Dungeon In a Bottle by jhandsy

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

Play Here: https://strangespaces.github.io/Dungeon-in-a-Bottle/

EDIT: We added arrow key controls!

Escape the confines of a magic bottle by using your keen acrobatics! The walls are closing in, and you can push against them or jump off of them to push them back.

tumblr<em>inline</em>op33twNu2e1tyjb2p_1280.png

Move Right: D or RIGHT

Move Left: A or LEFT

Jump: Space or UP

R to restart the level.

NOTE: It isn't necessary to input a direction to wall jump!

You can execute a hyper wall jump with the proper timing, but if you mess up you're gonna eat dirt!

Coding and Design: Andrew Jones

Art and Music: Joe Hanna https://twitter.com/JoeHasDiedGames?lang=en

Ratings

Overall 37th 4.119⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Fun 30th 4.048⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 59th 3.905⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Theme 156th 3.833⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 57th 4.488⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Audio 97th 3.805⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Humor 202th 3.162⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Mood 132th 3.78⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Given 46🗳️ 35🗨️

Feedback

MeronSoda
25. Apr 2017 · 03:01 UTC
Awesome game design! Wall jump master simulator! haha :D
GaoGaoTaiga
25. Apr 2017 · 03:19 UTC
Took me a bit to realize how to push the walls back, cool and fun game! A bit frustrating though, haha
ctrble
25. Apr 2017 · 22:53 UTC
Nice work! It was tough, but we beat it!
Alex Lutay
01. May 2017 · 04:52 UTC
Super fun game. Could've been cooler if arrow keys worked as move controls too (not everyone using a qwerty keyboard).

Really loved color palette, is there only 6 colors? Anyway, looks dope as funk.

Gameplay-wise the game is challenging and for the genre it's great!

Great entry, guys :smiley:
Iron Leonem
01. May 2017 · 04:54 UTC
Fascinating and interesting mechanic. It was exceptionally well designed, and I encountered no bugs. I honestly can't find any faults in this title. Brilliantly done.
Jeremy Ryan
01. May 2017 · 04:55 UTC
Love the animation considering it was done in 72 hrs. I tried to do a lot of animation for the Compo and came up short of where I originally wanted to be.

Levels come in a really good order and it's difficult but not impossible. Each one takes a couple tries.

I like the theme, most people immediately jumped on space theme but this was different.
🎤 jhandsy
01. May 2017 · 05:10 UTC
Yeah we deffo should have added arrow keys. Our bad!

And thanks! I'm really proud of the way the visuals turned out!
jackyjjc
01. May 2017 · 05:53 UTC
Sorry I couldn't finish your game because I stuck at this level

![screenshot](///raw/0dd/z/2ef1.jpg)I kept getting stuck and that corner and just falls down to the spikes. I kept trying for a few minutes but still no luck.

With that said, the pushing the wall back mechanics is very cool and unique and you even have to use it to solve the puzzle. The graphics is very nice and plenty of animation there to make the action looks smooth. However, i feel like the jump timing is bit off or it is a bit too hard for me (I don't usually play platformer).

Overall, great visual and sound, interesting idea but I just suck at platforming :joy:
paulstraw
01. May 2017 · 05:55 UTC
Awesome work. Tight controls, great graphics, great sounds and music. One of my favorites of the games I've played so far. I'd love to see what a mobile version of this concept feels like.
slimabob
01. May 2017 · 05:58 UTC
I can't decide what I like most about this submission:

- The fantastic art style

- The amazing music

- The incredibly responsive controls.

You absolutely nailed this entry. Fantastic work.
doppelgunner
01. May 2017 · 06:38 UTC
A fun game but when I fall at the side there is an error and I need to refresh the browser and start all over again. Other than that it's all good.
Funkensteins Monster
01. May 2017 · 07:04 UTC
This is fantastic. The wall pushing mechanic is really unique and well done. I love the art style and theme as well. The only issue i have is the jumping mechanics. I'm not a big fan of the punishment for pressing space when you cant jump and being punished for it. I kept pressing it a couple frames to early and falling off of walls. Maybe consider adding a grace period for a couple frames before/after landing? Great job!
sachos345
01. May 2017 · 14:13 UTC
Everything about this game is amazing but i find it too frustrating, the game is about jumping and i actually dont know if it is because im bad at the game or is it because i dont completly understand how the mechanic works but for me the jumping feels too random? I mean sometimes i feel like i did not do anything and for some reason my guy is jumping around like crazy and finish the level in one try, but when i actually want to time every jump it feels sometimes it works and other doesnt but i feel im doing the samething as before i dont know how to explain it but i find it super frustrating.

Also Arrow keys would have been great, i find for platformers arrow keys to be way more confortable, specially if you use Space to jump.

This is the level i stoped playing, i need to play other games too! (This game is addictively frustrating)

http://prntscr.com/f2vtwm
mooncalf
01. May 2017 · 14:57 UTC
Fantastic entry. Art & music was amazing. Gameplay was tight. One downside was I could not execute the long jump effectively, so I got gated around level 4. Much prefer easy to access moves that require perfect timing rather than moves that require perfect timing for a wide range of acceptable executions.

Super entry! Good luck.
nilead
01. May 2017 · 15:32 UTC
Good controls, great music and an amazing reminder of how good the original Prince of Persia was.
simonhutchinson
01. May 2017 · 18:33 UTC
Super-groovy!

I love everything about this, from the graphics down to the feel. Actually, now that I think about it, more than anything this just FEELS really great--when I mess up, it's my fault never an issue of clumsy controls. How'd you do that?!

Really nice work.
Awpteamoose
02. May 2017 · 01:51 UTC
It moves so fast it's almost unmanagable. Could be because I was using FF.
YukonW
02. May 2017 · 02:16 UTC
An extremely well polished experience that I'm glad I played.
nusan
02. May 2017 · 12:03 UTC
Awesome work, I like the mood and the settings. The control and gameplay feels a bit hard to use. If you try to give a direction while wall jumping, it will often fail. I also didn't get how to properly get the super jump. Also, you may enable using arrow keys as it can be easier to use for some people. But the idea is pretty great, so keep up the good work !
Kristian David
02. May 2017 · 13:07 UTC
A Great Game! the idea of the game is good and it is well implemented. While i haven't found any bugs. Good luck with your game
This_Gooch
02. May 2017 · 18:27 UTC
Played up to the level with the spikes. Loved the concept, and the art and animation are fantastic. The jumping for me felt a bit sporadic, but that could also be because of the varying distance of the two walls, making it feel a little inconsistent. Took a little bit to figure out that I could push walls, but I figured that out on the first level.

Good work!
aaranos
02. May 2017 · 18:31 UTC
Quite an amazing game. I found the game to be pretty difficult with some of the precise jumps but the levels are short so it needed the difficulty. However, there are sooooo many levels it's insane, in a good way.

I really like the art as well, the player reminds me of Shantae from Shantae and the Pirates Curse.

I think the levels are well designed and I never felt they were impossible, very hard, but not impossible.
Wheffle
03. May 2017 · 02:21 UTC
Really well polished and executed game! The controls do seem a little floaty and I got pretty frustrated with them. It seemed like it took a split second to latch to a wall for a jump, and it got annoying doing precise maneuvers. But yeah, I'm very impressed! And what a great idea for the theme!
ooku
03. May 2017 · 13:31 UTC
Very hard but very nice :)
Overal exzellent for a jam-game.
I had no problem with the controls.
samlo
06. May 2017 · 00:22 UTC
Really fun game! arrow keys plzzzzzzzzz
DGSpitzer
06. May 2017 · 07:57 UTC
5 Stars! My left hand is screaming after finished all levels... :joy:

Some levels are super hard for timing. There are couple times I don't need hyper jump but it triggers (because the two walls are too close by).

I think the sliding down speed should be decreased a little when the character climbing on the wall - for now it's really frustrated getting the right moment to jump.

And the hit-box of those spikes are kinda big than it actually looks like. I feel I'm "absorbed" to them sometimes (especially the ceiling one).

Overall it's a fun and hardcore (★super★) game. Excellent art & music too! :smile:
🎤 jhandsy
07. May 2017 · 07:22 UTC
@dgspitzer Thank you for your kind words and your critique! Yeah, the spikes definitely feel a little magnetic! We're going to fix that in the next version for sure!
🎤 jhandsy
07. May 2017 · 07:23 UTC
@aaranos I hadn't even thought about Shantae, but those games we're awesome!
🎤 jhandsy
07. May 2017 · 07:24 UTC
@awpteamoose Ah we'll have to check that out! Sorry I think both of us used Chrome and sometimes multi-browser testing falls to the wayside when you're time crunched!
paulhocker
10. May 2017 · 03:58 UTC
very hard game, but very great artwork and music - added to my favorites list
🎤 jhandsy
11. May 2017 · 22:54 UTC
@samlo @nusan @sachos345 @alex-lutay
We updated it to include arrow keys as controls! Sorry that took us so long!
ret44
12. May 2017 · 00:12 UTC
Kinda frustrating, but overall it's amazing. Love all player animations, especially the idle one.
Redblack Spade
12. May 2017 · 00:20 UTC
Character animation is amazing! His moves are super smooth and this is great.
I loved the mechanic with walls and it's great that level design uses it a lot. At first I was afraid that it's another platformer with only one aim - jump from platform to platform.
Still I didn't beat the game because it's too hard for me to play from the keyboard. I used to fall down all the time and it was too frustrating. Please, add a gamepad support. It's really cool that player shouldn't input a direction to wall jump but it takes time to get used to it, but after some time it feels super comfortable.
Meenners
12. May 2017 · 03:29 UTC
Very cool!! Loved the feel and animation. I think the music is the one aspect that made it stand out! mechanics were fun aswell. Not much to say other than awesome job! Some feedback... maybe after 3-5 stages, give the user a little break in between - possibly for some sort of powerup or just an achievement that i made it that far! Otherwise great little gem you have created!
_for_science
12. May 2017 · 10:31 UTC
I absolutely loved this! Very fluid, very challenging. There really isn't that much to say about this.

Unfortunately, the game bugged out on me a little ways down the line:

![bug.jpg](///raw/79c/2/z/43c7.jpg)

It's the one where the walls are not crushing you, but are just "platforms" passing each other by. I accidentally let them pass and was stuck. So I decided to kill myself in order to restart the level. But jumping off screen only had me... well, jump off screen and I couldn't get back any more. Maybe you could put spikes around the platform so that the level would reset properly? Or maybe have the platforms just turn the other way at the bounds of the level?

Other than that, awesome entry! :thumbsup:
🎤 jhandsy
12. May 2017 · 16:40 UTC
@for-science Yeah... we added spikes offscreen in some levels, but it was kind of a last-minute realization, so not all of them got the treatment. You can press R to restart the level, though!
NOFUEL
13. May 2017 · 20:27 UTC
Awesome Game!
Very good pixel art, beautiful animations and colors! Everything fits well togehter!
The controls are very good and its easy to play!
Loved it! Had a lot fun playing it!
sorceress
15. May 2017 · 23:23 UTC
Well, the graphics, animation, and sound are lovely, but I found this quite hard to control for some reason. I managed to get to level 3 (the one where you have to go up then down) but I just couldn't get beyond it and was feeling a bit frustrated by it :( Overall it is quite impressive, but I think it needs some easier levels at the beginning for people like me!
Jupiter_Hadley
18. May 2017 · 21:49 UTC
Lovely graphics, challenging game! 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=xnxqXCwu79k