Squasher by Pawel12

[raw]
made by Pawel12 for Ludum Dare 54 (COMPO)

Hello this is my first Ludum Dare game. You are squash and you need to avoid getting squashed by forks and stay on grass. Have fun!

squashergifsmall.gif

coverimg.png

Ratings

Overall 343th 2.737⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 304th 2.947⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 334th 2.632⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 189th 3.632⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 344th 2.211⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 180th 2.639⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 11🗳️ 22🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 233138
02. Oct 2023 · 17:28 UTC
The concept is simple and great, too bad that the Windows close directly after losing. It's not often that I see a game only made with SDL2. Cool game.
🎤 Pawel12
02. Oct 2023 · 21:17 UTC
Thanks for feedback, game could use some polish but I run out of time and energy.
Gamer Fates
03. Oct 2023 · 03:07 UTC
Congrats on your first LD. Nice game. I like the squash theme.
Germdog53
03. Oct 2023 · 17:34 UTC
This game detects as a virus on Windows 11 and won't run (not just smart screen, an actual virus).
🎤 Pawel12
03. Oct 2023 · 20:21 UTC
@germdog53 Hi, I use the Win 11 myself and don`t get any warnings.
Here is also scan from Virus Total.

![totalvirus.png](///raw/bf4/c5/z/5f667.png)
Germdog53
03. Oct 2023 · 21:42 UTC
@pawel12 Interesting. Thanks for the follow-up I'll try it again.
Matthew Bond
04. Oct 2023 · 00:18 UTC
Great adherence to the theme! It gets pretty difficult after a while. I think a simple scoring system would have been a nice touch, even just a counter on the screen that counts how many levels you completed. Overall nice job!
foreyes
04. Oct 2023 · 00:50 UTC
Funny concept, like this. GFXs are also cute. :smile:
🎤 Pawel12
04. Oct 2023 · 01:34 UTC
@gamer-fates Thank you!

@matthew-bond Thanks for feedback! The difficulty scaling probably could be better.

@foreyes Thanks :smiley:
TomKnocker44
04. Oct 2023 · 07:12 UTC
Starts out very easy and gets a little harder in the later levels. The game closing after you lose is unfortunate and makes it a lot harder to play. I think the squash following the mouse instantly makes it a bit too easy, maybe give it a bit of acceleration or something to make it harder?
🎤 Pawel12
04. Oct 2023 · 12:09 UTC
@tomknocker44 Thanks for feedback, I started with keyboard controls and gravity, but there were some problems so I made it simpler.
I will definitely look into making some tweaks to movement.
Martin Bousquet
04. Oct 2023 · 12:13 UTC
Too bad there's no highscore and the game closes directly when losing, it doesn't encourage to keep playing and get better.
🎤 Pawel12
04. Oct 2023 · 12:24 UTC
@martin-bousquet Yeah, I run out of time. I will try to make a updated version.
exofrenon
04. Oct 2023 · 18:16 UTC
Nice implementation of the theme and a funny concept overall.

I won't repeat the same things that others have said (about the game closing directly, highscore, etc). The only thing I would say is worth exploring is adding obstacles in the free area besides the forks, and movement with the keyboard instead of the mouse (there is a lot you can do there to make it more action oriented). Also it looks weird that the forks are stretching on the X axis instead of just translating / moving on axis.


Welcome to Ludum Dare and congratulations on your first entry! Not many people can jump directly to a compo and deliver something, especially something that was not made in a game engine.
🎤 Pawel12
05. Oct 2023 · 19:39 UTC
@exofrenon Thank you very much for suggestions and kind words!
BrokenBridge
05. Oct 2023 · 20:51 UTC
Gets kind of hypnotic the faster it gets. Nice little game with one simple mechanic. My critism are just the things others have mentioned. The game closing thing motivated me to concentrate more. Well done!
stmate03
06. Oct 2023 · 18:03 UTC
simple and funny game, sadly Dynia died far too many times while I was playing :(
Emkani
07. Oct 2023 · 08:00 UTC
Nice little game, simple concept but works well. A few small changes I feel would greatly improve on it. Showing the level, times survived or similar would be nice, maybe have short end screen with your best score. Also I think it would have been nice if there were more "holes" in the beginning but faster speed.
Vollfeiw
07. Oct 2023 · 17:16 UTC
Congrats on your first game !
epb9000
09. Oct 2023 · 05:57 UTC
Oh noice. A little tricky on a trackpad but made it to `Level nr. 10` on the second run. (Ran it with wine in the console, so I got the console output.)
sisuisa
11. Oct 2023 · 10:58 UTC
It was a fun game! Very fast paced once you get the first few levels done. I would have loved to have a fast-forward button, so you could try to get to the hard part faster. For example, clicking left mouse button to snap all the forks to the end. But the main idea of reaching the safe spot is working well with the LD theme, and concept is easy to understand and play. It is somewhat zen like except for the difficulty level increasing. Experimenting with stuff like collectable powerups, level progression (start again from the same difficulty if you lose), different control schemes, different levels which have different ways of the walls moving - for example slow at first and then snap, or each wall staggered more, etc would make it more interesting, there's always stuff to add. But the core idea is engaging as it is now already.