OS: Evolution by zatyka

made by zatyka for LD24 (COMPO)

Seems to work best in Chrome, but tested in both Firefox and IE. People using a trackpad may run into some issues.

***When playing, the position (angle) of your mouse is important (though not at the start)***

OS:Evolution is a platform game with a few physics twists. The goal is to reach the top floor and shut down the OS.

WASD or Arrow Keys to Move.
Mouse to fire (when the time comes)
R to reset the level.

I most likely made a beginners mistake of making it too hard. I'd love to hear how far you got :)

I wasn't quite sure what to make of this theme. I started with an idea and quickly realized it would be impossible to accomplish within 48 hours, so I simplified it (unfortunately losing much of the "Evolution" aspects) and this is what I ended up with. Of course there are things I wish I'd done differently, and things I wish I had time to add/fix, but I imagine that's just part of the competition. This is my first time participating in a LD, and I'm happy to have finished.

Web	http://zkatz.com/games/LD24
Video Walkthrough	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWYW_xQz0Sg
Source	http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4756521/LD24/Source.capx
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-24/?action=preview&uid=14357

Ratings

Coolness	100%	1
Overall	3.20	246

Audio	2.98	178
Fun	2.98	275
Graphics	2.92	379
Humor	3.00	120
Innovation	2.62	465
Mood	3.16	129
Theme	2.45	540

Feedback

Frozen Fractal

27. Aug 2012 · 14:29 UTC

Is this a GLaD OS? ;) Nice little platformer, though not much connection with the theme. I like the jump boost idea, though the controls are too fidgety for my taste.

GBGames

27. Aug 2012 · 14:56 UTC

I liked the graphics. The animation of the player's character is pretty nice.

The controls were a little frustrating for me. It took me a bit to realize where the mouse cursor was in relation to the character mattered, and even then the entire game was a large series of jumping puzzles. And I apparently don't do well at jumping puzzles. I got stuck at Level 6.

The game's mood was reminiscent of Strong AI by mrfun for LD#11, which was reminiscent of Portal.

Ponte

27. Aug 2012 · 23:03 UTC

The controls were a little bit hard for me, but the game was very interesting.

vigrid

27. Aug 2012 · 23:09 UTC

Looks interesting. The controls were a bit too demanding for me. It might have been the touchpad - I wasn't able to use the mouse input properly.

kevincorrigan

27. Aug 2012 · 23:40 UTC

Fun game, but if you fall to far you fall through the ground.

🎤 zatyka

27. Aug 2012 · 23:45 UTC

Sorry about the whole "falling through ground" bug. Chrome seems to minimize that bug.

TaslemGuy

28. Aug 2012 · 00:13 UTC

Great overall. The controls were a little twitchy, but I got used to them. The puzzle mechanics were interesting, but sometimes a little buggy.

Defräg

28. Aug 2012 · 00:44 UTC

It seems physics is affected by framerate and therefore not completable on my notebook.

Uberi

28. Aug 2012 · 01:33 UTC

Controls were far too difficult for me to use, I got stuck by the second level. Otherwise, a pretty sweet game.

4urentertainment

28. Aug 2012 · 18:10 UTC

I actually really really like this game. I think the shooting to launch yourself mechanic is implemented well, and I like how well you progress with it, using it in creative ways like repelling bullets. I stopped at the level with the first turret, but it was only due to having to leave. I'd definitely give this another try. I'm giving this a 4/5!

pjchardt

29. Aug 2012 · 00:52 UTC

It was fun but hard. For me a lot of the challenge was that just tapping the keys moved the player more than I wanted, I couldn't nudge the player. I made a platformer for this compo as well and the major criticism for me has been the controls, seems like it is hard to get right. I could not make the final jump on level 6 to get the hit the lever.

I liked the dialogue between the player and the OS, very neat.

yettatore

29. Aug 2012 · 01:19 UTC

I can't pass the 1st level D:

Sidnoea

29. Aug 2012 · 01:23 UTC

That was a lot of fun. Reminded me a lot of Portal, for obvious reasons. The control scheme was interesting, but in my opinion, deflecting the bullets is too finicky.

rylgh

29. Aug 2012 · 17:37 UTC

Cool game, I found the controls too responsive though, and was very frustrating trying to get the guy to stop on blocks after jumping. Also, one simple suggestion I've got is to make the webpage background color slightly off-black so that players can tell if their mouse pointer is inside the game or not. I missed my jumps many time because I tried to shoot-jump but my pointer was slightly off the game.

gnx

29. Aug 2012 · 21:59 UTC

Jumping puzzles aren't my cup of tea. But the way this game is realized is very appealing still. I feel like there is a lot of story and gameplay at the same time which is always a good thing.

🎤 zatyka

29. Aug 2012 · 22:25 UTC

Thanks for all the comments guys... I very much appreciate them.

Rylgh: I just updated the background color. Thanks for the suggestion.

benderbinary

30. Aug 2012 · 03:28 UTC

Good game - I really like The matrix reference.

mdkess

30. Aug 2012 · 23:34 UTC

Great game - simple, but very nice. I really enjoyed it, I also like the Portal-esque theme to it.

My one thought is that the platforming was a bit unforgiving, and the controls were perhaps too responsive - some of the levels it took me forever to hit the jumps.

Overall though, I really enjoyed this entry. Great work!

wibblymat

30. Aug 2012 · 23:41 UTC

I admit it, stuck on the second level, watched the video instead - though I intend to come back to this one.

One comment on the gameplay - burning through the blocks isn't really a puzzle most of the time, because you can see exactly where you have to go. A lot of the time you don't need skill either. Seems a bit of a time sink. Everything else looked awesome :D

Switchbreak

31. Aug 2012 · 00:01 UTC

I really love the look of it, I like the way the tiny character sprite moves. You are right about it being too hard, I made it up to level 4 before I got frustrated with the high jump seeming to not fire consistently leaving me to fall back down to the floor when I missed. The music is pretty good.

whilefun

31. Aug 2012 · 01:34 UTC

I really liked the idea and mood. The controls made me frustrated when trying the smaller platforms though. I couldn't get passed the level with the flamethrower. I tried a couple dozen times and couldn't make the second tiny platform :(

Jacic

31. Aug 2012 · 01:37 UTC

Very nice, especially for your first time. :)

Josh @ Dreamland

31. Aug 2012 · 01:48 UTC

Try as I might, I can't beat this game. It just takes too many tries to get each jump right, and I keep falling through the floor. Seems to be a good number of levels. Wish I could see the ending. Overall, great work; just need more boost than the flamethrower actually gives to get through the level.

🎤 zatyka

31. Aug 2012 · 03:55 UTC

Thanks for all the feedback guys. One mistake I made was not having someone other than me test the game sooner. If I had, I probably would been able to properly balance the difficulty. Next time will be different.

Josh,
Sorry about the whole "falling through the floor" bug. Lower frame rates combined with small, fast moving sprites does not play nice with the collision detection. Chrome seems to minimize the issue, and the ending (if you can really call it that) can be seen on the youtube video, but I know it's not nearly as satisfying as beating the game yourself.

Josh @ Dreamland

31. Aug 2012 · 05:23 UTC

I went back and, with some struggle, managed to beat it. Great game; the length makes it. A little more tolerance on the jumps would be good, but more than that, next time, limit your vertical speed; don't let it pass the height of a block (or if you do, test collisions manually instead of leaving it to Construct, whose collisions are apparently as bad as Game Maker's).

dector

31. Aug 2012 · 16:06 UTC

Game with nice ambient music and good kind of mood. I like it, but I have a bug: sometimes I fall down under the level.

Teknik

31. Aug 2012 · 20:45 UTC

it felt like small movements were to hard to platform easily but i like some of the ideas in the game like the flower to jump and reflect bullets a lot.

CapGrip

31. Aug 2012 · 23:40 UTC

I'm not very good at platform games, played poorly and did not pass the third level. But the game is great. I liked the mechanics and puzzles. I watched the video walkthrough and saw several nice features. Great work man, very well done.

bobbobowitz

01. Sep 2012 · 17:44 UTC

I loved your game! Only problem for me was that the controls were so sensitive and the graphics were so tiny. Other than that, I really liked the "personality" of the OS Evolution thingy.

harusame

01. Sep 2012 · 17:53 UTC

Lot of fun :) Rather difficult^^
Hard to master the jump boost.

juaxix

01. Sep 2012 · 21:44 UTC

This game is so hard...level 4 is all i can go...
It would be good to have an angle visualizator so you know the current direction of the jump helper.
The char is too small ,also the bricks, give it more size please!
Thanks

infernet89

03. Sep 2012 · 15:45 UTC

Looks a great game, too bad is so hard and controls are so imprecise..(reached only the level after the thing that shoot, sorry)

ggiraldez

04. Sep 2012 · 22:16 UTC

I got to level 4 and then frustration got the best of me :) Controls require very precise coordination, which I apparently lack. It was fun though. Dialogs get a bit distracting after a while.

darkshadow

05. Sep 2012 · 20:58 UTC

Its a good game but a difficult one, for a moment I was excited to get the flame-thrower booster jump but then the jumps got even harder :( Nice animation, sound effects and its a shame I couldn't see more of the story.

matthias_zarzecki

06. Sep 2012 · 19:44 UTC

I fell through the floor :(

csanyk

17. Sep 2012 · 03:39 UTC

I couldn't get the hang of the controls and I REALLY wanted some zoom but I watched the video playthrough, and this is such a fun looking game. You really did a great job. I hope I can get good enough at the controls to be able to make it to the big angry face level.