JouleThief: Charge Your Phone by kroltan
If you have issues with the web version in Chrome, try a non-WebKit browser (from the top of my head, Firefox)
Walking down the street, watching some videos on your phone, you realize that you’re low on batteries. But this one video is just so good! Let’s charge the phone and watch it! I’m sure other people won’t mind if you crash into their places and use their laptops, right?
In JouleThief, you have to finish watching the video on your phone, which is running out of power. However, to charge it, you’ll have to barge into other people’s homes and disregard the collateral damage. The police will chase you around, but don’t mind them. Just keep charging that phone!
Move with WASD. Shift+E toggles editor (load function broken in web version)
Credits:
@kroltan Designer, coder
@Moski (Twitter: @the_moski) Art
@jmm (Twitter: @johnplzplaybass) Sound effects and music
Made for the Ludum Dare 39(edited)
| HTML5 (web) | https://kroltan.itch.io/joule-thief |
| Windows | https://kroltan.itch.io/joule-thief |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/joulethief-charge-your-phone |
Ratings
| Overall | 151th | 3.8⭐ | 32🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 186th | 3.567⭐ | 32🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 252th | 3.367⭐ | 32🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 20th | 4.333⭐ | 32🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 45th | 4.5⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 100th | 3.839⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 50th | 3.867⭐ | 32🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 290th | 3.462⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 15🗳️ | 17🗨️ |
The controls did feel very floaty but that really created the challenge of the game, learning how to wrangle your slippery character was quite a challenge. However I just found it a bit too slippery to be enjoyable.
Still great premise, lovely animations, sweet music.
The original idea was for the game to be even faster, I guess that way the delayed controls would at least have a physical explanation. But alas, it was too fast!
But as it was said above, controls could improve quite a bit.
As I say, though, the art is great.
@rubr Fun fact! The Behemoth, studio that made BattleBlock Theater and others, is one of my main inspirations. If the art looks like that, it's because of that exactly. Sorry that the controllers didn't live up to their quality though, but we'll get on that with a post-jam update!
@jegus9 We settled up very quickly with the theme. We brainstormed for a few minutes, and this was so silly we had to give it a shot. There's a lot of untapped potential and even some features that didn't make the cut, but we'll think on them after we fix the current issues with the game. Thanks!
@jaggent-aka-shouke Glad that you liked it! Even if it added to the challenge, it's still no excuse for poor performance, so we'll fix the controllers for a better, more polished experience that feels challenging on its own merits. Enjoy the jam!
@joemag I wanted to celebrate the third season of Rick and Morty, and this kinda helped :P We really need to rebalance the movement and the cops, so we'll work on that in a future update, thanks!
@randomphantom Glad that you liked some aspects of the game! We had a lot of fun adding stuff to move around, but we should really have done more to make the game feel more responsive. Noted!
@alexis-cheron Noted as well. We'll make it less slippery when we get to update the game!
@aterlamia We ran out of time for some important things, so I don't think there's a realy win screen. Shame, but it's something we'll have to adress! If you think you won, you most certainly did!
@joshburleson Just the comment is enough help for us. It's more confirming feedback, so thanks a bunch!
@prodigalson I also have problems on the Chrome web version. Consider checking it in other browser. It's still a bother though, so I'm hoping to push for a downloadable version as soon as possible. I'm glad that you still found something good on the game :)
Also, on a side note, problems in Chrome. Really slow. Used Mozilla to play it properly.
I also answered your comment on Itch, if you mind. According to my tests and evidenced by @justinooncx, Chrome (WebKit) seems to have an issue running the game (which is surprising), while other engines run fine.
@grandtheftmarmot It was supposed to be the character jumping/sliding over the tables (and trashcans), as @justinooncx observed! That is also why @aterlamia observed the controls as worse during the jump: you can't change direction mid-air.
We'll be working this next weekend on a post-LD version that will adress the controls and add more polish (such as an end screen and proper feedback, as well as more levels).