Anti-Bomb by IcyLava

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuUBhAtJ5yI
Description
Anti-Bomb is a puzzle platformer where you use your anti-matter bombs to make your way through the level.
Controls & Instructions
- F11 or Alt+Enter to toggle fullscreen mode
- WASD or Arrow keys to move and jump
- You can also use Space to jump
- Use the mouse cursor to direct the bomb
- Press and hold the left mouse button to arm the bomb, release it to throw it
- Use the explosion of the bomb to traverse the level!
- Tip: try to time your jump with the explosion of the bomb - you get more upwards momentum that way
Tools used
- Love2D - Game Framework
- VS Code - Code editing
- Tiled - Level editing
- Ableton Live - Music & Sound Effects
- Krita - Title Screen / Cover art
- GNU Make - Build system
- Milton - Concept art & task tracking
- Git & GitHub - Source control & Source hosting
- itch.io - Game hosting
Timer edition
If you want to have a timer for speedrunning purposes, check out the timer edition of the game. The only change from the jam version is that a timer is added so you can tell how long you took to complete the game. I believe this is compatible with rating the game, as this change doesn't affect gameplay.
| Link | https://github.com/icy-lava/ldjam-anti-bomb |
| Windows 64-bit | https://icy-lava.itch.io/antibomb |
| Windows 32-bit | https://icy-lava.itch.io/antibomb |
| Linux .AppImage 64-bit | https://icy-lava.itch.io/antibomb |
| Linux .AppImage 32-bit | https://icy-lava.itch.io/antibomb |
| .love (Love2D 11.3 required) | https://icy-lava.itch.io/antibomb |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/anti-bomb |
Ratings
| Overall | 142th | 3.75⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 95th | 3.797⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 38th | 4.109⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 269th | 3.578⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 233th | 3.563⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 147th | 3.5⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 289th | 2.64⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 195th | 3.411⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 17🗳️ | 1🗨️ |
I think largely ignoring the players current velocity when an explosion goes off (just mostly take the direction the explosion is going in) would have already helped me a lot though, as when I jump in the opposite direction what happens now is you just basically stop. Or just make the physics a bit slower?
This has dome good potential though I think! (You show of at least a lock/key mechanism in the trailer.) The controls also feel nicely polished for a compo game.
Lastly, it would be nice to have some way to properly exit the game, as it is in full screen.
P.S. Seems the single row of games shown on top of the main LDJam page are not ranked by # of ratings right now? Huh.
There's a lot I wanted to do and so I didn't spend too much time working on the explosion mechanic.
I did notice it was very hard to predict where the bomb is going which is why I implemented the feature where you see the bomb path, but even then it's hard to time your jumps with the explosion (and you **must** jump in time with the explosion in most cases).
I've spent the last hour or so of my time on music and title screen art, because I placed more importance on those than tinkering some more with the game physics.
One thing I would love to see is a split second of seeing the arc before the bomb timer runs out. My brain is just not quick enough to react sometimes. Another solution would be to "ready" the bomb with the left mouse button, similar to how it is now, and then the right mouse button can be used to "arm" the bomb, which would be what starts counting down the timer. What this means is that we could find the "arc" that we want to throw on, and plan it all out, and then use the RMB to "pull the pin". This preserves the speedruning-compatible feel of the game, while also allowing more casual or inexperienced players to plan out their moves a little bit more.
I could see something like this exist as a cute little party game. With modes like "last one standing", "get to the top first", "don't get hit", etc.
Overall a really cute jam game.
Had fun with it!
As it's already been said, a bit more predictability on the physics and a small tolerancy on the momentum vs bomb trigger would increase comfort, but really enjoyable already.
Thanks a lot for the game!
Makes me want to check out how you coded it, it looks and works perfectly, had you not nailed that part the game would have suffered a lot.
This is a really cool entry, I love games that are simple with few well fleshed out mechanics, but which uses those mechanics to create a lot of varied content. Basically the cliché "easy to learn, hard to master". The entire package feels polished and solid!
I did not manage to win the game yet, going to give it another try in the weekend. I wonder if there will be a place where you need to perform a double bomb jump, initially I thought it was needed fairly early on and was so happy when I managed to pull it off. Later when falling back down I noticed you could also do it with a well placed single bomb.
Great entry as always! :trophy:
Still, I got the hang of it and got it completed, so maybe it is the right level of difficulty. Either way, had a lot of fun with it. The sound design is really good too!
If anything, I appreciated the game even more the second time playing it. I feel like the skill ceiling is really high, which leaves room for a lot of interesting ideas in which you could expand on it, and I hope you do!
Nice entry!
- I appreciated that even though being Compo, you prioritized the checkpoints so playing it was much less frustrating. I had my rage moments that some surprise checkpoints made me not quit it.
- I appreciate some small details you also put time into like using a gradient on the line that shows the bomb path, without it it'd be much harder to tell it was shortening.
- I missed a background so we could see how far we are flying on the top of the level.
- At first I thought the anti-bomb would be a reversed bomb, pulling me instead of pushing. Maybe some idea for more mechanics.
- The mechanic of timing the bomb is really interesting, but for me it felt it got on the way of the game more than it was making the game more fun. Eventually I had positioned my mouse on the screen just right that I could just press and the bomb would explode on my feet, I played the game out and took some of its fun given the bomb became just a delayed jump.
- Continuing on the timing, I think the fixed amount of time for it to explode was limiting. Imagine that you could somehow control it such that you could make two bombs explode at the same time. You could make those switches timed and a fast action would be required from the player. Also, it would save time on the moments that we are just trying to make a quick jump.
- I liked the bouncing, but I was expecting a bit more crazy moments where I'd just crack laughing at a bomb just yeeting me somewhere unexpected... but the air friction (I think?) was too much and the bombs never really send you yeeting to another part of the level. That would bring some humor to it I think.
If you’d like to rewatch the playthrough, you can find it here:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1173717245?t=3h59m31s
Good luck on your ratings, see you next LD! :D
💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady
https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin