Save the Giant by drkrunk

[raw]
made by drkrunk for LD31 (JAM)
Save the giant!

-EDIT POST COMPO:
I have been giving a lot of thought to doing a post compo, and have decided that I'll only work on a post compo version if the version was to be a full fledged game not just bug fixes. In order for this to become a realization I really need a community backing it. I have created a Google group and if we get 15 plus people joining then I'll start working on it. Basically I'm looking for an audience for the game. This is extremely important to us because there's nothing worse then pumping your heart and soul into a project to realize that no one cares to even play it when you're done (This has happened to us).

Everyone wanting the project to go forward join the google group to push this project forward we are currently at 2/15 people. I'm creating the group for:
- People who want to be involved in making this a good game.
- People to play builds and tech demos for new mechanics.
- Anyone who interested in our concepts and art techniques.
- Everyone who wants to play a better version of this game.

The thing is it might take us a while to make this game and Ludum 31 will be long gone in that short amount of time. This makes it really hard to show the final product to everyone who wanted to see this go further. The google group gives us access to email addresses where you can be reached when new versions are out. It also provides feedback for us when things are broken or just bad ideas. By joining you have no responsibility just access to early versions and test demos. This will be a closed day-one alpha test group basically.

If you want to join the group go here https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/save-the-giant and apply for membership.

Controls:
A - Bow
S - Dagger Slash
D - Roll <---(kinda pointless tho)
F- Toggle full-screen

Arrow Keys - to move.

Dev Notes:We would of liked to put more into this game but we ran out of time. The sound is something that we just though together like 10 mins before it ended. The giant never walked in the end, but we feel lucky that this at least resembles a game. We feel like this is more of a proof of concept. Our take on the theme was one stage on the entire screen(the giant) we also had intended for bosses that you'd fight instead of the parasites. It is what it is.

Spoilers/Tactics: If you having trouble, the parasites die with the dagger and their orbitals are pushed by the bow. The orbitals die with the parasite dies. You have to kill four of them to beat the game.

If you don't care the character speed, we intended the giant to be bigger and walking but ran out of time =[.

We hope you enjoy our game.

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 2.99 708
Audio(Jam) 2.65 518
Fun(Jam) 2.54 856
Graphics(Jam) 4.51 32
Humor(Jam) 2.00 764
Innovation(Jam) 2.85 622
Mood(Jam) 3.40 252
Theme(Jam) 2.11 1002

Feedback

cdwaddell
09. Dec 2014 · 04:05 UTC
Good try, the art is beautiful, I would play this game!
sharp911
09. Dec 2014 · 04:11 UTC
Seems very buggy to me. The character kept getting stuck. So I didnt continue after 5 tries to get past the 2 first columns
JoshuaBurr
09. Dec 2014 · 17:50 UTC
Looks great. The character kept getting stuck on things though.
Belvar
09. Dec 2014 · 18:05 UTC
Really beautiful and impressive graphics !
The gameplay however... Is very buggy, frustrating and unpleasant. I really wanted to go to the end of the game but I gave up after a collision bug that make me fall to the ground for the twentieth time at least. I did notice a bit late that the dagger could be used to destroy the green fireflies nest too.
whitematterteam
09. Dec 2014 · 21:57 UTC
The game looks promising and reminds the old and wonderful "Shadow of the colossus" . Sometimes the player gets stuck, but well done (:
AMS
10. Dec 2014 · 01:54 UTC
Stunning graphics! This artstyle reminds me of FEZ, well done!
Pat Kemp
10. Dec 2014 · 05:58 UTC
Gorgeous art and mood! I think you know the controls are nigh-unplayable, but it's still very evocative and the animations are pretty polished. Worth working on. I'd love to see more of the giant than their thighs!
Lynx
10. Dec 2014 · 05:59 UTC
A bit buggy, but beyond gorgeous, I always loved this kind of art-style. Hope to see a Post-Jam version soon!
TeamQuadratic
10. Dec 2014 · 05:59 UTC
Amazing presentation! This really could be an awesome game! My biggest issue was the inability to move while jumping. This made it difficult to do the platforming parts. I'm not sure if this was an intentional design choice or just something left in, but it certainly ups the difficulty!
OpenGL
10. Dec 2014 · 06:05 UTC
Great graphics!
pht59x
12. Dec 2014 · 12:12 UTC
Great graphics but side-way controls don't always work.
Conk
12. Dec 2014 · 12:16 UTC
Graphics are superb! I feel the character movement is way too clunky and it makes the game play too frustrating, get stuck often too. Other than that, solid effort.
Rocketship
12. Dec 2014 · 12:25 UTC
Graphics are really beautiful and the animation on the roll is one of the smoothest I've seen. Shame it doesn't actually work, would've loved to play this a bit further.
hogtrick
12. Dec 2014 · 12:28 UTC
Really like the graphics. It'll be nice if you keep working in this game. Really loved the style.
Logun
12. Dec 2014 · 22:20 UTC
Looks very cool, but I was stuck too often :/ I tried many times, and always stuck, like others said i suppose. Nice graphics, need music !
Ossi
12. Dec 2014 · 22:26 UTC
Graphics and atmosphere are really good! The controls were a bit finicky. You can't jump in a direction from standing still, this made me miss platforms constantly when I got higher up. And sometimes my character would get stuck when the wind? was blowing me off the ledges. With more polish this could be something great for sure, great concept! Well done!
theholychicken
13. Dec 2014 · 02:08 UTC
Sheer beauty! Details like the glow dusts in the dark and rays of the sun and moon are just wonderful. The feeling that I am playing a work of art was just enough to motivate me to try again every time my character gets glitched on the corner of the platforms.

It was about half an hour and the 7th restart before I was able to finish all the tumors without getting stuck. Would've loved it if there was a conclusion instead of the black message screen. A simple picture like the player sitting on the giant's head for example would've been perfect.

Regarding the controls, the reason it feels unresponsive is because there is no mid-air control. When the player presses jump before the arrow key, the arrow key will not get registered and can be very frustrating. A little nudge toward the direction of the player input would be enough to make the control feel smoother, even if the player falls off anyway.

The game could benefit from being less punishing as it'll make it easier to enjoy the art. Like ability to hang on to the edge of platforms when you're about to fall would help reduce the difficulty greatly..

Sorry for the long comment.. The concept is wonderful and the art is brilliant so it would be a shame if there was no post-compo.
(The giant walking is unnecessary in my opinion, unless you want this to be an action game. Simple swinging of the arm and the chest breathing makes a more quiet and friendly giant. Ok I'll stop talking now.)
🎤 drkrunk
13. Dec 2014 · 17:17 UTC
@theholychicken Thanks for taking the time to write your comment. "The giant walking is unnecessary": we completely agree with you in this case, but we pumped so much time in this idea in the project that we ended up short on time (We had him in programmatic walking motion at one point.) We did have stuff like hanging, where the player would have been able to jump off and stab on the side of other platforms, but the way it worked was situational, and like the dodge roll, didn't have any real use. The hanging mechanic caused problems with climbing when the character was too close to something he could climb, and so it was unfortunately cut from the game. The giant in the end was designed much smaller than we first anticipated, making the platforming much more of a pain. I'll make a post mortem to go over stuff in greater detail as to why this game got so broken.
snickersnacks
13. Dec 2014 · 22:50 UTC
I love the tone that's set with the graphic style. Doesn't really fit the theme imo but whatever. I think you guys should keep working on it :) nice entry!
little-burrito
13. Dec 2014 · 23:53 UTC
I absolutely agree with theholychicken. Everything about the game is so cool, especially the graphics. I think the soundscape works, and just adding sound effects for the knife, the arrow and hitting stuff would pretty much be enough for me. For me the two things that break character movement are, like most people have said, that there's no mid air control (I think especially that if you're stuck against something and hold the directional button towards that object and jump, you just jump straight up, well above it, and land where you were), and that the player simply moves too fast, which makes the time window you have in order to make the jumps too difficult (for me at least). The the movement speed could also be kept, but the platforms made bigger and the distances between them smaller. Or just keep it like it is, but then it is really hard. Also, I would have liked something that made it clearer what the enemies were, their intentions and what to do with them. Not that they'd need a big sign or anything, but rather things like how they move, or maybe that you could feel more clearly how they change direction to attack you or something, so that there's also something in there that makes you react to them. That being said there are lots of awesome things in the game, like the night and day system, the delay between pressing the fire arrow-button and actually firing arrows, how huge the giant feels, the swinging ropes, the smoothness of the animations and transitions. All of that is really, really well done, and the polish needed to bring the controls up to par is very small I think, it's just unfortunate that that's the part that slipped this time. So you get a well done from me! :)
Bloxri
15. Dec 2014 · 05:34 UTC
Pretty interesting. Control's are iffy, not a huge fan of them. Great graphics, good sounds. Pretty good submission. Good job. I did get stuck on the giants 'foot'? Nothing to take off for though.
davient
15. Dec 2014 · 05:42 UTC
This is so beautiful. And broken - I still played all the way through because of the beauty. Fix your controls and expand : this is gonna be a helluva game! :D Didn't really follow the LD theme though?
Eduardo
15. Dec 2014 · 15:20 UTC
This game looks beautiful! I love the art style! But i couldn't play it, because i get stuck somewhere every time i try to play!
🎤 drkrunk
17. Dec 2014 · 02:05 UTC
If would like us to build a fully fledged game / post compo join our group. There are details in the description. When we get more than 15 people we'll start on it. We're doing this for everyone who said they would like us to keep going. Thank you all for the awesome comments =].
playvue
17. Dec 2014 · 02:51 UTC
Way to go for creating a Google group to capture LD interest. Great idea! Beautiful game, would love to see it finished!
Hellequin
17. Dec 2014 · 20:12 UTC
Art is beautiful! I love this game!! well done!
nosfer
17. Dec 2014 · 21:02 UTC
Looks VERY good but character stucks a lot. Please rewrite it on something better than HTML5 (it lags on fullscreen)
🎤 drkrunk
17. Dec 2014 · 21:29 UTC
@nosfer What are your specs? I get full frames on my 2 year old laptop, and I would consider my laptop low end besides the upgraded ram. If your specs are better consider updating you graphics cards drivers, the engine we are using uses webgl so your graphics card's drivers can have an impact on performance.

Laptop Specs:
Processor: AMD E2-1800 duel core 1.7ghz
Ram: 5gb
Radeon HD integrated graphics card
ShellfishGames
17. Dec 2014 · 21:53 UTC
Pew. Beautiful art indeed, and a few nice details, like the moving "rope"/plant reacting to the player, and the level being basically body parts of the boss.
The controls however... they're playing in their own league. Let's just put it that way. :D
So yeah, I've basically got mixed feelings. Concept and art style seem really good, but the unresponsive controls and constantly getting stuck make it difficult to enjoy.
andreaswitzen
17. Dec 2014 · 22:38 UTC
Graphics and atmosphere is really nice ("pixels" could be double in size though, but I think the small size was a conscious decision?). The controls ruin it for me. After 20-30 tries I had only got about waist high on the giant, and then I got stuck climbing a wine on it's forearm.
puppetmaster
17. Dec 2014 · 23:14 UTC
Beautiful pixel art!

The final fight should be on a walking giant!! :-)
Raiyumi
18. Dec 2014 · 02:28 UTC
I love the direction the game is going, but unfortunately the buggy/unresponsive controls ruin it.
DevoNoel
18. Dec 2014 · 03:45 UTC
Very impressive looking, kind of buggy. Solid concept though.
savethejets1
18. Dec 2014 · 04:07 UTC
Graphics are great!
I might suggest adding a small timer that starts after you leave a platform and if you press jump within that small time you can still jump even if you're not grounded.
That usually makes the jumping a bit more forgiving, which I found a tad difficult.
A Flat Miner Studios
18. Dec 2014 · 04:48 UTC
Nice animations and the rope-climbing/swinging was totally unexpected in a jam game. Can't wait to see more.
otaviogood
18. Dec 2014 · 05:27 UTC
The style was _really_ cool. I had some trouble with the controls though. It felt like the game was played at 2x speed. Also, for a jumping platformer, it helps to be able to steer your jumps a little in the air. I could only get to the middle of the 3 vines.
erik
18. Dec 2014 · 06:07 UTC
Shadow of the Colossus in 2d! Great idea, and beautiful art. As everyone else has already said, the controls are very frustrating. Lack of air control is probably the biggest problem.
AxeTheory
18. Dec 2014 · 13:43 UTC
My only problem is the jump is a little stiff, can't do a standing jump up and move left or right. Not sure if this was by design.
Larzan
18. Dec 2014 · 15:33 UTC
Nice idea, beautiful gfx, unfortunately the controls were a bit buggy, i got stuck several times at the corner of a platform and it was very difficult to control the movement of the player.
But a good idea and gfx, would make a nice game.
SuperDisk
18. Dec 2014 · 15:48 UTC
This was a good idea. Great art. Sadly, the Action 52-calibre controls made it nigh unplayable.
bushmango
18. Dec 2014 · 17:57 UTC
Looks great but the jumping controls are pretty awful. That and the enemies push you all the way to the ground. Check out Super Meat Boy for some ideas on how to make a well-controlled character.
I like the Shadow of the Colossus feel.
ArcturusDeluxe
18. Dec 2014 · 19:32 UTC
Oh man, you basically combined Knytt with Shadow of the Colossus. You hit on a fine combination of things there in my book. Excellent pixel art here, and great sense of atmosphere in general. It all just makes me wish it were a bit more fun to play. I'd be interested to try a version with more polished controls.
🎤 drkrunk
18. Dec 2014 · 20:33 UTC
@ArcturusDeluxe and everyone wanting the project to go forward join the google group to push this project forward we are currently at 2/15 people. I'm creating the group for:
- People who want to be involved in making this a good game.
- People to play builds and tech demos for new mechanics.
- Anyone who interested in our concepts and art techniques.
- Everyone who wants to play a better version of this game.

The thing is it might take us a while to make this game and Ludum 31 will be long gone in that short amount of time. This makes it really hard to show the final product to everyone who wanted to see this go further. The google group gives us access to email addresses where you can be reached when new versions are out. It also provides feedback for us when things are broken or just bad ideas. By joining you have no responsibility just access to early versions and test demos. This will be a closed day-one alpha test group basically.
MrShoestore
19. Dec 2014 · 03:56 UTC
I kept getting stuck, but the art and animation are so good that I would love to return to a fleshed out version of the game.
Team Flashlight
19. Dec 2014 · 04:15 UTC
The art is very nice! But the control is a little difficulty and it may be confuse to naive players. Need a tutorial and audio.
mathmadlen
19. Dec 2014 · 04:48 UTC
A real eye candy! I got frozen in place mid-air a few times - which visually was worth it ,)
el-pepi
19. Dec 2014 · 04:56 UTC
The graphics are great. The gameplay not so much. The player can get stuck, and I think it needs some air movement to make things less frustrating. More audio would be nice.
Tuism
19. Dec 2014 · 07:51 UTC
Man. It's gorgeous. Everything is gorgeous and well animated. The premise is great.

BUT.

The controls are impossible. No mid-air movements means I couldn't even stand next to a platform and jump on it.

The first enemy alone frustrated the crap out of me, I almost ragequit. There's no indication if you're actually doing damage and the blobs keep flinging you down to the ground level UNPREVENTABLY <-- that's the key, it doesn't feel like I have a choice or say in the matter.

Then I jumped a platform and got stuck and the thought of having to go through the first enemy again just terrified me.

There are some fundamental platforming control issues that are far more important than pretty graphics, though they are really pretty. I took a lot of tim in my LD48 just making sure the platforming was natural and feels decent. It wasn't perfect but it wasn't an obstacle.

Good luck on this :)
joe40001
19. Dec 2014 · 08:10 UTC
Great style but very frustrating controls. Also fullscreen lags the game so that it can't be played. (for me at least)
camlang
19. Dec 2014 · 09:07 UTC
Great graphic and mood! I want to see full version of this game.
taviandir
19. Dec 2014 · 09:47 UTC
Very beautiful game! The controls and mechanics felt very wonky to me, though. Sometimes he wouldnt jump, sometimes he wouldnt move, the balls fling you to the end of the world sometimes and there is no obvious way to stop it, esp when the character doesnt react to space. :p
Mechamew
19. Dec 2014 · 11:53 UTC
Not much to contribute that hasn't already been said. This game looks fantastic and I'd love to see the issues ironed out so it's more playable. Hope you take this further!
HolyBlackCat
19. Dec 2014 · 11:53 UTC
The game feels very nice, I like the fancy pixel graphics and audio.
I would like to see some sort of more interesting ending, though.

And controls could be better: no horisontal friction in midair is ok, but lack of the moving ability is frustrating.
HolyBlackCat
19. Dec 2014 · 11:55 UTC
Also, how it's connected with the theme?
CoderDozer
19. Dec 2014 · 11:55 UTC
Really nice graphics. I think once the few issues already mentioned here are sorted, you are on to a winner.
renatopp
19. Dec 2014 · 12:21 UTC
Looks really great but the mechanics is very bad, collisions don't work well and controlling the jump is almost impossible. Buutt, the aesthetics is awesome, I really want a post compo version of this!
Vandash
19. Dec 2014 · 12:43 UTC
Too bad collision phsyics & controls make it almost unplayable ;)
LastResortGames
19. Dec 2014 · 14:22 UTC
I love the idea. Seems like a nice combination of Shadow of the Colossus and Endeavor (a flash game). The only problem I had was that I couldn't jump horizontally when next to a platform. I had to run away and jump from there. I guess that is more realistic considering but a little frustrating.
joelthebergman
19. Dec 2014 · 15:38 UTC
The art is awesome and it's a really cool idea. Unfortunately I couldn't get very far. The collision is a little funky making jumping hard and it's easy to get stuck but the mood and graphics and animation are awesome!
GhostBomb
20. Dec 2014 · 01:29 UTC
I don't really think this game benefits from "realistic" controls and jump arcs. It mostly just adds frustration. I fell. A lot. But I guess that's just part of the experience.
metalchouchen
21. Dec 2014 · 02:19 UTC
Graphics are so great!. Really sad that the physics and controls are so buggy.
Sestren
21. Dec 2014 · 03:29 UTC
The controls are rather frustrating and, at times, buggy, but the graphics are beautiful and I like the concept.
Resonious
21. Dec 2014 · 04:06 UTC
The controls are less than tight, but it looks excellent. Awesome graphics and mood for sure.
wavertron
21. Dec 2014 · 08:40 UTC
Great art. But too buggy to play
Kaijuu
21. Dec 2014 · 10:41 UTC
Really cool graphics and idea
Dokthar
21. Dec 2014 · 13:39 UTC
It's a really great looking entry, with a nice mood. But the character controls are painful.
gameattack
21. Dec 2014 · 18:18 UTC
Beauuuuuuuutiful! I wish I could revive all the giants from "Wander and the Colossus" like that !
gameattack
21. Dec 2014 · 18:23 UTC
I just realise I didn't rate the game yet ! Now its done! I guess you will have plenty of time to fix technical issues later on. Great work!
Instant Noodles
21. Dec 2014 · 19:45 UTC
beautiful graphics, and nice. Anyway there some bugs that make the game hard to control. Waiting for update :)
rincewind_cz
26. Dec 2014 · 10:24 UTC
Oh, too bad that controls are so f...ed up. Really nice FEZ-like graphics though :)
redoxkun
29. Dec 2014 · 09:50 UTC
Love a lot that graphics, but the character gets stuck too much...