Riven by JunaGames

[raw]
made by JunaGames for Ludum Dare 54 (JAM)

Group 2991.png Riven is a arcade top down scroller, you are confined to the safety of your Buoy area! If you traverse to far the sea guardian Ruinik will eat your boat. Try and stay alive in the waters as cannons and bandits fire your way!

image<em>2023-10-03</em>110332213.png

Controlls: Move the mouse to sail LMB - Boost RMB - Cannon Fire Middle Mouse Click to pause

Collectables: Barrels - Give you cannon ammo! Planks - Repair your ship Ducks - Give you a duck shield! (exhausts after 1 attack)

I exported a web version and put it on itch during jam hours, the zip on this page is windows only: https://nenufar-games-studio.itch.io/riven <- web version (not as good sadly)

Riven - created by NenufarGameStudio Design, Programming & Sound - Juniper. Lead Artist & Designer - Nali.

Ratings

Overall 482th 3.653⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Fun 436th 3.583⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 554th 3.375⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Theme 172th 4.214⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 454th 3.806⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Audio 367th 3.53⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Humor 510th 3⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Mood 578th 3.515⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Given 28🗳️ 57🗨️

Feedback

InitialPosition
03. Oct 2023 · 01:22 UTC
This was REALLY WELL DONE! The movement took a few rounds to get used to but once you get the hang of it it's super satisfying. I like that there are so many hazards and things you have to look out for. The background animations like the birds are also really nice. The music is cheerful and made it so I never got frustrated. Because damn is this game hard! On my first few attempts I got absolutely blasted to shreds after a few seconds. Once you learn what the items do it becomes manageable though. Overall, fantastic entry!
Deruitda
03. Oct 2023 · 01:24 UTC
Cool idea, man those bandit cannons are hard to dodge though
Mocadium
03. Oct 2023 · 02:17 UTC
I had a great time playing this! The art is fantastic and I enjoyed the stress of trying to keep up with the onslaught of enemies! Very innovative use of the theme, well done :)
HelloImBenjamin
03. Oct 2023 · 02:50 UTC
AMAZING JOB! You did a really good job with the mechanics of the game. Was extremally fun to play.
LDJam user 0
03. Oct 2023 · 03:45 UTC
This was so fun to play! I love the visuals of the space guy just whirling around the planet and then crashing into the planet and suddenly it becoming a lot bigger. Made me giggle very hard. One thing I did notice was that the resume button does not work when you pause the game. I loved the concept and how it related to limited space!
StvUP
03. Oct 2023 · 03:50 UTC
Pretty fun! The game felt quite smooth overall.
TheFoppian
03. Oct 2023 · 05:22 UTC
Nice game! I had fun, nice interpretation of the theme, it fits quite well. Well done!
Euix
03. Oct 2023 · 05:34 UTC
Well done. Open waters but not really! The cannons were a bit frustrating because they moved very quickly. I also felt like I never had enough cannon balls so I was constantly avoiding the mini boats while (almost) dodging cannon balls, and hoping to find a duck or some wood so I could at least tank the hits. The music was exciting and "adventurous" and helped set the mood.
LDJam user 312900
03. Oct 2023 · 09:09 UTC
Game is really fun and overall there isn't much to critic. Really good game.
Pierre-Marie
03. Oct 2023 · 10:25 UTC
The game is cool, cannonballs are really hard to avoid :D
3mpty
03. Oct 2023 · 12:38 UTC
Cute little game, fun game loop I haven't seen before, mostly intuitive although the kraken was a bit hard to understand at first. I'm guessing the growing circle is a placeholder for an animation of the kraken approaching? or maybe it's meant to be a shadow under the water? I didn't really notice the circle until my 3rd or 4th death.

It's a little brutal and I wish it escalated more than being completely static? as far as I can tell the only progression was a point where the buoys teleported, its pretty rough in the first few seconds, but quite fun once you get a handle on it. I also wish there was a little bit of music to set the mood, but it's not a big deal.

I love the animations for the ship dying! They need a little elbow grease but the heart of them is there and it's super cute.

Nice submission, great work!
MrPerry
03. Oct 2023 · 13:47 UTC
It's a fun game, I really like the art and music as well as the pirate theme. This game definitely needs to be played in full screen so that you don't accidentally move out of bounds with your mouse. I also thought that the cannonballs you shoot out should be faster than your ship because sometimes I need to shoot a ship at close range but end up crashing into it because the cannonball was to slow.

Overall a solid entry. Great job!
Maste
03. Oct 2023 · 18:06 UTC
Pretty great! Definitely a bit of learning curve, but once I got the feel for it it felt quite responsive. Great work!
LDJam user 300461
03. Oct 2023 · 19:40 UTC
Chill game, I likes the music, but the cannon balls are kind of too fast to dodge.
AncientEntity
04. Oct 2023 · 04:03 UTC
This was really well done, a nice simple game that fit the theme fairly well. Really enjoyed the artwork on this one. Good job!
Zach Rouhana
04. Oct 2023 · 04:05 UTC
Awesome gameplay. Probably the most fun yet
sisuisa
04. Oct 2023 · 05:58 UTC
A really solid game! I tried the web version first and the improvement in the exe is really big. I think there is still a little too many cannonballs around for my taste but it's much more enjoyable. The sounds are very very nice, pleasant even, and fit the pirate ship theme without being too obnoxious. Art is nice too, and I like that there are lots of animations. The variety of collectables is nice but could also be a bit more generous, for example barrels that fill the shooting ammo completely. But it indeed is hard and that is also a valid choice - it doesn't go on forever. I think most my runs were way less than a minute which is very short.

I played about ten runs before I went trying to find the list of powerups I remembered seeing somewhere (in itch.io page) and also found the left mouse button speedup. It was a literal gamechanger! It was much more fun and the powerups were easier to gather. The duration allowed outside the buyous is perfect to go for one trip to left or right side, so when I was being too greedy the Ruinik got me. Great work on that timing.

The art style is very good and polished for the sprites, love the birds flying over.

One small thing that as a player I would like, is that when I lose a run, I could still see how long I traveled. Now usually I would go overboard in such a situation that I was intensely looking at the gameplay so I have no idea how far I got on my tries.

I liked the game very much, nice work!
LDJam user 9418
04. Oct 2023 · 17:34 UTC
projectiles are almost impossible to dodge, they just appears immediately so it's really hard, some notification about them before would be great
LDJam user 221750
04. Oct 2023 · 18:46 UTC
What I liked:
- Overall style
- Solid take on the jam theme

What I didn't like:
- Game is a bit too hard, it would be nice if it was easier in the beginning.
- When you are about to get eaten circle grows out and you don't understand when you will be eaten. It would be much more clearer if circle would shrink on you...
- Canon balls a hard to dodge...

Suggestions:
- It would be nice if you have shown controls in the game and also show some text explaining what pick ups do. I found out I could fire only after a while :)
🎤 JunaGames
05. Oct 2023 · 01:00 UTC
Thank you @kiberptah , @ghpxi , @sisuisa , @zach-rouhana , @anciententity , @evilmurlock , @maste , @mrperry , @3mpty @pierre-marie , @cloverfall , @euix , @thefoppian , @stvup , @helloimbenjamin , @mocadium , @deruitda , @initialposition

**Thank you so much for playing my game!!**

I really appreciated and respect all this amazing feedback! I wanted to code a cleaner project so on day 2 i ported my game over to a fresh project hehe. This gave me lots of space to add juice like shaking and animations but it disallowed me the time to balance my game. Apologies for that, but alas it's a game jam so we chill :D

I'm glad even though there wasn't a balanced progression or clear tutorial people could still have fun and enjoy it for what it was!!!

I'm retroactively updating the game with the following features:
- Bottles give you boost that tracks to boost meter drained by LMB
- Enemies / Collectables spawn rate will have a progression curve
- The buoy movement will be more centered for easier consistent gameplay
- Bandit boss fight will be added back into the game
- Ruinik(Kraken) boss fight will be added to the game
- Better pause menu with music controlls
- A tutorial section to allow the player to learn the game
- Update on death animation visuals

If you want to see these updates play out feel free to join my discord!
https://discord.gg/a2mN7avg6C <-- this is a server where I make & share games :D

Otherwise keep an eye on my itch.io page as I'll be posting an update there :D


Thank you again for your wonderfull feedback and for being apart of this awesome event :)
Blue Pin Studio
05. Oct 2023 · 05:49 UTC
This game is brutal! I died probably 50 times before i managed to survive past 20m. It seemed like some of the collectibles were harming me at the beginning but i think that is due to me running into little ships as they spawned. Nice entry tho! Lots of different mechanics.

Also, those cannon balls move probably 5x too fast D:
MyCookie
07. Oct 2023 · 07:22 UTC
This is a hard game, but it's an interesting concept. I like the artwork and sound. Maybe a tip for what you need to do, since I started the game without knowing what's going on.
Tommy
09. Oct 2023 · 21:53 UTC
Very innovative and interesting take on the theme! Also loved the graphics and the very piratey music :D
Kilirane
15. Oct 2023 · 13:54 UTC
Very nice! It took me a few tries to get the hang of it. Then I really enjoyed it. I really don't know what to do once you've reached 35m and the frame disappears. But I really like the idea, the notion of taking risks to reload ammunition and the dodges you have to make regularly. It's a solid concept, perfectly in line with the theme, fun and well done - bravo!
EgorMnc
20. Oct 2023 · 13:55 UTC
I really enjoyed the game; it's quite simple but has its unique twist. The gameplay is quite original, in my opinion. Keep it up. I won't mention all the shortcomings and bugs in the game as they have been described above