Harpoon Rescue Marines by Mike Cullingham

[raw]
made by Mike Cullingham for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

Humans are turning into monsters. We (of course) don't want to kill the monster. We want to save it. But also prevent it from eating people (actually eating people not implemented, but it will at least pursue them).

Note that it's pretty buggy and more of a playground at this point than a real game.

  1. WASD & mouse left click to fire harpoon
  2. Left-Control key to grab or drop the ring at the end of a harpoon's chain
  3. Drag the monster into the "H"-Zone (hospital? healing?) to turn it back into a human

  4. Backspace to restart the level 2020-04-20 HRM closeup.PNG

Ratings

Overall 2307th 2.895⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1849th 3⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1671th 3.056⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Theme 2401th 2.711⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1896th 3.053⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1360th 2.722⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Mood 2294th 2.472⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 22🗳️ 5🗨️

Feedback

BluShine
24. Apr 2020 · 03:14 UTC
It's definitely fun to just play around with the physics. Feels like you're holding the leash on a big dog who desperately wants to lick every person who walks by. I like the idea that you're trying to save the monsters while also protecting humans, good use of the theme. I don't really mind the lack of scoring mechanics, but I do wish that the chain grabbing was a little easier. I think it would have been very helpful if there was a circle to highlight the nearest chain, and change the color of the chain that you're currently grabbing. I also wish that the game was a little more fast-paced and frantic, so it had a more chaotic feel.
techsec
26. Apr 2020 · 22:57 UTC
It is really fun, the one thing that it cound use is some sort of time crunch or more chaotic monster. Other than that its fun to just spam that monster with harpoons XD.
jrap
27. Apr 2020 · 04:49 UTC
Nice little wave-based survival thing with a twist here, I really enjoyed firing off like 8 harpoons and then going to grab the whole lot to reel the monster in.

Some notes:
- Disable the gammeaker studio splash screen if you want! It's in global game settings > windows
- I got some belowe average performance palying on my computer, this might just be all the physics stuff going on (which is really fun and unique!) or maybe the room speed is just low? Maybe try setting it to 60 and see how that feels
- Most often the monster actually heals himself because most of the humans are already over in the H square (from being healed previously), it would be a bit more of a challenge if they moved around further from that area. Doesn't detract from the funt hough, of which there is lots to be had here
Great stuff! never seen anything quite like this before.
blay09
05. May 2020 · 21:10 UTC
The chains felt pretty nice to play with. I could imagine this concept being expanded into a full game surrounding chain physics gameplay - especially with chain combat (I want to swing that chain around myself!).
qqcs
06. May 2020 · 02:20 UTC
Neat chain mechanic. Grab/drop on Left Ctrl took some getting used to.

A game like this where you need to keep your comically large pet monster from doing *too* much damage to a town might be fun!
CaptainProton42
06. May 2020 · 21:31 UTC
Was quite fun. The monster turning into a human seemed a bit inconsistent though. Had it in the zone for a while and nothing happened. I think the graphics are really well executed.
grandtheftmarmot
10. May 2020 · 23:54 UTC
That was really cool! I haven't played many games that had that sort of tug of war mechanic. You also nailed the right amount of difficulty for dragging the monster-- difficult, but doable. Great implementation of the physics system on the chains too. It was a little frustrating to grab the rings, but after a little bit I realized that would be really tough in reality, so, maybe that's good lol. Would love to see you explore the chain mechanics more and find other stuff you can do with them. Fantastic job.