Checker Jump by confusedsoph
Story: Imagine. You've tracked the Necromancer down to his haunted castle hideout. You're about to defeat him once and for all. Suddenly, a flash of green smoke. You open your eyes to see the wizard, in a daze across a great expanse... Wait, is this a checkerboard?
Objective:
Navigate across the board to the Necromancer to reclaim his malfunctioned staff and reverse its effects, but watch out. The ghosts are very competitive at checkers. Every 10 seconds, they will take their turns and move the checkers across their ghostly checkerboard. You'll have to jump from checker to checker or you will fall through the phantom furniture!
Controls:
WASD: Movement
Space: Jump
Reset: R
Exit: Esc
Update Log:
Update 2.0: Fixed error with game launch.
Update 2.1: Minor adjustments to game balance and and appearance. Fixed collider issue.
Update 3.1: UI and EndGame added. WebGL Port coming soon!
Update 3.2: Jump and Camera Adjustments. Tried to fix bug in grab script.
Update 3.3: Grab mechanic replaced with collider trigger. UI and Jump adjustments.
Update 3.4: Fixed Esc bug.
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/checker-jump |
Ratings
| Overall | 1218th | 2.452⭐ | 54🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1210th | 2.284⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1049th | 2.725⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1134th | 2.755⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 754th | 2.51⭐ | 51🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 995th | 2.918⭐ | 51🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 70🗳️ | 87🗨️ |
I did this exact same mistake back when I first used Unity
And in my case, I needed to restart the game for each try !
Otherwise it is playable for me :)
Friendly feedback: Jumping doesn't feel great, I don't know if it's bugged, but trying to jump to each checker feels pretty clunky. Falling through the board also feels like a bug, especially because we need to manually press R to reset or we fall forever into the abyss, checking the player's Y coordinate and resetting after they've reached -100 or something would make it much more convenient.
I managed to jump across to a few checkers, but I never got to engage with the idea where the AI moves platforms for me to cross, because the jumps felt so unreliable.
I didn't think to use the Y coordinate. I tried implementing the same feature through another method, and it failed, which is why I went with the manual reset. I'll try a Y coordinate reset if I decide to continue developing this concept!
I’ll try fiddling with the camera and seeing how that affects gameplay and feel for the next patch.
I actually really like the uneven checker surface, but I’ll see what other players have to say on that one. I can see the pros and cons of both options.
I agree with what the other commentators said about jumping; I feel the gravity is slightly too high. The really interesting part of this game for me wasn't the jumping, but looking at the board state and trying to predict what a sensible next move would be, and planning my route based on that. So if that's the goal of the game, then IMO it makes sense to make it easy for the player to execute on that (which would mean simplifying the jump execution).
I love the idea of a board game where you play from the perspective of one of the pieces. Really neat entry :)
Also I'm glad you like the hellscape vibe. That's definitely the intention.
I think if the jump was a little bit floaty, as in falling slower and jumping higher, it would be much more playable. As it is, it feels like a very precision platforming game.
Thanks for the game.
P.S. Falling cause a checker moved out from under was unsettling.
But I really like the idea, and I really like that I play some mini character on a huge boardgame. Graphics are well made also! Hope you can make it playable!
I think the game would be a lot more fun if we played on top of a game of Go instead of checkers. As is, since checkers is a game about removing pieces over time, the current strategy is to wait for just one checker to move and then go for the necromancer as fast as possible - after a few pieces vanish, you're both more or less at the mercy of the ghosts. On the other hand, since Go tends to add pieces over time, you start out with a small amount of area (perhaps one where you can have a ranged battle with the necromancer), then you can go in for melee attacks as the game progresses and more pieces get added, and pieces can still be removed and fall out from under you if captures occur. The ghosts wouldn't even need to be all that great at Go for this to work.
You do have a good point though. Maybe another game that adds tiles/pieces would be interesting. Dominoes maybe? Othello does that I think?? I’ll keep thinking about it.
If anyone has ideas please feel free to chime in.
I'm glad you like the concept though. That tells me that the game might have potential once I get it cleaned up.
I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as competitive checkers, but I wanted it to be kinda bizarre.