Harry Inks Shrinks by Oxlander
Gamejolt Link: http://gamejolt.com/games/HarryInksShrinks/252116
Stencyl Arcade Link: http://www.stencyl.com/game/play/36686
This is my unfinished game "Harry Inks Shrinks." I didn't get to finish most of the things I wanted to do because there were many mechanics I hadn't learned. This was to show what I was able to get done.
Instructions
Controls: Arrow Keys (only had time to put in movement, see below for details)
Objective: Follow the instructions (or not) and get to the end, sometimes you may need to walk away and back to something to get to the next area/room.
See hints at bottom if stuck. (Along with minor spoilers)
Description
After a lot of brainstorming, my take on the theme "A Small World" was the idea of a literal small world. The premise of the game was that you were a scientist (or just some smart guy) working on a shrink ray named Harry Inks. I came up with the name "Harry Inks" because it's an anagram of "Shrinkray" which was the original weapon/tool I had in mind. The issue is that I've only made one game before and it was with a Crash Course kit that served as a tutorial for beginners (although I added a lot more than what was originally asked). Despite not having much experience I decided to see what I can do in 2 days (or 3 days, as it is now, if I couldn't make it in time for the compo).
I learned a lot along the way especially with making pixel art (which I've barely done before) and I now know what's possible to do in a (busy) weekend with my current level (although proper collisions are DEFINITELY still higher). I wanted to at least add the enemies running around and the ability to shoot, but I didn't want to rush that part and accidentally break the game. I am proud to say that everything in the game was made or designed by me (even if not as much as many of the games for Ludum Dare 38. It also forced me to do a ton in a few days and I know it's possible for me to add to this game to make it how I originally planned if I work at even just a fraction as I had this weekend.
Screenshots
Original Plans:
In-Game Look:
Hints
A common bug is not being able to move to the next area/room on your first go. If it happens, just move back a few steps and try to go back.
Hint 1 [Bedroom]: Walk towards the mirror in the room to shrink.
Hint 2 [Large Bedroom]: Walk towards the sand/dust looking area under the dresser to shrink again.
Hint 3 [Desert Town]: None of the doors you pass here will work (didn't have time to make each actually relevant). Go into the last red building.
Ratings
| Overall | 751th | 2.45⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 758th | 2.05⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 692th | 2.35⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 335th | 3.524⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 631th | 2.714⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 489th | 2.105⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 477th | 2.316⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 718th | 2.3⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 19🗳️ | 30🗨️ |
I liked the graphics because are simple but descriptive.
It would be nice if you add more music because after a couple of minutes it becomes a bit repetitive.
Also, I don't know what to do after making me small.
Hope you complete this idea, keep working on it!
Time management is something that often gets over looked in these rapid development situations. Something I've taken to heart after doing several of these now is get the core gameplay done first. Use simple graphics that can act as place holders until the game can play. Then you have to balance what you can do with feature creep.
I do like the art in your game and the beat in the background isn't bad. No real bugs either, just lack of time to finish.
Thanks everyone for trying out my game! :smile:
**Graphics**: I actually like them. The perspective and the player's animations are really off at times, but the houses in the desert for example look really nice.
**Audio**: I'm sorry, but the song is really, really annoying. Would've preferred no music over this to be honest, but whatever. At least you tried having some song, which many didn't even do.
**Gameplay**: Well, there's not that much here, but I like the idea of shrinking and growing bigger. A few random thoughts:
- It's really hard to tell what you can interact with
- The size switch was really confusing and I didn't understand what was going on at first
- Not really clear what you're supposed to do at all
Anyways, it was a pretty good effort. Nice work.
I wound up running through it a couple times if you wanna see it here https://youtu.be/G0xd_R87kK8
I enjoyed your game, and the ideas.
It would be a 5/5 if the game was a bit more polished and if the music wasnt that annoying, but still great mate :)
Hard to critique as you stated it is incomplete.
I'm really glad I received so many critiques as to what I should do, like graphics (which I would've worked on more but I lost a lot of time with family and stuff). I was trying my best to add a dialog box option but that turned out to be too complicated and although I could've used other code for Stencyl (the engine I was using), it seemed to just create bugs and not work in the way I wanted so I just left it out rather than wasting more hours on it.
As for the annoying music, yeah....that's what happens when you decide to make music in less than 3 minutes because you want to focus on everything else...sorry about that everyone! :sweat_smile: Thanks for all the support despite the game being unfinished!
- gameplay is good
- one bug is that when player hit the wallit should stop playing walk animation but it still does
Instructions of some sort (in game) would have been appreciated and the ingame text color is not very well-chosen (not enough contrast to the background). As others mentioned, you might have considered just letting that music out :grin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3lV-lDD06U