Around The Jungle by Makbeard

[raw]
made by Makbeard for Ludum Dare 47 (JAM)

As an explorer deep in the jungle, you get snared by plants; you must struggle to escape your bondage.

Hint: Try traveling counter-clockwise

Ratings

Overall 1432th 2.972⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1163th 3.028⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 604th 3.5⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1480th 2.75⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1440th 2.5⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Audio 756th 3.194⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Humor 902th 2.556⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1488th 2.389⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 23🗳️ 10🗨️

Feedback

Antrimplato
06. Oct 2020 · 19:49 UTC
cool but I didn't have the patience to pass, too hardcore )
maliyshock
06. Oct 2020 · 19:54 UTC
Good job! But it would be nice to have UI for better aiming. It is paintful right now. I was confused every time where am i gonna shoot this thing?
Linaiz
06. Oct 2020 · 20:04 UTC
Would be great to see a line between the character and my mouse, to see more or less where I'm aiming. Other than that, it's a really cool concept!
nanolotl
08. Oct 2020 · 11:34 UTC
Really good and fun core mechanic, which was implemented pretty well. Had difficulty figuring out where to go, but enjoyed just flinging around anyway.
don-tnowe
08. Oct 2020 · 12:10 UTC
Interesting game! Movement felt very sensitive until i realized "wait its a race youre supposed to go fast :0"
Needs better visual/audio feedback for player's actions, like showing the aiming power/direction.
Zachary Granger
09. Oct 2020 · 01:29 UTC
Fun concept, but I was really confused on what to do. Kept flinging around the level without being able to find the goal, or understand the loop you wanted me to do.
I also agree that some feedback on where you were aiming would be nice.

Good mechanic, just needs work on fleshing out the rest of the game I think!
LarrySeinfeld
09. Oct 2020 · 01:29 UTC
Very different idea. I like the environment and atmosphere and the core mechanics, but it was a little tough to control or know where I was going. But that's not all bad, it gives you a sense of exploration which I like. Also the visuals were poppin'! Good work!
Tvorojok
11. Oct 2020 · 13:38 UTC
Haha, I had a lot of fun playing this game! Thanks!
exofrenon
11. Oct 2020 · 14:22 UTC
The core mechanic is very satisfying and I believe it has a lot of potential for a full fledged mobile phone with multiple stages and more mechanics. The graphics were not bad and the sounds were spot on. Fun overall, but I feel that the "stuck in a loop" mechanic was kinda tacked on and not part of the main game design. It was confusing what the main goal was, which I guess it was to go around the stage as fast as you can.

I think you should give better guidance on where you need to go next to end the loop (either by having arrow signs or by showing the whole stage at the beginning so that the player knows roughly what they should do, or even better to have a larger field of view with smaller stages and some implicit guidance based on intuitive level design). I think you should also have a UI to show where the force will be applied while you drag the mouse (I kind of expected the ball to follow the mouse when you click and when you release a force to be applied towards the vector from the ball to the anchor). The use of mushrooms was also a bit confusing.

Overall, great job!
🎤 Makbeard
12. Oct 2020 · 01:51 UTC
Thanks for all the great feedback!
There seems to be an agreement on some changes we should implement once the voting period is over. ^_^
JonathanWang
12. Oct 2020 · 23:08 UTC
Very cool concept and well implemented too. It was super entertaining just flinging the character all over the place until I figured out what the goal was. If I had to add something, maybe an arrow indicator to show where the character will go once you release.
kruemelkeksfan
14. Oct 2020 · 11:09 UTC
It would have been really helpful to know where I should go. You gave the hint of going counterclockwise, but that would only have helped if I could have identified the loop.
pedrocoden
16. Oct 2020 · 06:14 UTC
Nice game!
Balance686
19. Oct 2020 · 00:13 UTC
I really dig the music it compliments the visuals nicely. I also enjoyed the hook/swing mechanic. It's a bit tough to control though. I think having an indicator drawn when you click/drag the mouse showing the direction/velocity of the movement (ie: arrow with length based on the velocity) would go a long way to improve the experience. Nice job it's one of the more unique games I've played this jam!