LudumData

Backyard Fruitball by LDJam user 320211

[raw]
made by LDJam user 320211 for Ludum Dare 52 (JAM)

Controls

Hitter (Blue with Bat) A/D to move left/right Spacebar to jump (while grounded) Spacebar to swing (while airborne)

Catcher (Purple with Basket) Left/Right Arrows to move left/right (Fruit is caught if it lands on the basket)

Escape to restart

About

A goofy little idea I came up with as soon as I saw the theme. The goal was to create an interesting game where you need to control two different characters in tandem to succeed. My original thought was that the game would have that "easy to learn, difficult to master" curve, which it sort of does, except I don't think it's a lot of fun to try and master right now.

*The goal: knock all of the fruit down with the Hitter (blue with club), and get beneath them with the Catcher (purple with basket), as quickly as possible. *

Quick and Dirty Postmortem

If I had committed my full weekend to it, here are some things I would have worked on: - Better graphics (duh) - More polish/"juice" - Better controls - Something more compelling with the fruit spawns - Any sort of music (I have no idea how to make it)

The Hitter controls don't feel too great, but I was really trying to simplify things by not letting you strafe in the air, the idea being you could focus on moving the Catcher while waiting for the perfect time to swing the bat. I had envisioned a "mastery" where you start off by getting them both into the right position first, then doing the jump, but eventually you could potentially be juggling multiple apples into the air while simultaneously trying to maneuver the Catcher beneath them as you went. The latter didn't pan out too well, but there's still some optimization you can do.

All-in-all, I did manage to create what I'd pictured, it just isn't as fun as I'd hoped; maybe with some tweaking it could get there, but I'll probably just shelve this and call it a successful experiment. Thanks for checking it out!

  • Travis
Link https://github.com/twchapman/ld52
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/52/backyard-fruitball

Ratings

Given 5🗳️ 0🗨️

Feedback

🎤 LDJam user 320211
09. Jan 2023 · 04:22 UTC
Heck, I completely forgot to credit https://kenney.nl/ for the great font, it's the one part I didn't end up making!
rockford
09. Jan 2023 · 06:58 UTC
Nice idea! Fun to play. I played alone, but I get the point, should be very fun playing with a friend!
shreypatil45
09. Jan 2023 · 07:02 UTC
100/10 for the Idea of the game , i really liked it , im not sure if you intended this but it can be a really good 2 player game , BTW i can use some feedback on my game too if you have time (:
🎤 LDJam user 320211
09. Jan 2023 · 14:30 UTC
@rockford @shreypatil45 Thank you both for the kind words! I should have made this more clear, but the intent was actually for this to be a single player game where you need to manage multiple characters (but could of course be played duo if you'd prefer). I think if I were to expand it a bit, one way would be putting more thought into making it a more deliberate single-player experience.
GeraldFIngBurke
09. Jan 2023 · 17:04 UTC
My first round, I didn't realize I was controlling both characters and could not, for the life of me, figure out what I was doing. The second go-round went a lot better. A very simple and fun idea.
🎤 LDJam user 320211
09. Jan 2023 · 17:09 UTC
@geraldfingburke Ahh I was worried about that, part of my initial plan was to have a short tutorial that gets you going but naturally the scope got cut down a lot. I'm glad you enjoyed it once you figured it out though!
LuhUchiha
09. Jan 2023 · 22:42 UTC
Very good idea for the game! Trying to control 2 characters at once is a good challenge :)
🎤 LDJam user 320211
09. Jan 2023 · 22:49 UTC
@luhuchiha Thank you! I definitely wanted it to be challenging to be "good" at, but still be reasonable for a beginner.
takhomasac
10. Jan 2023 · 00:45 UTC
interesting concept! wasn't too tricky to get going, but not too easy either! overall a fun entry.
🎤 LDJam user 320211
10. Jan 2023 · 00:58 UTC
@takhomasac Thank you, glad you liked it!
Monoh Behavior
10. Jan 2023 · 14:08 UTC
Simple but fun! Great work!
🎤 LDJam user 320211
10. Jan 2023 · 18:35 UTC
@monoh-behavior Thank you!
Sn4pi
10. Jan 2023 · 22:05 UTC
This game has alot of potential! It reminds me of some of the old flash games where you play a 1v1 with a friend.
The controls feel a bit stiff but after a bit of practice I got the hang of it!
chompdev
10. Jan 2023 · 23:46 UTC
Definitely a fun little game idea! I like how the apple's arc is a bit different every time so you have to adjust the catcher's movement on the fly. If you add more features, it'd be fun to have even more variation to fruit angles, so they might get hit really high in the air, or split in half and you'd have to catch both pieces. Great job on getting this finished, even though you weren't able to use the whole jam window!
🎤 LDJam user 320211
11. Jan 2023 · 03:50 UTC
@sn4pi Thank you! I think that's where I'd prioritize more time, making it feel a bit better to play.

@chompdev Glad you noticed! I was hoping to make it a bit more controllable actually, with like different hitboxes on the bat to send in different arcs, but didn't quite get there. Thanks for the feedback!
Miolosh
12. Jan 2023 · 17:17 UTC
fun little game! I think it can be quite fun to play this with a friend. Simple but effective!
Popman_yes
12. Jan 2023 · 19:17 UTC
Fun game and a cool idea but hitting the apples was inconsistent and I couldn't really predict where they were gonna go. I also probably would've liked more control over the player (strafing in the air).
Roroto Sic
12. Jan 2023 · 20:50 UTC
I love this idea , it give me a good laugh ^^ !!
playing solo is a bit challenging but it's possible.
My hight score is 8 !!
(one fruit go out of screen and the game didnt show end)

![Capture d’écran 2023-01-12 214936.png](///raw/d93/94/z/564b9.png)
JJ Cruikshanks
13. Jan 2023 · 16:46 UTC
The two player mini-game vibe made me think of old coolmathgame titles. Got to play this with my partner and it was a blast! Good call on making the apples move at different velocities cause it keeps you on your toes. One thing I thought could've been added was a border on the sides that the apples could bounce off of to keep them in bounds. Great little game!
Gabrimer
13. Jan 2023 · 19:11 UTC
I think this is a very solid idea for a game! I had fun getting used to the controls and trying to get better and faster at collecting the apples. It does make me wonder how this would play out if you got a second person to control the other character too, despite that not being the point of the game. I do wish that the game had some sort of little theme to add to the experience though, but other than that, great job!
pkenney
21. Jan 2023 · 19:49 UTC
Cool core concept, and then a great clear presentation with simple effective graphics.

I think there is some dynamism missing -- my double-controlling is more like setting up and then acting, and not quite so dynamic. But maybe it would completely overwhelm to present more fluid situations, in a bad way, I'm not sure.

The batter's lack of air control did feel a bit stiff, however I would say well done on making the angle he hits the fruit at really matter, this gives a lot of feeling of control that is necessary.

Interesting entry, well done!
Floke
25. Jan 2023 · 14:42 UTC
Damn, my brain melted during this. Got a score of 3, though 2 were luck.

I really like the idea!
🎤 LDJam user 320211
24. Apr 2023 · 13:54 UTC
@miolosh @popman-yes @roroto-sic @jj-cruikshanks @gabrimer @pkenney @floke Thank you all for the feedback! I stopped checking the page and didn't realize people would still be coming by 😅

If I had spent more time on the game, I did want to make the bat impact a bit more dynamic - right now it just cares about which half of the bat you hit with, to send the apple up or down. I also would have liked to have more fruit with different properties, and a bit more polish with things like the boundary not being walled off.

My original intent with the "hitter" not having air control was to simplify things so you didn't have to focus on too much, but it seems like enough people are missing that function that there would maybe be a better way to handle that.

Finally, I'm glad the game was also fun with a player two! It definitely wasn't designed around that, and it takes some of the challenge away, but it also adds player coordination which is always fun. Thanks again for the great comments everyone! I'll look to do another entry soon.