Off to the Races by RyanNielson

[raw]
made by RyanNielson for LD32 (JAM)
Come one, come all! Test your skill at the amazing and wonderful “Off to the Races”! It’s the world’s latest and greatest fairground attraction! Play by yourself and set the high score, or with your friends to see who can most quickly bring down the enemy fortress! To do this you'll have to use the most unconventional weapon of all time: a rat with dynamite duct taped to its back.

Sprint mode (150 meters):

Try to get the fastest time in this short race. Quickly tap the keys that appear around your rat to make it move down the track. The faster you are, the quicker you will reach the end. Watch out though, the required keys you need to press will switch on you when the alarm sounds.

Marathon mode (1000 meters):

A test of endurance. Quickly tap the keys that appear around your rat to make it move down the track. Your keys will not switch on you in this race.

Controls:

Esc - Open/close menu during game.
Tap displayed keys to move rat.

Music:

Ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner
William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini

Created by Ryan Nielson and Matthew Stones for Ludum Dare 32.

This game is mainly meant as a local multiplayer experience, but it also has a single player component.

Ratings

Coolness 87% 2
Overall(Jam) 3.42 337
Fun(Jam) 3.70 116
Graphics(Jam) 3.52 407
Humor(Jam) 3.72 113
Innovation(Jam) 3.12 498
Mood(Jam) 3.21 414
Theme(Jam) 2.59 916

Feedback

bnhw
20. Apr 2015 · 02:33 UTC
That was fun, though I'm not sure if my keyboard will last much longer! I didn't even notice the bombs until I came back to vote and saw the screen shots, but it probably fits the theme more than my game!
Pierrec
20. Apr 2015 · 12:15 UTC
Must be hilarious with 3 other players. I need to retry this with friends. the sprint mode seems way funnier than the marathon in my opinion.
qapn
20. Apr 2015 · 12:28 UTC
I absolutely loved this one! I had no one to play with while testing it but I can imagine with three other people it will be a blast. I've bookmarked it for later. Great stuff.
Volatile Dove
20. Apr 2015 · 12:29 UTC
Fun! But a little too repetitive, obviously :p And I didn't test with friends, it must be funnier. The graphics are cute and the music is nicely chosen!
Mizipzor
20. Apr 2015 · 12:30 UTC
Trying to squeeze in four players behind the same keyboard to play this will utterly wreck some friendships I reckon.
nopogo
20. Apr 2015 · 12:44 UTC
Really loved the overall theme and feel. And I can just see myself bashing on the same keyboards with 3 other idiots ^^ well done!
Sheepolution
20. Apr 2015 · 14:26 UTC
Too bad I'm friendless here, because I think it can be quite some fun with more people. I wish it would save the fastest time, so I could beat that. I can still do that with just remembering the highest score, but it's not as satisfying.
jordyadan
20. Apr 2015 · 14:42 UTC
Nice game, must be fun to play multiplayer!
DarkMeatGames
20. Apr 2015 · 17:54 UTC
Awesome! Great sound design, simple and fun core mechanic. Got stale kind of quickly, maybe more levels, more items, a small 'campaign' would make it more full. Good stuff all around though.
PizzaPortal
20. Apr 2015 · 18:47 UTC
I'll definitely try this later with some friends! Graphics are great and the music is fitting. I do feel like this doesn't have anything to do with the "unconventional weapon" theme, though
Mental Atrophy
20. Apr 2015 · 19:24 UTC
Unfortunately I'm playing alone so I can't experience the multiplayer chaos. My fastest time was about 16 seconds and serves as a reminder that I have no idea where anything is on a keyboard when not typing out sentences. Scratch that, I just got 11.67 through sheer luck, pulling C&Y twice in a row. I find the explosion and "Yay!" far too amusing--I can't believe I'm an adult. Nice work.
Joe Williamson
21. Apr 2015 · 02:49 UTC
Great fun with friends. :)
bpleonvong
21. Apr 2015 · 02:50 UTC
Game was fun, keyboard power is too intense. Will play once in awhile to upgrade skills in the typerinos.
CorgiCommander
21. Apr 2015 · 14:57 UTC
This was a rather fun game! I'm sure everyone around me was wondering what prompted all the noise I was making with my keyboard!
broknecho
21. Apr 2015 · 15:10 UTC
Great entry! Graphics are great. Gameplay is simple and awesome. The choice of songs fit it well. Great Job!
CliffracerX
21. Apr 2015 · 15:53 UTC
Didn't have a chance to try it in multiplayer, but this seemed fun enough.

Sound was a tad loud though.
Not sure about the whole "unconventional weapon" part of it, but nice work anyway.
terrykim426
21. Apr 2015 · 15:54 UTC
This game is pretty fun! I bet it will be chaotic if I have 3 more friends playing on the same keyboard together =D.
sydan
21. Apr 2015 · 16:14 UTC
This is really amusing and the sounds effects and overall style made me laugh! Really enjoyed it! If I had to ask for one thing in the future it would be some computer controlled rats to race against I think.
DKoding
21. Apr 2015 · 16:21 UTC
Great idea! Unfortunately I was only able to play this single player but I can imagine the mayhem and fun when several players have to share the same keyboard for this. 10/10, best game ever, would play again. No weapon though so no points (well, just 1) for the theme.
EverlessDrop41
21. Apr 2015 · 16:23 UTC
I didn't enjoy this however I can see that with some friends it could be very fun to play
kyyrma
21. Apr 2015 · 17:09 UTC
Very simple but I had a good laugh with it. Little content but what is there is very polished. Reminded me of Track and Field.
GameDevExtreme
21. Apr 2015 · 17:17 UTC
I will upload a gameplay and review video and tweet you with the url.
ArcturusDeluxe
21. Apr 2015 · 17:56 UTC
Simple but fun idea, kind of QWOP mixed with Typing of the Dead, or something? Funny presentation too. I imagine it would be pretty fun with multiple people.
Vladimir Gaidenko
21. Apr 2015 · 19:00 UTC
Definitely will try this with a friend.
TimBeaudet
21. Apr 2015 · 20:42 UTC
Was interesting. At first I thought I was doing something wrong (hitting a wrong key) when the bell rang, so I slowed down drastically and realized pressing wrong key didn't matter at all... :-) Good job!
Jan Marcano
21. Apr 2015 · 20:55 UTC
Brought a friend and had way too much fun :D

great job!
UannaFF
21. Apr 2015 · 20:59 UTC
It is simple but really fun to play!
block97
21. Apr 2015 · 22:23 UTC
Cool game,simple but very fun! congrats.
LadyEnigma
21. Apr 2015 · 22:35 UTC
I just did single player, I'm sure it's much more fun to play with others. I like the visuals and sound.
Dorgam
21. Apr 2015 · 22:45 UTC
Nice game however the single player mode isn't as fun as the multiplayer.
dos
21. Apr 2015 · 23:44 UTC
Have to save this one for some parties :)
balom
22. Apr 2015 · 00:01 UTC
Great idea, I could see this being a blast with 4 people! Didn't have enough to play it as such, but I can definitely see where it's going!
Jwatt
22. Apr 2015 · 07:21 UTC
I chuckled at this, it uses audiovisual effects for humor effectively.

Bonus points for multiplayer, definitely improves the experience and goes well with the lolworthy nature of the game. (I guess it wouldn't have been too hard to add a moderately paced AI just to make single player more of a race, though.)
Crowbeak
22. Apr 2015 · 11:14 UTC
I also tested this solo, as many other commenters did, but since the key generation seems to be random, I can imagine it being a hectic fight for keyboard space.
Adreqi
22. Apr 2015 · 11:44 UTC
This might be the most epic thing ever in multiplayer o/
you didn't choose the best quality for the music though :/
DarkwindMedia
22. Apr 2015 · 19:42 UTC
Played 4 players. Laughed a lot. Great idea, well done :)
MaddeMichael
22. Apr 2015 · 20:09 UTC
Foof! Finally played it, and now my hands are tired, especially after the marathon :P.
Anyway, very fun, graphics are nice, and who doesn't like Ride of the Valkyries?
Very good submission
plams
22. Apr 2015 · 21:15 UTC
Seems like the sprint mode would be great fun at parties, like a keyboard version of twister or something :) Good job!
Lynx
23. Apr 2015 · 01:38 UTC
This game was a ton of fun! Reminds me of the old Atari game Decathlon (one of my favorites btw) Everything about this screams Carnival Game and I love it! Can't what to report back with my multiplayer experiences. Well Done!
Chris Olsen
23. Apr 2015 · 09:53 UTC
Great work my man! Wish I had some buddies to play with. I guess you have to plug in a load of keyboards? I guess it may be fun actually with just one :)
DeadFragment
24. Apr 2015 · 16:20 UTC
This game is like playing twister with your fingers, if you play it multiplayer that is! It's a really fun game! and runs really well. Definitely a fun little minigame I'd love to play with friends.

-Neith
Omiya Games
29. Apr 2015 · 02:50 UTC
The hilarious audio made it for me, even though I was solo. I can see this being a great minigame for friends to play. Rather shallow as a game, but hey, it's Ludum Dare: makes sense for it to be polished on a simple concept.
hexdie
03. May 2015 · 18:07 UTC
I played this solo, so it wasn't too interesting. However, I could see this being pretty fun and a bit of a clusterfuck (in a good way) with multiple people. Very nice art as well!
TheMeorch
03. May 2015 · 18:12 UTC
Creating a sort of Twister situation on the keyboard with multiple players is pretty ingenious. Great execution on a novel idea!
The Pixel Collective
03. May 2015 · 19:44 UTC
This was so stupid! It was amazing!
Xanjos
04. May 2015 · 17:43 UTC
I love the look of this entry. Reminds me a lot of those fairground games at the seaside. I was playtesting this on my own but I can imagine how frantic it can get in multiplayer especially since everyone's on the same keyboard (plus the whole key switching mechanic).
pythong
04. May 2015 · 21:35 UTC
nice entry. i know it can be hard to create a realistic computer enemy, but what you could do / could have done was recording one users taps (P1), uploading them onto a server, and when a different player (P2) plays, download the previously recorded taps of P1 and let P2 race against him. For a start, it's more than sufficient if you record yourself 3 times.
Druid
08. May 2015 · 14:57 UTC
Lol, really solid entry! I almost broke my fingers :D Graphics is really pretty too.
LukeZaz
10. May 2015 · 17:58 UTC
Fun little game. Couldn't play it with two people before judging ends unfortunately, so I don't really have any suggestions.
jhell
11. May 2015 · 13:41 UTC
A simple idea that's pretty well done :). I think the full potential is indeed in MP though so I might play this again when I get home tonight. The gameplay might lack a bit of strategy though, maybe for examples different types of terrain with different optimal tapping "rythms" would have been cool!
ruerob
11. May 2015 · 14:11 UTC
Nice little game! My hand feels a little bit sluggish after doing the marathon mode in 114,71 sec, but it was worth it.

I don't know what you could have made better on this game. Music, graphic style, humor and mood are fitting together to a hell of a fun game.

Thank you for that entry!
elpaulo
11. May 2015 · 15:02 UTC
Damn, i need to play this with friends :-)
Creative Sectors
11. May 2015 · 17:18 UTC
Lazarus-omin (from Creative Sectors):
Finger-numbing button masher, with cutesy art-work, charming humour, and a pretty simple, but very effective concept. It's definitely fun, but of course with multiple players. Good job! :)
HotBoxGames
11. May 2015 · 19:26 UTC
Nice! Just spent a good 20 minutes playing this with the whole team - simple concept but it's actually very fun! :D Extremely frantic when having to switch keys :') Audio and graphics fit nicely. My quickest time was 14.85 - good job guys!
RobotHoboDanceParty
11. May 2015 · 23:44 UTC
Very fun game! Bookmarking to verse friends, great work!
calavera
11. May 2015 · 23:49 UTC
fun! i love the v/o's
deadbodyoutline
12. May 2015 · 00:20 UTC
Haha, so much fun with this game! Must try with friends now :)
Evergreen Games
12. May 2015 · 00:52 UTC
This is so funny!!! I've never had so much fun button mashing. i really wish i had more players, the single player is stressful enough!