Slime Zone by TheMadPangolin
Slime Zone is a survival platformer. You control a slime being chased by a mysterious black hole infinitely spewing blocks into a laboratory.

In order to survive, you must work your way around the lab, tactically destroying blocks in your way and jumping between walls to escape the black hole's reach. Some blocks have unique effects, from blowing up other nearby blocks to spawning a mini black hole! Carefully co-ordinate each move to survive as long as possible.

Can you survive long enough to get a gold time?
Programs used: GameMaker Studio 2, Aseprite, FamiTracker, BFXR, Audacity
| Game Download | https://the-mad-pangolin.itch.io/slime-zone |
| Source Code | https://the-mad-pangolin.itch.io/slime-zone |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/slime-zone |
Ratings
| Overall | 14th | 4.2⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 14th | 4.2⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 26th | 4.2⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 48th | 4.175⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 11th | 4.5⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 301th | 2.765⭐ | 19🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 74th | 3.824⭐ | 19🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 9🗳️ | 12🗨️ |
It's polished. Great work.
Everything is perfect.
@ollie-d Thank you! I did make the music but not during the Ludum Dare itself. It was already pretty much a finished song so I polished it up a little bit and just used that, which is why I opted out of the audio category.
There is juste one little thing that I would change: when we go against a block and try to jump, our character is stuck and can't really jump. I think the gamefeel of this little thing is quite frustrating. Other than this little detail, everything is really really nice and polished. You made a wonderful job on this game, thanks for sharing it!
I think a mechanic where you automatically climb over the top of a block if you jump/fall onto the side of it would make it feel alot better. I'm not sure if I'll make a post jam version but if I do I'll definitely have a look into it.
Really enjoyed this entry. Only had time at the moment to get a Silver rating, but I had enough fun with it that I very much plan to come back around when I have the time to go for that Gold (will probably have to do some external controller binding, I'm terribly bad at platforming with keyboard v_v).
Graphics are really solid. The slime is adorable and the animation when it jumps is great (nice little shimmer on it). Each block type appearance being quite distinct was great for quickly being able to identify what was going on when things got chaotic.
Most blocks where pretty obvious in their effects as soon as I hit them. Only ones that weren't with their exact effects were the Plus and Arrow blocks, but the Research Notes were really helpful in that regard (though I did get the Ice block note like five times in a row at the start XD).
I do quite like the mechanic of the Black Hole growing and getting slower as more blocks are on the field. It gives some options on how one wants to try to handle the situation (keep less blocks but having to move more quickly, or have to fight through the clutter with a bit more time to spare but more difficult maneuvering around the Black Hole), which is an interesting bit of strategy to have in a quick game like this.
Nice touch with the floor blinking before it vanishes. I didn't know that was coming the first round I played, so that visual indicator helped a lot. It was immediately obvious to me that I was going to lose the ground and I had to scramble up onto the blocks.
The only thing that wasn't immediately obvious was that I had a wall jump (discovering that almost got me killed as I sort of latched onto the outside wall), but as soon as I discovered it, it was really helpful in giving additional options.
Anyway, great job with this entry! It was a blast to play!
Absurd that this is a compo game. I love the unique mechanic, paired with the clean visuals and tight controls. Absolutely well done here!
I found myself tanking the black hole and shooting at it until there were no blocks left, than instantly dying once the floor got removed as my strategy was very reliant on floor, but eventually managed to get bronze :-)