Ball Room by BroCade

[raw]
made by BroCade for LD31 (JAM)
Please to enjoy our 2nd attempt at a Ludum Dare jam.

Operating on far too little sleep to provide a full description of the game, but i will try anyway.

There are few thing more fun than taking a abstract theme literally, so in that spirit we present "Ball Room". An attempt to cram as much game onto one screen as possible, including 4 power ups, 10 starts to collect, various obstacles and platforming puzzles to over come, and even an easter egg.

Work your way through the board and collect all the stars as fast as possible, current record time is 205.1 seconds. Can you beat it? Post your time in the comments below ;)

Ratings

Coolness 81% 2
Overall(Jam) 3.79 102
Audio(Jam) 3.21 300
Fun(Jam) 3.60 137
Graphics(Jam) 3.13 568
Humor(Jam) 2.32 640
Innovation(Jam) 3.66 165
Mood(Jam) 3.19 388
Theme(Jam) 4.02 129

Feedback

vortex
08. Dec 2014 · 19:39 UTC
After I was finally able to jump through the gap on the first bit, it was a really fun game. I got 312.6...
Zordrac
08. Dec 2014 · 21:23 UTC
Sweet idea, like the style and music. Did not have the patience to collect the stars.
maxyan
09. Dec 2014 · 10:15 UTC
Nice entry, good level design
muumeroinen
09. Dec 2014 · 12:13 UTC
Good concept! I liked it :)
CoolChesire
09. Dec 2014 · 12:14 UTC
The controls are pretty smooth and the graphics are really cool, also the sound effects.
🎤 BroCade
09. Dec 2014 · 12:16 UTC
Thanx so much guys! at 312secs for your first run getting all the starts ir pretty good.
WatercressStudios
10. Dec 2014 · 06:55 UTC
I am not a patient person. This is a game for patient people. I wish I were a patient person so I could complete this game.
Wusakko
10. Dec 2014 · 06:55 UTC
Relly nice game! I think, you had really hard time to think how that puzzle should work. Best game so far (I have rated about 20 games)
WatercressStudios
10. Dec 2014 · 06:57 UTC
When I first saw this I thought it looked too simple. Then I realized I couldn't jump and my brow started wrinkling. It's crafty and infuriating in all the right ways.
🎤 BroCade
10. Dec 2014 · 07:49 UTC
@WatercressStudios glad it made your brow wrinkly! that was one of the effects we were after :)
alwaysinbeta
10. Dec 2014 · 14:43 UTC
That was excellent. Great fun. The music was pleasant. Loved the mechanic of changing abilities to get through - reminded me of Thomas Was Alone.
jhice
10. Dec 2014 · 15:04 UTC
Nice and original entry :) hard to get some stars!
Ulydev
10. Dec 2014 · 15:18 UTC
Excellent idea ! I love it :)
piotrevic
10. Dec 2014 · 15:19 UTC
Very good use of theme. It looks like simple game but it takes a longer while to finish. Enjoyed :)
Wilson
10. Dec 2014 · 15:24 UTC
Nicely executed, plenty going on in the single screen :)
syawqy
10. Dec 2014 · 15:25 UTC
oooh... it's hard, especially if you don't have enough patience
Mechamew
10. Dec 2014 · 16:15 UTC
Super cool! Fun, inovative gameplay. Awesome theme integration. Love the way you even worked credits into your design!
Noah Ratcliff
10. Dec 2014 · 20:51 UTC
Well done! Really liked the gameplay and level design.
🎤 BroCade
11. Dec 2014 · 06:53 UTC
Thanks all for the positive feedback!
peterthehe
11. Dec 2014 · 17:56 UTC
Great idea, great execution
ChrisMingay
11. Dec 2014 · 18:03 UTC
What a charming mofo of a game :D
Tuism
12. Dec 2014 · 08:49 UTC
LOVE THIS! :D

Never have I seen so much game squeezed into two buttons and one screen :) Ship it! :)

It can also be called Backtrack: The Game :P

The interactions are so smart and well designed. I really have no words. I can only get 8 stars though, can't work out the rest.

Also I think I cheated by squeezing the tennis ball into tunnels :P

Also I think this is what Snoopy will play like as a game :)
🎤 BroCade
12. Dec 2014 · 09:03 UTC
Thanx Tuism.
Getting the tennis ball though the tunnel is technically not cheating, but there are easier and faster ways to get those stars.
Which 2 stars are you cant you to get?
ChrisMingay
12. Dec 2014 · 09:11 UTC
I actually managed to get stuck somewhere in the level last night :( (at the "entrance" to the bottom body of water to the left of "finish" with the floaty ball, I felt awful)

Do you have plans for a mobile release at all BroCade? The fact the controls are so simple lends itself really well to the idea.
🎤 BroCade
12. Dec 2014 · 15:17 UTC
Do you have a screen shot of where you got stuck? If it's where I think it is a simple platform lowering could help.

Haven't really thought about a release. But if we can get a scoreboard working I'd love to do an itch.io release. Not sure if there is enough content for a mobile release.
Riocide
12. Dec 2014 · 15:30 UTC
finished it in 69 seconds but I didnt get a single star :P
Nice work guys. Really solid concept!
🎤 BroCade
12. Dec 2014 · 16:15 UTC
Do you have a screen shot of where you got stuck? If it's where I think it is a simple platform lowering could help.

Haven't really thought about a release. But if we can get a scoreboard working I'd love to do an itch.io release. Not sure if there is enough content for a mobile release.
blackmagic
13. Dec 2014 · 12:06 UTC
The ball properties switching reminded me a bit of Fury of the Furries, an Amiga game for which I did the music 20 years ago :) Awesome gameplay, challeging, and an overall very nice presentation ! Good job !
🎤 BroCade
14. Dec 2014 · 17:43 UTC
Wow. Blast from the past. I just googled fury of the furries and something in the back of my mind began to itch, I recall playing the share ware version more years ago than I'd like to admit :) Thanxs so much for the comments and for the work you did on the furries
ianh
16. Dec 2014 · 01:39 UTC
Tricky controls! I accidentally finished the game before I got all the stars :(
NickMakesGames
16. Dec 2014 · 02:51 UTC
this was surprisingly compelling. I saw it all the way through to all ten stars and had a great time doing so. The tiny map meant that screwing up never meant losing a ton of progress, and all the puzzles were just easy enough to piece together that they never felt frustrating, but just tough enough to actually be satisfying. An excellent entry, friend. Well done.
EvanEGibbs
18. Dec 2014 · 07:59 UTC
Super fun game! I really really liked it. The game reminded me of Within A Deep Forest! ^^

I played until I collected all of the stars and beat the level a few times. I couldn't figure out how to get the easter egg though! D:

A couple of really nitpick comments: I wish that the ball moved with the moving platforms. Also getting the tennis ball to bounce under a platform could be a little frustrating.

Still awesome level design. I learned how to play because of how the level was layed out. I don't think it's possible to get stuck and some of the puzzles were very clever! I also really liked how I thought I was getting to the finish until I got really close, then had to go all the way around the screen. After winning I felt like I really knew the game very well.

Awesome job you guys! :D
gre
19. Dec 2014 · 19:34 UTC
Pretty cool concept. The gameplay is a bit hard I think, especially the bouncing ball.
csanyk
29. Dec 2014 · 00:09 UTC
Pretty frustrating. I never realized how hard it is to jump in a platformer where you don't control the height or timing of your jump. The bounce mechanic is very difficult to get a hang of. Also for some reason the unity browser plugin crashes when I close the browser tab.
🎤 BroCade
29. Dec 2014 · 08:31 UTC
@csanyk - Sorry to hear that its frustrating. We thought the bouncing felt good and you could control the movements quite well. Any pointers to make it better?