Keep it alive by zuf

Take the orb. All that matters is the orb. Your minions are expendable. Except for the one that takes the orb. Keep it alive.
Controls:
- Click on menu buttons
- Arrow keys to control the lead minion
Your minions are simple-minded creatures. Each one follows the one in front of it.
Tips:
- Regular spikes won't kill you unless you run into them at high enough speed.
- Your progress is saved using localStorage.
| Youtube | https://zufengw.github.io/keep-it-alive |
| Youtube | https://github.com/ZufengW/keep-it-alive |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/keep-it-alive-24 |
Ratings
| Overall | 590th | 3.368⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 379th | 3.474⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 544th | 3.263⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 925th | 3.079⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 574th | 3.368⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 727th | 2.947⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 5🗳️ | 2🗨️ |
Anyway, stellar design, and a fun ideea.
@moomka @jeremyfa I agree that the controls make it tricky to fit in some gaps and avoid things. When I play it I often end up hugging to wall on one side to navigate around corners. The level design allows this most of the time, but it's not an obvious trick to pick up and I shouldn't rely on players doing this.
I ran out of time when building this, but improving the controls is something I'd definitely do if I extended the game.
Regarding improving the controls, there are multiple directions this could be taken.
One idea is to make everything move strictly within the grid and in four directions only. This would prevent brushing the sides of arrows.
Or if I want to keep the fluid movement, I could add some assistance that makes the sprites align to the grid in certain situations. E.g. When you're moving left/up/right/down, your character automatically stays close the the middle of tiles.
@k4v0x I haven't played baba is you, but I've seen screenshots. The art style is inspired by that game.
I think with some of the mechanics you had in the game, traps, multiple characters, and so on, with a bit more thought and polish on the level design this could definitely start to shine as a game. Some of the levels you didn't even have to go all the way through, it was easy enough to double back on yourself.
Definitely one of the more innovative games I've played so far.
@teo-miklethun @kjscott
I realised afterwards that some levels had unintended shortcuts. As you noticed, level 6 lets you skip the second part of the level. And in level 3 you can walk under the third moving spike. I didn't have enough time left for level design so it was rushed.
Level 8 is an important one because it's a nice twist on the theme. Most interpretations of "keep it alive" are about keeping some allied creature/object alive, but in level 8 you keep the opposing creature alive.
This game can definitely be improved if I spend more time on the controls, level design and general polish. I plan to make a post-compo version that fixes all this.
The game allows quite a bit of flexibility on game design and I'm impressed with all the things you showed. The multiple character aspect is definitely the most intriguing, as other games like this don't explore that much. Good concept and execution overall!