LudumData

News Flash! by Shaggy

[raw]
made by Shaggy for Ludum Dare 53 (JAM)

Intro

Get ready to hit the ground running (and jumping!) in this fast-paced mail delivery game. As the neighborhood's newest delivery person, you'll need to sprint and leap your way from house to house, tossing newspapers onto porches with pinpoint accuracy. But don't take too long or you might get a bad review – speed is the name of the game in this high-energy challenge.

With arcade-style movements and thrilling parkour options, every run is a chance to test your skills and push yourself to the limit.

So why wait? Grab your delivery bag and get delivering.

Post your completion times below to compete!

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image8.png

Controls

Move using WASD and mouse. Jump with SPACE. Throw newspapers using mouse click or E. Also playable using controller or touch screens.

Technical details

Written in Typescritps with NodeJS in a home made engine. All assets except for the trees are made by us during the jam. Don't forget to try out the foldable grass!

External assets

Tree models:
https://free3d.com/3d-model/low-poly-tree-498046.html
https://free3d.com/3d-model/lowpolytree-816203.html
https://free3d.com/3d-model/low-poly-tree-24775.html

Updates

5/5-23:

Fixed a bug where newspaper would stay and immediately trigger house deliveries on restart. Also release the mouse pointer when getting to end screen.

Updated https://ldjam53.rlyeh.nu/
Original https://bjorkgustav.se/News-Flash/
Github https://github.com/Praccen/News-Flash
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/53/news-flash

Ratings

Overall 1193th 2.596⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1131th 2.654⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1199th 2.269⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 693th 3.808⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 944th 2.98⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1050th 1.818⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1158th 2.417⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Given 24🗳️ 40🗨️

Feedback

E-polygon
03. May 2023 · 20:52 UTC
Controls were nice and movement was fluid, but gameplay could have used some more intricasies, one level with only 7 houses is a bit short and the houses not having collision was a bit odd, especially when the newspaper we threw got inside instead of bouncing on the door. Still good entry!
Praccen
03. May 2023 · 21:46 UTC
@e-polygon Thank you so much for playing! Unfortunately, we had a misshap and accidentally pushed an unfinished update to the release build, instead of internally. I have now removed the faulty link, and the only remaining one should have the original version of the game, with working collisions on the houses. Sorry for the inconvenience.
icch_howw
07. May 2023 · 11:36 UTC
Controls worked well, graphics were consistent and having the player's velocity be added to the throwing arc was a nice challenging touch! My best time was 33 seconds! Great submission!
leking
07. May 2023 · 11:40 UTC
The gameplay is okay, but it would feel better if the character had two states: running and walking. The game content is a bit lacking, so maybe adding more levels or obstacles would be better.
Flying Dog Fish
07. May 2023 · 11:49 UTC
The world looks good, the movement is fluid and the newspaper shooting mechanic is nice. Folding grass is fun, that should've been on by default. A bit bigger level and some sound and music would make this much better. Climbing on top of the tallest trees was fun too.
Gatlink
07. May 2023 · 12:45 UTC
The newspaper physics drove me crazy x)
Time and time again I shot a newspaper on the target, just to see it slide out of it, which made me stop in my tracks to shoot again, going against the idea of speed you seemed to want for your game. I felt like jumping wasn't needed, a more carefully crafted level would have helped with that. Movement feels good though, and the idea is neat.
Praccen
07. May 2023 · 13:39 UTC
@icch-howw Thank you for playing! 33 seconds is a great time!

@leking Yeah, we didn't have time to make more/bigger levels unfortunately. Thanks for the feedback and for playing!

@flying-dog-fish Thanks! Our experience was that some mobile devices was struggling a bit with the folding grass, so opted to have it disabled by default. Nice of you to check it out!

@gatlink Thank you for playing! I agree that there isn't really a need for the jumping, other than throwing the newspapers further. If we make more levels we'll keep that in mind!
Fear Games
07. May 2023 · 13:42 UTC
Fun game. Good movement. Would love some more levels
jk5000
07. May 2023 · 14:31 UTC
The gameplay idea is perhaps a bit too simple, but it is okay. I like the visuals, and I am impressed what you can do with a home made game engine. Overall an okay little jam game.
zubspace
07. May 2023 · 15:44 UTC
Nice environment. Love the small details, like the trees, the sunflowers, the cat in the window or even the doorknobs. Only thing which looks a bit odd are the roofs :) Game play is nice, works great with a controller. Good job!
misscafeina
07. May 2023 · 16:22 UTC
Nice game! I would add some sounds or light background music to spice it up :)
LDJam user 320805
07. May 2023 · 17:04 UTC
The game is a bit barebones, but there's so much you could expand on it on top of my mind : different types of targets, newspapers, obstacles... Just a couple more levels would have been great ! Anyway it's simple and nice !
TebionDL
07. May 2023 · 17:37 UTC
50 secs, I would like a faster speed, but it was enjoying trying to deliver as fast as possible.
elFlashor
07. May 2023 · 17:55 UTC
As other have said before, it's a cute little prototype but it lacks some goal apart from just "be as fast as possible". A failure condition for example would increase the stakes, some optional goals or scoring (other than just time) would create player choice and tension!
Francis
07. May 2023 · 20:20 UTC
Not really too much happening, but I like where you're going with the throwing newspapers.
Was the dithering on the housing indicators an engine limitation or an artistic choice? I think its interacting a bit weirdly with the shadows, maybe alpha instead of dithering would work better. The grass looks nice though :)

In terms of gameplay: maybe adding more obstacles in the level to make the player more conscious of their movement, or some verticality element could spice it up a bit.

BTW I think according to the rules, if you use external art assets then you are supposed to not request to be rated in Graphics, since the expectation is that things are made within the Game Jam time restrictions. Otherwise it is not really fair to other participants.
Essillore
08. May 2023 · 03:07 UTC
I liked the feeling of speed when running. Also the flowers (the sunflower? a different yellow one?). I gave my first newspapers to not-red-carpet. When delivering, i was happy i had spare newspapers, as hitting the red thing even standing still did not succeed each try.
Rodrigo Denúbila
09. May 2023 · 04:42 UTC
Congratulations on using a home made engine, this is a real challenge. The game is simple, but fits the theme and worked very well. Good job!
ardorugus
10. May 2023 · 04:14 UTC
Now you can use this to make games). It's a nice test-drive, loved throwing newspapers.
🎤 Shaggy
15. May 2023 · 13:11 UTC
@fear-games Thank you!

@jk5000 Thanks! We wanted to keep it simple this year and focus on mechanics as previous years we have been a bit too optimistic of what we have time for. Trying to find the balance!

@zubspace Thank you! We aimed to be as inclusive with platforms/input as we could :)

@misscafeina Thanks! We had adding audio in our plan but sadly we ran out of time this jam!

@wrong-timeline Thanks friend!

@tebiondl Great run then! I think that is pretty close to our own records so well done!

@elflashor Thank your for the input!

@francis The dithering is a feature we've had for some time and like, I think it looks a lot better on higher resolutions though. We'll have to look into the shadows though!

Oh We have to take a look at the rules again then, thanks!

@essillore Thank you!

@rodrigo-denubila Thank you! Doing as much of the rendering/physics as possible is great fun!

@ardorugus Thanks!
the Sÿhl
20. May 2023 · 14:06 UTC
Wow, nice work making your own engine and everything, that's some really good code work ! It might lack a bit gameplay-wise, but it's a really nice code experiment