Hunger Clock, Literally by Vaughn

[raw]
made by Vaughn for LD27 (COMPO)
Hunger Clock, Literally is a fast-paced, retro, Spelunky-like platformer where you must eat ALL the apples in the map. Maps are randomized and are different every time you win or lose. You start with three power-ups.

Eating apples will reset your hunger clock back to 10 seconds. Additionally, destroying orange blocks can make you gain a second, while falling on spikes will make you lose a second. You have 3 different power-ups, each with different effects that are consumed on use. You can collect more power-ups by finding them in the orange blocks randomly.

Power-ups:
Explosion (1): Destroy a radius of blocks around your character.
Jetpack (2): Causes you fly up for some time. You cannot stop this effect until it runs out.
Blocks (3): Spawn a series of blocks above you.

Controls:
WASD, Arrow Keys, Spacebar, 1, 2, 3

Ratings

Coolness 62% 3
Overall 3.68 93
Audio 2.69 479
Fun 3.89 31
Graphics 3.84 109
Humor 2.96 219
Innovation 3.03 508
Mood 3.40 145
Theme 3.76 94

Feedback

Drachlen
25. Aug 2013 · 22:17 UTC
Wow, this is really great. It took me a minute to realize that the orange blocks contained powerups, but once I had that down, my runs went a lot smoother. It's a lot of fun, good job.
Drachlen
26. Aug 2013 · 02:26 UTC
I had a lot of fun with this one. I think there's a lot of potential to expand this idea into something bigger, too.
orillian
26. Aug 2013 · 03:03 UTC
Love the rocket!

Simple, simple game but dang it's hard.
Rodrigo Robles
26. Aug 2013 · 04:42 UTC
Very good. You must continue and improve this game, it could make success in the mobile market. You got an additional bonus for made it pure javascript so it can run in any platform.
timtipgames
26. Aug 2013 · 16:18 UTC
I love how juicy this game is!
aquilicoco
26. Aug 2013 · 16:33 UTC
great game!
Frozen Fractal
26. Aug 2013 · 17:06 UTC
You've got an excellent little platformer going here! This is pretty much exactly the game I failed to make ;)

I like how you equated health with time, so the player can choose to trade one for the other. Makes for interesting snap decisions.

The randomized maps are decent enough, and make the game quite addictive. Overall, a very solid entry.
pereubu
26. Aug 2013 · 17:29 UTC
I like the color palet a lot, it makes the game so cute. Nice job on the gameplay though :3
bonsairobo
26. Aug 2013 · 18:44 UTC
This is fun! I made it to the bottom (nothing after that?). Also, I don't really like the while (SPACE_PRESSED) jump thing. I think most people are used to Mario where pressing space means you leave receive an upward impulse.
🎤 Vaughn
26. Aug 2013 · 23:06 UTC
@bonsairobo You actually need to collect all the apples to the win. I should of made that more clear. The jumping definitely needs some more tweaking. I choose to use dynamic jump height like in the earlier Mario games, but there's a couple weird things about it like I mentioned in my blog post: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/08/26/hunger-clock-literally-post-mortem/
BradleySmith
27. Aug 2013 · 00:09 UTC
This is so much fun! :D The character is very cute and the pixel art style is fantastic.. very well done. :) One of my favorites so far, rated this one very highly! :D
dlowe
27. Aug 2013 · 03:37 UTC
Fun! The jumping felt a little off, and I couldn't figure out how to consistently break blocks. I am impressed :)
orillian
27. Aug 2013 · 03:49 UTC
@dlowe if you do the Mario and headbutt the block from below it breaks, or stand on it for a second. Your choice!
wine
27. Aug 2013 · 06:17 UTC
Simple and nice )
MunkeeBacon
27. Aug 2013 · 06:20 UTC
This is a ton of fun! the art is freaking amazing!:D

I love the smooth camera movement, nice job:)
avh4
27. Aug 2013 · 06:23 UTC
Ah, I guess form reading the other comments, orange blocks give you powerups, but I didn't know that and finally managed to beat it without using any :) It was a fun play--remind be of old NES games--simple concept, but takes persistence to master.
Steve Cochrane
27. Aug 2013 · 06:24 UTC
Well done! The little chirp when you hit a spike is adorable and the gameplay is well-designed. Definitely one of the better games I've played so far.
iterative deepening
27. Aug 2013 · 18:36 UTC
Nice little platformer and beautiful colors.

Like said before, I didn't immediately understand that I have to collect all the apples, and this can be a bit difficult once you fell down :)

But in any case, nice entry.
Entity2D
27. Aug 2013 · 19:46 UTC
Very cool game, I really like the cute graphic style. Mobile port?
N0_Named_Guy
27. Aug 2013 · 19:46 UTC
Will post video review soon enough
doonay21
28. Aug 2013 · 11:07 UTC
Hunger awesomeness :D Pretty good game!
almightyzentaco
28. Aug 2013 · 11:08 UTC
Graphics are very good. Nice.
tigerj
29. Aug 2013 · 03:11 UTC
The colors are awesome. The super skill jumps are great too. I played this a lot! it was great. thanks for making it. I had a lot of fun.
doonay21
29. Aug 2013 · 06:41 UTC
Vaughn I have something specially for you :D http://i.imgur.com/TEDcTpO.png
udo
29. Aug 2013 · 14:32 UTC
Gonna come back to this one and finish it :) Excellent work!
antonijn
29. Aug 2013 · 19:54 UTC
Very nice game, liked the look and feel of it. It could use a little more explanation in-game though. Keep it up, good job!
01010111
30. Aug 2013 · 01:02 UTC
I looooved the art and colors in this game, and it controlled really well, too. I wasn't able to get all 20 apples, but I got 19 :)
timmahh
30. Aug 2013 · 15:00 UTC
Quite enjoyed playing this game, it had a simple premise but kept me entertained for quite a while! I look forward to seeing where you end up taking this in the future and I will go back to it and manage to get all 20!
SanguineTheSecond
30. Aug 2013 · 17:51 UTC
Definitely inspired by Spelunky, which is a good thing of course. The movement felt a bit awkward and slow at first, so that could still be worked on.
TobiasW
31. Aug 2013 · 00:11 UTC
Snappy controls and nice graphics. I like the dithering!

The gameplay itself works well, but I am bit confused about what the goal is. Is it really eating all the apples? I think that might be nearly impossible with gravity and sometimes multiple huge gaps in the level. Is it living as long as possible? I see no timer.

The sound and the face the character makes when touching a spike is possible the cutest thing ever! (Well, except kittens of course.)

I'm missing music! If you want to generate chiptunes, I think you'd go well with:
- Generating a midi with http://abundant-music.com
- Rendering the midi with http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-SanJose/8700/P/GsorigE.htm

So, all in all, I felt a bit aimless, but I had fun. Congratulations on finishing your first LD entry!
🎤 Vaughn
31. Aug 2013 · 14:43 UTC
@TobiasW Thanks for the resources for music, I have never seen this tool before. As I noticed, many players don't read the help section at all, or the description. I really should of provided the instructions and goals in the game. So far, I noticed players don't know about:

They start with three of the power-ups already.
The orange blocks give you a second, the spikes take one.
They have to get ALL the apples in the map.
All maps are beatable due to power-ups. I can beat 90% of the maps I play. The rest are stupid mistakes which cause an un-winnable situation (like going down to the bottom with no jetpack).

Lessons learned: Developers/designers think tutorializing is lame, but this is a perfect example of how it's needed, or at least a lot of on-screen instructions.
gre
31. Aug 2013 · 15:58 UTC
Not so much to say, It's a really good game,
I can't finish it though,
I didn't succeed to obtain any powerup, every time I destroy a orange box, it just give me one second.
That random placement of apples are sometimes impossible to reach.
I will give one more try soon :)
lalanl
06. Sep 2013 · 05:30 UTC
This game feels good to play and the art is excellent. I think this game would be irresistible with some music!
LegacyCrono
12. Sep 2013 · 06:01 UTC
That was really good! The controls could be better (what's with the powerups at 1, 2, 3?) but it's not so bad that it takes the fun away. Played it a couple of times, my record was 57s!