F.L.O.P by Pentaworks

Play as the lovely little Floppy - our food-loving penguin that is obsessed with eating fish.
Try to eat all the fish on the ice - but avoid the water.. there is great evil within.
How to play
Click and drag, release, enjoy.
See in-game tutorial for more details :wink:.
Known issues
- Saved Games dont load properly when loading while playing.
- Loading saved games from main menu works as intended.
- Known issue with sound playback under certain circumstance :wink:
Changes
- Updated known issues
| Source (Jam version) | https://github.com/Pentaworks-Group/ldjam58/releases/tag/LDJam |
| Itch.io (Jam version) | https://pentaworks.itch.io/flop-ldjam-58 |
| LDJam + 1 | https://github.com/Pentaworks-Group/ldjam58/releases/tag/LDJam%2B1 |
| Post Jam (use Jam version for rating) | https://pentaworks.itch.io/flop |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/58/f-l-o-p |
Ratings
| Overall | 767th | 2.554⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 702th | 2.696⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 626th | 2.804⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 746th | 2.685⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 706th | 2.286⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 484th | 2.463⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 233th | 3.389⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 738th | 2.704⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 29🗳️ | 37🗨️ |
@raysplaceinspace There are 8 levels in total. the first two are testing levels.. afterwads it gets interessting. The trick with those steps is to use little force once you are against it.
And thanks for playing :blush:
@tommeh Thanks :blush: The lives would in theory be variable and we planned to have a food that increases the lives. but Jam gonna jam :laughing:
I thought the steps were really hard to understand, I thought the game was bugged until I saw previous comment. I think they need a more visible distinction, like a clear line. Maybe if so I would have tried a little bit longer trying to figure out how they worked. I thought there was some scaling issue going on and some sprite + collision had been accidentally stretched. The tutorial could maybe mention them specifically (unless I missed something?).
Also I think it would be a good idea for the next jam to try to focus on the core a little bit more and try to have a smaller scope. I saw something about game modes that I guess didn't quite make it and there is a really functional saving system. But it got quite tedious to keep opening the menu to save. I think it would be better to maybe have a quick save button, and upon game over it brought you back to that state. Or just allow the player to start over the level. And then work on something closer to the core gameplay instead, maybe a moving fish? Or a moving obsticle? I should say that I only got to level 3 so maybe there was some stuff that I missed.
Don't get me wrong though, I'm impressed you got the save system in place working and it is hard to scope these project! And the movement felt really good! And maybe the other game mode would be great so it was a risk worth taking :slight_smile:
Anyways nice work!
The second level is not impossible, but I admit that it is a bit tricky to get the gist of it.
There shouldn't be any walls what so ever.. but might be terrain stitching that casues the issue.
@rol Thank you too. congrats on level 3. 5 more to go :wink: Personally, I managed to get to level 6 on the jam version, but i had a bit of practice :laughing:
We had the issue with passing through steep slopes in the begining, but haven't had any of late. What version were you playing? LDJam or the first post-release? Sounds like a bug tbh...
the game modes are not mentioned without a reason, as we planned the game with them from the begining.
The latest post-jam version actually has it in place though the second game mode is basically the same as the first, with all food being placed randomly. EDIT: [Post-Jam Verison](https://pentaworks.itch.io/flop)
In regards to the save system - solid point with the menuing being annoying. a quick save would indeed be a good idea to implement. And the base implementation is fairly simple as we keep a game state at all times that can simply be serialized and stored.
Obsticales were planned, the basic model is in place (visible in source) but we didn't manage to model and render them. should also be a fairly somple addition.
I think - as others pointed out as well - that the physics need some tweaking when it comes to traversing elevation changes. I think that after a certain threshold, the force applied is too strong, and it's easy to get flung out of control even though the arrow was just a little bit longer than before, when the obstacle was blocking movement. While this may be related to the steepness of the slope, in 3d you'd see it easily, but it's hard to represent it in 2d. The amount of force required to move past those felt pretty inconsistent for me.
That being said I did spend quite a lot of time trying to pass level 3. Really enjoyed the entry, congrats! 🐧
Great idea and solid execution - well done!
@azahara @kitira Thanks for your feedback. The levels are getting harder as you progress. though level 1 and 2 were our development levels.
all after these were crafted by hand using the in-game editor, available as an easter egg in the post-jam version (though you have to find it).
@pete-valeo Thanks a lot for your feedback
@marudziik You are right, it is the steepness of the of the incline causing the issues. the terrain stitching is far from optimal. the trick is to get to the slope and use mid-or-less power to get up it.
Polish this mechanic and explanation, and it will be a nice game
Sometimes the penguin kept sliding forever and it seemed like the same move sometimes let me cross a barrier and other times did not.
Overall the idea was very nice, I really liked the musical bits and shooting the penguin into space :D
@oller125 @phoenix-fireflower The trick is to be slow at the steep parts. Limit the power, and you will get over the ledge. It's more of a "Improvement requried" than a bug :slight_frown: