LudumData

Shapeshifter: The King of A Small World by Rixud

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

ShapeShifter.JPG

MY SECOND LUDUM DARE!!!!!

Description

  • Platformer
  • 4 Shapes - Everyone with a different mechanic
  • 5 Levels

Controls:

  • Move : WASD
  • Jump / Fly: Space
  • Shapeshift: MouseClick/Numbers (after Unlock Shapes)
  • Reset Level: R
  • Pause: Esc

Tips:

  • You need 3/3 Orbs to advance level !!!!
  • The Black Sphere is the "Next Level Teleport"
  • If you cant jump somewhere, try to move around. An UI Green Jump Text will appear when you can Jump! (This is for avoiding terrain exploits and go over mountains)

Known Bugs

  • WebGL Version: Sometimes it does not let it rotate completely on FULL SCREEN . Press [R] to Reset Level and should be solved

Link

Windows / WebGL : https://rixud.itch.io/shapeshifter-the-king-of-a-small-world

ShapeShifter04.JPG

ShapeShifter02.JPG

https://twitter.com/Rixud Follow me, and give me some advice / feedback

SPOILERS! ( DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU CANT PASS SOME LEVEL )

  • Level 1: First Orb is "hidden" at the right of the first platform of the level
  • Level 2: Second Orb is "hidden" at the bottom of the cliff on the right, this orb give you "Ant Power" to pass for small places.
  • Level 3: to go through wind you need "Beetle Power", Second Orb (gives you "Beetle Power"), this orb is on the left of the level, through a small corner.
  • Level 4: for the Third Orb, you can jump and change to "Bee" (pressing 4 or right click) to travel longer through air. to reach next level go through "vertical wind" with "Bee Power" and press Space Button to fly.
  • Level 5: jump and quick press 3 for go through "horizontal wind" on mid air. For the long jump (with Grasshopper+Bee) you need to shift to Beetle before the "Horizontal Wind".
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/shapeshifter-the-king-of-a-small-world

Ratings

Overall 692th 2.737⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Fun 608th 2.711⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 618th 2.658⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Theme 549th 3.079⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 715th 2.158⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Audio 488th 2.111⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Humor 559th 2.107⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Mood 710th 2.364⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Given 48🗳️ 57🗨️

Feedback

jorjordandan
24. Apr 2017 · 16:05 UTC
Itch.io said "We couldn't find your page". Is it published? Looks cool!
🎤 Rixud
24. Apr 2017 · 16:10 UTC
@jorjordandan thanks! i forgot check "Public"... Should work now
xxDOOMbox
26. Apr 2017 · 20:32 UTC
nice game. the shapeshifting is a great idea, and i liked the parkour-ish platformer element in the beginning, that was fun. i definitely think some of the parameters could have been tweaked to make it feel better. like movement speed and jump height or gravity, but this being ludum dare i understand that theres not really time for tweaking ha. also character animations would have been nice. i like the world you created. nice job.
Shantarr Dalrae
01. May 2017 · 04:49 UTC
I enjoyed that it was a 3d game, those feel rare in these short jams. The controls felt good after I got around to playing with them a little bit. I made it through the 2nd level before I had wished there was a little more to do besides level navigation. Oh! and I think when you get to 3/3 orbs, it would be a quality of life (QoL) improvement to have the readout shake or quiver when the maximum number of objects are obtained. (any interactivity would be good in my opinion) Overall I am walking away from this having enjoyed it, so, thank you for making it!
CoderDozer
01. May 2017 · 09:50 UTC
That was pretty cool, some model animation would really polish it off. I did encountered one bug (pardon the pun) with the wind phase as it threw my character off the world.

Nice work!
theslate
01. May 2017 · 15:30 UTC
Yay, sounds! Hiding the orb on the first level kind of breaks the flow of getting used to the controls. Many of the jumps are not very forgiving. (Playing on a laptop track pad compounds that for me.) Good job!
geeitsomelaldy
01. May 2017 · 16:36 UTC
Jumping doesn't seem to work every time, felt really awkward to control.
Rahtainka
01. May 2017 · 18:50 UTC
Jumping felt really awkward to control and I got stuck at the edge many times. That was really frustrating. The jump sound is annoing.

But I like the idea and the shapeshifting. Well done!
🎤 Rixud
01. May 2017 · 23:11 UTC
@shantarr-dalrae thanks for your comments! i am here to improve!
🎤 Rixud
01. May 2017 · 23:21 UTC
@coderdozer yeah i want to try some animations but i never do it in unity and didn't have time to learn, maybe for the Post Ludum Version!! Thanks for the comments! (ps: in which level you experimented the bug and with what insect?)

@theslate Yeah that first orb was a mistake, i can not hide something necessary for advance level so early in the game!...

@geeitsomelaldy the jump isn't available in the whole map avoiding people from get over the mountains and sploit the game, The UI activate a little green "Jump" Text when you can jump....

@rahtainka almost all platform are in a distance who isn't easy but if you jump in the right time you overpass for much the minimum.. one of the objectives was make a challenging game :smile:
SuperMsp10
02. May 2017 · 02:33 UTC
Yikes those bugs disturb me!--Not that it takes anything away from the game.
drtizzle
02. May 2017 · 06:51 UTC
Impressive that you've managed to create this much content in such a short time! Good idea, good execution, only the controls felt a little weird sometimes. Especially the jumping felt a bit off, it was hard to predict if I could make a jump, or if I would get stuck on the edge.

Well Done!
micahcowan
02. May 2017 · 08:13 UTC
Neat idea! The first bee level was a challenge. I beat it, but didn't take time to play much further. Congratulations on finishing a game in 72 hours!
🎤 Rixud
02. May 2017 · 21:52 UTC
@supermsp10 jajajajja

@drtizzle thanks! was only 5 levels but thanks! yeah i need to tweak the feeling of the controls!

@micahcowan jajajajajaja "The Long Jump" i like that level!!! you miss just one level, you get the bee at 4 of the 5 levels available! thanks for playing!
eevee
03. May 2017 · 07:02 UTC
I'm a sucker for transformation-based games! This is a bit rough, but it's definitely more than I could do in a weekend, and it conveys everything it needs to. The different forms feel very sensible. I love that the ant, the first one you get, doesn't even have any special abilities; it's just smaller. I suspect real-world grasshoppers jump a little higher than this, though. :)

I did get stuck on level 4; I figured I was supposed to switch to bee in midair, but I just can't seem to make the jump to the third orb.

In addition to other comments on the jumping, maybe turn gravity up a little? Feels very floaty.
radmccool
03. May 2017 · 07:16 UTC
Hey theres a bug (ha puns) in, I think, the 3rd level (where you get the beetle to get past the wind) If you get past the wind then go back into it as the grasshopper you get blown completely off the map.

Other than that I really enjoyed the level designs. Though they could use a bit more scenery more rocks and maybe flowers, stuff like that. But they still felt simple enough that i understood what to do without feeling pandered to
🎤 Rixud
03. May 2017 · 19:42 UTC
@eevee Thanks bro!, yeah Tweaking the controls /speed /gravity is a must to do!!!. Yeah on than jump you need to switch to bee mid air!!! if you keep pressing space you go down a little bit slower but just switching must do the work!

@radmccool yeah many people report that! is something i need to work on! more scenery was the last thing i did! no much time left jejeje !
davidthelazar
04. May 2017 · 02:28 UTC
This was a lot of fun. I liked the way the different abilities came together to solve the different puzzles.

There are some implementation issues: sometimes jumping was frustrating because it was easy to push jump too late and just fall down, and sometimes you get stuck on ledges. But otherwise the level design and general mechanics were pretty fun.

I'd enjoy seeing what this would look like with a bit more polish to it.
fueelin
04. May 2017 · 06:46 UTC
Cool game! Lots of good comments from other people that I agree with. Biggest thing for me was that the camera felt a little too sensitive. I liked it though, and felt compelled to play through most of it :)
Rolle
04. May 2017 · 16:59 UTC
Fun puzzle/platformer! Some music would add a nice ambiance feel to the game it think! And as other have said, the jumping is not too intuitive/doesn't always work as you would think. Well done!
gamechoy
04. May 2017 · 20:12 UTC
I would agree that music would be nice, and there are some minor things to fix. First is the jumping, it seems like you limited where the player is allowed to jump, which is fine, but the problem is that you can't change direction well when jumping, so it becomes frustrating trying to recover from a bad jump and falling all the way back to the bottom. I liked the idea of switching between the different bugs and the level design was good, just some minor platforming issues. Nice job!
🎤 Rixud
04. May 2017 · 21:21 UTC
@davidthelazar thanks! for your comments! polish the jump is a priority!

@fueelin yeah the camera sensitivity was a little high! but i need implement an "in game control" for adjust them because that is an personal preference parameter, for satisfy all!

@rolle i want music too! was my bad time management has to left it outside!

@gamechoy That is correct You can not jump everywhere! Was a saturday late decision, to avoid map sploits (fell out maps)
Smiling Cat Entertainment
05. May 2017 · 11:01 UTC
The powers given by the various bugs seemed well balanced against each other. With some more polish you could really have something here. Great job!
feltip
05. May 2017 · 14:38 UTC
Controls were really buggy on my machine. Like the idea though!
noddingTortoise
05. May 2017 · 15:32 UTC
Fun game, controls could do with some refining, along with general overall polish. I also found myself getting stuck on platform edges quite a bit, where you can't climb up or jump so you have to fall off and try again which can be frustrating, but otherwise well done.
mwcz
05. May 2017 · 16:01 UTC
I got such a big smile on my face when I first transformed into an ant to sneak under the rock. Later on I nearly wall-walked over top of the wind, but right at the end the wind caught me and blew me off the map! Maybe it was sweet revenge against me for trying to break the game. :) I'm really curious about how you built the levels. I had fun playing!
GrassWhopper
06. May 2017 · 03:51 UTC
nice game, {as you can see from my nick name here, i already have a thing for our main character :D }
the main character was so cool :) only if he had some animations, it would have been great.
the game is neat, i did how basic, and yet pretty orbs looked like.
the movement was smooth, but sadly the animations did not show it.
nice game, hope to see more of you.
Rongo Matane
06. May 2017 · 09:12 UTC
I couldn't get past level 2, i would have loved to see the shapeshifter mechanic. As a grasshopper, i really had a hard time where the fun that was building up after the first successes was turning to frustration.
This is what made it frustrating for me:
- the ground detection does not seem to work well near edges. It looks like i should be able to jump, but don't. I land somewhere below and have to start over
- this is especially severe in level 2 where i got trapped in this big hole, only option to restart - or did i miss a way out?
- i have no control over the jump. I think is is intentional, but what happens is that my jump could be slightly off and i fall down. Since falling down is a hard punishment that will cost time, this is a bit frustrating. Especially since the controls+visuals do not make it very easy to judge where to jump

The visuals are simple which is perfectly fine for a LD. The levels seemed nice and clearing parts of them was surprisingly fun.

It seems you made sooo much content, which of course is a good thing but also makes me wonder if less content and more polish would have opened the game to more people.

A nice entry in any case!
LarryChupacabra
06. May 2017 · 18:44 UTC
This seemed like a really solid concept for a broader game that explores the insect world. Using a variety of insect forms to accomplish different puzzles that a real insect might encounter would add a lot of depth to a game like this. Almost like a pseudo educational game about the life of bugs.

That said I would make it so that each bug had an active ability or effect you could see, rather than the Ant or the Beetle just making you heavy or small. Then maybe have some additional enemies that might want to eat you in any given form, but might not care all that much about an Ant running through a crack. Some Insects have a chosen prey item they prefer and that would add to the overall aesthetic.

Overall I though the concept was strong. The graphics are pretty basic and would need improvement drastically if you wanted to expand upon this game, but that's about all I had for feedback. Everything else like hinky movement controls and art is something that just needs polish and a bit more time to refine. So nice work!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfNotfty_Qc
🎤 Rixud
07. May 2017 · 03:34 UTC
@smiling-cat-entertainment thanks!

@feltip thank for the comment! i will polish them!

@noddingtortoise yes! i need to work on some mechanic for enable jumping on more space avoiding sploits but been more forgiveness!

@mwcz i'm glad you enjoy it! i made the levels with Terrains tools from Unity!

@grasswhopperyeah i want to made some animations for it, but is a weak spot on my unity knowledge, thanks a lot for playing and your comments, i will try to make a post-LD version with upgrades and some more levels!

@rongo-matane near edges the jump ability is deactivated, was my solution to avoid map sploits, I think you miss on the second level the orb that grants you the ANT ability, with which you are able to pass below the rocks! (that orb is there in that "big hole"). Thanks for your feedback! much appreciated! i will work on a polish version taking into consideration all the feedback!

@larrychupacabra first of all THANKS for that Play through of my humble game! i like a lot the "Educational Game" idea!, enemies was a mechanics I wanted to implement but the time did not get me the chance :worried:, without a doubt i will add some of them on a post LD version!! Graphics are the hard part for me to upgrade because my lack of modeling and animating knowledge but definitely i will try to! THANKS A LOT!
Somnium
07. May 2017 · 11:42 UTC
You have made a solid foundation for a puzzle-based platformer. The four different powers complement each other well. As has been mentioned by others, the experience suffered a bit due to the context-based jumping, and at times the camera went trough the world walls. But overall, I think it was an enjoyable puzzle platformer, with some interesting puzzles, which can be easily expanded with additional content. Nice work!

I was also affected by the "blown off the map" bug, which I actually found rather funny - the beetle must weigh a ton to be able to resist winds THAT powerful.

>Jump, squeeze, stomp, and glide,
>overcoming obstacles.
>Whoosh! Blown off the map.
wujood
07. May 2017 · 20:31 UTC
Nice work! Those switches between characters are pretty nice, but i have to say that the mechanics especially the jump mechanics are not the best. sometimes it is a bit frustrating to not be able to jump. Rest is fine and level design is good for a start ! :)
starspell
08. May 2017 · 03:15 UTC
An interesting concept for a game. The graphics and audio were a little basic but the idea of the world came through nicely. Reminded me of playing A Bug's Life on the Playstation.
🎤 Rixud
08. May 2017 · 03:32 UTC
@somnium thanks for playing! Camera collision is a must do for sure! i am glad you enjoy it!

@wujood Thanks! .. yeah i need to allow the player jump everywhere and put in place another mechanics for avoid jumping over the mountains! (or get to platforms jumping on the walls)

@starspell thanks! i need to improve the spunds and make some BG music! maybe get some experience in blender for better insects and animations!
Zorg
08. May 2017 · 09:52 UTC
I know that particle effect! Because i used that Unity standard effect in my game, too. :rofl: I think your game can be expanded on. Sometimes i was not able to jump or got stuck at ledges, but overall, i liked the game idea. I did not play it very long and don't have time for a longer comment, at the moment - but i'll play it again this evening and write a proper comment.
Zorg
09. May 2017 · 10:18 UTC
Sadly i got stuck in the game. I had all four forms unlocked but at one point in the next level i was not able to jump any longer. The groundcheck is the major problem, i guess. Which method do you use? OverlapSphere? Raycast(s), Raycasthit.normal? You could check the regular collision normals of the grasshopper and check if one of them is pointing nearly upwards, too. There are some possibilities. I would like to play a more polished version again.
slash_random
09. May 2017 · 12:58 UTC
A cute game. I got stuck in the same hole as @zorg at first, but then I luckily found out, how to use these elevator streams. I think it is hard to find out, that you can hold space as a bee and float upward these streams. I would suggest, that you try to teach this mechanic to the player by inserting a spot where you definitely need this right after you got the bee powerup. The easiest way would be, to put the bee powerup in a hole with one of these elevators, so the player cant escape any other way. I also think that the ground-check needs some bugfixing as others already mentioned. And one last point: It felt a little complicated to switch the forms with the numberkeys. Since my laptop doesn't have a numpad I had to use the left hand for both, movement and shapeshifting.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun to play and finish your game. The graphics where cute, the shapeshifting idea is nice. I really like your contribution!
pyokoanarogue
09. May 2017 · 16:27 UTC
cool platformer! could't find how to obtain the bee transformation. competent game, yet with a heavy heart I feel unmoved. maybe is the frustration talking. well jammed either way ( sincere thumbs up )
pyokoanarogue
09. May 2017 · 16:27 UTC
cool platformer! could't find how to obtain the bee transformation. competent game, yet with a heavy heart I feel unmoved. maybe is the frustration talking. well jammed either way ( sincere thumbs up )
🎤 Rixud
10. May 2017 · 01:11 UTC
@zorg Thanks for playing! The ground check is calculated with the character controller, but in addition to that I have some colliders in points i want allow the player to jump, because I discover that without this the player can jump over mountains or just get to platforms repeatedly jumping and wasn't challenging at all...

@slash-random Thanks! yes I realize that wasn't properly explained, I try putting a "SPOILERS!" text with some help on the game page, but i think nobody look at it after getting stuck, just quitting the game.. but was my fault jejejeje!

@pyokoanarogue thanks!, the bee is on the 4th level, actually exactly on the spot where the first screenshot was took jejeje...
Jupiter_Hadley
10. May 2017 · 14:21 UTC
Good start! 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=Mxyrl5Tjmjc
🎤 Rixud
10. May 2017 · 21:07 UTC
@jupiter-hadley Thanks for playing it!, a shame that you only pass the first level, the game get more interesting with more insects!!!
Zorg
11. May 2017 · 07:24 UTC
One additional comment: Some players (like me) use inverted mouse controls for 3D-cameras all the time. Your camera height variation is pretty limited, still i had some slight problems with it. In my game i used a simple integer variable (int invV = 1;). I'm constantly multiplying the vertical input with that variable. It is toggled if the player is pressing the [I] button on this keyboard, like this: if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.I)) invV = -invV; // invert vertical axis
Quetzakol
11. May 2017 · 09:48 UTC
Nice game, I liked the idea of being able to change shape. I had a bug in the beginning where my cursor would reach the screen limit and I could not turn the camera more, but it solved itself later. There are obviously some problems with the control and the collisions, sometimes I pressed space and it wouldn't jump, but it's almost inevitable in jam games I guess :p Good job overall :)
Tuomo
12. May 2017 · 18:41 UTC
Your game reminded me those 3d platformers I used play in 90’s. Few suggestions: terrain is mostly green, maybe use some color or model assets to guide player more. It can be subtle like in level 2(?) you see a tiny passage, and shortly after get the ant form to pass through. Jumping with the grasshopper was bit buggy and broke the game for me as wasn’t able to jump again after a failed jump attempt. Shapeshifting is an interesting mechanic.
🎤 Rixud
13. May 2017 · 17:00 UTC
@zorg thanks for that ! i didn't know that people use inverted camera that much outside vehicles! jajaja

@quetzakol Thank you! That Bug is listed in the page, it is a problem with the html version, if you press R and reset the level can solve it... the Jump "issue" is not a bug but was my bad judgment implementing the jump, it is bad explained when you can or can not jump...

@tuomo Thanks for playing it! i will work on that!