwhy-er
Hi there. Far from my first LD but things did not go so smoothly. Had some other things to do these two days but still managed to sit some 20 hours behind computer.
Sadly only something like 10 were productive.
So, theme was too broad for my taste so I just started working on something I wanted to try for a while, to make a 2D Toribash like ragdoll toy. And I did. Had bunch of ideas how to make it in to an escape game afterwards. In the end went with zero gravity escape as with gravity its probably even more complex to control it then in Toribash lol :D
Used Flash and Box2D . No time and motivation left to do graphics and sounds so pure code only ;/ But it has its own charm, will work more on graphics later :)
So it was my worst LD ever ;( Firstly got stuck with some angle calculations(well usual stuff) but then...
- Then my mouse broke ;(
- Then second mouse broke in same way which made me wonder if it is my notebook?!?!
- So I was finishing it in frustration with broken mouse and a touch pad. Considering that mouse is main input method here it was horrible.
- So those 10 hours of trying to figure out what happened with mouse and trying to achieve at least something with touchpad were hours reserved for sounds, graphics and normal level went in to ;/
- Anyways it seems it is biggest LudumDare yet, so I was stuck trying to upload at 4Am until my own internet went down completely 0_o, just to add to problems and frustrations. So its actually good that submission was extended 12 hours because of site problems :)
So, some strong speech and frustration for me here, but ah well, at least played with things I wanted :D Hope when frustration will goes away will experiment with this more. It should be a fun template for various types of games.
Update:
Added a video to YouTube with me passing this game http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvdpZ4PiAO0 hope it will help people who never played Toribash to figure some things out, few advices:
- Use space to pause the game and issue many commands at once
- Remember about center of mass when you try to push
- Relaxed parts absorb shocks, stiff ones bounce, so its a good idea to be relaxed when you don't want to bounce, or stiff all parts when you want to push with maximal force
- And it is space, if you are flying in right direction just relax and wait, no need to go crazy and ruin your right direction :)
Sadly only something like 10 were productive.
So, theme was too broad for my taste so I just started working on something I wanted to try for a while, to make a 2D Toribash like ragdoll toy. And I did. Had bunch of ideas how to make it in to an escape game afterwards. In the end went with zero gravity escape as with gravity its probably even more complex to control it then in Toribash lol :D
Used Flash and Box2D . No time and motivation left to do graphics and sounds so pure code only ;/ But it has its own charm, will work more on graphics later :)
So it was my worst LD ever ;( Firstly got stuck with some angle calculations(well usual stuff) but then...
- Then my mouse broke ;(
- Then second mouse broke in same way which made me wonder if it is my notebook?!?!
- So I was finishing it in frustration with broken mouse and a touch pad. Considering that mouse is main input method here it was horrible.
- So those 10 hours of trying to figure out what happened with mouse and trying to achieve at least something with touchpad were hours reserved for sounds, graphics and normal level went in to ;/
- Anyways it seems it is biggest LudumDare yet, so I was stuck trying to upload at 4Am until my own internet went down completely 0_o, just to add to problems and frustrations. So its actually good that submission was extended 12 hours because of site problems :)
So, some strong speech and frustration for me here, but ah well, at least played with things I wanted :D Hope when frustration will goes away will experiment with this more. It should be a fun template for various types of games.
Update:
Added a video to YouTube with me passing this game http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvdpZ4PiAO0 hope it will help people who never played Toribash to figure some things out, few advices:
- Use space to pause the game and issue many commands at once
- Remember about center of mass when you try to push
- Relaxed parts absorb shocks, stiff ones bounce, so its a good idea to be relaxed when you don't want to bounce, or stiff all parts when you want to push with maximal force
- And it is space, if you are flying in right direction just relax and wait, no need to go crazy and ruin your right direction :)
Ratings
| Coolness | 5% | 115 |
| Overall | 2.53 | 364 |
| Audio | 1.00 | 371 |
| Community | 2.33 | 273 |
| Fun | 2.16 | 378 |
| Graphics | 1.89 | 420 |
| Humor | 2.00 | 205 |
| Innovation | 3.70 | 50 |
| Theme | 2.47 | 365 |
Feedback
poohshoes
22. Aug 2011 · 18:53 UTC
Harder than QWOP, Extremely hard to control they guy, I kept accidentally starting a drag box instead of clicking on the joint.
dev_zero
22. Aug 2011 · 19:43 UTC
I couldn't figure out how to make any progress in this game world because the controls felt, to me, very chaotic. Maybe I just failed, but the learning curve seems pretty vertical.
ZirconCode
23. Aug 2011 · 08:04 UTC
I enjoyed the idea and I thought it was quite original. I found it extremely hard to use the controls as intended however, it almost always tried to drag a box, even when just clicking.
Andrew
23. Aug 2011 · 10:46 UTC
I kept getting stuck in the air without touching anything to help propel myself with. Interesting concept but the learning curve is a bit of a cliff. Could be solved with some easier tutorial levels.
AndyBrown
23. Aug 2011 · 21:15 UTC
Very interesting concept, I had fun doing flying kicks at boxes, but I didn't manage to beat the level. I think it has a lot of potential though! Very nice ragdoll physics =)
Shigor
25. Aug 2011 · 23:48 UTC
Extremely hard (and the dragbox if you don't click exactly on the joint is annoying), but it's one of the most innovative entries - too bad you hadn't time to polish it up :)
Tulrath
30. Aug 2011 · 01:53 UTC
Very original! I was able to get around 1 corner, but it really took a lot of work - very steep learning curve. Fewer joints to control and keyboard shortcuts for different joints would have really enhanced gameplay I think.
Sanguine
30. Aug 2011 · 07:30 UTC
Wow, that was really hard. There should probably be a less steep learning curve and then it could be really fun
Rudy
31. Aug 2011 · 20:35 UTC
Interesting tech-demo, but not really a game, as it lacks significant gameplay. Didn't make much progress I'm afraid with such difficulty for a 48h game. Controls should certainly be made easier. Realistic join system is fun as a concept, but not really fun to control. After all, we walk without thinking about every muscle :)