10.00s...10.00s...10.00s... by kirbytails7

[raw]
made by kirbytails7 for LD27 (COMPO)
UPDATE: I've added an Easy Mode, which makes wall jumping much easier and makes some earlier levels less difficult as well.

----

You have 10.00 seconds. Be in the goal at 00.00 seconds to advance. Can you get a perfect clear?

It's a puzzle/platformer built around a 10-second time limit with a minimalist/retro style. Basic mechanics relate back to the ten second cycle; dying with an item may move that item to a more opportune location, for example.

Coded in Javascript with library code from the VGDC at the University of Minnesota. Also used Paint.NET for sprites; GarageBand, FamiTracker, and Audacity for music; FontStruct.com for fonts.

Please play with audio! Controls are given in-game. [WALL-JUMPING: You have to jump before moving away from the wall.]

Also, based on a few playtests, this game might actually be really hard. If it is, I will include an easier version (as a post-compo thing, of course).

Oh, and if anyone unlocks Rave-Color Mode, I'd like to hear. I still can't get it consistently, so it should be a strong challenge. =)

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall 3.13 483
Audio 3.00 286
Fun 2.95 531
Graphics 2.88 556
Humor 2.12 629
Innovation 2.73 744
Mood 2.68 593
Theme 3.36 366

Feedback

L
26. Aug 2013 路 04:16 UTC
I couldn't clear the level in screenshot 2 - possibly because the wall-jump mechanics are a bit awkward.
馃帳 kirbytails7
26. Aug 2013 路 07:18 UTC
Dang...Yeah, it seems like they've been trickier than I thought. I figured they'd be easier to get the hang of, but people seem to have trouble. Thanks for letting me know!
jammy12789
26. Aug 2013 路 07:23 UTC
Good Game but where you must bounce from wall to wall is very hard and very difficult to pass.
It is also very peculiar. Which I like.
Pretty Good game! Just a Little Difficult in parts!
Zephyr89
26. Aug 2013 路 07:32 UTC
The wall-jump is nice once you get the hang of it, however maybe if you let the player stick to the for a brief period of time (0.02s or something like that) then the problems should be easier.
Ludipe
26. Aug 2013 路 07:34 UTC
It is hard indeed, but hey, we need some hard games, lately games tend to be way too easy. I really like the level design above the other things. Really fun game.

Just one little detail, you pass a level when time reaches 0 and you are in the green area, it'd be better if you passed it the moment you enter the green area, there's no point in standing there until you run out of time.
JaR_
26. Aug 2013 路 07:35 UTC
I really liked this game - some super clever puzzles:) Thanks for making this.. best implementation of the theme I've seen so far
馃帳 kirbytails7
26. Aug 2013 路 07:58 UTC
Thanks for the comments!

@Zephyr89 - Sticky wall jumping would be helpful, yeah, though unfortunately I think it would take some reworking of my engine code for some reason. It's pretty messy right now...

@Ludipe - I had thought about the level ending immediately when you reach the goal, but that has two problems: It isn't as in line with the theme (I think), and it disallows things like the first switch level where you can get pushed out of the goal area. Also, yes, hard is good. I just want to make sure that it's not so hard that no one can finish it.
shubshub
26. Aug 2013 路 08:11 UTC
An Excellent game I had alot of fun :) Keep up the Grand work :) :) :)
Rick Hoppmann
26. Aug 2013 路 08:32 UTC
The controls for wall jumping made me quit at the level were you "sometimes need to get backwards to get forward".
There wasn't any audio for me
馃帳 kirbytails7
26. Aug 2013 路 08:37 UTC
No audio? What browser are you running?
doonay21
26. Aug 2013 路 08:42 UTC
Hard enough, I could not pass level from screenshot 2. "Stepping" on green area should stop the timer and switch to the next level. Still.. nice game!
BlackBulletIV
26. Aug 2013 路 08:44 UTC
Yeah, the wall jump is very tricky. Sticking to the wall for a bit, as Zephyr said, would help a lot.
Brassawiking
26. Aug 2013 路 08:54 UTC
Holy crap, that was intense. Excellent game design. Only the wall jumping needs some more tweaking, especially when you jump on the same wall. Good job!
Rick Hoppmann
26. Aug 2013 路 09:20 UTC
@kirbytails7 I'm using the newest Firefox for Linux.
RandomM00
26. Aug 2013 路 09:59 UTC
Even more annoying than N!
The wall jump was really irritating, but otherwise nicely done.
robashton
26. Aug 2013 路 11:30 UTC
I'm not very good at wall jumping so I gave up at the level in screenshot 1. I like the style and the music/sounds though - totally cool
馃帳 kirbytails7
26. Aug 2013 路 18:15 UTC
@Rick Hoppmann - Huh. It works fine in Firefox on Windows, and it's supposed to be cross-platform...I guess there's something up with my engine code, then.
Anachron
27. Aug 2013 路 04:47 UTC
Challenging control but the prospect of unlocking a mode with extra party will bring me back.
3beards
27. Aug 2013 路 07:18 UTC
The easier version was much more enjoyable ;).

Also, I felt like the keys should auto pick up.
jay griffin
27. Aug 2013 路 07:27 UTC
Really polished platform action with a cute minimal style. I was another one who found the wall jumps a little tricky, I think using space or a separate key to jump would've helped a lot, up to jump always seems to throw people. Aside from that it's all good, I really enjoyed it.
avh4
27. Aug 2013 路 08:27 UTC
Nice little character animations.
馃帳 kirbytails7
27. Aug 2013 路 21:06 UTC
@3beards - Thanks! Automatic pick up, huh...I suppose that would be nice, yeah. I coded it so that keys could be used to press switches, but I never actually made any levels that require that.

@jay griffin - That's why I included multiple buttons for each control. There could just as well be space, though, yes.

@avh4 - Thanks!
Twistedsnail
28. Aug 2013 路 07:21 UTC
This was cool, my only gripe is the wall-jump mechanic.
On the Indie Game Movie the guys from SuperMeatBoy discuss their implementation, like .2 of a second sticking or something.
Kragnir
28. Aug 2013 路 07:24 UTC
Nice platformer, the part where you have to wait after reaching the end is unnecessary though.
mklee
29. Aug 2013 路 08:25 UTC
The death animation is pretty cool! Wall jumping is a little awkward, but once you get the hang of it you can manage. Really nice atmopshere also, you get a lot of mileage out of the really nice music to give the game this odd sense of dread.
ZeppelinCaptain
29. Aug 2013 路 08:45 UTC
Really. Another timer-based platformer. Please try to make something more original next time.
I'm sorry for being so blunt, but I am getting pretty tired of these.
馃帳 kirbytails7
30. Aug 2013 路 01:47 UTC
@Twistedsnail - I don't remember that coming up in the movie...Guess I'll have to watch it again.

@Kragnir - The waiting is for theme and for some level design.

@mklee - Thanks! Glad you liked it.

@Zeppelin - I know. I'd like to think I did better than most of them. To be frank, I first had the idea for this a long time ago but never did anything with it, so when the theme came up I figured I'd just go with it.
馃帳 kirbytails7
30. Aug 2013 路 01:51 UTC
@Zeppelin (being defensive, whatever) - I would also point out that I've designed some puzzles around having the timer, rather than simply inserting the timer into a platformer. Obviously you're free to your opinion, but I should hope you won't dismiss my game or others simply because I went with the most apparent general idea (unless you're simply fed up with them, which is totally fine).
Zer0Kelvin
30. Aug 2013 路 03:02 UTC
Wall jumping was a little hard. Not sure why I needed to press a key to pick up the key. Is there a time in the game you wouldn't want to pick up the key? Nice simple little game :)
nathanhoffer
30. Aug 2013 路 03:14 UTC
Really tight and fun controls!
馃帳 kirbytails7
30. Aug 2013 路 03:37 UTC
@Zer0Kelvin - I was originally going to design some levels where you'd need to drop a key on a switch for something, but...I forgot.

@nathan - Thanks!
ratalaika
31. Aug 2013 路 10:53 UTC
good job
Travis Irby
01. Sep 2013 路 00:56 UTC
Nice work this is fun! and the dying to move the key concept is great.
ZeppelinCaptain
01. Sep 2013 路 16:43 UTC
Okay, updating this. Last time, I was tired and playing on a bad computer, I'm very sorry for reviewing the game under those conditions.
I've replayed it, and I see now that it has a slight twist on the timer mechanic. I still stand by my original point though ;)
Most of the levels are quite entertaining and feels polished, but the one where it says "trust yourself" is just way too pixel-perfect jumping based. Your key levels are definitely the best.
Some neat audio as well!
馃帳 kirbytails7
03. Sep 2013 路 03:52 UTC
@ZeppelinCaptain - No problem. Thanks for coming back! Your original point is valid, yeah.

I'll just say it here since the idea seemed more intuitive when I designed it but no one who's played it has "figured out" what I meant: To do the "Trust yourself" level, it's (supposed to be) easiest to move all the way to the right side on the second level, so that the tiny platforms are exactly a jump-distance apart.

If it's still too hard...well, shoot. I'll fix it in the easy mode version.
Foxtacy
04. Sep 2013 路 01:32 UTC
This would be PERFECT with music and sound effects! congratulations! :D
theholychicken
05. Sep 2013 路 07:25 UTC
The wall jumps in the original was really hard to pull off but you mostly fixed that in the post compo.
It could still be better if the falling speed slows down more when you are on the wall.
One-wall jumping I found was either very successful or very unsuccessful depending on the key press rhythms.

I beat the post-compo but didn't seem to get the rave color mode... I think I just got the same starting page that let me start the same game again...

I still enjoyed the game though! The challenges kept me wanting to beat it all the way.
Great work!
馃帳 kirbytails7
07. Sep 2013 路 05:24 UTC
@Foxtacy - It has music and sound effects...What browser are you using? I've been having trouble with Firefox.

@theholychicken - There was slow falling at first, but...then it somehow got rid of itself. To unlock rave-color mode, you need to get a perfect clear, which is 3 deaths.

And thanks!
urth
07. Sep 2013 路 16:10 UTC
Harder than expected.
There is no level restart! Got stuck on the third screen shot since I used the two keys for the lower doors and I had no way to go up for the keys above.
馃帳 kirbytails7
08. Sep 2013 路 04:27 UTC
@urth - Yes, I realized that could happen a while after I submitted...It's only with that one level, but yes, that one should be fixed.
Empyrealhell
08. Sep 2013 路 07:42 UTC
I got to the "trust yourself" level and gave up. It wasn't that it was hard, but it got really boring having to wait all the time. A restart button would be nice so that if you mess up early you don't have to sit around for the remainder of the time.
Atmospherium
11. Sep 2013 路 04:01 UTC
You did some really cool stuff with this. At first I was annoyed with having to play out the full 10 seconds every level, but then you threw in some levels that required perfect timing to hit the exit at the right time. The wall jumping was ridiculously difficult (something that you significantly improved in the post-compo version). I got all the way to the level with the T in the middle where I had to try to wall-jump up a single wall. At that point my fingers gave up. Great work.
dylanwolf
13. Sep 2013 路 01:17 UTC
I like the concept, but it's rather difficult--not a bad thing, since "hard as fun" seems to be a game genre. The levels that are built for multiple lives are a nice touch.

The only problem I had was with the wall jumping (which seems to be a known issue), though the "easy" version did seem to fix some of the problems. I really think it's an issue of keyboard control, and a very narrow window where the wall jump is possible.
馃帳 kirbytails7
14. Sep 2013 路 06:29 UTC
Thanks for all of the comments!

Next time I have wall jumping in a game, I will make it better!
Xaychru04
14. Sep 2013 路 07:29 UTC
I enjoyed this game, the idea of moving objects before dying is really interesting, but the wall jumps are hard to perform. Anyway, that's a clever use of the theme, good job! :)
UnorthodoxGames
16. Sep 2013 路 18:42 UTC
Great stuff! The levels introduce the mechanics nicely and are very well designed, though the movement is a bit tricky. I also love the audio!