We Can Bounce Back by ChaosComposer
A game about a ball and a circle and their relationship.

A short physics based journey made in Gamemaker Studio. The game is up for free on my itch.io, and unfortunately only for Windows at the time of submission.
The meaning of the theme would be more obvious in planned later levels, but unfortunately my internet was out for
t w e l v e h o u r s
during the competition, so I probably lost 7-8 hours of work from that that would have let me add more levels and mechanics (and more music variation). I'll keep working on this for other stuff but sorry if the progression feels a bit rushed right now. I've got a ton more mechanics in mind that I was unable to add, but there is a good selection in this demo.

The game is playable, but there is no saving at this time. It should be short enough to not really be missed.
| Windows Download | https://chaoscomposer.itch.io/we-can-bounce-back |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/we-can-bounce-back |
Ratings
| Overall | 61th | 4.15⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 30th | 4.214⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 29th | 4.262⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1085th | 3.262⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 1026th | 3.19⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 197th | 3.9⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 159th | 4.048⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 10🗳️ | 24🗨️ |
@juulh & @pixeltaku hmm yeah I am seeing the issue with the edge of the screen now - looks like it's mostly specific to hitting boxes whose corners are touching the edge of the screen. I had thought I fixed it (it used to be much easier to clip on the corner and die) but it looks like I need to revisit that interaction again. Thanks for pointing it out!
More music is definitely something that will be added (particularly it will change a couple times to match the new obstacles being introduced)
@lintfordpickle Thank you! You make a great point with the tutorial - I'll definitely update the graphic to make it a bit clearer. A click without moving the mouse is meant for small adjustments but that could also be indicated better. Thanks for the feedback!
The game does a great job at teaching the player how the game works. The tutorial section at the start where you manage one player at a time is a really great way to keep the game simple for the player to learn how it all works. And building off of that, it gets hectic, but never to a point where it's unmanageable. The later stages definitely took a few tries, but it never felt annoying to try again. (as others have pointed out, you can occasionally die bouncing off a box near the edge of the screen)
My strategy was to keep the two characters as close as possible so I can move both of them together. It definitely kept the game from becoming a management nightmare.
I think the art is very simple to read, but the background is a bit empty. Obviously you don't want to overwhelm the player with distracting background elements. I think some small dark grey particles slowly sweeping across the screen would add a lot while fitting the aesthetic.
Overall this is a solid game! Great job, and congrats on your first Ludum Dare!
I love your idea to spice up the background a bit; yours is a perfect example of how to keep the aesthetic while also making it less bland. I'll do something like this for sure in future builds of the game.
I'm glad you found the progression and kind of gradual tutorial stuff effective! Keeping the two characters together is definitely sort of the intended thing I wanted players to realize. The idea was to have players figure out that working together in unison makes things so much easier, which also fits into the story themes. However, one of the features that unfortunately did NOT make it in is a mechanic that kills the players if they get too close together! (This is when the relationship starts to go further downhill.) I'm really sad I didn't have the time to work it into the game itself, as I think it really drives home the story mood towards the end, and I wanted players to feel that difficulty from losing the ability to keep them clustered and together.
@klianc09 - That's a good point on the tutorial- I plan on making that a bit clearer in the future, as there have been a couple mentions of the tutorial not being as good as it could be.
I'm actually glad you figured out the strategy of grouping the characters together - a lot of the features that I was sadly unable to add do involve forcibly splitting up the characters to up the challenge later. Unfortunately I ran out of time to really get to those, which makes me very sad especially as those mechanics would go along with the story of the game better towards the end
Awesome game! Absolutely love how the story is tolled through the gameplay.
I did encounter a bug I think? Sometimes the balls would bounce in a different direction then intended. Didn't happen too often though so maybe I just did something wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AbouqYbGZA