FROGS Training to be Heros (In a large 'wheel-thing') by HacksawUnit

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

lddemo.gif

FROGS Training to be Heros (In a large 'wheel-thing') is a platform-style game about hopping from place to place and navigating all sorts of tricky situations in a big rotating wheel. Be on guard for all sorts of challenges- but don't worry! It's all training- if you get knocked into the bog, just swim back and try again.

There is no set 'end' to this game- so, you could try to get a high score, just have a good time jumping around, or take in the nighttime ambience.

⌨ CONTROLS:

Left Arrow - Short, backward hop. Keeps sword in 'Defense' stance.

Right Arrow- Large, forward hop. Puts sword into 'Attack' stance.

Spacebar - Used in menus to select options.

'M' key - Cycles through mute options (All sound off, only sound effects, all sounds on)

'S' key - Toggles screenshake

You can skip to the game page down below if you're ready to play, or read a little more for helpful info and intros to the playable characters.

📖 Hints - Your sword is really only good for blocking cannon shots in the training wheel- but you'll be glad you have it! When your sword is in the 'Defense' stance, it will passively block the projectiles. When your sword is in the 'Attack' stance, blocking is very tricky- you must strike the projectiles with the very tip of the sword. (Please note that 'Nate' cannot deflect projectiles in the 'Attack' stance.) - That scary red thing below the wheel punches upwards whenever a red panel lines up with it. - Never underestimate spikes. - Jumping onto the far side of the wheel will weigh it down and make it rotate faster. This is a useful strategy- but also very risky.

👋 Introductions... - Freddie: She is very passionate about her calling and is good at a little bit of everything when it comes to knight duties. (She actually came up with the idea for the wheel, although construction was a team effort.) - Beethoven: Smaller than most frogs, Beethoven is very quick, and can easily dodge projectiles. However, he cannot jump very high, so careful planning is needed when navigating tricky terrain. (The name is a coincidence, although he does enjoy music a lot.) - Nate: Wow. This guy is a real wild card. He has strong armor that allows him to break through spikes- but his sword is very tiny. It can't reflect projectiles with the tip like Beethoven and Freddie's swords. (Nate has been training to be a knight the longest, and has passed down much of his knowledge to the other frogs.)

-- Revisions -- 10/6/2020 - Typo fix: Fixed issue in the 'End of Training!' screen that prevented the number '0' from appearing by slightly resizing sprite font.

Ratings

Overall 49th 3.96⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Fun 32th 4.02⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 151th 3.66⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Theme 55th 4.2⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 170th 3.74⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Audio 256th 3.24⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Humor 56th 3.705⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Mood 187th 3.457⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Given 18🗳️ 4🗨️

Feedback

WTFree
05. Oct 2020 · 01:18 UTC
Super qute animations and characters.Love it!
Samelgamedev
05. Oct 2020 · 20:01 UTC
i liked this! fun gameplay and concept. i liked the different characters too
LeReveur
05. Oct 2020 · 23:30 UTC
What a good take of the theme as a gameplay! It was fun to play, even if I sucks with this kind of games (my best score is 22 in "easy mode" - aka play with Nate ^^)
Well done!
Vaulkhar Alexis
05. Oct 2020 · 23:35 UTC
Awesome game! I really wanted to beat the high score and I finally reach 18 after few atttempts! That was really fun ! :)
NoahRo
06. Oct 2020 · 05:01 UTC
This is really fun to play!
I love how you can really learn the mechanics of the game and improve on previous mistakes.
The characters are great, I love how they all have different play-styles.
Still really tough, I'm looking forward to improving my highscore!

Very glad you could participate in the end :)
Sheepolution
06. Oct 2020 · 16:53 UTC
Interesting mechanic! I never really understood the difference between defence and attack mode, but that's alright I think. I like how you have multiple characters, and how you have a coach frog sitting on the left. The graphics are nice, the audio is as well. Nice job!
marcmagus
07. Oct 2020 · 14:28 UTC
It was very cool developing a sense of confidence in where my jumps would land me in the ring. The physics, both of the wheel accelerating based on the frog's mass and how jumping inside a turning wheel made anticipating where you would land tricky worked out to make for interesting gameplay. And smashing everything while going really fast with Nate was super satisfying.
zeu31
08. Oct 2020 · 22:53 UTC
This game is so much fun to play. Nice job!
neontropics
09. Oct 2020 · 20:54 UTC
Great take on the theme, and feels very satisfying to play! The physics are just right and it's fun to plan out the jumps. Very impressive that you made three different playable characters.
Frogman
10. Oct 2020 · 11:41 UTC
Great game! It was very fun, and I liked all the playable characters and their different playstyles (although Nate seemed much better than the others - I managed to reach a score of 18 with him, while I barely reached 8 with the others). The graphics were really good too. It was a bit weird starting with a high score of 12 - I never managed to reach it with except with Nate - and adding a frog-specific high score would've been nice, but other than that, it was great!
mauricioscherer
10. Oct 2020 · 14:03 UTC
Congratulations for the game. very fun and extremely difficult for me. I loved the physics of the wheel!
Simon Rahnasto
10. Oct 2020 · 14:18 UTC
Finally I managed to beat the high score with my best mate, Nate the Great, by getting 14. Then I saw that @lereveur had 22... So naturally I had to try to beat it. I did not manage to beat the score, but I managed to tie it:
![418433a71656a3b7c84b9e25220b167e.png](///raw/db1/6/z/39ea1.png)

It's a great take on the theme, one of the best ones I have seen actually. It was so addictive that I got stuck in a loop replaying it over and over. You have such an adorable art style on the game, I saw some of your progress posts during the Jam and knew that I had to give it a "spin". The audio is also great, everything feels well thought out and excecuted. There where a lot of things that I really liked about the game. Small details like the score keeping frog who changes expression when you die.

All of the mechanics were communicated well and worked smoothly. With only two buttons I felt like I was in full control over my frog.

This should be made into a mobile game, with more frogs, obstacles, enemies and upgrades. I would play it a ton! Great
pee-thief
10. Oct 2020 · 17:03 UTC
Beethoven is my boy!
pee-thief
10. Oct 2020 · 17:14 UTC
scorebo is also my boy
elysiagriffin
10. Oct 2020 · 17:15 UTC
34 HI SCORE YE!

![HISCORE.png](///raw/5a7/b/z/39ed8.png)
SpawnCampGames
10. Oct 2020 · 17:19 UTC
LoL, Interesting "Spin" on the common platformer ;)
Arthurds
10. Oct 2020 · 17:31 UTC
![frog game.png](///raw/3de/c2/z/39edd.png)

Was fun to play, there was no way I would let @elysiagriffin have the hight score on this.
elysiagriffin
11. Oct 2020 · 21:33 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/767511277?t=2h19m26s

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

💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady

https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin
Alchemic
15. Oct 2020 · 08:42 UTC
All I can say is that this is definitely a HacksawUnit game lol.

Very fun to play, getting a new high score is always satisfying.

Getting hit by the red punching thing feels like getting hit by a truck, I love it.
ectucker1
16. Oct 2020 · 02:56 UTC
Quite the game! I had some trouble with the spikes; it sometimes seemed like I'd get hit by them when I wasn't expecting it. My boi Nate got that taken care of though. I love all the animations in this, especially the reaction of the wheel guy when you get hit. Really gave the game some charm.