Duckling by Veralos

[raw]
made by Veralos for LD22 (COMPO)
A simple platformer where you play as a duckling that has been left behind by it's mother, and is now all ALONE. Yeah, not the most deep, creative, or interesting use of the theme, but it works.

Here are the controls, even though most are mentioned in the game:

Move: Left/Right
Jump: Up
Flap (can be done three times per jump): Up (in the air)
Swim: Up/Down/Left/Right
Restart Screen: R
Quit: Escape

This is my first LD entry so I didn't try for anything too complex. I hope you like it, anyway.

Find the secret kitten!

The results are in, and I got in the top 100 overall (#89). Cool! Plus, I got #20 in fun. Wow, that's amazing! Thanks so much to everyone who played, rated, and commented on this game!



Ratings

Coolness 77% 2
Overall 3.32 89
Audio 2.35 306
Community 2.61 294
Fun 3.54 20
Graphics 3.04 207
Humor 2.50 142
Innovation 2.57 294
Mood 2.68 234
Theme 3.25 155

Feedback

CplMustard
19. Dec 2011 路 07:43 UTC
A fun little platformer, I couldn't get past the screen where you have to cross the pit with the three feathers. But the mechanics are solid and the art is charming enough, sounds are a bit loud though, in general it's a solid game.
revilossor
19. Dec 2011 路 21:03 UTC
really good. really hard, but really rewarding. Gave up on the s bend feathers screen.
Lusmu
19. Dec 2011 路 21:46 UTC
I like what you did with the difficulty curve. :D
EvilDemonCreature
20. Dec 2011 路 06:41 UTC
It's enjoyable for being so difficult, but it makes your story a bit inconsistent by leaving this one question constantly nagging at me.

How the heck did the mother duck get past all of this crazy dangerous stuff without losing any ducklings? I'd hate to finally find her, just to find out there was some sort of peaceful, completely-safe route that she took that I completely neglected to notice just because I hatched late.
馃帳 Veralos
20. Dec 2011 路 07:43 UTC
Wow, thanks for all the positive feedback! Is it really that difficult? The later screens are kind of tricky, but still... Well, I suppose the creator is supposed to be good at his game!

@Lusmu I'm glad you liked the difficulty curve. I tried to make the game gradually go from "just walk to right" to "time your flaps precisely to get over the spikes".

@EvilDemonCreature Yeah, I actually thought about that while making the game. I assume that there was a safe path just a few steps into the screen that the duckling can't reach due to the 2D nature of the game.
edibletoaster
22. Dec 2011 路 03:19 UTC
Love this. Its a really cool game
jonathanasdf
23. Dec 2011 路 07:28 UTC
It's awesome, not really that hard IMO, the feathers in the S shape was the hardest for me. 134 deaths. Time to find the kitten. I've got some ideas..
jonathanasdf
23. Dec 2011 路 07:29 UTC
and there it is!... except it looks like a dog to me :P
ericdpitts
31. Dec 2011 路 18:13 UTC
Great job! This has been my favorite LD entry yet! :) Extremely challenging, great artwork, and great, well executed mechanics!
馃帳 Veralos
06. Jan 2012 路 09:29 UTC
I noticed that one of the platforms in the main screenshot is floating, even though I was trying to avert the "floating platform" thing. Ah well, that issue is fixed in the Christmas Edition.

@jonathanasdf You didn't find the game hard, yet you died 134 times... Maybe I should have made the default "least deaths" higher. Also, sorry about that appearance of the kitten. I'm not exactly an artist.

@ericdpitts Woah, that's some seriously high praise! I wouldn't this game is THAT amazing, but I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Sorry for the late replies, I was away on holiday for a while.
Fenmar
07. Jan 2012 路 12:35 UTC
I almost ragequitted at the three hills level but the close button did not work. So I completed the game :D Good job!
Kelly Thomas
08. Jan 2012 路 19:12 UTC
nice, I was watching the intro and I was thinking "oh no, shes leaving an egg behind".
If it can trigger simple emotions like that your doing something right
defiantburrito
09. Jan 2012 路 04:29 UTC
Pretty good game, but I think it's too hard.

One frustrating thing is that most of the difficulty comes from timing the jumps exactly right... if I press the jump button too early, nothing happens, but too late and I miss the jump. It makes me feel like I'm fighting the controls more than the game. The S-shape of feathers is a good example of this, the only thing that makes it challenging is the finicky controls.

Still, it feels pretty complete and the art is decent, so I'd say this is a pretty good entry.

Good work!
Malactus
09. Jan 2012 路 04:30 UTC
Thats one difficult, yet simple platformer. Was very fun, and it had the mood defined with the intro.
Raptor85
09. Jan 2012 路 05:39 UTC
cool but i couldnt get past the first "feather" room, no matter what i did i couldnt make it on the ledge. could have been a timing bug as I was trying to run it under WINE. I can't really give it a score though because it was throwing too many errors and the sound didn't work.
wbobeirne
09. Jan 2012 路 05:54 UTC
Solid platformer, very Super Meat Boy-like. The near instant respawn and short levels made it easier to deal with dying, but I ended up rage-quitting on the map with the 2 spike traps and the falling rock on the first one. The somewhat inconsistent double jump really frustrated me when you just needed to hit that jump.

Brilliant game though!
馃帳 Veralos
09. Jan 2012 路 05:56 UTC
@defiantburrito Thanks for the constructive criticism!

With the amount of testing I've done on this game I've grown used to the timing of the flapping, but I can definitely see where you're coming from. In hindsight maybe I should have made it so that you can flap again when your in the middle of one. That might've been a little overpowered, but I should've though about how tricky the timing can be to new players.
馃帳 Veralos
09. Jan 2012 路 06:03 UTC
Wow, two new comments during the writing and posting of my last reply! I must have a good ratings/coolness ratio or something.

@wbobeirne Yeah, I was sort of going for a "quick respawns/infinite lives/short levels, but challenging despite that" feel. It's a shame you gave up there, since that was the second to last screen.
Wompus
09. Jan 2012 路 11:28 UTC
THIS WAS SO GOOD LOL

I laughed my ass off the first time I died
0x64
09. Jan 2012 路 11:47 UTC
Really god job for such a short time to make it happen. The controls felt good, though sometimes the level felt unfairly hard.
One of my best ratings so far
Cleggy
09. Jan 2012 路 13:46 UTC
This game is very good - I like the graphical style and the mechanics really liven up the platformer gameplay.
Cleggy
09. Jan 2012 路 13:47 UTC
I am also going to add that this is one of the few games that I'm keeping.
someone
09. Jan 2012 路 14:04 UTC
Timing the jumps perfectly was a bit frustrating, I died far too many times from pressing jump slightly too early.
Good game though.
kumber
09. Jan 2012 路 21:52 UTC
Very very nice... good work!
馃帳 Veralos
10. Jan 2012 路 03:55 UTC
The results are in, and I got in the top 100 overall (#89). Cool! Plus, I got #20 in fun. Wow, that's amazing! Thanks so much to everyone who played, rated, and commented on this game!
Wompus
10. Jan 2012 路 10:02 UTC
WHY IS THIS NOT #1???