LudumData

Giruffled by Papaver

[raw]
made by Papaver for Ludum Dare 49 (JAM)

pictogram<em>giraffe</em>head.png

Every time the giraffe moves house, she hurts her neck from lifting all those heavy boxes! The doctors insist that fresh air and plenty of vegetables are vital for her recovery, but the urban jungle can be tricky to navigate.

Instructions

Balance your neck and head by moving your body!

  • Arrow keys or WASD/ZQSD - control the giraffe's body
  • J - bite onto a shrubbery to swing. While swinging, your body can pass through floors, lava and platforms
  • K & L - contract/extend your neck
  • SPACE/ENTER - Start game & skip dialogue

| | | |------|------| | Collect all leafs before you can finish the level. | Collect all of these before you can finish the level. | | pictogram<em>giraffehouse.png | Make it home after collecting all the leaves. | | pictogram</em>blower.png | These keep your head up - or toss it about. | | pictogram_shrubbery.png | Swing from these by pressing J. |

Terrain

  • Floor: your body can touch this, but not your head.
  • Lava: your body and head cannot touch this.
  • Platform: your head passes through this, but to your body this is just a floor.

Tools used

Godot, Audacity, InkScape and a Roland piano

Hints

  • This is not an easy game! You will need some practice to learn how to balance. Try "feathering" your controls.
  • A hint if you get stuck in the first 3 levels: !> In level 3 you might discover that you can jump over your own head!

:clock2: The timer is for all the speed runners among you! Let us know your scores, or how far you got!

:warning: The music seems to stutter in Chrome/Edge. Firefox works fine though! We will see if we can fix the Godot export.

HTML5 (Firefox for sound) https://jellenauta.com/games/LudumDare/LD49/
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/giruffled

Ratings

Overall 213th 3.946⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Fun 283th 3.839⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 219th 3.821⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Theme 131th 4.232⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 531th 3.839⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Audio 467th 3.537⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Humor 119th 4⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Mood 450th 3.673⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 17🗳️ 22🗨️

Feedback

SkallyWags
05. Oct 2021 · 18:51 UTC
Such a funny game, and very well executed as well. I didn't make it that far unfortunately, but what I did experience I thoroughly enjoyed!
AnnaBella T
05. Oct 2021 · 18:54 UTC
very fun! the way the neck worked made for a challenging game that was fun, but manageable, I like it!
OctopusPrime
05. Oct 2021 · 19:01 UTC
I love the concept and it's well executed other than perhaps being a little too difficult to control.
Hadik
05. Oct 2021 · 19:02 UTC
Thememaster, thats you are, fit into the theme. Not too horiblle art but next time try invest time more into art. Chmm, that game is really fun, good for you :). Somebody use more time to think about the game then others, it is visible in inovations!. Game is very hard, but its good challange :)

One last note: I always write down honest review, because everybody need that, not just nice craps with some bullshit, but sometime I will appreciate very good games. So if this review insult you, but use it well :) Anyway every game is counting so :)
bunchanurds
05. Oct 2021 · 19:03 UTC
Well made and fun concept! I barely made it through the first level xD
Fedev
05. Oct 2021 · 19:05 UTC
Great cute and funny game! A little bit hard, I couldn't make it to the end. Great work!
almightyzentaco
05. Oct 2021 · 19:05 UTC
I really enjoyed this one! Smooth mechanics, challenging gameplay, and nice overall vibe. Great work!
José Bonilla
05. Oct 2021 · 19:10 UTC
This game is awesome! The mechanics are amazing. I think level 3 is a bit too hard for being level 3. Really cool little game you did. Congrats!
Cookie_CHR
05. Oct 2021 · 19:11 UTC
Really like the graphics!
Iacopo
05. Oct 2021 · 19:12 UTC
Very nice mechanics, I like that it is hard but I wouldn't punish the players by restarting the level, I'd rather have less stars for finishing the level if I take damage and if I don't get all the leaves, but at least get farther in the levels to try all the features! :D I hope I gave a useful feedback, overall it is a very funny game
jaybaus
05. Oct 2021 · 19:14 UTC
Really enjoyed this one! Took me a bit of getting used to but once I got the hang of it, it was really satisfying to play. Nice level of polish with the art, animation and audio as well, great job :)
zookatron
05. Oct 2021 · 19:22 UTC
Very cute little game, fun and straightforward! I found it REALLY hard though, I played it for like 15 minutes but I was not able to get past the second level.
Strange Nebula
05. Oct 2021 · 19:34 UTC
Completed the game in 23:56, was super fun and challenging. Really nice level design and cute art style. I also liked the the dialogues with the vet. The music is not that bad but it's waaayyy too repetitive. The sounds the giraffe makes, like the "wheeee" and "ouch" are really funny. Pleeeaaase add more levels and a death couunt! Super cool game :D
Kimberly
05. Oct 2021 · 19:40 UTC
Very interesting idea! It felt a bit too difficult, because I felt like I couldn't control the neck's swing very well, but there were a lot of cute details in there which I liked, such as the giraffe's face changing. I didn't end up using the mechanic to elongate or shrink the neck, because the controls felt a little awkward for it. Perhaps using WASD for movement and the arrow keys to control the neck could've helped me feel more in control.
mandy858
05. Oct 2021 · 19:47 UTC
Really fun game mechanic! Liked it. And I love the neck appearence, so cool!
Dining Philosopher
05. Oct 2021 · 20:02 UTC
Wow what a sudden storm of comments! Thank you all for playing, it's a pity most seem to not make it very far, since level 4 is the first kind of interesting one. Perhaps it helps to know that you **can actually swing your head around and jump over it**, so it's not at all necessary to stay balanced all the time.

@iacopo perhaps a "level selection" would have been nice to let people at least see what else is in store for them.

@strange-nebula thanks for beating the game! We normally add a mute button for the music but did not prioritize it this time. :P

@kimberly the neck controls become pretty important in the later levels! At first we had neck controls mapped to S and D, but changed it so that WASD could also be movement. I agree that JKL do feel a bit weird though.
PeachTreeOath
05. Oct 2021 · 20:03 UTC
I pretty much held my breath the entire time I played this game. I love how there are lots of different strategies you can use. At first you might think you should just extend the neck and play it safe with balancing. But as you get more comfortable with the mechanics, you can sorta swing and jump over your head constantly like a jump rope. Even then, this is still not easy at ALL, as the head weight is extremely sensitive. I really liked that about the game because it gives this a high skill ceiling, as is usually the case with your games.

Getting to the goal is incredibly satisfying because the level will instantly end, usually as you're about to hit your head on something. Basically every stage ended with me making a mad dash to the goal to free myself from the pain. Very fun game!
MicheleLeva
05. Oct 2021 · 21:10 UTC
Really cool and original idea, but even if I discovered I could jump over my head I found difficult to time the jump right to not slam my head in the steps of the later levels. It's a pity I'm not that skilled at this genre of games because it really looks and plays good and I would have loved to see more. Either way great job!
RookRules
05. Oct 2021 · 22:57 UTC
I went to try and follow the link and I couldn't seem to find the game at all (I am using chrome and I wonder if that's the reason) but im not sure
🎤 Papaver
05. Oct 2021 · 23:21 UTC
@rookrules Thanks for letting us know. I couldn't reproduce it, I can still play it. Maybe you can try again? Did you see a loading bar?
RookRules
05. Oct 2021 · 23:35 UTC
@papaver I just tried it again an it worked just fine :D

thank you for the fix
🎤 Papaver
05. Oct 2021 · 23:42 UTC
@PeachTreeOath Thank you for you lovely comment! Yes, we made a difficult game again. I am glad you enjoyed it. :smile: :heart:

@MicheleLeva Thanks for the commend and your feedback! It is indeed very hard. :wink: In the later levels you can slow down a bit during the jump (or even go the other direction) to avoid smashing your head into the steps. :head_bandage:

@jaybaus: Thanks! :smile:

@iacopo Hmm, yes the game is rather punishing. Thanks for the feedback! Maybe we will add a level picker later, so you can have a look at other levels.

@zookatron @jose-bonilla @bunchanurds @skallywags @octopusprime Thanks for your comments! It is a very hard game indeed. Thanks for trying it! Did you discover that you can jump over the head, like rope skipping? :smile:
Helen
11. Oct 2021 · 16:50 UTC
I had a good laugh playing your game. It took me 4 minutes to get through the first level :D - always did the same mistakes. Nice graphics and cool idea!
elysiagriffin
11. Oct 2021 · 16:58 UTC
Hi there! Thanks for submitting your game for me to play live during my Twitch stream!

If you’d like to rewatch the playthrough, you can find it here:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1172268556?t=6h36m38s

Good luck on your ratings, see you next LD! :D

💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady

https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin
Hengen
19. Oct 2021 · 18:29 UTC
comfy little game, once you got hang of the jump swing technique you fly trough the levels! Good job!
Teto
19. Oct 2021 · 20:49 UTC
Well this was ridiculously difficult but absolutely hilarious, and although I only got past level 1 before my uncoordinated ass rage quit, I thoroughly enjoyed it! (Sent it to my friends I'm currently on Discord with coz they asked why I was laughing so much lol)

Anyway, very cute little game that looks amazingly well put together. The graphics, music and sounds effects (wheeee) all fit together really nicely to give that cute vibe! The physics of it is also very cool and results in some really cool gameplay. I like the take on the theme which is pretty unique without being too abstract.

I usually try and come up with some ideas for improvement/constructive criticism but I can't seem to think of anything for this! It's just so well put together! (Although I might have been able to come up with something later on if I hadn't quit haha) Congrats on a great game!
Woett
20. Oct 2021 · 19:19 UTC
Absolutely amazing game by you guys, once again. As always, challenging but very fun gameplay and nice music. I have also been trying to speedrun it for a bit. My best run so far:


![Screenshot 1.14.png](///raw/e97/61/z/485fc.png)

For anyone interested, I also have a video :). Anyway, well done you two!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO1f5fxIQSk
JD_Isaac
21. Oct 2021 · 05:22 UTC
Fantastic game, I beat it in 15:18. The animations are so good, all the facial expressions, love it. A great exploration of the basic mechanic with all the different additions each level. I would totally play a full version of this