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Game Maker's Toolkit Jam

Hosted by metc, Game Maker's Toolkit · #gmtkjam
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A jam submission

Gravity FluxView game page

The fast-paced platformer where gravity moves with you
Submitted by LiamRoddy — 3 hours, 42 minutes before the deadline
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Gravity Flux's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Innovation#454.2224.222
Overall#474.1114.111
Theme#494.2224.222
Feel#863.7783.778
Aesthetics#1014.1114.111

Ranked from 9 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does your submission match the theme?
I tried my best to make all gameplay elements have at least two purposes:

-- Moving your character left or right also affects gravity.
-- Jumping/double-jumping is both a means of evasion and attack.
-- Explosive barrels allow you to jump higher, but also damage enemies and other barrels and destroy blocks.
-- Falling stalactites can hurt the player, but also enemies, and can even detonate barrels.
-- Enemy fire can damage the player, other enemies, and barrels.
-- Enemies both provide the goal of the game (senseless, unexplained violence :D) but also allow your combo score to build up.
-- Attacking multiple enemies quickly has a risk-reward component: let your combo build up and get bonus HP, but also risk getting yourself killed.

All these interacting elements lead to surprisingly deep gameplay despite player input being limited to three buttons.

Third-party resources
ENGINE:
GameMaker Studio 1.4
EXTENSIONS:
Intermediate Platformer by ZBG
Procedural Generation by WubsGames
Circular Healthbar by Darkwalker
MUSIC:
Time Bomb by Unknown
(I downloaded this from some Creative Commons music site and now can't seem to find out the artist anywhere :/
If anyone finds the creator, please tell me and I'll update the credits.)
SFX:
Various paid and public domain sources.

Contributors
Just me.

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Comments

Jupiter_Hadley6 years ago(+1)

Neat idea! I included it in my Game Maker Toolkit’s Game Jam compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :)

Reply
EonNomadSubmitted6 years ago(+1)

Reminds me of And yet it moves! Clever use of the theme. I didn't really find myself using jump at all. Enemies shoot a bit too fast (fire rate and speed) which makes me peek out from hidden spots in order to defeat enemies. Rotating in one direction for too long makes me get a bit dizzy. I'm not sure how to get around that but maybe more camera ease could help. Cool mechanic/dual purpose rules and music too!

Submitted
ScanDrill
Reply
LiamRoddyDeveloper6 years ago(+1)

>  I didn't really find myself using jump at all. 

Stick around for my first post-jam update. There's a feature you might like regarding jumping. :P

> Enemies shoot a bit too fast (fire rate and speed)

> maybe more camera ease could help

Completely agree actually. Currently tweaking both.

Thanks for the comment. :)

Reply
randomphantomSubmitted6 years ago(+1)

Needed to press Alt-Enter to play for me. Interesting concept and nice polish! Controls take some getting used to, the jump feels a bit short (given the size of the screen and stage)

Feel like the hitboxes on the enemies should be more forgiving, as there were a few times that I though I had jumped onto an enemy but didn't. The procgen is cool but results in some unfair situations where you get pelted with bullets immediately. Also I wonder if a more smooth lerping camera would have made the experience less disorienting rather than a fixed speed. All in all a cool entry deserving of more plays!

Submitted
GravityWell
Reply
EonNomadSubmitted6 years ago

Had to use alt-enter as well. Thanks for posting that! Almost didn't play this because of the black screen at start.

Reply
LiamRoddyDeveloper6 years ago

This version unfortunately (due to limited testing time) had quite a few startup bugs. :/

Should all be fixed soon enough.

Better hitboxes and fairer generation are both on the list as well. :)

Reply
bynineSubmitted6 years ago(+1)

good stuff here! graphics are effective and i like how bouncy and responsive to the environment the main character is. comboing is fun and the gameplay gimmick is intuitive. the screen spins WAY too fast though, i felt like i could hardly control it.

Submitted
AAAAA!!!
Reply
LiamRoddyDeveloper6 years ago

> the screen spins WAY too fast though, i felt like i could hardly control it.

Hmm, it's odd that you didn't feel in control. Rotation begins the exact frame you press the button, and stops the exact frame you stop.

If it's mostly a problem of speed, I might try tweaking it.

Thanks for the review :)

Reply
verysoftwaresSubmitted6 years ago(+1)

Pretty fun and ambitious, but with a simple core mechanic. Traditional moving and jumping were almost unnecessary because of how versatile and snappy the rotation is. For further development, maybe you could focus solely on the rotation, use falling height as some sort of variable for combos? 

The sliding is a cool touch, and cute character designs are always a plus. No real negatives to say about this.

it's a very☆ nice

Submitted
Dropplet
Reply
LiamRoddyDeveloper6 years ago

> use falling height as some sort of variable for combos?

Ooh, I actually really like that idea! I'll consider it for the next build.

Cheers for the feedback. :)

Reply
NayN64Submitted6 years ago(+1)

How has nobody played this one? This game is so much fun!

A few notes:

With these physics, I don't think you need the double jump. It's floaty enough that I feel you have a decent amount of control.

I would appreciate the ability to move without rotating the gravity, though for the purpose of this jam, I totally understand why you mapped them together.

Good choice on the music.

Seriously, this game was a lot of fun. Flying around, quickly rotating the gravity to get a combo was a blast and I could easily play more of this. Awesome game!

Submitted
Soul Chain
Reply
LiamRoddyDeveloper6 years ago (1 edit)

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad to see my first comment (only nine downloads do far lol) is so positive. 

I've been at around with the project a little since the jam ended now, and the game does play very differently with the movement and gravity controls separated. I'm not sure which I actually prefer so going forward might just have them as separate modes. 

The double jump does seem pretty useless I'll admit, but I've found it's saved me from an unexpected stalactite more than once, and I'm currently implementing an item/power system in which the double jump has a purpose. So that'll probably still be in the next build. It'll be nice to have more than 48 hours to work with!

All that said, creative criticism is always appreciated and I'd love to get your feedback on the next build too. :) 

Reply
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