Sun God Star Bridge by Ted Brown

[raw]
made by Ted Brown for LD30 (JAM)
=== Arise, Phoebus Apollo! Take back your golden throne! ===

The god Apollo has awoken on Pluto, and must blast his way to the center of the solar system in a radical display of 80's arcade infused excellence, featuring more than ten fan-BLEEP-ing-tastic glam rock tracks that will blow your socks off!

Game by Ted Brown (oreganik.com)
Music by Michael McCarthy (mercenarymusicllc.com)
Sound by Michael Jones (mikejonesaudio.com)
Voice by Will Bucknum (voicetogame.com)

Have fun!

CONTROLS:
- Cursor keys for radical aerial maneuvers
- Spacebar to launch radiating fiery blasts
- Return to skip laaaame "story" sequences LOL
- Push the coin slot to return your quarter (must be playing at disheveled Chuck E. Cheese and/or Putt-Putt Limited Edition Arcade EPROM Machine)

TIPS:
The continue score ramps up very quickly after the first few deaths. Blow up tons of stuff on the planet so you can get a high enough score to challenge the Rainbow Bridge Guardians!

POST-JAM UPDATE (SEPTEMBER 1):
- Added downloadable versions for major platforms
- Added "TRAINING MODE" and "INFINITE CONTINUES" mode. I want folks to have fun and see the ending!
- Training Mode cuts the length of the game almost in half by reducing enemy counts. It also slows down the Guardian's rate of fire.
- Infinite Continues mode does just that: sets Continue cost to zero every time.
- Tap 1 to go to Training Mode.
- Tap 1 a second time to go to Infinite Continue mode.
- There's no going back until you start a new game!

MORE STUFF
We've been lucky enough to get two blog mentions. Thank you!

- Poems About Games -
http://poemsaboutgames.tumblr.com/post/96147085762/sun-god-star-bridge

- Rock, Paper, Shotgun -
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/09/12/freeware-garden-sun-god-star-bridge/

GET THE MUSIC
Hear the full-length tracks!
http://www.mercenarymusicllc.com/videoGames.html

Ratings

Coolness 79% 2
Overall(Jam) 4.11 23
Audio(Jam) 4.33 9
Fun(Jam) 4.29 4
Graphics(Jam) 4.15 107
Humor(Jam) 3.76 47
Innovation(Jam) 3.12 339
Mood(Jam) 3.96 46
Theme(Jam) 3.65 154

Feedback

graebor
26. Aug 2014 路 02:25 UTC
Great job, digging the visuals and audio, especially the very satisfying shooting sound effect. Going through the entire intro again after you lose is pretty long though, needs a quick reset button!
CoopNasty
26. Aug 2014 路 07:08 UTC
Highest I've rated a jam so far. All around the most complete "Package" I've played yet. Great work.
BeardoGames
26. Aug 2014 路 22:48 UTC
Fan-freaking-tastic!! I'm blown away by so much in this, from the music to the gameplay to the in-between worlds effects. Far out!!!
馃帳 Ted Brown
27. Aug 2014 路 17:14 UTC
Thank you everyone! Real quick: you can skip every intro sequence by pressing the enter button (both the planets and the "arise" VO). Sorry I didn't make that known in-game! Also, I am adding some post-jam code to let people post their scores to Kongregate, and fixing a bug that doesn't reset the continue cost when a new game starts. Other than that... have fun! :)
yodamaster
29. Aug 2014 路 15:41 UTC
Gyruss - Altered Beast - Space Harrier ;-)
vividhelix
30. Aug 2014 路 03:29 UTC
really sweet! well rounded entry on all categories!
samooJAM
30. Aug 2014 路 03:40 UTC
Finally a game that feels like a game. I got about 46k score. Well use of the theme. The rainbow bridge was cool looking. Good audio and art. Needs more variety.
jacklehamster
30. Aug 2014 路 03:48 UTC
The gameplay is fabulous! I don't even remember Space Harrier being this fun! What's missing is a two-headed dragon though.
littlerockplanet
30. Aug 2014 路 04:00 UTC
Is it good that i laughed really hard at the graphics. Good job on making a fun game
mrjohnson22
30. Aug 2014 路 04:01 UTC
Wow, this game's soundtrack is amazing! It really shows the whimsical side of flying through space blasting meteors. And that ending cinematic...the music was WAY happier than it had any right to be. :P

As for the game itself, it's a ton of fun! It felt a lot like a simple Mode-7 shooter, which is cool. Speaking of Mode-7, you really nailed the look down! The camera tilting sealed the deal. It's a shame there wasn't more variety, though; every single planet & star bridge had the exact same enemies over and over, but the game was still enjoyable despite this thanks to the fair difficulty curve. Overall, nice stuff!
radmars
30. Aug 2014 路 04:23 UTC
This is awesome! Really fun gameplay (blasting everything is so satisfying!) though it gets pretty samey after a bit. Loved the music too, I expected Ziggy Stardust to come out of the screen at any minute. Bowie's in spaaaaace....
elefantopia
30. Aug 2014 路 04:31 UTC
Fun! Loved the graphics and music. The game is funny and energetic!
Empyrealhell
30. Aug 2014 路 04:32 UTC
That was awesome. You had all of the parts there, everything fit together, it seems like you guys really hit your target. It was a bit repetitive though. For how little diversity there was, it was a bit of a grind to go through all of the worlds and the sun. Other than that, great all around.
Aevek
30. Aug 2014 路 04:40 UTC
A remarkably polished and complete feeling game for a Ludum Dare, great job there. Had a lot of fun playing it. Would have been nice to see a little more variety in the things to blast though. Also the continues didn't seem to take away my points, making the game a lot easier than I think it was meant to be. The gameplay is almost tempting me to break out my USB NES controller I've got around somewhere and try it with that...
waynaul
30. Aug 2014 路 04:46 UTC
The sound and animation when the Apollo dies is hilarious. It's a great tribute to Space Harrier, with a nod to Altered Beast.
馃帳 Ted Brown
30. Aug 2014 路 05:10 UTC
You folks are awesome. Thank you so much. :) I do apologize for the sameness of the graphics: there's actually a system in place to change out the sprite based on the planet, but wouldn't you know it, I ran out of time!

The scoring is a bit confusing, so to clarify, your continue "cost" goes up with each death. It is not subtracted from your score: you just have to hit that bar to continue. But it -is- subtracted from something called the "Final Score" which I don't actually display, but is submitted to Kongregate for their leaderboard... assuming I did it correctly. ^_^ What's an 80's inspired arcade game without a high score ranking, eh? Eh? EHH?
shatterhand
30. Aug 2014 路 05:51 UTC
SPACE HARRIER!
I voted 5/5 for nearly everything on this game but innovation (Since its a lot like.. SPace Harrier :D)

This is the kind of game I'd like to see more on Ludum Dare. Ok, it was made by 4 guys and in 72 hrs, so it's a lot easier to do it than in the compo... still, it's really what I think maybe some people will pissed at this, but that's what I want to see more on Ludum Dare for those reasons:

A) It's not a pseudo-intelectual-artsy-hipster-bullshit-game.
B) It doesn't last just 30 seconds
C) It feels very complete, with good music, good graphics, etc
D) It is a shitload fun of play.

Fuck it, I don't want innovative games, I want games that are fun, that just make me want to keep playing.

This one is a little too repetitive, still it's very fun.
Shivur
30. Aug 2014 路 06:00 UTC
Arise, Pheobus Appollo!

Just Eeeeepiiiiiiicc!
LeafThief
30. Aug 2014 路 06:15 UTC
What a fun game! I was blown away by the fact that every planet had it's own version of the main track. The visuals were nice and fitting and the game had a great difficulty curve.

One of the best uses of Audio so far!
danidre14
30. Aug 2014 路 16:17 UTC
Well, the game began hard, I died on Pluto, so then I gave it another try, realizing that score'll make you survive longer. But when it reaches to planets like Venus, it's just impossible to dodge the shooters on the bridge. There's just this wave that swoops in with shots that take ht e entire screen, I managed to die every time and survive because of the score I had, but then the score needed to survive got to big and out of hand! I dies on the bridge to Mercury, and took too long to get there, so I just took off the game! Would have appreciated if at least "Earth" had trees and bushes instead of just rocks and stalagmites though. Don't think I'll rate low because of that though, this game was very fast paced, like a run n' gun, and I'd say it to be better than mine! :3 Goof job on your jam!
Two Scoop Games
31. Aug 2014 路 00:04 UTC
Loving this game. MOAR GUITAR. I'm really glad you guys ported this to unity from the SNES, all the MODE 7!!
barryrowe
31. Aug 2014 路 00:39 UTC
This whole game is a blast to play. Bonus points for the 2nd screenshot thumbnail looking like a sun crying and puking rainbows. Awesome job all around.
runvs
31. Aug 2014 路 08:39 UTC
Awesome Game! This really reminds me of duke nukem 3d and the first d**m titles. feels great and you did an amazing job on the audio!
Robert
31. Aug 2014 路 12:42 UTC
Full Stars
Alexandre Szybiak
31. Aug 2014 路 12:54 UTC
Great, I couldn't stop playing 'till the end, it's quite hypnotic, I score 70,900 points.
LTyrosine
31. Aug 2014 路 14:23 UTC
Overall, it's an amazing game!

Good:
+ You are Apollo and have to fight your way trough solar system (how cool is that)
+ Awesome art style
+ Nice music, ok sounds
+ Ok theme usage
+ Fun to play

Bad:
- Get repetitive at some point
Artamus
31. Aug 2014 路 14:27 UTC
Nice game, congrats!
alpha_rat
31. Aug 2014 路 14:55 UTC
Great entry !
Super entertaining and efficient, the theme is epic and the music really great. I love the variety of levels and the overall feel of the game.

Great job !
Eniimal
31. Aug 2014 路 17:26 UTC
I made it, i made it, i got to the sun with a score of 65,200 points.
A very addictive game congratulation
Pierrec
31. Aug 2014 路 19:53 UTC
Better than Space Harrier (which is too hard for me) I died on the road to Mercury...so cloooose
spotco
02. Sep 2014 路 05:47 UTC
Effin glorious in a Space Harrier kind of way!
(The worlds got a little repetitive after a while, so wish there was more variety there. Totally understandable for a jam though).
commodoreKid
02. Sep 2014 路 22:10 UTC
That was really a lot of fun with its dynamic looks but graphics, music and sound effects need to be worked on further. Boss battles could vary. Buying continues is a good idea.
jukimv1986
05. Sep 2014 路 01:35 UTC
The audio was extraordinary! Presentation superb! And the gameplay had a retro feeling to it. Amazing work!!
Dietrich Epp
05. Sep 2014 路 03:24 UTC
A fellow Oregonian! This is just such a fun game! (Infinite continues is nice, thanks for adding that.)
apiotrw
13. Sep 2014 路 14:11 UTC
Very well made game
sephyka
13. Sep 2014 路 14:44 UTC
Your game is sooooo crazy. Very fun, perfect mood and playability!! It might be perfect with more various enemies. I stopped at Jupiter. :)
Steven Colling
13. Sep 2014 路 18:07 UTC
I played through it and it's just crazy. I like the art style and the controls. I hope you add some further gameplay elements or minigames so it doesn't get too repetitive.
IamAcoconut
14. Sep 2014 路 04:05 UTC
I really loved the the art and the music. The game was pretty funny, and overall it was very good. It did get a little repetitive though, you know the same things happening over again, just harder. But it was still fun, good job!!!
AkirAssasin
14. Sep 2014 路 05:52 UTC
First thought: dafaq
alangamebot
16. Sep 2014 路 03:32 UTC
Ted, I just played this. Awesome. Space Harrier lives!