SpaceShifter by ShaunJS

[raw]
made by ShaunJS for LD35 (COMPO)
You play an alien who has crash-landed on a strange planet and must recover the scattered pieces of his spaceship in order to return home. It's not Pikmin.

He can absorb the DNA of wildlife creatures and take on their forms in order to help him get around the world. It's not Animorphs.

Use AWD or arrow keys to move. Space absorbs DNA from animals when close enough, shift or number keys changes form.

Dev stuff:
Urgh. This one was a wild ride. Running out of time more an issue here than probably any other LD or jam I've done! Which is saying quite a bit haha. Probably my least favourite entry but I think overall that puts my batting average fairly decent! The idea turned out a bit mild and uninteresting and getting it prototyped to the point where that was clear took too long. In order for this idea to work I think it needs a lot of different well thought out forms and mechanics which grew too complex for my coding skill to manage in the time. Lots of neat little polish touches and flourishes here and there but overall a bit murggh. Performance is pretty intensive here too, let me know if it melts your computer.

I learned loaaaaads as always and feel like I got 100X better at making things. And that's the whole point right?

Hope you enjoy spending some time with it!

Ratings

Coolness 0% 2304
Overall 4.43 3
Audio 4.11 16
Fun 4.07 21
Graphics 4.32 27
Humor 3.81 31
Innovation 3.63 173
Mood 4.19 14
Theme 4.64 1

Feedback

ColdStone
18. Apr 2016 · 01:08 UTC
I'M A TREE!
HoldMeImScared
18. Apr 2016 · 01:30 UTC
A little melty as far as loading the level after the cutscene or on restart (it'll even say it's stopped responding, but it eventually catches up and goes). But once it has loaded, it runs great, no performance issues actually running the game on my toaster of a computer ;)

A bit hard to see underwater, I definitely died to things just because I couldn't see them through the intense blue.

But otherwise, simple controls, graphically nice, and I like the relaxing background music.

I'm completely in love with doing the Animorphs thing, so very nice on the theme. Also, we can be a tree! Best transform!

It's a neat puzzle to figure out what to use where. I like it!

Wouldn't have made my own entry without you and Heartbeast, so thank you, and nice entry :)
Noah
18. Apr 2016 · 01:30 UTC
SO AM I!
uheartbeast
18. Apr 2016 · 02:40 UTC
Loved it. Simple but fun. My favorite part was the dialog at the end. I'm pretty sure almost everyone playing your game will relate very well with that. :D

It was also very fun to be a frog.
matiasbontempo
18. Apr 2016 · 02:43 UTC
I've seen no performance issues. And the game is good as usual, I really like the idea and the humor of it!
QuexD
18. Apr 2016 · 02:58 UTC
I never made it home...
felix.paulsen
18. Apr 2016 · 06:52 UTC
Awesome game! I just wanted to let you know that i experienced some strange bugs with the health bar, when playing. Take a look at theese images: http://imgur.com/a/iDGqx
Berserker_Chris
18. Apr 2016 · 07:32 UTC
I liked to be the frog, nice idea great game, looking forward on part2 ;)
SelfTitled
18. Apr 2016 · 14:29 UTC
Simple but very pleasing art.
I decided to not return home but to live the rest of my days as a tree.
Efmi_
18. Apr 2016 · 14:46 UTC
This was very fun game to play!
fin_nolimit
18. Apr 2016 · 16:22 UTC
You are incredible sir! It was fun taking breaks from the JAM and watching you code this game. The pixel art is amazing and the entire feel of the game is FUN!!!!! I can't wait to finish this JAM and return back to your game to see who else I can be (I only made it to the chicken and frog) :) Excellent job brother!!!!!!
Xan95
18. Apr 2016 · 17:42 UTC
Nice little game (y)
DesignerNap
18. Apr 2016 · 18:38 UTC
Great work here dude. Really good fun. Laughed out loud at the pikmin comment. A few years ago I worked on a game called "spare parts" that had a VERY similar plot too! ;) Excellent game.
seitnerk
18. Apr 2016 · 18:45 UTC
This is beautiful, love the small details!
The Sound and the Graphics made a great mood :)
DifferentName
18. Apr 2016 · 20:10 UTC
Great fit with the theme! It's fun figuring out how to use different animals abilities to get around the world. I wish it had check points instead of sending me to the beginning of the game when I died. It felt like a harsh penalty having to start over from the beginning. Picking up a new ship piece would have been a great time for a check point.
glitchu
19. Apr 2016 · 01:16 UTC
I like being a landshark <3
fin_nolimit
19. Apr 2016 · 03:06 UTC
I got my game submitted on time and I can finally vote!!! Seriously Shaun, this is the best game I've played so far!!! You are rockin' it!! Thanks for submitting the source code too... that truly helps
Tom
19. Apr 2016 · 04:29 UTC
Great job as usual.
kariamoss
19. Apr 2016 · 09:33 UTC
A must!
Really impressive and so fun to play.
Great job
Electron
19. Apr 2016 · 10:25 UTC
nice game, it was good being a tree
image/31
19. Apr 2016 · 12:39 UTC
Had a good time!
Eshford
19. Apr 2016 · 15:49 UTC
FROG FROG FROG FROG FROG FROG FROG FROG

Awesome entry, good job Shaun!
Yumeito
21. Apr 2016 · 19:42 UTC
Great game:)
Freank
24. Apr 2016 · 17:54 UTC
Hi, nice game ! We're realizing a video with several games of the Ludum Dare #35.
Can you add your game on indiexpo.net ? (it's free)
So we can include also your game in the video ;)
p.s. write #LDJAM in the game's description
CodeNMore
27. Apr 2016 · 00:57 UTC
Fun game, great art and effects, as well as sounds. Loved it!