My entry is just a pretty simple platformer, first time I’ve tried something like it. I’ll be mostly polishing tomorrow. The first day has been productive 😀

Goodnight to any similar timezone devs… Good luck on your games!

Hey everyone! Just another usual post for entering Ludum Dare. This should be my 6th time around…

Tools:  Unity, Blender, GIMP, SFXR, LMMS

I have no idea how much I can do this Ludum Dare… I’ll try to make something small this time.

Now this is kind of a side request but in case anyone reading this post before it’s lost in the feed is interested in helping me out, I’m lacking solid feedback on the current state of my LD37 game, Super Battle Cycle. Leave a comment if you like, thank you!

That’s all I have to say, thanks for reading. Hope you guys are all prepared for a great weekend!

Since Ludum Dare 37, I’ve been working to make interesting experiences using feedback from my entry. A new episode of levels has been put together, and I hope you try it out in version 1.2.0!

Super Battle Cycles’ combat has been refined and simplified, and different mechanics have been used to form new puzzles. “Episode 2 – Reheated” has completely different levels than the original ones… please comment your thoughts on them!

You can play on Game Jolt, thanks!

Game Jolt Devlog

It’s important to note that SBC will be completely remade and improved for future release… Expect this to be the last update to this original LD entry. Hopefully I can make something larger from this in the future 😀 Until then, keep up with progress by following!

Twitter Page

Thanks for reading guys, see you next time!

Here’s the ranks and ratings for Super Battle Cycle, my entry!

Click for LD page

Wonderful! They’re the best ranks I’ve gotten in any entry. I think I will continue developing the game to eventually sell it… I hope it goes well, I’ve never tried selling a game before.

It would have been nice to get top 100 in Overall, but I’m satisfied with hitting top 100 in two other categories 😀 Congrats to the winners.

Great Ludum Dare, guys. Thanks everyone for playing, keep updated on future plans for the game on GameJolt and Twitter!

Less than one day remains for ratings! I’d love it for some of you guys to check out my entry: Super Battle Cycle

I’m still putting together a big post-compo update, so feedback is appreciated! 😀

This has been a great Ludum Dare… I’ve seen a whole lot of awesome games. Hope you guys enjoy, see you for results!

For some, it is already 2017 😀 Have a great weekend everyone!

Play my entry, Super Battle Cycle (works in browsers).

Shameless self-promotion alert

Hello everyone, 2017 is almost here, and so are results! Here’s my overdue post-mortem.

How the game looks now (1.0.9)

The Concept

Super Battle Cycle is a sort of driving top down shooter thing that I made for the compo. LD37 was always intended to be my first pixel art compo. I wanted a simple semi-monochrome or GameBoy-like art style… but with the theme of One Room I just couldn’t think of any original ideas that I would be able to execute quickly. A toy driving/fighting game sounded appealing, and I eventually decided to make a top down driving shooting physics game (how complex it sounds now). Soon enough I had created a prototype of the physics gameplay using a little motorcycle sprite I ended up sticking with.

My entry’s first GIF

Many players have commented that the game is unique in its grappling hook mechanic, utilizing physics as a weapon. I am very happy with this grappling gameplay because I feel that it’s fun (and juicy).

Boom. Objects are used to destroy enemies.

The game has about seven levels with three short help levels, all taking place in a room with rearranged levels for your toy cycle to shoot cars in.

The Bad

Alright, so most of all I need to put time aside for playtesting. This is what I never get around to in Ludum Dare because for some reason I put it off. Clearly it would have fixed the problems many players had with controls early on.

Something I wish I fixed before the initial deadline was pixelation! During development I had no method of rendering the correct GameBoy resolution in the exported game, and I had no time to find one (the first GIF seen above was taken in the editor, not the export). The initial version was just a 2D physics game with rotating sprites… something I am not proud of D:

Look closely at the cars and cycle… they aren’t pixels.

Even so, after this pixelation was fixed I couldn’t make the HUD render in GameBoy pixels without reworking it entirely. Maybe this will be fixed in the post-compo versions.

Finally, players have pointed out the the grappling mechanic should be more important than the other mechanics that are “unlocked” throughout the game’s levels. They couldn’t be more right, I see now that each feature should have built upon the grappling attack mechanic! This must be fixed in the post-compo version, huh?

The Good

Now onto the good… I have felt from the start that the grappling-driving gameplay is pretty fun and original compared to my other entries. Crossing my fingers to do well in innovation, if that’s my best chance!

I sorta made a few “tutorial levels” that introduce the base mechanics through help messages. It’s not the best way, but it’s something! This hopefully fixed the previous problems I’ve had with first levels.

Also, I’ve finally scratched the surface of pixel art with this game… hooray. It’s faster than 3D modelling and animating, so I might try it again in Ludum Dare. The sprites themselves were probably a bit mediocre, but maybe I can learn more. Speaking of art, the music was quite decent for how quickly I made it, and oh man, this time around I did many good things in juiciness 😀 Camera-shake explosions never hurt, right?

Final Thoughts

I also have a timplapse that will briefly show the process of my entry’s development:

So based off of feedback, the concept is the game’s strong point, but I made a lot of errors.

I won’t continue developing this one very much if it isn’t good enough (time is precious with school and all). I’m hoping to place top 100 in something, or even get top 100 overall for the first time (I doubt it). If my results are my best yet, I’ll try to develop the game and even sell it! Hoping for the best~

You can play the game here! Please do give feedback 😀

TL;DR – The game had lots of problems with execution but it was still fun for the most part. It also might be developed further if the results are reaaaally good, ha.

Thanks for reading, play link is just a few lines up there. See you next time!

-Power Spark

So I haven’t posted much this week… but I finally got around to updating Super Battle Cycle today– it’s not quite a post-compo version yet… that’s coming after results :3

One of the main problems for users were the controls, so I added the option to change the control style in the (new) pause menu. Many other tweaks were made too!

Now it’s time for me to start writing my postmortem… see you for that post~

You can play the entry here (works in browser)

Have some gifs

Thanks for reading!

Hey everyone, now that the submissions are in, I thought I’d upload Super Battle Cycle’s timelapse video. Take a look (it’s a short video), and if you want to play the entry, go ahead and do so please 😀

I hope you find it interesting.

Play Here (Web)

Thanks!

Super Battle Cycle received an important small patch (1.0.1) that fixed an graphical error I made during the weekend that forced me to drop the pixel graphics temporarily… but now it’s fixed, and the game is playable in it’s true pixelated glory! GameJolt API was also added (probably broken on WebGL), but nothing has changed otherwise. Tell me what you think 😀

The game can be played here!

Before

After

I finished my game earlier, now submitted for compo!

Play here!

You’ve just been opened; you’re the new Super Battle Cycle.
There’s one problem: the other toys don’t like you.
You must become the ultimate battle cycle driving champion and defeat the other toys!

I have little time to add more but we’ll seee

Simple AI finished, also now you can shoot with the mouse and some other things… Going good!