LudumData

She Rocks by paynob

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

Some ideas came around to our minds, but finally we decided to make a game about Miner's canary.

Miner's Canary

Canaries were used as sentinel species for use in detecting carbon monoxide in coal mining from around 1913 when the idea was suggested by John Scott Haldane. Toxic gases such as carbon monoxide or asphyxiant gases such as methane in the mine would affect the bird before affecting the miners. Signs of distress from the bird indicated to the miners that conditions were unsafe. The birds were generally kept in carriers which had small oxygen bottles attached to revive the birds, so that they could be used multiple times within the mine. The use of miners' canaries in British mines was phased out in 1986.

Game

Anotación 2020-04-20 233737.png You are a miner in a completely dark cave. Your only companion is a canary that will detect pockets of hazardous gas, and your task is to find the diamonds that this dangerous place contains, by mining the rocks beneath your feet.

Take care, though, for inhaling too much gas can result in you or your canary fainting, and that will terminate your adventure. KEEP IT ALIVE

Controls:

  • A/D or Left/Right arrows to move the character.
  • W, Up arrow or Space to jump.
  • Left mouse button will make the character start mining a block, if there is any at range.
  • Right mouse button will pick up or drop the canary.

The canary will warn you when you are approaching a pocket of gas, but it will also inhale more oxygen than you, and therefore resist less exposition. Use at your own will, and please take care of it!

Content

All the content was made from scratch for this ludum dare by the two mebers of the team.

ChangeLog

  • v1.0f1
    -- Fixed: Button "play again" didn't react
  • v1.0
    -- Released: Game for Ludum Dare #46
Youtube https://github.com/paynob/Ludum-Dare-46
Youtube https://paynob.itch.io/she-rocks
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/she-rocks

Ratings

Overall 2005th 3.125⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1776th 3.05⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 837th 3.475⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1404th 3.575⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1637th 3.3⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Audio 1441th 2.675⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1520th 2.583⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1909th 2.95⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 26🗳️ 3🗨️

Feedback

Fermak
21. Apr 2020 · 20:43 UTC
I feel like it could use some better indication of when you're near gas, my bird just dies before I can react
PlagueOfMinds
21. Apr 2020 · 21:07 UTC
I really liked the concepts and the mechanics were very interesting, but I would make it more clear that you are in gas and remove the low oxygen zones and just have the killer death zones. I liked how it forced you to use digging routes around the gas, but would add more stuff, like enemies or push able blocks to make it even more interesting. Really liked this game, great job!
vartagh
21. Apr 2020 · 21:16 UTC
very cool player design
GibsS
21. Apr 2020 · 21:57 UTC
I liked the idea and the graphims, it would be nice to add blocks (gold...) to make the mine more interesting, but great work, keep it going!
PeachTreeOath
22. Apr 2020 · 03:33 UTC
Clever theming, the concept is quickly understandable and the controls are forgiving for getting out of tough areas. The game is QUITE tough though, because you die so fast. I ended up playing extremely carefully, as if every block could a landmine. But even then it was easy to jump into the wrong spot because it was a bit of a memory game too. Would be interesting to see how this game plays if you had just a little more time to live as it could make exploring feel a lot less scary.
22. Apr 2020 · 10:34 UTC
Nice one!
AnaGF
22. Apr 2020 · 22:08 UTC
This is an original take on the theme! Overall is neat. Maybe the movement was a bit slow for me, becaue I had not time to react after hearing the canary, but this is a nice concept.
Guilherme Oliveira
22. Apr 2020 · 22:11 UTC
Really cool way to play with the theme, I had to play some times to really understand how it works and it felt I lost a bit too fast, but it is fun overall!
Hare Software
22. Apr 2020 · 22:11 UTC
I really like the unique dynamic betweeen the player and their canary. There is really this feeling of 'Got to make sure it stays alive'. Not just because that's what the game tells you to do, but because it is actually the best way to play the game. Great idea and good execution!
hectorid
22. Apr 2020 · 22:15 UTC
I like the concept of keeping the bird alive but i think that it would be more interesting if the game didn't end when the bird dies, and showed the player how much more difficult mining becomes without it. Also, holding the button to keep mining would be an welcome feature.
spectralcascade
22. Apr 2020 · 22:28 UTC
This is a neat game, though pretty challenging! It fits the theme really well overall :)
sharbelfs
22. Apr 2020 · 22:57 UTC
I really like these kind of mining games. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but when I die, it's usually really fast, like, in one second the canary is warning me, and the other I'm already dead, would be nice to have some extra time, to think about my next direction. Overall game is nice to play, and with more options of actions to do, it can become much better
Brachistosauro
22. Apr 2020 · 23:10 UTC
Very cool concept, I love this idea! What I would do is making the game a bit more forgiving (bird dies EXTREMELY quickly) and maybe having the ability to hold down the mouse to mine. But cool overall :thumbsup:
marcmagus
24. Apr 2020 · 03:25 UTC
I think it would help to sacrifice realism a bit and let the bird live a bit longer. You have to have quite quick reactions and accurate jumping to get out of a gas zone without losing your canary (and thus the game).

ETA: Thanks for bringing your game for me to check out on stream! You can now rewatch the highlight at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/617113687
Mykola
24. Apr 2020 · 21:00 UTC
Very educational and innovative! I really liked the idea. The graphics is neat and the atmosphere was pretty good as well. Unfortunately, the bird was dying too fast and there was no way to heal it. I guess you can manage it if you're really good, but then maybe a progression system for the time to die would make the game easier to learn and postpone the challenge to the late game.

Great job overall!
AndideBob
30. Apr 2020 · 12:17 UTC
I love that you picked a real life topic to make a game about. The game could be a bit easier, I died twice because my bird only warned me about danger in a hole when I was already in the air. The game looks great though and the music is nice too. Well done!
elysiagriffin
09. May 2020 · 20:45 UTC
Thanks for submitting your game for me to play on my livestream!

If you’d like to rewatch the playthrough, you can find it here:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/615952171?t=5h54m31s

Good luck on your ratings, see you next LD! :D

💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady

https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin
Honest Dan
11. May 2020 · 19:25 UTC
The poor bird! I TRIED. I really tried. I'll be careful this time, I said. But alas. I killed another bird :(

I felt the time it took to hit the lose condition on the game was a little too harshly tuned. Especially for a jam, you want people to have to focus on the rules but not be punished too harshly when exploring an unknown level.

I like how you themed the game and your interpretation :)