Don't Mess With Totems by wine

[raw]
made by wine for LD34 (JAM)
​Two button vertical platformer game. Adventure of a small brave hedgehog who's fearless hunting for his Nut on dangerous growing totem!

Controls:
X or Up- jump, hold to double jump,
Z or M - dash to the opposite side​

Game by Noclip: Aleksey Stepanov - code, Ekaterina Frolova - art
Special thanks for the "SimpleStamp" font by Oleg Stepanov

Made With Unity
Free music by Blue Dot Sessions
--- --- ---

* Thorns
Sorry for the bug with RNG - when you cannot avoid thorns
We played around with different ideas way too long, and simply ran out of time :)

Ratings

Coolness 89% 2
Overall(Jam) 4.08 37
Fun(Jam) 3.66 156
Graphics(Jam) 4.82 5
Humor(Jam) 3.55 142
Mood(Jam) 3.95 77
Theme(Jam) 4.40 26

Feedback

Rnd
15. Dec 2015 · 02:10 UTC
Cool game...
Monsieur.N
15. Dec 2015 · 02:48 UTC
Ok, first it's absolutely pretty, the graphics are really cool (congrats to the graphic artist) and the sound design really follow this atmosphere.

Speaking about atmosphere, I love the way you've mixed a peaceful and a more and more difficult/stressful gameplay.

The gameplay by the way is pretty simple (even if the action to go at the other side of the Totem was cool and needed some practice) but effective. So an other good point!

Nice job comrades, I'll follow your future project with joy! ;)
Yaroslav Kravtsov
15. Dec 2015 · 07:37 UTC
Visual aesthetic is over awesome. Gameplay is solid and consistent. My best record is 9th totem. Not too much I think. It hard to avoid thorns when they on both sides.
Christina Antoinette Neofotistou
15. Dec 2015 · 09:47 UTC
It's amazing, I love the gameplay *and* idea, *and* the control scheme, and of course the graphics, they're SO professional. Bravo, Ekaterina, bravo Aleksey and Alyeg
Pixelfan Games
15. Dec 2015 · 09:58 UTC
i love all. Awesome graphics, nice gameplay, really good job to all :D
anael
15. Dec 2015 · 10:01 UTC
Beautiful, wonderful game! I LOVE it, it's a very good idea, and the art is amazing, it moves super good, it's dynamic, Congrats!!
jsmars
15. Dec 2015 · 10:30 UTC
Very nice work, nice graphics and mood and challenge!
gogo199432
15. Dec 2015 · 10:38 UTC
Very cool game, the graphics are amazing! Am I right that it's randomly generated? Because not once did I have the problem that there was no way to continue, thorns on both sides. The slowing time is a bit irritating after the 3th time I think, but whatever. Nice game all around, thanks for making it!
OwT
15. Dec 2015 · 12:04 UTC
Awesome graphics, it's really beautiful and so colorful! And that music is so nice :) I wanted that nut, I really wanted to give it it to that fuzzy ball, so I was keep playing and playing and... This game is nuts! XD
ManuSaiz
15. Dec 2015 · 12:49 UTC
Amazing art and mood! Good job guys
Eingya
15. Dec 2015 · 12:51 UTC
This looks gorgeous! Well Done!

Game is also quite fun!
krashja
15. Dec 2015 · 12:52 UTC
Nice entry, Sometimes you cannot avoid thorns :(, Very nice effects and graphics! Nice work!
RadStar
15. Dec 2015 · 12:52 UTC
So Pretty ! Nice polishd game and cool grph and gameplay, love it!
UgiWithAKnife
15. Dec 2015 · 12:54 UTC
A very Monkey Islandish vibe, I like it very much.
Dege
15. Dec 2015 · 12:56 UTC
The Graphic is gorgeous and I really love it!
The idea is really nice.
The controls feels not so reactive to me.
There are lose conditions where the player feels that the game is unfair (thorns on both side...)
Janacek
15. Dec 2015 · 12:59 UTC
Pretty game :)
tyrants.not.found.team
15. Dec 2015 · 13:01 UTC
Well...yeah...absolutely nothing bad to say or to critique or to improve.
Fantastic visuals, solid gameplay, very polished, very amusing, this can actually be put in a store as-is.
Very very well done!
Slothmachine
15. Dec 2015 · 13:03 UTC
Wow! I always love it when someone combines gorgeous graphics with simplistic gameplay. Absolutely beautiful!
djfariel
15. Dec 2015 · 13:04 UTC
One of the most unique games I've played so far, a lot of fun. Only two complaints: 1. The controls could be more responsive, and 2. Sometimes the next falling totem has spikes that reach down and kill me before I have a chance to react to the next challenge. Since the game requires fine tuned control, the character controller response needs to be very accurate. Other than that, flawless. A great entry.
limered
15. Dec 2015 · 13:08 UTC
Wow, just wow. Beatiful graphics, challanging, solid gameplay and fun! Nicely done.
DrTeaSpoon
15. Dec 2015 · 13:11 UTC
So far coolest I've rated (from the 5 previous but still).
winesays
15. Dec 2015 · 13:28 UTC
--- --- Tnanks & Thorns --- ---

Great thanks for all your kind words guys!
We can't stop smiling reading new comments :)

Sorry for the bug with RNG - when you cannot avoid thorns.
We played around with different ideas way too long, and simply ran out of time
timeshapers
15. Dec 2015 · 13:32 UTC
Can't figure out how to pass this: http://i.imgur.com/ONYfdt5.jpg

but otherwise, awesome game.
David Cookie
15. Dec 2015 · 13:34 UTC
Woaw, ok you won! Very professional and mostly fitting the theme of the jam. Graphics and audio are exceptionnal! Could be a Rayman game (with these typos) ^^ Just too bad there's some situations where we can't escape death (stuck by a wall in one side and by thorns on the other side :/). Anyway.. Very well done!
NidzaKornjaca
15. Dec 2015 · 13:44 UTC
This is excellent!
Amazing graphics and simple and fun gameplay.
- Don't quite like the music, effects are cool though.
vidarn
15. Dec 2015 · 13:48 UTC
Wow!
So polished, so much fun!
Great job!
Leaghorn
15. Dec 2015 · 14:06 UTC
wow. Thats some serious graphics skill.
Didi
15. Dec 2015 · 14:07 UTC
Beautiful graphis and sound, I found it a bit hard and don't passed the first 'osbtacle' got 10 totems. Some kind of lag and didnt get able to jump. But overall is awesome!
philipp
15. Dec 2015 · 14:09 UTC
Absolutly stunning art. Gameplay quite simple though
Lo-X
15. Dec 2015 · 14:11 UTC
Okay, at firt, the game is beatiful. But it only gets better once you play :D The game is original and addictive. A really good mood for a really good job!
Riftpoint
15. Dec 2015 · 14:36 UTC
This game is amazing! The art is incredible, as well as the music and sounds. The GameFeel is also very good.
dalbinblue
15. Dec 2015 · 15:02 UTC
Your game is absolutely beautiful and very funny. The only criticism I have is that the randomly generated nature of the level generates impossible situations, either where there are thorns on both side close enough that you can't swing around the totem without getting hit, or a totem is shifted so that you can only go up one side but there are thorns at the bottom. In the end, the highest I got was 20.
TaylorAnderson
15. Dec 2015 · 17:07 UTC
oh man this was amazing. i have no idea how you made such stunning art in 72 hours, and then made a pretty good (if simple) game on top of that. bravo.
Tuism
15. Dec 2015 · 18:36 UTC
On OSX... Downloaded, unRARd into two files, both of them doesn't run :/
Bastionride
15. Dec 2015 · 18:44 UTC
This nut is so cute.
Tuism
15. Dec 2015 · 20:36 UTC
Off the charts! So pretty! The effects are great! The mechanics are spot on! There's even humour! You've got everything!

I really wanna know if you ever can get to the nut. Because I really feel like I can. Until I realise it was an endless runner.

Sometimes the setup feels really too difficult for the imprecise controls. Sometimes the thorns just end up giving you a small ass gap which basically felt impossible.

The one thing I would really want to see is a bit of button memory, or "forgiveness" on pressing too early. Say I want to jump again right when I land, I have to hit the button EXACTLY THERE or else you'll slide a bit, and if you're jumping right behind a thorn bit, then you're screwed. Many games have this thing where if you press again mid-jump, it'll remember you did that and jump as soon as you land. Fighting games have that especially.

So yeah. SHIP IT! I TOTALLY WANT IT :D
NirabazGAMES
15. Dec 2015 · 21:16 UTC
Very good and interesting game. Nice graphics and gameplay. Very well selected music. Great job!
blackmagic
15. Dec 2015 · 21:18 UTC
Wonderful graphics, the jump mechanic and RNG are harsh.
TijmenTio
15. Dec 2015 · 21:19 UTC
That's a lovely totem. Game felt really adorable, however there isn't much to do, so I didn't play a lot of it! I think the game mostly thrives in graphics and audio.
Kimau
15. Dec 2015 · 21:22 UTC
That feels slick, the humour is great spot on for the theme and overall just a fabulous game! Really top notch.
lawendt
15. Dec 2015 · 21:23 UTC
Loved it!
hiki911
15. Dec 2015 · 21:27 UTC
like this game, gorgeus graphics, but controls is a little bit uncomfortable (require some space between keys)
Zulgot
15. Dec 2015 · 21:30 UTC
Wow awesome graphics, nice music and pretty challenging - excelent game! :)
fistmaker
15. Dec 2015 · 21:32 UTC
Beautiful Artwork! Good gameplay! Sometimes it wasn't possible to progress. Stuck to the theme well!
Chewie
15. Dec 2015 · 21:33 UTC
Visual are great, colorful and polished.
Controls scheme is easy but I think double jump by holding X isn't the best choice, players are used to double click.
Sometimes obstacles on totems line up in the way that cant be jumped through.

Overall it great looking nice game, good job guys ;)
Tuism
15. Dec 2015 · 21:36 UTC
Off the charts! So pretty! The effects are great! The mechanics are spot on! There's even humour! You've got everything!

I really wanna know if you ever can get to the nut. Because I really feel like I can. Until I realise it was an endless runner.

Sometimes the setup feels really too difficult for the imprecise controls. Sometimes the thorns just end up giving you a small ass gap which basically felt impossible.

The one thing I would really want to see is a bit of button memory, or "forgiveness" on pressing too early. Say I want to jump again right when I land, I have to hit the button EXACTLY THERE or else you'll slide a bit, and if you're jumping right behind a thorn bit, then you're screwed. Many games have this thing where if you press again mid-jump, it'll remember you did that and jump as soon as you land. Fighting games have that especially.

So yeah. SHIP IT! I TOTALLY WANT IT :D
Jakob37
15. Dec 2015 · 21:47 UTC
This might be the nicest looking game I've seen this far in this Ludum Dare! Nice atmosphere, and enjoyable game/controls. The difficulty curve didn't work out so well for me though, it was mostly quite easy to jump along, and then suddenly a two-bush-combo appeared on both sides with a tiny distance between which always killed me (I realised now that you mentioned that in the text). I think you have almost all in place here. Some polish on the difficulty curve, and it is ready to market!
ajopart
15. Dec 2015 · 21:47 UTC
Great entry ! Amazing art and mood. Some tricky situations come to disturb my sessions : the squirrel falls off the screen if I stop pressing x at the beginning and the game doesn't restart.
Darkflint
15. Dec 2015 · 21:53 UTC
What else can i say what the others didnt already said? Except for: 14!
Galvesmash
15. Dec 2015 · 22:11 UTC
Special effects are awesome and soundtrack very relaxing.
Jeroenimoo0
15. Dec 2015 · 22:12 UTC
Perfect sound/fx combination!
Imagos Softworks
15. Dec 2015 · 22:20 UTC
Awesome. really fun! Is there an ending? In my dreams there's an ending and I can get past totem block #9 :)
Arowx
15. Dec 2015 · 22:20 UTC
Excellent work.
wilsk
15. Dec 2015 · 22:21 UTC
Looks fantastic!
Ithildin
15. Dec 2015 · 22:23 UTC
I love this one, the visuals are just beautiful, and the mechanics are great: simple, they really fit the theme and they're challenging. I also appreciated the humorous touches, congratulations for a solid entry! :D
atrodo
15. Dec 2015 · 22:37 UTC
Awesome job, really fun and easy to learn.
nelskj
15. Dec 2015 · 22:43 UTC
Nice game and poor squirrel! Great graphisms and intuitive gameplay.
Pusty
15. Dec 2015 · 22:45 UTC
Beautiful! Nice to play! Overall amazing!
scriptorum
15. Dec 2015 · 22:47 UTC
Gorgeous game. My best was 35, but I had a lucky string of totems. The ZX keys cramped up my hand pretty quick, putting the keys on opposite sides would help. Nice job!
Jishenaz
15. Dec 2015 · 23:33 UTC
Wonderful game! Had a very cozy atmosphere to it.

On occasion, I find a shifted edge of the totem above me too hard to jump over, but I can't warp to the other side because there are spikes there. This is fortunately very occasional, and I otherwise really enjoyed this game!
tgrehawi
15. Dec 2015 · 23:35 UTC
Very beautiful game! It seems a bit broken though, Around 6 or 7 I always seem to get a vine I can't avoid.. If you fix that bug you'd have a perfect game!
Soron
15. Dec 2015 · 23:53 UTC
Absolutely beautiful graphics. I am impressed.
GwakamoleStudio
16. Dec 2015 · 00:38 UTC
Really love this graphic style.
The gameplay is effective but some jump distance are not intuitive and some thorns are totaly unfair :(
The music is really cool and relaxing, good point in a scoring die and retry game :p
Good job ;)
SaintHeiser
16. Dec 2015 · 01:28 UTC
Very good entry! Game is pretty well made, nusic and visuals are awesome! Game mechanic looking good but doublejump has strange behavior, I can't perform it when I want. Maybe this issue because of WebGl version. I'll check it out later with win executable =)
Big Green Pillow ft Mgaia
16. Dec 2015 · 01:44 UTC
I Love this!

The artwork is amazing, and it has those little details (like how the camera gently rocks sideways) that add so much character. Skull for game over is also a very clever solution!

As far as gameplay goes, I think you could make things a little more agile. It's not bad at all, but maybe if I could cover a totem-face thing in like two jumps I would be forced to make meaningful decisions more often. Also, I'd test double tapping X to double jump, instead of holding.

Overall, beautiful entry! Good job :3
jdoughty
16. Dec 2015 · 03:09 UTC
Very nice! Very Pretty, and the game play is that right mix of simple and fun!
_HopFrog
16. Dec 2015 · 05:22 UTC
Very well polished! Loved it!
Warboys
16. Dec 2015 · 09:24 UTC
Beautiful with some great feedback for the SLAMdown! Not a tremendous fan of the gameplay, although I didn't realize you could double jump until I just read the controls here :P I was about to comment that some of the generated obstacles are impossible to pass, but I suppose a double jump would have made it ok.

It felt like there was pretty much no pressure at times to advance up when I got stuck trying to jump a ridge, so I could just take my time and spam jump without any consequences.
Tipyx
16. Dec 2015 · 10:52 UTC
Very beautiful, effective gameplay, but the random sometimes force you to loose :/
metalchouchen
16. Dec 2015 · 12:34 UTC
Really nice art but the gameplay looks to be a bit too much random for me.

Congrats!
Farelle
16. Dec 2015 · 12:34 UTC
I think this is the first game where I have like nothing to say...really...it's just awesome, can't believe this was made within a ludum dare :D
Tapehead
16. Dec 2015 · 18:22 UTC
it's a very cool game. controls works great, it's challenging, beautiful graphics and a cool idea of the whole setting
cynicalmonkey
16. Dec 2015 · 19:45 UTC
i absolutely love the look of the game, the colours set such a great tone
Manu & Wan
17. Dec 2015 · 08:04 UTC
A really cool game with nice graphics ;)
alpha_rat
17. Dec 2015 · 11:33 UTC
Really good entry! I love the visuals
bloomingbuds
17. Dec 2015 · 15:39 UTC
Really pretty and fun. I enjoyed it.
Gamepopper
17. Dec 2015 · 19:19 UTC
That was pretty fun, liked the effects and it was hilarious seeing the totem poles just shoot up just as you were about to reach the top. Avoiding the thorns is surprisingly tricky but solid gameplay!
Pat AfterMoon
17. Dec 2015 · 23:11 UTC
Very nice graphics and mood. The control scheme works well.
I like the big skull when you die.
jim3wg
17. Dec 2015 · 23:41 UTC
Very Nice game very polished, but some times there is no way to continue due to the way things are stacked and the opposite side is blocked by spikes
pjimmy
18. Dec 2015 · 01:47 UTC
perfect, especially the designs, superb! beautiful game :D
mike.cullingham
18. Dec 2015 · 05:33 UTC
Gorgeous graphics, and excellent incorporation of both themes. Definitely one of my favourites.
theholychicken
18. Dec 2015 · 07:40 UTC
Gorgeous! And the tiny fur ball thingey is so cute and hilarious!
The random totem generation wouldn't be hard to fix at all, and bug fixes after the 72 hours is allowed in the rules if I remember correctly.
YoungHorses
18. Dec 2015 · 17:10 UTC
Simple, nice to play, and with some fun character/humor.
zguerrero
18. Dec 2015 · 18:44 UTC
Nice little game, graphics are great, sound design and music to! easy and fun to play!
inbetweengames
19. Dec 2015 · 03:40 UTC
Absolutely stunning graphics and great audio!
Gameplay is simple but works for most of the time.. apart from these unfair "dead end" moments - when you're not able to pass the thorns (i.e. they're growing on both opposite sides, one only slightly higher than the other). Would be great to have some rules there - allowing a player to pass obstacles. Maybe thorns could stick out more? (color -wise).

But all in all extremely polished, beautiful entry. Thank you! :)
scorched
19. Dec 2015 · 17:26 UTC
Pity that you lose eventually due to thorns placement... Liked the game!
Ganilder
19. Dec 2015 · 18:34 UTC
The game doesn´t work on Mac. Fix soon?
Tselmek
20. Dec 2015 · 11:20 UTC
Amazing graphics and audio. The jump mechanic feels a little clunky at times. Great job nonetheless.
Miltage
20. Dec 2015 · 11:38 UTC
Gorgeous game. Loved the slow down effect when new totems appeared sometimes. Couldn't figure out what I was supposed to be though.
Joror
20. Dec 2015 · 17:03 UTC
Very nice graphics and jump / screenshake feel! The mechanics itself are nice, but a bit simple - maybe a few more variations would have been nice (powerups? slimey totems?)
Patomkin
21. Dec 2015 · 09:12 UTC
Fits both themes, is fun and pretty. Amazing game!
Drauthius
22. Dec 2015 · 11:27 UTC
Nice entry. Very cute and funny. The Windows download is missing a .zip extension, and had two .exe files in it.
Ludipe
22. Dec 2015 · 22:25 UTC
Hey! Great game! Gameplay was superpolished and art looked awesome. Can't say much more.

Good job! :)
AndreasL
23. Dec 2015 · 16:50 UTC
The graphics are really really cool. Probably the best I've seen in a Ludum Dare entry.
I would have loved to keep playing if not for a couple of things gameplay wise. I was not a huge fan of the hold to double jump. It feels unnatural. I would much rather prefer to press the button twice to double jump.

Also the slow motion was really annoying. It interrupted my flow as I didn't know when the game was gonna slow down and when it wasn't.

Solid entry! Good job!
crazya02
23. Dec 2015 · 17:44 UTC
*SLAM*

Oh! Come On

I made it to 30. Love the visuals and the juxtaposition of peaceful aesthetic with hectic gameplay. Sometimes a thorn slams down when I'm already in midar and unable to react, but otherwise well done!
Dayko
27. Dec 2015 · 01:58 UTC
Awesome graphics and polish ! Maybe gameplay could use a bit more depth though, it was boring quite quickly
Miziziziz
29. Dec 2015 · 01:34 UTC
Very great visuals, wish there was more gameplay to go with it though.
dialogue is a nice touch wishm but there was more, as that would inspire me to play longer
dx0ne
30. Dec 2015 · 10:38 UTC
Absolutely top notch in production values.Everything is super polished.

One thing(aside form RNG) is that it could be better without blocks falling just before you, it's breaking the pace and constant screenshaking is little dizzing after a while.
pixelpotions
04. Jan 2016 · 15:10 UTC
Awesome! Difficult but fun, I'd like for the double jump to just be an extra tap instead of holding the button.