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A jam submission

Podium JostleView game page

A 20-second game about sprinting the last 150 meters of a race.
Submitted by TurdBoomerang (@TurdBoomerang) — 26 days, 16 hours before the deadline
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Podium Jostle's itch.io page

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

great concept! i like the draft and overall pacing mechanics in the race. well done!

Submitted

is it 20 secs "-ish" or a hard 20 to win? i like the concept either way. nice one!

Developer

It is 20 seconds or less! I cheated a little bit with the "distance" markers. No matter how fast you run, the first 75% of the race, (112.5 meters,) lasts exactly 15 seconds.  During the first 15 seconds, the "distance" markers are just measuring time. If you intentionally run slowly, you will notice how they appear closer together to compensate for your slow rate of movement. (Not reccomended, since there are reports that this breaks the game!)

Once you arrive at the 15 second mark, the finish line is dynamically selected by multiplying your slowest possible speed by 5 seconds. So you will never finish in more than 20 seconds, but a winning race will probably be closer to 17 or 18 seconds.

The result is a footrace where all the competitors sprint for 15 seconds, and then the finish line is drawn 37.5 meters ahead of a particular runner. A little wacky, but it respects the distance gained or lost by individual runners while still fitting the jam constraint.

Great question, and thanks for playing! :)

Submitted(+1)

ah, very clever. thanks for the clarification. i appreciate it even more now :)

Submitted

Awesome concept and well-balanced challenge.
Nice game!

Developer(+1)

Thank you for giving it a spin!

Submitted(+1)

I love the concept here, super engaging to play and replay! I won after 3 tries. The art is simple but has a unique charm, and the music fits really well! Couldn't help but replay it a few more times after I won.

Developer

Thank you for the detailed feedback! And thanks for playing :)

Submitted

LOVE THE DIFFICULTY!!! It makes me want to play it again and again!

Developer(+1)

Thanks so much for playing!

Submitted

I loved the feeling of accomplishment when you finally cross the finish line first.

Really well made! 

Developer

Thank you! How did the diffculty feel? Too easy? Too hard?

Submitted(+1)

It took me about 10 times to beat it, so I think it is well balanced.

Do you plan to expand on it, add obstacles etc.

Developer (2 edits)

If I have time, I may add some additional difficulty modes, but I think it will be largely unchanged otherwise. It was a distraction from some ongoing larger projects!

Submitted

I had fun sprinting in front of people and blocking them, it really feels like pushing through a crowd.

Developer

Thanks for playing! I'm glad the collisions felt human, I really wanted to make something that felt distinct from typical car racing physics and collisions

Submitted

It took me around 20 attempts, but I got this golden medal! Challenging game that keeps you strainged. I love how AI is implemented and overall ambience is great. Well done!

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

I'm glad the difficulty felt right! Thank you for playing!!