We Can Bounce Back by ChaosComposer

[raw]
made by ChaosComposer for Ludum Dare 50 (JAM)

A game about a ball and a circle and their relationship.

day2gif.gif

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.

day1gif.gif

The game is playable, but there is no saving at this time. It should be short enough to not really be missed.

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🗨️

Feedback

JuulH
06. Apr 2022 · 00:43 UTC
Really nice story, it was really nice to play! I had a couple issues with the balls sometimes going in a different direction than I sent them to, it was sometimes also a bit vague whether you could bounce off of the edge of the screen or not. Aside from that it was a really nice game, I liked how you combined the story with the gameplay well and the effects when you hit your ball on something are really nice too C:
MaratG2
06. Apr 2022 · 05:03 UTC
Loved the core gameplay! As for my point of view, really fresh and neat idea! Good luck with developing it further, thank you for the submission!
Tsugumi
06. Apr 2022 · 05:09 UTC
The Game is great! I like the bouncing sound btw.
PixelTaku
06. Apr 2022 · 05:32 UTC
This game was fantastic! I love the concept and the narrative a ton! I think it played really well into gameplay, especially near the end; it felt like I was on pins and needles when I was playing. If I had to say anything, more music would we nice (though the music present is really good) and the early obstacles could be themed a bit better, but those are really nit picky! Oh actually, I did have some deaths/weird collisions with the edge of the screen a few too many times, but other than that, it was great!
Zyang
06. Apr 2022 · 06:08 UTC
It is very fun to play , I think if the wall is also bouncy will make the game tighter
C64Gamer
06. Apr 2022 · 08:23 UTC
Very fun to play. Controlling both characters was kill my mind in the first seconds. Great game. Good job and a big thumbs up. :-)
Lintfordpickle
06. Apr 2022 · 09:35 UTC
Such a simple mechanic made for some very nice gameplay. It's surprising how 'trippy' it gets when you are under even a bit of pressure to control both dot-people. I liked the music, which fit the chill atmosphere and helped set the mood. A minor point is with the 'tutorial' at the start of the game just looks like a left click (which I did and it launches your ball up) - it doesn't actually mention moving the mouse to project the ball in a direction.
arthurr
06. Apr 2022 · 11:37 UTC
j'adore ce jeuil est super marrant et stressant bien joué
🎤 ChaosComposer
06. Apr 2022 · 22:13 UTC
Thanks for the feedback so far, everyone!

@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!
blobo
07. Apr 2022 · 00:50 UTC
First off, I love the sound effects for bouncing off the walls. It was pretty satisfying to charge full speed into wall within a tight corridor back and forth. Also, there is a LOT of cool mechanics that get added. Primarily the boxes where both characters need to bounce off of simultaneously; that was a fun one.

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!
🎤 ChaosComposer
07. Apr 2022 · 01:11 UTC
@100th-coin Thanks for the feedback!

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.
crotonyl_alcohol
07. Apr 2022 · 14:15 UTC
Nice game! Sorry I failed to finish the game because I had to start all over multiple times, and I only died due to some kind of bugs. One time I reached the edge and died because of a box that was too near but already out of screen. Another time one of the ball stopped the end square while idling, yet The game continued when I manager to get the other ball to int and I crushed to death. I wish I could see the whole story but twice I died when I almost finished the levels... Overall a nice game! Though I really wish as a small game, I don't need to start over as if I were playing dark souls lol.
klianc09
07. Apr 2022 · 19:22 UTC
Took me a while to get that I had to drag the mouse and not just click at the beginning. It's missing something like walls only one character can pass through otherwise you just keep them always on top of each other and it basically plays like only having a single character. Simple, but well done.
🎤 ChaosComposer
10. Apr 2022 · 00:58 UTC
@crotonyl-alcohol - Thanks for the feedback - implementing saving would be nice and is on my todo list, but deaths should currently just restart the level, not the entire game. Unless you're closing the game multiple times I don't think you should need to start all over? Either way I will be adding automatic saving in the future so hopefully that will be nicer. Thanks for playing at least!

@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
Luis Felipe Patrocinio
11. Apr 2022 · 00:34 UTC
I had never played a game with that mechanic before. I liked it! Although I couldn't figure out how it fit with the theme.
LDJam user 288830
11. Apr 2022 · 08:02 UTC
I do love these mechanic, it's seems easy to play, but it can be change in a moment!
sophie.s
11. Apr 2022 · 08:43 UTC
I have to say that this one is favorite game till now. I really like it, its audio is kind of relaxing and fun, and though it is difficult to get use to playing with both rmb and lmb, I really do enjoy the game!! However, its seems a little bit independent of the theme... but I like it!
sophie.s
11. Apr 2022 · 08:45 UTC
oh and I want to introduce this game to my friends(I'm sorry they don't participate in the jam so they can't rate for you) but I think this is a good game deserve to share (if you don't mind
WobbleBlocks
11. Apr 2022 · 14:49 UTC
The music was beautiful! and I really enjoyed the simplicity of this game, great work!!
LANIK2000
11. Apr 2022 · 14:57 UTC
Dude... Don't make me cry like that xD

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.
Marron121
11. Apr 2022 · 18:00 UTC
This is such a cute and interesting idea! It's a shame that you had internet loss for twelve hours, but what you did manage to publish is already cool :)
Molpe
18. Apr 2022 · 21:52 UTC
Nice story, loved the controls and what I've learned from this game - I am really bad at avoiding issues :smile: Great job :slight_smile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AbouqYbGZA