You’ve wandered into a dark shop in the open air market and, after some searching, discovered a mysterious artifact that attracts the curiosity of you and your traveling companion. Alas, you should never have touched it as you and your grumpy companion are now stuck together. Nothing you’ve tried has been able to separate your hand from the hand of your dear friend.

Unfortunately, things are only getting worse as you have managed to anger the shopkeeper during your frantic attempt to get unstuck. He has called up on his other shopkeeper friends to keep you from escaping. Now, every shopkeeper in town is looking to give you a good thrashing.

The only weapon you have is each other!

Use your friendly companion as your weapon as you swing him about to take out the angry shopkeepers. Each of the companions have a different trait that makes them better suited for taking out or avoiding the angry horde of shopkeepers. Can you find a friend or family member to help you figure out how to get unstuck from your traveling companion and explain to the shopkeepers how it was just a big misunderstanding?

Tags: 2D, compo, progress, timelapse

We’re now starting to get some of the actual imagery into the game to go with the controls that have already been implemented. The big, blue rectangles represent enemies for the moment. The player can take three hits before dying and the enemies can take two hits.

We’ve also implemented destructible objects but the animations aren’t in yet so nothing interesting to show there just yet. Speaking of animations…if you click on the GIF below to view it, then you can see of the animations that we’ve put together already. This includes an idle, a walk, and an attack for one of the characters.

The controls that we’ve implemented thus far are:

• D or Right Arrow – walk right
• A or Left Arrow – walk left
• W, Up Arrow, or Spacebar – jump
• Down Arrow – swap lead characters; each one has their own unique abilities
• Left Mouse Button – attack

That’s about it for now. Currently left to do:

• Finish animations for player characters
• Get remaining environment obstacles / destructible objects made
• Create enemies with animations
• Title screen, in-game menu, and HUD
• Music and Sound Effects

Tags: html5, jam, javascript, progress, screenshot, update

Just a video showing some gameplay for now. We’re working on getting the final animations in, some enemies, a tutorial screen, and the title screen.

It appears to be coming together nicely!

Tags: html5, jam, javascript, ld32, Ludum Dare, progress, update, video

We now have enemy #1 in – the enraged shopkeepers. We also have all player animations done and in the game, music, and sound effects. Next up are dragon cannons, more obstacles, the title screen (already done, but not integrated), and the menu system (also done, but not integrated).

The opening sequence for the game will look a bit like this:

The controls / tutorial screen will look something like this, but with the animations playing where the red panels are instead of just red panels.

Thanks to everyone who is following along!

Tags: html5, jam, javascript, ld32, Ludum Dare, screenshot, update, video

Join two friends on a quest to rid themselves of the dreaded Chinese Finger Trap that has bound them together for eternity. Little did they know that their curiosity would trap them for the rest of their natural days. Can you help them escape the angry shopkeepers and find a way to remove the finger trap? Please.

You can view the entry here or just jump straight to the game.

Thanks for playing and we look forward to seeing what the community thinks of The Ties That Bind.

Benjamin, Derek, Scott, Noah, Chris, and Coy (a.k.a, Mantis Digital Arts)

Tags: 2D, final, game, html5, jam, javascript, ld32, progress, screenshot, update