Bag Man by GeorgeBroussard

made by GeorgeBroussard for LD 42 (COMPO)

BAG MAN

(created for Ludum Dare 42. Theme: Running Out of Space) Follow me on Twitter

You are a greedy adventurer and an evil wizard has put a curse on you. You want gold, you shall have gold! The wizard will put gold in your backpack but due to the curse, if your backpack fills up you will die. You must find 16 bags to increase the size of your pack and show the Wizard you skill, then he will life the curse.

Avoid enemy/hazard contact as that also adds gold to your backpack. If you get hit too much you cannot finish.

You're best advised to pick a direction and go vs changing directions a lot. The game is very simple but challenging due to the ticking clock. As you get better at jumping the game gets easier. Make mental notes of where bags are if they are out of your reach, so you can run back for them.

MOVE: Left/Right Arrows JUMP: Space/Up Arrow

The game consists of 32 rooms that are randomly generated and populated similarly to the 2600 Pitfall game. The rooms have a random number from 1-32 associated with them and I check the bits of the byte of the room value to determine what and where to spawn things. The level is a circle with the end rooms wrapping around.

Windows	https://georgebroussard.itch.io/bag-man
macOS	https://georgebroussard.itch.io/bag-man
HTML5 (web)	https://georgebroussard.itch.io/bag-man
Source code	https://georgebroussard.itch.io/bag-man
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/bag-man

Ratings

Overall	303^th	3.463⭐	29🧑‍⚖️
Fun	264^th	3.426⭐	29🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	304^th	3.296⭐	29🧑‍⚖️
Theme	165^th	3.926⭐	29🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	143^th	3.796⭐	29🧑‍⚖️
Audio	186^th	3.315⭐	29🧑‍⚖️
Humor	94^th	3.333⭐	29🧑‍⚖️
Given		4🗳️	2🗨️

Feedback

Bensbuff

12. Aug 2018 · 22:50 UTC

i like the sound design and the art style keep up the good work

codemaster

13. Aug 2018 · 01:49 UTC

Fun game, great graphics, great instructions. Jumps were difficult to make (over enemies, over pits). Trying to hunt down an air blast to go collect the final few bag expansions made for a rush at the end of the game.

Great job!

Catgol1

13. Aug 2018 · 02:00 UTC

The only thing I would have to say is that the jump is really hard to get at the beginning. It would feel better if we could jump higher.

🎤 GeorgeBroussard

13. Aug 2018 · 02:01 UTC

Thanks for playing it guys and for the feedback. Glad you had fun.

@codemaster Yeah, the trick is to not get hit a lot unnecessarily so you have extra time for a couple of the harder spots. Generally ppl get better at jumping after a time or two. I tried to tweak the collision to be doable and not impossible but there's a skill ramp for sure.

Be glad I didn't make it 64 rooms :) That was just a number flip.

hive-mind

13. Aug 2018 · 02:13 UTC

Very well polished and fun game you have here. I thoroughly enjoyed the element of randomness regarding the location of the bags. It made each new area exciting and kept me playing for a while. Great game!

Guilhermoni

13. Aug 2018 · 02:20 UTC

Fun little game, really enjoyed it. I like the animations and the graphic, controls are quite simple, but thay are responsive. Just wish there was a little more to it, but thats a solid game for a 48 hour compo. Well done!

rainysolar

13. Aug 2018 · 06:49 UTC

I like the concept. This simple game is very fun. and I think it has a potential to be a great platformer.

rk3Omega

13. Aug 2018 · 11:03 UTC

I like the concept, love that it's pitfall-like, and your graphics are nice. Controls felt a little sluggish though. Too much acceleration and deceleration. And sometimes jumps felt impossible, as though I jumped at the last possible moment but still didn't make it.

chaitae

13. Aug 2018 · 15:52 UTC

I couldn't collect all the gold in time :(

OmnipotentIndie

13. Aug 2018 · 16:28 UTC

Looks charming, and I like the concept. Movement felt a bit weird, and rooms got a bit repetitive

Allan Kong

13. Aug 2018 · 16:51 UTC

I couldn't catch all the bags, sad

Ithildin

14. Aug 2018 · 02:36 UTC

Nice take on the theme! Like others, I also had a few issues with the jump at first -felt too tight- but other than that it was quite solid overall, good job!

Out of curiosity...Does the generator ensure that there are no dead ends? For example, on my first run I ended up dying because I fell to the lower floor and couldn't find a way up to reach a new bag (I moved back and forth a bit, so perhaps I just didn't survive enough to find another bag below, or the air column).

🎤 GeorgeBroussard

14. Aug 2018 · 03:03 UTC

@ithildin you just didn’t survive long enough. There’s a stretch that’s difficult and you have to run a bunch of rooms then go up and run back. Depends if you start left or right. Currently it’s the same seed for everyone and not random each play. I just found a seed that was challenging.

KunoNoOni

14. Aug 2018 · 04:00 UTC

Another amazing game George. I was only ever able to get 10/16 bags. Just couldn't time those jumps right :smile:. Controls felt good to me, and I love the art. Very innovative take on the theme. Congrats on completing your game!

DuzzOnDrums

14. Aug 2018 · 08:39 UTC

Ahh, keep allllmost getting there, got to 14 a few times, and was preying for a steam vent, never quite made it. It's been a while since I've had to make such tight jumps, they're really satisfying when you nail a bunch in a row. The UI feedback is great with the little scale bounce and polish touches. It makes a really compelling mechanic when you juuuust scrape through and get another bag. Also spot on theme-wise, and just a funny concept, great fit to the happy art too!

Chao

14. Aug 2018 · 09:51 UTC

Cool idea, fit the theme really well. It did feel kind of contrived though that enemies also gave you gold when you hit them.
I also feel like there needed to be more variations on the levels, as jumping over the same snail thing/bee dude got a bit repetitive after the 20th time.
Other than that though it was pretty solid, well done!

Pierre AVINAIN

14. Aug 2018 · 10:16 UTC

Very good game, an original idea and very cool graphics !! :)

🎤 GeorgeBroussard

14. Aug 2018 · 19:00 UTC

@kunonooni Thanks for the support over the year :)

@duzzondrums Thanks for playing and the feedback. It gets really hard toward the end. You need to have a lot of bag space to power through a certain gap that has you running a lot of rooms with no vents, to get to the final bags. Pretty much works out, no matter if you start left or right. You really cannot get hit every other time, etc on the tar pits or the enemies and make it.

@chao It was just all part of the overall curse the wizard put on you. I really wish I'd had time to do a small talking head or animated intro with him talking to you, vs lame text on screen.

Thanks for playing!

sawtan

14. Aug 2018 · 19:54 UTC

Hehe, a fun entry for sure, loved the simple yet effective graphics, I never got all 16 bags of gold though, came up to 13, but then it was all empty space, guess I needed to backtrack to get the last couple of gold stashes! But it was a fun experience never the less! Good job!

sosaddude

14. Aug 2018 · 20:26 UTC

Coscept and realization really good. I think if u continue work on those game, u can push it to AppStore and others. Nice work anyway :)

Ethan Kennerly

15. Aug 2018 · 01:42 UTC

When I saw the cute character and animals animating I felt charmed. If you continue to develop this, when I ran into similar looking rooms, I turned around and felt discouraged. Although you wrote down how it works, I started playing without reading.

superpokeunicorn

15. Aug 2018 · 16:46 UTC

This is a pretty cute game. I like the Pitfall inspired aesthetic, and the pixel art character design looks good. The game is sorely lacking background art and music, which was a bit disappointing. The premise of the game is neat, as it puts time pressure on the player, creating a tension between going fast and avoiding obstacles. My biggest complaint is that the game got repetitive after a while as the same obstacles kept repeating without variation. Perhaps making the game shorter with only 8 bags would have been more appropriate given the low amount of content. There were also some long sections without a way to get back up to the top, making it difficult to get certain bags in time. Overall, this is a simple, yet solid game. Good job!

paulhocker

16. Aug 2018 · 02:33 UTC

really clever use of the theme - i love the pitfall nostalgia - one of my favorites - thanks for making it

commanderstitch

16. Aug 2018 · 02:41 UTC

Great to see you in here making the games! I really enjoyed the nice lightweight graphics, sounds, and a nice decent take on the theme. Didn't take too long to figure out. The jumping was annoyingly difficult and I lost many times before i could complete the game. The 'randomness' not random really threw me for a loop for a while till i figured out that it retains the levels once they are there. Nice entry, look forward to more things! xD :)