Volcanaclimber by niksg

Climb downwards to reignite the sun with your sacred lamp, which lies at the heart of a volcano, for some reason. Also, the sun is green today!
Your hands can stick to the cave walls, but be careful not to hit the lamp against anything...
Note - you do not have to hold the mouse button down! Clicking & sticking is a toggle.
Made in 48 hours by me! Game made in Unity, simple Metaball shader for the lava, Shapes (by Freya Holmér) library for the lines and discs. Music made in Ableton with Pigments 3.
| Web Version | https://nik_sg.itch.io/volcano-climber |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/volcanaclimber |
Ratings
| Overall | 504th | 3.77⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 343th | 3.763⭐ | 40🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 59th | 4.224⭐ | 40🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1055th | 3.539⭐ | 40🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 1019th | 3.595⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 458th | 3.676⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 946th | 2.629⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 806th | 3.571⭐ | 37🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 21🗳️ | 26🗨️ |
gameplay concept is very satisfying although it can feel a little frustrating since it seems like the optimal strategy might be to just move your mouse as slowly as possible.
very nice game though, cool art direction as well
I enjoyed it.
Once I got used to it and tuned my mouse, I enjoyed the rock-climbing feel. The music was chill too.
The audio and the graphics were nice! I'm always an advocate for the clean shapes look, especially in game jams ;) I dig the aesthetic!
Love the simple art style also, it fits the game very well!
Pros:
- Art style is consistent and fits very well with colours chosen for important parts of the game which are quick and easy to pick out
- Audio: Very Minecraft cave style vibes, very fitting for this volcano cave game
- Gameplay: Fun and challenging to master!
Cons:
- Perhaps some what to ramp up the swing at the start (not much at the start until after x amount of distance), found the very first tries to get going and understand what was going on.
Didn't manage to reignite the sun but had some fun tryin to :)
I was a bit frustrated by the pace of the game though. The gameplay made me want to swing around the level full speed god's will like a pro MountYourFriends playa ! But the volcano god said no and kicked my ass until I complied to a slower pace.
Maybe the sacred lamp's weight is a bit too light ?
Music was nice and didn't got old throughout my tries so good job.
Anyway, thanks for the fun and have a nice day !
As others have said, it's super hard, mostly I think because the physics don't feel very natural, the lantern comes bouncing back at full speed for no apparent reason pretty often.
It could be tweaked into an excellent game though, really liked it even if I didn't break past ~~9~~ 14 meters :D
On a side note, the visual feedback when the lantern hits a wall could be stronger, I didn't understand what happened the first few times.