LudumData

Jackhammer Joe by Wall Jump Games

[raw]
made by Wall Jump Games for Ludum Dare 48 (COMPO)

Welcome to Jackhammer Joe! This game is action platformer, where after falling deeper, ever deeper into a cave, you finally manage to get your grounding, and try to escape. This leads to 5 levels of platforming madness, where armed with only a Jackhammer, you must escape! combo.gif This game has 2 ways to play each level:

Escape the Cave: Solve the platforming challenge, and move on to the next screen Collect and Combo: Kill everything, drill everything, to gain gems and rack up a combo! These stats are shown when you die, and offer a nice sense of self-satisfaction (if this stuff self-satisfies you, otherwise you can just feel like the pro gamer you are), as well as giving a new harder twist on each level.

Screen Shot 2021-04-25 at 22.19.11.png

Screen Shot 2021-04-25 at 22.21.11.png

There are 2 Major Bugs to be fixed: 1. Screen shake just doesn’t happen. At all. And it is supposed to 2. Originally a rogue mode was planned, and I even got chunks and implementation for it done, but it was too buggy for me to launch the game with, so after fixing up its issues, I will release it, and deem this Jam Version complete

THIS IS THE JAM VERSION OF JACKHAMMER JOE! A mobile/steam version is planned to be released late 2021, with new areas, new enemies, new ores, and a base to explore + so much more! Stay tuned for updates on that, and follow my socials for the most frequent updates:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/walljumpgames/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC6irT-f1Uh3kUofht7mYipwm

Source (Password: ld48) https://walljumpgames.itch.io/jackhammer-joe-source-code
Itch Page https://walljumpgames.itch.io/jackhammer-joe
Itch Page https://walljumpgames.itch.io/jackhammer-joe
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/jackhammer-joe

Ratings

Overall 828th 2.762⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 796th 2.643⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 762th 2.619⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 820th 2.714⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 812th 2.545⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Audio 644th 2.55⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 6🗳️ 9🗨️

Feedback

LakshyaIsAGod
26. Apr 2021 · 06:05 UTC
TODO: review game
arya-s
26. Apr 2021 · 14:28 UTC
hi,
I had trouble getting over the first tall jump. I think the jump is a bit floaty. For 2d platformers I always recommend looking at Matt Thorson's Strawberry project.

I like the concept, the drilling down has a Downwell feel to it.
🎤 Wall Jump Games
26. Apr 2021 · 16:07 UTC
@arya-s Thanks! I'll look into the variables later down the line, the jump felt to heavy before, because the character controller originally contained a double jump, so it felt rather limited with out it. I may've turned it up too high, jumps take a lot of tweaking, so I'll definetly be changing this in the future. I hope it wasn't too bad for you though, it feels okay for me. Thanks for the feedback :)
TomBuston
26. Apr 2021 · 16:48 UTC
I had some troubles at first understanding the drill mecanics. I think overall the game needs more signs and feedbacks, I couldn't always tell where I was supposed to go.
There is some nice puzzle/platform potential though for this game, so keep going!
emeraldboy44
26. Apr 2021 · 16:53 UTC
Really good use of the jackhammer for not only drilling but also jumping. There is no music in this game but the sound effects are great!

Also, I uh.. encountered some bugs.

![bug.png](///raw/596/93/z/3daba.png)

![bug1.png](///raw/596/93/z/3dabb.png)

After I killed the bats in this level nothing happened. Was that the end? I'm not too sure.
Good job on the game!
rhoff95
26. Apr 2021 · 16:54 UTC
Likes
- I like the idea of using a jackhammer as a weapon and as a platforming tool
- Combos sound fun, although I never got any
Problems
- Friction with walls prevented me from easily jumping up onto platforms/ledges
- I was never able to get passed the second ledge. The jackhammer pushed me to the left and I could not get back over fast enough

I would also recommend looking into color palettes. https://lospec.com/palette-list has a lot of really good ones. This may not be what you were going for, but often looks a lot better. You game has many fully saturated colors that do not necessarily look as cohesive as a good palette would.

If you are able to bug fix way the problem with the second ledge, or am missing something, please reply here. Good job!
emeraldboy44
26. Apr 2021 · 16:58 UTC
Nvm Im dumb I finished the game lol

![screen.png](///raw/596/93/z/3dadf.png)
🎤 Wall Jump Games
26. Apr 2021 · 17:22 UTC
@emeraldboy44 I'd be lying if I said I knew how to fix that bug. Luckily the level is short, so it doesn't effect you too much
🎤 Wall Jump Games
26. Apr 2021 · 17:25 UTC
@tombuston Idk exactly what you are referring to, but I forgot to put the exit blocks in one level. In the future I'll make a proper tutorial, if that is your issue
🎤 Wall Jump Games
26. Apr 2021 · 17:29 UTC
@rhoff95 what exactly do you mean, I never encountered any problems? Also that frictions is there because there used to be wall jumps and sliding, but it wasn't properly removed and implemented, so I will fix that, thx for reminding me :) Can you share a clip of the second ledege, not entirely sure what you mean. I may change those colors, especially red later, but I made sure to keep it to a few core colors (Brown, Yellow, Red, Grey and Black) but the art will defo at least slightly change in the future. I may look at a pallete from Lospec, or modify a pallete Aseprite auto generated for me when I imported a screenshot.
rhoff95
26. Apr 2021 · 17:41 UTC
@wall-jump-games I figured it out. I destroyed the gems/rock without making the jump. I did not see the huge jump boost and was just trying to jump. If you don't make it the first time, you have to restart the game. Playing again now.
Skye S
26. Apr 2021 · 17:43 UTC
Interesting idea, but it has a few issues. The physics is a bit buggy (jackhammering near a wall flings you away from it). The sounds are fine but I think the visuals could be helped enormously with a more soothing color palette. Still, nice work!
rhoff95
26. Apr 2021 · 17:44 UTC
I think the controls for the super jumnp are kind of difficult, it seems like you have to be on a gem, hold up, and then release space. This also leads to lots of soft fail states where it does not say game over, but you cannot progress. I would like to see maybe an automatic super jump by landing with the drill out? and some way to respawn gems or automatically restart the level if you fail. Good job.
🎤 Wall Jump Games
26. Apr 2021 · 17:48 UTC
@rhoff95 the game was I'll admit, not too well designed for the levels (I made it for a downwell style progression downwards) where these softlocks wouldn't of happened, but I do see your issue. I can't make it automatic because I wanted it to feel like you were drilling down on the thing (the screenshake would've helped with that) and the jump height is variable depending on how long you drill for. Something to think about for the future I guess.
🎤 Wall Jump Games
26. Apr 2021 · 17:49 UTC
@skye-s thanks for your feedback :) I will probably change and simplify the pallete in the future, and the physics too. That is because originally there was walljumping, but I didn't have the time to properly remove it, so that'll be a simple fix. Thanks for telling me about it though!
DerGamer
26. Apr 2021 · 17:55 UTC
A very fun game, but one thing it thing that would more enjoyable would be a restart Button this way you could restart when you are in a spot and destroyed all gems you need to make a jump.
🎤 Wall Jump Games
26. Apr 2021 · 17:57 UTC
@dergamer I didn't point this out in game, but you can use R to restart. I'll add this to the page now, and the game will, alongside the screenshake update and physics fix, get added to the description
DerGamer
26. Apr 2021 · 18:00 UTC
@wall-jump-games Thanks that helps me a lot. In the bginning I had to close and reopen the game a few times
WitekWitek
26. Apr 2021 · 18:04 UTC
I like the character i think he looks cute and pretty nice
I think this game can have potencial, but i have some issues:
1. I couldn't get over the first level since I couldn't really understand or it was too difficult to get to the second level.
2. I think it would be better if you put the story (The story on the bottom left corner) to the next scene when you press the start button.
3.The sounds were alright but some music woudive been nice since the player might potentially get bored over time.
4.It's hard to tell how this is related to the theme

Overall I think the game could have potential.
-WitekWitek
🎤 Wall Jump Games
26. Apr 2021 · 18:08 UTC
@witekwitek thanks for the feedback :) 3. I can't really make music, but I wanted to do compo, in the future I will learn, but I cannot do it right now. 4. I was going to have a rogue mode which was similar to downwell, but it was too buggy to be included (coming soon tho, so keep your eyes peeled :D)
dk5000p
26. Apr 2021 · 18:26 UTC
I think the game could go in two directions, more of a puzzle game, so you won't be able to die or more of a traditional platformer. The levels could telegraph more of what you need to do and it was weird that I could sometimes jump on bats, but then they would kill me. I also think some of the jumps should be able to be made without having to use the jackhammer or allow air control so you could jackhammer off a wall to make jumps. It got annoying having to restart levels constantly. The idea was interesting.
🎤 Wall Jump Games
26. Apr 2021 · 18:44 UTC
@dk5000p it'll be neither actually, and more of a roguelike like downwell. Thanks for the feedback, and I will probably do some stuff like that in the future.
Noel Widmer
26. Apr 2021 · 19:13 UTC
Just here to inform you that your youtube channel link in the description above is broken :(
🎤 Wall Jump Games
26. Apr 2021 · 19:36 UTC
@noel-widmer thats odd. It is linked in my Twitter Bio
Spacespytv
26. Apr 2021 · 22:25 UTC
Really neat game dude! The mechanic is presented nicely, the visuals look alright. Overall really good game for 48 hours
Shaolin Dave
27. Apr 2021 · 04:28 UTC
Sorry to say both the Mac zip and dmg are broken. I even tried to fix it using terminal but it's not the usual problems.
I might install parallels this week so I'll come back and check out the windows version later.
btw, you should park on this page what versions are on the itch page.
🎤 Wall Jump Games
27. Apr 2021 · 06:22 UTC
@shaolin-dave these issues are there because the builds are unsigned. There are ways to fix it, because they work fine for me. Look how to fix “This file is damaged and should be removed fix” it will have an answer to the problem
Vimlark
27. Apr 2021 · 22:48 UTC
Great work. Controls were inconsistent for me but I like the score option.
tomz_best
28. Apr 2021 · 15:58 UTC
I like your game
As I don't play to games like this a lot controls was difficult for me)))
and for me only space works to jump
Simpathey
28. Apr 2021 · 16:31 UTC
controls were hard to get hold of but I got there at the end! Maybe a little work on them would polish the game. Good work.
🎤 Wall Jump Games
28. Apr 2021 · 16:56 UTC
@tomz-best mm, I found out that I didn’t actually set up W or Up to work, oops.
🎤 Wall Jump Games
28. Apr 2021 · 16:57 UTC
@simpathey I already know I need to overhaul them, it’ll be a large point of focus once I get the Rogue mode bug fixed.
Roikku
28. Apr 2021 · 22:00 UTC
Cute :)
PiJaMar
29. Apr 2021 · 03:42 UTC
Amazing concept! Works felt inconsistent / off sometimes, but I love how innovative it is :)
jitspoe
29. Apr 2021 · 13:17 UTC
There's a lot of "soft locking" that happens, meaning you can't continue without a manual restart. That's something you should really try to avoid in game design.
Turquoise Moon
29. Apr 2021 · 22:44 UTC
The sound effects were good. Some kind of bar that fills up or something to help you tell how high you will jump would be helpful. It says you can use w and the up arrow to jump but that did not work for me? Controls were a little difficult but it was fun.
etrealjunior
05. May 2021 · 03:18 UTC
Congratulations on the game, the mechanics need to improve in future upgrades, the art is good, is following the right path, keep studying and evolving, and soon it will reap good fruits, a big hug, and I await your feedback.
NoNumbersGames
15. May 2021 · 16:16 UTC
Really interesting idea, but didn't feel very satisfying to play. Some of it was the movement - sideways movement felt too fast, especially when in the air.

Some of it due to bugs - feels weird that jump is much lower when standing next to a wall (jackhammering of walls could be a mechanic if polished, but no reason to make the base jump feel so bad just because a wall is near). Also sometimes got stuck in walls, sometimes got randomly thrown sideways from an enemy, sometimes got clipped in them.

Regarding the charging mechanic, would have helped to have an indicator on how much the jump is charged. Also might have been better to not have to hold space to charge, but to start charging automatically charge and press space to release, but maybe I'm just not used to controls.

Also for a keyboard controlled game where you die and restart a lot, having to switch to mouse just to restart doesn't feel great.

Overall, a cool concept, but maybe more polish of mechanics and interactions would have been better than more levels. Will be looking forward to the planned improved version.