LudumData

Treasure Balloon by Relsqui

[raw]
made by Relsqui for LD 40 (COMPO)

title.gif

An arcade-style sidescroller about collecting loot and bonking monsters. Be careful, though -- loot weighs you down, and it's dangerous down there. Play online here! (See "Code" link under the player for source.)

Changelog: * 2017-12-03 18:36: Fixed a bug where being eaten by a monster could put you into negative loot (which honestly seems like the least of your problems at that moment). * 2017-12-03 20:22: Fixed a couple minor display bugs (mountaintops passing at wrong rate, caves appearing in view). * 2017-12-04 15:41: Fixed the title screen telling you the wrong key for dropping loot. :rolling_eyes: Sorry 'bout that.

Unchangelog:

I'm working on a new build with some changes that were too big to make during LD judging, which I'll post in January. It may incorporate such changes as:

  • Smoother controls.
  • Adjusted scoring to prevent rollover (or at least make it a lot harder).
  • Greater pressure/difficulty.
  • Sound!

loot.gif

dead.gif

HTML5 (web) https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=30370
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/treasure-balloon

Ratings

Overall 352th 3.357⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 184th 3.595⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 399th 3⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 100th 4⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 307th 3.381⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Humor 313th 2.767⭐ 17🧑‍⚖️
Mood 251th 3.25⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 12🗳️ 13🗨️

Feedback

banan
04. Dec 2017 · 03:52 UTC
Really like the colour palette and overall aesthetics of the game. The contrast between the cute and cheerful blue skies and mountains vs. the dark abyss is well executed, and coupled with the simple mechanics elegantly shape the mood of the game as well as the theme. Overall it was pretty fun for about five to ten minutes. After that it feels like you've played the whole game, which for a free game isn't a big deal.

The one major complaint I have is that you have to spam the arrow keys to move quickly, and that they operate in the same way as they would in a text editor or browser if you hold them down (i.e. one immediate movement followed by a pause and then starts moving quickly). Other than that I really like what you've done.
FormalCloud
04. Dec 2017 · 05:05 UTC
Ah, more adorableness! Nice work!
Mark Kennedy
04. Dec 2017 · 06:53 UTC
Very cute!
meskaline
04. Dec 2017 · 07:17 UTC
Nice work. Fun mechanics. I was expected that weight would drag me down a little continuously. :D
🎤 Relsqui
04. Dec 2017 · 07:35 UTC
@banan I totally agree about the controls. I didn't think of it, but as soon as I read it I was like "oh yeah, that WOULD be better." :) I can't take credit for the palette, Pico-8 only gives me a few to choose from, but I'm glad you like how it worked!

@meskaline Yeah, someone else suggested that too and I think I resisted because physics, but it would add some helpful forwards pressure. I'll try it out and see how it plays.

I'm thinking of starting a branch with those and some other ideas -- if I pull it together I'll post it after the voting period ends. :D
tomer_cool
04. Dec 2017 · 07:37 UTC
Fun game, I like the design. I think it will be better if you could move more freely.
🎤 Relsqui
04. Dec 2017 · 07:54 UTC
I JUST noticed it says "x to drop loot" when the key is definitely z (in the web player, anyway). Why does no one tell me these things. :P Will fix.
bigmetre
04. Dec 2017 · 09:45 UTC
Nice work. Would be better if it had clearer instructions and some audio cues. (I didn't know you could drop loot to escape monsters)
ginger9
04. Dec 2017 · 10:57 UTC
I dive to 700, and then throw away everything to rise again with the doubt whether the game has an ending. And nice game :smile:
Badly Drawn Rod
04. Dec 2017 · 15:14 UTC
It's a good start. I would have liked to have seen more progression. Nice to see a Pico 8 game.
tuism
04. Dec 2017 · 15:22 UTC
Love the look of it!

The concept is really appealing, the game design feels like it could be really good, but a couple things let it down:
- I don't feel like I can see far enough to make any meaningful moves, especially given the controls:
- The controls, using keyboard repeat as a limiter of speed doesn't suit the game. One could "cheat" the speed barrier by tapping really quickly, but that's not fun and very exhausting. It should be a continuous move speed. Maybe it's a limitation of pico8, I dunno.
- The drop loot key is wrong :)
🎤 Relsqui
04. Dec 2017 · 22:33 UTC
@tuism That's an interesting point about seeing far ahead. Would it make a difference if there were more caves on screen at any given time (so you had more choices about stuff to interact with), or does it feel like the whole thing needs to be scaled down so you have more of a run-up? I agree that the control change would help.
🎤 Relsqui
04. Dec 2017 · 23:01 UTC
@ginger9 Haha, well, the ending is meant to involve eventually getting caught, but it sounds like you subverted that! Clearly I need to tune the difficulty more. :)
torcado
05. Dec 2017 · 02:11 UTC
wow! super cute game! Movement is a little awkward, being able to hold the buttons would be better, but otherwise I really liked the game! Pico-8 games are always cool to see in Ludum Dare
tuism
05. Dec 2017 · 06:33 UTC
Well, seeing more caves and also then being able to access or dodge them (given control changes and making it slower) would probably accomplish the same. But zooming out would make the game feel different, which one is better I dunno without trying.
🎤 Relsqui
05. Dec 2017 · 19:14 UTC
I dunno either, but I definitely know which one is easier, so I'll try more caves/smarter spawning first. ;) Thanks for the feedback! I'm working on a new version in a branch which I'm now excited to release after judging ends. (Spoilers: everyone who said the controls would be better smooth is correct.)
Liquidream
07. Dec 2017 · 06:27 UTC
Great little game here. I love the simple graphics style you used. Great use of the theme, spot-on spec. Alas, a bit too easy really. Look forward to seeing your final version (post-jam) with everything you have planned.
frescogusto
07. Dec 2017 · 19:16 UTC
quoting what has been said about controls. the mechanic of falling is nice, could elaborate on it more

nice nonetheless
saintheiser
10. Dec 2017 · 04:50 UTC
Nice one! 220 is my best score! Like the idea that player dive. This game could rises into something interesting, if you made more locations like Caves, Water Surface, Fired village and so on.
SadColor
12. Dec 2017 · 19:49 UTC
I like it. Like everyone else has said, the choppy controls are pretty poopy. Also would have been interesting if having more loot affected your momentum when trying to avoid monsters :o

Also, was a little weird that you drop loot near the right end of your balloon rather than from the center, but that's really minor. And I guess it's intentional (actually, it's demonstrated in one of the GIFs! oops) that you can escape being grabbed since you don't lose all your loot immediately, but it's something I wouldn't expect.
jjjjason
13. Dec 2017 · 06:36 UTC
Woo, managed to get 15000. I was initially thinking there wasn't a ton of incentive in getting the monsters, but oh boy was I wrong. The physical tradeoffs in grabbing and dropping make an interesting mechanic, especially once the number of monsters starts ramping up (and honestly if movement was easier, it might make the game too easy).

Always good to see more cute games! Even the scary monsters a little cute.
Local Minimum
17. Dec 2017 · 13:09 UTC
I didn't get very far. The x dropping only worked once as far as I noticed. And I found it quite hard to get up and down in time too capture the loots. It was an interesting cute concept though. How the loot kept making you heavier and heavier.
Flaterectomy
17. Dec 2017 · 16:45 UTC
A pretty cute little game, centered around the base mechanic so it's pretty obvious how it works from the get-go. As others have said, the controls feel a little iffy. With just moving around and dropping loot again, I am afraid I got a little bored after a while, though.

The art is basic, but works well and is clearly in the pico-8 style. I wish there was sound. :smile:

All in all, pretty cute, maybe a little too bare-bones for me.