Cross the Hell by Oxygenium
Hello everyone! This time I decided create 2D game. Game is about father which chases evil necromancer who kidnapped his son to the HELL! Necromancer by his inattention lost the MAGIC DAGGER which allows to his user cross multidimensional worlds and our hero took this dagger. But... this is a evil item. If you wanna use it, you have to drain your life energy directly from your HEART. This is a magic thing so you will not die immediatelly but slowly in the painful pain... Your son is waiting...
:D
It's strange that my brain is still able to write such things after not sleeping for +50 hours.
Anyway... The "son" will wait a little longer because I created only 3 levels and I don't finished level with "boss fight". But I will try finish it in the few days (if I will have time) and after that I leave here a link to this "update". I wanted created some levels with "puzzle" mechanics too. Maybe I will add it too.
Goodnight & goodluck. I will probably wake up in the next week :D.
Controls:
A - left
D - right
SPACE - jump
ENTER / RMB - change the dimension || P / RMB (in updated version)
L / LMP - attack (in updated version)
C - change the camera (in updated version)
Walkthrough
If you don't know how to pass the level 3 and you wanna throw monitor through the window you can watch this short video: https://youtu.be/POKSeWa-43w
Bug fixes:
- Sometimes character doesn't jump.
Update - Full Version:
Some changes / updates: - 9 levels, - Added boxes and triggers for some puzzle mechanics, - Added enemies, - Player now can attack with dagger (3x "combo"), - Added some additional visual effects, - Level with "mini" boss, - Level with boss - Necromancer (don't jump on his head :D), - Added main menu, - You can now pause game when you press the "Escape" button, - You can restart or skip the level, - The second dimension now is shrinking faster, - Added some new sounds, - If you will stuck in wall then after while you will explode, - Mini cutscene after last level.
| HTML5 (web) | https://oxygenium.itch.io/cross-the-hell |
| HTML5 (web) | https://oxygenium.itch.io/cross-the-hell-full-version |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/cross-the-hell |
Ratings
| Overall | 327th | 3.641⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 416th | 3.375⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 85th | 3.859⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 223th | 3.906⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 447th | 3.625⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 350th | 3.328⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 448th | 2.983⭐ | 32🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 320th | 3.565⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 44🗳️ | 9🗨️ |
Some minor nitpicks:
- Levels don't seem to be timed for "zero cycle". (For example, the third level has the first platform too far away to make a jump even if you move at maximum speed)
- The right click power tends to fade a bit slowly, which leads to some frustrating moments
- The power circle obscures the other world, meaning moving platforms are extra evil.
- It's important to remember platformers like this thrive on being tough but responsive and fair; such that the player always feels like it's their fault when they die. Right now I'm blaming the game a lot, which is not ideal.
That said, these are pretty minor annoyances, and easy to tweak. Overall I really love what you've done here!
Big fan of the mechanic, would love to see it finished. Great job. :)
@fireslash Referring to some tips:
> **"Levels don’t seem to be timed for “zero cycle”. (For example, the third level has the first platform too far away to make a jump even if you move at maximum speed)"**
I don't know what you mean with platform on the level 3 (that platform after ground with spikes? If yes then after spikes you have another platform in the second dimension) but I special for that recorded the video where I pass level 3 ;). You have it above in the game description.
> **"The right click power tends to fade a bit slowly, which leads to some frustrating moments"**
"It's not a bug, it's a feature" :D. Player have to learn this mechanics over time (he must to know when he have to jump to the other platform and don't fall through it). Unfortunately I don't created many easier levels where he can to do it, so I understand that it can be frustrating for some people ;c.
> **"The power circle obscures the other world, meaning moving platforms are extra evil."**
The idea was that the player have to remember some path of platforms. But maybe solution is to create a "easy mode" and when player will use the power then he will see a shadows of the platforms in the other dimension.
Anyway thanks for your feedback! Any comment give my more idea how to improve this and next games! :)
I know it's part of the challenge, but you should consider:
- make player movement feel more 'alive' - now he walks too slowly - feels like he is drowning in glue...
- overworld and underworld colliders should have effect always - this way you don't have this feeling of "platform is there but it vanished - this leads to frustration"
- circle of showing underworld is expanding/shrinking too slowly - it should be almost instant
- game should make players remember where things are (platforms) but let them to jump on invisible platforms as well
- moving platforms should carry you with them.
Apart from those points game is great but story is kinda boring :)
Great entry overall!
@bartosz Referring to your feedback:
> **"make player movement feel more ‘alive’ - now he walks too slowly - feels like he is drowning in glue…"**
Maybe you have right and I could rise speed but if I set it too high then players can have problem with landing on the small platforms (unless I reduce the character size).
> **"overworld and underworld colliders should have effect always - this way you don’t have this feeling of “platform is there but it vanished - this leads to frustration”"**
But then player for example can die when he will jump on the invisible spikes and be frustrated too :D. And this is main mechanics - one world don't colliding with other. I think solution could be to give a player power of reverse the time to 5-10 seconds instead of start the level from beginning ;).
> **"circle of showing underworld is expanding/shrinking too slowly - it should be almost instant"**
I already answered for a similar remark above. Player must learn when he have to release the right mouse button - unfortunately I did not have time for create easier levels where player could learn this without many deaths. But maybe you and @fireslash have right and I should speed it up a little bit.
> **"game should make players remember where things are (platforms) but let them to jump on invisible platforms as well"**
Same as the second sentence ;).
> **"moving platforms should carry you with them."**
I definitely agree with that :D. I forgot to set character as child of the platform when he is on it ;).
Thank for your time which you spend to write this remarks ;).
You're too value of 50 hours
I found it too annoying to use both mouse and keyboard at the same time. I don't think you should be able to jump on invisible platforms, it would make the game too easy.
Also, I would make an opening screen with the backstory and instructions, it's a bit hard to read with the font color and size.
@yoni Yea, I know to use the keyboard and mouse is weird in this game mechanics. I used mouse because I wanted implement to this game attack to LMB and use cursor to grab some items to puzzle mechanics. But in this case where I did not do it, I really should change it. So now you can use power too on the **Enter** button. I checked too settings for one hand (A - left, D - right, W - jump, SPACE - power) but it was a bit uncomfortable ;).
This instructions I wrote in last minutes of the jam so that's why it looks like this :D.
I agree with some of the other commenters: The players speed should be faster or at least more responsive (change speed instantly instead of accelerating slowly) - I would also increase the speed of the "other dimension bubble" so that it appears or disappears faster.
In general, I would rather make the game a bit easier than really hard and challenging for an event like this ;)
I have just finished update for this game so if you want to try you can play here:
https://oxygenium.itch.io/cross-the-hell-full-version
Some changes / updates:
- 9 levels,
- Added boxes and triggers for some puzzle mechanics,
- Added enemies,
- Player now can attack with dagger (3x "combo"),
- Added some additional visual effects,
- Level with "mini" boss,
- Level with boss - Necromancer (don't jump on his head :D),
- Added main menu,
- You can now pause game when you press the "Escape" button,
- You can restart or skip the level,
- The second dimension now **is shrinking faster** (thanks for feedback, this was good idea ;D),
- Added some new sounds,
- If you will stuck in wall then after while you will explode,
- Mini cutscene after last level.
