FIREWALL SURFER by Tim Eriksen

[raw]
made by Tim Eriksen for Ludum Dare 47 (COMPO)

Skjermbilde 2020-10-05 kl. 06.32.15.png

(Please read the "How to play" and "Controls" section for the best experience. NOTE: The game performs the best when played in Safari.)

​Surf your way through high security servers in this 80s and 90s inspired hacking game. Using state of the art looping technology the "Firewall surfer" software let you play out your hacker fantasies while looping through and surfing over firewalls. The looping is so powerful that it can be hard to control though, so it's time to break out those 1337 hacker skills of yours! Collect password fragments to crack one server node after another until you finally get what you are looking for, the mainframe!

gif-1.gif

How to play:

​Collect the pink/red letters, numbers and symbols to crack the password. Once all the pieces has been collected a connection to the next server node will appear. Simply jump into it to progress.

Avoid colliding with the edges of the firewalls (the white platforms). You are free to "surf" on top of them, but if you hit the edge then the loop will be broken, the firewall will disconnect you, and your connection will be broken for a short while.

If you don't crack the password fast enough you will be detected and the attack will be aborted. Have fun, hackers!

Controls:

  • ​W: Jump (press again to double jump)
  • S: Slam in to the ground to fall faster

NB! You will need to use both W and S to hit several of the firewalls (platforms). Jump first then slam down on to the the firewall.

Ratings

Overall 346th 3.35⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 434th 3⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 357th 3.2⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 391th 3.4⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 301th 3.425⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Audio 69th 3.775⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Humor 269th 2.647⭐ 19🧑‍⚖️
Mood 164th 3.5⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 34🗳️ 17🗨️

Feedback

timeloopedpowergamer
05. Oct 2020 · 08:56 UTC
Loved the synthpunk electronica music and the CRT visual filter. Didn't love not getting past the first level. Those jumps were HARSH and the forced scroll was dire. Maybe I should just get good? No theme use at all--a gameplay loop isn't enough for points there, I think. LOVE the aesthetic, didn't get through much gameplay. Good run, keyboard cowboy.
🎤 Tim Eriksen
05. Oct 2020 · 12:17 UTC
@timeloopedpowergamer Thanks for playing and for the kind comments on the music and aesthetic! The levels are hard but certainly possible to get through, I've done it multiple times (though I have been playing it a lot 😅). You need to use both jump (W) and slam (S) to make it. I do disagree about the "no theme use" comment. The "hacking software" (character) runs constantly in a loop across the screen, which is both thematically important and a core mechanic.
TolMera
05. Oct 2020 · 15:29 UTC
That was an awesome game thought my reflexes can't keep up with it :)

I love the fast respawn, it makes the game fast, and deaths feel like just part of the practice, not a punishment.

I love the theme music, this brings back memories of so many "hacking" movies and little computer scenes from when I was a kid, really hits the nostalgic spot

Awesome entry.
🎤 Tim Eriksen
05. Oct 2020 · 17:52 UTC
@tolmera Thank you for trying it out!
Nobleboy
05. Oct 2020 · 22:01 UTC
That mainframe can left all alone for what I care that 0 can be left right there and don't even get me started on the R
🎤 Tim Eriksen
05. Oct 2020 · 22:44 UTC
@nobleboy Haha! Thanks for playing anyway. Did you remember to use the “S” key? The maps are not possible to complete with simply jumping 😅 You need to time the “slam” to hit the platforms.
Nobleboy
05. Oct 2020 · 22:49 UTC
@tim-eriksen I never do tutorials, which is probably why none of my IKEA shelves are level. Thanks for clarifying that, friend.
adhesion
26. Oct 2020 · 23:23 UTC
Nice! I love the hackerman concept and the gameplay is pretty unique and fun. The jump+slam move was pretty unintuitive at first and took me some time to get used to but it's a great idea. IMO the levels were all too difficult though, even the first level is fairly tough with how you both have to use the slam move and time jumps across the screenwrap - it could probably could use some "tutorial" levels or section (even if they're not called that) to help the player get used to the controls. (I wonder if making the camera scroll with you might make things easier?) Being super fast also makes it a bit difficult to learn. There are also a couple control & physics-related bugs that were pretty annoying - if you hold W or S as you land you jump or slam again which especially makes slamming feel bad at times (ie, if you hold S for too long coming down onto a platform you'll slam again off the edge). Also I definitely clipped through a platform while slamming a couple times which was not great. Never got past the 3rd level (also I was a bit confused as to how the levels aside from 1 are seemingly different each time?). On my last attempt the game crashed upon hitting the end block in level 1 with this error:

Uncaught TypeError: t is undefined
setScene mainScene.js:101
loadLevel mainScene.js:166
loadNextLevel mainScene.js:173
onCollision connection.js:52
updatePhysics vroom.js:1
e vroom.js:1

so I stopped there. Still a really cool concept, this could be really really great with some tweaks - would love to see a full version. Nice work!
yopox
26. Oct 2020 · 23:47 UTC
Pretty cool! The mood was right there :nerd:
The shaders are incredibly effective
ditam
26. Oct 2020 · 23:50 UTC
A cool entry. The visuals and the sounds are on point, both very polished, and it's amusing how you built a hacking theme around a simple platformer mechanic, good job! I hope you manage to get enough reviews - I see you have given plenty of ratings, but only gotten 8, so hopefully the website will be recommending your game a lot for these last 24 hours.
RubixNoob13
26. Oct 2020 · 23:56 UTC
So, I think that the game COMPLETELY fits with the theme, considering you're LITERALLY "stuck in a loop" the entire time. Although I think I broke the game. I ran out of time, then let the game take me back to the beginning. I beat the first level, and I noticed that the second level was different this time around. I thought maybe it's just RNG. So then on the third attempt, I was in the level marked "MAINFRAME". Then, of course I failed that one because HOLY DIFFICULTY lol.

So, it took me back to level one, I collected the password letters, then THIS happened:
![Capture.PNG](///raw/8c5/81/z/3a7f3.png)

Yes, that says the level is "Hacked" but the timer is just counting down to negative infinity, as far as I can tell, and I'm stuck in place on the side of the screen. I *guess* I broke out of the loop, though? lol

Update: I tried again a few minutes later and really worked on the timing, then THIS happened:
![Capture1.PNG](///raw/8c5/81/z/3a7f4.png)
Zoomer
26. Oct 2020 · 23:58 UTC
Took me a while to actually start getting things right and timing my jumps and slams but when i got the hang of it i enjoyed a lot. Good entry, well done
🎤 Tim Eriksen
27. Oct 2020 · 15:06 UTC
@adhesion @rubixnoob13 Thank you so much for playing and for the kind words! I think you both encountered a bug related to the map loader not resetting its state correctly after the time running out. If you don't time out on any of the levels, then you get all the levels in the correct order and no error :sweat_smile: I did not have time to fix it before release :grimacing: And yes, I agree that there should have been a few easier levels to begin with. The physics bugs don't help either... Anyway, thank you for the feedback!
Jvdwijk
27. Oct 2020 · 15:36 UTC
pretty good! It was kinda difficult to control the player's movement but it was fun to challenge myself with this!