LudumData

Daring Do! by jwfrosty

[raw]
made by jwfrosty for LD21 (JAM)
My first Ludum Dare! I changed my game idea on the 2nd day of Ludum Dare, so I had to throw this together in just over a day! My main gripe is the terrible main character sprite, but I just ran out of time to fix it. The difficulty ramps up fairly quickly after the first level, too.

In the future, I'm planning to add way more levels, crumbly blocks that fall away beneath you (or on you!), spikes, perhaps bad guys, more treasure to collect, scores, and ideally an 'infinite' mode that generates infinitely long levels on the fly. For now, though, you'll have to put up with this 3 level taster.

Web http://www.jameswfrost.co.uk/ld21
Source http://dl.dropbox.com/u/360246/ld21/daring/daringdo_src.zip
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/?action=preview&uid=5119

Ratings

Coolness 5% 115
Overall(Jam) 3.29 16
Audio(Jam) 2.52 37
Community 2.83 176
Fun(Jam) 3.36 10
Graphics(Jam) 3.18 35
Humor(Jam) 2.14 38
Innovation(Jam) 2.39 48
Theme(Jam) 3.82 4

Feedback

dramble
23. Aug 2011 · 02:35 UTC
Really good level design on those last two. I would enjoy a game where you go in to various temples as long as there was different types of things you need to escape from.
wbobeirne
23. Aug 2011 · 04:08 UTC
Great work for just 1 day. I hope you do put more time in to it!
Arron Fowler
23. Aug 2011 · 15:25 UTC
I liked it enough to get to level 3
jonnopon3000
23. Aug 2011 · 19:02 UTC
The level design was really cool; and this is awesome for one day's work. I got quite frustrated on level 3, but that was because it was hard and I'm not good with hard games :P
The only gripe I have is that the level shake at the beginning really throws my concentration off.
Chinchilla
25. Aug 2011 · 13:14 UTC
Really really enjoyed this. I had to stifle quite a bit of swearing while playing this at work! Good difficulty level for me
jonbro
25. Aug 2011 · 14:28 UTC
I like the level design, but it seems a bit less frantic than it should. The scene that you are covering here made it seem like indy was barely in control. Otherwise a nice start!
🎤 jwfrosty
25. Aug 2011 · 15:42 UTC
jonbro: I know what you mean. I think the latter two levels are a bit more frantic, but the first one is a bit of a stroll in the park. I want to add more gameplay elements (more traps), perhaps alternative routes through the level, etc, which I think should help. I think the lack of sound effects for the main character's footsteps and the rolling boulder leave a big gap, too - I'm going to add these in in the update I'm working on. In particular, I think it'd be neat if the boulder is louder the closer it is to you.
demonpants
25. Aug 2011 · 17:41 UTC
Well done, this was much fun. I actually checked this out because you had the exact same idea I did when I heard the word "escape." My game plays completely differently, but I also have a guy with a hat running from a giant boulder and avoiding traps in a temple. Cool! Anyway, this overall is just great. Playable, good balance, good feel. Well done.
jonbro
25. Aug 2011 · 20:36 UTC
jwfrosty: I think what makes it not feel frantic to me is the speed of the character. Like when I get hit by an arrow it isn't my bad reaction time, it is my perception of how fast video game characters move, and this guy just isn't moving quite fast enough. It would probably take a few tweaks to get everything faster, but I think it might be good.
jonbro
28. Aug 2011 · 12:01 UTC
er, I mean, it would make an already great game better... sorry, I should proofread for possible misconstruism.
Felipe Budinich
29. Aug 2011 · 04:35 UTC
OSOM entry for your first LD!
Rudy
31. Aug 2011 · 13:50 UTC
Good game. Could use a little variety in temples. The arrows are a bit unforgiving. Every game like this brings me a little closer to a new keyboard purchase >_<
🎤 jwfrosty
01. Sep 2011 · 11:19 UTC
Rudy: Thanks for your comment! :)
I've already 'fixed' arrows in my post-Dare version of the game - in the LD version, they kill you no matter how you collide with them (i.e. you die if you land on top of one), but I've now made it so they only kill you if you hit them front-on. Makes things quite a bit easier.

As for more variety in temples - definitely! I'd like to add a range of extra traps and environments. Perhaps sandy desert temples, planty jungle temples, rocky lava temples, etc!