LudumData

EscApe by marudziik

[raw]
made by marudziik for LD21 (-)
Esc Ape is a game where you need to help your fellow monkeys escape, using a primitive flying machine. Avoid crashing into obstacles and eeevil birds (they eat monkeys, really!). Try not to drop monkeys too far from the ground. Watch your energy, carried monkeys' energies and the timer!
And remember: slower is better.

Controls:
arrows - movement (adjusts acceleration)
Z - catch a nearby monkey
X - release one caught monkey

Not many levels, because I have no more time. You can build more using Ogmo Editor (see source). Coded in FlashPunk.

This was my first LD, yo!

----
code - FlashPunk
graphics - GraphicsGale/ Paint .NET
audio - bfxr/ Audacity
levels - Ogmo Editor

See my journal for a post mortem and many more!

Game promo video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLype7kWoGM
----

Web http://dl.dropbox.com/u/38899557/index.html
Windows http://dl.dropbox.com/u/38899557/EscApe.zip
Linux http://dl.dropbox.com/u/38899557/EscApe.swf
Timelapse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdJtfPLA9kc
Source http://dl.dropbox.com/u/38899557/EscApe_src.zip
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/?action=preview&uid=5431

Ratings

Coolness 45% 3
Overall 3.38 88
Audio 2.68 153
Community 3.96 11
Fun 3.30 74
Graphics 3.41 102
Humor 3.11 49
Innovation 3.34 120
Theme 3.32 145

Feedback

Danik
22. Aug 2011 路 22:57 UTC
Looks quite polished. I like the flying monkey animation and the lemmings reference with the exit.
The controls felt a little wonky, too bouncy and slippery. Still very nice and complete feeling game.
Klare
23. Aug 2011 路 00:28 UTC
No ending? :( I get to a point where it's the same level over and over again. Still, it was fun! I wish the monkeys wouldn't die from falling when I drop them over the hut. Other than that, solid game :p
馃帳 marudziik
23. Aug 2011 路 00:45 UTC
Thanks for the feedback!

@Danik
Mechanics-wise (controls, and the idea in general) I tried to emulate a game I used to play a lot when I was a kid - "Ugh!" - but I didn't have more time to spend on balancing. Controls take some getting used to, but game should be totally beatable... (see below)

@Klare
...but, unfortunately, I didn't have time nor strength to add a proper ending, so the last (10th) level loops. :) Wanted to add more levels first. But it's really nice to see someone got that far! Congrats!
mes
23. Aug 2011 路 08:33 UTC
best monkey flying machine ever
localcoder
23. Aug 2011 路 11:38 UTC
The monkey-copter is hilarious. The death animation is also spectacular - it reminds me of the death sequences in Doom.

For someone who "cannot draw" you've made some very entertaining sprites :)
kato9
23. Aug 2011 路 14:19 UTC
Very solid game. The controls felt a little wonky to me too, but I still enjoyed it overall. nice job.
johnfn
24. Aug 2011 路 05:26 UTC
Nice polished little game. Really nice graphics. My only problem was that the controls were so slidey that it ended up being kind of frustrating. Still, nice work.
馃帳 marudziik
24. Aug 2011 路 10:15 UTC
Again, thank you all for playing and for your comments!
Here's a full playthrough video if you want to see all the levels, but have problems with beating the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCgw09ZlRhY
:)
ointment
25. Aug 2011 路 09:31 UTC
Lovely, getting an arcade/Lemmings vibe from this. Quite challenging too, but not unfair.

And congratulations on your bronze coolness medal.
matthias_zarzecki
25. Aug 2011 路 09:35 UTC
Nice idea. The Flying-controls are also quite fun.
Rudy
25. Aug 2011 路 09:38 UTC
Nice game, cute graphics! The controls are too bouncy and it gets hard quick. Navigating 3 block spaces gets frustrating, didn't have the patience to finish.
AndyBrown
25. Aug 2011 路 10:14 UTC
Fun game! I agree that the controls felt too sensitive to me too, but I got used to it after a little while. Nice gameplay mechanics and physics though, I could see this being a very successful game with some more polish.
d_m
25. Aug 2011 路 15:04 UTC
Good job! The graphics and animation are nice, and the story is fun. Honestly, I find the game really hard to play due to the bouncy controls. Also, it took me awhile to figure out that 0 energy killed me (in addition to 0 health), especially since I often run out of energy bouncing around. But very well done, especially for your first LD game!
jwfrosty
25. Aug 2011 路 18:35 UTC
Really impressive - especially considering it's your first graphical game, first time with AS3 and flashpunk, and first time with Ogmo! Great stuff! I'd agree with others tha tthe controls are a little twitchy - makes it very hard to get around the level without knocking your health down, but otherwise it's great :) I recognised the big Ugh! influence! I used to love that game.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/amiga/ugh/screenshots/gameShotId,74128/
Winterblood
25. Aug 2011 路 23:50 UTC
Controls definitely oversensitive, it would have still been challenging with more forgiving maneuverability. That said, it's a great and pretty well-balanced game that I really enjoyed. Good work!
Shigor
26. Aug 2011 路 02:12 UTC
Normally I'd say "nah, just a clone of Ugh", but after playing several dozens of often very generic platformers I applaud :) Apart from more levels (but the number you have is IMO more then acceptable for the 48 hours) and some more audio I think it just needs a TINY tweaking in controls - flying monkey is probably drunk monkey dipped in some grease (although how the grease would work in the air is beyond me).
Very good entry.
馃帳 marudziik
26. Aug 2011 路 08:10 UTC
A drunk flying monkey? Man, I wish I had thought about that earlier! :D
Btw. There are drag mechanics in the game, it's just that the drag coefficient is too small and this isn't visible. My bad!

And again, thank you all very much for the feedback!
Sos
26. Aug 2011 路 16:25 UTC
It reminds me of an old DOS game called Ughh! Good job!
siebharinn
27. Aug 2011 路 21:52 UTC
Interesting idea. Failure audio, which I heard a lot of, was painful. Nice entry!
Jerm
28. Aug 2011 路 01:36 UTC
Fun game, but I couldn't get past level 6. Also, it took me a while to figure out why my energy was going down.
dogbomb
28. Aug 2011 路 17:11 UTC
Neat first entry - some good work for 48 hours. I wasn't too keen on the fog effect at first, but it works in hindsight. More games should have monkeys in makeshift bamboo helicopters!
wonderwhy-er
29. Aug 2011 路 10:30 UTC
Can't say that it is very fun or innovative but pretty good game for 48 hours, both graphics, levels, sounds, all feels finished :) Good job :)
Mjiig
30. Aug 2011 路 18:58 UTC
Quite a fun game, but it froze on me part way through...
tcstyle
31. Aug 2011 路 19:43 UTC
Very oldschool gaming experience, which is great. But the controls are quite tricky.
kirbytails7
02. Sep 2011 路 03:03 UTC
=D I love the monkeys disintegrating when they run out of HP (I mean that in a good way...). Very nice!
Chaoslab
04. Sep 2011 路 21:29 UTC
I enjoyed it. Nicework. :-)