NOTE: Because of the Theme tie, we allowed everyone to pick either Theme. Using both was optional. To keep things simple, there will still only be one Theme category. Every category in Ludum Dare voting is an opinion, so you’re welcome to rate them as you see fit. But we encourage you to be fair in your scores to people that chose only one Theme, and not both.
ALSO: Itch.io has an experimental game downloader over here. You may find it useful.
"The best European low-budget PSX game of 1996" — The Virtual Herald
What would have happened if a very small group on a budget in 1996 cranked out a quick PSX title on such a small timescale and without artists but with the internet and browser capabilities of 2015? (but without things like Unity because true programmers write everything themselves, forever)
Snowman Builder Extreme
A game where the premise is that the best way to make a snowman is to kick it down a slope littered with snowman adornments and let fate handle the rest.
You can help fate a bit by pressing the LEFT and RIGHT ARROW KEYS to steer the snowball around a bit, but
it moves forward by itself.
Be sure to enable SOUND! It features a free Ska-ish song by good old Kevin MacLeod. Why Ska? The 90s! That's why. The whole experience of this game is an homage to 90s 3D games.
It even works on some mobile devices, where you can tilt the device to steer, but it's rather hard and I only tried it on an iPhone 5S.
There are 16 titles to be gained by picking up certain numbers of certain adornments and/or being really fast. Be sure to collect 'em all!
Seriously though. The game lasts 1 minute exactly by design. You have 1 minute. It is awesome.
----
A reasonable 3D chip is likely required, not because the scene is that complex but because WebGL. If you have any trouble, let me know. The game engine is a custom one made by myself over the last couple of months. Tested on Mac Safari, Chrome and Firefox and on iOS 9 Safari.
This game uses a lot of external assets so voting for Graphics or Audio is disabled. For a full listing and links click on the "asset sources and acknowledgements" link on top of the game page.
Downloads and Links
Ratings
 | Coolness | 100% |
| #159 | Humor(Jam) | 3.45 |
| #284 | Theme(Jam) | 3.93 |
| #286 | Fun(Jam) | 3.45 |
| #398 | Overall(Jam) | 3.43 |
| #662 | Mood(Jam) | 3.04 |
| #713 | Innovation(Jam) | 2.84 |
Comments
Simple and fun game.
It makes me try to do better every match.
I believe we need more visual feedback.
Sound can also have greater importance.
: D
LOL! Very fun game!
Thanks for the feedback on Parallax, man! We will try to improve the game since is possible.
Brilliant game. My snowman came out looking very very strange XD
Alas, I am just an average snowman builder.
Fun game. I really liked the detail of the snow sounds when I'm colliding with the ground. Good job!!
I think i made Dr Frankenstein's snowman... Thats good, right?
I had 2 goes of this which is more than I give most game jams games, so thumbs up from me.
LOL that's pretty funny. Four top hats and three carrots make for a very amusing snowman head. Would be cool if at the end you displayed the snowman's head on a body?
For those playing at home, there are 16 titles to be had, only one of which I think is impossible :) For those true gamers, try going for Expert rating which requires a minimum of 16 items and reaching the end of the track.
Proof that it is possible: http://zenmumbler.net/ld34/expert-proof.png
So this was fun. I played it multiple times. Then I read your description and turned on the music. Good job, much more complete than what we were able to do on ours :-) the art was nice. The controls were a little "floaty" maybe. But maybe that's what made it fun.
Also known as 'How hard is it to roll downhill while wearing four hats'
Simple, fun game. Found it enjoyable. Especially enjoyed the titles. I also liked how you managed to incorporate both themes into this game. Nice work.
This game was funny.
I love the idea of trying building a snowman in this conditions, even if it's look totally random at the end.
Good job.
Great theme application, nice graphics, good game mechanics overall.
Only one observation: when you strat to play it's hard to recognize the "buttons" of the snowman on the track, try making them bigger.
excellent work!
I played it way too many times - freaking Snowman! :-)
It's a funny idea, well done!
Really nice game, fun to play and roll around collecting objects, while growing larger all the while! Could never make it to that snowey wall at the end though, only so close. Nice entry! xD It fits my criteria, it's super fun, theme is top notch, it's funny how the items rolled into the ground and back out, like they're passing through, and I feel pretty great! I guess that's 5! ;D
Response for my game: Yup, no comic this time, sorry, but I used a new language and my first time at it too, so I did not get time to implement one. Also the idea never crossed my mind, but I assure you I will try to get in a comic in my next game! :D
I uploaded a video showing how to get the _much vaunted_ Expert rating. Please enjoy: https://youtu.be/MQ3C5K9r_8U
It is extreme. It is awesome.
Snowball moves in strange way, but it doesn't matter, bacause game is great.
Tried it two times, got pack-rat and light weight titles :)
The ball was starting to look very wierd in the end (9 hats anyone?)
Nicely done :)
Fun katamari-like idea. It didn't really feel like the ball's position affected the position of the things that were rolled up.
Simple and fun! Had a blast trying to find out some of the titles at the end.
Nice game! I've never seen snowballs that are that bouncy, or that spin backwards when rolling forwards for that matter :p
Good game concept and fun to play. Would be great to have additional snowballs to actually build a snowman and maybe some obstacles.
That was fun. I was trying to only collect hats but it was really hard. In general it was very hard to actually collect stuff too, so it might increase the fun if the collision-boxes of the pick-ups are a bit larger. Entertaining entry.
Pretty simple but fun entry plus the titles you get at the end were rather humorous.
I've played similar games here, but this one is the most controllable so far. The speed is just right, the buttons are reacting fast enough. A good game with a fun theme. The titles in the end are a nice, finishing touch :)
Very nice! Reminds me a bit of Katamari Damacy. The game is easy to control, and it feels smooth and pretty polished. The graphics are pretty ugly, but it just adds to the charm of the game :D
This was awesome. Got Ratpack on my first run and thoroughly enjoyed it! On my second run I aggressively launched after a carrot and flew straight threw the wall! This only added to the fun though, great job!
I like the idea but there needs to be more time and more things to collect (scarves maybe?)
Love it, katamari damacy style mechanic of picking things up and keeping them on the player works really well.
If I had one criticism it'd probably just be that the sound that plays when you press start could be a little bit quieter but that's it.
Keep it up man :)
Sir Magic: Ooh, scarves. I never even considered those.
Raius: Yes, the sound is pretty intense, it's there as a nod to the Japanese SNES / PS1 games that played a more or less random sound when you hit start on their static title screens. Anyway.
The idea is simple, effective and very fun. Controls feel polished, which helps a lot with the feeling.
Great entry!
Winter mood, even if there is no snow in my garden xD funny game!
A really fun game, I played it through several times to see how many hats and carrots I could get haha! Also congrats on getting a webgl version running!
This game was so fun. Never had so much fun building a snowman
I probably found the snowman with five top hats more amusing than I should. Well done, nice game.
Hi there, you recently rated our game "Hypernova", and it has come to our attention that we were doing some messing around with it making a multiplayer alpha version - and we accidentally replaced the final ludum dare build... if you could take the time to just check back on it again, the web version is fixed and you can play the full game as it was when released at the end of ludum dare. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Good graphics, good music and good idea attaching the assets as you get it. Fun to play. Nice work!
Fun game! Nice to see some Katamari style action going on in the 'growing' theme. The titles at the end are great. The control felt a bit too heavy, I kept wishing the snowball was a bit more responsive. But fun stuff overall.
This was much more fun than I first thought. Or perhaps this is a bit more guilty pleasure.
Incredibly fun game.
An interesting twist with the growing and it really fits the title. It was great to see there is phisics in this game, even if it is a little off. For the first time I missed to collect some better items for my snowman. On my second run I got 18 items and it was enough for a "Packrat" title. The music is funny and goes to the theme.
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