LudumData

AVOIDAL by HybridMind

[raw]
made by HybridMind for LD18 (COMPO)
This game was created for the 18th Ludum Dare 48 hour game competition. The theme was "Enemies as Weapons". Development took 26 hours from August 20th-22nd, 2010.

DESCRIPTION:
You control a robot attempting to lure enemy seekers and spikes into mines before the mines explode. The difficulty ramps up as you destroy mines. You can build your chain multiplier for huge points. Chain resets when you take damage or let a mine explode. With each increase in difficulty there is a multiplier that will keep buffing your score.

PROTIP:
Send wall spikes into mines instead of using the seekers all the time--the base points are worth 5x as much!

NOTE:
AVOIDAL is a "mouse skills" type game so it was designed to be played with a mouse (or tablet perhaps.) It will be a lot harder to score well on a trackpad--sorry!

TOOLS USED:
Flash CS4 with ActionScript 3.0, Photoshop CS4, SFXR, Reason

FEEDBACK:
I really appreciate constructive feedback--especially about game balance and difficulty issues! I'll be using this feedback to release the post-compo final version.

Thanks so much for your time playing my game!

Web http://avoidal.com/compo.html
Source http://avoidal.com/avoidal-source.zip
Gameplay Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH0AL9sNrro
Post-Compo Version http://avoidal.com
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-18/?action=preview&uid=234

Ratings

Coolness 30% 3
Overall 3.62 14
Audio 3.22 18
Community 4.52 1
Fun 3.53 17
Graphics 3.65 24
Humor 2.48 64
Innovation 3.18 64
Theme 3.85 30

Feedback

devinmoore
23. Aug 2010 · 06:13 UTC
Strong concept, well implemented. Smooth graphics and great batman-style word effects. I felt like I didn't have enough room to fairly avoid stuff sometimes, but it's not a huge deal. This game seems to me to have commercial potential as-is.
Covenant
23. Aug 2010 · 07:58 UTC
One of the most enjoyable games I've played so far on the compo... Agree with devinmoore...
Need to be a bit slower, though, I was overwhelmed half the time! :)
benjaminum
23. Aug 2010 · 10:38 UTC
Cool game. Is a lot of fun on a tablet. A little bit too difficult in my opinion
eli
23. Aug 2010 · 11:40 UTC
The smoothness of this game just leaps out at you. The slick graphics and cohesive styling are fantastic.
Jhelle
23. Aug 2010 · 12:07 UTC
The game reeks of good production value, and its quite fun too. It is however a bit too hard.
Good work!
Doches
23. Aug 2010 · 14:40 UTC
Classic HybridMind, esp. in that it's clearly a follow-on to Contentric. I love the fact that you basically nailed the gameplay in that first prototype, then spent the rest of the compo polishing.

God /damn/ is it difficult, though.
🎤 HybridMind
23. Aug 2010 · 15:26 UTC
Whoa I just realized you can now comment in here! Thanks for the difficulty feedback everyone--I totally agree. I've been playing the heck out of this game and will be patching the difficulty curve in the post-compo build. Just need to slow the acceleration of the various params down a tiny bit I think plus add a tiny moment of invulnerability when you get hit (that way you aren't destroyed unfairly when you collide with a swarm of seekers you're carrying around all on top of each other...)
recursor
23. Aug 2010 · 16:44 UTC
Nice polish on this game. Well done.
Danik
24. Aug 2010 · 16:12 UTC
Great game, lots of fun! I agree on the difficulty issue though, it's pretty hard right from the start.
Sparky
24. Aug 2010 · 16:39 UTC
This is pretty solid. You were smart to pick a game with limited scope, by the way- it seems like you were able to make a much more polished game as a result.

I like the way the mines feel, by the way- what sort of behavior are they using? I will hazard a guess and say they move straight toward the robot at a velocity which increases with distance (and I'm guessing there's no acceleration?).

I like the "ouch" effects, by the way. Oh, and the tension of approaching a mine as it's getting ready to explode is fun.

Nice job, thanks for making this.

I was idly wondering, do you think it would work to have the robot swing in a fun swishy way instead of popping between angles as we move left and right? I could see little floppy legs being an awesome touch too :D.

Oh, and if you ever want feedback or help testing, I'd be happy to help. I'll be around the #ludumdare channel.
🎤 HybridMind
24. Aug 2010 · 20:20 UTC
@Sparky: the seeker behavior is your basic spring formula -kx w/ friction and an offset I throw in and increase to keep the seeker tracking a point in space that starts at the player in earlier difficulty levels and gradually moves towards a bigger offset to make the seeker want to track in front of the player (according to angle.)

I wanted the robot to have more of a funny swing like you describe but the point at the compo in which I started coding that was like 1hr to go and I still had to do music so my brain wasn't working great at that point. I managed to get the simple angle leans but yeah I do want more. I'll put a note of that on my post-compo todo list.

I have made steps to address the difficulty now in the post-compo version if people want to try that after they've already played my compo version. Remember not to use the post-compo version for rating!

@recursor and Danik: thank you for trying it out--glad you enjoyed it!
NiallM
28. Aug 2010 · 02:41 UTC
Yeah, this is great. Really well polished And I really like the kind of minimal sound effects.
GBGames
02. Sep 2010 · 12:10 UTC
You lose health much more rapidly than you can gain it. The game rewards you for succeeding multiple times in a row without being hit, but being hit has such a negative impact that avoiding being hit is its own reward. It's like getting bonus allowance for not playing in the middle of the street. B-)

Otherwise, it's highly polished aesthetically, and I see a lot of potential. Nice job!
pekuja
04. Sep 2010 · 22:20 UTC
Fun game. A bit frustrating when you hit seekers that spawn right on you when you move around the level.
I think it'd be cool if the seekers moved in a swarm instead of in a clump. Currently you can't even see how many seekers are following you.