The Oarsman by SefrZ

[raw]
made by SefrZ for LD 44 (COMPO)

cover_image.png

Play as the oarsman as you traverse the world and use your very life to save souls in this three level platformer made in 48 hours for the Compo.

Collect coins to restore health, use health to interact with objects and save souls. Jump dash around the world to find paths as well as avoid traps and obstacles.

Controls:

A or left arrow - move left

D or right arrow - move right

WASD or arrow keys - dash direction

Space - Jump

Shift - Dash

E - Interact!

Ratings

Given 45🗳️ 44🗨️

Feedback

BoltKey
29. Apr 2019 · 02:22 UTC
I got stuck in the second level. I didn't get any upgrades and couldn't get to any higher places.

Also, alt-tabbing made my computer go nuts.
🎤 SefrZ
29. Apr 2019 · 18:15 UTC
@boltkey Were you using the dash as well as the jump? In my testing, I could get everywhere and then some. Not sure about the alt-tabbing, but you can play in windowed mode via the options. That should help. Thanks for playing!
ldjsq
29. Apr 2019 · 18:59 UTC
Nice game! I like the spooky mood
MrSchlag2
29. Apr 2019 · 19:17 UTC
Nice game ! Wanted to go further but i got stuck, may be a bug with interaction... Cool effect and mood, the ghost effect could have been more transparent to win scene readability. Thanks for this game :)
🎤 SefrZ
29. Apr 2019 · 19:33 UTC
@ldjsq Thank you <3
🎤 SefrZ
29. Apr 2019 · 19:35 UTC
@mrschlag2 Just from knowing how the game works, I can guess that you couldn't pick up a soul because doing so would have killed you. You have to collect coins or preserve health to do that and finish the level. Thank you so much for the feedback and playing!
NoobException
29. Apr 2019 · 19:58 UTC
Love that!

Interesting mechanics, especially dash-jumping, it took me a while to understand how to use :smile:
But why is he dashing in the opposite direction? That's probably a bug...

Pleasant, spooky mood. Besides weird dash, responive controls. Nice graphics.

Good job!
Nyri0
29. Apr 2019 · 20:02 UTC
Really nice mood and visual style. And thanks for the Linux release, it works well.

It's unfortunate that there's no gamepad support for a platform game, I'm really bad with the keyboard.
TractorFarm
29. Apr 2019 · 20:28 UTC
The art is quite good, and the vfx are well done.
FanManPro
29. Apr 2019 · 20:32 UTC
Couldn't get past the first level. I think it was because I couldn't interact with whatever was behind the force field after I unlocked it. I also went to the secret spot under the boat and I purchased something but nothing changed. Last thing was that it seemed the sprites were doing some z-fighting.
Other than those minor bugs, it's a solid platformer and I'd like to see it all tidied up into a playable game. :smile:
FanManPro
29. Apr 2019 · 20:33 UTC
(deleted)
🎤 SefrZ
29. Apr 2019 · 21:06 UTC
@noobexception Dashing in the opposite direction when you're standing still is a bit of code left in from the original idea. It's meant to be a back dash, so intentional but not intentional.

@nyri0 Gamepad is something that completely skipped my mind during the crunch time. It's definitely something I'll put into the game when I do more with it.

@fanmanpro Because you use your life to interact with things or save souls, if you only had one hit point left, that's why you couldn't. I probably could have explained that better. But if you have two hearts, you can do it. As for the upgrade, the name is above the upgrade lamp. I need to put something to indicate what you chose more than just the effect of it, but I ran out of time ><

@tractorfarm and everyone else mentioned here, thank you so much!
ViNMH
30. Apr 2019 · 00:15 UTC
Very nice graphics, also really loved the music, its very good.
WubbaDuck
30. Apr 2019 · 00:52 UTC
I enjoyed The Oarsman. This seems like its a great start to a nice little platform game. A few comments though:

- It wasn't clear that you could dash jump. So I got stuck in the water a few times and didn't figure it out until the second level.
- On the second level I got stuck inside one of the disappearing platforms for a few seconds because I was jumping through it when it became solid. (Bug or feature? You decide :wink:)
- Did you use a capsule collider for the character? Or some other collider with a rounded bottom? I found that the jumping was plenty accurate but when I landed, half the time I would slide off if I was too close to the edge of the platform.
- The dashing seemed a bit unpredictable. Sometimes it would dash exactly where I wanted to and other times I would end up dashing in the wrong direction or not dashing at all.

All in all a neat, fun game! :thumbsup:
🎤 SefrZ
30. Apr 2019 · 01:39 UTC
@vinmh Thank you! Glad you liked it!

@wubbaduck If I had had more time, I would have put in a tutorial or controls to show what you could do with that. I'll remember to be more clear the next time I make one of these. The platforms thing is definitely a bug, but one I know about but didn't have time to fix and that wasn't completely game breaking. You can get yourself out by dashing up though! I did use a capsule collider for the character, mostly because I didn't want the character hanging out in the air if they were on the edge. And the backward dash is from an earlier build that didn't get fixed. If you stand still it's supposed to have been a back dash to avoid traps. As for not dashing, there's a cooldown you can reduce to dash. Thank you so much for the feedback and for playing! Glad you enjoyed it!
c0d3d
30. Apr 2019 · 02:20 UTC
Interesting spooky game. I really liked the graphics, mood, mechanics, music and idea! It was fun to play overall
Nick Rafalski
30. Apr 2019 · 03:11 UTC
This was a fun little platformer. The aim-able dash combined with jump is something I don't think I've seen before. It really opens up the possibilities as far as how you can navigate the levels. I liked the art and the audio; they set the mood well. The level design is pretty good, but a little unintuitive at times. Definitely good enough for a game jam game. Nice job!
Pizzasgood
30. Apr 2019 · 03:28 UTC
This was Very Good. Music, graphics, gameplay; every damned thing. Full marks!
Cem Adiloglu
30. Apr 2019 · 09:51 UTC
nice idea. the graphics were nice at the beginning but started to hurt my eyes after a while :) still good job
🎤 SefrZ
30. Apr 2019 · 14:57 UTC
@c0d3d and @nick-rafalski Thank you very much!

@cem-adiloglu Thank you, but may I ask what exactly was hurting your eyes? I'm always trying to focus on accessibility, so having an idea of what that might be will help me make adjustments to future or even current projects.
BoxedMeatRevolution
30. Apr 2019 · 15:57 UTC
Pretty fun game. I managed to beat it, but I think I would have preferred if the controls were a little less slippery, since the platforming required a lot of precision. I liked how the levels all had many ways in which they could be approached, and how exploring the entire level often paid off with an easier route.

(Also, I very much did not like the trail effect and the water effect, as they made it much harder to understand what was going on.)
🎤 SefrZ
30. Apr 2019 · 16:39 UTC
@boxedmeatrevolution Thank you for the kind words! And noted on the trail and water effects. I'm always trying to find ways to improve quality of life or accessibility, so the feedback is greatly appreciated. I think what I'll end up doing when I work more on this is add options like turning the shadow trail off and lessening the water effects. I unfortunately ran out of time to put those in.
Coder Channel
30. Apr 2019 · 16:45 UTC
Good game! Good controls, good graphics, good audio. Good luck!
Drauthius
30. Apr 2019 · 16:51 UTC
Nice entry! Interesting concept, but I also had some problems with the controls.
Nayrahbbt
30. Apr 2019 · 16:55 UTC
How did you make this for the Compo?, like HOW, this is too good, my congratulations!
Bleyo
30. Apr 2019 · 18:24 UTC
Really nice menu and overall pretty fun game just one flow on the first level there's water on the right side once you fall in it there's no going back you have to restart the level.
🎤 SefrZ
30. Apr 2019 · 19:33 UTC
@coder-channel @drauthius @nayrahbbt @bleyo Thank you for the kind words. As for not being able to get out of the water on the right side (or the left side for that matter), you can combine jumping and dashing. Not only does it open up a lot of ways to play the game, but you can easily get out using that combination.
repine
30. Apr 2019 · 20:53 UTC
This is a fun game! The trail effect was super satisfying to me, same with how some of the sound effects matched the key of the background music.
castrolol
30. Apr 2019 · 23:00 UTC
A beauty game !!! graphics and music are awesome !!! great game dudee
Sondrian
01. May 2019 · 00:28 UTC
Dash also works for up, once I figured that out I figured out that the game is tough. Really well done. Everything felt cohesive and stylish. The character was a little too floaty for me though, by that I mean he was hard to control due to how fast he was and how much he would move per key stroke. Overall, one of the best I've played so far. Nice work!
🎤 SefrZ
01. May 2019 · 00:43 UTC
@repine and @castrolol Thank you so much for the kind words!

@sondrian Thank you for the feedback. Character movement is probably the hardest thing for me to get right, but lowering acceleration made it feel floaty to me. The settings I have there felt very tight for me, but I think that's a place where playtesting is really needed for games. Thank you for the kind words!
AkirAssasin
01. May 2019 · 02:45 UTC
Love the dashing mechanic, though it would be better if there's a cooldown meter somewhere near the player instead of at the corner of the screen!
Matu
01. May 2019 · 04:31 UTC
I like the artistic design, but it's a bit dark, some platforms were hard to see, but the game is very good, I like it
jyrkface
01. May 2019 · 04:33 UTC
Solid platforming controls, really nice early-2000s newgrounds aesthetic, loved how the audio matched the visual elements in that way. The dash jump was a little unpredictable but also felt, powerful? It was fun and has a rewarding "feel" to it
LiauJ
01. May 2019 · 05:12 UTC
I couldn't get past the 3rd level myself. Everything was extremely solid in this game, and the dashing was very satisfying. I enjoyed the controls, I thought they felt really good. The precise platforming felt like you were rewarded for being skillful, and no platforms ever felt like they were too far to see where to land.

This is a great entry, awesome work!
toasteater
01. May 2019 · 06:38 UTC
The pixel art and the music are both very nice! Had lots of fun playing it. I find the dash a bit hard to control because it's so powerful. I even have the feel (which may or may not be correct) that upward dashing gives more height than jumping. I'd prefer if there isn't a maximum health limit, so that you can't waste heals from the coins. But anyway, nice work!
ursagames
01. May 2019 · 06:58 UTC
Thank you for submitting your game to be played on my stream!

Once the stream is finished you can find the video here: https://www.twitch.tv/ursagames/videos
If you want to know when it was played you can find your game in the queue here: https://tinyurl.com/y5rdokvp
LillyByte
02. May 2019 · 19:55 UTC
The game was fun to watch you build, and it was fun to play; pretty difficult though as I did find myself getting stuck here and there! Otherwise, I liked the game. Kudos on the entry! :)