LudumData

A Heightened Plight by AstroPenguin642

[raw]
made by AstroPenguin642 for LD 43 (JAM)

A Heightened Plight

A Heightened Plight is a strategy survival game where you must sacrifice various useful items in order to reach the ground safely. The weight of your hot air balloon is as important as food and water.

Screenshot.png

Features:

  • Twelve different items with unique uses, all of which can be released from the balloon to decrease weight.
  • Five lovable family members, including a dog! Which ones will survive?
  • Three different birds that interrupt gameplay in unique ways.

Items:

  • Food, water, and gum! Gum is nutritious, right?
  • A first aid kit and a fire extinguisher. Who knows when you might need them?
  • A trash can. Gotta organize it somehow.
  • A radio that gives you valuable information. Too bad it weighs a lot.
  • A telephone that allows you to call for reinforcements. There are some items that you don't start with.
  • There is a lot more to find! Play for yourself!

Credits:

  • Programming, music, and sound design by AstroPenguin642.
  • Art by CatnipOverdose.
  • No prior code or art assets were used. No drag & drop was used. All sound samples were recorded by us within the time frame.

Software Used:

  • GameMaker Studio 2 (engine and programming)
  • Aseprite (pixel art)
  • Paint.NET (promo art and logo)
  • FL Studio 20 (music)
  • Audacity (sound design)
  • Github (source control)
Source code https://github.com/AstroPenguin642/A-Heightened-Plight
Windows https://astropenguin642.itch.io/a-heightened-plight
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/a-heightened-plight

Ratings

Overall 175th 3.841⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Fun 98th 3.886⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 136th 3.705⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Theme 22th 4.455⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 387th 3.773⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Audio 189th 3.636⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Humor 90th 3.886⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Mood 302th 3.591⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Given 34🗳️ 0🗨️

Feedback

Trifectuh
04. Dec 2018 · 03:11 UTC
Delightful! Love the music, and it has a dog. Major points right there.
Mitch Cutler
04. Dec 2018 · 03:25 UTC
Super Cool! Music is rad, I think I threw the people off too fast! ;)
special_bonus
04. Dec 2018 · 03:42 UTC
I played like 5 times, it seems necessary to give someone a parachute (in order to save 100% of the family) but I'm not sure how you get a parachute. So it felt impossible, but it was really fun to play even so! Does the dog barking protect you from birds? That should be clearer. There are many things that aren't clear at first that you learn after dying many times, which makes it fun to replay, but I think some of those need to be QOL adjustments. For example, any supplies you get should flash briefly in their spot. I loved the music, visuals, and tone. Gameplay was also super snappy and clean. Great job!
Lexyvil
06. Dec 2018 · 00:55 UTC
This is really fun, and fits the theme perfectly! I tried it three times, and the highest I had was saving 60% of my family. It succeeds in adding stress, and I love how each playthrough is random--it's good replay value.

The humour is good too, how family members can die of hunger or thirst as they fall.
🎤 AstroPenguin642
06. Dec 2018 · 06:59 UTC
@special-bonus Thanks for the awesome feedback! The dog barking actually doesn't do anything, but I wish we would've thought of that, because it actually makes a lot of sense. I calculated it and you actually have a tiny bit of leeway to land safely without using a parachute; the parachute just makes that gap a bit larger. Definitely agree with the flashing effect since it's sometimes hard to tell what was in a package. There were some other QoL adjustments we wanted to make, like telling you when you create trash and making it more obvious what gum does, but we couldn't fit everything in three days. Really appreciate the kind words.
simon.parzer
06. Dec 2018 · 08:55 UTC
I like the minimalistic game design, it's a well thought out game. The pixel art is very cute too, with the people constantly bobbing up and down. I would have loved even more graphics and animations, like when someone dies of starvation, instead of just disappearing. Good job overall!
sadzanenyama
06. Dec 2018 · 09:32 UTC
Quite a cool game, would've loved to see a few more effects such as fire when the balloon is on fire and cuts when someone is wounded. After I threw my whole family off there wasn't much to do but sit there. Maybe add a few more events like you may need to call using the phone for help in order to get saved if the opportunity arises. Anyways good simple game. Found it quite funny to throw my whole family off the side haha
Morg
06. Dec 2018 · 12:08 UTC
I really loved the integration of each item to use and how it blended with the sacrifice theme. Really lovely game, well done.
ursagames
07. Dec 2018 · 12:10 UTC
Your game was played on my stream ( https://www.twitch.tv/ursagames/videos ) on the third day of Ludum Dare streams. Thank you for sharing your game with us! You can find the timestamp of when your game was played here: https://goo.gl/N2rkr8
zgragselus
09. Dec 2018 · 02:32 UTC
It's always funny to find game with idea similar to yours! Cheers for that (best concept, I know!).

It is really fun to play! I'd appreciate height/speed measures always on the screen (had to check it each few seconds).

Good job!
BloodJohn
09. Dec 2018 · 11:56 UTC
fun! I want to choose from the menu with the keyboard.
how to loose? (