Kittens for Science ! by zequack

[raw]
made by zequack for LD28 (JAM)
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CONCEPT
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"Kittens for Science" is a 2D puzzle platformer. Your goal is simple : get to the end, and don't die !
The level's rules, however, are unclear : You have no idea of what will kill you or not. Maybe a specific color of bloc, or blocs in a specific configuration... Only problem is : the rules change everytime you die. You only get one chance to complete the level you're in !
Therefore you must experiment to try and understand what will kill you in the level without dying, or you'll have to start again.

But don't worry, you have a limitless supply of kittens you can throw to differents places to see if it's safe or dangerous !


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GAMEPLAY
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Use ZQSD to move in the level, space to jump, and click to throw kitties. You can only throw kitties within a distance to the avatar.


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CREDITS
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Code : Vincentiu Dioanca & Romain Soual
Art : Victoire Febvay
Sound : Eitel Duna
Game design / level design : Sebastien Wemama & Romain Soual


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ADDITIONAL INFOS
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* CONTEXT :

"Kittens for Science" was developped for both the Ludum Dare 28 (with the theme "you only get one") and the Jamshaker (with the theme "Science"). Both jams took place at the same time, the Jamshaker ending sooner (sunday on 4pm).
Therefore we designed the game around the scientific method, ie :
- Experiment and collect datas about your surroundings : throw kitties everywhere and see what happens
- Compile your data to form an hypothesis : try to understand how the level works ("kitties die in this situation, this situation and this situation therefore they probably die because of this and that")
- Try out your hypothesis : try to navigate an area of the level where kitties are forbidden. If your hypothesis was right, you'll survive. Otherwise you'll die.
And to keep the aspect of testing and formulating hypothesis, you only get one chance to try a level without dying, so you'd better take your time to experiment and think of how the laws work, as the rules change with each death.


* LEVEL STRUCTURE :

The level has two sets of rules the player must understand :
- 1 Architectural rule : the structure of the blocks in itself may kill you. Maybe it's "horizontal plans smaller than 2 blocks kill you", "the underside of platforms kills you", etc.
- Blocks color rules : Some blocks are colored and have a specific effect. But the effect of each color changes everytime.

Therefore the level is built in 3 parts :
- A non colored part where the player can experiment to understand the "architecture" rule
- A colored part where they can experiment with blocks
- And a final part where kittens aren't allowed, so they must guess how to get through it without dying.


* BUILD 1.1 :

The build slightly differs from the original concept, so the download is available here as a proof of concept prototype :
- Current build misses most interfaces and only has core gameplay
- The "rules change every time" feature is coded but couldn't be fully implemented in time, so the level doesn't change
- The level is fully navigable, with its architecture and blocks color rules.

* BUILD 1.2 :
- This is a post-ludum build. GUI has been added at the beginning of the game.



Anyway that was an interesting jam project to work on. Please enjoy your game ! :)

Ratings

Coolness 47% 1041
Overall(Jam) 2.63 446
Audio(Jam) 3.17 179
Fun(Jam) 2.54 391
Graphics(Jam) 3.42 210
Humor(Jam) 3.06 120
Innovation(Jam) 2.96 229
Mood(Jam) 2.90 259
Theme(Jam) 1.92 512

Feedback

kookoon
16. Dec 2013 · 20:35 UTC
Good job! Really enjoyed the music. The game was a bit short tho.
Only had a bit of trouble with inputs but noticed later it was possible to change from the unity setup window.
eitel.duna
17. Dec 2013 · 09:44 UTC
Happy that you enjoyed the music @kookoon !
You cookie game was fun too though
CNIAngel
18. Dec 2013 · 03:13 UTC
Those poor kittens
Benoît Freslon
20. Dec 2013 · 10:50 UTC
Nice entry! Nice idea! May be change the control mapping ;).
Brian
20. Dec 2013 · 10:57 UTC
Great graphs, great music, great concept ! Science theme is here but maybe the "You only get one" theme deserves a better integration.
hadesfury
20. Dec 2013 · 11:24 UTC
I just tried that on a nexus 7, it works fine but the controls mapping is a bit weird. Nice idea though... But that kitten noise really is very annoying, maybe that's on purpose so that you don't spam too much!
It gets very frustrating once you get to the "no cat allowed" area.
Alex Rose
20. Dec 2013 · 11:39 UTC
Pretty cool game man, but Q and D, not A and D? Come on :P

But anyway, after I changed that it was all cool. I would advise against making a section that is completely random at the end, but I really enjoyed the concept of trial and error to figure out what's ahead (and using kittens as your test subject amused me in light of the internet's ridiculous love of cats).

Great GUI at the start too. Nice one.
🎤 zequack
20. Dec 2013 · 17:24 UTC
Yep, sorry about the key mapping, the game was developped with AZERTY keyboards ^^'
tobbez
20. Dec 2013 · 17:33 UTC
After making the game about using kittens to test your surroundings I don't understand why you suddenly make kittens unusabl in the end. Gameplay was pretty nice but a bit heavy on the traps.
arcticleaf
23. Dec 2013 · 03:53 UTC
good job, i like it
stvr
23. Dec 2013 · 04:49 UTC
Not a bad idea, but you seem to be able to try as many times as you want without the level mechanics changing.
jarnik
23. Dec 2013 · 08:53 UTC
Great concept!
Trying to jumping while running was a bit cumbersome sometimes, I lost my patience trying to jump over a wide crevice.
"A" did not work for walking left (as stated in title screen), nor could I find any way to quit the fullscreen mode, other than ALT+F4.
Never mind the controls, I love the graphics, sound, the concept overall!
Ashedragon
03. Jan 2014 · 00:46 UTC
Very fun, controls needed some work though. I rather like the graphical style.