UPDOG: The Ascension of 180 Sadie by Alchemic
What goes up, MUST COME DOWN!
180 Sadie is trying to take her sky raft as high as it can go, but she needs to find fuel crates to keep it going up and balloons to balance!
Hop around the clouds in the sky to find balloons and fuel crates and bring them back to your sky raft to get higher and higher scores as your raft continues to ascend.

Controls:
- WASD: Move
- E: Pick up / throw crate
- Left Click: Throw or recall grapple
- Right Click: Tie balloon to raft corner
Tips:
- You can grapple any object, including balloons and crates
- The hand crosshair will turn green when an object is within grapple distance
- You can carry as many balloons as you want, but only one crate at a time
- The number of crates needed to refuel increases every time, so don't get too comfortable
- Once the raft tips sideways, there is no recovering, so pay attention to your balloons!
Credits:
- @Alchemic - Code, 3D modeling, V/SFX
- @WiredOverload - Code, design - High Score: 357
- @Gizmolo - Music, 2D artwork - High Score: 162
- @JonL13 - Code, UI / UX - High Score: 239
- @xxAtrain223 - Code, 3D modeling
NOTE: The web version can run slow sometimes, please try the Windows version if you experience issues!
Ratings
| Overall | 648th | 3.556⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 594th | 3.462⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 491th | 3.5⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 766th | 3.593⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 528th | 3.852⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 371th | 3.64⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 657th | 2.98⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 468th | 3.692⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 41🗳️ | 34🗨️ |
It was fun hanging in the air for a while jaja! Very nice!
The concept is really neat, and once I got used to the movement and controls, it was quite fun. The balloons and crates made for very different resource types based on how you were allowed to carry them and how you used them. It felt like a balancing act trying to seek out both (in a good way) although it was sometimes a bit punishing when a balloon popped and all your hard-earned fuel plummeted into the abyss.
While I do think the movement was well designed, and quite fun for a jam entry, I do think that it could be improved a bit as others have said. Here are my first movement related thoughts:
- The 2D player sprite caused some difficulty with evaluating hit boxes, etc.
- I think the grab area for balloons could be a bit larger.
- I think the "hand" extending could be substantially faster.
- I think it would be nice if you could go up through the bottom of your raft in the same way you can with clouds, as it requires some delicate maneuvering to get on top of the raft from the bottom
- It might be nice if the crate throw was a little less forceful, or there was a "set down" button, since I occasionally tossed my fuel all the way off the ship
Additionally, it would be nice if there was some visual indicator for when your balloons were going to pop. I'd sometimes get two popping at the same time which was hard to plan around unless I was on the ship to fix it immediately.
Again, well done for a 72-hour project. The majority of my feedback has been critical but I really did enjoy the core experience and jumping around trying to beat my high score. This feels like it could be a compelling level that is part of a larger game with tighter movement and some more polish.

I really like `Grappling hook` mechanic in this and other games, BUT I got rather repeatedly frustrated trying to get onto the top of the raft. Mainly because I have no control over grappling hook once it `connects`, automatically getting to the min possible distance to the attaching point. Usually the grappling hook has `"stable"` distance the target, so it's easier to start various swinging maneuvers, and only then reel back as close as possible. So while this seems like the most fun thing in the game, it still needs some polish.
I found the crate release force is bit forceful, have lose several boxes that way.
Didn't notice, but does having several balloons in hand alter jump force in any way? or maybe grappling reel-in speed?
As someone suggested above, it would be nice if you could go through the raft from under it. Or even better: keep the collisions as it is now, but add attaching points for grappling hook a bit off the main raft body. Imagine that as metal frame to which the grappling hook could attach to, essentially making raft "catch area" bigger.
Regarding balloons it was cool, but I think it would be nice have different variety of them scattered over the clouds. For example:
* red - default;
* white - hard to notice in the clouds, provides same lift as red ones, but lasts way longer;
* blue - double the lift of red ones, same duration;
* green - reds' lift, but rather short duration, found in groups of three-five;
* black - half reds' lift, same duration, but when explodes counts as a fuel crate;
Of course such balloon variety calls for ability to attach multiple balloons to the same spot. Maybe also scatter additional attachment points in the clouds and Sadie could bring it back to the raft to `upgrade` it.
I understand that most of this feedback doesn't usually fit into JAM timeline, but I still think it might be useful for future version / future games.
Great entry, had fun, looking for more in the future.
Oh, and I think this is a bug - `Managed to land on the ground, had to wait for a few minutes until all balloons on the raft exploded and it came crashing to the ground`
