LudumData

Animal Golfing by Andreadbx

[raw]
made by Andreadbx for Ludum Dare 56 (JAM)

thumbnail4!.jpg

DESCRIPTION

A golf game where you use cute little critter-fueled balls!

Every critter has a special power to help you make insane throws. Use their powers to the best of your abilities to complete the golf course in the lowest amount of shots possible.

Compete against other players on the leaderboard to set the record for the lowest amount of shots possible.

CONTROLS

  • Mouse: Move Camera
  • W/S : Raise/Lower Aim
  • Left Mouse Button : Charge (Shoot on Release)
  • Scroll Wheel : Select Ability
  • SPACEBAR: Hold to free camera (WASD to move around, Shift/Ctrl to raise/lower
  • R: Retry level (Only in Practice)

ABILITIES

  • Mouse (Water Surfing) : WASD to nudge the ball while in motion
  • Tortoise (Earth Stop) : SPACEBAR to quickly stop the ball
  • Armadillo (Fire Dash) : WASD to change direction while in motion
  • Rabbit (Wind Jump) : SPACEBAR to jump
  • Fox (Electric Blink) : WASD to teleport through objects

SCREENSHOTS

Screenshot1.png Screenshot4.png Screenshot5.png

CREDITS

  • Project Leader, Art Director, 3D Artist - Andrea Di Bartolo
  • 2D Artist - Miurta
  • 2D Artist - Francesco Origlio

  • 3D Prop Artist - Carmelo Lombardo

  • Lead Game Designer, VFX, QA - Mario Palleschi

  • Game Designer, Level Designer, Manager - Nino Segreto

  • Lead Developer - Samuele Padalino

  • Developer - Giuseppe La Malfa
  • Developer - Lorenzo Petraroli
  • Developer - Luca Russo
  • Developer - Epifanio Imbesi

  • Developer - Andrea Longoni

  • Music & SFX - Alessandro Fazio

  • Redshift Gaming - Provided us logistical support and a place to actually work in person for the jam all togheter!

Elemental golf is the most popular sport in Girostra City, along with illegal horse racing.

Link https://r4ndomthunder.itch.io/animal-golfing
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/animal-golfing

Ratings

Overall 153th 3.988⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Fun 106th 3.988⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 144th 3.825⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Theme 291th 3.962⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 145th 4.338⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Audio 235th 3.718⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Humor 255th 3.566⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Mood 392th 3.692⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Given 28🗳️ 58🗨️

Feedback

johnnysix
08. Oct 2024 · 12:51 UTC
Wow, a super polished game. Like golf crossed with Pokemon! Would definitely be cool to see more of this with some more levels and possibly simpler practice zone to try learn the different animal abilities.

It's also be cool to maybe visualise the first part of the parabola of the ball, it was quite hard to gauge power / direction well enough to make a decent shot, and possibly some kind of acceleration on the turning part of aiming would be cool - my mouse did some miles trying to turn the player around if I'd ended up facing a wall / rock / tree / cliff-edge etc.
Brainoid
08. Oct 2024 · 13:09 UTC
Ummm. I couldn't post my score on the leaderboard. I tried PRACTICE mode first, then switched to PLAY mode. maybe that broke some stuff? Very impressive visuals! And the gameplay is fun too! Though, I hated the default sensitivity of the mouse, it was so difficult to rotate the player before hitting the ball. I'd prefer a faster rotation by default and maybe holding down a button we can do precise and slow rotation.
Another thing is the need of looking at HOW TO PLAY menu because it's hard to remember which animal does what...
But I did find using different animals doing different stuff! Noice idea!
Nikkita
08. Oct 2024 · 13:11 UTC
good
Alem26
08. Oct 2024 · 13:13 UTC
Really impressive amount of content and it looks really polished overall!
Definitely one of the best games I have seen this year.

Just the camera is a bit of a mess sometimes ;)
derllie
08. Oct 2024 · 13:14 UTC
u did a great job omg! love everything
InitialPosition
08. Oct 2024 · 13:38 UTC
I am a big fan of almost everything in this. The music is nice, the artstyle is fantastic and the different powerups are a nice idea. The controls are good and work, the gameplay is typical good golf stuff and was enjoyable.

I encountered a very unfortunate bug though because when I completed the first level, the level summary opened but I couldn't click anything because my golfer just spawned in the hole so I was only able to hit the ball around in the hole. This happened twice in a row so unfortunately I can't play beyond level one.
Also my freecam is apparently incredibly short sighted because every time I tried to get an overview of the course, it got incredibly blurry, as seen here:

![getGlassesPlease.png](///raw/2de/33/z/67e9e.png)

I also couldn't remember what the different balls do and had to go back and forth between the game and the tutorial several times. I think having a short summary (like "Extra Jump" or something) in game when you switch balls would solve that problem immediately.

I think there is incredible potential here, if you iron out the bugs this is a fantastic game.
R4ndomThunder
08. Oct 2024 · 14:16 UTC
@initialposition You can actually navigate the menu with Directional Arrows and Return also if you got locked on the hole. Meanwhile we're trying hard to fix that bug.
NBumgardner
09. Oct 2024 · 02:38 UTC
Great job making a large team work together. If I played recklessly I could lose track of the goal, maybe a hint arrow could help. Adding the tiny creature abilities accessible from a mouse wheel really expands the possibilities while being charming to look at.
Risminator
09. Oct 2024 · 13:07 UTC
I love this, such a polished game, definitely a great team management here. The art is cute and the amount of details is just right! It is sometimes difficult to see where you are going though because the camera is almost fixed at one direction. Being able to see where you are going is crucial in this type of game.

It's so fun to make use of the animals' abilities to make the sequence breaks and go for the record! Very well made game, thanks for making it!
Tetracold
09. Oct 2024 · 13:55 UTC
Very fun game, I like the polygonal style it's well done and pleasant to look at

I really liked the combination of golf and magical abilities, with enough practice I feel like I can get better scores with some practice. All the holes were designed in a really intuitive and fun way way that encourages creativity and use of the whole moveset.

overall very polished and nice, great entry!
Gaalsien
09. Oct 2024 · 18:38 UTC
One of the biggest games out there! Great stuff!
Beefbone
09. Oct 2024 · 19:48 UTC
Addictive, as a big Monkey Ball fan I love whacking trapped animals in balls. Wish it had a mini map, I got a bit lost a few times.
Chocolat-Endive
09. Oct 2024 · 19:54 UTC
Fun and ambitious game! I feel like it could really been great, and I love the different animals with their abilities. I'm not sure about control scheme, especially with the mouse (not the animal): the sensibility seems way too low. As @initialposition said, some information during the game without having to go to the menu would help a lot.
ThePirateNun
10. Oct 2024 · 00:39 UTC
Really cool! Well done collaborating with such a large team, that's a tough thing to pull off in a jam! I thought the game was very fun and charming, nice job with all of the level design! I think the camera could have used a bit of work, I would have liked full 360 degree motion while the ball was in motion so I could use my abilities a bit more effectively. The music was nice for the tone of the game, and I think it would have been nice to have a bit more processing and design on some of the sound effects to give them a bit more style and punch (though I love all the vocal sounds!). Super great work!
GoogleFrog
10. Oct 2024 · 02:21 UTC
Great game. I really like how it starts out looking like mini golf, but then it becomes clear that the whole map is in play.
Sockenpuppe
10. Oct 2024 · 16:39 UTC
Woaah, that's some impressive level of polish! And those "boink"s are sending meeee


I'd definitely tweak the mouse sensibility. It'd sometimes take a long time till the player character was finally in the right position.


It took some time till I remembered which animal would do what and how to control their abilities. Since their pictures are shown on the left side anyways, maybe some symbols could be added next to their pictures. Maybe sth a bit like this? Just some quick scribbles I did in Paint

![control_scheme_ideas.png](///raw/bee/f3/z/68781.png)

There could be a toggle to show/hide this. Sorry, just brainstorming a bit haha

All in all, a really cool project!
🎤 Andreadbx
10. Oct 2024 · 16:45 UTC
@sockenpuppe oh wow, thats a neat idea, totally flow upon our heads (well, i mean, we were approaching the deadline while we made uis sooooo...) thank you very much for taking the time to illustrate your suggestion! We will strongly consider it if we make a post-jam release :D
Pachino55
10. Oct 2024 · 18:17 UTC
Very cool idea, nice game
JamieOK
10. Oct 2024 · 18:21 UTC
This is brilliant! Extremely polished, really fun and the game-feel is awesome. The physics of the golfing feels just right for the goofy animal vibe of the game, making it real fun to full power swing and send the ball to use the animal powers to adjust. Funny vocal sound effects are always appreciated and fit the mood very well. My only two suggestions would be:
Locking the aiming of the ball while charging power. A few times I would slightly nudge the mouse while I was holding left click.
Secondly, increasing the sensitivity of camera rotation. There were times I would hit the ball hard and high to try and get over a mountain, but I couldn't see what was below me due to the camera rotation and lag being a little bit slow.
Other than that, an absolutely amazing submission. Great work!
someone
10. Oct 2024 · 18:37 UTC
That was great. A really well polished experience. The creatures were great, though I found I was only using the mouse ability.
The mouse was way too slow making it a bit of a chore to turn far around the ball. Also the upwards aim was not particularly clear.
Boing.
Oxropy
10. Oct 2024 · 18:38 UTC
was boing boing boing
WouterK12
10. Oct 2024 · 18:41 UTC
Wow big team! Well done everyone, this looks and feels like a proper game. It was a little challenging to remember what every animal's special ability is, so something like @sockenpuppe suggests would help a lot :)
The graphics look so pretty with the blur, awesome work!
HexStart
10. Oct 2024 · 20:53 UTC
A bit rough around the edges in terms of controls (especially camera controls) but I got HOOKED either way. Really enjoyed the worlds and trying to find the best route through them. The artstyle and color palette are lovely too. Boing. ![1.png](///raw/aed/44/z/68824.png)

Kinda want to do a golf game now, damn it.
She Wrote
11. Oct 2024 · 05:18 UTC
Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing! Those words were the last 40 minutes of my life, lol! I love the game! There are plenty of golfing games out there, but this one adds enough novelty to make it feel fresh. I like that each power fits the animal, and it’s really fun to try launching the ball all the way across the map, it was hard not to keep doing it, lol! Also, it's hilarious to launch those poor creatures to who knows where. So overall, I really enjoyed it! Well done!
Martynas Dargis
11. Oct 2024 · 18:33 UTC
Boing! Boing! Loved it, great work
Wendel Scardua
12. Oct 2024 · 05:06 UTC
Lots of great things here, the UI, the art, even the little dance on the title screen. The whole thing feels polished. I'm just sad that I'm really bad at it so I couldn't enjoy it more (I'll keep the game around, maybe I'll keep trying it later).
LDJam user 276121
12. Oct 2024 · 10:10 UTC
Well executed on many levels, albeit I would have liked to see the visuals pushed further into the creepy or cute. The golf physics perhaps could have used a little tuning. The unique ball gimmicks were good but perhaps some iconography on the different balls to remind that player what each animal does would be good.
LDJam user 258850
13. Oct 2024 · 12:13 UTC
hell yeah another solid all round game ^^ love it <3

idk if anyone gonna get 6 but ill take second >:)

![image_2024-10-13_131300332.png](///raw/223/f3/z/68c26.png)
Euler Moises
17. Oct 2024 · 13:53 UTC
Le jeu était vraiment bien !

Les pouvoirs de chaque animal font le charme du jeu. Cela vous aide à élaborer une stratégie pour atteindre le trou.

L'art est très beau. Un art 3D simple, mais le décor était très détaillé.

La musique est très bonne, mais les SFX avec les sons de bouche sont plutôt mauvais. Pas seulement en volume (qui est très fort), mais en égalisation. Ils sont bruts, sans aucun effet. Comme je fais partie du milieu audio, c'est la seule chose qui m'a dérangé.

Sinon un excellent jeu.

Félicitations à l'équipe.
🎤 Andreadbx
18. Oct 2024 · 18:36 UTC
@euler-moises Nous sommes italiens, pas français, en tout cas merci pour votre commentaire, je l'apprécie mon ami !
Euler Moises
18. Oct 2024 · 22:34 UTC
@andreadbx
Mio amico!
Le mie scuse. Stavo scrivendo per un gruppo francese e ho dimenticato di cambiare la lingua in Google Translate.
Empyreans
23. Oct 2024 · 19:51 UTC
Magnificent game! It truly is AAA of Ludum Dare :)

I have no idea how you managed to pull it off, but it must be outstanding teamwork with not a single second wasted! Beautifully done!

You probably weren't presented, but I did play golfing on stream :) Thank you for submitting your game!

https://youtu.be/NBXrxsKXuNk

~XpMonster