Hazard Saviour by sinclairstrange
Hazard Saviour:
Main premise is Crazy Taxi smooshed together with a metroidvania-lite styled world. Earn cash, upgrade your guy. More detailed description of how to play the game is in the main option menu.
Not super happy with this one, ran out of time, couldn't finish a snazzy title screen nor finish all 6 audio tracks for the game. Was plagued with problems during this jam, mainly my keyboard not working during times and my knees failing me :/ However it does have a massive world to explore, with a varied amount of enemies and biomes, (five in fact.) It's a little messy and haphazard but that's the whole spirit of solo game jamming.
Everything made in under 72 hours by myself (minus one bat. He was too cute to pass up from my failed LD50 attempt.)
Uploads:
Upload 2b2 is a minor edit where I took away the tree that was sticking in the ground. This is the original LDjam version of the game.
Upload 2D is a slightly better version of the game, nothing major done other than some text telling you where to drop off the passenger and the map showing the actual room layout instead of just "blocks." (Makes it easier to plan a route.) And an extra path between Temple and Factory.
-Default controls: A - JUMP S - SHOOT ARROWS - MOVE ENTER - PAUSE Volume edit = + / - keys
You can edit these in the key config options on the main title:
-Screenshots



If you can't play the game or don't want to download here is a full gameplay video:
https://youtu.be/2wMECSq2Wtk
| Itch.Io | https://sinclairstrange.itch.io/hazard-saviour |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/53/hazard-suviour |
Ratings
| Overall | 36th | 4.283⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 105th | 4.043⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 227th | 3.783⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 194th | 4.283⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 76th | 4.521⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 61th | 4.217⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 721th | 2.864⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 329th | 3.818⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 33🗳️ | 27🗨️ |
Now as for my second playthrough

I'm in absolute awe of how you're able to put out these content rich games within the time period of a jam. There's an amazing amount of polish in this from the sprite work to the audio just like your other Ludum Dare games. The biomes present are also varied and damn pleasing to look at.
The timer is also pretty generous ensuring that things aren't too frustrating and the controls are snappy and fun.
I think my only real problem with the game is that the first time you play, it can be a little annoying trying to get to one part of the map only to find a dead end instead since the directional arrow isn't too much of a help at that point. This won't be a problem once you learn the map, but it's definitely worth noting lol. Keeping that issue aside, the map has a good flow to it none the less keeping it a joy to explore.
I'm definitely going to play this more and try and unlock more of the weapons. Really amazing work on this
Ah yeah, so regards to the map/arrow, originally I had envisioned it as lots of small arenas/levels but sadly time wouldn't permit me to make that, so I opted for one large level instead, hence why somethings don't quite work like the arrow or deadends. Gah if only we had more time!
But I'm glad ye liked overall, sorry it was a bit rushed and poopy this game! Hopefully next time I'll knock it out of the park haha.
God I just wanna be able to explore it all and look around, from my first playthrough I found the timer too much. I keep getting stuck super duper far away from the target, where there's somewhere I wanna be but it's behind a wall in a room I gotta go all the way around to reach. Would be super fun if my powerups I bought were saved between runs, so I could build up an epic arsenal rather than gaining all this stuff 30 seconds away from death... Also rip seems that when I minimise the window and write this the timer keeps ticking, heck. I also wish that you gained time from submitting people. Also minor bug, you can't respawn after dying, the 'press any button' doesn't work
But really man this game is insane, I LOVE IT. The scope of game that you tackle is simply insane and you can totally play this for hours. Every frame is gorgeous, every challenge is fun, the sound and music is so so perfect! I just realised that the delivery start and end spots are randomised, neat! I really wanna explore more of the upgrades, but I'll needa come back to try some of that. I kept investing in the boring timer upgrades, but damn these new weapons are super exciting! Top tier game, simply amazing :heart:
Navigation was a bit tricky for me at first but once I found the map and got a feel for the world I was able to get around. You've got a fan. I can't wait to see what you do next!
Great job, very impressive!
@justcamh
I actually did sleep, actually too much and I took it more relaxed the first day, hence why a lot of polish and things I wanted to do, not done! The world I think is 6654x1440 or something like that, so not overly massive. I actually made most of the world in the final day, which again was a mistake. I really ought of took away one of the areas and focused on polish but oh well! Hindsight and all!
The original plan was small worlds and split them in three levels (so it was going to be Forest, Lava and Water) but I felt I wouldn't have enough time to do that, hence why again it's just one big world. The map hopefully will help a little bit! The arrow is a bit wonky but that's because I coded it for smaller worlds, it's a bit crap at finding the best route with a large level, oops!
Hope ye like, needed more time in the oven but then again it's a LDjam game, so jankiness is expected haha.
@alpalcalad I did put a how to play on the main menu alongside a map in-game which hopefully would help players find the way once they've explored the world a bit. (And an upgrade is to uncover the map.) In hindsight I should just have the map completely uncovered to begin with, which would of helped players not get lost, but my reasoning behind not doing that, is that hopefully on multiple playthroughs you can get a feel for the world, much like Crazy Taxi.
Haha, yeah everything was done in 72 minus a bat and a projectile. I'm often known for making much too big games of LDjam, often trying to push my limit of what can I do. Annoyingly if I didn't take it so relaxed on the first day I could of got more done, perhaps a boss or even music for each of the areas. Hope ye liked ^-^
@strangeryann No idea why it was crashing after a minute or two, I've never experienced this, nor seen any testers have this problem as well? Bit odd that. And to pick peeps up, just press what ever you assigned the "down" key too. I've got a how to play in the main menu. Hope ye liked it other than that, and thanks about the graphics! Can't go wrong with some Game Boy Color style!
@cinterre Aww thanks! I did actually sleep! I actually took this jam more relaxed than I usually do. Old me would of got a lot more done, like unique zone music tracks and even a boss! Alas in my older age I can't quite do that now, I'm still suffering from last weekend! Glad ye liked the game overall, hope it wasn't too janky, a little disappointed in the outcome of this, but if peeps had some fun then I guess I should be happy in that ^-^
@tim-sims The only other penalty is that you lose 5 seconds of time (3 seconds if you have the upgrade.) I gave five minutes to begin with so people could get used to the gameplay and world, and then once you're skilled you can easily earn 999 seconds without really trying haha. Hope ye enjoyed the game ^-^
@fidrik Thanks! Hope ye liked! Aye I feel like the map was a little "too big" but alas my original plan of having 2 to 3 smaller worlds wouldn't of been made in time! Hope ye didn't get too lost!
@bonzochuff Thanks! That's the charm of doing 8-bit graphics, they're weirdly very quick to make, (for me at least.) If I bundle all the assets together they're isn't that many of them, it's just placed in a creative way so it doesn't look to sparse. The combo basically increases your money earned from killing enemies or picking up people. You then deposit those earnings into your credits bank on a successful drop off! Hope ye liked the game ^-^
Dude you have got to be giving out ratings and promoting yourself harder because this is a gem that can't be buried. I feel like this is winning material even. I got all 16 upgrades and weapons, homing missile really op. I realized a little too late that the passengers respawn, I thought it was a time run for delivering everyone. Apparently I have to die to be ranked (I'm not even sure I can die right now), I kinda wish there was an ending but I'm not the one to talk. I still don't know what makes the timer goes up, because that basically made it an infinite run. Is it the combo or picking up passengers (don't tell me it's a bug)? Level design was superb, tile sprites were marvelous and may I slap you for the enemy placement? Overall a solid perfect.
edit: Looks like you already won a couple of times, it shows. I'm guessing you have an auto-tile and a tile randomizer? I still don't know how you sprite this fast though. Kudos man. I really want to try making something like this, even if it's not for a jam
@twowolf So the gameplay is much like Crazy Taxi, where once you picked up a passenger, depending on their difficulty will award you time to go drop them off. Once you've dropped them off, you'll be awarded the credits on that journey!
Ah I've somewhat stopped promoting myself, I find I like doing the jam more and then playing games than worrying about scores now. I used to be like that but now having won it twice, I'm just in it for trying to push myself over those 72 hours the best I can. (Although I feel like I failed a bit on this one, had things missing that I often usually do!
I'm sorry about that it can get to a point where the game doesn't end with the timer, the original idea was to make enough drops or credits, and then would unlock another world when ever you got the beginning, but as I was running out of time, I opted to make one big world that just never ended. In hindsight should of kept the "stop" playing part of it, so you get a rank. Ah well haha, hope ye enjoyed it over all though!
With the art, it's just me and MSpaint (weirdly.) The key is that when it's 8bit graphics, they're only 16x16 tiles so I can churn them out pretty quickly. The map is just plonked together on the last day, hence why it's a little haphazard in the layout, usually I would polish that up before release but I sadly just ran out of time for that stuff.
@beeb-gamecodecompany Ah I wish I had more time haha, I actually had things missing from this, like unique music tracks for each of the areas and my original plan was to have different smaller levels, but I knew if I did that I'd not have it finished so I opted for one big world instead. The key to getting a lot of this done in time is to keep the graphics simple, hence the GBC style, I can churn those out pretty quickly now, so that always help things! And as an ol' TGF/MMF user like myself, it's actually a great tool to quickly make something up! I hope ye enjoyed the game and thanks for the lovely comment!
@waffleworksgames Ah if only I had months, I could of added in bosses and make my original plan of lots of smaller worlds so it's easier not to get lost haha! Aww I'm glad ye enjoyed the game! Yeah usually I would go through near the end and tinker with some of the stats/items so they're not under or over powered but sadly I just ran out of time for that end jam polish. But hopefully ye had fun nethertheless!
The timer was a threat at first but after some upgrades, the timer was hardly a threat and it even increased giving me free time. And with passengers respawning at same spots, I could play this game forever.
The free time allowed me to explore certain areas such as aquatic biome which was never picked as destination from my passengers.
@ciderpunk Aww thanks! I'm glad you played it for that long, that means a lot to me! I would of loved to introduce little character dialogue and bits and bobs but sadly being a solo dev I just don't have the time for that, although their names are randomly generated in the pause menu! I'm glad you enjoyed what you played however, ^-^
In terms of the gameplay:
- I really liked that every upgrade felt like a significant change to gameplay. I did feel that some of the weapons were underwhelming (especially the rocket), I think my favorite ended up just being the spread shot.
- I like that the timer was there to keep the pressure on, and I like that it's generous enough that I didn't feel like I was going to fail (especially the refilling time from doing delivery) and that I could keep going if I tried.
- I can't believe you had so many biomes, it was really cool to explore the map and see how each one was different in terms of challenges and enemies. I like the idea of the "hazard protection", but I feel like it defeated some of the fun of the game. Maybe it's **too** good. Maybe if it was split up into different upgrades like "spike protection", "shock protection", that would let me choose to skip those challenges once I'd had enough, but I got that hazard protect upgrade before I even saw the electricity level.
- I do wish there was some kind of 'ending' to the game other than choosing to run out of time. I think I would've traded off some of the other stuff to make time for that. It makes a game feel more 'complete' to me.
- The movement mechanics and gunplay felt really satisfying to play. I like how crunchy the hit effect is.
Oh and the characters were really adorable too! :)
Art, beautiful, game idea fresh and fun, nice use of the theme, catchy music. Nice level design. The only downside is the progression balance and ending. I think it would've been nicer if at the start you had smaller missions and as the game goes on you have to get further, which would create the difficulty curve, then the shop would likewise alleviate it but with less broken effects, more like "makes the clock 10% slower" or boots that make you resistant to wind, thermo suit etc. broken into bits so it isn't just like "i have the environment thing, now I am unkillable"
I would not be surprised to see this pick up a couple of medals including Overall