Kittenbaticorn by UkuleleFury

[raw]
made by UkuleleFury for Ludum Dare 59 (COMPO)

kittenbaticorn_128.gif

You're a kitten! Oh, wait, a bat? No, a unicorn??

Use your unicorn horn echolocation power to find your way home!

⌨️/🎮 Instructions

  • Arrows, QE, and Space.
    • Gamepads should work too, but they're untested!
  • Fly with W.
  • Echolocate with Space.
  • Toggle echolocation frequencies with Q/E.
  • Avoid enemies and hazardous terrain, and find your way home!

🛠️ Our tools

All art, music, and sound effects were made without the use of AI.

🐈🦇🦄

Ratings

Overall 52th 3.871⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Fun 50th 3.758⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 49th 3.833⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Theme 49th 4.194⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 37th 4.161⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Audio 46th 3.806⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Humor 64th 3.196⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Mood 92th 3.677⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Given 32🗳️ 34🗨️

Feedback

thunderklaus
Apr 20th · 20:07 UTC
The Link to the HTML5 game is broken
gamebuilder
Apr 21st · 17:43 UTC
I noticed the same—page not found error. Would like to try your game, maybe you could submit to Extra.
🎤 UkuleleFury
Apr 22nd · 04:07 UTC
@thunderklaus @gamebuilder Oh no! I had a route path regex typo on my server! It should be fixed now. Please, go forth and discover the elusive Kittenbaticorn!
zakchaos
Apr 22nd · 06:02 UTC
Amazing! My biggest complaint was i couldnt see enough of your beautiful pixel art, this likely due to constraints of main mechanic. Very creative, and hillarious! with a bit of story, this could be something even more special than it already is, enjoyed atmosphere, and music felt like it belonged. great job, I look forward to checking out your other games!
Purrseus
Apr 22nd · 10:50 UTC
Extremely stylish!
The atmosphere is really dense. The game has several mechanics that are not super obvious the first time around (e. g. that your flying power diminishes if you stay airborne), but it was fun to discover them in subsequent runs. The water felt a little oppressive if you get stuck with too little energy for the frequency needed at the moment. I drowned three times with four or five gold tokens, so I think I will give up for the moment.

Anyway, you really captured the feeling of navigating a hostile world with a sense we normally don't have! And Kittenbaticorn is super cuuute! The music worked perfectly, too!

I'm glad I left this tab open until you fixed the link :)
Haln
Apr 22nd · 23:17 UTC
Very creative, super neat idea, and the art style is great.

My main issue is the movement is pretty hard to control.
It was really awkward trying to fly and switch echo types and avoid enemies and keep navigating at the same time.
I also wish the echo would light up things a little longer.

Good job!
msipp27
Apr 22nd · 23:21 UTC
i llked it
LDJam user 76491
Apr 22nd · 23:54 UTC
Cool visuals! The character design is great. I had some issues with the controls, a visual feedback of your flutter limits would perhaps alleviate that. Also, while planting yourself on the ceiling was a particularly interesting mechanic (and very bat-like), I was a bit confused and couldn't quite figure out how to smoothly use it.

The colors are really relevant to the gameplay, and I think it's great that the enemies have colors too. It made them feel like they belong in that world. Destroying walls was very satisfying, and the map feels huge. The sonar effect, though a bit laggy, is such an eye candy.

The enemies and the water were a bit of a nuisance at times, but to be honest, I think it contributed to the feeling of being lost, and I think they worked very well in the environment.

I had a lot of fun overall, and the ending was cute. Good job!
Meta-link
Apr 23rd · 13:37 UTC
Really solid entry ! The game is maybe a bit hard at first (the visible section is small), but it's really well made and easy to play, the graphics are cool too !

Good job :slight_smile:
Theogen
Apr 24th · 00:51 UTC
This is insanely impressive that you built a complete 2D voxel world with physics in a compo entry! I really loved the echolocation/frequency mechanics where different frequencies affect different blocks/enemies. The pixel art is beautiful and the Kittenbaticorn is super cute. One of my favorite compo games so far!
🎤 UkuleleFury
Apr 24th · 04:41 UTC
@zakchaos :) Thanks! Yeah, I both regret spending as much time on the pixel art and animations as I did, and I regret not making visibility levels higher! But, it was hard to figure out the right balance to also convey the immersive bat-like echolocation feel. I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
🎤 UkuleleFury
Apr 24th · 04:41 UTC
@purrseus 😭 Oh no! On the one hand, I'm so sorry my water drowned you so close to the glorious completion of your full set of coins, and on the other hand, Mwah hah hah, you fell for the trap! ...but mostly the former. Yeah, it's hard to properly play-test it myself when I know where the super deep lake is that I'm, of course, going to fly over without fail. I'm also glad you left the tab open, thanks for holding out for me to fix the route matching!
🎤 UkuleleFury
Apr 24th · 04:43 UTC
@haln :( Yeah, it definitely can be awkward depending on which key combinations you use. I _did_ add redundant support for WASD, arrows, gamepad, and mouse, but I didn't make sure to figure out and suggest the optimal layout by default. And yeah, you're definitely right that the echo location shader should last for longer. Again, this was my limited by my biased playtesting when I already knew the level layout. :) I'm glad you liked the art!
🎤 UkuleleFury
Apr 24th · 04:44 UTC
@msipp27 I liked making it! I'm glad you liked it too!
🎤 UkuleleFury
Apr 24th · 04:47 UTC
@conradoclark :) Thanks! Yes, all great feedback and good points! In particular, I wish I made the reattach to ceiling more intuitive and more meaningful to the gameplay. It felt like such an obvious mechanic to add (and to start-out with), but, yeah, it's pretty meaningless in the actual gameplay. I'm so glad you liked the look and feel! I definitely spent most of my time trying to get those right. Yeah, it was hard for me to gauge whether the level hazards and enemy behaviors were the right level of difficulty, but hopefully they were just challenging enough! :) And I'm glad you liked the ending. My daughter definitely did too.
🎤 UkuleleFury
Apr 24th · 04:48 UTC
@meta-link Yeah, I get that! I did try to limit the visibility to enhance the immersive feel, and I _tried_ to make the mechanic compensate for that, but it's definitely tricky to replace normal persistent visibility! :) I'm glad you enjoyed it!
🎤 UkuleleFury
Apr 24th · 04:51 UTC
@theoratkin :) Thanks! I kinda was hoping going into this that I'd get a chance to try out implementing a marching-squares system (I had a _little_ bit of an idea for what I was getting myself into...), and I didn't _really_ have to (the echolocation was the main important bit for the gameplay, immersion, and theme), but I'm pretty glad it ended up working out! Thanks for playing it, and I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
🎤 UkuleleFury
Apr 24th · 04:51 UTC
@gamebuilder I hope you eventually got a chance to try this out!
bentglasstube
Apr 24th · 06:55 UTC
This was a really chaotic and fun experience. It took me a while to understand what all the colors meant and the limited vision was a cool mechanic. The enemies were a little too difficult to deal with other than by just running away from them, but perhaps that was the point. The pixel art was great, and the dithered "transparency" for objects you could no longer see worked really well. I found the end with only a sliver of health left! Great work.
LDJam user 428640
Apr 24th · 10:36 UTC
The visuals are adorable, with the pixel cat, and the sound effects are really nice too. The way it ties into the theme is very interesting. The overall style feels very polished and mature. Overall, well done!
DJTequila
Apr 24th · 12:53 UTC
The art style is amazing, the pixelated effects feel really polished. Initially I was avoiding the pellets because I thought they were enemies, but then it all made sense. Really fun game, and even more impressive that it's compo!
tedrey
Apr 24th · 12:53 UTC
cool game, but im stuck on waterpool part and died with no chance :( anyway, so good sound- and gamedesign!
LDJam user 234567
Apr 24th · 19:00 UTC
It took me a while to realize that the colored balls produce the corresponding frequency.

The NES-style music is great. It's a good game.
gamebuilder
Apr 24th · 21:51 UTC
There is a lot of nostalgia in this game. The graphics and bleepy music remind me of arcade games from the '80s. I mean that in a good way—some of those games were works of art. Aesthetically, this is a beautiful game, especially with the color contrasts of light against dark. There is an ambience of magic, to be sure.

In terms of game-play, I had trouble figuring out the difference between Q and E. It was hard for me to navigate—but that might just be poor skills on my part. How I yearned for a map. Quite an unusual experience.
🎤 UkuleleFury
Apr 25th · 02:40 UTC
@bentglasstube :) Thanks! The enemies were color-coded in the same way the blocks were, so you could have killed them with a couple blasts of the right color. Or, yeah, I did want running to be an option! :) Glad you made it to the end!
🎤 UkuleleFury
Apr 25th · 02:41 UTC
@silentwander :) Thanks! I was a little hesitant at first on the kitten+bat+unicorn combo, but really pleased with the result!
🎤 UkuleleFury
Apr 25th · 02:42 UTC
@djtequila Yeah, I guess the bugs are a little too similar to the enemies! I didn't even think about that. I'm glad you liked the pixels!
🎤 UkuleleFury
Apr 25th · 02:43 UTC
@tedrey :( Oh no! Sorry. You _should_ be able to fly out, but yeah, I made that one pool reeeeeeeally deep.
🎤 UkuleleFury
Apr 25th · 02:44 UTC
@fifut :) Thanks! I'm glad you liked the music! I love those beepy sounds too
🎤 UkuleleFury
Apr 25th · 02:45 UTC
@gamebuilder Thanks for trying it again! :) Yeah, I love those '80s games. Q/E were just meant to scroll one way or the other through the selected color echo frequency, so you can blast enemies or the level with the right one. A minimap is a great idea!
Pavel Goncharov
Apr 25th · 12:09 UTC
Interesting idea and great execution! I think it could be successful on Steam if you put more effort into it
IRKAR
Apr 25th · 12:14 UTC
It looks great, I like this mechanic
SMOLBIGBY
Apr 25th · 23:04 UTC
Very creative and fun game! The echolocation feels very satisfying, and the sounds are well made. The music is also great!
vydra
Apr 26th · 06:53 UTC
I found big flying cat! Gameplay is awesome! But flying isn't really convenient but it was interesting to play! I liked this game! Also interesting graphics and way to break ground by finding end sending different types of echolocation signals!
LDJam user 371996
Apr 27th · 02:26 UTC
I love the 80s artstyle, especially the color scheme! The control is also smooth and reminds me of ANIMAL WELL. The color switching might be a little confusing for me, I think when a color run out, pressing space defaultly sends white signal may be better than switching to white?
deformhead
Apr 29th · 07:49 UTC
Really fun idea for the main character, and I love how you made the echolocation work.

The art is beautiful, and the sound design well-polished, nice entry!

(P.S.: I had really really bad performance issues on my laptop, maybe 4fps)
Floonace
May 04th · 11:48 UTC
The graphics and sound are great. I liked the concept. It's very dark around us, which is a bit limiting for me while playing. I would have preferred to be able to see a slightly wider area. I didn't experience any performance issues.
Golda
May 05th · 21:36 UTC
I can't believe you made this all by yourself in just a couple of days, and in the solo category too! WOW! The work is insanely stylish. I loved how you narratively incorporated the movement mechanics (BATCAT), while leaving the attack on the spacebar. It was incredibly fun exploring the locations, and the mob animations are just unbelievably cool +I especially liked that the webs come in different colors. The atmosphere is wildly fun! Plus, this is probably the best interpretation of the 'signals' theme out of all the projects I've seen
fabonacci
May 06th · 09:12 UTC
Nice entry, i loved the idea. I was a bit lost at some point, i would not find where to go to get more coins. Nice arts, sounds/music and gameplay !
Solar Vita
May 07th · 15:19 UTC
True hardcore. Space button confuses a little coz usually it's a jump button so I use it in panick and loose charge. But I still belive once I'll find my way home! I think I'll keep play it till I done