Thank you for this detailed review on all the ways the game sucks. It’s more than it deserves =P
It was created in jest in about an hour as a parody while I worked on my “real” entry. That there aren’t more negative reviews is just because people are too nice
Unfortunately, I couldn’t figure out how to unlock the other balls.
Really interesting from an implementation perspective though. Great physics and FX. The use of signed distance fields with pixel arrays for rendering and logic is quite novel for a DR game
Fun gameplay with very satisfying animations when you smash though trees, fun sound effects and appealing art. Love it when you can chain time bonuses. Whee!
Wow that’s just one shy of the theoretical maximum which you probably can never get due to the physics sometimes causing new spawns to leave the screen.
The engine’s creator has made it free for a limited time around the start of the jam.
We’ve also made the jam long enough that people who have no prior experience with the engine can have an opportunity to learn it.
Folks experienced with code-focused frameworks like LOVE, Pico-8 and Raylib should feel right at home, though the community does have some people coming from engines like Unity and Godot.
We hope you download DragonRuby and “kick the tires” a little. If it feels good to you, please join our very, very friendly Discord where we’ll give help and lots of encouragement!
If it’s just not for you, keep a lookout for our team’s next jam, 20 Second Game Jam which will be returning in Nov-Dec and will be open to all engines
Below are links to tutorials that take a deep dive into making things boingy. They are sorted from simple to complex so be prepared for some heavy duty math as you get near the bottom. If you want help with maths stuff, come see us on the DragonRuby Discord and head for the #math-physics channel.
Not speaking for the host, but there is some general guidance on this topic that applies to most game jams.
If you’ve been coding for any length of time you’ll have a library of fairly generic functions you’ve written that apply to multiple projects. Maybe some of those functions were “borrowed” from stackoverflow originally. Some might be fairly large like a grid drawing and querying system or an animation system if the engine doesn’t provide one.
Bringing in the grid or animation systems is typically fine in most jams (not Ludum Dare), but a larger system that also includes character movement, and pre-programmed abilities that is nearly a playable game already, is not.
If it’s code you feel like you have to ask about–don’t do it
Thanks for playing! There are quite a few known bugs as I was unable to work on the game during the last week and had to ship it unfinished. I haven’t seen the scoring issue mentioned but I have a good idea what it might be,
The game is absolutely inspired by Bubble Bobble, good catch! As I continue working in it, I will be bringing more ideas from that game
No worries, we completely understand stuff like this happens. Your entry will certainly be qualified in the contest if it’s all worked through in a reasonable time frame. Take a break, get some sleep, and visit the DRTK Discord when you can. You’ll definitely find help there.
Polished entry. I like that the arrows tell you where the circle is going next. Gives you a sense of false confidence about how easy it’s going to be =P
Unfortunately I just can’t keep up with my laptop trackpad. I’ll have to try again when I have a mouse handy
Why does the timer reset to 10 when you go down the (unavoidable) pipe? I run forward for the remaining 10 seconds hopping over the logs but there’s no indication of an achievable goal. Can this game be completed?
Took me about 10 tries in all. Felt extra punishing since it’s doesn’t auto restart when you die.
Physics feel good, nice balance of momentum and friction. The actual platforming is forgiving which is nice taking into account the other obstacles since it let’s you get some nice forward momentum going. Who knew snails could move so fast?
After the sequence played I was left with a feeling of mild confusion and waiting for the game to start. I hope this material is able to better connect with it’s intended audience
Very nice graphics and sound for this one. The music makes me think of Tetris for some reason.
It’s fairly challenging, just enough that it took me a few tries–and really it has to since you need to learn the path forward.
My first attempts were with the web build using Firefox on MacOS. Keys were getting stuck making the character continue forward without input, the jump button was ignored etc.
I later tested on Safari and it seemed OK there. Don’t know if others are having issues.
Wound up actually playing on an emulator with a controller, which was of course a much better experience.
This one seems quite promising. However due to the controls being based on absolute rather than relative cursor coordinates, I found at some point I couldn’t turn the character enough to go where I wanted.
