Temple Trap - The Game! by Jasper Hansen

"Temple Trap - The Game!" is a wave - based combat arcade game, based around the idea of having a shrinking play area rather than a health bar. Fight off monsters in a constant attempt to escape this deadly trap, gradually gaining skill as foes of increasing strength and number rise to face you.
-Controls-
Movement - Arrow keys
Run - Shift
Attack - "X"
Select - Enter or "Z"
Exit Game - Escape-
Toggle Fullscreen - "F" or F11

-Credits and Source Code-
All asset design, programming, and sound design was done independently [Sound FX were created using SFXR] SOURCE CODE: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YsL1iup_CXvpvcou998dtyMzZkzb1ikd
| Windows | https://gamejolt.com/games/temple_trap_game/360857 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/temple-trap-the-game |
Ratings
| Overall | 414th | 3.288⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 390th | 3.192⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 229th | 3.442⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 123th | 4.038⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 311th | 3.365⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 493th | 2.46⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 309th | 2.5⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 404th | 2.854⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 26🗳️ | 21🗨️ |
Character animation is very nice. Several nods to Spelunky, I think. :)
Some frustrations for me:
- I wish it were easier to see the walls! At first I thought that was just a different texture of floor.
- I usually died from accidentally standing just slightly on spikes, and not realizing that I was continually taking damage. Generally it's a bit hard to tell where the hitbox for the player and enemies is.
(I was hoping those Spelunky references wouldn't go to waste (: )
Some constructive feedback:
- Sprites are great and the animations are smooth
- There needed to be more contrast between the wall and floor tiles
- The level felt like it started out too big, if you started with half the size then the shrinking walls would feel more threatening
- There needs to be more of a driver for killing the monsters in the waves, either a compelling story reason on mechanic (ideally both)
I really like this game, I think with some polishing you'd have a great indie hit on your hands.
A smaller gripe were the controls. The character accelerates too quickly and slows down too slowly, comparatively, so I find myself having trouble with precision movement that are small because I overshoot them and also having trouble with deciding when to release a directional key, which leads me to take damage fairly often.
I do think you've made an interesting use of the theme though. Many of the games I've played so far use the idea of the shrinking space, which would make your game unoriginal, however, the fact you've tied the mechanic to health and the changing layout of the map help making the concept fresher.
Encountered one crash:
```
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object obj_weapon:
Unable to find any instance for object index '6' name 'obj_player'
at gml_Object_obj_weapon_Step_0
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Object_obj_weapon_Step_0 (line -1)
```
Some thoughts:
The central pilars have little contrast and are not noticeable when they rise/fall.
It took me a while to understand water keeps you moving forward. Crashing the boat and dying seems a bit overkill, maybe just shrink more than a monster hit and let me die only from lack of space.
The spikes hitbox is too restrictive to maneuver around.
However, there are several problems.
* Some terrains are hard to recognize.
* When stepped onto spikes, the wall consistently shrinking. I think there should be some invincible time.
These nagetively effected my game experience.