Alpine by RenD

ALPINE is a short 2D platformer puzzle experience where you try to reestablish the fiber optical network on a lonely mountain after the storm has left its inhabitants without a connection.
Platform your way up to the top of the mountain, stretch cables between houses and have a chat with the locals.

Controller controls
- LS/D-Pad: Move
- A: Jump
- X: Interact (Pull/Connect/Cut cables, Pick/Place a connector)
Keyboard controls
- WASD/Arrows: Move
- Z: Jump
- X: Interact (Pull/Connect/Cut cables, Pick/Place a connector)
Known issues
- The 2D physics is a bit wonky: you might get trapped inside walls or platforms when the framerate drops, wall jumps sometimes don't register
- Playing the WebGL build with a controller using the analog stick can be a bit laggy/jittery at times
Credits
| Link | https://oddly-shaped-pixels.itch.io/alpine |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/alpine |
Ratings
| Overall | 8th | 4.437⭐ | 65🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 22th | 4.206⭐ | 65🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 262th | 3.643⭐ | 65🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 173th | 4.143⭐ | 65🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 21th | 4.643⭐ | 65🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 66th | 4.148⭐ | 63🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 47th | 4.339⭐ | 64🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 34🗳️ | 58🗨️ |
Incredible what you achieved in 72h.
It's so polished *-* and i had so much fun :)
@pavel-goncharov It's supposed to be the controller button, but it happens to also be the keyboard binding in that case!
This is the highest-rated game of the jam so far from me.
I slept only 8 hours too :sweat_smile:. But I was going COMPO
I only stuck at that level with 2 doors, where second(bottom) door is closed and doesn't open for some reason, maybe I missed something
The Celeste vibe is definatly there, but you put on a different gameplay mechanic, which was more fun than I expected first.
The controls felt very good. The level design is well thought out. It shows that you have experience in the gaming field. :)
The little puzzles are fair and I like that the spark is opening and closing the door.
The only "ok" thing is the music. Don't get me wrong. It gets its job done, but it is not on the same level like the rest of the game, because the rest is top notch! But I see that you did all by yourself, so I can imagine that it had not the biggest priority.
Is your characters name coincidentally "Copper Dan", the brother of our main protagonist "Cable Man"? Multiverse chance for our games. :D
The cable getting red was a very nice touch, so you could always tell, how much space you had left. All in all very good plattformer with very nice graphics. I had a lot of fun completing the game. :)
I really enjoyed the game!!!
Are you the guy behind Celeste ?!
What a polished lovely game !
The best I played so far !
Game design is so clever, music is so chilling!
SPOIL the end of the game:
!> The ending is so cool ziplining THEN poetic ending <3
Here is a game I really want to play for hours !
Maaan this pixel art :grin: !!

I think maybe because I grabbed the wire during the cutscene. Gonna try again!
EDIT: I went back and beat the game but it just gave me controls. I'm pretty sure there's supposed to be a
!>ziplining cutscene, because last time it said he couldn't feel his face, but I walked back to the beginning and nothing happened
I tried my absolute best and managed to find 7 feathers, but I'm completely stumped on the remaining ones. If you ever release a walkthrough later, please @ me—I'm so curious!!!
I did discover that you can use the i-frames (invincibility frames) after dying to briefly jump onto spiked platforms. Maybe this is a puzzle mechanic? Also, I noticed that if you jump right before hitting the spikes, you spawn slightly higher up at the respawn point? I'm not sure if these are bugs or features, but I keep wondering if they're the key to getting the feathers I couldn't reach!
Anyway, I really love this game! You guys are amazing!!!"
@cax Thanks, Celeste was indeed a strong source of inspiration. One of the metal detachable connectors is linked to this door, you just have to find which one :smiley:
@pavlo Thanks for your feedback! Yeah the physics engine is made by me and not very good at handling framerate drops, I'd need to rebuild it some day
@lllarso Thanks a lot for your super detailed feedback, I'm glad you liked the game (and the music not so much :smile: ). It's true that our two protagonists could be brothers, maybe we can think of a bundle when we release on Steam!
@senior-sigan @nikorych Thanks for your kind comments!
@remy-lopez Ahhh thanks for your super nice comment. And no, sadly I'm not the guy (or one of the guys) behind Celeste.
@djtequila I'm glad you liked the game, I wish I could have added more levels, I had at least 5 others mechanics designed on paper but I had to cut drastically to make it on time
@yanruyi the 2D physics engine is home made, and there are tons of bugs sorry... Normally you shouldn't need invincibility to collect all feathers. There's an advance mechanic that I thought would be clearer but nobody saw it. I've added an input prompt so it's more obvious, with it you can collect everything
@geeni Thanks a lot!
@bonedaddy Yeah Celeste was a huge inspiration indeed. Given the screenshot it's definitely a bug, there must have been some double input connecting the last house and everything went to sh**. Normally after zip lining the game fades out to the conclusion
@abiral Thanks, I'm glad you like it!
@jesse-martin definitely something hidden, have a look at the screen shots on the itch page, it might give you a hint...
@mezaka @peterlebagarreur Thanks for your kind comments!
I really love this idea; it's such a creative concept. It almost feels like a sort of 'knowledge gate.' Maybe it would be really fun to design a small, tutorial-style puzzle specifically for this mechanic~ This clever idea makes me appreciate the game even more!
Unfortunately i always managed to glitch into the walls somehow and had to restart the game.
And after the 5th try i gave up and only ever reached the first summit before it happend.
But it felt pretty good to speedrun the first part :D
Great job!
My playthrough: https://youtu.be/krbeb-zkJWk

I somehow couldn't finish it, I have tried multuple times now. When writing this comment I came across @ghettobastler 's video and now I get it!
I love the way this story is told; like a bedtime story, that is very creative and I will remember that for LD60 :grin:
Great game! Right near the end, when I was sliding down a zipline, I tried to jump off and ended up snapping one of the cables, which left me stuck in a wall. I was really hoping to figure out how to collect the last two feathers at the beginning 🙂
Wall jumps also feel a bit rough, and overall the controls could use a little more smoothness, but for a jam this is still a very strong result. Excellent game!
Great job, its really very pleasant experience to play this game. Very chill. Thank you. And sorry for the bad pun.
I also could not figure out how to get more than 7 of the feathers. Alas. Seems like I'm not alone based on some of the ending screenshots in the comments.
Some feathers were really cheeky and I love that you took the time to implement some of these behind secret, hidden walls! Overall great stuff!
Sometimes I felt like the character felt a bit unresponsive and floaty in the jumps. But overall no big deal. The guy talked about ziplining but I got confused. How do you zipline again? Pressing the interact key? But that cuts the wire, so I didn't have the courage to press the button. :(
Going through the story as a told story was heartwarming :)
Great game!
I think there might be an odd issue with the audio: I experienced the music as having this odd crackling distortion, which I thought was a stylistic choice. But then when I exited fullscreen at the end of playing I noticed it went away. And sure enough -- I hit fullscreen and it crackles, non-fullscreen it stops. So odd!
Anyway, really nice music, audio, graphics, solid platforming controls, a concept taken straight from the theme, and all packed up into a narrative with a satisfying conclusion. Nice well-rounded entry!

@recursor Thanks for the kind words!
@wouter52 Go ahead! Indeed, it's a nice narrative trick and it costs only a few sentences
@block97 Well, the 2D physics is the weakest point of the game. Hopefully you didn't get trapped inside walls... Thanks for your comment, I'm glad you liked the game!
@dan-whiffing That's a valid comment, I realize now that the relationship between pylons and gates is not communicated at all so it feels arbitrary. I'm glad you got past that and enjoyed the game!
@animaster Woops, that's a bug indeed... The 2D physics is pretty bad I must admit, I didn't manage to properly nail the wall jump feeling like in other platformers, and you quite often fall into colliders. If you want to know how to get those last 2 feathers I've linked a video of a 100% playthrough on itch
@braktheman Thanks for your comment! If you have a look at the screenshots on itch, you must be able to locate one hidden feathers. For the other 2, have a look at the playthrough video, there's one obfuscated mechanic you might have missed
@sheepolution Oh man, such an honor you played my game. You're a true LD veteran, I even remember playing "One take" back in the days, what a clever game!
@kazuren Thanks a lot for your comment! Yeah, it's a bit like Celeste but with more bugs :smile:
@tosmaster You must reach the final house and connect it. The dialogue that ensues should hint you at the zip lining mechanic. When it ends, try to go at the highest point of the cable network, see if you can interact with it...
@takeshi64 That's impressive you got the 10 feathers cause that "double" jump mechanic is not pretty obvious and fez players find it. I totally agree that the door puzzle is badly communicated, I had to rush it at the end of the jam and didn't think to properly communicate the link between a pylon and the door it opens
@wo-ri-gou-le Yeah, I only had the hear to break one of those poles (the first one when the game starts). I also like that feeling of going into the quietness after a storm
@zamizmi Thanks a lot, I'm glad the game resonated with you and you enjoyed all of its parts!
@pkenney I'm sorry for the audio issue, I didn't experience it and you're the first one to bring it up. Maybe it has to do with FMod and the WebGL build. Perhaps if you try the Windows or Mac build the problem will go away
@caer I'm humble by your comment, I'm so happy you enjoyed it that much. I also love the setting of the mountain and connecting people, a bit like simpler and cozier version of Death Stranding
@sinemual Ahaha thanks! It's my 5yo who suggested me the zipline idea when testing the game mid-jam, I'll tell him you liked it!
@roroto-sic Thanks for posting your result! I'm glad you liked the game, maybe if you're missing some feathers, have a look at the screenshot or the walkthrough video
The only thing I can *(a little bit)* complain about is **controls** (as it often happens for platformers, *haha*). Dunno how you built up the movement, but buffer zone for sure should be larger. Throughout the game often find my self (especially climbing walls) that game doesn't account the jump *(despite, from my perspective, I did it on time)*. Also, (don't know about the controllers, but at pc) pressing "down" completely blocks other movement, which is pretty annoying :<
**Overall:** I very enjoyed the entry!!! Well done!
Great job!
And the end was sweet, too 🧡

@filgru Thanks for your kind comment!
@mrturtle Yeah wall jumps are a bit off... And I think I should have made the detection for the pylons more forgiving cause I also ended cutting my rope when I was trying to connect it
@pipetto I'm sure you can do it!
@cataclysmicknight Thanks for your kind comment and for leaving a review on itch as well!
At first I thought it was a pico 8 games and not a unity game (because of the keybinding and the format) but I guess that was the point.
What can I say, the game plays great, looks greats, sounds greats.
If I must find a few things to improve, I'd say the puzzle with the "electric" doors wasn't super clear. And also the writing felt like it was a bit too long for what it was saying but I understand it's a tough balance for such a short game. And finally, how can I zipline ?! :D
Anyway, you did an amazing job and you can be proud !
The game reminded me of a [LD30 entry from Deepnight](https://deepnight.net/games/chipset-0/). You really hit my Nostalgia Nerf here with reminding me of my fist LD (and remembering me that it was 12 years ago :flushed:) Really glad I stubled across this game, thanks!
@oadt Guilty as charge! :smile: It's great to see a other Ludum Dare veteran! I did participate in that edition as well and Deepnight's entry was just mind blowing. I drew a lot of inspiration from it but tried my best not to just copy it. Ngl it was tough and the signals were the only idea I could come up with...