OVERWHELM by randomnine

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

overwhelm_little.png

  • Enter the hive that troubles us.
  • Retrieve five power crystals from its darkest corners.
  • Return to the core to begin the self destruct sequence, destroying the hive.

Retrieving crystals awakens the hive. The more crystals you collect, the more aggressively the hive will respond.

POST COMPO FIXES:

Some browsers don't support the TAB key or the right mouse button. This breaks the game in those browsers, so I uploaded new builds (Flash + HTML5) that use different keys. You can also play the original 48h upload, but please switch if TAB or right click don't work for you. :heart:

Ratings

Overall 59th 3.94⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Fun 180th 3.6⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 392th 3.022⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 301th 3.522⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 53th 4.12⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Audio 84th 3.696⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Mood 45th 3.804⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Given 34🗳️ 6🗨️

Feedback

quixatocs
04. Dec 2017 · 14:10 UTC
This is stunning! The art is soo good and the colours you've chosen are awesome. Great design concept too. I found some of the platforming quite tough but that's really just answered by a bit of git gud so that's not a problem. I loved the instructions being part of the background and I loved the way the camera held on them and near doors. The camera is my only mini critisism in that sometimes, I think it was when I was near an exit, it would move away from the direction I was trying to go as I think it expected me to want to go towards the exit. I'm not sure I've described that too well and I think it's less important than how good the camera feels in general in the game. Great work overall! Look forward to seeing you in the next jam!
tinyworlds
05. Dec 2017 · 01:44 UTC
Damn the movement and shooting in this feel so good! Also interesting concept with the hive awakening. And the sound design ... damn. The double jumps and wall jumps were sometimes a bit hard for me, but that might also be me not playing platformers often. All in all a really awesome, atmospheric entry!
torcado
05. Dec 2017 · 02:23 UTC
Oh man this is so well polished! really really nice. The camera movement looks very cool, unfortunately not being able to see ahead makes enemies really annoying, especially for being one hit kill. The thing that caused me to stop playing was dropping onto an enemy I couldn't see. other than that, super tight controls, great visuals, and nice sounds. Good job!
Abilean
05. Dec 2017 · 02:25 UTC
The controls are amazingly fun!
eerongal
05. Dec 2017 · 02:30 UTC
This is a great little metroidvania style platformer. Really enjoyed it!
bradleysmith
05. Dec 2017 · 02:34 UTC
Controls feel so slick man.
Charles Cox
05. Dec 2017 · 02:35 UTC
This Game is Awesome! Great job. I love the style and the controls. that platforming was smooth and fun as well! My main issue is if you died you would have to start all over again
alterkot
05. Dec 2017 · 02:38 UTC
I love the visuals, camera and movement, but having to go through these long corridors before you meet even a single opponent, and then having to restart when you die and go through these corridors again? I like the idea of enemy numbers increasing, but I wish there was a health system and/or checkpoints after each crystal.
🎤 randomnine
05. Dec 2017 · 22:10 UTC
Thanks, everyone! I think I spent a little too long on the controls and effects :D I'm proud of them, but the gameplay needed more time too. I'm doing a post compo version of this, and I'll definitely fix the cheap deaths and add some checkpoints.
Sengi
06. Dec 2017 · 09:03 UTC
Hey mate, glad to see you are supporting the game, definitely worth a post jam version! Back to the game, it's a great combination of Downwell graphics, Nuclear Throne vfx shaking and a classick metroidvania level design. I think you did great on polishing those things, keep it up!
Rature
06. Dec 2017 · 10:47 UTC
great gam, well balanced and controls are fun ! well done !!!! (and the design is amazing !!! ;) )
EveningWayward
06. Dec 2017 · 14:59 UTC
Your choice of palette reminds me of Downwell, and that, in turn, is one of the best examples of 3-color use in games. Tileable texture for the ground and walls is a bit boring though and starts to hurt eyes quickly, so I'd recommend to add a few other sprites and their variations for each wave after crystal pick-up in a postjam version. Checkpoints and irritating deaths after transition from one screen to another have already been mentioned, so keep them in mind.

Overall, amazing sound design (there is no way to describe how I love that impact from shots) and an interesting idea with hive.
randomhuman
06. Dec 2017 · 21:21 UTC
This is so stylish and polished, I am in awe. Every movement is juicy and satisfying, and the art is gorgeous in its minimalism. The intro to the game and the tutorial aspects are also great touches. There's nothing quite like a long suspenseful intro to a game! However, having to go through it every time you die, when it is so easy to die, makes replays a bit off-putting. Overall a very impressive game, especially for the compo, well done.
deathray
07. Dec 2017 · 04:07 UTC
I agree with what others have said: the controls feel really nice. Your pixel art is amazing -- the quality of animation with so few pixels and colors is really stunning (I wish you would do a tutorial on this!). I'm easily frustrated with platformers, so didn't make it too far with the jumping, and the enemies killed my instantly -- but I still had a lot of fun running around.
Wheffle
07. Dec 2017 · 07:02 UTC
The graphics are great. The controls feel nice. The idea is awesome, entering the "hive" was super cool. I liked how you could explore without any enemies until you got the first crystal.

My main gripe was that I could only ever get one crystal. The enemies are very twitchy and the one-hit kill is extremely unforgiving. Sometimes I'd get killed instantly as I moved to a new screen. Unfortunately that made most of the game unplayable. It might be better if you kept your crystals when you died or something.

Overall a really good entry with just a difficulty balancing issue. Wouldn't be too hard to fix I don't think. Nice job!
Eric Florio
07. Dec 2017 · 14:22 UTC
This game is extremely polished for a game jam, very impressive.

But it's too hard for me hehehe

Some observations:
- I don't know exactly why, but it seems to me that the character moves more than expected when you jump. Even simple platform jumps can be tricky.

- It's unfair when enemies kill you exactly when yhe camera is moving.

- The wall jump is really hard. You probably know that, but I think you need to mantain the direction of the movement for a longer time rigth after the wall jump. This way the player has enough time to switch detween left and rigth buttons.

Oh, and the art style is great to!
SvartTand
07. Dec 2017 · 14:52 UTC
Very nice game. The graphics and sound are amazing! A little bit too hard when you have to restart all over again when you make a small mistake. And I didn't manage to wall jump a single time correctly so some polish on that would be great. Otherwise really epic!
tvance
07. Dec 2017 · 15:27 UTC
This is surprisingly polished for a compo. Well done! Nice sfx.
Yetman
08. Dec 2017 · 15:04 UTC
A great looking game, I truly love your color palette. The controls were great, except the "S" button which felt counter intuitive. The SFX are great too. Nice work.
IcyLava
11. Dec 2017 · 18:33 UTC
God damn it, I need to rate 4 games today and this just had to be the first one I try...

Really well polished for a compo. Felt really harsh when I first died and realized that it doesn't save progress, but I got further with each try.

The controls felt a bit clumsy (though I just now realized flash version has right click for melee).

Gonna have to play this one later some more. Just overall amazing.
Jupiter_Hadley
14. Dec 2017 · 16:39 UTC
Really nice platformer! I included it in my Ludum Dare 40 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKeEenFsX-8
Gurbx
18. Dec 2017 · 11:40 UTC
The feel of this game is really good! The controls are very solid and I the art is really well done and fits well with the game! Great job!