Carol and the Beanstalk by MestreRothWP

made by MestreRothWP for LD34 (COMPO)

(Update: added Mega mirror for the .exe.)

(Update 2: Jump!!! Please don't go forever to the right! You'll get it when/if you try the game. ^^ )

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Ahoy! This is my first game jam and it has been a pleasure.... Mostly...

Carol and the Beanstalk tells the tale that everyone knows about a bean that maybe grew waaay too big.

Where is the bean taking us to?
What is at the end?

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Dropbox links to download:
Executable:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/eiwpo2ncgs18050/Carol%20and%20the%20Beanstalk.exe?dl=0
Project:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/v4qn78fdxmh02rb/Carol%20and%20the%20Beanstalk.rar?dl=0

Mega Mirror to executable:
https://mega.nz/#!49d1XLDR

The game was made in GameMaker.
Graphics by me on GraphicsGale and Gimp.
Music on Audacity and my guitar.
Most of the sound effects come from http://www.superflashbros.net/as3sfxr/ .

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I'd love to hear your feedback. If you need reviews, feel free to ask. I'll be playing a lot of jam games.

Windows	https://www.dropbox.com/s/eiwpo2ncgs18050/Carol%20and%20the%20Beanstalk.exe?dl=0
Source	https://www.dropbox.com/s/v4qn78fdxmh02rb/Carol%20and%20the%20Beanstalk.rar?dl=0
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-34/?action=preview&uid=60154

Ratings

Coolness	75%	2
Overall	2.92	754

Audio	2.88	365
Fun	3.13	501
Graphics	2.43	798
Humor	2.75	309
Innovation	2.80	672
Mood	2.83	571
Theme	3.89	346

Feedback

Mixer

14. Dec 2015 · 04:01 UTC

Nice game, although collisions sometimes felt faulty. It was clear only some parts of the flower collided, however it didn't highlight them.

RyanMan56

14. Dec 2015 · 04:02 UTC

Really fun! Good job! :)

eerongal

14. Dec 2015 · 04:03 UTC

I like the guitar ditty in the background. Also, are you supposed to be able to walk past the beanstalk? because i did that the first time.... Doesn't seem to be much back there other than bricks in the way!

Saymon

14. Dec 2015 · 04:10 UTC

Epic game, geat use of the themes !

nihilaleph

14. Dec 2015 · 04:11 UTC

Welcome to LD! Congratulations on making your first jam! Just finishing is already a great job~

Pro:
+ Music was simple, but nice, works with the game.
+ Jumping higher than the atmosphere and the ending is funny xp
Con:
- Physics was a bit awkward(I fell through the leaves sometimes, double jumping felt strange, when the character hit a leaf from the bottom he/she gravitated upwards)
- I felt the graphics a bit confusing.. There were pixel art, hand drawn and gradient.
OBS:
o First time I played I just went ahead and kept going forward forever
o When you die you can still run and jump
o It's weird to have a platformer without back.. I understand that it's supposed to fit the theme, but I don't know about the lack of control...
o So easy to go out of the atmosphere xp

Congratz and good work!

🎤 MestreRothWP

14. Dec 2015 · 04:12 UTC

Mixer, first of all, thanks for playing and for the feedback. Only the leaves are supposed to work as platform, but they are not perfect, you're right.

Ryan and eerongal, thanks a lot. =) Can you believe that I forgot to close the road through the ground? You know, we play it a thousand times and mostly the same way.

🎤 MestreRothWP

14. Dec 2015 · 04:52 UTC

Thanks, Saymon. It means a lot. :)

Aleph, I guess I didn't communicate some ideas well, then, because you're not the first one passing below the plant instead of jumping and only the leaves are the platforms. Between them there is really no collision.

Thanks for the input. I agree with you, specially with the bizarre art (lack of) style.

zybit

14. Dec 2015 · 05:39 UTC

Poor Carol... I killed her too many times.

MorseAmalgam

14. Dec 2015 · 06:14 UTC

Jumping felt a little finnicky, and sometimes it seemed like you could just drop through the platforms without warning. Only other thing is that logo - blue text on a blue background doesn't work very well.

graceavery

14. Dec 2015 · 06:26 UTC

Congrats on the first jam! Fun, but very difficult!
I feel like just slightly tweaking the speed of carol's movement and the size of the leaves would help a lot! That being said, the art is charming and you made great use of the themes! 'v'

qwetro

14. Dec 2015 · 08:24 UTC

Nice game, I've been addicted to it, I really wanna know what's up there. But don't have that much time to try. Gonna keep the game on my drive for a while:)

🎤 MestreRothWP

14. Dec 2015 · 14:21 UTC

zybit, you sound like if you are *almost* sorry for doing it. But don't worry, Carol doesn't die. Carol only morphs into underdevelop particles.

Morse, I wanted to make a very discrete HUD. Obviously it also didn't work for the meter on the right. :P

About the jump/difficulty, Morse and Grace, you do have a point. I love difficult games, but I tweaked it before releasing because it was even worse. :P

About the platforming, only the leaves serve as support. It wasn't well communicated and this is something very important I learned from your precious feedback.

qwetro, maybe a cake. Or cookies. Or puppies! :D

Tonight I'll play and review your games, in case I didn't already. Thanks A LOT for your feedback. Really. <3

Taffaz

14. Dec 2015 · 14:56 UTC

Nice game, a couple of times my guy got stuck and dragged up to the leaf but other than that I enjoyed it.

nihilaleph

15. Dec 2015 · 00:45 UTC

I see, but it was weird that some times I could actually stand between leaves, I guess it was under certain circumstances.
About running past the leaves, I actually did understand that I was suppose to climb, but I wanted to see what happened if I just went ahead xp
And the graphics, although they felt incoherent they were nice!

Still, great job!

ViKing Games

15. Dec 2015 · 00:48 UTC

I beat it! Everyone else has pretty much already said my thoughts, but to add on:

Pros:
-Nice animations and particles, I love the beanstalk growing
-Good-looking backgrounds
Cons:
-The text at the start blended into the background too much

Good job!

Weeping Rupee

15. Dec 2015 · 05:55 UTC

Good work adding both themes into this. The two button controls, however, felt like it was more limiting than helpful. I liked how quickly I could retry and the UFOs were a nice touch.

karlipoppins

15. Dec 2015 · 09:31 UTC

Perfect usage of the themes. Loved the particle effects, gameplay was very fun though it sometimes had bugs with collision boxes I think? Great job overall

AthenaOfDelphi

15. Dec 2015 · 10:04 UTC

Great effort, I'd echo what others have said about the collisions.

Drauthius

16. Dec 2015 · 13:41 UTC

I thoroughly enjoyed completing this game. It felt very much doable while it was simultaneously kinda difficult. The random collision-detection did make it harder, but it also ensured that I didn't simply jump around willy nilly. Overall rather nice!

Niels.Tiercelin

16. Dec 2015 · 20:05 UTC

I had fun.

daveh

17. Dec 2015 · 21:35 UTC

Finally made it to the top! It has that "just one more go" quality to it. The audio levels were off: the music was super quiet compared to the sound effects. Fun game and good use of both themes.

flakoflak

21. Dec 2015 · 02:52 UTC

I love the fact that i can still jump after dying :P.