Fox Flares by aeveis

Description
You are a fox that is spontaneously combusting. Try to find some water to alleviate the pains of this life. A platformer with some timing elements.
Updates
A runthrough took me 1:48:43 minutes.
I got another one of 1:08:23 minutes.
Note: Checkpoint 7 is probably the most difficult. You can use R to reset faster, or [ ] to skip through if you really want to.
12/6/17: Ported to html5 build by request. Game plays the same.
12/9/17: Fixed non-game related bug with arrow keys scrolling windows. Also, a post-compo build with some better controls: https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/703245
Controls
- [Arrow Keys] to Move!
- [R] to Start From Last Checkpoint
- (Debug) [Q] to Return To Title
- (Debug) [ [ ] ] to Skip
Tools
- Art: Gimp
- Library: HaxeFlixel
- IDE: Flash Develop
- Music/Sound: OpenMPT
- Level Editor: Tiled
| Windows | https://aeveis.itch.io/foxflares |
| HTML5 (web) | https://aeveis.itch.io/foxflares |
| Flash (web) | https://aeveis.itch.io/foxflares |
| HTML5 (web) | https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/703245 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/fox-flares |
Ratings
| Overall | 32th | 4.066⭐ | 78🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 72th | 3.882⭐ | 78🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 56th | 3.868⭐ | 78🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 256th | 3.601⭐ | 76🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 9th | 4.408⭐ | 78🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 62th | 3.797⭐ | 76🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 192th | 3.177⭐ | 67🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 41th | 3.831⭐ | 73🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 46🗳️ | 47🗨️ |
I think if the platforms reappeared after a few seconds, this wouldn't be much of an issue.
@handle Yes, I'd probably spend more time tweaking some of the controls/level design. Perhaps I'll do that in a post build. You can hit R to respawn from the last checkpoint. If you want to check out past checkpoint 7 you can use [ ] to skip to checkpoints.
Bom jogo! A arte está bonita e a música combina com o mood do jogo. A mecânica dos checkpoints foi interessante e determina a dinâmica do jogo. Parabéns.
Concerning the difficulty; maybe a large part can be fixed by just stretching everything out horizontally juts a little bit? I found that a lot of my difficulties where just in overshooting platforms (... until the 'superjump' blocks after checkpoint 10 or so at least.)
It took me a while to connect the different levels of heat to the different kinds of blocks, but once I got that it was pretty smooth going.
I also liked that fact that you've got an animation for ducking even though it has no use, heh.
I really liked the concept! But some platforming sections were really difficult, especially with the bounce blocks. My only other annoyance was that moment where you have no control of the character after hitting a checkpoint or respawning. Otherwise it was very good :grin:
@remco good suggestion, I might do that in a post build!
@reality-blind I do have some xbox controller support if you want to try that, but personally I feel it controls similarly.
@torcado Thanks! Yeah, I'll probably need to tweak the platforming controls more later. I probably have too much initial x velocity when you jump and not enough air control. The checkpoint thing you don't have any control for a bit because the fox sighs when it hits the water and I didn't want that animation to be interrupted (though the animation is reused for crouch/sleeping anyway). The timer stops when you hit the water though, so it's meant to be a bit of a break.
@krassenstein Thanks! Yeah there's some gamepad support that was built into the input controller base code, but I didn't really test on it that much so it's not listed, haha. I may tweak some on the controls and add some more levels, but it'll probably stay a relatively small game, at least in the short term.

The game is very creative in its design and character. It really makes the checkpoints feel better than just arbitrary flags from where to respawn, which added to the experience. The music and sounds really go nicely along it.
While I had problems here and there (like the dreaded 7th checkpoint), there was another one. I think the 5th? One where, for some reason, the moment I left the spawn, the timer would go very fast. It felt arbitrary, since sometimes it would happen and sometimes it wouldn't. Must be a glitch or something. It was before a vertical climb.
Well, regardless, excellent entry for the compo! [I speak for my team](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames) when I say we're looking forward to your future entries! Have a nice day! :whale:
Only figured out the color mechanics when the blue platforms first appeared. Played the html version up to that point, but it was really slow and changing to the Windows download version was a great change.
The mechanics are great and really innovative as far as I know.
Keep up the good work. I'm looking foward to playing more and started following you on itch.io.
Keep up the good work!
@meatpudding Thanks for the feedback! For me the point of the burning was to set the expectation that the platforming needs to be done within a certain timeframe, and also for adding more motivation for the player to find water.
@oldpeculier The levels are structured to introduce the different mechanics of the game (water, wheat, wood blocks, jumping up, etc). In terms of the timing all the levels can be done within the time frame. Do you have anymore specifics on what you mean? Thanks!
@pvtroswold Thanks! The bouncy blocks could be better communicated. They launch you in the direction you are facing. I added some more feedback in the post compo build.
@moski Thanks for your feedback! The timer going fast is a bug with me forgetting to reset the burn rate if you die in the wheat or something like that. I think it's fixed in the post compo build.
@nathalia-hohl Yah, different platforms can be unpredictable. Good to hear the windows build worked for you! Thanks!
@beavl-games The blocks don't communicate very well when they are solid and not solid, thanks for catching that. I addressed this in the post compo build.
@zeu31 Thanks! I added respawning platforms and water in the post compo build. You can also press R to reset from a checkpoint. The music actually pauses and fades back in when you restart, but it is a bit repetitive so may be hard to tell.
Sadly, I had some performance issues, especially right after respawning I would have severely low frame rates...
Good job!
While I definitely had to get used to the physics a bit at first, I would disagree with the other comments about it being too frustrating or too "slippery". I'm sure you could probably tweak it to be a little more intuitive (which would be nice) but I found it to be just fine once I got the hang of it. I reached the end in 2-3 minutes on my first run.
And yeah, that level 7 is a PITA jaja
Weirdly enough, I found checkpoint 7 to be quite easy, yet satisfying. Maybe that's 'cause 6 game me much more trouble. Checkpoints 6 and 11 was where I wished for bit tighter controls, but for a 48hour game the controls are great.
Windows version runs ultra slow for me for some reason, but the browser version worked well.
It was fun, beautiful sounds and art, great job!
The acceleration curve feels strange to me (too slow at the start, then getting too steep), but I'm not used to playing platformers, so feel free to ignore me...
Other than that I love the concept, art style and the "checkpointing=extinguishing" game mechanic. Congratulations on drawing the best fox sprite that can be squeezed into ~ 18x13 pixels!
(Btw. the game didn't load in Safari, but it worked in Firefox. I see what you did there :wink:)
@toboggan - Interesting, usually it's the other way around. I have noticed the game can lag if my laptop isn't plugged in because it'll throttle the performance, but otherwise I'm not sure.
@m-1 For the compo I've added skips ([ ]) to each checkpoint if you want to check it out past checkpoint 7! I agree with you on the acceleration, I think there can still be a lot done with fine tuning the controls. I did tweak a bit of that in the post compo I have up but I don't think it solves all the issues. If you check the console (f12?) in safari do you know if it has any errors there? Thanks!
Oh yeah, the fox sprite is 16x16 (I think a bit shorter than 16, but 16x16 is the tile/limitation) not including the fire fx :)
16x (for each sound asset):
```
[Error] Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 403 (Forbidden) ([sound name].mp3, line 0)
[Error] TypeError: undefined is not an object (evaluating 'a.apply')
(anonymous function) (soundjs.min.js:17:894)
```
and once:
```
[Error] Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 403 (Forbidden) (monsterrat.svg, line 0)
```
The downloaded files contain following error description:
```
Anonymous users does not have storage.objects.get access to itchio/html/694982/foxflares_by_aeveis_html5/flixel/sounds/flixel.mp3.
```
This happens regardless of whether I am using private browsing mode and content blockers or not... I guess hwcdn.net just doesn't like me.
Thanks for the tip to skip checkpoints with "[" and "]". I loved the ending!
(I found it too difficult to go from checkpoint 10 to 11, but going from 9 straight to 11 by jumping up on the blue blocks was somehow easier for me...)