Land of the Sun by HolyBlackCat
DESCRIPTION
Fight against 4 mighty bosses!
A silly easter egg awaits for those who manage to beat them in 0 deaths.
DOWNLOADS
CONTROLS
- Arrows to move and jump;
- X to shoot;
- C to interact;
- M to mute music;
F12 toggles fullscreen.
SCREENSHOTS



CHANGELOG
IV. Textures are no longer plain .png's. No spoilers for you!
III. Lots of fixes and tiny tweaks.
II. Meh, I forgot to save player progress!
I. Uploaded.
Ratings
| Overall | 38th | 4⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 54th | 3.864⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 162th | 3.455⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 417th | 2.905⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 33th | 4.304⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 74th | 3.652⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 376th | 2.105⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 17th | 4.174⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 24🗳️ | 9🗨️ |
Platforming mechanics work well, but the aiming is a bit tough.
There's nothing like killing a boss and promptly jumping off a climp.
The boss fight was fun and challenging, but I think it should have done something extra at its last health; to make it more interesting. The aiming is okay, but a tiny bit hard (at least it's controllable by turning the player around).
A solid platformer with solid controls. But shooting mechanic is very confusing - I couldn't understand what affects aiming and if it affected by player at all, it seemed completely random.
I'll have to say, the ruleset behind controlling the aiming direction of the orb seems very interesting and creative.
Overall, I had fun. :)
> You died 29 times.
I supposed to do this with 0 deaths ? :scream: I don't think I can do that ...
Anyways, This is a great game ! Really hard, kind of evil with all those spikes. *(If you wanna be more evil change up the attack pattern order in the last stage of the 4th boss. :smiling_imp: )* This music is nice but its much too tame for a game about boss fights, it makes me sleepy instead of excited not a very good match. Also the jumping mechanics feels kind of weird floaty. But this is a great entry especially considering its a Compo entry! The main menu is beautiful, and the pixel art amazing, especialy for the first boss and grass, much better than [mine](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/small-world-transport) ! Do you mind if copy the way you draw tiles, and grass ? I really like them!
Very cool entry, good job!
Also, test my compo entry here too, need some more few ratings too now! thanks ;D
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/anthills-multitask
Very interesting mechanic overall, an it has 'Journey' mixed with 'Shadow of Colossus' vibe for me (not that it copies anything, just the vibe seems akin to those).
Very nice audiovisuals, and a quite creative approach to learning mechanics. Though white orbs could be confusing for new players (from what I see in the comments, there was such an issue), after trial and error - which does NOT feel aggravating, points for that - it all boils down to the fact, that each boss needs a different approach and you need to spend some time to get to know environment, the mechanics and the boss itself. It also gives you the 'alien' feeling of the whole world, which, again, gives off the same vibe like the titles I mentioned earlier. I like it very much.
What got me, is that the music and overall movement is actually relaxing, even though the fight needs your attention and quite a bit of focus. It's something I'm very fond of - see for example the contrast with music and action scenes in animated [original] Ghost In The Shell (Not the ungodly hollywood rendition, let's not talk about that), or, as I said before, Journey for example. Very nice touch.
Didn't manage to beat the game yet, I'm still at second boss and I'm actually interested what you prepared for those who manage to beat the game without dying :)
**what could be improved**
- movement, especially stopping could be a bit tighter - currently player's stopping is a bit floaty, which leads to many deaths. I know that current type of movement buys into the whole 'relaxing' vibe better, but just a bit tighter would help tremendously.
- a tad faster orbs - just the way they circle around the player. Not much, just a bit, to loosen the restrictions but still keep the overall feeling.
- sky / background - since it's a repetitive pattern, akin to those 'cross your eyes to see 3d' pictures, it sometimes puts a strain on the eyes too much. I, for one, actually unconsciously treated it like that 3d picture, and it made my eyes loose focus at times.
Tremendous work with making all the assets and putting it all together. Very fine work. With 3 days to go, put that game out there, it really deserves recognition. It's one of the better project I've seen in this LD, it would be a terrible shame if it went barely noticed!
Cheers, and stay awesome!
I think the orbs are fine as a shooting mechanic, but perhaps if they moved a bit faster it would feel less frustrating when trying to aim at a boss (especially if you're a bit tight on time!).
Some of the platforms were just a bit too far apart since they go off camera and you have to find them by trial and error. Perhaps a way to look further afield or bringing the platforms closer to each would be beneficial.
Really fab entry though I really enjoy this game. Now time to go back and see if I can make it all the way to end without dying!! :D
That said, each boss is great. I love the 3rd boss in particular, and how you have to move in circles around the arena. It felt like I was fighting the arena more than the boss, which was very cool.
At first, I thought the aiming was really strange, but after finishing, I really like how slow the orbs rotate. I think making the aiming easier would've cheapened a few of the boss kills. Being forced to wait for the shot to line up during a boss's few seconds of downtime was one of the most tense and exciting parts of the game.
Also, I loved the music. It gave the atmosphere a very empty and isolated feeling, as if to say that you and the four bosses are the last ones in the world or something. It set the mood very well. Great job!
It's awesome to see such an amount of polish in an entry. I must admit this is my coup de coeur of this Ludum Dare <3
I don't see the theme very well in this game, but it's a a great achievement to have done it in a Game Jam. Congrats!
you can rate mine please !
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/locker-c-18
For me the most impressive part is the graphics. The simplistic bosses and the character are nice, but the background really blows me away - it looks so good! Overall I love this game, it also reminds me of Titan Souls which funnily enough is originally a Ludum Dare game too.