Don't Let Me Down by Trev3lyan

[raw]
made by Trev3lyan for Ludum Dare 50 (JAM)

Welcome to our entry for Ludum Dare 50!

Distract the dog from the inevitable truth with this waaacky balloon game. Use your boop snoot to delay the balloon from touching the ground. What goes up must come down!

Coded by Trev3lyan and illustrated by Althasor, with a stunning vocal performance by Charles, as the Dog.

Use A/D and SPACE to move, and ESCAPE to open the Pause menu.

screenshot-2.PNG

Ratings

Overall 560th 3.615⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Fun 545th 3.5⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 997th 2.974⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Theme 562th 3.769⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 392th 4.013⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Audio 413th 3.577⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Humor 277th 3.722⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Mood 556th 3.605⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Given 44🗳️ 66🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 237945
04. Apr 2022 · 16:18 UTC
Love it from all aspects, visuals, theme audio ect. my high score was 41.
LDJam user 258516
04. Apr 2022 · 16:22 UTC
"Sad" games about animals are on the rise in this edition.

I loved the sound effects and the dog animation is perfect. Programming has become so fluid that it's fun to jump and walk, even without hitting the ball.


Congratulations!
sivarde
04. Apr 2022 · 16:22 UTC
Very fun game! It really gets challenging as you keep going. I really liked the art a lot!

Some upbeat, fun music would add a lot, but the dog sounds are too funny. Great job!
drkylec
04. Apr 2022 · 16:22 UTC
Love the art and the sounds made me chuckle.
bohmann
04. Apr 2022 · 16:26 UTC
What a incredible art, i really love how the dog is drawn, and overall art is fantastic, really. Dog sounds are also so adorable and fun :)) . And good theme match. You just needed to add some music, but it's cool anyway.
Rate my game too pls
BubakGames
04. Apr 2022 · 16:41 UTC
Amazing game. I love the artstyle. The sound effect are great. Only thing mmissing is some soundtrack.
LDJam user 259666
04. Apr 2022 · 17:36 UTC
Great sound design and artstyle !
Amazing combination.

Nice job
Lord Shulky
05. Apr 2022 · 10:25 UTC
Ok Charles is clearly a real life dog because those sounds made me think there was an actual dog with me. Specially when it said. "Oh no" :)
Dmitry Kaidash
05. Apr 2022 · 10:32 UTC
Great game! Cool dog sounds and visual style:) Keep it up!
My high score is 60
Fear Games
05. Apr 2022 · 10:37 UTC
Love the art style. and great SFX
Mikado
05. Apr 2022 · 11:04 UTC
Nice game! The gameplay is a lot of fun, kept me entertained for a while. Also nice graphics, i really like the cartoon art style. It would've been a lot, a lot better with a soundtrack, but nonetheless nice job! I will definetively come back to play this one again from time to time. My high score is 72 :)
loipirius
05. Apr 2022 · 13:16 UTC
Love the art style and kudos to the person who recorded the dog sounds, got an honest laugh from me! Fun simple games are the best for jams :heart:
jkniest
05. Apr 2022 · 13:54 UTC
Love the art style and the woof sounds. The game it self is really fun to play.. but who didn't play those games as a child, where you keep the ball as much in the air as possible, so it was a nice throwback.

Also the woof-sounds: Amazing!
WilloXs
05. Apr 2022 · 16:02 UTC
To bad there is no music! The dog sounds deserve a better rating than what i put in but the lack of music hurts here.

On the other hand i first thought the story would follow the "Jurassic Bark" path till i saw the free dog sign... Maybe he is happier with his new owner(s).

On difficulty - the two balloons at once are my limit got to 87 one time but thats it
Kaminos
05. Apr 2022 · 17:17 UTC
Cool game! I had some fun while playing. I would like to have more responsive control to juggle the balls. Maybe faster movement or something like a dash forward. My subjective thoughts, maybe for a postjam version. Overall cool work guys :)
Fredrik Rosell
05. Apr 2022 · 17:36 UTC
I played this for way longer than I had planned. Great concept, great art, and best of all - the vocal performance by Charles.
IzhVaryag
06. Apr 2022 · 05:35 UTC
Fun game! Great idea!![screenshot.48.png](///raw/e94/c2/z/4cffe.png)
🎤 Trev3lyan
06. Apr 2022 · 08:56 UTC
@kaminos the speed and deceleration is intentional, to keep you guessing where the balloon will be, but I understand with the second balloon that gets a lot more tricky. A dash is a good idea, maybe on a cool down. Thanks for the feedback.
🎤 Trev3lyan
06. Apr 2022 · 09:02 UTC
@fredrik-rosell @jkniest @lord-shulky @drkylec I've passed on all the nice comments to Charles, he's glad he's entertained you! Thanks for playing!
🎤 Trev3lyan
06. Apr 2022 · 09:09 UTC
@bubakgames @sivarde @mikado @willoxs Admittedly it's our first jam and we went in fairly blind in terms of what's expected, and I didn't imagine so many games would have music, so when we started running out of time I cut the idea. Now I know for next time, so thanks for the feedback.

I'm hope it didn't detract from the experience too much. Thanks for playing!
WilloXs
06. Apr 2022 · 09:26 UTC
Oh i didnt notice its your first jam. Well done to finish in time!

And yeah as to all newcomers - i hope to see you around next time!
Human Writes Code
06. Apr 2022 · 11:12 UTC
Great simple game concept that has been executed very well!

I love the art. It looks gorgeous. The doggo sound effects also brought a smile to my face.

I feel like the difficulty ramps up enormously once the second balloon appears and I never made it much past that point.

Overall, great job!
voxar
06. Apr 2022 · 14:47 UTC
Nice work on the art!
ocwal
06. Apr 2022 · 15:16 UTC
Love the wagging tail :heart: !
Two balloons made it immediately superhard. Maybe there could be some kind of indicator that shows that there is another ballon coming? Maybe it could be blinking for awhile before dropping? Also I think it would help to understand there is two balloons inc if they have different colors.
Overall well executed!
🎤 Trev3lyan
06. Apr 2022 · 15:26 UTC
@ocwal I considered adding another text box telling you another balloon was coming. I thought the countdown would be enough since it's the same count down as at the beginning of the game. Unless that didn't start for you, which would be an interesting bug to fix. But yes, having it blink would be a great idea. Thanks for the feedback!
IzhVaryag
06. Apr 2022 · 15:37 UTC
![screenshot.52.png](///raw/e94/c2/z/4d1ce.png)
taran95
06. Apr 2022 · 16:29 UTC
I love the dog. The dog sounds are good. I also like the background image :) I never made past the point when the 2nd balloon came. Well done!
ocwal
06. Apr 2022 · 16:47 UTC
There was a countdown? :O Maybe I was too absorbed in moving the dog because I for sure missed that. :D
colineobordello
06. Apr 2022 · 19:29 UTC
the graphics are very nice, I also love the sound effects. good job
SeabirdDigital
07. Apr 2022 · 02:04 UTC
Nice job, I liked the art and always love a game with dogs :D. Difficulty is a bit high, I wish we could se a bit more when the ball disappears from the top of the screen. Great job overall.
🎤 Trev3lyan
07. Apr 2022 · 02:22 UTC
@seabirddigital Thanks for the feedback, I'll add an indicator for when it goes off screen if I make a post-judging update. Thanks for playing!
Reispfannenfresser
08. Apr 2022 · 20:45 UTC
This is a fun take on the theme!
The game is not that innovative, but makes up for it with polish.

Controls were super nice, graphics, animations and audio were very fun.
The small timer to indicate that a new ball will drop is super helpful.
The hud is not cluttered, yet informative.

It's looks well designed overall. Great job!
RogSound
09. Apr 2022 · 15:53 UTC
It's an inevitability! The sounds got me! )) Liked the art! Thanks for the moment of dog happiness!
leekanarchism
09. Apr 2022 · 17:26 UTC
Lovely! The graphics are absolutely spot-on, very well made. The quiet sounds were really nice too, not too over-the top. Got very into it and enjoyed the challenge of two balloons. Got 119 on my first try :)
lpettler
09. Apr 2022 · 17:30 UTC
The artwork and sound are AMAZING! The gameplay is basic but addictive. It's not the kind of game I usually like to play but can say that I played it for a bit longer than I set out to play.

Although I tried more times than I care to admit, I couldn't get past the second wave. Not quite sure if the difficulty is too high or I am (this is more likely) just bad at this kind of game? Either way, a more gradual difficulty curve or a difficulty setting which manipulates the gravity could be a good add.
Elena-S
09. Apr 2022 · 17:39 UTC
I love the dog sound. Some music could do more fun, though. Good game, anyway.
PureImprov
11. Apr 2022 · 18:40 UTC
Great physics, the bonuses could stand out from the background a little more. Managed 203 (:
Steve7411
11. Apr 2022 · 20:08 UTC
Oh no, this take on the theme crushed my soul. I do love the art and the voice acting.
Lenny Rudeberg
16. Apr 2022 · 16:03 UTC
The audio in this kept me playing for quite a while, best dog sound fx I've heard in a while lol. I really liked the artwork, animations though I felt very sad to see the man leave the free dog sign at the start :(
LDJam user 236404
17. Apr 2022 · 10:09 UTC
Didn't expect this game to be this fun, really liked the voice acting. I actually feel like I have a connection to the dog. The graphics were amazing and adorable. Only issue could be that the menu is a bit quiet and too static - if the menu didn't have music, maybe a bit of animations like the keyboard buttons or the words animating would make the menu feel a bit more "alive".