Boat History by etrealjunior
This is a story of a little boat that got stranded, and with the magic and dream of a child, made it return to the sea.
Caution: "Game with a simple appearance, that will challenge you to your limit, will you be able to win this challenge?"
Game Created in Construct 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYA9u2V5D2M
| Link | https://etrealjunior.itch.io/boat-history |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/boat-history |
Ratings
| Overall | 206th | 3.948⭐ | 147🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 289th | 3.831⭐ | 147🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 27th | 4.279⭐ | 147🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 406th | 3.883⭐ | 147🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 560th | 3.807⭐ | 147🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 277th | 3.774⭐ | 139🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 767th | 2.876⭐ | 127🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 242th | 3.904⭐ | 143🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 31🗳️ | 42🗨️ |
A game design with no compulsory common places.
The use of a "god hand" as the way the player can interact is a good choice of creativity to practice the "unstable" theme.
The traps along the levels could be more matched with the nau art maybe using a naval subtheme including the traps, the level art level as a whole.
The sfx of the water/sink does not match too much too.
The music loop is short considering the time of the challenges level by level.
The layers of that 2D side art are well-fited and well-integrated.
In short, the gameplay is the centre of the game. Joyable minutes of the good playability.
Parabéns pela ideia. Um jogo bem original!
Overall pretty good game, it can be extremely frustrating but mostly it's a fun silly experience.

the idea is executed really well imo, it's wicked fun and it has so much potential for being expanded into a fully fledged game
the aesthetic and graphics kinda mismatch eachother but it gives me old flash game vibes which i like
relaxing sunset music plays a big factor in sanity conservation
This is breathtaking so far! Definitely interested to know how you made such beautiful water physics, I remember playing around with water physics a few years back (was not very experienced then....) and it took hours just to make a few objects poorly float. Not only are your water physics perfect, it's visually stunning too.
Uff. I thought it would never end. :sweat_smile:
But it didn't seem difficult to me, I think I failed about 3 times only. It just gets a little repetitive.
The background music is really good. Nice game. Well done! :thumbsup:
I'm really glad at the use of checkpoints. Some of those levels got so hard that it would've taken super careful play just to clear it. Although by the time I got to the end I was feeling pretty confident about the boat movement.
Overall I thought it was challenging and conveyed unstable without being TOO frustrating. Maybe it was the soothing music that helped with that...
Your Game has a very innovative and unique proposal. It is certainly one of the best interpretations of the theme.
I liked the graphics, especially the water.
Sound is good too.
And the main thing is the gameplay, which, as I said before, is unique and well-designed.
I had a little trouble getting the hang of it, but then I was able to play. But unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to the end due to the high difficulty hahaha.
But no problem, the high difficulty doesn't erase the real value of your game.
Good job!
The water mechanic is super cool and really unique, I love how it fits with the theme. I think it would be a really fun game to try and speed run if there were more levels! I wasn't able to beat it myself but given more time I think I could do it!
It feels very polished mechanics wise, and although the boat is simple, I really love it. Overall, really good job on completing this <3 And thanks for submitting it for me to try \o/
Beyond that, I'm glad to have played this one! The style and vibe were wonderful. Thanks for the game!
I'm gonna wright down some of the feedback I gave you during my play:
- Really great music and setting!
- Nice idea and take on the theme!
- Difficulty curve could be a bit smoother in my opinion. Maybe teach a player how to climb first without additional difficulty of having obstacles (saws).
- Try to unify visual style of the game, currently it's quite a mix: low-res pixel art boat, a bit higher-res pixel-art background, high-res water
Quite good difficulty curve, good amount of content. Very solid submission!
Your main mechanic with the water physics is fun to play around with, and it _feels_ like water. Struggling against gravity to keep your boat on the right course got to be a lot of fun once more obstacles appeared.
My only main concern is that the game played very differently depending on whether I had the game in fullscreen or not. I think the game's physics may be tied to your framerate, and this could potentially cause some problems where systems may have the game slower or faster than you intend.
That aside, you made a fun little jam with an interesting game mechanic, pleasant graphics/music, and a whole lot of content. Excellent work!
The physics of the water is a little tricky but very fun to play GG!
Learning curve was very nice for me the saws come right when I start to understand the physics and make the challenge right when I needed it
https://youtu.be/8_LZxCDpWIE?t=7703

I also didn't quite understand what made the boat flip rightside-up - It seemed like whenever it touched the ground it would *usually* flip upright, but it didn't feel consistent, and I think I would have preferred if the ship either didn't right itself, or had clearer rules for when it rights itself. For example, if the ship rights itself after some amount of time, maybe that could be conveyed visually somehow.
Overall though, great job! :) This is a really innovative idea that I haven't seen before!
Edited to add - You kept me hooked for long enough to beat the game, which is always a good thing! :)

The music was relaxing and the spritework looks great! I found myself frustrated by the boat always flipping over, since it controls better while upright. Would be nice if it had a greater tendency to stay upright.
Thanks for the entry!
You have some really neat tech behind this one. :slight_smile: Would love to see this expanded (and maybe made a bit easier for people like me :sweat_smile: )
The tiles could use some work to fit together a little better, but the overall art style is great, I especially love the title screen arts!
Some of the flaws I've seen in the game includes the fact that, as of the medium I was playing in, there was only one source possible for water to flow. On certain parts of the game, such as lifting the boat upwards between two saw blades, I felt like having a multi-touch interface would have been beneficial. That way, there would be two or more sources of water to lift the boat (but would that make the game too easy? Hmmm...) I also found that even leaving the boat idle, it had a rather erratic and unpredictable behavior, such as moving completely on its own. I also disliked that the last stretch of the final level requires rotating the boat, which is already very difficult to do, and there seems to be a behavior-of-sorts that corrects its orientation from the first place, making the task even harder.
Still, there's a lot of potential with this idea, and I certainly would like to see more puzzle elements added in to more heavily emphasize the physics-playground nature of the game. Despite all my gripes above, for the most part, I did think the game was fair.
Good job overall!
Once I got the hang of moving upwards, I figured I was all set, but then it only got more difficult from there :sweat_smile: I enjoyed my time with this game, but by the time I got to the end I was glad there wasn't *another* stage afterwards because that one had pushed me enough already.
Great level design, and great entry all around!
I really loved Boat History, it's a great game, a great mix between relaxation and stress. Great entry overall!
Thanks for joining us live and proposing us this amazing watery gem!
I finally had the time to come back and rate everything I played so far!
Here is a link to the vod of the review if you wish to see it again: https://www.youtube.be/watch?v=AiVWayIqffU&t=15733s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01dcU5RDzZk