The Red Twins Assassination by ErikU

[raw]
made by ErikU for Ludum Dare 47 (COMPO)

Hello and welcome to my Ludum Dare Compo entry. In this game, you'll play as an assassin with two daggers that can throw each independently. First you'll go through the training level to learn how to use them and then go on to the two main levels which are timed.

SS1.png

Controls

W / A / S / D - Move

Left click / Left Shift - Throw or retrieve left dagger

Right click / F - Throw or retrieve right dagger

Middle click / Space - Throw or retrieve both daggers

R - Restart the level

Z - Quit to the level select stage

SS2.png

Dagger Mechanics

  • There is a minimum and maximum distance to your throw
  • The dagger travels to the location of your mouse at the time that the assassin lets go
    • It can be intercepted by obstacles in the way
  • It will embed itself into the wall until you tighten the slack or press the button again
    • Slack is indicated by the color of the rope. A black end near you means it is almost out of slack.
  • If both daggers are embedded, doing the "both" action will launch you to the average location of both
    • Use this to cross gaps or pull obstacles
    • Enemies can be pulled apart using this technique

SS3.png

Tools

  • Unity
  • Blender
  • Photoshop
  • Bfxr
  • GarageBand

Thoughts

I spent a lot of time working out the mechanics of the main character - about half the full time. It was a good lesson in Unity's character animation capabilities. Unfortunately, this means that the levels are few and a little simple. Hopefully you can have some fun in them anyhow!

I also didn't get to work out the theme as much as planned. The idea was to be caught in an assassination loop, Groundhog Day style (or perhaps subconsciously inspired by the upcoming DEATHLOOP - admittedly the premise is very similar!).

SS4.png

Known Issues

  • Sometimes one of the daggers will get stuck in your hand and cannot be thrown again. Wasn't able to squash this in time. Unfortunately the best bet is to press R to restart the level.
  • Some training text implies drones take multiple hits and have weak points, but this functionality didn't make it in.
  • When in front of an wall that's revealed itself, the raycast will hit the wall, throwing the daggers there instead of where you intended.

Tips

  • Try to defeat the drones before they're alerted to your presence.
  • The drones can't shoot unless you're in front of them. Run a circle around them to avoid fire.
  • Aim high and far when using the "both" action to cross gaps.
  • Download the Windows version for nicer graphics!

Ratings

Overall 476th 3.083⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Fun 372th 3.139⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 198th 3.556⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Theme 610th 2.25⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 323th 3.361⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Audio 342th 2.944⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Humor 372th 2.25⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Mood 269th 3.25⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 11🗳️ 14🗨️

Feedback

aressler38
05. Oct 2020 · 00:27 UTC
Nice kick!
Gironimo4
05. Oct 2020 · 00:31 UTC
Only difficulty I ran into was trying to throw daggers when behind an object, the daggers would come towards the camera. But very fun otherwise, the tutorial is well enough built that I think you can get rid of some of the intro and html text on the theme/submission pages.
DecadeDecaf
05. Oct 2020 · 00:38 UTC
I loved the visuals and appreciated the multiple control options. Taking out the drones felt satisfying, but I was able to complete the levels by mostly just running past them. The tutorial level was paced really well; I had no issues understanding the game.

A very solid compo entry. Good job.
Lestat
05. Oct 2020 · 01:31 UTC
I like the style, the animations, even the colors (lighht brown its one of my favorites :p). Good job!
MikoziQ
05. Oct 2020 · 14:47 UTC
Good Entry! The Web version tested had a bug that I could not rethrow secondary dagger. Restarting via 'R' button solved the problem. I like the animations and the colors as well as they don't feel to dark, what happens in most assasin-style games.
lesinvisible
05. Oct 2020 · 18:41 UTC
Nice and solid game with physics, amazing how many things you was able to put here.
CitDev Chris
05. Oct 2020 · 21:22 UTC
Fixed camera and flat textures was sometimes disorienting but the dagger mechanics are fantastic.

I like how the tutorial lead me in, really well done!
caeonosphere
06. Oct 2020 · 10:47 UTC
Managed to beat both levels! I really like the idea of pulling yourself around with these two daggers; sticking into something overhead and swinging from it would be a lot of fun.

The character physics could use a little work, I think. The camera, too. Oh, and I was able to break the daggers pretty easily by spamming middle click a few times at an object just out of reach! I had to restart the level to get them back.

Nice work!
Ramble House Games
08. Oct 2020 · 12:14 UTC
I like the idea. The 3D models are impressive for a Compo submission. The tutorial is really nicely put together. The only thing that would have made it more fun is if I had a bit more feedback as to where my daggers would land. I often felt like I clicked on the robots domes but didn't get the kill. Nonetheless, great job.
Animaster
08. Oct 2020 · 12:27 UTC
I can't move in web version, but win version seems ok. There's a lot of bugs, and when you die you not sure what killed you. I liked the graphics and idea of the game, hope to see improved version in the future. Good job!
thesedatedprince
10. Oct 2020 · 07:49 UTC
I really appreciate the care that went into animating the main character, it feels incredibly polished for a compo entry. I think the core mechanics are great, particularly using the daggers to pull yourself forward. My only thought is I think the camera could benefit from being zoomed out slightly - sometimes, when the drones were approaching from the bottom of the screen, they killed me before I was really aware of their presence. But otherwise, a great idea for a game, and one I think would be worth exploring further.
automatonvx
11. Oct 2020 · 12:29 UTC
I really enjoyed this, I liked the kind of minimalist 3d look, but the player character was animated enough to give a bit of feeling of personality. The main issue I had was judging where the dagger was going to throw, maybe just some highlight or something to make it clearer, also it often wanted to throw daggers at walls that were just blocking the camera instead of stuff i actually wanted to throw it at. The Music and SFX worked well for the assasin style atmosphere too. I didn't finish level 2 trying to kill 4 of those things chasing me at a time was too much for me. Also i was dissapointed I could't throw the dagger down at the enemies below me. Could have used a way to control the camera also. If you were going to develop it more it would be nice to maybe focus more on the stealth element rather than trying to actually destroy stuff, or make the dagger targeting easy enough that trying to run away and throw at the same time is not too annoying. Anyway, not without some issues but still pretty great work for a compo entry.
vlandemart
14. Oct 2020 · 07:52 UTC
I really liked visual style and daggers mechanic. Jumps are super satisfying, I'd like to play something with all this stuff.
But the camera is straight up awful - you cant see much, cat really grapple at objects you'd like to grapple.
Anyways, pretty impressive for a compo.