Signal Surfer by ChewieCB

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

Keep the signal alive and as intact as possible as it speeds along the power lines towards a satellite uplink.

A simple little side-scrolling/on-rails platformer I built for my first Ludum Dare.

Mechanics

  • Speed up or slow the signal with "D" and "A"
  • Jump with "W"
  • Drop down to the wire below (if there is one) with "S"
  • Being off of a wire (jumping or falling) loses signal strength
  • Hitting a bird loses signal strength (and score)
  • Being on a wire regains signal strength, the faster you move the faster it restores
  • End score is multiplied by the signal strength % for a final score

Happy With

  • Finally managed to properly scope a game for a jam and actually finished on time :smiley:
  • The telephone pole and electrical wire generation code actually worked out pretty well.

Not So Happy With

  • Realising the web version on itch.io is fairly broken with 2 hours left till submission, for both our sakes just download it for your OS.
  • The controls could be a bit tighter.

Screenshots

screenshot4.png

screenshot0.png

screenshot3.png

screenshot1.png

screenshot2.png

Credits

Code, Music & Additional Art: Jack McCaffrey

SFX/Sound Design: James Bridges

Art: - Character Sprites: elthen - Backgrounds: https: dyLESTorm

Ratings

Overall 987th 3.583⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Fun 990th 3.433⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 2018th 2.85⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1349th 3.6⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Audio 839th 3.393⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1250th 2.817⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1548th 3.2⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Given 18🗳️ 18🗨️

Feedback

OldKnivesTale
21. Apr 2020 · 14:20 UTC
This really reminded me of games I play in my head while looking out a car window.
Tero Pulkkinen
21. Apr 2020 · 18:22 UTC
nice music, speedy action, and cool phone lines. What else could you hope for?
mbrezu
21. Apr 2020 · 18:25 UTC
So much fun! I really did not expect to like it that much!

About the web version, give the rules another look, IIRC you can fix bugs after submission.
JBDEV
21. Apr 2020 · 18:25 UTC
The game was very addictive and fast. Port it to mobile and it can be a hit!!
toby-klauder
21. Apr 2020 · 18:28 UTC
fast paced, easy for quick play sessions, i was a little confused on if I should hit the birds or avoid them, but overall great game!
kitjenson
21. Apr 2020 · 18:29 UTC
Really like the concept, art, and overall vibe of the game.

The controls are a little bit jarring. And the music could have been a little more subtle.

All that said... I really loved this game. Nice work.
J_C - One Bit Studio
21. Apr 2020 · 18:29 UTC
Loved the artstyle and the music. The gameplay is simplistic, but I can see people getting addicted to it to beat their highscores. Nice.
Jonrei
21. Apr 2020 · 18:30 UTC
Very impressive and I agree with @JBDEV, this game can totally be a hit on mobile. The "s" button to drop down didnt work for some reason, but then a gain, I played the HTML build which you warned us was a bit broken. All in all a very good jam game!
damian1ilin
21. Apr 2020 · 18:33 UTC
Nice game! I liked it, reminded me of some android games, its a solid mechanic and a good use of the theme. I used the windows version and sometimes it crashed when hitting play, that may be an issue to solve, besides that, I really liked it!

Also, check out my game! I would really appreciate it
hulien22
21. Apr 2020 · 18:35 UTC
Short and sweet game! Gameplay felt really smooth, and the artwork + audio were great! Nice job!
shark6100
21. Apr 2020 · 18:36 UTC
Simple, fun, love the seamlessness of the wire transitions. It feels very natural and you feel like you have a lot of momentum. The music and art are both great too.
devilqube
21. Apr 2020 · 18:37 UTC
Nice tunes and gameplay. Good fun.
jrf
21. Apr 2020 · 18:43 UTC
Superb game, really well done! I like how fast-paced this is. The music really nice as are the graphics. Addictive! Great work!
Sushiy
21. Apr 2020 · 18:43 UTC
Amazing job! I really liked the graphics and audio and the feeling of zipping along the lines was great.
slow down and speed up felt a bit abrupt and wonky, so i didn't end up using it a lot
xeno-software
21. Apr 2020 · 18:44 UTC
The gameplay was super smooth, a really nice twist on an infinite runner. Loved the final signal received animation. I think there could've been a few more obstacles (maybe a lightning strike?) though I'm sure you would've implemented if you had more time. I enjoyed the game even though I played it in my browser. I was also thinking if you could implement some powerups, EG super speed. Thanks for making this, and I look forward to seeing what else you've created. Good luck!
curleyrach
21. Apr 2020 · 18:56 UTC
Felt smooth to play and a little bit addictive! Graphics and sound were good. Nice job!
cristi_aby
21. Apr 2020 · 21:06 UTC
Interesting concept! I scored 5700. Nice job!
PhilStrahl
11. May 2020 · 01:56 UTC
Strong Canabalt vibes right off the top but this game is even faster! I enjoyed the simple and streamlined mechanics quite a bit although it took me a couple of tries to finally be transmitted, so I hope I wasn't a crucial data packet. Only thing that felt a bit unforgiving was the bird placement sometimes... Here's my latest stream featuring the game, by the way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP012VKTPV8