LudumData

Atop A Dark Mountain by Maple

[raw]
made by Maple for LD28 (JAM)
Enemies come in waves. There are about 10 waves, with a boss at the end. You can also replay for a faster record, or for a record in attacking least. Inspired by those multi-floor towers of enemies in Zelda games.

All but music was made within the 72 hours. The unfinished track I used, I composed within ~6 hours, ~2 months ago.

Controls:
Arrows/Z/X or WASD/J/K. (Move/Jump/Attack)
You can charge X/K for different attacks.
ALT+Enter toggles fullscreen.

Tools used:
GameMaker Studio
MilkyTracker
Audacity
BFXR
Fontstruct

Let me know what you think!
~Maple
Windows (.exe) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6478756/Games/LD72/28%20-%20YOU%20ONLY%20GET%20ONE%20-%20Atop%20A%20Dark%20Mountain/AtopADarkMountain.exe
Source (.gmz) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6478756/Games/LD72/28%20-%20YOU%20ONLY%20GET%20ONE%20-%20Atop%20A%20Dark%20Mountain/AtopADarkMountain.gmz
Development Timelapse (on YouTube) http://youtu.be/C7uxXdLG8D8
Super Ultra Amazing Dev-Strats (.txt) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6478756/Games/LD72/28%20-%20YOU%20ONLY%20GET%20ONE%20-%20Atop%20A%20Dark%20Mountain/AADM_SUAD-S.txt
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-28/?action=preview&uid=1551

Ratings

Coolness 59% 3
Overall(Jam) 3.67 68
Audio(Jam) 3.59 74
Fun(Jam) 3.93 19
Graphics(Jam) 4.07 89
Humor(Jam) 3.83 25
Innovation(Jam) 3.24 144
Mood(Jam) 3.42 115
Theme(Jam) 2.54 343

Feedback

Mutt
17. Dec 2013 · 03:45 UTC
Gameplay is simple but fairly fun. I love the graphics and general atmosphere, you've got a lot of skill in doing pixel art. The random quotes are slightly confusing and amusing. Good work!
Chaoseiro
17. Dec 2013 · 04:24 UTC
Nice and interesting, and those quotes were really unexpected :P
Spaceoff
17. Dec 2013 · 12:52 UTC
Those audio clips were just as weird and amusing as you implied. Awesome pixel art... pretty polished gameplay too. Awesome job :D


And the critics agree:

37/40 "It vaguely resembles an RPG, so it's breathtaking" -Famitsu
9/10 "Was kinda shit" -IGN
10/10 "Best non-console game of all time" -Some 10yr old console faboy who's never played a PC game before now
danbo
17. Dec 2013 · 14:45 UTC
Voice actor of the year. Interesting 3-dimensional gameplay. I like how the weapon works where usually you only want to charge it to the first level.
Managore
18. Dec 2013 · 02:45 UTC
This game has beautiful pixel art and reminds me a lot of old arcade games. The dragon makes for a fantastic boss, although I couldn't beat him. My only qualm is that starting from the very beginning was a bit frustrating, but if your take on the theme is You Only Get One Life, then that's understandable.
Venks
18. Dec 2013 · 04:53 UTC
I'm not a huge fan of the 'one-life' gimmick, but none the less this is an amazing game. Top quality art really makes this game stand out against the rest. Really impressive given the time frame.
Devon
18. Dec 2013 · 05:02 UTC
Great art. Good controls. The sound effects were my favorite tho. I got confused on how to kill the floaty magenta guys.
louis.denizet
18. Dec 2013 · 07:37 UTC
simple but really efficace, liked it!
Mekuri
18. Dec 2013 · 07:45 UTC
A fun little game reminding be of some of the mini games in Mario Party :P - I really love the graphics style, it's very beautiful. I failed to get past the level where the purple thingies starts floating around at the edge. My "Dex monkey keyboard skills" failed - Or I missed some other nice way of dealing with them :P - I really liked this game. Very nice work!
MRvanderPants
18. Dec 2013 · 07:45 UTC
I really liked the audio and graphics of this game. And I really liked who different all the enemies were. This gave the game a more dynamic feel for such a small level
🎤 Maple
18. Dec 2013 · 08:26 UTC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUPER ULTRA AMAZING DEV-STRATS 01: PURPLE FLOATY DUDES.
1. STAND AT EDGE.
2. LOOK OFF INTO DISTANCE.
3. WAIT FOR PURPLE FLOATY DUDE.
4. PRESS AND HOLD Z+X OR J+K.
5. RELEASE Z+X OR J+K AT PEAK OF JUMP.
6. PURPLE FLOATY DUDE ERADICATED.
7. RINSE, REPEAT.
8. DRAGON TIME.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
dsoft20
18. Dec 2013 · 17:27 UTC
Very nice graphics one of the best pixel art I've seen here at LD28.
The gameplay is good :D
mutilator
18. Dec 2013 · 17:36 UTC
Cute graphics, fitting music and sound effects, hilarious voiceover. Not big on the one life theme, just because it is frustrating to replay extremely simple "levels" repeatedly after failing at something much more difficult.

Fun game, great entry.
pkenney
18. Dec 2013 · 17:36 UTC
I encountered an error and could not run the game: "AtopADarkMountain.exe is not a valid windows executable."

Sorry. I like the screenshots.
zkenshin
18. Dec 2013 · 17:42 UTC
Fun entry, good job. :)
murilo
19. Dec 2013 · 14:22 UTC
Really good game! Nice graphics! I thought it was too easy at first but things do get complicated hehe! Great work, man.
ShellfishGames
19. Dec 2013 · 18:20 UTC
Cool game, somewhat similar to the one I made.. but different. :D Nice art style and atmosphere, and the voice acting really made it rather special. I didn't make it to the dragon though, unfortunately. Always died in round ~5 or so, and lost motivation to replay the first few rounds each time after a while. :/
sadiquo
19. Dec 2013 · 18:20 UTC
Lot of fun, great graphics and gameplay, but return to the start all time we lose was for me annoying.
auto_suggestion
19. Dec 2013 · 18:26 UTC
I have to admit, the quotes were pretty funny, however irrelevant. Gameplay was solid, good job!
Und[0]ne Devs
19. Dec 2013 · 18:26 UTC
Great controls and great game :D
killing the dragon took me around half an hour XD
Kohijin
19. Dec 2013 · 18:43 UTC
Really liked it! Even though the voice overs felt a bit out of place ;) Otherwise great design in all areas
Shaun Lebron
19. Dec 2013 · 18:50 UTC
Really like the art, the different firing modes, and the unique enemy waves. I had a lot of fun playing this one.
ChrisMingay
19. Dec 2013 · 20:16 UTC
Lovely stuff! Reminded me of Zelda LTTP :) Oh and I really enjoyed the timelapse and found a new tool (Font Struct) in the process!
kutullu
20. Dec 2013 · 10:05 UTC
"Out of this worrrrld!" :D
SonnyBone
20. Dec 2013 · 23:32 UTC
Heh

Haha

HAAA

HAHAHAHAHAHA

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

This shit is amazing! I have nothing else to say.
atombrot
22. Dec 2013 · 14:25 UTC
This is great. I like the art style very much. The voice in the background was a bit disturbing, after a while I wouldn't wanto to play without it ;) I first didn't notice that you can charge your attack. And I never saw the boss. I'm too bad at this game ;)
tobbez
22. Dec 2013 · 14:32 UTC
Nice game, a bit annoing voiceovers at times. The waves were different and there was a good finish with the boss. Could use maybe a practise mode to make some of the waves a bit easier to train for.
TijmenTio
24. Dec 2013 · 21:23 UTC
Really liked it, nothing I can say that hasn't been said before. The voices were funny but fitted well. Maybe it some checkpoint would've been at place? ;)
ezolotko
26. Dec 2013 · 07:02 UTC
Cool
Jupiter_Hadley
26. Dec 2013 · 19:51 UTC
Solid game, nice job! I included it in my Ludum Dare compilation video series, if you'd like to take a look :) http://youtu.be/mm02WUCsrPg
GFM
28. Dec 2013 · 03:59 UTC
Around wave 5 or 6 (those 8 jumpy red turnip) it got too hard for me... But I enjoyed and I'll play again!
Though it's quite simple, it's a fun game! And the graphics and sounds are great! :)