Monstershift by redwizard
You take control of a hero that must change format to be able to walk through different types of ground.
Avoid the spikes and collect gems to increase your score.
Thanks for playing and feel free to comment.
Watch your step!
Avoid the spikes and collect gems to increase your score.
Thanks for playing and feel free to comment.
Watch your step!
| Web | http://monstershift.herokuapp.com/ |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-35/?action=preview&uid=91781 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 60% | 3 |
| Overall(Jam) | 3.05 | 711 |
| Fun(Jam) | 2.83 | 768 |
| Innovation(Jam) | 2.19 | 1068 |
| Mood(Jam) | 3.07 | 571 |
| Theme(Jam) | 3.05 | 748 |
(and if we hold left key and up kay, we just jump vertically (and not to the left) this is a little annoying...)
Thank you very much you all.
Nothing wrong with it except it lacks content.
The graphics are Kenney's, the music is MacLeod's. You handled the level design, and possibly the game physics/input handling and the swapping mechanic.
I don't build platformers, I'm really not sure exactly how to make a character controller that feels comfortable and fluid. I know it's difficult to do so. But what you have here is just unpleasant to use. I've seen worse, to be sure, but this physics setup doesn't make for a solid platformer. I'd love to explain how to improve it but I don't really work in platformers and there's better people out there who have guides and tutorials up.
Level design - wise:
The very first segment of the first level is solid. It teaches the player how to move and jump, and it shows off the mechanic of jumping on red things only being available to the red character. The player tries to jump for a platform and misses, then jumps with the red character and makes it.
But in the second level, things start to get messy. Yes, there are arrows but they're pointing in all sorts of different directions, contradicting each other. The other guide the player could reasonably follow is the coins, but those lead straight into spikes. The end result is that I don't know where to go or what to do in that level, and when I try to do what's suggested I'm punished.
Continuing on, checkpoints. Platformers have had them since platformers existed. And not without reason. Walking into the side of a spike and being put back to the main menu is gutting and unpleasant. Mark down which level the player's in and drop them in at the start of that, rather than at the start of the game. Ideally just set their position to the level's start.
Please don't take this the wrong way, I realize you're not terribly experienced and I'm not trying to put you down. Keep on trying, you'll get better with practice.
I will work hard to improve my game and I intend to keep trying the next JAMS.
Hugs
Liked the art design a lot and the general idea was ok!.
I would speed up the movement a little bit.
I really liked this game. It seems very polished, and the mechanic is both fun and simple to pick up on. Some tutorial text might have helped me realize that you fall through the red colored ground if you're not the red guy, but I learned that out pretty quickly.
One of the thing I didn't like was how floaty the jumping is. I think it's an easy hole to dig yourself into when designing a platformer, and I know I'm guilty of it as well. The jumping should feel quick, fast, and you should return to the ground quickly. Bonus points if you can control the height of your jump by holding the key down longer (like Mario).
I feel like the main progression was start as blue guy -> find red switch to turn to red guy -> find key -> exit the level. It would be a lot cooler if you had to transform back into the blue guy for some reason!
The game is very, very short. I really do wish there were more levels. But for the scope of the Jam, I think the two levels you did release were designed well enough to show of the mechanics you implemented, so this is more of a personal request than anything.
I really disliked having to go back to the main menu each time I died. It would be cool if the level just restarted. Also, the music probably shouldn't restart each time you restart. Also, sound effects would have gone a long way to improve the experience, for events such as Jump, Die, Land, Transform, ect. Try using http://www.bfxr.com/ to make some quick and dirty sounds to implement and you should be able to see (and hear) what I mean.
Overall, a solid entry with some noted problems. With some improvement and expansion, I could see this game becoming very awesome. Well done!
I'll do my best to remember that next projects.
Hugs.