Gravity Hook by crneumre

[raw]
made by crneumre for LD 42 (COMPO)

Cover Image.png

About:

Escape the spaceship and arrive back to earth!
Use your Hook to travel in space.
The game features 20 levels.

Level 5.gif

Controls:

  • WAD / Arrows - Move / Jump
  • Click and Hold Mouse - Shoot the hook and pull yourself towards the tile.

Level 7.png

Notes:

  • Theme: I interpreted the theme as Running out of (outer)space, as in my goal is to run back to earth.
  • Chrome Browser: Please enable flash to play the game. Press the Secure button left to the URL - Site settings - Flash - Allow.
  • Why flash?! The game is written in Haxe. The development was in flash because I had access to a debugger, I tried building the HTML5 version but it was way too broken for me to fix it in time so I decided to release the flash version.

Level11.png

Thank you for playing and hope you all like it!
Feedback is much appreciated!

Ratings

Overall 120th 3.786⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Fun 119th 3.714⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 216th 3.457⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Theme 651th 2.757⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 331th 3.314⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Audio 418th 2.727⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Humor 347th 2.4⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Mood 187th 3.313⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Given 35🗳️ 21🗨️

Feedback

rumor
14. Aug 2018 · 13:54 UTC
Really addicting and very complete! Nice ramp-up of challenge and adding new obstacles. Once the spiky blocks showed up it started to get too hard for me, but still very fun. Good job!
🎤 crneumre
14. Aug 2018 · 14:37 UTC
I did a full play-through of the game pretty much at the last hour and didn't have much time to tweak the difficulty, so the levels sometimes get very difficult and then a bit easier. Also I played with the mechanic so much it was hard for me to tell what was too difficult for the player :)
Thank you for the kind words and the feedback!
heidelbert
14. Aug 2018 · 18:22 UTC
Really cool game and execution.
Star Garden
14. Aug 2018 · 18:24 UTC
I really enjoyed this game! The grappling hook in space feels so satisfying, and the difficulty is just right for me. Getting some of those keys was tough! It always felt good to finish each level. Fantastic job!
C1FR1
14. Aug 2018 · 18:30 UTC
I like the difficulty curve and the slow introduction of new features, the level design was pretty good as well.
Suchista
14. Aug 2018 · 18:32 UTC
This is one of my favourites so far :) Fun and polished!
Player 2
14. Aug 2018 · 18:41 UTC
One of the best games i have played so far - Very fun and cool concept with the gravity hook slingshot like movement. However i did find that if you died after collecting all keys the end door stays open, but if you enter it it doesn't take you to the next level until you re-gather the keys - so alls good . :)
cbenoit
14. Aug 2018 · 18:46 UTC
Oh man does this game get hard further on. I got to level 11 before I had to put it down. Very fun though once you start getting the hang of shooting around objects (appreciated the level or 2 where swinging around 1 object was the entire level to teach you how that works). Too many times near the end though I ended up with just too much momentum, being able to use some oxygen to slow down would have been much appreciated :P

Great job on this!
dcrdro
15. Aug 2018 · 10:42 UTC
Interesting game, well designed levels, but as for me control is some weird :/ and i did'nt understand how gravity works :/
But still good job!
Gamescalation
15. Aug 2018 · 10:42 UTC
Really good entry. A very good puzzle platformer (if you want to call it that way)
Its a lot of fun to use the grappling hook as some kind of slingshot in space.
Timbals
15. Aug 2018 · 10:49 UTC
Very fun game, it gets difficult fast. Some music would have been nice. The other sounds were really good.
Donitz
15. Aug 2018 · 21:25 UTC
Difficult but satisfying. Getting in a series of smooth curves and swinging right into the goal feels good. Instant restart on death is appreciated.
ristoretto
15. Aug 2018 · 21:46 UTC
The hook works well, also nice with oxygen and space, I also like that you enter a elevator, very portal like. But I'm surprised I haven't seen it before.

Some of the levels was a little nitpicky, I think I would have liked more small tweaking with wasd in the air. All in all nice :)
illugion
15. Aug 2018 · 21:48 UTC
Neat game! Kinda hard as people said haha I like how complete you made it, it's a tough thing to do. Good job!
Anthony Dunlap
15. Aug 2018 · 21:50 UTC
This game is very addicting, but frustrating. Graphics and sounds are good, though some music would be nice.
🎤 crneumre
16. Aug 2018 · 06:48 UTC
@heidelbert @star-garden @c1fr1 @suchista @cbenoit @dcrdro @gamescalation @timbals @donitz @ristoretto @illugion @anthony-dunlap Thank you all for playing and the valuable feedback! I'll make sure to tweak and rework the difficulty of the levels and ease players into the hard levels a bit further on, maybe in the post-compo version.

@player-2 Thank you for the bug reporting and glad you enjoyed the game!
SecondDimension
17. Aug 2018 · 10:49 UTC
I really liked the idea, although couldn't quite get the hang of the gameplay (probably just me). I could see there were levels designed to slingshot around rocks and so on, but I mostly got through by luck and some really messy maneuvers. It works well though, and you did a lot of level design which can be quite tough during a jam.
Supernapie
18. Aug 2018 · 10:49 UTC
I liked to ruff oldschool graphics and the game play was fun. The only thing i would change, is that you don't collide with the tiles you put your hook in. Or that you bounce off of them. Because sometimes you get stuck against those tiles and you loose a lot of momentum when you run into them.
Killing kitty
18. Aug 2018 · 19:28 UTC
this is probably the most fun I've had with a ld game this jam, so far. It is very satisfying to finish a hard level, and the controlls and motion is very fluid. The only thing I'm missing is some bgm!
mikethewayne
20. Aug 2018 · 13:28 UTC
Extremely fun, perfectly executed pendulum physics, fantastic level design, and satisfying dings as a bonus. I felt like I was developing a skill; at the start of the game, I was inept to say the least, but as the game progressed, I was certainly becoming a lot better, which was necessary, as the levels were becoming a lot more difficult. You nailed the level progression, is what I'm saying here.

Music would've been a nice addition, but I can hardly complain, and it's clear where all your time went in this entry! An idea with the music is that it plays while you're in oxygenated areas, which then settles into silence as you enter space.

Aside from the music, and a few bugs here and there, it's hard to fault this entry at all! Very entertaining game to play, brilliant job for a 48-hour challenge!
MZA
20. Aug 2018 · 13:38 UTC
Game gets quite challenging eventually. There is a nice difficulty curve. The mechanics are solid. Although it could be more fun with a longer hook.
Wevel
20. Aug 2018 · 13:39 UTC
Some fun levels, some of which took me a while to complete. Overall a good entry.
Annie Owl
21. Aug 2018 · 18:08 UTC
Damn, that was brutal. To be honest with you I still wasn't able to beat all the levels. But it was definitely interesting game, with quite an original concept and interesting interpretation of the theme. Good job.
🎤 crneumre
25. Aug 2018 · 08:52 UTC
@seconddimension Yes I think the introduction of the mechanic happens too fast and doesn't give enough time to figure it out before diving into the hard levels, will work on it in later versions!
@Supernapie Hmm interesting, I'll try to add some bounce or something to see how that works.
@killing-kitty Thank you very much! I think even if I had 48 hrs just to create music, I wouldn't come up with something good haha
@mikethewayne Wow thank you very much for the kind words and feedback! I really like the idea of the music stopping when you enter space, I'll most likely implement it in later versions.
Thank you all for playing and the feedback!
very dark lord
02. Sep 2018 · 14:31 UTC
Not bad! One of the rare games which actually feels like a proper game, with levels and learning curve and everything! I really like the level transitions which make it feel like a continous world. Very well done I have to day! Only made it to level 7 though, couldn't solve that one. :( I hope I haven't missed out on any spectacular features after that. Really well done though, great entry!
Ithildin
02. Sep 2018 · 16:26 UTC
Quite challenging in a good way :smiley:
Controls work and feel smooth, and in general the level difficulty pacing has been fair so far, it is really satisfying to find yourself slowly improving over a level (Currently scratching my head over level 8).

A really cool concept with a more than decent amount of content for a compo game. Congrats!
Ksyne
02. Sep 2018 · 16:33 UTC
Very challenging, I would work a bit on the controls, because they feel very exaggerated and instant. Add friction for when the player walks and you aren't in zero gravity. Overall, great game! Keep up the good work!
UnitedFailures
02. Sep 2018 · 18:23 UTC
Awesome game. I love swinging grappling hook games so this really connected with me. The controls felt fluid but the ambiguity of the length of the rope bothered me.

Great game overall.
Blinkenlights
02. Sep 2018 · 20:49 UTC
Would like to play, but I'm currently having difficulty with flash >:( Will try out tomorrow, if all turns out well...
FireHawk
03. Sep 2018 · 12:17 UTC
Game plays and feels good. You interpreted theme in such a good way. I really love this. Also, the graphics also is good pixelated. Good job!
Jonathan Lorenz
03. Sep 2018 · 12:34 UTC
Interesting idea. The character was a bit hard to control in space (which is the point) but my feelings where that it (the movements of the character) was lacking a bit of pleasure. Good plateformer/puzzle overall!