Rusty goes Deep by etom

[raw]
made by etom for Ludum Dare 48 (JAM)

Darkness and fading fireflies all along. Play in BROWSER

  • Play as Rusty, the pumpkin guy, and follow the cruel Wizard deeper to forest to save the princess.

  • To navigate, eat delicious fireflies so you can see!

  • Once you eat the firefly it starts to fade away, so hurry!

  • Use keyboard arrows to run. Up or Space to jump.

  • Dont forget to use wall jump!

RGD-screen-L1-2.png

RGD-icon-315x250.png

  • Note that this is my first Game Jam so I made a decision to not draw my graphics but use free sprites instead. So please do not rate the graphics as I am not the one that created them :)

  • All I tried was to play with the idea that you see the whole picture in first 3 seconds and then wisely use the fading fireflies to navigate through the level. And I totally loved it!

Enjoy!

Post-Jam Version

  • I added Tutorial, so people can get used to the controlling before everything goes into dark :)

Ratings

Overall 1387th 3.238⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1564th 2.857⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 578th 3.5⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1440th 3.19⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Humor 942th 2.632⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1379th 3.132⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Given 17🗳️ 17🗨️

Feedback

chesschaser
26. Apr 2021 · 19:21 UTC
What a fun and creative game! :D
iMan
26. Apr 2021 · 19:24 UTC
Congratulations on your first jam! It's wonderful that you finished a game.
The platforming is quite smooth and felt nice, however, it was a bit too tricky to manage it in the dark. The lights dimmed out pretty quickly, so perhaps you could consider creating an easier level to start off with? Just when I thought I had cracked the level, I fell into water which I hadn't even noticed earlier.

This could be a neat final level, but including some sort of a tutorial or a simpler gameplay segment at the start would definitely be a good addition. Nevertheless, well done!
NateTheGreat
26. Apr 2021 · 19:33 UTC
Nice game, fun concept and unique idea! The fireflies fade so quickly and provide almost no light so it felt like I only had one try to do each thing with a very minimal amount of light. It was pretty fun until I got frustrated on one part I couldn't pass. This is a very very difficult first level, I think it would help get people more immersed in it if you had some easier levels to start and maybe a bit brighter firefly light.
IAAndrei
26. Apr 2021 · 20:27 UTC
Hey dude awesome game
XeduR
26. Apr 2021 · 20:30 UTC
This was a cool idea and played nicely. I think you could have done the lighting a bit differently. The extra lights that you get aren't really enough to illuminate where you are going enough, i.e. you just need to remember where all the traps are and then use the lights to see where your character is going, and like someone mentioned, the light seemed to be only enough for a single attempt.
NorthernDonut
26. Apr 2021 · 20:31 UTC
fab game idea, beautiful art, them firelies tho man, yikes it gets dark quick haha
ipodtouch0218
26. Apr 2021 · 20:34 UTC
Definitely agree with the rest of the comments, the first level is difficult, but I think it's not because the platforming itself is difficult, rather at the beginning of a game, you're more focused on learning the basic controls.

Since you can't see yourself or yourself moving at all after three seconds, you're forced to guess how the movement mechanics work, and it's more fast and precise than you'd probably expect from a platform with corridors this small.
🎤 etom
26. Apr 2021 · 20:45 UTC
I agree with you all now! I guess this is why we have beta testers in game developement, right? :-D Well, better know next time!
Wallkysek
26. Apr 2021 · 21:19 UTC
Nice idea, but for me it was really hard. It took me at least 10 minutes to get through first level aand I was rather frustrated, because I just couldn't get the hang of wall jumping, for me it just didn't work. Maybe with some background music I wouldn't mind that much. I think that having some sound feedback on my movement would help me a lot.
Hestrateja
27. Apr 2021 · 02:24 UTC
@etom Great idea! But for me the controls are a bit frustrating, the platforms seem to be made from ice because of how little friction they have. Also there is a bug when the player hits the edge of a platforme, it starts wobbling a bit. Anyways, solid game and keep it up!
ChrisCo
28. Apr 2021 · 13:07 UTC
Uh, i replayed it dozens of time to finish the level, it's a bit frustrating. But the idea is very clever. I liked it a lot! Maybe some sound would have improved the mood a lot. Congratulations on your first game jam!
Filipe Leal
29. Apr 2021 · 02:41 UTC
Nice idea. I bit too difficult at the beginning, though.
krexor
29. Apr 2021 · 18:43 UTC
I like the idea but found it a bit difficult since the light from the firefly didn't last long.
Very good game for your first game jam. Keep it up!
sekol
01. May 2021 · 18:45 UTC
Smart and fresh idea, i liked it! Good job :)
The controls are the weak part of the game which is unfortunately a crucial part for game with this kind of core idea. Also adding one tutorial level with all the lights turned on to get used to the controls would be nice.
ondy1985
01. May 2021 · 19:42 UTC
As it was already said, the concept is great, but the controls are a real weak point. I recommend you this video which focuses on this very topic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yorTG9at90g
🎤 etom
01. May 2021 · 19:51 UTC
@ondy1985 Thank you for your suggestion! I really hate the controlls but after hours of trying to make it better I still wasnt able to make it feel great. Have to look at your video and make it better! Thank you!
Kontiko
02. May 2021 · 12:36 UTC
I really liked the idea of the game personally i would reduce the jump height to make it a bit easier to control. some audio would be great to have a idea what you're doing even when you are in the complete dark
diabolical-sloth
02. May 2021 · 15:50 UTC
congrats on your first game jam!
cool ideas and it's very ambitious to try to make a 2D platformer with a walljump

physics were a little wonky in places, especially for the acceleration/friction and speed caps on falling
I reccomend this article, it really helped me get to grips with 2D platformer physics:

https://www.emanueleferonato.com/2012/05/24/the-guide-to-implementing-2d-platformers/

impressive work for one person though and some really unique ideas although I would have liked to have seen the darkness mechanic introduced slower and maybe have more environmental lights in the earlier levels to guide the player and warn them about hazards.

would have been nice for the mood to get a bit of audio in there even if it wasn't original but I get that when you're just one person you're stretched thin enough as is
rhoff95
04. May 2021 · 00:25 UTC
Cool game. I think the mechanic here is interesting. I would prefer a system where the lights turning off was based on player actions. Currently, it feels unfair that everything goes completely black. It might be more rewarding to have lights stay on if you can get to the next checkpoint in time or something. Well done.