Looponaut by exopunk

[raw]
made by exopunk for Ludum Dare 47 (JAM)

looponaut looponaut1

Join our hero in his adventure to escape from the time loop!

We really run out of time in this one, we tried to create a small roguelike game with "enjoyable" combat, but it was a lot tougher than we thought, hope you enjoy your play through.

CHANGELOG (After submission)

05/10/2020 23:59 UTC - Add new builds that fix a game crash they are uploaded separately with the prefix looponaut_crashfix. - Added an OSX build that we didn't have time to upload before the submission

ISSUES

​Sometimes on player death the game will crash, the postjam updated build with the fix is called looponaut_crashfix.

CONTROLS

KEYBOARD

Movement - WASD

Jump - Space

Attack - Left click

Secondary attack - Right click

CREDITS

Alex Kaminaris - Art

Alex Podaras - Programming

Theodore Moustakas - Sound design / Music

ATTRIBUTIONS

Abaddon font by Nathan Scott

Ratings

Overall 163th 4.029⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Fun 250th 3.843⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 777th 3.357⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Theme 232th 4.114⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 139th 4.343⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Audio 104th 4.088⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Mood 83th 4.214⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Given 34🗳️ 46🗨️

Feedback

Michael Horst
05. Oct 2020 · 23:58 UTC
I liked that not only does each loop become more challenging, it also provides a power-up that allows you to more quickly and easily navigate the level (at first, I found the mechanics felt a bit cumbersome, but then the payoff was the upgrades). Most elements were nicely polished, which I like to see in jam games. Unfortunately, the game froze on me when I died (I lost my final HP to the second flying on loop 3). I was hoping I could restart the current loop with full HP, for the sake of timely testing the game.

Overall, a great submission!
🎤 exopunk
06. Oct 2020 · 00:04 UTC
@michael-horst sorry about that Michael, i just noticed it too, i uploaded different builds for the crashfix version. Glad you enjoyed it though :D
Bredera
06. Oct 2020 · 08:05 UTC
Awesome little game, loved the effect used on the player character and rewinding the loop is really satisfying to watch. Great job!
Valkija
06. Oct 2020 · 12:12 UTC
Absolutely adore the art!
Idan Rooze
06. Oct 2020 · 12:18 UTC
A very well-made entry, the art and music really drew me in. I would have preferred if the level was shorter, and instead you gave me more tools to deal with the stronger enemy types after every run. The player controller was very clunky, and I didn't like the control scheme at all. But I did enjoy the premise and the amazing atmosphere that you've managed to create. Congratulations and good luck!
loligxp
06. Oct 2020 · 12:20 UTC
Really great game.

+The audio feels great and just sounds nice.
+The enemy are basic but give just enough challenge, more types would be cool but I know there isn't much time :P
+Simple to understand :D
+the graphics are great, the character looks kinda adorable and for a jam game the art is amazing.
+Cool effect when you die, also no long death screen so I can just instantly try again. :D

now some things I didn't like

-There was no way of restoring health, I played the last 2 loops with only 1 HP.
-The Hitbox of you swordslash is way bigger then expected, a bigger sworf trail would be cool so you don't have to guess.
-Level design was basic / only blocks (probably because of time, I mean they're good enough ^^)

All in All, it's a cool little game, well done :D
GloomyFolken
06. Oct 2020 · 12:35 UTC
Looks great, sounds great, feels great, the realization that i'm stupid and didn't notice you can throw your sword until i've completed the game - does not feel great :D
🎤 exopunk
06. Oct 2020 · 12:37 UTC
@loligxp Thank you very much for your detailed feedback, glad you enjoyed it! Yeah the initial plan was to be able to select if you wanted extra health or an extra ability on the next loop, but we really overestimated the time we had :P
🎤 exopunk
06. Oct 2020 · 12:42 UTC
@gloomyfolken Sorry about that we should have done a screen with the controls and explaining the main gameplay loop!
azagaya
06. Oct 2020 · 12:50 UTC
Great Art! i really like the rewind effect. Going faster in the third loop really makes things harder instead of easier hehe. And for some reason, when dieing, I started again with only 1 life point. Is that normal?
🎤 exopunk
06. Oct 2020 · 13:10 UTC
@azagaya Yeah the concept was that when the loop rewinds it takes you back with the same stats you had at the start of the loop, we were planning to add health drops or being able to choose if you want to heal or get a power up but never got around it.
dyguests
06. Oct 2020 · 16:25 UTC
It's fun, it feels a little difficult. The painting style is very good, and the music is also very atmospheric.
Starlight Glimmer is best poney
06. Oct 2020 · 17:35 UTC
Really beautiful. The ambience is top-notch. It's very similar to Hollow Knight in that regard. I'll be disappointed if you don't score >4.0 in Mood. The penultimate level is the hardest; I speedran the last one on 1HP and I like the overall idea of permanently losing HP (or choosing to restart and redo the loop a bit better).

Platforming is sometimes off; I'm certain it doesn't listen to some input after some jumps and it even got me killed once. Also, my personal pet peeve is not having jump height control (longer hold->higher jump) in 2D platformers.
🎤 exopunk
06. Oct 2020 · 18:04 UTC
@alaah Thank you very much for your feedback glad you enjoyed it!
Yeah there is something wonky with the double jump added it near the end and didn't playtest it a lot, you are right about the jump height control it improves the game feel on platformers, next time :D
Haustgeirr
06. Oct 2020 · 21:30 UTC
Cool little game. Really liked the atmosphere, but I found that speed running was more effective than combat in later stages. I didn't see the end though as the game crashed. Good effort.
WTFree
07. Oct 2020 · 00:19 UTC
The art style is excellent and it feels so smooth to play.
etrealjunior
07. Oct 2020 · 10:05 UTC
I liked your game my congratulations, I also did one if you want to know, and give me your feedback I am very grateful, this is the link https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/resurrection
Douwe_Ravers
07. Oct 2020 · 13:52 UTC
very nice game, I liked the art and warping effect a lot. The only thing that was annoying was that I could not exit the game in full screen mode :/ (I used the linux build)
DarcyTimms
07. Oct 2020 · 14:19 UTC
Having the player grow stronger and stronger after each loop is a great mechanic, Great Job!
JoeShanahan
07. Oct 2020 · 18:04 UTC
Wow, this is the first game I've played so far where it gets five stars for mood. It's a slightly unsettling mood, that put me on edge, but I love it!

Within the first few seconds of moving and swinging my weapon (nail?) I could see the Hollow Knight inspiration, but it's managed to do something different and create its own identity. Moving about generally felt pretty smooth, and by playing over and over I really felt like I was starting to master it. I cannot tell you the stress I felt seeing the end blocked on the final level :sweat_smile:

I think it's interesting that you carry over your lives across runs, but it could be improved further by communicating this properly to the player. If I'd known that losing health on run 1 would carry over, I probably would've done run 1 again, but there's no option to do that (unless you restart the game). Perhaps a door at the end that makes your health loss permanent, or a door that gives you a new ability (like the door does already).

Very solid entry, great job here! :grin:
Sam Minh
07. Oct 2020 · 18:22 UTC
This game is a gem. It has a lot of potential for the future as well.

The art direction was solid. That attack animation is so simple and yet so juicy. Everything fit and was consistent. The blut effect behind the player and the death effect are really surprising.
The sound was nice but a little repetitive, some random pitch changge can fix this.
As for the difficulty, I don't think the gameplay itself is too difficult, I think that keeping your hp from the previous loop is too harsh, because that means the best way to play is to die after taking a hit to ensure better odds in future loops.
The atmosphere was really outstanding, it was unique and different. The ambience and echo in the sounds added to the overall asthetic.
🎤 exopunk
07. Oct 2020 · 18:30 UTC
@joeshanahan Thank you very much for your feedback, glad you enjoyed it! Yeah the communication part is non existent we left it for the end and never got the time to add an extra screen.
🎤 exopunk
07. Oct 2020 · 18:47 UTC
@sam-minh Thank you very much for your kind words and your feedback, glad you liked it!
Kaldrin
07. Oct 2020 · 21:50 UTC
While this is not crazy original we gotta admit this is a good use of the looping level, adding power ups and stronger threats is a nice idea, you got the theme!
I think this is the best art I've seen so far, really great job, the animations are incredible, the background looks super good, and your itch.io page too looks nice! It felt great to play, the attack animation reminded me of Hollow knight, and it's effective.
Also great sound design, when we die or reloop or the global sound ambiance, it's great!
Congrats!
Shelvid
07. Oct 2020 · 22:37 UTC
Very fun and aesthetically pleasing game, also very fun mechanics in general. 10/10 coconut crab
Roikku
07. Oct 2020 · 22:38 UTC
More unique gameplay required to reach innovative spheres. But the game's awesome! :) Awesome art!
🎤 exopunk
07. Oct 2020 · 23:01 UTC
@kaldrin Thank you very much, glad you liked it :)
🎤 exopunk
07. Oct 2020 · 23:03 UTC
@shelvid Thank you, really enjoyed your stream had fun :)
🎤 exopunk
07. Oct 2020 · 23:04 UTC
@roikku Glad you enjoyed it!
Erlioniel
08. Oct 2020 · 17:28 UTC
I like the way how this game sounds and looks. Really nice atmosphere.

I would say that level should mutate somehow more interesting rather just added additional HP to every enemy.

But overall it is very nice, love it!
Duke
08. Oct 2020 · 20:19 UTC
That was actually pretty cool! I was already invested when I saw the screenshots and was not disappointing. The player animation reminded me a lot of hollow knight. The controls were snappy and game play was fast and fluent! I didn't like the perfect air control too much, but that's a minor gripe. Seeing this in a jam context, the idea to reset the levels after each run was a good idea. The level was short enough to not lose the players interest. At least for me, it wored. I played it to the end :) The art was amazing btw, very well crafted and the parallax backgrounds really added to the mood. Some lighting would've been a great addition to improve the mood even further. The enemies were alright but seemed a bit generic (as they are bats and ants). I found out about the secondary attack a little later in the game and this made the game a cakewalk! The primary attack has a VERY short range (risk!) and makes the same damage as the ranged attack (almost no risk!). That's something that could be tweaked and balanced a bit.

Other than that, a really nice and polished entry. Good job!
🎤 exopunk
09. Oct 2020 · 01:03 UTC
@duke Thank you very much for your feedback, glad you enjoyed it! Yeah the balancing certainly needs some work, we didn't account for the risk part, you are absolutely right.
Linetaru
09. Oct 2020 · 21:41 UTC
You have a very good visual game, with smooth gameplay and a perfect animation of death i which be able to do that on a game one time in my life.
MikoziQ
10. Oct 2020 · 21:52 UTC
Visually cool, it resembles me a lot of Castelvania-like games. I liked the difficulty spike and the fact that you allowed speedrunning the last 2 levels especially. I would boost the meele attack or get rid of it completely as I only used ranged attack (infinite ammo, possible double damage etc). Good job! Keep it up!
galpashitaka12
11. Oct 2020 · 20:39 UTC
Awesome game, this is scaryly good! Love the graphics and the controls feel very tight. The music and sounds are so on point, I love the rewind sound when you get killed and return to the beginning.
gamescodedogs
14. Oct 2020 · 15:01 UTC
Wow... that was so awesome. Theme was done at 100%! Love it. And fights was realy “enjoyable”. :)
tiffi
18. Oct 2020 · 17:33 UTC
This game has by far the best graphics i've seen during this LD48. GREAT Work. The gameplay is also really cool btw :D
sakura_magika
23. Oct 2020 · 00:19 UTC
Excellent job!!! The visuals and sound were extremely good for a game jam. I like how the difficulty goes up with each loop, especially how the increased movement speed can be a blessing and a curse, making it harder to control the astronaut through obstacles, but easier to run past the stronger enemies.
The core gameplay felt pretty solidly grounded in typical platformer form, but was executed very well, felt snappy and tight.
Matootsy
25. Oct 2020 · 12:37 UTC
The Art is very polish for a Jam. The character is cool and the movements are pretty good. I tested already many games based on this concept where in the next loop there's a new feature for the character (The speed up was nice, because at the beginning the character is very slow) but I prefer when theses new fetures give you the power to explore the level in some other parts. Here it's a bit boring because I don't feel the necessity of new powers to do the same actions... Anyway. this a very polish entry. Love the rewind effects and the sound ambience. Congratulation you three!