To bad no music or sounds that would give some more body to the game. I did laugh the first time i died and the (how i best can describe it) Angel with a lifting system brought me to the start

Cool! Very funny when you die, it reminds me of Mario!

I think it is a cool concept of a game, honestly, i think it would be a lot better if there were some sound effects when you die or get flown back. By the way, being flown back by the angel was funny and was a cool idea. Overall this was a fun game but could be a bit better if you keep on working on it. Good luck!

@everyone so far. Thanks. I have audio added into the game actually. But seems as if it's not running properly. I might fix that bug soon!

I like the thoughtfulness that went into the tutorial. It also runs in Linux, but unfortunately without audio.

Design-wise, there are no incentives for defeating enemies, since it takes power (if you shoot) for no reward. And the respawn is too long if you're far in the level! For easy, fast movement to a position, you can use the following trick (added on you main loop)

``` thing.x = target.x + (thing.x - target.x) * 0.9 ```

You can change 0.9 with 0.95, 0.8, 0.99, etc. The closer to 1 the slower the movement, but for all values it moves quite fast, no matter how far it is at the start.

Having said all that, the game you made is pretty impressive for 2 days time. It shows there was a lot of work made just to make the collisions work properly, enemies not moving into the walls, etc.

@Agecaf thanks for the feedback and the Tipp. I will work on that later today!

My greatest complaint is that this projects seems very similar to some tutorial projects I have seen on YouTube... nonetheless, the game is pretty fun (although I suggest you reduce the respawn time).

@Drachmor I am working on reduced respawning time. Also, I learned platformer development a few weeks ago with tutorials, so it can be that it looks similar, also I took a similar tile style for the Project!

Sprite of the character reminds me a little of McPixel, adjusting the rest of the tileset to fit that same art style, mainly removing the outline of the ground, would help making it all fit together better.

Audio loop, if a bit longer, would complement the pixel art nicely, the sound effects could be worked on though. A more explosive sound for the jump and an continuous sound for the jetpack are a good place to start.

Platforming wise try eliminating blind jumps where you can't see where you'll land and, as @agecaf mentioned, come up with some situations where killing the enemy would actually benefit the player. Like a tunnel where you could sneak by with some precise jumps, or decide to trade off some of that energy for easy passage...

@somethinboutgames thanks alot for that feedback!

I have realized that I'm really bad at writing these so I'm just going to make a list of pros and cons

Pros
•Nice idea (might be biased as it's really similar to mine)
•Nice graphics
•The controls were really easy to learn
•Great tutorial

Cons
•Too long respawn times
•The music is pretty short
•There's no real reason to kill the enemies

It's a pretty simple little platformer and the graphics are nice. My main criticism would be the very long respawn times and the level design. I also found a bug where in if you die underneath a platform you would be stuck forever. Solid attempt though, nice one!

@Boxfort thanks. Ill play your game tomorrow

Nice game! I liked the sounds, they were pretty funny. The music is a bit repetitive, I guess it would have been great if the loop was a bit longer. Also, as nearly everyone said, the respawn time is really long. And the level design is a bit hard to the player: I was on a platform and could'nt see any other platform (so I had to make a blind jump, which I ultimately failed XD)
Keep up the nice work! ;)

It controls well, but the long, long respawn times and repetitive music forced me to stop.

A bit buggy. Every time I used the jetpack I'd be unable to use it again or jump. Also, waiting to be carried back when you die is very tedious. Iron those out and it could become a decent game. Graphics were charming,

Hey, first off, it's amazing you managed to make something like this at 14. That is really impressive.

Like others have said, the respawn times are really long. The controls are nice and smooth though, but I wish the game was a little bit longer.

I found two small bugs in your game though!

The snail enemies: if you take a second or two in between shots they die in two hits. But if you tap F twice really fast they don't die and require a third shot to kill.

Also, I use D and E as my primary drives, and found the game did not run unless it was on my C drive.

Otherwise, really cool entry!

1. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long respawn time
2. Blind jumps (not good)
A recipe for disaster.
The player will die, without being able to do anything about it, and then have to wait for a long respawn (And will probably have to do this few times). NOT GOOD! Player will quit!
3. No reason at all to ever shoot, enemies are all dodgable
4. Really short level

The game is extremely frustrating, mainly because of reasons 1 and 2. But outside level design and questionable game design (like WHY DID YOU ADD THE RESPAWN TIME!?), and audio, the game is not that bad. Movement felt good,
the level graphics were quite good and it is a good interpretation of the theme. GJ, but learn from your mistakes.









AND I STILL WONDER WHY YOU ADDED THE RESPAWN TIME...

It's a solid platformer. Controls feel good. Suggestion might be that it might have been nice to have a few areas where you have to kill an enemy to jump safely, but that's a minor thing. Enjoyed it.

Thank you all for the Feedback.he b (I fixed the bug, that you could get stuck in a wall while respawning (you can now press 'R' if you are dead to respawn instantly))!

Kinda challenging in a good way and very fun! I really liked the music and sound effects!!

For a 14 year old, this is really impressive. At 14 I barely knew how to use Power Point. Art is cool, game runs smoothly. There are lots of tips in the comments already, so I won't repeat everything. This is obviously a game that is heavily inspired by many other games, but that's fine. People learn by mimicking, and once we've mastered that, we use our creativity to create something new. A baby's first word is spoken by imitating its parents, but eventually the baby learns new words and manages to construct own sentences and use them in new ways to express itself. Take good notes of everyone's comments and see if you can improve next Ludum Dare. Good job, and good luck :)

A great start to programming! Keep at it! Hoe you can continue improving and we see you next time :)

Great game! I Liked the graphics and the sound effects, but you can add some enemy that you need to shoot for continued, adding some levels. By the way the game is fine and enjoyable , really nice work!

Pretty fun ! However we can see the inspiration of a certain tutorial... ;)))
The game is too short and I think more battery power would be enjoyable !
Congrats for the work anyway :)

The game sometimes got a bit confused when using E + arrow up instead of W. Otherwise cute platformer, keep going.

@zenmumbler Thanks

Great work for your first game at 14. I won't repeat the excellent feedback on gameplay above, especially as platformers aren't my thing. I'll just add that I loved the wiggling arms as you fall! :smile:

Music is *almost* spot on. The low beat is **really** catchy, but the top notes need a little work. Try searching 'Best SNES Soundtracks' on youtube and listening to them for inspiration.

Can't wait to see what you make next year!

nice game

The controls and movement of the player are very good. Also liked that there is a tutorial. Just felt the volume was too low, I only found out the game had music when I saw the comments in here :p

Hope you keep making games and use the constructive comments in here to improve :)

This was fun to play! I really liked the tutorial (despite telling me nothing about the R key). One thing you could improve is changing the level design in a way the player has to use his abilities. I had to use my jetpack only once and never shot an enemy.

Cooles Spiel, ich hoffe du bist nächstes Mal wieder dabei! Falls du Lust hast die Menschheit zu vernichten würde ich mich freuen, wenn du unser Spiel auch ausprobierst. :)

Hello! A great entry. I liked the music (although the loop could have been longer or have a better transition). Controls were a little bit weird? Why not have WASD as controls, and space as shooting key? But that's a matter of taste I guess.

Theme was definitely met, however, I am not a real fan of the game mechanics to be honest. Firstly, the range of the attack is way too short. I died very often trying to kill enemies. Secondly, why even bother killing enemies? It just consumes energy and you do not really get any real benefit from it.

What I really liked though was the structured and solid tutorial, and the platforming itself was also fun! Maybe make enemies drop energy (or make killing enemies necessary), make the range of the attack longer, add better use for the jetpack, and then you could get a solid platformer!

Nice game, great for a compo entry. I really liked the idea of the tutorial, the jetpacks with the power and that you used java for the game - although I couldn't find the source code for it. Nice work, it's fun!

@everyone Thanks for your awesome feedback. The fact is by the rules I'm not allowed to add stuff like energy drops and such. Otherwise, I would have already added it!

I currently can't run this because I don't have a machine with Java ready, will do so ASAP.

Nice game and audio. Congrats!. That's my game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/asteroids

Hey there, I just wanted to make a suggestion because I do not have Java installed and I do not want to install it, that maybe for the next time you could choose a different technology that allows for easy deployment on Windows or maybe just an HTML version of the game. This way more people will be able to play your game.

Keep up the good work!

@gonutz I am actually working out a way from deploying my Java apps to the web so maybe next time it will work!

This is a very solid compo entry, good job! :) The tutorial was really well-done. Make sure to include usable controls for AZERTY keyboard users! :P Awesome that you even produced some music, and recorded sound effects! And the sprites even have some animations! :O I didn't find the level itself very interesting, and I found that ignoring enemies was the best strategy, since there is no reward for killing them. Also, maybe you should make the energy slowly recharge, so that people can't get stuck if they don't have energy for the jet pack, but can find no batteries.

I think you're very talented, and I'm looking forward to see which games you will produce in a few years! :)

EDIT: Wait, you can *stab* enemies? This was never explained in the tutorial, right? :D

@blinry You actually can't. I removed parts before I build because it caused bugs!

Nice job! This is an impressive package for a 48-hour entry! I was running on a mac and seemed to have a couple of bugs. I think if I'm pressing a key when I land the game gets locked somehow. Not sure if I'm diagnosing that properly or if that's just on my machine.

Anyway, cool graphics, smart mechanic and great job getting sound together too!

Cool little platformer!

The hover-mechanic worked well, the gun consumed a lot of energy though. If you make a post-LD version, I would suggest placing more battery-powerups in the level (and of course, expanding on your solid base with some additional levels). Perhaps running out of power should be a lose-condition as well, since you can otherwise get stuck.

I like the amount of polish you managed to implement, with animations, sound, music, and even a tutorial. The death-transition was very funny!

Impressive work!

And it is always interesting to see another Java-game! Although I could not find a link to the source-code anywhere?

>Soaring through the sky,
>the monsters far below me.
>Power gone! Falling!!

Fun little game :slight_smile: Killing enemies seemed useless though as they don't give any reward. Still, well done!

Neat game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 39 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKdZrHdMrvE