LudumData

Hamster, RUN! by theDoodleGuy

[raw]
made by theDoodleGuy for LD 38 (JAM)

Screen Shot 2017-04-25 at 03.21.47.png

When your small world is under threat from a dark force, all a little guy can do is RUN!

Hamster, RUN! is a very simple platform puzzler game. Try to get the little guy to safety before the Mad cat gets him. But be careful, too many falls can be fatal, so be sure to make time for a snack on the way.

Hamster, RUN!!! - Play (on itch.io).

Hamster, RUN!!! - Mac.

Hamster, RUN!!! - Win.

Enjoy :-)

Bugs - Sometimes player could walk off ladders - FIXED - Sometimes losing control of player after dying from falling - FIXED - Sometimes player dies after falling but still has health - FIXED - Player can fall out of cage sometimes on level 2 - FIXED

Fixes - Removed an obsolete function which conflicted with coroutine when falling. - Altered some variables on a fall in level two. - Added a simple condition so health bonus on treats collected during falls,only adds if player survives fall.

Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/hamster-run

Ratings

Overall 591th 3.03⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Fun 454th 3.031⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 567th 2.781⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Theme 208th 3.75⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 353th 3.625⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Humor 240th 3.032⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Mood 501th 3⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Given 42🗳️ 51🗨️

Feedback

Xelphyre
25. Apr 2017 · 03:05 UTC
Ran into some bugs (input stopped working after a few deaths and died from some falls that didn't kill other times) but great idea overall. Loved the puzzle element while under pressure.
🎤 theDoodleGuy
25. Apr 2017 · 09:43 UTC
Thank you very much @xelphyre for taking the time to feedback. This is my first game so this is really useful :-)
Khorm
01. May 2017 · 16:20 UTC
Fun little game that scored high on the graphics and humour for me, I kept falling outside the level on map2 for some reason, (when dropping from up top) and sometimes I got "That was a nasty fall" when only falling like 1-2 blocks. The gameplay itself is puzzely - you have a limited time to get all the food and crawl into the hamsterhole? Hard to describe - but quite fun and really cute graphics!
tweedle
02. May 2017 · 00:10 UTC
wow it's a hard knock hamster life! fun graphics, missing audio in my web player tho :cry: - also fell through the ground of the cage a couple times on level 2. nice little stategy idea, great use of the theme! congrats!
FireSlash
02. May 2017 · 05:07 UTC
It wasn't immediately clear what the exits were. I also wasted time trying to use wasd. Whoops!

On the second level I somehow managed to fall through the bottom of the cage, thus ending my run.
🎤 theDoodleGuy
02. May 2017 · 09:35 UTC
Thanks for the feedback @khorm, @tweedle and @fireslash.
I did a few more tweeks to the fall variable on level 2 so that should be fine now (no idea how I missed that one).
Also I think the dying with health bug was due to a missing condition, the hamster has to survive the fall in the first place to earn the hp bonus from a treat caught while falling. I was hoping to have more time to add some UI to help show this, so as it was part of my original plan I won't hack this out but simply fix the bug so it worked as intended.
Thanks again for playing and taking the time to feedback. :slight_smile:
TomBuston
02. May 2017 · 11:54 UTC
Nice little game ! There's an issue with the score who doesn't reset between each play I think ;)
Also, I really missed the option to replay a level, I grow tired of having to do the game from start when I failed.
The art is great, and god, this cat is really frightening.
Great work !
sachos345
02. May 2017 · 13:18 UTC
Mmmm im conflicted with this one, i think its fun but at the same time super frustrating having to retry the whole thing every time you die plus the restarting "animation" its pretty slow and you have to take away your hands from keyboard and use the mouse just to start the game it all adds up to making the game frustrating to play for me, also its not clear when is the cat starts to take away your health. Sound is missing in my browser. The graphics were amazing. Solid 3/5
Bunnery
02. May 2017 · 13:31 UTC
This is a lot of fun - but you have to be quick! Lovely graphics - very cool art style. I really enjoyed the challenge - I had to start over a LOT though :-) I think it's a great little game!
🎤 theDoodleGuy
02. May 2017 · 14:41 UTC
Thanks @tombuston, @sachos345 and @bunnery. more really helpful feedback.

Definitely should have just used a key input to start/restart, and I think enough people have mentioned it to warrant working on an unlockable level select screen.

Thanks again for playing :slight_smile:
Floata_1
02. May 2017 · 16:56 UTC
had trouble playing would not show anything but cat
jamesh-uk
02. May 2017 · 18:01 UTC
Really liked the artwork
🎤 theDoodleGuy
02. May 2017 · 18:06 UTC
@floata-1 that's very strange, was this the web player?
silkworm_sweatshop
02. May 2017 · 18:15 UTC
I think this is a game where an extra lives system could be argued for. That would make it less punishing while still keeping that sense of challenge and urgency you might lose if you could restart each level as many times as you want. Maybe picking up more food would grant you more extra lives too as a risk reward system. Anyway, nice little puzzely game. It's just a bit too punishing.
kasarun
02. May 2017 · 19:31 UTC
I finished at the 4th attempt. It was'nt clear for me that taking food allow you to survive higher fall.
I got a lot of stress playing this game haha good job !
🎤 theDoodleGuy
02. May 2017 · 20:35 UTC
Lol @kasarun, thanks for playing. I did actually created the assets to include visuals to highlight the health bonus/loss but ran out of time to implement 😟

Good idea @silkworm-sweatshop, something to consider. I was aiming to make the player sweat a bit by cutting the time as much as possible, the levels I managed to create were so simple, it was needed to challenge them. Thanks for playing 😊
aaranos
03. May 2017 · 01:42 UTC
I think the game starts with a short fuse for the timer. The levels should start a bit easy to teach the mechanics.

I liked the puzzle aspect of trying to get the food and balance health from falls. Some sound would of been nice to add to the mood and capture the player's focus.
Sun-Wukong
03. May 2017 · 13:40 UTC
Good artwork but I didn't quite understand why is it turn-based. Also I couldn't understand how much exactly time you have and if time is different on different levels.
Fiote
03. May 2017 · 16:43 UTC
Nice little game! I liked how actually going for ALL the food was not the correct approach on all levels (at least not for me lol). Missing sounds, but the idea was well execute. Good job!
HenryBell
03. May 2017 · 16:46 UTC
Input can feel a little clunky at times and I found it frustrating having the restart the game every time I died. Great job with the artwork and polish though!
fedoccio
03. May 2017 · 20:27 UTC
This little hamster is so cute and just "aww" o^_^o
the.jahn
03. May 2017 · 20:46 UTC
This game is adorable. Would benefit from a lives system so you don't have to restart from the beginning every time you die. There was a lot of trial and error required because of the timer (no time to think, really), lives are a good way to make that trial and error less taxing without killing the mood the timer imparts.

It was quite fun though. :)
HDTeaV
05. May 2017 · 17:12 UTC
Cute and simple. I just wish it had some audio. Also if it didn't start over after dying it would be better IMO. :hamster:
Jungle
10. May 2017 · 15:48 UTC
Nice little game!
hbocao
10. May 2017 · 16:03 UTC
Great entry! Simple and fun. I think not restarting from the beginning would be an improvement or some sort of lives. I missed some funky music to go along hhehe Keep rocking!
anim_ace
10. May 2017 · 21:09 UTC
Nice game. Actually pretty addicting until you beat the whole thing. It'd be cool if there was a level editor for this, imo. Great work!
OccultOne
12. May 2017 · 02:05 UTC
I played this on Livestream Today at the request of the Developer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zCqO_O0iIo

This was pretty well done, I had some issues with falling from very small heights and being annoyed that it took health off for such a small hop down. Also, the character stopped responding to input at the end. Otherwise very well put together and I had a lot of fun figuring out the puzzles.
Elemental Zeal Game Studios
12. May 2017 · 02:14 UTC
A nice idea, and the looming cat face really makes you want to rush. Good job!
paulhocker
12. May 2017 · 23:40 UTC
some interesting ideas make this a fun game - loved the presence of the cat
Headmade
13. May 2017 · 00:15 UTC
Your interpretation of the theme is brilliant, but I'm biased because I made a hamster game too ;)

A shame there were no sounds or music. That would have added a lot the the atmosphere and also would have made it much clearer that falling deals damage. I did not realize this at first, but with a fitting sound effect and maybe a graphical hint this would have been instantly clear. Other than that it was a well designed puzzle game. Had to retry a couple of times but made it in the end.

One bug I noticed was that my score was not reset after dying.
Vodzik
14. May 2017 · 10:29 UTC
A good idea! Limiting time transforms an easy puzzle into a difficult task.
Also graphics are good.

I think music would greatly improve mood. Mayby something like in Jaws :shark:
Yetikatt
17. May 2017 · 01:37 UTC
Nice entry! Really liked the graphical style and the puzzle mechanic was well implemented. That cat was very menacing in the background, top marks for mood there :D. Honestly if I was to suggest anything it would be the obvious of sound and animation on the hamster. Great job!
pcmaster
19. May 2017 · 06:49 UTC
Adorable graphics, working controls and gameplay, what else could one wish? :) I had to play it several times to get past the third level, very good job!
Jupiter_Hadley
30. May 2017 · 19:20 UTC
Lovely graphics! I included it in my Ludum Dare 38 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekiortcX84M