Rabbit Hole Run: Don't Lose Your Head! by ryusui

made by ryusui for Ludum Dare 54 (JAM)

When an overworked rabbit-lady takes a break from her exhausting daily routine to curl up with a favorite book, she finds herself inexplicably drawn into the role of Alice...and a warped Wonderland that's unrelentingly dangerous! Now she faces bottomless pits, deadly spikes, and humorless axe-slinging guards in her mad dash to escape - or at least find someplace less dangerous where she can at long last kick back and relax.

Keyboard controls: WASD/Arrow keys to move, Space/Enter/Z to jump, Ctrl/Shift/X to reread messages

Gamepad controls: D-pad/left analog stick to move, bottom face button (Switch B/Playstation X/Xbox A) to jump, right face button (Switch A/Playstation Circle/Xbox B) to reread messages

Run, jump, and dodge your way through obstacles in search of the "Drink Me!" bottles that will carry you deeper into the Queen's domain.

Find writing desk ravens (or is it raven writing desks?) to checkpoint your progress in each level and receive hints and story snippets.

More surprises lie in wait for Alice - will she keep her head in the end, or lose it for good?

Created using Godot 4.1. 3D assets created in Blender. Alice model rigged and animated using Mixamo. 2D assets created in Aseprite and Clip Studio Paint. Sound effects and music created using JummBox 2.5 and edited in Audacity. Fonts used are Segoe Print and Edwardian Script ITC.

(The Windows download version is recommended, as the HTML5 version seems to suffer some performance issues and missing sound effects.)

UPDATE 10/14/23: Post-Jam Version 1.1 is now available! This version upgrades Alice's graphics and includes a bunch of new features, bugfixes, and tweaks. As always, remember to play and rate the original 1.0 release first!

Godot<em>v4.1-stable</em>win64<em>2023-10-02</em>16-05-49.png

Jam Version 1.0	https://watercrown.info/games/Rabbit%20Hole/Rabbit%20Hole.exe
Jam Version 1.0	https://watercrown.info/games/Rabbit%20Hole/Rabbit%20Hole.html
Post-Jam Version 1.1	https://watercrown.info/games/Rabbit%20Hole/Rabbit%20Hole%201.1.exe
Post-Jam Version 1.1	https://watercrown.info/games/Rabbit%20Hole/1.1/Rabbit%20Hole%201.1.html
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/rabbit-hole-run-dont-lose-your-head

Ratings

Overall	516^th	3.625⭐	34🧑‍⚖️
Fun	422^th	3.609⭐	34🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	801^th	3.063⭐	34🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	416^th	3.864⭐	35🧑‍⚖️
Audio	625^th	2.875⭐	34🧑‍⚖️
Humor	381^th	3.274⭐	33🧑‍⚖️
Mood	700^th	3.375⭐	34🧑‍⚖️
Given		29🗳️	48🗨️

Feedback

Mealky

03. Oct 2023 · 17:46 UTC

The level design is really well made ! Assets look cool and the concept around loosing your head and running everwhere to retrieve it later its really nice, did you made it with godot ?

🎤 ryusui

03. Oct 2023 · 20:15 UTC

@mealky I did! I listed all the tools I used to make the game in the description above. Did you find the secret ending?

Mealky

03. Oct 2023 · 21:03 UTC

Oh yeah I miss it lol !
No where was the secret ending ? :o

🎤 ryusui

03. Oct 2023 · 21:29 UTC

@mealky There's a secret exit to level 3. Reaching it requires looping back through part of the stage.

GlennVerheij

07. Oct 2023 · 20:52 UTC

I loved the twist where her head fell off. I loved the art style and the alice in wonderland theme! Sounds could've had a bit more work. They didn't feel like they really fit with the objects in the game. Maybe the look ahead speed could have been a bit more subtle, I got dizzy at the start when trying to figure out the controls. At the end I got a bit frustrated by the length and difficulty of the game. Personally I prefer a shorter game jam experience.

🎤 ryusui

07. Oct 2023 · 21:00 UTC

@glennverheij I usually use an SFX generator like Bfxr to make the sound effects for my projects; this time I decided to play around with the idea of using musical cues instead. Some are, perhaps, a better fit than others. ^_^;

I do have a Post-Jam Version 1.1 in the works, and it already has quite a few upgrades over the current version of the game. Adjusting the look-ahead camera will definitely be on the list!

Martin183

07. Oct 2023 · 21:01 UTC

Cool theme, the background could be more inspiring, but the gameplay was smooth and good platformer physics in general!

Gossioss

07. Oct 2023 · 21:24 UTC

Alice in Wonderland is always a nice theme to work with. Level design seemed solid and I liked that the disappearing tiles appeared after a while, so no need to die to retry a section. The jumps were a little difficult to control and predict which made some parts a little frustrating, but overall a nice experience

BuzzyBee

07. Oct 2023 · 21:30 UTC

This is really cool! Love the level design, especially in the head-off sections and the secret ending was a nice touch. Managed to skip picking up Alice's head in the 3rd level on my second run through, which had no baring on the secret ending difficulty but did make the normal ending impossible which was kinda funny

Vyndilis

07. Oct 2023 · 21:51 UTC

Great game! I really like the gameplay but the levels are perhaps a little too long. Very nice animations. Good work !

🎤 ryusui

07. Oct 2023 · 21:56 UTC

@vyndilis Thanks! T'be clear, the Alice model is my own (the first thing I made for the game!), but the animations come from Mixamo.

Mr Bluecap

08. Oct 2023 · 03:30 UTC

This was really enjoyable. The art style is awesome and I particularly loved the playing cards as the different platforms. The platforming controls were smooth, although I felt like it was a required a bit too much accuracy at some points. Not sure if you added coyote time, but if you did, extending the duration just a little more would go a long way!

There's a really tight jump near the start of the second headless section, which could be moved to 3 collapsible platforms (just because if you missed you were always going to die). And there were a few points in the headless sections where after I died I would start running the wrong direction. But I'm honestly nit-picking - this was a fun game and I would love to see some more levels!

ffffchai

08. Oct 2023 · 04:44 UTC

The levels made of playing cards are very delicate and creative, the level design is excellent, if the judgment area can be a little smaller it would be good, it can make rookie players like me not so easy to lose my head. anyway nice job.

jkyd

08. Oct 2023 · 17:53 UTC

Very cool! The level design is great :) Sometimes the game would lag mid jump (web build), and Alice would miss the platform, which was a little frustrating but I appreciate that the disappearing card platforms would re-spawn after a second or two. Great job!

SvenErik

09. Oct 2023 · 08:12 UTC

Nice level design indeed! The sound idea was interesting, though it felt a bit lagged behind the jump for example, thus I didn't feel the impact in the game with the action+ sound combined, or perhaps some little wind gfx under the jump would have fixed that, not exactly sure, but that was one of the gripes that came up to my mind after playing it. I enjoyed the theme and graphics and the game-play was fun enough, though for a longer rune would require some stand-out feature. Perhaps collecting cards and using them to solve platforming puzzles.

Great work overall!

Paulsams

09. Oct 2023 · 16:36 UTC

The mechanics of cutting off the head are cool, but there is no point in timing obstacles at all. And also to shave the red color as a transition... This is a really really bad decision). Well, the physics jump of terrible, because it is straightforward and has no curve. But good try to try different gameplay.

Igor KinGamer

09. Oct 2023 · 17:20 UTC

Solid and fun entry! I like how it goes well beyond basic platforming. The storytelling was a nice touch.

I'd say the sounds didn't work that well, but still better than no sound at all.

A little bug I've found: When I jump and die like this, Alice respawns running left instead of right:

![Bug1p.png](///raw/b21/z/6014c.png)

![Bug2p.png](///raw/b21/z/6014d.png)

I'm surely coming play it again if I don't have the time to reach the end now =)

Quoclon

10. Oct 2023 · 04:38 UTC

I don't play a ton of platformers, but I thought I'd give this a go. I really liked it! I thought the character model was really cute, easy to move, and enjoyed the animations. The level design was clever, and there were a few surprising moment that caught me off guard, but I tried not to lose my head over. I loved the tunes, as the feet walked around, it really added a lot of juice to the movement. My only complaint is that I get a little sick with a lot of motion, and I wish there was a bit of an easing on the character movement when snapping left/right. But otherwise, really well done in a weekend! Cheers :)

LDJam user 374261

12. Oct 2023 · 06:49 UTC

Very nice game :smile:

Uee

13. Oct 2023 · 17:20 UTC

Seems harder than expected, but it's really fun and addictive! Can't stop playing!

eeperdeheap

13. Oct 2023 · 17:37 UTC

Nice game with a really interesting concept. The parts without head were nicely done and a good twist. Playing on the web with keyboard was a bit to twitchy for me, but after downloading and playing with the controller it was fine.

Sine Nomine

17. Oct 2023 · 00:53 UTC

Nice and well done! The levels are well designed. I played both versions and found the alt ending. Somehow I prefer the first version though, the jumping feels better and the character looks better in profile than in quarter view.

Edward Dassmesser

17. Oct 2023 · 01:49 UTC

Platforming felt a bit clunky. I would have been frustrated if not for the copious save spots, although it would perhaps have been more fun if there weren't as many but play was faster and the controls were a bit more snappy.

sinus

18. Oct 2023 · 16:57 UTC

That's a quite fun game! How would have expected that you can make a game where loosing your head is part of the progression ^^ Definitly a nice plot twist. I guess some sign or arrow showing me that i should walk into the axe would be helpful.

I played the web version and hadn't had major performance issues.

🎤 ryusui

18. Oct 2023 · 22:22 UTC

@sinus in retrospect maybe i should've had the headsmen move around, and set up something where the one that's normally just standing still after the switch corners you instead XD

Sabi

19. Oct 2023 · 07:33 UTC

Wow you did an amazing job there! Didn't expect that plot twist :D

Nathan Franck

20. Oct 2023 · 16:01 UTC

Deep platformer, enjoyed the challenges!

sergio_nikol

20. Oct 2023 · 16:12 UTC

Good platformer. But i've work more on camera.