Grava-Switch by danidre14

[raw]
made by danidre14 for LD34 (COMPO)
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--WARNING: FLASHING COLOURS!--WARNING: FLASHING COLOURS!--WARNING: FLASHING COLOURS!--WARNING: FLASHING COLOURS!--
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You are a test subject put into a virtual environment, switching gravity to avoid incoming spikes, and collecting items, to one day escape this virtual reality.

-Avoid all spikes. Tap 'Space' on your keyboard to change gravity. You CAN switch gravity in mid-air.
-Collect coins to customize and upgrade your player.
-Collect health packs to increase health.
-Unlock each level by meeting the following criteria- Score:500, Coins:25

Made by- Danidre14 for LD34 Compo.

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Level 1:
-Difficulty: Easy
-Spike Damage*: 50
-Structures:
--Coins: Bottom wall
--Spikes: Bottom wall

Level 2:
-Difficulty: Normal
-Spike Damage*: 60
-Structures:
--Coins: Bottom wall | Top wall
--Spikes: Bottom wall | Top wall
--Health Packs: Bottom wall | Top wall (Rare)

Level 3:
-Difficulty: Hard
-Spike Damage*: 75
-Structures:
--Coins: Bottom wall | Top wall | Middle Wall
--Spikes: Bottom wall | Top wall | Middle Wall
--Health Packs: Bottom wall | Top wall | Middle Wall (Rare)

Level 4:
-Difficulty: Insane
-Spike Damage*: 100
-Structures:
--Coins: Bottom wall | Top wall | Middle Wall | (Two at a time)
--Spikes: Bottom wall | Top wall | Middle Wall | (Two at a time)
--Health Packs: Bottom wall | Top wall | Middle Wall | (Two at a time) (Rare)

Endless**:
-Difficulty: Based on level
-Spike Damage*: Based on level
-Structures:
--Coins: Based on level
--Spikes: Based on level
--Health Packs: Based on level

Shop:
Customize Character:
-Red: $50 (Changes the character to red)
-Green: $60 (Changes the character to green)
-Blue: $30 (Changes the character to blue)
-Yellow: $40 (Changes the character to yellow)
-Health: $25 (Increases max health by 15 at a time)
-Defense: $15 (Increases defense against spikes)

*Spike Damage: Default damage when defense is 0%
**Endless: Starts at level one and increases level (up to level 4) and speed (until you die).

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Themes:
-Two button controls: "Left Mouse Button, "Space Button".
-Growing: Upgrading defense and health, Gaining experience, More quick reflexes.

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--WARNING: FLASHING COLOURS!--WARNING: FLASHING COLOURS!--WARNING: FLASHING COLOURS!--WARNING: FLASHING COLOURS!--
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**Update**

Due to popular demand, there is now a way to control how fast the background changes colours.
Next to the game, there is the code. On line 4, there is a variable called "timeToChange", and a value assigned to it (default is 500).

Simply change this value to whatever you'll like. Higher the number, background changes rarely, lower the number, background changes often.

For a very fast background, value is 100-
For a very slow background, value is 1000+

Ratings

Coolness 71% 3
Overall 2.37 947
Fun 2.34 897
Graphics 1.83 891
Humor 1.71 686
Innovation 2.10 910
Mood 1.86 855
Theme 2.37 942

Feedback

Elenesski
14. Dec 2015 路 05:37 UTC
Neat idea. Took a few tries to get used to the idea ... was fun to play.
馃帳 danidre14
14. Dec 2015 路 22:38 UTC
Thanks! :D
Blobo
15. Dec 2015 路 01:08 UTC
Interesting concept, but the gravity is so slow, and occasionally spikes in lvl 4 are undodgeable due to them extending past the height of the player.
tayl1r
15. Dec 2015 路 01:12 UTC
Dang, this is hard!
logorrhea
15. Dec 2015 路 01:14 UTC
Pretty fun to play, although I'm definitely not the best at these sorts of games :)

I realize that the flashing colors were part of the test subject in a virtual environment setting, but I found them painful to look at =\

I also find the concept of having all your code sitting in a "try it out" window really really interesting. Like now I can hack around with your code, which is a game on its own! Thanks for that!
Zanzlanz
15. Dec 2015 路 01:47 UTC
I like that you explored having a shop and a level structure - makes the game have more replayability. Great work :)
ohmmus
15. Dec 2015 路 16:39 UTC
Love the concept and execution! Tutorializing the levels was perfect for me. I really understood the idea and the pacing of it was good so I never got bored. Fun game! I reallllly liked the changing floor/ceiling heights!

Which theme were you going for though?

Only critique I have is the changing colors. I'm sure you wanted them to change to add a level of distraction to the experience, but I would have perfectly happy without them changing. Or maybe not have them change so often. At one point the block was black and the background was a dark purple. I gasped and had to move in closer to my monitor, haha! In any case, job well done on this game!
馃帳 danidre14
16. Dec 2015 路 14:49 UTC
Woah, so many views, thanks guys!

Blobo- the gravity increases as you go on in the levels. Somespikes are made to literally hit you, so you can upgrade your health in the shop and fend off better next time. :D

tayl1r- Which level, exactly, was the hardest for you? :D

logorrhea- Thanks for playing! Yes, the colour changing was to distract the player, sorry, I should have warned you guys about flashing colours. :D

Zanzlanz- Thanks, and yes this was a first I've tried like these, also my first game using Javascript! :D

ohmmus- Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. The theme I went fo was "Two Buttons" since you only click, and press the "Space" button. I'll add that to the description, thank you.. and maybe, I guess you grow in...experience, as well as stronger, when you upgrade. :3 In the shop, you can change your character colours, to avoid being blinded by the backgrounds. :D

I'll be sure to play all your game guys, and since you may not come back to this post for your responses, I'll post them there as well. :D
Claire1605
16. Dec 2015 路 17:22 UTC
I liked the gravity switch idea, but I think there would need to be obstacles on the ceiling too as I found the best strategy was to just sit up there until there were some easy coins to get. If their were some more variation in obstacles that'd be awesome too.
kebabskal
16. Dec 2015 路 17:24 UTC
Pretty good ideas. Controls did feel very unresponsive tho. Reading the text I get how the themes apply, but didn't really see it in game. With some polish this could be real fun. Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJdEqssNZ-U for ideas on how to make the game feel better :D
馃帳 danidre14
16. Dec 2015 路 23:01 UTC
Claire1605: No obstacles on the walls were only for level 1, all level 1s should be easy. I added the level designs in the description above, so please read it next time. Also there are four levels total, with different difficulties, with different difficulties, and different things in different places. Thanks for playing.
Grahhhhh
17. Dec 2015 路 02:22 UTC
I didn't immediately understand what was going on, but figured it out pretty quick. Think I saw someone mention the shop idea was a good idea, def agree. Expand on that to make a more customizable and fun experience!
zenmumbler
17. Dec 2015 路 06:53 UTC
I find it funny that this was done on Khan Academy for some reason. Highly psychedelic. No comic this time?
aeveis
17. Dec 2015 路 07:07 UTC
Had a pretty hard time with the game. The flashing colors does make the game harder, but not in a fun way for me. I think visual differences could be fun, but it would have to be done in some other way that's not painful (like blending colors or something like that). That being part of the story can be fine, but it doesn't change how a player may feel about it. The gravity I think was still too slow, even in the later game- though it did help with hovering in the middle of a level. Overall I liked the ramp up and the shop also helped. Good job!
馃帳 danidre14
17. Dec 2015 路 17:36 UTC
zenmumbler: My laptop (that I use to program) got destroyed earlier on this year, and I had no device of my own. The best I could get was an online processor, since I can't download flash on my bro's PC (he doesn't want me to) I also recently began learning Javascript in Khanacademy, therefore it was the best decision I could make to have a game! :D

I'll try to get a comic in the next jam, maybe. :3 Yes, indeed there are lot's of flashing colours.
tazdij
17. Dec 2015 路 21:38 UTC
it was a fun time. took me a couple tries to get past the first level.
ragnta
17. Dec 2015 路 21:51 UTC
Nice game
anv
17. Dec 2015 路 23:16 UTC
Nice concept. Good call on adding customization. Colors changed too quickly, maybe it would work better if they faded gradually.
Melusine
18. Dec 2015 路 09:05 UTC
very unresponsive controls and not pleasing to the eye
馃帳 danidre14
18. Dec 2015 路 14:25 UTC
ragnta, anv, tazdij: Thanks for playing, your comments help! :D

Melusine: The unresponsive controls may be due to poor performance of your PC? Maybe. No one else has a problem with that aspect of the game.
drludos
19. Dec 2015 路 02:08 UTC
Nice entry, a little game fun to play. The concept is simple, but the pacing is good, and the game rapidly become challenging. Would be a great mobile game with a graphics update :).

Also, as some other people on this people, I was quite disturbed by the flashing colors. I understand they are here to add to the challenge, but to me they are more disturbing than challenging. Maybe you should try by making colors changing less often (maybe every 30 seconds instead of every 5 seconds) so tired eyes can get accustomed to the color before they change? :)
馃帳 danidre14
20. Dec 2015 路 03:02 UTC
Since everyone is talking about this, there is now a way for you yourself, to change how often the background changes.

I will add how to do it in the description.
axoona
25. Dec 2015 路 11:44 UTC
graphics could be improved (but it's ok for a jam game..) ;)
but overall the concept is very interesting.
getting all the coins is prety hard from start, you could maybe add some ramp up in difficulty so that the player could get used to the gravity (the best strategy was just staying on the top and grabing the easiest coins like someone already mentioned...)
SinclairStrange
02. Jan 2016 路 23:51 UTC
Took a while to get into it, but once I did it was actually rather neat. Needs a little work doing to it but overall it was good fun!

(answering your question on my submission: The theme is growth, like the character grows and gets strong through the game. Also the bosses are forms of metamorphosis of a moth. (I did have a planned story of a growth virus but I didn't have time to stick it in >.<)
pixelpotions
04. Jan 2016 路 14:55 UTC
Hard but fun! Overall a solid entry! Good job! :)