Clowns Aren't Funny by NDHR Productions

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

Mort the Clown has been hired to entertain at a neighborhood boy's birthday party. Upon arriving at the party, Mort finds that the boy has dug himself deep into a hole into his own backyard. A dedicated clown, Mort must brave the depths below in order to give the boy an unforgettable birthday show. Deeper and deeper he goes, Mort finds himself faced with perilous pits, dangerous monsters, and a cruel reflection of his own psyche. Can Mort brave the dark depths of his own mind and find the boy?

​V1.1:​ - Fixes issues with audio mixing

Ratings

Overall 1661th 2.974⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1443th 2.974⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1432th 2.816⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1469th 3.158⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1478th 3.053⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 1085th 2.912⭐ 19🧑‍⚖️
Humor 155th 3.868⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1533th 2.944⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 18🗳️ 7🗨️

Feedback

ryon
19. Apr 2021 · 20:27 UTC
i hope its a monkey game
squirmonkey
27. Apr 2021 · 04:05 UTC
omg attacking with speech bubbles is too funny.

However, I didn't appreciate being subjected to the constant squelching sound. That got old fast.
somnolentPumpkin
27. Apr 2021 · 04:06 UTC
This game is, indeed, a clown-based game.

The squelching sound in the first map got old pretty quickly, but I really liked the speech bubble combat, and the water spraying in the next level.
teenythanos
27. Apr 2021 · 04:14 UTC
Okay this is really funny!! I actually stopped to read the speech bubbles and was not disappointed. (Greece!) Trouble was the **REALLY LOUD** worm sfx. Could have benefited a lot from mixing but I loved the idea.
MEGA Marlon
27. Apr 2021 · 04:14 UTC
I agree with @somnolentpumpkin the squelching noise was a bit repetitive after a while. I love the idea of attacking with jokes, never seen that before in a game. Great job!
Owinmowe
27. Apr 2021 · 04:20 UTC
I don't know what i just played but i loved it.
WalrusesAreAwesome
27. Apr 2021 · 04:22 UTC
The platforming feels slow, and walking in tight corridors makes you even slower. The resolution lowers for seemingly no reason, and then the game just... ends? no end screen. nothing to make you sure the game didn't just crash. The SFX is way too loud over the music, and is annoying anyway. The water attack is broken, it only fires down-left, and the platforming at the end feels aweful to play due to the aforementioned slowness. The art was nice. Until it got worse for a gimmick.
GreyBeetle
27. Apr 2021 · 04:31 UTC
The combat is very funny, I liked attacking with jokes and the party whistle. It would be nice if there was a clearer indicator of whether a hole is the entrance to the next map or death though.
🎤 NDHR Productions
27. Apr 2021 · 04:42 UTC
@squirmonkey @somnolentPumpkin @teenythanos @mega-marlon @owinmowe Thanks for the feedback! The audio effects were added in pretty last minute so no mixing was done. As a quick fix (since we want people to play the game past the first level) we've released a new version that resolves it and added a changelog for future players to know that we added it past the deadline.
🎤 NDHR Productions
27. Apr 2021 · 04:45 UTC
@walrusesareawesome Thank you for the feedback! We had a lot of plans for this game and, to be honest, a lot more than we could handle in the time, so the ending unfortunately got cut short by the deadline and some fleshing out of some features (like the pixelation over time) had to get put on hold. We hope to resolve some of the issues with movement over time and we would really like to make some of the features we were never able to finish.

I haven't noticed the behavior with the water, perhaps it has to do with your mouse position? The direction you shoot is wherever your mouse cursor is on the screen, although that wasn't very clear in the instructions admittedly.
🎤 NDHR Productions
27. Apr 2021 · 04:47 UTC
@greybeetle I'm glad you like the jokes mechanic! During some playtesting after the deadline we realized the issue with the death canyons vs the next level holes, so we'll be sure to make it clearer in future updates.
Hempuli
28. Apr 2021 · 23:52 UTC
The sound design was the highlight here; the party pipe and FWOOSH from the fires were great, haha. It seems like the game crashed at the end, but I'm unsure if that was intended?
🎤 NDHR Productions
05. May 2021 · 14:35 UTC
@hempuli I'm glad you liked the sound design! Due to the deadline, the ending was intended: that little sequence was thrown together in the last 10 minutes or so...we definitely want to refine that soon
wizard sino
05. May 2021 · 20:03 UTC
not... sure what happened at the end? and the water just didn't work. it shot is the opposite direction of my cursor.and walking in tight corridors makes me r e a l s l o w so the last level is very hard. other than that,it's ok.
jk5000
05. May 2021 · 20:11 UTC
I like your the playing around with ideas. And I like the games humor. But for me the game also have too many ideas, and the game feels a bit too unpolished.
VixenMink
06. May 2021 · 05:07 UTC
Compy would not run it for me. Clowns always are a win!
BoClow
06. May 2021 · 10:08 UTC
I liked the story and different attack styles were fun. Clowns are always A+.
BoClow
06. May 2021 · 10:08 UTC
I liked the story and different attack styles were fun. Clowns are always A+.