LudumData

Heart of the World Tree by Arttu Halonen

[raw]
made by Arttu Halonen for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

HeartOfTheWorldTree_Cover.png

The Heart of the World Tree is being attacked by fireballs! Protect the Heart as long as you can by blocking the fireballs!

This simple little game was made in under 72 hours by me in the game jam Ludum Dare 46 (my first game jam!) The gameplay is inspired by the classic title "Breakout", but essentially reversed. The only parts I did not make fully myself are the base sound effects (I did edit them during the jam, but the recordings are from libraries) and the fonts (Open Font License).

Movement: Arrow keys
Pause: Escape

HeartOfTheWorldTree_Screenshot3.png

I initially was targeting just a Windows standalone, but deciced that a web build would be easier for other people to get working. This, however, broke the nice bloom post-processing effect that the game had. Oh well, lesson learned! If you are on Windows, I've provided a Windows standalone build as well available for download. Oh, and also, the "quit game" button breaks the web player, apparently.

Install instructions

To play the Windows standalone, download the .zip file, find the HeartOfTheWorldTree.exe file and run it. If your computer warns you not to run suspicious .exe files you found on the Internet, you can tell your computer to run it anyway (if you trust me, that is).

Youtube https://arttuhalonen.itch.io/heart-of-the-world-tree
Youtube https://arttuhalonen.itch.io/heart-of-the-world-tree
Youtube https://gitlab.com/ArttuH/ludum-dare-46
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/heart-of-the-world-tree

Ratings

Overall 1903th 3.192⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1603th 3.135⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1762th 3⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1749th 3.404⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1767th 3.192⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1893th 2.125⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Mood 2246th 2.596⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 21🗳️ 26🗨️

Feedback

Blackgoku36
20. Apr 2020 · 17:16 UTC
The paddle movements feels laggy, but nice game
petrifiedapple
21. Apr 2020 · 12:47 UTC
Decent pong derivative; keep it up with the deving
zollmaniac
21. Apr 2020 · 16:54 UTC
Reverse block breaker! I liked it. Wish there had been some additional power ups for paddle size and ways to defend the tree. An unlucky spawn on the other side spelled almost immediate end for me. Keep it up!
Nurk
21. Apr 2020 · 17:51 UTC
Nice game ! I think it's too hard to have 2 balls at the same time. Destruction is really a good idea.
Sir Magic
21. Apr 2020 · 23:00 UTC
Reminds me a lot of a game I had on my iPod nano called Vortex. I like the concept but I don't like how easy it is to lose. if the ball goes into the heart, it just bounces indefinitely whilst in there and it's pretty hard to get out.

Nice visuals though and it keeps well with the theme.
amkingTRP
22. Apr 2020 · 06:39 UTC
Really like the concept; like the others said it became really difficult once there were two fireballs at once as the paddle couldn't rotate fast enough to get both. Not sure how you could correct this without making it harder to control (e.g. might be faster to rotate, but you'd lose accuracy of where the paddle stops). Maybe a power up to give another paddle 180' around the tree?
🎤 Arttu Halonen
22. Apr 2020 · 20:30 UTC
@blackgoku36 @petrifiedapple Thanks for the feedback! As for the laggy controls, I thought about using the Unity input function without input smoothing, but ended up with this version instead. Maybe the other would have been better for control.

@zollmaniac @nurk @sir-magic @amkingtrp Thanks for the feedback and the suggestions! Working solo (and being a bit out of practice) I somewhat ran out of time with improving the gameplay. After I implemented the basic gameplay on Day 1 and made the art and audio on Day 2, my job didn't leave too much time for Day 3 other than submitting the game. But if I get around to continuing this project further, I'll keep your ideas in mind!
Dryden
23. Apr 2020 · 20:16 UTC
Honestly really satyifying and calming. Love it!
David Greene
23. Apr 2020 · 20:25 UTC
I agree with some of the other commenters - the game needs some "more" to be more fun. Just blocking balls doesn't feel that fun. I'd love to have a way to remove the extra balls that come, maybe creating a temporary spike on the tree? I dunno, but it just needs "more".

Overall, great submission! Good sound with good (and simple) graphics.
🎤 Arttu Halonen
24. Apr 2020 · 05:32 UTC
@dryden @david-greene Thank you for the feedback!

I'm happy that I was able to make a "complete" game with sound and menus etc., but as you and others have mentioned (and I too noticed during the jam), this didn't leave a lot of time for improving the gameplay itself. I'll keep your ideas and suggestions in mind if I decide to continue developing this game post-jam.
TheJonu
24. Apr 2020 · 14:46 UTC
Hey, that's a pretty good game, especially if it's your first jam. My best time is 2:04. I really like the game's layout, your graphics are nice and the blurred background add a sense of depth. The sounds are pleasant too. I've downloaded the Windows build and the bloom effect looks really good indeed.
I feel like it takes too much time to get the paddle moving, I'd prefer the movement to be more instant, so it would be easier to control it and make sharp turns. But I understand that the current style of movement makes it look more realistic.
At some moments you just can't control all the balls because of where they spawn. You can be good or bad at hitting the balls, but sooner or later you will lose one of them because of randomness. That makes it really hard to "feel good" at the game. There's no real indicator of your skill. I think that may be the reason why the game feels a bit "empty" at the moment.
🎤 Arttu Halonen
24. Apr 2020 · 15:01 UTC
@thejonu Thanks, I really appreciate the feedback! I totally get what you're saying. I kind of ran out of time before I could add any real meaningful gameplay elements other than the basics you see here. I wanted to make it like the classic Breakout, where you can influence the bounce direction of the ball by hitting it with a the left or right part of your blocker. That way you could guide the balls to the same side of the Heart, so it would be easier to control multiple balls at the same time. But yeah, development time is a luxury in a game jam.
Likirus
24. Apr 2020 · 15:46 UTC
Really interesting idea of creating a spherical breakout, the paddle was quite difficult to aim accurately with the arrow keys, especially once there were multiple fireballs, maybe a mouse controlled paddle with a higher speed would have made it a bit easier to stay alive
digitaldude555
24. Apr 2020 · 15:47 UTC
I think what would make it fun would be movement with mouse that way the player will be able to handle the balls easily instead of having difficulty with only 2 balls. The sound is really good though and good use of the theme. Good work on your first jam.
Ikrad
24. Apr 2020 · 15:51 UTC
It was a really nice experience. Thank you for the game.
BoxedMeatRevolution
24. Apr 2020 · 15:55 UTC
I like how this game looks, and like the idea, but I think the gameplay is a bit lacking. I'd have like it if there was some way to permanently destroy a fireball. Currently the fireballs just get faster over time, and it's incredibly difficult to juggle more than one. I think with a few small gameplay changes this game could really shine!
🎤 Arttu Halonen
24. Apr 2020 · 18:11 UTC
@likirus @digitaldude555 @ikrad @boxedmeatrevolution Thanks for playing and leaving a comment! I very much so appreciate the feedback! I'm getting a lot of good ideas from the comments here, and I'm thinking that I probably should continue working on this game post-jam!
BinarySpark
24. Apr 2020 · 22:06 UTC
A fresh implementation of the classic pong design! Nice work getting some of the visual and audio work in; I know that's very easily overlooked with such little dev time. I quite like how small pieces of the barrier fall away, it reminds me of the terrain destruction in the old 2D Worms games.

The critiques I'd have with the gameplay have already been mentioned by other people, but still, this is a solid entry. Jams are perfect for trying out new weird things, so keep going.
🎤 Arttu Halonen
25. Apr 2020 · 17:08 UTC
@binaryspark Thanks for the feedback! As a solo dev I was happy to get the visuals and audio to a decent level, but this unfortunately meant that I didn't have enough time to make the gameplay improvements I had in mind.
Daniil Tcyvakin
27. Apr 2020 · 20:45 UTC
interesting idea
Karas
08. May 2020 · 10:10 UTC
Nice entry. The movement are maybe a bit slow, with one ball it's pretty easy but as soon as you got two it's an all other level of difficulty. Would had love to see the timer while playing to keep me hook a bit more. Overall great job ! :)