Antichromatic by arkeus

[raw]
made by arkeus for LD26 (COMPO)
The world has been fractured into two dimensions. Can you find the source of the fracture and reunite the two halves?

The inspiration for Antichromatic was "black and white", but rather than make (yet another) black and white game, I incorporated black and white into the core mechanics.

The game is a hardcore skill based platformer, not for the faint of heart. You'll find the controls on the game page.

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall 4.00 30
Audio 3.23 243
Fun 3.77 56
Graphics 4.25 30
Humor 2.19 580
Innovation 3.42 326
Mood 3.57 121
Theme 2.68 1211

Feedback

Mythalore
29. Apr 2013 · 00:46 UTC
If anything I'd have to say that it's not very minimal, in terms of art style, etc. But as far as content and gameplay goes, it's as good as ever. Well done.
daydalus
29. Apr 2013 · 03:29 UTC
Very impressive for 48 hours! Controls get a little bit of time to get used to, but very fun gameplay -
KunoNoOni
29. Apr 2013 · 03:40 UTC
Love the mechanics and the use of color. You weren't kidding about being hard core. But hey I like a good challenge.
CappaGames
29. Apr 2013 · 03:42 UTC
Wow so much content for 48 hours and quality content as well.
vegard1992
29. Apr 2013 · 03:44 UTC
Very cool game.
Komradus
29. Apr 2013 · 03:50 UTC
This is awesome! The world builder is especially impressive. Quite a challenging game. Well done.
KevinZuhn
29. Apr 2013 · 04:09 UTC
I ran into a bug where I was killed by a laser and then infinitely respawned inside of the same laser to die again, unable to switch my color or otherwise escape.

Fun, super hard, I really enjoyed the segments that forced me to mix up wall-jumping and double-jumping (though it took some getting used to switching in between them!) I wasn't as much a fan of rooms where I simply had to dodge a million bullets. I also liked the teleports!
saint11
29. Apr 2013 · 04:09 UTC
Woah! Amaazing game! One of my favorites!
cacciatc
29. Apr 2013 · 04:12 UTC
Definitely a good challenge. I like the surrounding blocks on the edges. It's a cool effect.
matthias_zarzecki
29. Apr 2013 · 04:15 UTC
Nice work with the monochromatic colors! It doesn't feel like black/white at all.

Gameplay is also quite punchy. Not sure about the extensive text-boxes, they kind-of impede gameplay.
Scott McBee
29. Apr 2013 · 04:23 UTC
Great game. I had a bit of a challenge getting the idea that space = jump out of my head, but had a lot of fun afterwards. Experienced random slowdowns which was interesting.
Suese
29. Apr 2013 · 04:35 UTC
I can't figure out what to do on the third screen, but it looks, plays, and feels great.
leafo
29. Apr 2013 · 05:29 UTC
This game is incredible. So much content. Cool graphics, great gameplay. You're a fool if you don't love it!
anbreizh
29. Apr 2013 · 06:37 UTC
Very good game, challenging and fun
Orni
29. Apr 2013 · 07:14 UTC
very nice idea - controls are great as well

the amount of content is amazing, loved it
DrSkull
29. Apr 2013 · 07:56 UTC
I wanna try AXEL :)
Canyon
29. Apr 2013 · 08:23 UTC
I had a lot of fun with this. Right up until I rage quitted. The art is beautiful. My game plays on black and white too.
Your level design is interesting. My mind got some exercise in that inter dimensional jump puzzles.
🎤 arkeus
29. Apr 2013 · 09:08 UTC
Thanks for the comments guys! Considering some changes before posting elsewhere, so the feedback definitely helps!

As for the text boxes, I totally agree. I wanted to go writing on the wall, since instructions for this aren't important enough to interrupt gameplay, but didn't for lack of time. Definitely want to for post compo version.

Agreed on the controls taking a bit to get used to. Tried a few other schemes, but didn't like them. Hoping once I get my Ouya it's simple enough to port since it'd probably simpler to play with a gamepad (though shooting will be less enjoyable).

My best time so far is 8:57 with 16 deaths. http://ss.iarke.us/201304/290205591.png Let me know if you do better!
Gama11
29. Apr 2013 · 12:14 UTC
Impressive amount of content and polish considering the time limits. Gameplay is pretty solid. Controls seem alright as well.

I don't think the music fits all that well, that could as well be my personal opinion only.
I actually ran into a bug where I was unable to continue due to being insta-killed near a turret as soon as I respawn. Here's a screenshot of the location: http://i.imgur.com/xLumXn7.png Not quite sure what caused it, but I guess switching dimensions quite a lot might have contributed to it.

To be honest, I don't think this game really fits the theme except for the limited use of colors. But then again, the theme is pretty stupid anyway.
8BitPimp
29. Apr 2013 · 17:21 UTC
While the game is a realy high quality, I found the controls pretty hard to grasp as there is just so much to control.
I agree that is not so minimal also, but still very well made.
Haddy22
29. Apr 2013 · 18:58 UTC
great game- impressive for a jam- nice work
TheH
30. Apr 2013 · 01:19 UTC
Awesome game man. For a 48 hour game, it's super solid, and flows really well.
Jan Marcano
30. Apr 2013 · 04:27 UTC
Really awesome, unbelievable you made this in 48hrs. It was challenging but beatable, very great work!
stevejohnson
30. Apr 2013 · 07:24 UTC
I literally could not get past the first set of guns. I can see it being fun, but I shot them ran past them, changed between black/white...nothing worked.
🎤 arkeus
30. Apr 2013 · 07:47 UTC
For those who get stuck at the beginning, you should ignore the room with the two turrets until later (after getting the wall jump ability). I should have added a "Sometimes you need to go back to move forward" message or something to that room.
SonnyBone
30. Apr 2013 · 13:50 UTC
Great challenge, great pacing/progressions, and nice light/dark mechanic. Very fun and lots of content for 48 hours!
SaintHeiser
30. Apr 2013 · 15:09 UTC
Strange but interesting game! Well done!
Can't beat it yet but maybe I'll give that a second chance!
AlanZucconi
30. Apr 2013 · 15:35 UTC
You really managed to polish the game a lot! :)
Your tiles are good! Seriously :)
bernhard
30. Apr 2013 · 19:51 UTC
Endboss killing me made me rage-quit :(
Extremely well done though. Played almost an hour.
Husky
01. May 2013 · 07:14 UTC
Awesome!
And it's pretty challenge :D
kunzbe
01. May 2013 · 17:39 UTC
awesome game. i really loved the salsa-ish piano tunes! Also the game mechanics are clever
jim3wg
01. May 2013 · 19:51 UTC
Nice art ! Nice game ! Last version of AXGL ?
🎤 arkeus
01. May 2013 · 20:22 UTC
Yep, it's using the latest version of Axel (0.9.3 beta branch).
imagnity
02. May 2013 · 18:37 UTC
Very well done. Nice game play. Excellent!!!
Dark Acre Jack
02. May 2013 · 20:58 UTC
Ikaruga, the platformer? Nice filter effects.
tudd
02. May 2013 · 21:29 UTC
got stuck in a death loop here http://imgur.com/7AXWWzB

and *really* frustrating. more impossible-until-you-get-a-xxxxx puzzles than antichamber, which is quite a feat.
xandy
07. May 2013 · 22:41 UTC
can't play. the game kills my flash every single time :(
GFM
08. May 2013 · 16:55 UTC
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARG

This is freaking hard. >_<
Awesome game!

I'll come back to this game and finish it!!
Alphonsus
12. May 2013 · 01:10 UTC
Very well polished game. Nice mechanic, great controls and challenging levels. Awesome work!
SuperDisk
12. May 2013 · 03:03 UTC
Very polished and such. I got stuck in a room. My only complaint?

You seem to be suffering from a case of "music clashes with the game a lot" syndrome.
CosmicAdventureSquad
12. May 2013 · 06:12 UTC
Nice metroidvania style game with a dimensional shift platforming mechanic. It was really hard for me to get used to using space bar to shift, I kept pressing it when I intended to jump and getting myself killed. I liked the effect you did for the environment.
-Strega

(this is a team account)
Jeremias
12. May 2013 · 10:33 UTC
Was fun to play. Very polished and smooth controls, nice graphics... good job!
Madball
12. May 2013 · 10:49 UTC
At the boss battle I died like 10-15 times after destroying all crystals. Suggestion: make some door open after destroying all crystals, which leads to an actuall boss battle, and make the boss more difficult.
The level design has some lacks... you sometimes leave pathes to go back, but they have a dead end, acting just like red herrings. Also, there is a path splitting, leading to the green shard and... a teleport? Well, if you go for the teleport first, you will have to pass it once more to get the green shard.
The challenges are well balanced, though I didn`t know I can destroy turrets for some time. I liked the appearence of the game.
Keys are sticky sometimes, which is unwanted for hard-difficulty games.
(By the way, why would the world reunite after destroying the source of fracture? It would make more sense if destroyng the source of fracture would make the world not able to reunite at all.)
KEFIR
12. May 2013 · 16:32 UTC
Very nice challenging hardcore platformer! Nice use of two dimensions mechanics. Like it very much! Goes to my "best" list!
kill0u
12. May 2013 · 21:03 UTC
I hate you >.< Couldn't finish it, I gave up after 132 deaths before throwing my screen through the window..
Tom 7
12. May 2013 · 23:20 UTC
This was good! The timing on the jumps were often very hard, which I liked, though I disliked having to use my left hand for everything. Those turrets were quite annoying and I think I had to kill them in three universes before they stopped shooting, which I didn't understand. I got the red and blue shards, but then I was in some room where I died and kept respawning in the same place as a monster -- there was nothing I could do; I just kept respawning over and over. That was sad because I did want to finish it, though I don't really want to beat some of those jumps and turrets again!
🎤 arkeus
13. May 2013 · 00:15 UTC
Thanks for the comments guys.

In the post comp version, I fixed the issue with being able to go towards the teleport first (also, an "issue" where you could get double jump before red shard, which also wasn't intended).

As for why destroying the fracture would reunite the worlds, it was intended that the source of the fracture (the boss) was the one who was holding them separate, and without his interference, they would reunite. Not really explained in game, but the focus wasn't on the story.

I think I'm going to change the turrets to have to kill them only once in each universe.

As for the constantly respawning on that snail, it seems a lot of people enter the room in a way that causes that to happen, which I didn't forsee. Fortunately I was able to fix that kind of issue in the post comp version. I've also added saving and loading (in addition to a harder mode). Hopefully I should be able to finish that soon.

And thanks again for the comments, it's definitely help me to tweak the new version. :)
Puzzlem00n
15. May 2013 · 20:18 UTC
I gave up after a while, hardcore metroidvanias aren't my style. Now, if they're hardcore with levels that can be accessed from a level select screen at any point, entirely different story.

Your level design instincts are very, very good.
ilo
17. May 2013 · 20:51 UTC
Didn't know where to go/what to do after a point, which is a shame, but major thumbs up on a) the amount of content, b) the polish, c) the level design. Only gripe is that I found moving and jumping with the left hand a little awkward.
frogmaster
20. May 2013 · 10:43 UTC
Very good game! Excellent level design! But I won't forgive You making space a color changer :P It was pure evil!
TurboDindon
20. May 2013 · 18:20 UTC
Great entry with a perfect polish.
It's a bit hard to play!

SEPHY (@sephyka)