Just Down Jack by joewan

Descend as far as possible for the highest score, but be careful!
There are random pickups, some are good, some are bad.
Controls:
Move - Left/Right Arrows
Restart - R
Toggle Fullscreen - F
Mute - M
Quit - Esc
What I used: Godot, PyxelEdit, Bfxr, Bosca Ceoil, GIMP
Consider playing the Windows version for best quality.
| Link | http://jonasanschlag.de/ld48/source.zip |
| Link | http://jonasanschlag.de/ld48/ |
| Link | http://jonasanschlag.de/ld48/win.zip |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/just-down-jack |
Ratings
| Overall | 273th | 3.673⭐ | 86🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 154th | 3.815⭐ | 86🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 693th | 2.768⭐ | 84🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 178th | 3.982⭐ | 86🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 307th | 3.673⭐ | 86🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 366th | 3.307⭐ | 85🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 331th | 3.44⭐ | 85🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 19🗳️ | 0🗨️ |
Different types of platforms enlivened the game beautifully, not to mention the boxes with a surprise, "confused" for me was always final.
I wish the question blocks were all powerups. The confusion was pretty punishing. I was tempted to avoid them as a result, but those hearts are just too tempting... I guess it's just personal preference and does add some extra challenge.
Great work on it!
Gameplay is fun, I especially love the mystery boxes, I truly never knew what I was going to get. My only criticisms are that:
- It's really hard to get back on the platform after I fall off
- The sound and music got pretty grating at times
Good job overall though!
I didn't like the music (just personal taste), so it was very nice to be able to mute it.

Congrats, that's a great entry !
I thought the physics were really nice for this and particularly appreciated the slippery and bouncy platforms. Nicely polished.
I'm guessing the platforms were random, as there were a few instances where it would have been impossible for me to continue. Our game is very similar and we had the same problem.
The only thing is that when you lose a life, the bounce is rarely enough to get you back onto a platform, so essentially if you die once, you're likely to die all three times. I think you should respawn from the top instead.
Solid entry, well done.
I also would have liked if hitting the spikes would have put you in a safe spot or just killed you outright, I don't think I ever was able to get back to a platform and survive after the first bit of damage from the bottom.
I would have enjoyed if the positive and negative mystery boxes had different visuals, I learned to just avoid them all, but having rewards that encourage you to play riskier than normal are always fun. Maybe a health pick-up too.
The graphics are really nice, the sounds are good, a little problem when falling, it's very easy to not be able to catch up and with the randomness it's a bit unfair but it's part of the game haha
Thank you for this game and keep it up!
Overall very nice entry. Good work!
Here's my playthrough: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1007430228?t=4h26m19s

Very efficiant game. I take time to play with and try go deeper ! :)
Random picker are *"Darker"* and *"Life"* ? I know compo is hard but if you want improve your game, you can add other effects :)
Because, I prefer to not take *random picker*, because Darkness is very hard and random.
It's a very nice game. Good job !
1. Having a jump. Okay this is cheating since I also like that it is simple, but I think the game might actually be more fun with jumping.
2. Hitting the spike almost always loses you 2 health. Not sure how you can change this tho.
3. "Powerup" having negative effects. I kind of don't like working for something, and having it be negative, but I think this is personal opinion.
Overall simple and clean execution.
Loved it played until I reached 1000 points.
Nice soundtrack too. I didn't grow tired of it which is a testament to its quality.
Could've done without the confusion pickup.. those are frustrating as hell, lol.
The thing I disliked about this game was the boxes having a chance to give negative effects. The first few times I went out of my way to collect a box only to get "confusion". Since the negative effects are far worse than the positive effects I started avoiding them all together.
Love the concept of platforms with different effects. The art style is great. The character is awesome. Controls are perfect. And I love how it gets progressively harder. Also like the punchy music.
The only thing I won't forgive you is confusion (lol j/k).
Great game. Good job.
