Single Dragon: You Owe N. Lee $1 by Tom 7

[raw]
made by Tom 7 for LD28 (COMPO)
This is a short, mostly complete beat(?)-em-up. It's all standards-compliant HTML5, but I think the current version will only work in CHROME, and you may need a FAST COMPUTER. FireFox seems OK now, but slower.

Use the arrow keys to move around, space to jump, z and x to operate your limbs. [TAB] skips dialog, but then the game will be VERY short. :)

I have been making games in Flash for a long time and I decided to give HTML5 a shot since Flash is doomed. That means I started from an empty file and spent a lot of time learning / struggling with basics. (Including like writing my own MIDI player, etc.) I'm pretty happy with what's possible in the browser today, at least for pixel games, if you're using the newest Chrome. Not sure how I feel about the compatibility and performance issues, yet.

Anyway, this game is transparently inspired by River City Ransom. There's a long list of things I wish I had time to improve, but so is the nature of Ludum Dare!

Jam version adds a few little extras (including a secret) and some polish. Rate the Compo version, of course, which is complete enough to be fun, I hope. :)

Ratings

Coolness 58% 3
Overall 3.57 131
Audio 3.53 74
Fun 3.40 169
Graphics 3.74 152
Humor 3.69 55
Innovation 2.15 897
Mood 3.40 141
Theme 2.61 640

Feedback

tzamora
16. Dec 2013 · 04:32 UTC
Great! I finish it, Cool game!
xgeovanni
16. Dec 2013 · 13:02 UTC
A bit short, but a nice game.
Kyatric
18. Dec 2013 · 00:38 UTC
Pretty cool beat them up game.
The action is a bit "messy" though. I found myself mashing up the action buttons, without being sure if I was hitting the opponents or not.

Nevertheless cool graphics, nice cinematic/plot, well included in the game.
It was fun going through the compo and jam version.

Congratulations on making such a finished/polished game in 48/72h.
van noctar
18. Dec 2013 · 00:40 UTC
I like the graphics!! Feel the 1990's games :D
TheWhiteLlama
18. Dec 2013 · 01:24 UTC
really nice game! Well done :)
pavelzuk
18. Dec 2013 · 04:33 UTC
Haha loved it!
Todd Luke
18. Dec 2013 · 04:34 UTC
i played all the way through. the combat wasn't very interesting but the overall production made up for it. really sweet for a 48 hour game. more people should check this out!
Venks
18. Dec 2013 · 04:36 UTC
Top marks right here. I absolutely love River City Ransom so to see an homage to such a great game is overwhelmingly pleasant. Would love to see more of this.
HellBlazer
18. Dec 2013 · 04:37 UTC
Hehe, "Single Dragon". Funny game, though it's kinda hard to hit the enemies, as Kyatric said.
Jezzamon
18. Dec 2013 · 04:39 UTC
Oops, I died.

This was awesome though. I loved the twist, made me laugh a lot. The music was cool too.

On your comment "flash is doomed", I think that right now flash is still the best platform for web games. HTML5 still has a lot of issues. Still your game worked well on my computer (using Chrome)
Dcandle
18. Dec 2013 · 04:40 UTC
Good job!

I wasn't worried at all by the shortness of the game (it's a jam after all).

But i found it was lacking feedback on the hits during fight. So it was just like pressing button with no interest in it. Sounds and screen shakes would be cool (at least sounds...)
🎤 Tom 7
18. Dec 2013 · 04:42 UTC
I agree that it's still the best platform (at least for the desktop) but it's clear the support for it is waning, so I don't wanna get stuck. Outside IE, I actually feel pretty bullish about canvas and audiocontext recently. :)

Thanks for playing and for the comments everybody! I know the fighting is imperfect; that was one of the TODOs I didn't get around to. Ah, if only it were a 49 hour contest...
pkenney
18. Dec 2013 · 04:46 UTC
Wow, so much about this was just totally awesome... what polish! I played it through twice.

I did find punching guys in the face a little thin, though. Most fights ended up with me standing overlapping them, both of us whaling away not connecting. If I backed up to make my fist hit their face, though, I'd end up with my back to them very often and get hit.

The second time I beat the boss I got him stuck in the corner and he fell right into a kick lockdown.

An impressive game, though. You put a little more into the actual combat and you've got a fun micro-romp through nostalgia town.
Devon
18. Dec 2013 · 05:27 UTC
well fleshed out. Fun story and environments. Controls feel a too loose for my tastes. I want to turn around immediately and also have whatever I press next override any button im currently holding down so i can switch left or right without moving my finger off the other direction. Hit boxes seemed to not work when I was inside of people had to constantly move out of their box to hit them. Great river city ransom graphics.
polux
18. Dec 2013 · 17:54 UTC
Love puns, loved this.
ghostinthesoft
19. Dec 2013 · 07:03 UTC
Great job, great graphic style, it's a pretty cool game.
drnick
20. Dec 2013 · 07:04 UTC
Very nice
Shigor
22. Dec 2013 · 09:17 UTC
It reminds me good old 8bit renegade, complete with a bit clunky controls
2HitAdam
23. Dec 2013 · 10:17 UTC
Pretty decent to see a beat-em-up with a full (if a little short) story and everything made in 48 hrs! Impressive, well done :D
Diptoman
24. Dec 2013 · 06:44 UTC
Haha, short, but awesome! I loved the RiverCityRansom references xD
The cinematic was really cool.
GaTechGrad
24. Dec 2013 · 08:17 UTC
Really cute game. The graphics and sound definitely reminded me old 8-bit beat'em-ups
somepx
24. Dec 2013 · 09:01 UTC
Very retro, a well made entry - really polished! Congrats
glovecat
24. Dec 2013 · 14:36 UTC
Great! I win! Short game but it's fun :)
vikingpotato
24. Dec 2013 · 16:19 UTC
I had great fun with this game.. would like to play a full game with this story :)
TijmenTio
24. Dec 2013 · 16:36 UTC
Haha, that was really funny. And I liked that you spend more time on the audio!
WiseGAMER
24. Dec 2013 · 16:54 UTC
The audio of this game is awesome! I liked the boss fight the most :P
Calciumtrice
24. Dec 2013 · 18:24 UTC
This was really great! Funny, played pretty well, looked and sounded perfect.

Excellent job.
shard123
24. Dec 2013 · 18:40 UTC
Great audio graphics and story, awesome work!
mobyvb
24. Dec 2013 · 19:24 UTC
Great music, great art, and funny. Very good game, imo.
radmars
26. Dec 2013 · 05:11 UTC
Nice work on the music! (if you switch tabs it turns into a dirge!) Pretty fun but the controls are a bit clunky, seems impossible to do any 2 different things in quick succession. Love the reference to Escape Cod too!
mystakin
28. Dec 2013 · 02:59 UTC
A cool homage to River City Ransom! I enjoyed the light storyline elements most, but wish there was a stronger connection to the theme. The art's pretty cool too, especially in the ending scenes.
lotusgame
01. Jan 2014 · 11:44 UTC
Very cute retro game ! I love the story and the progression to the plot ! Huge work for a 48h entry ! It was a nice surprise :)
Bernhard
02. Jan 2014 · 05:09 UTC
Was very entertaining and funny. And the amount of art and music created was quite astounding!
StMatn
02. Jan 2014 · 16:55 UTC
Awesome game! :D
I really like the old sckool flair of it.
The story is nice, but the game could have been a bit longer, since it was quite fun to play, but hey, for a jam-game the length is ok.
Great work! :)
ossah
02. Jan 2014 · 19:06 UTC
Loved the old school style. Took my back to my younger days.
Short but fun.
eskivor
05. Jan 2014 · 00:40 UTC
I thought at first view your enemies were your friends who follow you ^^
🎤 Tom 7
05. Jan 2014 · 02:05 UTC
Ha ha. Who says they're not?