Esca by tnelsond

[raw]
made by tnelsond for LD21 (-)
This is written in C (Standard 89) and uses SDL and SDL_ttf.

I didn't quite finish as well as I wanted, but it's playable. It runs well on both Linux and Windows.

To play, type in a command followed by a space.
The commands are usually pretty basic stuff like "run" or "sprint".
(Those aren't real commands in the game, if I told you what the commands were that would spoil the fun.)
Just remember commands are separated by spaces which means when you type a space the command starts over.
This is a simple game which hones your typing skills, so any key that isn't a letter or a space will just send gobbley gook to the program.

Keep typing and you can help Esca (The purple rectangle) escape from illiteracy.

EDIT: If anyone can beat this please let me know. As for right now it's probably too hard. (I made the level in the last couple minutes before the compo ended) :D.

People who have finished the game:
-Tnelsond (ofcourse :))
-Shadow
-the31 (editted the mapfile)
-LegacyCrono
-jwfrosty

Ratings

Coolness 7% 68
Overall 2.55 354
Audio 1.00 371
Community 3.08 118
Fun 2.24 359
Graphics 1.71 450
Humor 1.67 297
Innovation 3.81 38
Theme 1.90 468

Feedback

daandruff
22. Aug 2011 路 15:46 UTC
I loved the way you controlled the character. It would be nice to be able to stack commands like code though :)
馃帳 tnelsond
22. Aug 2011 路 16:55 UTC
You can kinda "stack" commands by typing commands really fast.
All you have to do is type a command, then a space, then another command.
Or do you mean like create new commands?
馃帳 tnelsond
23. Aug 2011 路 04:29 UTC
Or do you mean stack commands like "walk 5"?
Jhelle
23. Aug 2011 路 20:18 UTC
Didn't get past the flap command, but interesting control mechanic. It would be nice if it would automatically press enter after every successful command.
馃帳 tnelsond
23. Aug 2011 路 22:36 UTC
I considered not requiring the space between the commands, but then I figured it wouldn't help people's typing skills as much.

Yeah, I should probably polish and simplify it and make the learning curve easier, I'm the only one I know who actually beat it.

For a post compo version I'm envisioning two lines of text, one for running, another for jumping. If you type the text from the first line then your character moves, and if you type stuff from the second line your character jumps. And as you progress through the game you'd have to type more and more to "escape" bad guys chasing you or something like that.
Shadow
24. Aug 2011 路 03:29 UTC
Loved the command-based mechanics, although i would have appreciated to end simple commands with ENTER. I know later in the game you need to input them fast but having ENTER as an optional delimiter would've been great.
Sometimes the 'hints' are a bit misleading because when you find them you just go and try to input the command and sometimes the result is instant death. LOL.
It kinda feels good once youn manage to finish.
Good job.
Rudy
24. Aug 2011 路 17:21 UTC
Very cool concept! The character could move slower, or it gets too hard.
Andrew
24. Aug 2011 路 20:00 UTC
The flapping eventually got me, but it's a very interesting approach to typing games, I'd like to see it expanded upon (preferably with less flapping)
Chaoslab
25. Aug 2011 路 10:06 UTC
That was some entertainment tnelsond thanks! :-)
thristhart
25. Aug 2011 路 13:10 UTC
I would love the ability to list the things I want done then see them done (i.e., "jump flap flap flap flap flap<enter>" but then it wouldn't really be a typing game would it.
d_m
25. Aug 2011 路 15:16 UTC
Neat idea, but I couldn't figure out the commands myself, and am also (apparently) a wuss at typing things over and over again. Good idea, maybe create difficulty levels where the game is in slow-motion and/or lets you know which words are available?
馃帳 tnelsond
25. Aug 2011 路 17:58 UTC
d_m: Well there are ingame hints. You just have to look for them.
Shigor
26. Aug 2011 路 17:33 UTC
Very interesting idea, one of the few games in LD which tried something genuinely new (never expected to play platformer with "command line" controls), but the difficulty is over the top :) (btw I'd never ever thought of "flap" myself, but I've seen it in the level :) So question of curious non-native english speaker... is really flap correct verb for the very small hop? :) I don't remember that I'd ever seen it used like this.
summaky
27. Aug 2011 路 14:23 UTC
Nope, can't end it... It is an original control schema, but I don't particularly like it.
馃帳 tnelsond
27. Aug 2011 路 17:08 UTC
Shigor: "flap" is what birds do when they fly, they flap their wings, thus in the game if you type "flap" fast enough you fly, not just "hop"
LegacyCrono
29. Aug 2011 路 10:47 UTC
I flapped so fast my hand now hurts. :P At least I escaped. Whee! Very neat concept, it was really fun! Except when I dug to death and had to start all over again...
jwfrosty
03. Sep 2011 路 19:09 UTC
Phew! The last lot of flapping was very very very hard (it's not an easy word to type!) but I finished the game and 'escaped'. A cool idea, the hints dotted around the level were very helpful. I liked the way you could e.g. move around slowly or quickly depending on how you typed the word. Didn't really fit the theme, I'm afraid, but still a nice concept.