Throes of the Javelin by LDJam user 242787
Welcome
Use your javelin to traverse a vast subterranean underground labyrinth with hidden collectibles. Throw the spear to knock yourself back and create platforms; summon it back to get its momentum.
Note: The game might be a bit challenging

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1KG6u8WH64
Controls
- A and D to move
- Space to jump
- Left click to throw and summon
Gamepad
- Right joystick to aim
- Left joystick to move
- Left bumper to jump
- Right bumper to throw and summon
- Might be a little broken
The javelin can only be summoned once before touching the ground
A speedrun version (windows) with leaderboard rankings is now available on itch.io!
The positive reception has inspired us to expand it into a full Steam release.
We've set up a Discord server to share updates, gather your feedback, and reach out for playtesting as we build more of the game.
If you’re interested in any of that, here's the Discord link. See you there!
| Link | https://garbanzo-goon.itch.io/throes-of-the-javelin |
| Link | https://garbanzo-goon.itch.io/throes-of-the-javelin |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/throes-of-the-javelin |
Ratings
| Overall | 3th | 4.526⭐ | 119🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 10th | 4.376⭐ | 119🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 18th | 4.308⭐ | 119🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 384th | 3.927⭐ | 118🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 23th | 4.645⭐ | 119🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 14th | 4.407⭐ | 115🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 29th | 4.404⭐ | 117🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 51🗳️ | 40🗨️ |
It is definitely on the harder side, I'm stuck on a jump right now that I can't get passed, however the game is so polished and juicy that it really just feels like I've accidentally warped to like a later level in a complete game that I'm not ready for.
Visually its gorgeous, the animations are super smooth and the way the spear moves and has the flag on the end looks rad. Sound is also really strong, the spear sounds are super satisfying the bgm is chill and builds a good ambiance.
Only feedback I'd have is to maybe ramp up the difficulty a bit gentler and provide some sort of diegetic tutorial on the spear boost mechanic if that's intended.
Amazing job.
@lushboy-studios Thanks for playing! The current version is compatible with controllers on my end, though it seems that may not be the case for everyone. If you're interested in trying it out, please feel free to do so!
The only problem I see is that the javelin is not quite summoned. By the way I think you should continue to develop this game!
I don't even know what to say. The game feels so good and polished in absolutely all aspects. Especially considering it's a jam game.
It would be great if you made a full big game based on this at some point. Speedrun mode? Online leaderboard? Convenient gamepad support?
By the way, I have an idea to improve the convenience of aiming on a gamepad. It seems that sometimes in the game it's important to aim **quickly**, and sometimes it's important to aim **accurately**. You might try to make it so that when you **press** the right stick, aiming becomes fast (instant?) for a short duration of time (or just until the next stick tilt?), and the rest of the time let the aiming be slow but accurate. Something like this.
Thanks for providing a great game!
Sometimes a bug can happen when transitioning between screens: the character falls through the ground.
In particular, this happened here when moving near the final checkpoint: moving right (to the last screen), then left (go back to previous screen), then right. WebGL version of the game.

Still surely the best game I've played this LD. Movement is awesome, pixelart is awesome, mood is perfect, difficulty is difficult.
6 out of 5 stars overall :kissing::ok_hand: With an ending, it would be 7/5.
I really dig the aesthetic, and the artwork is just perfect.
The mechanic for the javelin was really cool too,
and I enjoyed playing very much.
Great Job!
++ game!
Ive just seen in the videos that you actually have to fall down...
I'm wondering if you can go further, I was in the big room with all the blue gems (btw animations to get the gems back are nice).

I played with a game pad. So smooth movement and jumps, it reminds me Celeste movement.
I can't understand how you did it so good in 3 days. wow
It introduces an original mechanic that I have not seen before. The graphics are excellent, and the music is equally impressive.
The only area I see that needs improvement is the user experience when controlling the player. Sometimes it can be a bit frustrating not being able to perform certain actions because it feels like you're missing something, not that you lack the ability to make that move. However, this can only be resolved through game testing; that is, by observing people play your game. This is true for all games but especially for platformers, where extensive game testing is essential, as was the case with Celeste. But in a Game Jam, where the game is developed within 72 hours, there simply isn't enough time to conduct proper game testing; hence, this doesn’t affect my rating of the game.
Nevertheless, for me, it has earned the highest scores in all categories I've voted on (I abstained from voting on the theme as I was unclear about the idea of invoking the javelin). I am absolutely delighted with this game.
In conclusion, great game, the best I've tried so far. I am looking forward to an extended version of this game and will keep an eye out for Garbanzo Goon (I couldn't find your logo). Superb game!
Played it a bit on stream and got the vod below if you wanted to watch it (game is the 15th chapter)
https://youtu.be/25pr3bVYXnk
And I'm the host for the ludum dare score chasers tournament this Ludum Dare. Wanted to ask if youre fine if I put some gameplay of the game in an intermission video. Last year for reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM_eIvjBmIQ
Both the sprite work and the music are amazing, I love the atmosphere and the world you built here, it's very immersive and well done
The main mechanic is super satisfying., especially that knockback I am sure it allows allows for some really cool strategies. I am not super good when it comes to using movement in crazy ways but I was able to pull some neat little tracks with it. the level design is clever and it fully uses the central mechanic to it's advantage, it's all very fun and the right amount of challengeing.
this is one of my favorite entries, if not my absolute favorite form the whole jam, I loved it! congrats to the team for making this amazing entry
The main mechanic of the javelin is the epitome of an "easy to understand, difficult to master" game mechanic. The momentum management that is secondary in many precision platformers like Celeste is this game's bread and butter, and the open-ended obstacles tempt you to try different approaches and develop mastery. I particularly like the fact you get a momentum boost when recalling the javelin, allowing for really interesting setup-and-payoff moves to cross tricky jumps and scale ledges.
For a jam game, the art and audio are off the charts. The visual direction is very distinct and legible, with tons of little bits of polish like particles, parallax, and the various effects on the javelin itself like the ribbon and wobbling animation upon hitting something. It's clear the team was in extremely close communication and had a shared vision for the game to be able to execute on it so well.
I've participated in 17 Ludum Dares, and this is on my short list for favorite entries ever. The actual ratings for LD are unpredictable, but I would not be surprised at all to see this one in the top ten or even in the top spot. Excellent work to the whole team!
I drew a doodle of the main character:

Great job overall, everyone!
The mechanics different utilizations were quickly learned but had great depth.
I found the difficulty curve and the length of the game excellent for a Jam, I never really got into a "flow" where i could fully utilize any momentum, but that's on me. Even so *almost* all of the puzzles were solvable without any momentum. But the massive knockback made any step by step solution very frustrating.. I guess you were trying to force us to "get good".
A notification that the game had ended would have been great, I tried to pole vault out of the "collectable room"
for longer than I care to admit. But hey, its a Jam. Great work!
The music is just perfect and so emotional.
I absolutely love this take on the summon theme... and the way you throw and recall the javelin is just SO satisfying.
The art, sound effects, animations, controls, and music are all so cohesive, and just add to the overall experience.
I really really loved being able to play through with a controller too. It felt so good.
This is the top entry IMO. :raised_hands: Congrats on getting 1st place... (my prediction) :wink: :trophy: :smile:
But it was worth playing twice. I agree with all the comments above. Fantastic game.
To summarize my review: I loved everything! Mainly the physics of the rebound, which is often a curse that throws us off the platform, but most of the time it is a great tool for more daring jumps.
Game worthy of becoming something bigger.
It doesn't hurt to dream, right?
Congratulations!
Every aspect is so perfect, and the polishing emphasizes how much care and effort was put into this game - also, not having something like an end screen shows how time was a big constraint, but I'm glad that the team focused on the most **fun**damental parts of the game during the jam!
I'm looking forward to seeing what it will look like when it's finished :100:
Everything is soo good, I loved the music, sounds, pixel art...
Congrats and thank you so much for this game <3
And I haven't even *mentioned* the presentation! The art and music are so well done here, this has got to be one of my highest ratings for each of the graphics, audio, and mood categories for how well it suits this game's atmosphere. Everything came together super well, and I'm very very impressed. Great job, everyone!
I managed to get a 1:56.24 any% on the speed run version, I might come back to try to crack top 9.
BERRY nice!
The only CC I'd have had was perhaps a button to brace yourself on impact as having to compensate catching it on a small platform was a little frustrating, and also an option to tone down or remove the delay in camera smoothing, because it gave me a little bit of dizziness.
This is one of the few games I'd 100% say you should absolutely build on, because this already feels like a premium product. Top notch work.
The mechanics idea is wonderful and takes difficult platforming to a next level! ...Just the kind if games I tend to play. I can see how this could be too frustrating for many, if you don't like dying alot, but after a while you get used to the mechanics and start inventing ways to overcome obstacles.
Graphics and audio are top notch and the game runs smoothly. If it was longer game there probably would be more of a difficulty curve, now it turned hard pretty quickly. Still I played it 'till the end room.
All in all good polished entry that felt like a complete game.
I agree with others that the pushback can be a bit annoying and that could perhaps be solved with a tiny bit more polish or/and designing platforming moments early in the game that teach you to work with it and plan for it so you know exactly how to use it to your advantage as the game gets harder.
But all in all a very fluid and beautiful game, I love the color palette and the clean readable and beautiful backgrounds and sprites, and the fluid animation of the main character.
Great work! I hope you continue working on this game, it seems like a really fun game to design for as well.
## XP
https://youtu.be/LQ7kdFUpjwI
One of the best entries this jam for me. Thumbs up for post-jam development.
The pixel art of the scenery and the character are beautiful.
I love the music, which sets a peaceful mood.
It's a good game! Congratulations!
The physics of MC being pushed when summoning a javelin --cked me over a few times xD But I don't think it's a bad thing, makes it feel more *real* so to say and creates additional challenge.
Bravo
Thanks for playing our game and showing such great support! The positive reception has inspired us to expand it into a full Steam release. We've set up a Discord server to share updates, gather your feedback, and reach out for playtesting as we build more of the game.
If you’re interested in any of that, [here's the Discord link](https://discord.gg/fXCFNjm3wq). See you there!
@lushboy-studios, @melissa-stodolnik, @n3k0k33p3r, @gorr, @pabloabraham, @fumybulb, @furaze, @ironcutter, @zombiewalrus, @euler-moises, @jerem-watts, @coderaurus, @babaorhum, @gross-papillon
I really liked it, so I took some time to try to speedrun it (I'm usually absolutely not a speedrunner ^^).
I found a few tricks and glitch allowing me to do 2 minutes at best in any% with my very imperfect execution... :sweat_smile:
But I would be really curious to see a video of a less-than-one-minute run, to see what I miss. ( @matterlinx if you are up too ^^)
And I will obvioulsy join the Discord, I definitely want to see a full game with that concept.
Great job guys!