Tiny Timmy and Big Bill by 4urentertainment

[raw]
made by 4urentertainment for LD23 (JAM)
***Game's preloader isn't working. It's 3 mb, give it a few to load***

Art and animation by Xelu. www.xelubest.com

Programming by Omar Shehata. www.4urentertainment.org

Allow me to introduce you to Tiny Timmy and Big Bill! Control both as you get them to work together to get over obstacles!

Collect all the mustaches in the level to advance!

So we practically killed ourselves making this game. More on this in the imminent post-mortem. Stay tuned!

What I am really proud of is how much potential this game has. While the concept of moving around two characters by switching between them has been done before, I don't think controlling two simultaneous characters has been explored too much.

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 4.02 8
Audio(Jam) 3.74 32
Fun(Jam) 3.75 14
Graphics(Jam) 4.20 25
Humor(Jam) 3.76 16
Innovation(Jam) 4.39 1
Mood(Jam) 3.39 51
Theme(Jam) 3.68 29

Feedback

Suds
24. Apr 2012 · 03:41 UTC
Wow. This was great.
bwdevel
24. Apr 2012 · 19:07 UTC
Everything about this game rocks. Great work.
AlwaysGeeky
24. Apr 2012 · 19:08 UTC
Personally I think you made the game with the best title... haha and probably the wackyiest game concept I have played yet!
Ace
24. Apr 2012 · 19:13 UTC
Awesome game, the whole punching thing is the best game mechanic I've seen so far. Loved the monsters and their angry eyebrows too, especially the spiders and their teeth grinding.
The graphics were well made too, although a simpler way to move while punching would help a bit
mr_tag
24. Apr 2012 · 19:18 UTC
Haha, loved it! It took me a while to realize that you can't move with Timmy on your hand, but then I had a blast :)
johanp
25. Apr 2012 · 10:29 UTC
Very well put together. Good work!
Pierrec
25. Apr 2012 · 10:32 UTC
This is very funny, fun to play, innovative, hairy...Congrats!
I don't like the graphic style much, but it is a good graphic style
Hatscat
25. Apr 2012 · 10:42 UTC
It's a very good, original and funny game, I love it! The only thing strange is the Bill's hand when he go forward, but it's not matter.
william_edwards
25. Apr 2012 · 10:44 UTC
The early monsters seem a bit arbitrary

But I loved the game, its awesome!
LFleck
25. Apr 2012 · 11:58 UTC
Great graphics and ideia, good job.
netmute
25. Apr 2012 · 11:59 UTC
Very cool idea, great sound, great graphics! What a nice game.
unicornpooping
25. Apr 2012 · 12:25 UTC
awesome sauce!
MinerCraftGuy
25. Apr 2012 · 12:54 UTC
Lovely game, the big difference between the tiny and large character really made the game fun to play.
schnerble
25. Apr 2012 · 12:58 UTC
Excellent work. Easily the best I've played so far :) (out of ten-ish)
arhpositive
25. Apr 2012 · 13:12 UTC
This is the first game I rated as 5 stars overall. 'nuff said. Good work.
Casino Jack
25. Apr 2012 · 20:40 UTC
Really top game. Bloody difficult on a netbook with a trackpad, but overall really fun.
KunoNoOni
25. Apr 2012 · 22:33 UTC
That was too cool. lol
Gabriel
25. Apr 2012 · 23:02 UTC
Certainly one of the best entries, congratulations! This really got me laughing a few times!
Danvil
25. Apr 2012 · 23:02 UTC
Great game! Really enjoyed controloing them both! Found it a bit annoying that Timmy could not walk on Bill's arm.
OriginalBigDan
26. Apr 2012 · 10:46 UTC
That's such a good use of two characters working together with completely different skillsets! I love it!

The music is nice and chirpy as well.
Tifu
26. Apr 2012 · 11:40 UTC
This is great! There's some odd stuff with layers where tiny timmy seems to disappear behind things in the background even if he's on big bill's hand in the foreground, but minor issues. Awesome stuff! The little flies itching for a fight animation is lulz
kibertoad
26. Apr 2012 · 23:05 UTC
Great idea, perfect execution! One of the best LD games I've seen so far.
robcozzens
27. Apr 2012 · 21:01 UTC
Wow that was cool. Somewhat difficult controls though.
Lidfrid
28. Apr 2012 · 08:56 UTC
Five stars for all. My favourite ld entry so far :)
davidllanos22
28. Apr 2012 · 10:02 UTC
Nice game and idea! loved the graphics. Well done!
eburn184
28. Apr 2012 · 15:15 UTC
I haven't played many jam games yet, but this one was easily my favorite! Nice job. The mechanic is very unique, and was very fun to play.
strega
28. Apr 2012 · 16:06 UTC
Really cool IK arm movement! I thought it was a neat concept, very whimsical. Great job!
Raptor85
28. Apr 2012 · 18:19 UTC
a little hard to control but the boss fight at the end is HILARIOUS
Scott Baker
28. Apr 2012 · 18:29 UTC
Very good job. I loved this game. One my the best scores I have given. There was a perfect balance of difficulty and enjoyment, which made me keep trying the final level until I defeated evil mustache-bot. Great humor too!

At first I found the controls very difficult. Unnatural to control two things on the screen at once. Had that feeling until the end. But the easy going tutorial level made a nice warm up to get me used to the feeling. The tutorial level was definitely right.

I figured out too late how to walk Bill backwards. Makes sense to click behind you now, but there is not much room to click there. I missed a 'stache on the second level and sacrificed one of Timmy's hearts by guessing where it was. Maybe include that in the tutorial? Or I missed it?

I too wanted to walk down Billy's arm. It looked like I was supposed to do so. But couldn't figure out how until I saw in the tutorial how to move Timmy.

I could go on about adding this or adding that, but that doesn't help you. Any game could benefit or suffer from additions. Really this is a very solid and polished game and can't say enough how good of a job you guys did.
Cyboot
28. Apr 2012 · 20:36 UTC
fun game, good graphics, great way to introduce the Game

you did a great job!
derosa
28. Apr 2012 · 21:53 UTC
Fun game, well balanced and innovative.
dr_soda
28. Apr 2012 · 23:25 UTC
This is both an incredibly fun mechanic and yet also possibly flawed, but it's difficult to tell just how flawed because my computer seems to be experiencing severe performance problems while running your game.

The premise of the game, a small and nimble person riding around on a giant protector, isn't completely new. What is new is the setting and design of the characters. They're quite charming, and they help to make up for some of the shortcomings of the game mechanics.

The mechanics themselves are inspired. It's nice that the mouse and the keyboard are each separate control mechanisms that each control the different heroes. You could concievably play this as a 2 player game given this control layout! As a single player though, I found it somewhat difficult to coordinate two characters, each in one hand. This was not made easier by the awfully chuggy performance problems that plagued me every time I tried to move Bill's arm. It felt like his animations were jerking and twitching, skipping almost 90 degrees of motion at a time. It was hard to punch anything because his arm would suddenly be in one frame straight below him and in another straight in front with no inbetween frames shown. Apparently the collision detection doesn't account for this.

On the other hand, performance aside, I love the kinematic arm mechanic. I wonder if the game would be more enjoyable on a different machine?
dr_soda
29. Apr 2012 · 01:47 UTC
Played again on a better machine and the performance problems vanished. MUCH nicer game!
Daniel
29. Apr 2012 · 04:50 UTC
haha awesome idea!
dokidoki
29. Apr 2012 · 19:34 UTC
One of the best I've seen so far.
RobProductions
29. Apr 2012 · 21:57 UTC
Easily the best Jam game! Nice music, art style and gameplay! Nice job!
Gunmonkey
30. Apr 2012 · 01:03 UTC
Interesting game and original idea
tcstyle
30. Apr 2012 · 07:33 UTC
Great and very polished game. The gameplay mechanics are quite unique. It takes some practice to coordinate Big Bill and Tiny Timmy but after that it works very well.
Walking backwards if you missed a moustache is quite annoying.
gregdevice
30. Apr 2012 · 15:21 UTC
Great Concept! Controls are a little tricky to master. I kept trying to run down Big Bill's arm which seemed natural. Like the humor and dimension of the game though.
vigrid
30. Apr 2012 · 19:10 UTC
This is a game for schizophrenics! The controls drove me crazy, but somehow I got a hold of them. I really like how this fits the theme, and the graphics, and sound. Great stuff!
MadGnomeGamer
01. May 2012 · 01:22 UTC
Ran very slow on my computer, but I could see how cool it was. Amazing graphics, very nice gameplay mechanic! Sometimes I couldn't get Big Bill to move when I needed him to, and Timmy had these weird depth glitches, but other than that pretty good!
DaveDobson
01. May 2012 · 03:39 UTC
Very cool - the art is wonderful, and the game is very slick. The concept is quite creative and fun, and the partnership between the guys is funny. My only two criticisms would be (1) that there isn't a big variety in stuff to do, and (2) combining all of those mouse functions makes it very easy to do the wrong thing - I dropped Timmy a number of times just because I held the mouse too long. It should maybe be easier to drop Timmy back on Bill's shoulder if you want. But those are nitpicks - a very cool game, and a very strong effort. I'm amazed you were able to get it all done in the time allotted with just two of you.
Pavel Dlouhy
01. May 2012 · 14:56 UTC
Wow. Original and nice game. Good job!
Fireblend
01. May 2012 · 17:03 UTC
Wow, brilliant! The controls were a bit difficult to get right, but after I managed to rewire my brain for it, I had lots of fun. Great!
Alexandre
01. May 2012 · 18:41 UTC
Very fun, nice concept, and very well done!
AdventureIslands
02. May 2012 · 18:21 UTC
Excellent concept! The game was done very well and after I got used to the controls the game played very well, the idea of controlling both the tiny and big guy was awesome. Great job! Great bossfight at the end!
amodo
03. May 2012 · 10:04 UTC
One of my favourites! Very good mechanic! It made me chuckle how Bill just punches all the things in the house! Great work!
Jeffalisk
03. May 2012 · 13:17 UTC
Top marks across the board. Your game, sirs, is awesome. Want more!
Hazard
03. May 2012 · 17:24 UTC
Amazing game! Very innovative. :)
dcolgan
03. May 2012 · 20:11 UTC
A 5 star performance all around! This game is excellent - highly polished, funny, challenging, excellent graphics - awesome job.
Datamosh
03. May 2012 · 21:43 UTC
THIS is incredibly creative. Fun, clever... Truly, congratulations!
Jedi
04. May 2012 · 01:29 UTC
Very cool game! I thought the controls were a little clunky though.
Kane
04. May 2012 · 11:23 UTC
It's really a nice game, and I love musics and graphics! But a good thing was Bill that would have been able to turn back I think.
Keirua
04. May 2012 · 21:44 UTC
I loved the game, but controlling the 2 characters at the same time never felt right. However the realization is very good and the game fun to play !
A very interesting idea... any plans for the future ?
SidetrackGames
05. May 2012 · 01:35 UTC
Wow, what an awesome concept :)
Muu? (lanoiadimuu)
05. May 2012 · 16:05 UTC
Awesome game! Good graphics and sounds, the idea of using two chars in two different ways was a fun one. The hand sometimes moved oddly.
Make A Game
05. May 2012 · 22:58 UTC
Oh cool! Nice idea and graphics, but playing it with a laptop trackpad isn't easy at all.
Hume
06. May 2012 · 17:13 UTC
Great theme, concept, graphics. Love the moustache pickups.
I feel like flat 2D hurts you a bit here, because it's not really obvious where on Bill you can stand. I lost in the tutorial level, and I don't suck at platformers. It's just not quite there.

These are small complaints (remember, more comments means somebody liked your game more). This was really impressive and with a little refinement, it could be a game to play for hours.
DoktorAce
07. May 2012 · 20:15 UTC
Wow, that was great!
bombom
08. May 2012 · 09:45 UTC
Awesome graphics!
rvmook
08. May 2012 · 20:11 UTC
Looks great but gameplay was a bit repetative and levels were easy to beat when you're just carrying tiny Timmy. The last level however was challenging and a bit too hard for me (but then again I kind of cheated by carrying Timmy and not really learning to defend myself).
summaky
10. May 2012 · 13:16 UTC
A great game. Very polished and innovative. The only bad points I've found in this entry are that the music is a bit annoying after a while and so is controlling Bill sometimes, especially when moving backwards to look for a missing mustache.
bompo
10. May 2012 · 18:27 UTC
Awesome graphics and concept!
Dr.Pingu
11. May 2012 · 14:40 UTC
"Not found" on http://www.4urentertainment.org/ld23/
🎤 4urentertainment
12. May 2012 · 06:38 UTC
@Dr.Pingu,

it seems to be working for me. Could you try again now? If it's still not working, what browser are you using? (Also maybe try clearing your cache)
Christina Antoinette Neofotistou
12. May 2012 · 21:58 UTC
One of my faves. Top marks on everything. Your hard work really shows through, you guys
steamgirl
12. May 2012 · 22:51 UTC
Hey 4urentertainment, you asked for a proper feedback, so here it goes. ^_^

First impression:
Lovely, colourful, intriguing. A big guy and a small guy... funny and unique. Noticed how nice the music was right away.

Experience:
Easy initially... clicking the mouse to control Bill was easy enough. He felt a bit slow, but that happens when you're big. Ok, I can control Timmy with keyboard... oh, he ran off the screen. Why didn't Bill follow him? Oh wait, I have to click with the mouse. Looks like I lost 2 lives there... Oops!

Ok, I think I got it now. Pick him up to reach higher places... oh I better walk back. Ouch, the arm looks mega awkward when I do that. Oh well. Got the 2nd moustache. Right, gotta punch those boxes. Oh... Timmy fell off my hand... Lost my life. Have to restart. Hrm... mildy annoyed.

Ok, restarted. Gonna punch them now, I bet they're hiding a moustache. Oh... I guess not. Well, that was a waste of a life. Ok, punch enemies. Hey, it's a green guy, so I bring the hand down ready to punch... hand with Timmy hits the green thing before I made a fist, lost another heart. Grrr. Music keeps me feeling pretty happy though. And the two guys and the colours are just so nice. I'm progressing. Next level.

Oooh... a kitchen! Still not quite gotten the hang of this keyboard and mouse control. Keep trying to move Bill with A and D. Holding Timmy in hand, I just ignore the enemies, as punching is too hard and I lose lives that way. Jumped over the spider successfully. Oh what's this? I didn't get all the moustaches... ok, gotta go back.

Walking backwards is pretty awkward. Ah, moustache hidden in the drawer. Music is starting to slightly grind on my ears... but that's probably because it's quite late and I should be going to bed soon.

Ok, next level. Basement? An, another spider. I gotta jump over these things. Oh... that didn't work. No matter, try again. Ok. Spider down. Fly stole my health in the meantime. I wonder why I need to jump for the spider. Will it damage Bill? Well, I won't take risks to find out. 2 out of 5 moustaches.

Argh... tried to jump over the spider from hand... lost life? Why? Jumped from shoulder... lost another life and now I've got to start over. Well at least I reload on the same level.

Ok, this time I will just ignore the spider and walk straight through. Looks like it didn't do any damage. Why did I need to jump over it then? 3 Moustaches. 5 Moustaches but I'm down to one life. Open door.

What's this? DIE? (Aggressive flies!?) A boss level with an evil robot in a tophat?! Oh that laugh! How cool... funky music too! Ok... 3 lives, one down by spider 3 (because of flies). Why did you sit down on the shoulder Timmy? Why! Tried to box the spider away since I can't jump over him... seems that spider is only hurting but not moving away. Funny animation though. Better go back. Eeep! Not too far back! SPIDER!

Argh... Timmy sat down on shoulder again and died! So hard. Gonna try again. Oh. I died cause I couldn't get Timmy off that shoulder. WHY YOU SIT ON SHOULDER TIMMY? WHY? Right, last go.

Lost two lives right off the bat on the first spider. Ok... dead again on second spider. Last go for real now. OH YES! Timmy materialised in my hand this time! Yippee! Died on third or fourth spider.

Impression:
Interesting, polished, and very very different. I had a good go and I wish I could've finished it (I'm a bit of a completionist). Probably will come back to it some other time and try again, but damn Timmy and wanting to sit on that shoulder! It was the cause of death about 80% of the time. I think it was fun, but not super duper fun for me... however, considering I find platformers of any kind excessively boring, you managed to grab my attention very very well. That said, I mainly held Timmy in my hand to avoid all obstacles and didn't use the platforms except as a way to get Timmy back onto Bill's hand.

The graphics and music were spot on and the little bits of humour dotted around as well! All in all a great achievement, especially in such a short space of time!

Good job you guys! Thumbs up. I rated it 4/5 overall.

I hope you find this feedback useful. ^_~
ghRibacki
13. May 2012 · 15:01 UTC
Nice game! I didn't like two things though: couldn't figure out how to beat the boss and the number of hearts is too small! Maybe with 3 extra hearts I could figure out how to beat the boss... Aside from that, everything is awesome! =)
tomhunt
13. May 2012 · 20:41 UTC
those mustaches are epic
steamgirl
14. May 2012 · 09:42 UTC
Congrats on being first place in innovation! Thoroughly deserved. :)