Gem of Stability by JakobTheQuizGuy

[raw]
made by JakobTheQuizGuy for Ludum Dare 49 (COMPO)

Pic4.PNG

Protect the Gem of Stability while balancing on a precariously placed board, keeping enemies at bay and facing strong winds. Can you get the highest score in this unstable arcade game?

CONTROLS:

Left and right arrow keys/A and D keys - Balance

Left mouse button - Shoot

GemOfStabilityGif.gif

Gameplay info: The goal of the game is to not fall down for as long as possible. Enemies will try to get to the gem under your board. If they get to it, they will self-destruct and imbue it with dark magic, turning it into a Gem of Unstability for 3 seconds. During this time the board is unaffected by your movement, and instead leans 10 degrees in whatever direction it was leaning when the enemy hit the gem. If multiple enemies get to it in a row, you'll get put in a dangerous situation!

Another Ludum Dare, another small game done. Feels great! This time I wanted to try making a really expressive character. I hope you have lots of fun playing!

FIX 2021-10-04: added support for WASD so you don't need to have your hands in an uncomfortable position if you have a smaller desk.

Ratings

Overall 142th 3.75⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Fun 180th 3.617⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 276th 3.333⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Theme 107th 4.067⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 75th 4⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Audio 254th 3.183⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Mood 241th 3.3⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Given 37🗳️ 42🗨️

Feedback

AppoxGames
04. Oct 2021 · 12:16 UTC
Wow, i'm so impressed by the amount of details there is in this simple but addictive game. Everything from the main character switching hands based on where the cursor is to the audio playing sound depending on the situation.
Really impressed with this entry, great work!
GoldenEvolution
04. Oct 2021 · 12:19 UTC
Really loved this entry, very fun multitasking game. At the start I thought I found the perfect balance and then the wind had to ruin it hahaha. Great stuff!
Fonkin
04. Oct 2021 · 12:21 UTC
Awesome game! Really love the literal take on 'Unstable' and even more the fact that the animations chang based on how close you are to falling off. Only fault was that it was a-bit too easy, although that may just be me.
Oh and quick bug (at least I assume its a bug) if I press F, game freezes and page has to be reloaded.

EDIT: and also the graphics in their entirety are the best I've seen so far in the jam. (this is 10th game I think)
🎤 JakobTheQuizGuy
04. Oct 2021 · 12:43 UTC
Thanks a lot for the wonderful comments so far! @fonkin oh man, of course I forgot to remove the F thing :p I added it so I could freeze the game and take a cool screenshot for this page. Thank you for the huge compliment on my graphics!
MaggardJosh
05. Oct 2021 · 00:39 UTC
This is pretty great, love the graphics and the gameplay is pretty tight. I lasted for 260 seconds before I got overran. Would like to see more types of enemies if you added on to this game. Great work!
Diego Escalante
05. Oct 2021 · 05:17 UTC
That was fun! I got to 187 seconds! The gameplay is simple but there's so much detail packed into the game. I loved the expressive character and how well they were animated. I appreciated the movement of the camera, made everything feel more alive. Even the background with the animated checkerboard pattern was a nice touch. I think I would have liked a bit more variety for the enemies, but maybe I just didn't get far enough. Anyway, nice work, cheers!
Nebiros
05. Oct 2021 · 11:47 UTC
I loved it, easy to play, but it gradually gets harder to pay attention to everything !
Also the graphics are really cool !
Solah
05. Oct 2021 · 12:37 UTC
I survived for 309 seconds! It was fun to try another game based on a similar concept. Your take on the idea is very fun, I love the animations so much, the main character is adorable! The sound design and music are good and the gameplay is great!

That's a really solid game! Well done!
LDJam user 178331
05. Oct 2021 · 16:22 UTC
I love this!! The art is very cute, the controls are solid and easy to understand, and the core loop is really fun and satisfying! An addicting game for sure. If one of your goals was the make an expressive character you absolutely succeeded. I love when their little legs kick super fast trying to get balance back :joy:
PKZinpo
05. Oct 2021 · 17:13 UTC
Very nice and polished game! The animations are very clean and detailed, and the soundtrack is nice! I really like the gradual increase in difficulty. I found that practically all of the enemies pathed downward and came from below the gem, so it was a little easy to leave your cursor on the gem and spam-click to kill all the enemies. Though, this is mitigated by the big boss heads haha. It feels quite satisfying to play. I think more kinds of enemies would be a nice addition. Overall, I think this is a really great job!
LDJam user 209292
05. Oct 2021 · 20:39 UTC
This game is great! Nice musical accompaniment, high-quality graphics and animation, and most importantly, everything corresponds to the given theme! Great job!
Haise
05. Oct 2021 · 21:09 UTC
I managed to survive 188 seconds! I thought it was great that it had some brief pauses instead of just swarming you with enemies right from the start. Also loved that the green fella starts sweating if you are almost falling xD. Good job!
cogcomp
06. Oct 2021 · 18:03 UTC
208 seconds. Nice graphics and an easily addictive game. However it would've been nice to be able to just hold the mouse button in. Started to think I was going to wear out my mouse buttons :laughing:
kingslee142
06. Oct 2021 · 22:04 UTC
Really nice game! I really like the graphic, sounds and animation for the shooting, does add a lot to the overall vibe! Fits very well to the theme. Great job!
alec
06. Oct 2021 · 22:05 UTC
Super polished game with great art and music! I specifically liked the sound effects of when an enemy was hit, and the main characters frantic run. I could easily see this expanded with different types of enemies, and maybe different platform shapes!
quasar098
06. Oct 2021 · 22:20 UTC
insanely polished and fun! nice game!
guntrip
07. Oct 2021 · 16:34 UTC
This was really fun and meets the theme nicely!
🎤 JakobTheQuizGuy
07. Oct 2021 · 20:11 UTC
You're all so kind! Thank you for playing and commenting, it means a lot! I did want to add more enemy types but unfortunately I didn't have time.
Wilko
08. Oct 2021 · 12:34 UTC
Very polished game that looks fantastic, especially the fireball spell. Also the current high score being kept in the top left is a very useful addition.
XeduR
08. Oct 2021 · 12:51 UTC
The game was fun and it was an interesting take on the theme.

I think you could have worked a bit more on the clarity and difficulty though. I got to about 230 score and as the yellow and black coloured enemies started appearing, I started to wonder "Oh, these seem to be faster? Oh, they seem to take more hits?" but I think there could have been more to differentiate the enemy types than just colour.

The balancing act paired with the shooting was a nice idea and it made the game a lot more interesting. For future work, if you plan on continuing on this, I'd look into making the game a bit more varied. The only lose condition seemed to be that there will just come a time where you are overwhelmed because enemies are spawning too fast to be even theoretically shot down in time.
nyxkn
08. Oct 2021 · 13:30 UTC
253 seconds. This was glorious! Everything feels just right. Great visuals and amazing sound design. At some point difficulty ramped up very quickly and was very difficult to keep up.
AwesomeAlliterationAlliance
08. Oct 2021 · 18:18 UTC
147 seconds. Nice game! I love the sweet Character. :)
Haematite
08. Oct 2021 · 18:32 UTC
I loved this game, I just had great fun playing it, which is the most important thing! The main character is adorable and his facial expressions are amazing. I think the difficulty curve is just right, just as I was thinking this is quite easier it started ramping up! Really great little game
thesedatedprince
09. Oct 2021 · 11:06 UTC
I really enjoyed this game. The character design and art was absolutely wonderful - very clear and charming. I think the difficulty ramped up at just the right pace, giving the player time to adjust while providing a fair challenge. Really cool work!
Weirdybeardyman
09. Oct 2021 · 20:15 UTC
You did a great job with making an expressive character. The game is fun and it is a challenge to multitask shooting the enemies and balance. Great job!
lesinvisible
10. Oct 2021 · 21:14 UTC
I was really amazed by the level of polish in this game and the character design. Very enjoyable little game.
Sodaro
18. Oct 2021 · 21:30 UTC
Nicely done :D One thing I was missing though was being able to hold down a button to shoot, as I kinda stopped trying to shoot them at around 160 seconds due to hand starting to hurt. Other than that I liked the art, the contextual audio, and the feel of the movement! :smiley:
Dilem
18. Oct 2021 · 21:54 UTC
The game is pretty fun! It was a bit too easy to stay balanced, but still fun, well done!
RonanRorry
20. Oct 2021 · 01:03 UTC
Now, I'm not sure if I'll make an actual video out of it, but I've been recording all of the games I've been playing from this Ludum Dare. And let me tell you, I ended up recording a lot more footage than I needed from this game: 11 MINUTES!!! And my high score was 210. That's already a VERY high Fun rating from me!

And these are some wonderful graphics you've got here. Great animation as well, very smooth and with a nice flow to it. I noticed that projectiles are shot from the character's finger, and there's even a recoil animation! I always love attention to detail like that.

At first, I though the game was a bit too simple at first. And it is, but MAN if it isn't well executed then I don't know what IS. Things do get quite hectic around 200 seconds in, but even then it was still fun. I guess one thing I didn't like was that, if I was close to an edge and wind started blowing, I couldn't prevent myself falling. But then again, that's not necessarily the game's fault, is it?

The music is interesting, and it does serve it's purpose, but it's nothing too special. But the sound effects, that sound of hitting an enemy is SO perfect, you can FEEL the impact; but it's a good thing you don't actually feel it. And the player's footsteps as well is great, it's normally low and in the background, but when you're nearly off the edge, it gets faster along with your steps, warning you of your situation.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous after skimming through your other entry pages. But that doesn't matter, what does is that this is one amazing entry! Give yourself another pat on the back!
🎤 JakobTheQuizGuy
20. Oct 2021 · 14:10 UTC
@ronanrory dude, thank you so much for the wonderful feedback! :heart: This is the kind of comment I'll look back on and smile about. I'd love to see the video personally :) I just followed you, your entry for this LD definitely had potential, and if you can find a way to participate in LD 50 without getting too stressed I'd love to see what comes next!
RonanRorry
21. Oct 2021 · 21:48 UTC
@jakobthequizguy - Eh, I don't guarantee it'll be made. I'm just not in the mood really.

And yes, it shouldn't have taken me so long to respond.
Jupiter_Hadley
08. Nov 2021 · 10:40 UTC
What a frantic and fun game. I included it in my Ludum Dare 49 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/BCEhcn4pHX0
JailerWoW
30. Jan 2022 · 14:31 UTC
Try to make a game with characters from WoW. I know a lot of players here from World of Warcraft.. By the way! Are you looking forward to patch 9.2 Eternity’s End too? I'm lucky, I know people from the top guilds and I want to Sepulcher of the First Ones (https://expcarry.com/wow-shadowlands-service/raids-loot-run-boost/sepulcher-of-the-first-ones) run in the first week, defeat all 11/11 bosses including the Jailer. I really like the style of WoW Shadowlands Raids, the design of the bosses and the fight with them, it's very interesting and beautiful ^_^
aero
21. Feb 2022 · 14:57 UTC
Nice game, a bit maniskt but thats what I like ;)
🎤 JakobTheQuizGuy
11. Mar 2022 · 15:44 UTC
@aero maniskt all the way!!