Balls Deep In Lava by BlueMirror

[raw]
made by BlueMirror for LD 42 (JAM)

Green "fluffies" run towards you, exploding on impact and keep on coming. A giant is throwing them and barrels filled with lava into the arena right at you. Will you survive balls deep in lava?

LD GJ 42 Cover.png

2D Top down Shooter, with some sword slashing.

Move | "W,A,S,D" Shoot | left mouse button, Slice with your sword | right mouse button

Shooting Fluffies (Green ball) and slicing Barrels gives you points. Doing the opposite will make them explode, turn into lava and you loose points.

Balls Deep in Lava SS1.png

Balls Deep in Lava SS2.png

Programming by Julian Novak (aka Masterclavat)

Music and Sound Effects: Gerry Brazell https://soundcloud.com/gerry-brazell https://gerry9000000.itch.io/

Art: Deniz Cakmaz https://twitter.com/indiemakerbot

Ratings

Overall 396th 3.569⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Fun 140th 3.75⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 733th 3.043⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Theme 435th 3.694⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 481th 3.581⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Audio 52th 4.028⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Humor 212th 3.4⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Mood 363th 3.379⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Given 41🗳️ 19🗨️

Feedback

JCMonkey
13. Aug 2018 · 23:52 UTC
the game plays pretty good, but for some reason the scoring system is messed up, it goes up and down, and i dont know why. but it was fun to play, even though i figured out you can stand in the corner and cheeze the game :D
meatpudding
13. Aug 2018 · 23:57 UTC
​Really cool game. I like the art style and the music and sound effects.

I think the action would be more fun with a change of pacing. The fluffies move pretty fast but they can take a while to spawn so there is some time with no enemies then bam! bam! bam! Then the next round starts... Possibly would be good to have a burndown timer rather than the numbers 3, 2, 1 because it would add more animation to the screen.

I'm playing the web version and every time I died it said Score: 0.

I can see how the theme is apparent here and I would like to see more space and area effects, maybe you can use an air blast to push them into the lava or push barrels back before they explode.
🎤 BlueMirror
14. Aug 2018 · 06:57 UTC
@jcmonkey @meatpudding we forgot to tell you when you get and when you loose points :P We kinda ran out of time there. You get points when you shoot the green ball or when you cut the barrel. If you cut the green ball or shoot the barrel you loose points. But it just adds or takes the numbers, it doesnt show that anywhere else :P
CrazyGuy
14. Aug 2018 · 09:57 UTC
The best game I have played so far!!!
huskitch
14. Aug 2018 · 10:14 UTC
Art work could have used a bit of polish but other than that, really fun to play
JonahSenzel
14. Aug 2018 · 11:02 UTC
like the explosion animation and the homemade sfx, why does the sword make enemies explode?
sdrrv
14. Aug 2018 · 11:08 UTC
Really Loved the game!! But if you didn´t move is actually pretty easy!
🎤 BlueMirror
14. Aug 2018 · 12:06 UTC
@sdrrv Wont the barrels then all explode? o.O Need to try that out ^^

@jonahsenzel Well fluffies are highly explosive if cut, and burning them will not make them explode. Does that make sense? :3 I fear not, next time it should make more sense ^^ Thanks for pointing it out :)
GarethTheDestro
14. Aug 2018 · 12:42 UTC
This is really cool! The audio is great, I loved it, and the play on the theme is pretty clever. Great work!
Scott Steffes
14. Aug 2018 · 13:17 UTC
Just the name alone is pure gold! The movement mechanics were much better than I expected. This could be really fun with different enemy types as some people have said here.
Stamblew
14. Aug 2018 · 13:19 UTC
The mechanics are simple but quite engaging. I really enjoy the sound effects
Corbak
14. Aug 2018 · 14:39 UTC
I love the music! makes you feel like a badass XD. Sound effects and graphics are fun as well. The concept is simple and effectiv. Good job!
Ziltoid
14. Aug 2018 · 16:31 UTC
Nice game! I really enjoyed the gameplay - simple but really fun! Also the music did a great job of getting me pumped... :D
FooMar
14. Aug 2018 · 17:04 UTC
You might have created my new all time favourite gun sounds.
Masterclavat
14. Aug 2018 · 17:08 UTC
@foomar thanks, I love them too. Be sure to check out the creator all the music and sound effects at https://soundcloud.com/gerry-brazell
Nam Nguyen
14. Aug 2018 · 18:08 UTC
Fun and addictive game. I like the control, very intuitive. The enemies become more aggressive as the game progresses. The animation is very nice, indication of HP is excellent. Very good job!
m.dam
14. Aug 2018 · 18:17 UTC
Wow the game is very polished! My only criticism is that the movement is kinda janky as soon as there are a lot of lava puddles because of the character hitbox.
thsnr
14. Aug 2018 · 18:17 UTC
Loved the sound effects. Spot-on thematically. Simple yet fun gameplay. Great job!
Dr_Monkfish
14. Aug 2018 · 19:34 UTC
Cool game! Like the idea of running out of moving room after killing enemies, so neat idea! Graphics were cool too! Nice job!
Nyunesu
14. Aug 2018 · 23:22 UTC
Hey there, good job with the game!
Since you asked for it, I'll roast your game (:

At first glance I thought it would be a "letter soup game" and unfortunately it really is. By that I mean that your game art aesthetics isn't similar. There is a lot of shadow in some things, in others flat colors, the font has nothing to do with the game itself. Looks like you have give a piece of paper to everyone in the room and told them to draw something. They did, each pieces are really good separated, but when you put them altogether it is a mess.

But lets critique your specific points:

• Gameplay loop is effective, but not engaging. At first points your game plays well, because it is new and interesting, but it loses effectiveness as it progress due to lack of curiosity. At the round 3 I thought: "Okay that's all I'm going to have there is no point to continue playing it"

• The colors are oversaturated. Looks so intense and bright, unless that is intended I'd suggest to use less saturated colors. Same applies to your Itchio page. I can't even read the link on the description.

• Art style isn't consistent

• Lack of shadow make the player feels floaty. That's okay to add a little bit of shadow below him.

• Melee hit stop players from moving. It ruins the hectic feel of the game. Let him move, there is no difference to it.

• Layer fight on Meteors. At later stages, your meteor/explosion things are overlapping each other, and every time I fire they swap who is in front of what. A bit annoying.

• You don't need to show the countdown every new round, since there is no really time, and it is just unnecessary stuff on screen. Use screen wisely. A new round is good to know, but the countdown each time can be teach to the player organically. As soon as he sees a new round he'll know that there is a break of almost 3 seconds to he breath.

• Melee is bad. At least there is no point that I've could find to use it wisely. If I use, I take damage, if I get hit I take damage too.

• There is no point on the grenade. It will explode and consume gameplay space even if I destroy it or not. It could be used as a counterflow item, if you keep shooting at a shadow dropping it will explode, if not it will not consume your map space.

• Spawn points felt it had some default places after sometime playing it, if they are not random it would be a nice touch.

• Lack replayability, since your game is only this, I miss something to keep me playing. Powerups, different enemies, multiple kills, item interactions. I know it's a jam, but I'm not judging you from what you did, but what you could do.

• The font is hard to read as well, maybe adding an outline/stroke would make it better, but the style isn't consistent.

I've quit at round 10.
Hope my feedback can be useful to you.

In case you continue to develop your game let me know! I'd love to see your progress, my info is on my LD profile.
Nyunesu
14. Aug 2018 · 23:26 UTC
Forget the melee/grenade stuff. I didn't read it right from your game (:
That's a reinforcement for the font critique btw, haha :slight_smile:
ursagames
15. Aug 2018 · 00:35 UTC
I loved the sound effects in this, so great! This was a fun game and very challenging. I found the melee worked fine for me. I would have liked for a bit of a velocity build up on the enemies as when they land they go full speed at you.
FussenKuh
15. Aug 2018 · 00:35 UTC
Kudos to everyone on the team! I had a lot of fun playing several rounds of the game :) The concept is nice and straightforward, but, I still have to think about slashing vs shooting while avoiding stuff. I though the sound was excellent and the graphics really worked. The only real issue I had is that, to me, it seems like the green fluff balls sometimes appeared out of nowhere and at times it seems like I was taking cheap hits. That said, well done, everyone!
🎤 BlueMirror
15. Aug 2018 · 07:16 UTC
@fussenkuh The green fluffies and the barrles had a shadow below them before landing. For about 2 seconds they were "announcing" themselves. Was that not visible when you played it, or was it not visible enough? Thank you for your kind words
🎤 BlueMirror
15. Aug 2018 · 07:37 UTC
@nyunesu Now I feel bad, that I didnt know more to do better on yours :D We won't continue to develop that one, but we will continue to work hard on making games!

You gave me a lot of things to improve upon, thank you a lot for that!!!
jtrink
15. Aug 2018 · 12:12 UTC
Awesome sound design! I would have liked the game overall to be a bit more hectic, with the rounds going by faster and more things spawning that the player just doesn't have time to get to. Would have brought out the theme a bit more, as the mechanics are in place but take quite a while to ramp up.
rexpeppers
15. Aug 2018 · 14:26 UTC
Well done!
FussenKuh
15. Aug 2018 · 14:40 UTC
@bluemirror - Thanks for the reply. At times, I did notice the shadows before the enemies appeared. I think my issue might have been a combo of (1) the shadows were sometimes difficult to see (but maybe that has more to do with my display rather than anything else?) and (2) if the creature is just off screen, I don't see the shadow, but, when the fluff generates he moves so fast that it basically seems like the game has cheated.
🎤 BlueMirror
15. Aug 2018 · 18:30 UTC
@fussenkuh I guess the problem is that when fluffy spawns, he just instantly is at fullspeed. So instead he should take a second to land, and then accelerate over another second. Great feedback thank you!
Luca1152
17. Aug 2018 · 00:02 UTC
Cool entry, y'all! I enjoy the style of the game, and it not being very serious (for example the shooting sound, or the background music are pretty happy). One really small thing I have is that it was not really obvious that the lava (couldn't really tell it was lava when I played, to be fair, some particles would help) which I thought was a explosion that didn't go away, would take you damage. Nor was it really clear that using your sword wouldn't make them explode. I think I would have understand not to shoot them if they had like a gas sign on them, and didn't have the fuse (which would sadly change their effect, because you are not panicking anymore). But then the lava would have nowhere to come from (if you want it to make some sense, that is). Anyways, I really enjoyed this game, great job! :D
Amour Du Pain
17. Aug 2018 · 14:36 UTC
The music is catchy as hell, and the game fits the theme pretty well, congrats ! Did I said I loved the music ?
deathray
21. Aug 2018 · 02:37 UTC
Graphics and sound were good, and the blob-burning animation was very satisfying. I found the game too hard for my tastes though -- might be more fun if I could open the game full-screen and see farther away and have time to line up my shots.
Jupiter_Hadley
12. Sep 2018 · 19:01 UTC
Neat game! I included it in my compilation video series of the Ludum Dare 42 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/RBBzpxy2bdA