LudumData

Alice and Bob's tiny cubic planet by kch42

[raw]
made by kch42 for LD23 (COMPO)
Here is my first game for Ludum Dare:

Alice and Bob's tiny cubic planet.

Alice and Bob live happily on a tiny cubic planet...
... but then a volcano erupted and they've got separated by each other!
Help them to fnd their way back to each other!

Controls:
Arrow keys to walk. Escape to quit the game. Other keys are described during the game.

Windows Version:
You might need the Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package, which you can download here: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29

Timelapse video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1PmrKgocWY

New, improved versions (The links above point to the original versions):

* Python(Pygame): http://kch42.de/ld-23/abtcp-improved.zip
* Source: http://kch42.de/ld-23/ld-23-improved.zip
* Windows: http://kch42.de/ld-23/abtcp-improved-win32.zip

Python(Pygame) http://kch42.de/ld-23/abtcp.zip
Source http://kch42.de/ld-23/ld-23.zip
Windows http://kch42.de/ld-23/abtcp-win32.zip
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=12039

Ratings

Coolness 50% 3
Overall 2.46 741
Audio 1.78 670
Fun 2.30 705
Graphics 1.96 835
Humor 2.00 539
Innovation 2.75 511
Mood 2.32 650
Theme 3.11 399

Feedback

Zyll
23. Apr 2012 · 20:07 UTC
Cute. Nice start. Pathing didn't match the terrain in a few places.
Naouak
23. Apr 2012 · 21:34 UTC
The movements are too slow. Couldn't bear to go through the whole level because of that :(

Nice concept.
tompudding
23. Apr 2012 · 21:41 UTC
I like the cubic planet idea, very mind-bending.
Jacic
23. Apr 2012 · 21:41 UTC
The controls need work. Pretty good otherwise.
Jungorend
23. Apr 2012 · 22:32 UTC
It was confusing until I realized the upper-half of the body blocks my ability to move. After that it was fun figuring out how the map worked. :)
Raptor85
24. Apr 2012 · 18:54 UTC
Got to the end ok, cute game. Didn't see any use for the keys or whatever those thingys were, the cage things at the end opened without.
Collision was wonky, kept getting hung up on things, and movement was REALLLLY slow. Also couldnt easily tell what was walkable and what wasn't.
icefallgames
24. Apr 2012 · 19:43 UTC
I agree with some of the other comments. Neat concept, once I got it. Just a few implementation issues that if fixed would make it a lot better:
- I didn't realize for a long time that my position was shown on the map. It's very subtle, consider making it more obvious.
- What is the key for? I didn't seem to need it.
- The arrow key movement is annoying - I think when changing directions I should also try to move in the new direction. And maybe key strokes should be buffered.
- The colors of the tiles didn't match what I would expect to be walkable.
🎤 kch42
24. Apr 2012 · 20:52 UTC
Damn, I forgot to check, if the key was actually collected, when opening the gates. Why haven't I checked this? :-/

I fastened up the movement animations and made the character walk instantly after changing directions, that really is much better.

Also I tried to improve the minimap, i think it is better now.

I will upload an improved version in some minutes (AFAIK this is allowed, as far as I do not replace the original version, right?)

Thank you all for giving me the advices :-)
Cosmologicon
25. Apr 2012 · 00:12 UTC
As someone who sometimes designs puzzles, I have to say, that is a *brilliant* idea for a maze. It's elegant in its simplicity. I wish I'd thought of it first, and I wonder why I've never seen it before. I agree that the implementation leaves a lot to be desired, but that was an excellent idea.
trylle
25. Apr 2012 · 14:41 UTC
Why can't I move past the green stuff? Isn't that just grass? :) Also lol I didn't need the key? Almost aggravated me when I got to the gate when I was trying to get to the key. :D
Dr.Pingu
25. Apr 2012 · 16:34 UTC
it stings the eyes but yeay good work :)
Brassawiking
02. May 2012 · 13:39 UTC
I didn't realise it was a cyclic world until second session. A bit confused what the keys are for, but nice work anyway. A bit short.
robcozzens
09. May 2012 · 03:25 UTC
I would try it but I'm on an iMac.
tcstyle
10. May 2012 · 19:34 UTC
Well done for a first LD. The controls feel too slow and clunky but I like the basic exploration concept.
davidwparker
10. May 2012 · 19:40 UTC
Couldn't get it working on OSX.
Kvisle
11. May 2012 · 21:24 UTC
This was pretty awesome. I really like the core idea of this game - especially when I understood that walking off in certain directions would turn me around 90 degrees. That was a very nice niche.

The audio was a bit unpleasant, so I turned the volume far down.
masterhyjinx
13. May 2012 · 23:29 UTC
I haven't seen many "Adventure" games in the compo, it's nice to see one. Making the character 2 units tall makes it very confusing to navigate. I found the girl but was wondering about the key and what it means so I wanted to play it again after the first time to figure it out. As I moved around, I noticed that my movement on the map is upside down which made it a little hard to navigate and keep track of where I saw stuff. I think with a little work you could easily communicate to the player what's navigatable and what isn't. Toss in some obstacles, some RPG elements and maybe make a mini RPG? Good job and congrats on the entry!