LudumData

Balloon Rush by CocaPasteque

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

balloon_rush.jpg

Balloon Rush

Embark on a journey through deadly saws and flamethrowers in the sky and help the cute cat with its hot air balloon to reach the finish line.

Balloon Rush is a puzzle game where you place fans across the levels and control a hot air balloon. Blow air on the balloon to move it across the levels without touching the deadly saws and avoiding the flamethrowers. You don't want the cute cat to die or explode in a horrible death, don't you?

Controls

You can a play a short tutorial in the game to learn about the controls. - [LEFT CLICK]: Place a fan - [HOLD LEFT CLICK]: Move a fan - [ESCAPE]: Pause/Menu - Use the sliders in the control panel to adjust angle and strength of the fans.

Features

  • 12 fully playable levels + a tutorial
  • Leaderboard per level
  • Configurable sound level
  • A cute cat in a balloon

cv.gif

Leaderboard

Our game uses a leaderboard system, try to be the best and reach the top 3. Beat the level the fastest possible and try to use less fans than expected.

Credits

Stefan Laimer (@stefan-laimer) and Antoine Thiry (@cocapasteque) for programming and level design. Fabrizio Palmas (@faber) for sounds and music. Marco Onnis (@abadu) for the game art. And Fabrizio Aiana (@fabrjan) for the game backgrounds and the game thumbnail.

Youtube https://github.com/cocapasteque/LD46
Youtube https://github.com/cocapasteque/lboard
Youtube https://cocapasteque.itch.io/balloon-rush
Youtube https://cocapasteque.itch.io/balloon-rush
Youtube https://cocapasteque.itch.io/balloon-rush
Youtube https://cocapasteque.itch.io/balloon-rush
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/balloon-rush

Ratings

Overall 438th 3.846⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Fun 109th 4.066⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 176th 3.949⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Theme 969th 3.769⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1229th 3.628⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Audio 696th 3.5⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Humor 758th 3.25⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1180th 3.417⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Given 70🗳️ 54🗨️

Feedback

_DaCoolOne_
21. Apr 2020 · 04:08 UTC
This game is a lot of fun!

Also, the cat is adorable.
OldBlack
21. Apr 2020 · 09:48 UTC
Fun, simple game that executes its concept quite well. Main criticism would be the difficulty ramps up quite quickly (I could just suck). Other improvements could be to the sprites, though they serve their purpose fine.
Efmi_
21. Apr 2020 · 12:33 UTC
A very well and cute excecution of a simple game concept. I've seen alot of this types of games before, but I've never seen an option to so precisely tweak the force and angle of an element. Great game with great excecution!
JLV
21. Apr 2020 · 12:37 UTC
Fun physics-based puzzle game. I really liked that there was a leaderboard and an introductory level. I certainly had a lot of fun fumbling around the first level, although the difficulty is high from the get go, as some already said.

Strenghts :
- Puzzles ! Physics ! A cute cat !
- Great tutorial
- Consistent audio and graphics

Possible improvements :
- Having to play with gauges to setup fans was a bit tiresome - I know it is not easy to do in such a short time, but the ability to use shortcuts or to rotate the fans with the mouse would greatly improve the game.

All in all, great job !
bbkate98
21. Apr 2020 · 12:42 UTC
Really fun game, Reminds me a bit of those flash games I used to spend hours playing as a kid! Great job!
chromaphase
22. Apr 2020 · 03:48 UTC
Interesting, maybe could try to add a bit of animation on the balloon, to make it more floppy so we get the wind effect better. Also the cute cat head, even a very small one, out of the balloon would be engaging, make us worrying more about the cat... !
🎤 CocaPasteque
22. Apr 2020 · 07:02 UTC
@oldblack Thanks for your feedback, difficulty is quite hard to balance during a gamejam since we played this game all weekend :)

@jlv Thanks ! I've started with the option to move the fans with the mouse, but I felt it was counter-intuitive on first play of the game, people would not always get it, especialy if they skip the tutorial. We should maybe have left the two options: slider and mouse. And mousewheel for the strength.

@bbkate98 Thanks, that's a nice compliment there !

@chromaphase If you look *closely*, the balloon has some wind effect, we used a hinge joint and seperated the balloon and the basket in two physic entities. But it's maybe too subtle.
That's why we add the zoom on the balloon when you complete a level, otherwise some players wouldn't even notice the cat was in there :D
Krassenstein
22. Apr 2020 · 13:39 UTC
Now, this is a mobile game that I could see myself playing in the bathroom for way too long, ahaha.

I love puzzle games and adding in wind elements, trajectories, and velocity takes the cake!

Well done!
Faber
22. Apr 2020 · 14:37 UTC
@krassenstein @bbkate98 @jlv @dacoolone @oldblack thank you :-)
spyranteros
22. Apr 2020 · 16:24 UTC
Very nice and challenging puzzle game! The winning condition is very satisfying :D If only the music wasn't so quiet!
KamiVara
22. Apr 2020 · 16:32 UTC
Very nice game ! This is a completely finished project and I also see myself playing for hours to solve these puzzles :)
In addition, graphics are great !
The only thing to improve is maybe the audio.
In any case, well done !!
Thank you for this game !
Robin49
22. Apr 2020 · 16:46 UTC
Very nice entry, that's pretty addictive :)
Stefan Laimer
22. Apr 2020 · 16:54 UTC
@krassenstein Thanks! Yeah, we actually thought about bringing it to mobile.

@spyranteros Thank you! in the options menu you can increase the volume a little bit, but yes, the web version is a bit quiet for some reason.
Shanzhai
22. Apr 2020 · 22:11 UTC
I like the concept, especially with the leaderboards. But there seems to be a bug somewhere: I played the tutorial, went back to the main menu afterwards and restarted the level, I was unable to place any fans. It works fine for the rest of the stages, but the tutorial just wont let you place anything.
nablaz
22. Apr 2020 · 22:14 UTC
Very cool game! I had fun playing it, I also liked the concept and excution. Physics work well and the puzzle-solving is addictive!
PonyPen
23. Apr 2020 · 01:32 UTC
Cool addictive little game (:
I wasn't very good at it but it was very interesting to play!
binroot
23. Apr 2020 · 01:38 UTC
Great concept. Really kept me engaged for a LONG time. I wish I could change the angle or power by some other way than dragging a knob on the bottom-left (maybe scroll wheel?). The sound effects were perfect!
23. Apr 2020 · 01:46 UTC
Reeeeally enjoyed this one (probably my favourite so far) - puzzles were fun and the physics all seemed intuitive. Loved the zoom on the cat at the end of each level.
Agree that the slider for angle became annoying fast but I kept coming back because the game was so much fun in spite of that. Very nice all-round job guys :)
Also - very nicely polished menus & what, leaderboards?! :o Some nice touches that were appreciated :)
Faber
23. Apr 2020 · 07:38 UTC
@binroot thank you a lot! :-)
Faber
23. Apr 2020 · 07:41 UTC
@joe-chatfield thank you!
Fupi
23. Apr 2020 · 17:23 UTC
Really good, polished game. I like these thinky games that make me feel smart. I don't get why the music isn't a loop, but that's okay. I didn't go past level 5 because the levels started getting very hard and long, I would really appreciate if the respawn time was quicker, or it had an instant retry button.
schizoid2k
24. Apr 2020 · 01:08 UTC
Very nice game. Challenging puzzles, nice animation and sounds, and a tutorial as well! Congrats on a great entry.
Faber
24. Apr 2020 · 08:34 UTC
@fupi The music is not looping, because while balancing the game we realize that some levels are kind of "hard" and we wanted to give the feeling of a small "break" (psychologically talking), so that a player can recharge it´s feeling and "start" new in his mind. We wanted to have it like this. :-)
Faber
24. Apr 2020 · 08:34 UTC
@schizoid2k thank you a lot
Giulia
24. Apr 2020 · 11:27 UTC
Hi! I like your submission, this kind of game are so engaging and challenging! I think the tutorial is a great idea, I needed it to understand how to play. As @binroot said, maybe you could find an other way to change the angle or power but I understand that it could have been too demanding to develop in few time. Overall I find your game cool! Visual and sound are spot on. Good job!
Faber
24. Apr 2020 · 12:38 UTC
@giulia thank you. We will discuss all the feedback and we will improve the game :-)
Storyteller Games
24. Apr 2020 · 14:03 UTC
The little cat is adorable! The game is really cool, very addictive!
GabrielH
25. Apr 2020 · 11:38 UTC
Lovely game!
A little bit of game feel and cleanly polished graphics go a very long way!
The idea is very contained and effective, seems like a solid recipe for a game jam, good job on scope and execution, it's impressive how many levels there are.
The game could use some more player encouragement juice (more visual and in depth scores), & some more variety in visuals. But for what it is, great job!
EpiphanyG
25. Apr 2020 · 17:52 UTC
Good job! Reminded me a lot of the Incredible Machine which I played tons of as a child. :smiley:
Stefan Laimer
25. Apr 2020 · 21:11 UTC
@epiphanyg That's exactly what we used as inspiration :smile:
adriczero
26. Apr 2020 · 19:23 UTC
Very well polished game. I like the concept, but it was very difficult for me -- kept crashing the balloon.
Artur Hawkwing
26. Apr 2020 · 20:30 UTC
This game is great on its own, but the leaderboard makes it so much better! Great job!
Vesper
26. Apr 2020 · 20:40 UTC
The mechanics in this were really interesting, and having such a clear tutorial helped immeasurably. The levels ramped up in difficulty pretty quickly, but overall everything was really engaging and felt very polished. Nice work.
room606
27. Apr 2020 · 17:40 UTC
Cool air physics based mechanics. Nice level design, levels are composed from simple elements yet are challenging enough to give fun from play. Maybe there is a little bit not consistent style of UI (dialogs in pixelart lowrez style) comparing with all the rest sprites and sizes but looks good and all is clear and readable anyway. Music also good. I like game promo art the most (screen of this Post at the top). And little kitty, hehe. Meow!

P.S.

What are these pink large triangles mean on each level?
![shot_112.png](///raw/ec0/e1/z/336bf.png)
🎤 CocaPasteque
27. Apr 2020 · 18:41 UTC
@room606 Thanks for the feedback !
Well, this pink thingy is a first. That's not intended and we never did something like this, looks like a bug from WebGL. Can I ask you what browser you are using ?
room606
27. Apr 2020 · 19:55 UTC
@cocapasteque Sure, I use Mozilla FF. Details below:
![shot_113.png](///raw/ec0/e1/z/336db.png)
nate_wec
30. Apr 2020 · 09:10 UTC
I only played the first couple levels so forgive me if this changes later in the game but I think a bit more visual variety would go a long way, perhaps different backgrounds and instead of looking into the sky perhaps looking down into various landscapes?
And dunno if this is a glitch but when I hovered over the blade in edit mode I could still blow up the balloon lol.
But fun game!
turritom
01. May 2020 · 10:42 UTC
the game is super polished. for me the tutorial level is a bit too hard to start with. You could make it a bit easier for the beginning. but otherwise top what you have delivered.
Number6406
09. May 2020 · 15:35 UTC
I found it was a bit hard to have the right angle and strength... It's a great game, I'm sure you put a lot of effort in polishing : the menus, animations of death and win, zooms etc added a lot to the game :grinning:
Well done!
PhilStrahl
11. May 2020 · 01:26 UTC
A very elegant mechanic, simple yet with so many different applications. Gameplay reminded me a lot of The Incredible Machine, just trying things over and over with small adjustments. I could definitely see this as a mobile game 😊 Here's my stream from last week featuring the game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUmP-nl1pVw
Jupiter_Hadley
18. May 2020 · 16:30 UTC
Challenging game. I included it in my Ludum Dare 46 compilation video series, if you want to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/N721nAhkovk