Swing to safety by Noirox

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

Our submission for the Ludum Dare 47: Stuck in a loop.

A 2D sidescroller with the fun twist that your character is stuck in a loop and cannot move outside it - he has to swing the bubble and launch it off magic crystals to progress.

Made using Unity and C#.

Ratings

Overall 947th 3.396⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 850th 3.3⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 543th 3.563⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Theme 714th 3.708⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1287th 2.958⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Audio 964th 2.792⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Humor 695th 2.833⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1336th 2.8⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 18🗳️ 21🗨️

Feedback

cnewt
05. Oct 2020 · 20:52 UTC
This game is really hard! I really wanted to finish it but after dying by the fire so many times, I stopped. I don't mind it being hard but I think you should have put more checkpoints. It is a really good idea though that you should totally develop more. The controls were a bit weird at first but I got the hang of it later on. Overall, this game kept me engaged for a long time and I had a lot of fun.
DragonZBW
06. Oct 2020 · 17:36 UTC
Controls are a bit too sensitive I think. Cool idea though!
BellringerQuinn
06. Oct 2020 · 18:34 UTC
This was really fun and interesting but waaaay too hard.
TheAxe316
06. Oct 2020 · 18:40 UTC
Cute game, but it was really difficult to control the path you take through the air. The concept was pretty unique and there is a lot of potential for the mechanic you have. I think focusing on reducing the difficulty will help improve the game. A good tip is to ask someone who is really bad at video games to playtest your game, and see how they react. Even if you want your game to be difficult, most players should be able to get through a few levels. Overall nice job, you should keep working on it!
Giordas
06. Oct 2020 · 18:41 UTC
After I couple of minutes I got the hang of it and I really enjoyed playing it!!! Nice game and the music fits it perfectly. Nice little jam!!
Neragoth
06. Oct 2020 · 18:44 UTC
I like hard games so the challenge was here, but at a moment I had to stop because of the sounds (music loop is a bit short).
A button to turn it off would be really cool!
Other than that, it is working well, the mechanic makes me think about the game Get Over It which I enjoyed :D
tigerchris2000
06. Oct 2020 · 18:46 UTC
@theaxe316 How far did you get?
interstateeight
06. Oct 2020 · 18:48 UTC
Nicely done! The controls are a bit difficult to get, but it's definitely a game worth expanding on.
Pseudonclide
06. Oct 2020 · 18:50 UTC
I liked the mecanics of this game! But is was really hard! It would be nice if the music wasn't interrupted by death.
TheAxe316
06. Oct 2020 · 18:52 UTC
@tigerchris2000 I got past the first 3 levels, so the last one I completed was the one that introduced multiple blue blocks. On the 4th level, I gave up since I had died so many times.
Oleg Bone
06. Oct 2020 · 18:55 UTC
funny mechanic and interesting idea)
Greebs
06. Oct 2020 · 19:34 UTC
A strong concept with a good-but-rough execution.

Gameplay: The quick failure/respawn state makes up for the "difficult to dial in" controls. The momentum acceleration ramps too quickly to turn it into a skill the player can build in order to take on the difficulty ramp of the level obstacles. The CONCEPT of this is amazing and zeroing in on getting the player to have semi-consistent "Good Jumps" is the best way to combat "retry frustration" here for mess ups. Right now it doesn't quite feel like it's my fault I keep dying, and I want it to feel like it's my fault. But also, it's definitely my fault.

Art: I would prefer a flat color BG over the landscape blocks considering the arcade feel and active art elements, HOWEVER I like the idea of a bubble bird enough to want to see what this would look like built out, regardless of what the final concept would be. Clown in a hula-hoop. Spaceman with a gravity shield. Hamster in a wheel. Small circle in a bigger circle. Two chickens in a bubble. Limitless potential. Everything important was presented clearly and was in service of the gameplay!

Was it FUN?
YES. A lot.
tigerchris2000
06. Oct 2020 · 19:41 UTC
@greebs Thank you for your suggestions. With more time we would definitely try to make it feel like it was your own mistake but we didn't quite got it.
Chocolat-Endive
06. Oct 2020 · 20:35 UTC
I really liked the overall mood and the game mechanics, but yeah I agree that it is very hard xD
AgentLlama22
07. Oct 2020 · 05:47 UTC
I had tons of fun playing this game. Really fits within the theme, has great audio and graphics, and has a chicken. I felt that the controls were a bit jerky, and it startled me when the music started over when dying, and when the smooth chill music transitioned to the rock/ska-punk. Overall, great game!
Flying Basement Studios
07. Oct 2020 · 14:47 UTC
I think, that the mechanics is really cool, brilliant idea and you should definitely expand the game. I would recommend tweaking a bit with the sensitivity of controls because with this setting the game was extremely hard and at least for me less enjoyable than it could be.
Hamus
07. Oct 2020 · 18:43 UTC
Nice game concept! I liked the pixel art a lot! One thing I think that could improve the gameplay would be to reduce the amount of swing generated by pressing one way or another. It feels like pressing 'a' or 'd' results in the character being swung incredibly fast when I think a more gradual pace would serve the game's physics puzzles well. Gameplay still really fun though!
sefan
07. Oct 2020 · 18:47 UTC
Fun but difficult game. The swinging between points was really hard and the input was too sensitive.
Zhanna
09. Oct 2020 · 11:48 UTC
Interesting concept, very skill based game