LudumData

GOLD DUST by starduster

[raw]
made by starduster for Ludum Dare 58 (JAM)

Game has known issue with hi-dpi monitors.

After getting clobbered in a saloon brawl, Claim-Jumpin' Charlie woke up a a paradise of GOLD. Throw moneybags in the glowing purple portal, then jump in when you're done! Collect 10,000 gold (worth 10 million dollars) to win!

WASD to move, Space to Jump. Left click throws moneybag. Right click drops moneybag. E picks up moneybags.

Moneybags with 100 gold moving fast enough can kill monsters. If the moneybag is too full you become encumbered. Throw moneybags in the portal.

My first time participating in Ludum Dare!

Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/58/gold-dust

Ratings

Overall 729th 2.854⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 708th 2.667⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 578th 2.917⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Theme 542th 3.417⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 676th 2.688⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Humor 470th 2.792⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Given 27🗳️ 28🗨️

Feedback

DeadCode
Oct 06th · 20:33 UTC
I really like how you incorporated falling sand simulation into your game! Very creative!
Paroxysmal
Oct 06th · 20:38 UTC
Love the concept! I did a similar design..hah. The character controller is pretty rough. Good entry though.
ckane144
Oct 06th · 20:56 UTC
I agree that the way the player picks up the gold dust is the best part! It's very satisfying walking through a big stack of gold. It was tough up front to know that I had to throw the gold bags into the hole to save it. Great entry!
🎤 starduster
Oct 06th · 21:29 UTC
Yeah, I went overboard on the difficulty, too easy to make a platformer difficult! Not enough time to make it balanced. I like NES Mario style character control, but here it's pretty evil with all the nasty jumps.
Baluj
Oct 06th · 22:03 UTC
I enjoyed it, although the character controls seemed quite rough to me.
Tony Li
Oct 07th · 01:04 UTC
I really like the falling sand! The main character is neat, too. I agree with other players that it's a fun challenge deciding whether to risk going a little further or to go back and deliver the gold. I think maybe having 3 "hit points"/hearts would make the game a little more forgiving
TemmyT
Oct 08th · 09:35 UTC
Though the game is quite difficult, I think it fits the NES/Atari aesthetic
Tkap1
Oct 08th · 11:23 UTC
This might be the hardest platformer ever made
zoeek
Oct 08th · 23:16 UTC
10/10 got lacerated by a cactoid.
Both directions seem like death traps but was a fun play :)
MysticGames
Oct 09th · 07:05 UTC
Good game really hard but its fun. I do like how the character gets heavier with the more gold you have.
Eugenik
Oct 09th · 13:34 UTC
Cool! Good job!.
LDJam user 282870
Oct 09th · 14:35 UTC
The game is excellent. Not too easy and not too hard. The mechanics are good and the gold physics are excellent. Well done.
JonasOlsson
Oct 09th · 18:44 UTC
Nice game! Having to resist greed to not be encumbered is a fun game mechanic. Good work!
tardis2snej
Oct 09th · 20:14 UTC
You mentioned the issue with some monitors, but I didn't understand what you mean until I read the comments and realised that I don't see the sand haha After that moved to another laptop and that was fine.

Sand physics is super satysfying!
I found the controls to be quite hard to get used do, I keep sliding and it's hard to do precise jumps, so I didn't manage to get far.
But still, nice game, great ideas, well done!
ehtd
Oct 10th · 00:53 UTC
Weird game, but interesting mechanics
stefaink
Oct 11th · 20:54 UTC
In love with game idea
jelch
Oct 14th · 04:59 UTC
Great idea and the gold pile was really cool! I found the controls and physics to be frustrating.
Dis0rder
Oct 16th · 17:13 UTC
It's janky in all aspects and really hard to operate but still charming in its own way. I liked the different death-messages depending on how you expired, and it had a certain _old-school feel to it._

---

The second horde of cactoids couldn't be killed with the money-bag which was annoying, and the other route led to a dead-end, so I quit before making through.

Some of the ideas here could certainly be expanded further. :moneybag: :cactus:

Cheers!
SergS Workshop
Oct 19th · 14:13 UTC
Unfortunately, the dust isn’t visible, and the character controller feels a bit floaty, with a lack of sound effects. On the bright side, I love the death screen messages and the core idea of using the target resource as a weapon - that’s a clever touch. Solid submission overall!
🎤 starduster
Oct 19th · 18:15 UTC
@sergs-workshop

Sorry about the dust not being visible! That's a bug with hi-dpi monitors where I mixed up physical resolution with logical resolution. The dust shader uses gl_FragCoord which is physical resolution but it's passed logical resolution.
deadjolly
Oct 22nd · 01:30 UTC
Vacuuming up the gold is pretty fun! My absolute favorite part of your game is the cowboy's face. Makes me laugh. The actual platforming was pretty unforgiving. Maybe I just struggled to get good at the game but it did feel difficult. Took me a minute to realize I had to throw the bags, but that is a fun risk/reward mechanic.

Nice entry for a first jam!