Manual Mech by Mikeliosus
Genre:
Platformer/Resource manager
Description:
Our game is about an engineer lost in the underground factory. He lost his mind and found a machine that should help him figure out how to get out of this place.
Player starts the game as a mech pilot. To move around he needs to control the mech manually.
We wanted to make mech comment player actions all over the way, but we were too busy with other stuff :D
So you can hear her only at the start of the game.
For now the game contain 2 completed levels. To pass them you need to carefully distribute your power, find a few mech parts and reach the exit.
Exit is trigger! Just wait for a few seconds after walking on it please XD
If player runs out of power or hp - he looses.
Some introductions of mechanics have not been done so you can check the controls in the upper-left corner of the screen.
Controls :
S - toggle moving
D - toggle direction
A - hold & release to jump
Space - single click to switch to the next jump direction while holding "A":exclamation::exclamation::exclamation:
You can switch between 4 jump directions!
Z - toggle shooting
F/R - move rifle
X - toggle drill
C - switch drill direction
Top/down arrows - pick engine on the power panel
Left/right arrows - distribute power
Use mouse to get through the dialog window
P.S.
A lot of ideas were not implemented during the 72 hour jam, but we hope you will love our prototype. We will be happy to receive your feedback :)
| Windows | https://mikeliosus.itch.io/manual-mech |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/manual-mech |
Ratings
| Overall | 338th | 3.485⭐ | 68🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 612th | 2.851⭐ | 69🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 36th | 4.075⭐ | 69🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 102th | 4.03⭐ | 69🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 407th | 3.567⭐ | 69🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 269th | 3.348⭐ | 68🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 392th | 2.456⭐ | 59🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 396th | 3.266⭐ | 66🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 100🗳️ | 109🗨️ |
The controls were the most challenging. I know that's partially the whole concept, but remembering what keys do what wasn't super intuitive. I might have preferred the option to just play entirely with the mouse.
But overall, I thought this was a great game. Well done!
I'd be interested in a more finalized version!
Really nice graphics and well polished.
A bit sad that you did not get the robot commenting everything.
Keep up the great work people!
Graphics are nicely done, tho Gui could have been more polished but hey.
Audio: music and fx are well done, nothing to
Humor: i don't really care, this category is too subjective ^^
Mood: nothing special here.
Fun and innovation are were i think the game is really lacking. I don't really think you should make frustrating controls for the only purpose of being frustrating. Cause the only result you'll get is success at being this :
frustrating.
Overall a pretty good realization, nice work ;)
Will come back when you add more levels :) Great job!
A suggestion: if you guys can find some way to make this work on a gamepad, it would probably be easier to play.
Really good job!
The controls, like others have stated, are kinda weird, but I got used to them. They really do feel like bizarre controls on a mech, and they work for a puzzle game approach. Others have complained about the energy level, but personally, I found no problem with it.
My biggest complaint here would actually have to be the turrets. Because the controls are so non-intuitive, I couldn't figure out how to get past most of them. Perhaps in a hypothetical full version, the turrets wouldn't show up until later levels and the threats could be limited to, well, anything else. Spikes, electric beams, etc. Also, perhaps a shield add-on could be created, and a way to move the camera so you can see upcoming turrets.
Overall, this is one of the best games I've seen thus far.
[Edit] Nevermind, I've figured it out. You need to **hold down** A, while pressing space.
The concept is pretty original and I would have love to play it more! :p
Your turret have shot me so hard that I feel sad now :p
Falling into this pit on level 2 and then die, that's tought xD I don't know if it fits well with the control. Having one and run, or jump over it, ok, but the pit and the turret fits more a classic platform game like Megaman than your mechanics.
Anyway, that was great. The graphics are cool, the voice is nice and the music create a cool mod thanks to all those sound effects. Well done!
[Danae streams Ludum Dare 39: Day 1, part 1: Manual Mech](https://youtu.be/4KfQtLDzK-g?t=4m25s)
This was the first game we did though, so watch only if you enjoy awkward commentary (from me) :D
I enjoyed figuring out the control scheme, although maybe it would have been nice to visually display the trajectory for your jump? I felt getting out of the pit next to the drill in level 1 was near impossible. To be fair, it was a pretty obvious trap so it was "deserved", but still. In short, it seems the biggest problem with the game right now is difficulty balancing. Good job for a jam! :)
It is so encouraging and informative to watch someone playing your game! :3
Actually it was not a trap. You needed to set up lower power on the hydraulic engine and make a smooth jump right on the platform without hitting a level roof. :P
But thanks to your video I can see clearly that it was a too hard element for such an early moment of the game!
Also if u want to tweet us, use @Mikeliosus @Evgeni_Shudra @Anglainko
Good job, my friends.
At the moment, the layout of your controls on the keyboard is a little messy. Buttons seem to be haphazardly thrown around the left side of the keyboard. A better idea for button layout could be to have colums deligated to each set of controls, eg (with a qwerty keyboard):
1 - toggle move | q - toggle direction
2 - jump | w - angle jump
3 - toggle drill | e - toggle drill state
etc...
or (possibly better) you could allow the player to choose their own keyboard layout. Have a look into getbutton() etc in unity and the related inputs menu. Another thing is that jumping at an angle is rather difficult because you have to guess a lot how much power to use and how far back to stand, an indicator showing the predicted jump arc might be useful to show when jump is held as then the power can be adjusted!
Also, one more slight thing, not sure if level 2 was supposed to end with the turret pit, I managed to jump out of it but then died from the drop right after. I guess some kind of indication that it was the end would have been good (unless it wasn't, in which case I have no idea what to do from there).
Aside from that, awesome game! The metroid style suit pickups were a cool addition!
About level 2 - to pass the turret pit you need to not fall into it at all. To do it you need to pick a right angle (3 times press "Space" while holding "A") and jump forward, over a pit.
Now, I could not finished the second level mostly due to unfair level design. Dying to a turret or running out of power never felt like I had made a mistake.
Turrets quite often cannot be seen before it is too late, so you have to memorize their positions which is lame. Running out of power is also more of a memorization problem. Play the level multiple times and eventually you know which is the most optimal path to the exit. I'm not a big fan of this type of *trial and error* design. I want to be able to make good enough decisions the first time playing, not the tenth time.
Being able to see further would alleviate some of this memorization. Checkpoints with an energy charging station would work too. Another possibility is to simplify the controls, but then you would start losing the mech angle which would be a shame.
Good work overall.
This is a great concept, but movement needs to be a lot more fluid.
I absolutely love the idea. It's really interesting, goes with the theme and it's a different approach to an already known genre. Although... i get the "weird controls", "weird unkown robot you're piloting"... but I really felt i spent more time looking at the controls than at the screen itself. This may not be true when you've spent a good amount of time playing, but... well, maybe i'm just not the type of player for this kind of game.
Also, the "sliding" from a platform you're trying to jump onto can be kinda annoying.
Besides, this is overall a great game. Great idea, good execution, innovative, and as annoying as fun to play! (In a good way).
Probably, what i appreciate the most is the tutorial. The voice-over really sells it, and it works really good for this game.
Good job!
But I really enjoyed this game. :D
I didn't understand why there is a perfectly vertical jump. I didn't find any use for it, so why would that be my default jump angle? Furthermore, I didn't like that I slid along the ground after landing. It takes away from the feeling of being a large mech.
That said, it's a good concept. I like the idea of unnatural controls that you learn to get good at. A skillful play would be satisfying to do.