Rock-Paper-Scissors Man by Idorrac

[raw]
made by Idorrac for LD35 (COMPO)
Hello everybody! This is my first Ludum Dare submission! I had tons of fun working on it, and I hope you will like the result!


THE STORY SO FAR...

The cruel RED ALIENS have stolen all dumplings from planet Earth... But there is hope!!!

ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS MAN, the most fearless super hero ever known, is pursuing the nefarious aliens to bring all the precious dumplings back to Earth!!!

With his amazing SHAPESHIFTING power, he is capable of changing his body to overcome even the deadliest of enemies.



CONTROLS
The game supports both keyboard and gamepad control.

Keyboard:
W,A,S,D: move.
I: shapeshift to human form.
J: shapeshift to rock form.
K: shapeshift to paper form.
L: shapeshift to scissors form.
Arrows: navigate menus.
Enter: select menu entries.
Esc: pause game.

Gamepad:
Left stick: move.
Y: shapeshift to human form.
X: shapeshift to rock form.
A: shapeshift to paper form.
B: shapeshift to scissors form.
Left stick: navigate menus.
A: select menu entries.
Start: pause game.



HOW TO PLAY
Aliens come in four forms: rock, paper, scissors, and bombs.
When you collide with a rock, paper or scissors enemy, three scenarios may happen:
- If rock-paper-scissors man has the shape that beats the shape of the alien, the alien is destroyed.
- If the alien has the shape that beats the shape of rock-paper-scissors man, the poor super hero is destroyed.
- If both have the same shape, both suffer a tragic destiny.
Remember: rock beats scissors, scissors beat paper, paper beats rock!
Bombs are special in that both the bomb and rock-paper-scissors man will be destroyed in case of a collision.
Some enemies are equipped with guns and will fire at you. Bullets behave as bombs, in that they will always kill you no matter your shape.
When you destroy an enemy you get points, when an enemy destroys you, you lose a life. When lives run out the game is over!

Scattered through space you will find dumplings and powerups. You can grab them only if you are in HUMAN form, since, well, you need arms to grab stuff! There are three types of power ups:
- Dumplings: they give you points, normally more than killing enemies.
- Invincibility: if you grab this, you will be invulnerable and destroy anything you touch for a short period of time. You will still need to be human to grab powerups!
- Shield: the shield will save you from death once!
- Life: get a life!

There are 2 levels in the game, I wished I could have put more but I found out that designing interesting level took quite some time, so I didn't manage to do more.



OTHER INFORMATION
Tools used:
- Programming: Lua and Love2D.
- Graphics: Gimp.
- Sounds: BFXR.
- Music: Bosca Ceoil.

The game is available as a .love file, which you can use on any platform if you have the Love2d launcher installed. The .love file is a .zip archive containing all source code and assets used in the game. The source code (but not the assets) is also available on my bitbucket page (linked below under "source"). I also provide a windows executable.



I wish you a lot of fun with the game!

Ratings

Coolness 50% 3
Overall 3.42 281
Audio 3.36 172
Fun 3.29 357
Graphics 3.58 225
Humor 3.26 114
Innovation 2.96 554
Mood 2.90 490
Theme 3.80 179

Feedback

blinry
18. Apr 2016 · 18:03 UTC
Haha, awesome! :D I love this idea. Nice graphics and audio, too!
qu2
18. Apr 2016 · 18:17 UTC
This is a really nice entry, well done fellow first-timer :)
Boatfan
18. Apr 2016 · 21:30 UTC
Amazing, I love this game.
brise
18. Apr 2016 · 22:02 UTC
Great concept. Reminds me of Macross.
rossborchers
18. Apr 2016 · 22:13 UTC
II AMM A SUUPERHEROO!
As time progressed I found the game would keep on forcing me to adapt to new tactics in a pretty organic way, which was kinda awesome. I feel like the gameplay could be rethemed into something that makes the dynamics feel a bit more meaningful, though.
zenmumbler
19. Apr 2016 · 16:05 UTC
Hadn't even considered RPS morphing, but Alex Kidd had something like it I believe. Good effort.
RoboNebula
19. Apr 2016 · 16:17 UTC
Fun game and nice concept! I liked the graphics and audio, but some kind of HUD element to indicate what form corresponds to what keys could be nice.
Shatter Point Studios
19. Apr 2016 · 23:19 UTC
This was a really simple idea, but it was executed really well and I love it. The art's really nice, and the music was pretty catchy. Awesome work.
rjhelms
20. Apr 2016 · 02:28 UTC
Nice art, and a good take on the theme. Controller support is a good call with a game like this; the controls felt really good.

Just a heads up, you have "L" instead of "B" for the gamepad "switch to scissors" button in the description here - it's correct in-game, which is the important thing.
🎤 Idorrac
20. Apr 2016 · 08:46 UTC
Thanks for all the comments, people! I have updated the description to show the correct gamepad control mappings.
josefnpat
21. Apr 2016 · 07:22 UTC
Oh this was cute! very nice job! I like the use of shaders as well!
Freank
21. Apr 2016 · 16:43 UTC
Hi, nice game ! We're realizing a video with several games of the Ludum Dare #35.
Can you add your game on indiexpo.net ? (it's free)
So we can include also your game in the video ;)
p.s. write #LDJAM in the game's description
BloodJohn
22. Apr 2016 · 20:26 UTC
Nice graphics and audio
Alphish
22. Apr 2016 · 20:45 UTC
To be honest, two levels are way more than enough. That game seems to combine the challenge of quick shapes parsing (i.e. how to react to opponent's shape), memorisation (because the game goes so fast that it's easier to memorise the patterns than react to them on runtime) and endurance (unforgiving life system). The mix of those doesn't really end up well; I mean, I don't really feel like completing level 1 over and over again so that I could learn how to complete level 2 (and it's rather lengthy, too). Remember that, as a creator, you can easily figure out the level as you make it; players don't have that luxury, and learning the level will be more painful for them. That is, if they want to reach a reasonable score, because for large time you can just stick to the bottom of screen and stay relatively safe (and limited lives don't really encourage player to do otherwise), skipping some segments altogether...

Oh, also, twice in level 2, somewhere around the life power-up, I got killed when hit by a bullet, even though I had shield on. Needless to say, I didn't like the fact.

That aside, this entry is quite well-made in terms of audiovisuals, mechanics and enemies variety. It's mostly the challenge design (i.e. combining lives system with not-so-easy levels) I find troubling. I think that if you made gameplay a little slower, but use random enemies, that'd shift the challenge from memorisation to reaction, which I think suits that game better.
Tegu
24. Apr 2016 · 19:59 UTC
An interesting combination of a space shooter and rock paper scissAn interesting combination of a space shooter and rock paper scissors. Quite hard actually if you try to collect lots of points. Just progressing seems to be easier as usually (not all the time) there are places where you can stay safe, like the bottom or top of the screen. I like the pixel graphics. Some parts require pretty fast switching between the shapes, for example a powerup surrounded by enemies or two different enemy types right after another. Hit them at first when trying to switch in panic. At least the levels are not too short. However, as the score is carried over to the second level, highscoring the whole game gets very hard and tedious. I guess it could be better to have separate scores for the levels. Also losing all lives on the second level currently throws you right at the beginning at the first level, which is quite discouraging. Nevertheless, a good and finished game overall.ors. Quite hard actually if you try to collect lots of points. Just progressing seems to be easier as usually (not all the time) there are places where you can stay safe, like the bottom or top of the screen. I like the pixel graphics. Some parts require pretty fast switching between the shapes, for example a powerup surrounded by enemies or two different enemy types right after another. Hit them at first when trying to switch in panic. At least the levels are not too short. However, as the score is carried over to the second level, highscoring the whole game gets very hard and tedious. I guess it could be better to have separate scores for the levels. Also losing all lives on the second level currently throws you right at the beginning at the first level, which is quite discouraging. Nevertheless, a good and finished game overall.
methylenblub
06. May 2016 · 20:32 UTC
Amazing idea, i loved the graphics too!