The Two-Dimensional Universe by Zathnic
What if it was possible to traverse the universe without those pesky space travel times, jumping from planet to planet almost as if they were connected? Well, in this universe, you can! Your only goal in this game is to reach up as high as you can, and who knows what worlds you may discover by doing so?
Oh, and you're a ball, by the way.
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This is by far my biggest LD entry so far, and I worked on it over 40 hours in the past three days! This game takes mechanics inspired by Within a Deep Forest (as in you don't normally jump around the level, but you gain momentum and bounce ever higher), but they're utilized in a very unique way throughout the game, making gravity play a bigger role. I don't want to spoil too much about the mechanics, but the universe has several different parts that all feel quite different to play through!
Controls can be found in game. Don't forget to extract the game's folder somewhere!
This game shouldn't lag too much, but if it does lag a bit, you could try temporarily disabling the gradients, I think it should help.
I hope you'll enjoy this take of mine on creating a platformer with an unusual combination of mechanics, and hopefully lots of little surprises scattered throughout! :)
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Programs used:
Code - Java (eclipse), using EasyOgg for music
Art - GraphicsGale, Paint.NET and Paint
Music - LMMS (I created the song before the LD started!)
Oh, and you're a ball, by the way.
-----
This is by far my biggest LD entry so far, and I worked on it over 40 hours in the past three days! This game takes mechanics inspired by Within a Deep Forest (as in you don't normally jump around the level, but you gain momentum and bounce ever higher), but they're utilized in a very unique way throughout the game, making gravity play a bigger role. I don't want to spoil too much about the mechanics, but the universe has several different parts that all feel quite different to play through!
Controls can be found in game. Don't forget to extract the game's folder somewhere!
This game shouldn't lag too much, but if it does lag a bit, you could try temporarily disabling the gradients, I think it should help.
I hope you'll enjoy this take of mine on creating a platformer with an unusual combination of mechanics, and hopefully lots of little surprises scattered throughout! :)
-----
Programs used:
Code - Java (eclipse), using EasyOgg for music
Art - GraphicsGale, Paint.NET and Paint
Music - LMMS (I created the song before the LD started!)
| All Systems | http://www.mediafire.com/download/llgvpatbh6j5kgh/The_Two-Dimensional_Universe.rar |
| Source (Java) | http://www.mediafire.com/download/uujydu8itc3geug/TTDU_Source.rar |
| Post Compo (Added checkpoint after introduction) | http://www.mediafire.com/download/e0fiyfm5p4l7c55/The_Two-Dimensional_Universe_-_Post_Compo.rar |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=11328 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 49% | 1204 |
| Overall(Jam) | 3.52 | 180 |
| Audio(Jam) | 3.04 | 392 |
| Fun(Jam) | 3.31 | 224 |
| Graphics(Jam) | 2.85 | 594 |
| Innovation(Jam) | 3.31 | 233 |
| Mood(Jam) | 3.05 | 401 |
| Theme(Jam) | 3.38 | 284 |
the only turn-off for me (and the thing that made me stop playing) was that there are no checkpoints or anything; once you die, its all the way to the bottom. You may see this as part of the design, but im going to guess most others would stop playing after the first dath. also it is very difficult trying to platform with the weird mechanics in such a small space with spikes.
If i had more time, this would be a really cool world to experience (even with the somewhat simple graphic style). So kudos to you for proving my upfront judgement wrong!
About the thing with the checkpoints, this idea did come up for me somewhere during the developing, but since I thought the game wasn't too hard, and because I wanted to finish, I decided against it. You're right, I also saw it as part of the design, because the game is about reaching as high a height as possible, and checkpoints would give you a head start. But now that I think about it, the first area of the game (until you reach the second world) is rather easy, more of a "get used to the mechanics" area, and having to repeat that is kinda like having to repeat the tutorial every time.
So actually, I think I'm going to do a little post-mortem version where there's a single checkpoint right at the top surface of the first new world you reach (at height 316). It shouldn't be much work, but I still need a break from coding, so I'm probably going to do it during the weekend. I don't think the game needs more checkpoints than that, though - for the reason I mentioned, it's part of the game's mechanics, but also because the "beachy" world has so many different paths to take that this place would be pretty much the perfect starting position.
So, thanks for making me aware of that thing! For new players, right now I can recommend that if a path looks to difficult for you, try turning back and searching for another one, because some ways are easier than others.
Good work.
One suggestion: when the gravity is reversed, the left/right control should not be reversed too.
Since it's already mentioned but I'll say it anyhow: I don't like trying to land on a single block as the ball moves too fast.
@all Thanks for the comments so far, glad you're enjoying it! I may think about developing this idea further, but that's something for the future, right now I'm just glad I got this thing done. :P
The bounce / No gravity switch mechanic works perfect, I like fighting against clouds to bounce higher.
My highscore is 576.