Unstable States by ELBIDEV

[raw]
made by ELBIDEV for Ludum Dare 49 (JAM)

Player Base Image.png

HI, This Game Was Made Way To Close To The Deadline But Hey We Got Something Done. In This Game You Play As An Unstable Smoke Monster Who Cant Control Its Form. Made By Loctivus & ELBIDEV

Controls:

Base Form Press

WASD keys and Spacebar to Jump, You are unable to fight back in this form

Ball Form

Press AD keys to roll up down and over surfaces. Try Smashing into enemies in this form.

Bouncer Form

Bounce around uncontrollable, use AD keys to try landing on enemies. Watch your head though hitting a ceiling will leave you dazed.

Turret Form

WASD keys and Spacebar to Jump and mouse click to fire projectiles.

Ratings

Given 51🗳️ 16🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 0
05. Oct 2021 · 08:59 UTC
Surprisingly entertaining for this, could do with an end game screen though.
Gus Goucher
05. Oct 2021 · 19:50 UTC
Couldn't figure out how to play. Maybe add some controls to the webpage or a new build? Cool design for the character!
PashaLoban
05. Oct 2021 · 19:51 UTC
I didn't understand a little, but the idea is cool
Shaggy
05. Oct 2021 · 19:52 UTC
Neat game but it seam you can get stuck on walls while jumping?
kgabis
05. Oct 2021 · 19:53 UTC
I think this game really needs "how to play" screen before it starts.
SkullSprigs
05. Oct 2021 · 19:53 UTC
LOVE this art style. cool character design, too.
Wilko
05. Oct 2021 · 19:56 UTC
The character art is great. I found I was often stuck waiting to transform as not all of the transformations had uses.
LDJam user 139668
05. Oct 2021 · 19:57 UTC
Don't understand what is going on and how to control game properly, but I like to be a ball
🎤 ELBIDEV
05. Oct 2021 · 19:58 UTC
@gus-goucher Thanks for the feedback just threw some instructions onto the itch.io page hopeful that makes it easier
Nico Villanueva
05. Oct 2021 · 19:58 UTC
Could use a help screen but pretty fun to play with the different states. Nice one
Zettelkasten
05. Oct 2021 · 19:59 UTC
Very nice style and cool concept! I really liked the character I controlled. Took me a while to figure out what I could do in the game, I learned very late that you could shoot with the mouse in some stages... so maybe some more explanation here on the page would help.
Contro1990
05. Oct 2021 · 20:00 UTC
I loved the style and the concept, but adding a tutorial would help a lot!
DISN
05. Oct 2021 · 20:00 UTC
A bit confusing from the gameplay perspective, but the concept and mechanics seem neat. Visual design is also quite cool.
Proxy-Games
05. Oct 2021 · 20:00 UTC
It was a lot of fun trying to move forward in the level while responding to the player's unexpected changes in form and abilities. I did feel like it lacked a sense of direction, though. I didn't really know what I was meant to do.
LDJam user 262525
05. Oct 2021 · 20:00 UTC
Yeah, I couldn't really figure out what the goal was or if there was any goal at all. The idea of movement changing at random was pretty interesting, though. The visuals are also nice.
Mechazawa
05. Oct 2021 · 20:00 UTC
Great character design, had a difficult time figuring out what was going on tho and why/when my character changed. Adding some more info to the submission description would help a lot.
🎤 ELBIDEV
05. Oct 2021 · 20:01 UTC
Thanks all for the feedback yeah it is a little unclear hopefully the instructions on the page will help
Sherwood
05. Oct 2021 · 20:02 UTC
You should consider adding controls on your itch.io page. I was kind of lost figuring out how to play or how long I had to wait before changing form.
Though the concept might lead to something very fun to play and surprisingly interesting in a puzzle / platformer.
I liked the monster's design. Keep up the good work !
Glen Chang
05. Oct 2021 · 20:03 UTC
liked that you changed forms. hopefully becomes an interesting mechanic on another game you make.
thedude3600
05. Oct 2021 · 20:04 UTC
The art was great! Wasnt sure what I was supposed to be doing though, and just ran around getting shot the whole time. Maybe some explanation on what the goal is, and what all of the GUI elements were? I saw the countdown timer was related to when your form would change, but theres a bar next to it that I couldnt figure out what it represented. It went down everytime I got shot so I initially thought it was a health indicator, but when it went empty I didnt die. Also, the counter at the top of the page I wasnt sure what it represented. It stayed 0 the whole time. Admittedly I wasnt very good at the game, so I didnt get far, but I did like the art style quite a bit.
TevasLiutauras
05. Oct 2021 · 20:09 UTC
The art is great! Gave me some slick flash game vibes (like N++ f.e.). Unfortunately there's some moments where you have to wait to get the correct form (like waiting for ball to get to the higher area), but I'm not really sure how to fix that without losing the unstability aspect of the game.
TopperVideoGames
05. Oct 2021 · 20:14 UTC
It did take me a while to figure out what was happening, but I got the hang of it by seeing the patterns.

The default mode can jump, but can't fight the bots in any way, so it was useless. The slug mode could shoot, so even though it couldn't move well it was the best long range option. The jumper was probably the most useful for getting around, and it could stomp enemies. The ball could crush enemies as well, using it to climb the wall and ceiling was the only way to get to the top row of bots.

It really is unstable on which form would be coming up, even though the colors would indicate what was coming. It did involve a lot of waiting for a good form to get, so maybe a button to change to a random form would have been more usable? I am glad there is no death screen though, my health gets drained instantly no matter what.

Good work overall!
Voidsay
05. Oct 2021 · 20:26 UTC
The graphics are competent and the idea with different forms that get switched at random is good. However it would be impossible to play if you were not immortal. The biggest issue that I see is the level design. There is little thought put into mobility. I was often stuck waiting for a particular form, because there was no other way to get to the enemies. Dodging bullets in the vulnerable form was working ok as long as there were 2 enemies max. Unfortunately there were usually many more.
Zack Andre
06. Oct 2021 · 00:06 UTC
Love the art of the game. I couldn't really figure out what was happening at first but eventually got the hang of it. I like the idea of changing to random forms to go with the theme of unstable!
Shea Kelly
06. Oct 2021 · 11:30 UTC
looks amazing but hard to understand.
lucasvb
06. Oct 2021 · 13:47 UTC
Interesting take on the theme! I like the idea of randomly changing shapes/abilities and making do with it, could work very well in a more polished version of the game. Shame about no sound, but the visuals make up for the setting/mood I think!
GodDoesPlayDice
06. Oct 2021 · 14:32 UTC
More control over state switching would do well for this game.
rainbowdied
06. Oct 2021 · 17:49 UTC
I liked the art of the main character. and how he changes shape from wounds. what to do I did not understand
thevinter
06. Oct 2021 · 18:15 UTC
As others have stated it was a bit difficult to understand how to play. Is the ball the only form that can kill enemies? What am I supposed to do with the other forms? Is there a way to change them? Do I die?

Some music would've been also nice. What I really love though is the art style, the color palette is fantastic and the design of the enemies is also nice. Same goes for the UI (which is a bit obscure but moody!)
LDJam user 250824
10. Oct 2021 · 18:57 UTC
I like the design of the monster and the core idea very much. It would be interesting to see it explored a bit further, to see the character changing forms with neat animations, maybe unlocking new forms when reaching certain spots in the level, maybe some enemies are only vulnerable to some forms but not others while some forms are immune to their weapons (rock-paper-scissors kind of deal), etc.

Keep it up, cheers!
JPatchZ
13. Oct 2021 · 09:14 UTC
Very cool idea. It would be nice to change form as I like instead with a timer. The movements seems a little heavy sometimes. Overall it's really good. I had much fun playing it.
SlimmerBurger
13. Oct 2021 · 20:23 UTC
Really like the idea and the pixel art for the main character looks awesome! Although at first it was quite hard to figure out how to play