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.
This is an experiment to see if a metroidvania with two button controls is possible (answer, yes!)
It is more a demonstration than an actual game, as I didn't have a lot of time this weekend, and could only spend about 8 hours on it.
By the way, in true metroidvania style there IS a secret ending!
Controls:
A does various things, mainly jumping
S does various things, mainly shooting
IMPORTANT: If you have a lot of trouble getting to the checkpoint with the ^^AS mark, that's because you're not supposed to get on there before you get the required powerup! ("Jumpshot")
The web version may lag as I didn't make the game with web version in mind.
To start, first click inside the window, then press any button to make the hero start walking.
Downloads and Links
Ratings
| #72 | Innovation | 3.93 |
| #76 | Theme | 4.24 |
| #90 | Overall | 3.85 |
| #140 | Graphics | 3.87 |
| #163 | Audio | 3.42 |
| #167 | Fun | 3.62 |
| #181 | Mood | 3.46 |
| #476 | Humor | 2.37 |
| #2115 | Coolness | 24% |
Comments
Absolutely great. Awesome implementation of two button controls. Sweet art work. Level design even made you think. Found the secret ending though. Well done man! And 8hrs, gosh blimey.
Very nice! Good graphics and interesting music.
I like how you put everything a medroidvania needs into a such simple game.
And I found the secret ending.
Nice, clever controls and pretty polished overall! Good job, I enjoyed it, even if it was very hard! :D
Awesome entry!! The controls are brilliant, great way to work with the 2 button theme. Audio and art are grea. I did sometimes struggle to work out how to do certain moves and did eventually get stuck, but if I didn't have a tonne of games I want to try I would continue to play and figure it out. Great entry!
Cool! I thought the controls would take longer to get used to but I got a hang of it pretty quickly. I like how you got so many move-sets just by using button combinations. I got the secret ending to :D.
I feel like an idiot because I can't get over the ledge after the pit you get wall jumping from... otherwise nice concept!
Thanks everyone
@tgrehawi *SPOILER* You need to find a new skill first *SPOILER*
Double tap controls were really difficult. Lovely graphics and nice concept.
Pretty difficult game. But it's nice once you get used to it. I only would have loved it better if the buttons weren't next to each other. Good job overall
Great game! Love that you got more than two controls on the two buttons and made a pretty complete feeling game. Congratulations on the intuitive level design (mostly) where you showed where each control went as you taught the player.
really great use of controls - i did get stuck in one part but will try again
Nice gameboy look for sure and good use of 2 buttons for controls.
Very nice graphics and music! The use of the controls are interesting but hard to learn. Very nice job!
I admire the way you started with an interesting design question/problem and found ways to make it work. I almost got stuck, but I'm glad I kept going and found the secret ending. Really impressive work. Great art and music too!
This is So HARD!!!... GOD!!!... i spend 30 min trying to leave a area O-O... the music its fine, the Graphics are so nice, the Gameplay it´s Hard but it´s perfect to this game style, the two botton control is perfect to the theme, 4,5/5 :)
Awesome concept and great graphics, nice music too. Fun game, very cool. Well done!
Wow, the way you used the theme was amazing managing to pack so much functionality into 2 buttons, The level design was really well done and the game was fun play and realy made me think about all the ways to use 2 buttons.
:D
Holy shit, this is amazing. Wonderful graphics, nice music and sfx, interesting puzzles, all with two buttons! Also got the secret ending!
It's a fun game! The controls are kind of hard to get used too, but it's a very creative use of the theme! Grats!
Freakin' amazing work for 8 hours. Nice pixel art, good audio. The control idea for this is interesting. It's hard and frustrating, but rewarding and fun when you can get it right. Great job!
Superb theme combination! It's very challenging but we've found the bonus skill!
awesome concept, graphics and sound too, but too hard to climb up
This is very clever :) Pretty sure it woudl kill my hands playing a longer version of this so the length is just right too.
Wonderful execution of the 2 button theme: using two buttons to do a wide array of actions! Art was pretty cool, and sound was repetitive but not annoying, very suitable as well.
Overall very solid, and the fact you made this in 8 hours is all the more amazing. Good luck, very well done!
Amazing. Really well done. I loved the moments when I was like 'Ok, what combos do what?!' Ace!
The "taptaptap" is a little annoying, but everything else is great : best use of the theme, intelligent level design, good gameplay :)
Good job with the two button themed. Very interesting use of progression / leveling up and still only using two buttons
I really appreciate the game until I got stuck here https://i.gyazo.com/32446d86ecc8d4288eb08184cc28000c.png
I didn't understand how I had to push the button. I tried A then S, but not working. Can you explain? I will rate this entry when I will be able to retry with the solution x) Great use of the theme! Really!
@Goutye: It's A and then S in mid-air, but you need to get a new skill first.
Really solid entry. Great to see a neat implementation of the two button controls. Well done. :)
cool game, clever concept, sometimes getting the right combination was frustrating. well done
Definitely a really cool implementation. Works really well as a sort of puzzle metroidvania.
Well done.
Awesome game! I'm pretty sure this is the best compo entry I've seen.
Awesome graphics: Check!
Awesome soundtrack: Check!
Awesome gameplay: Check!
Amazing! Didn't expect this complexity with just two button controls. Great entry! Congrats!
Also found the secret ending.. :) (but was stuck for roughly 5 minutes trying to figure out how to double jump without having necessary skill unlocked..:/)
Very interecting game mechanics which implemetned two themes if meas that player glowing while he is understanding game rules.On other side it's pretty weird to control character this way. Good try anyway!
I think this is quite impressive for the time you say you spent on it. I will say as the controls start getting more complicated with the learned skills, it starts to become a little too unyielding, and found myself stuck due to not knowing how to make a jump... so i didn't get a secret ending :( great job!
8 hours only? wow this is purely amazing! Great music, superb animations, wonderful gameboy feel, super challenging.. everything is there, I can't wait to see what you come up with when you have more time! Cheers
A great little game! I think you were able to capture the limitation of the theme and make it into a game without feeling limited at all. I really enjoyed it.
Those controls though!
Quite infuriating, but eventually I found both endings. Oooof.
Looks very pretty and sound and visuals fit together very nicely.
I liked it! (My left wrist hurts now).
This was a nice and compact metroidvania!
The controls were a bit infuriating but after a while i could navigate with more ease. Though it never became intuitive.
The art did a good job supporting the minimal gameplay as well as the audio! Cool tune!
Got to the secret ending! :)
I wasn't expecting to see a two-button metroidvania game... kudos for being able to do it!
I really liked the limited and bluish color palette! The audio was also really fitting for the game.
Great job! :)
I like the concept of limiting a platformer to two controls and then stretching the imagination to figure out how to fit otherwise simple actions inside of it. I was not able to get over the tall wall (just after learning wall jump) that requires some sort of wall jump/bullet turnaround combo move.
Now this is quite an interesting experience, and a creative take on the theme(s). Goes to show there's a lot to do with two buttons. I mostly enjoyed playing to the end, and this is one of the more memorable entries altogether.
To help you work on this more, maybe, here's my two main gripes regarding the gameplay:
1) The reaction times required are occasionally a bit overwhelming. It sorta feels like playing a debug fast-forward mode that you got used to during development, and which you never slowed back down for the poor players who are just taking their first look.
2) The skills aren't really explored to their fullest extent. I guess this is one of those things that feel "off" to me about many modern Metroidvanias. You only get skills to reach the next area - as a new key to a lock - not as a new degree of freedom that allows your character to explore more. This can sort of be excused considering it's made in a weekend, but I'd like to see you play around with non-linearity more after the compo.
Also, the audio does get on your nerves after a bit. Actually it seems out-of-place right from the start, mood-wise. It's just there doing its thing but not really complementing the gameplay.
My thoughts on the ^^AS checkpoint: please kill me.
Both before and after finally reaching it.
My verdict: it does absolutely not work.
YinYin: Did you actually manage to get up there without finding the required powerup? Wow...
There is a required power up ...?
I only used a wall jump and turning mid air.
And because it seemed like I had to somewhat time my descent into the enemy pits following, I had to double tap turn a lot afterwards. And whenever I once again died down there I re spawned but was still turning half of the time thus falling off to the left again ... (and seemingly no way to kill myself to quickly re spawn up top)
Now that I think about it I should have probably gone back with the wall jump, but at the time it felt like there was only going forward.
I may give this another try, but even till that point it wasn't very fun with a double tap turn. I'd much prefer button hold/release combinations, but maybe these are taken for upgrades further down the road.
Really with those button restrictions and auto movement it's more like a tangled up runner than a Metroidvania. Doesn't work for me.
Okay then, it does work much better once you have the jump shot as it suddenly opens up traversal by several magnitudes. Reached the "secret ending". It kind of ends there at a point where it's only starting to get a little fun.
By the way, is the rapid fire S+A intentional? I cannot remember getting an upgrade for that (without the jump shot I kind of thought I need this to get through the enemy crowded pits by using my amazing ability to "fall" in at the right moment).
Nice little Metroidvania.
The level design wasn't horrible except for that second enemy pit after getting autofire. I died 4 times before I even killed a single enemy. It also needs better indication that you need to explore at the ^^AS mark. Maybe just removing the mark altogether would do.
The Secret ending was cool, though if you had more time I feel like this is where you would've put a more difficult challenge.
S+A was intentional, I needed to find a way to shoot multiple shots without turning. You get the upgrade at the long part where it says S+A on the floor.
Personally, I'm not that happy with level design from the first checkpoint onwards at all. There are so many cool things I could have done, but that's where the lack of time became an issue. I don't hate what it is now (I really think it's just a demonstration of possibilities), but it could have been really good, I think.
On the turning. I'm aware it's not the most intuitive solution, but level design itself was never supposed to revolve around it much. It was always intended as a recovery mechanic when you mess up. The true "turning" mechanic was always supposed to be walljumps.
Top marks for theme, very clever and a great entry. Some pretty great game design here!
Aha! Then you introduced wall jumps too late ;p
Truly it would've been a lot better if you spend more time on level design. For example I really thought the pit you learn falling in was too wide to use the wall jump - if it had some visual cues on the walls matching the pit you get the wall jump in that may have reminded me to back track with it instead of pushing onwards.
8 Hours? Very nice work in that span! Very polished game play!
This was damn hard but rewarding. The part you had to specify in the description-- where you need the bullet jump thing... I think the reason I got stuck there was that I did not realize that with my wall jump holding down A would extend the jump/let me wall jump further. I knew I had to get back up to the top part to get that power up I saw right at the top but it took me 5 minutes or so before I figured out how to use the wall jumps right.
That finish line was hard to reach. I can't really say I enjoyed playing the game with two buttons. Most of the time the wrong thing would happen, which I understand is my own fault, but it was quite annoying. Still, it was a worthy challenge and quite rewarding once I managed to get the hang of it a bit. The sound when the bullets hit the wall was a bit too sharp.
The idea is good, the execution pretty great, but the actual outcome wasn't... fun. It's very tedious. I think this is one of those to file under cool idea but ultimately not the best thing to do with two buttons.
If you ever played King of Thieves, this has that kind of feel to it, except I can time KOT with one touch, and this is a sequence of button hits... When I fail I feel like I'm unlucky rather than unskillful.
Cool exercise though :)
Cool. Is there something to do after getting Endless Jumpshot?
Cool. Found the secret ending! Make it longer! Bosses maybe? I will buy it on Steam.
Cool. I liked the theme application. It's a bit hard for me, but very good nonetheless.
Hard, but the concept is really fun. And learn abilities one after the other is great too. Well done !
Secret ending, woohoo! Would like to see some story in the game, as it's already pretty good in the mood department. :3 I like the music, it reminds me of Land of Illusion on Sega.
And wow, 8 hours, a mighty good job for such amount of time!
You've made a demo that's better than any of my full games. The graphics are lovely, though the main character sprite might need some work, and the shake effect gets a bit too much. I love the background music; reminds me of "La-Mulana"'s soundtrack. However, the sound effects are a bit too loud.
The world design is pretty great. Unfortunately, the controls made it too hard for me. Still, very good-looking game with a cool concept.
Awesome! Really clever use of the theme here and quite fun too. The only issue I could find is that the amount of enemies in some of the areas is a bit excessive, but it's not too bad since they don't respawn. Nice job on the graphics & audio too!
I enjoyed playing this game. The graphics and the music really cool. Good job!
For awhile it was pretty tough to drill the button combos into my brain. Still, the game was pretty fun and I liked the aesthetic. Good job!
Impressive! Awesome work, liked it a lot!
Really hard to master the controls.
Love the way you used the two button limitation...and that's on top of excellent graphics and audio. Really fun!
You were featured on Ludum Dare to Believe! Check it out! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHct4hxdQmI
Very interesting application of the theme! I love your use of the 4-colour palette throughout the game, and I think you've done a great job with the music. This is incredible for just 8 hours, I'm extremely impressed. Keep up the great work!
[Lazarus-omin from Creative Sectors]:
Jesus Christ, this is awesome! And it only took you about 8 hours to make?! That's just some mad science!
Controls are very slick, the worked exceptionally well with the given theme. The graphics and music just set the mood right, so if you plan to polish this further, a perfect base is given.
Finished the normal way, and found the secret ending too.
I'm speechless mate, nice job! Hope to see more of your magic!
P.s.: I haven't experienced lag, or any other anomalies.
You must sign in to comment.
Mini Submission FAQ
TEAMS: Teams entering the Jam should pick a single representative to submit your game, or create a team specific account you can share. We currently do not support Team Voting, but sharing an account and together playing and rating games is acceptable.
CAN I ENTER BOTH EVENTS?: You should pick 1 event, whichever you think it’ll do better in. If the idea is strong, and everything plays well enough, you can go Compo. If you’re a perfectionist, and would prefer people to play a more polished game, do the Jam. Historically, more games are entered in the Compo, but with more people and more time, Jam games have the potential to be better (that doesn’t mean they are). Many solo participants do enter the Jam.
If you made 2 games, unfortunately, the website doesn’t support multiple submissions per user. To submit your 2nd game, you will have to make a 2nd account. Only do this if you made 2 games. Alternatively, if one game is better than the other, then consider just entering the better game.
CAN I KEEP WORKING UNTIL THE DEADLINE?: Yes! Immediately after the 48 or 72 hours, we do something called Submission Hour. As the name suggests, it’s an extra hour for you to package, upload, and submit your games. If there were catastrophic issues trying submitting your game, or you misunderstood how submissions work, that’s okay. It happens. We’re flexible. If you need advice, check with the folks on IRC. If you need an admin, get in touch.
CAN I KEEP WORKING ON MY GAME?: Oh definitely! You should! But for the sake of judging, keep the Compo or Jam version around. You can include a link to the Post-Compo/Post-Jam version of your game on your games page, but sure your main links are the original version.
PORTS: Ports to other platforms can be done after the deadline. That said, the sooner you finish your port, the sooner people can play your game, improving your chances of placing in the final results. For best results, provide a Web version of your game, or a Windows version with no dependencies. Also be sure to rate at least 20 games to improve your visibility (Coolness).
MY GAME CRASHES, IS UNBEATABLE, OR I MADE A TYPO: We allow you to fix crashes, win condition, or tiny bugs after the deadline. In a sense, this is like “porting” to support more players. We leave this open to interpretation, but generally speaking your game should be identical to the game you submitted. No new features, just fixing mistakes you should have caught had you been better rested.
MY GAME DOESN’T SHOW UP: If you can’t find your game, it’s usually because the URL to your downloads are missing ‘http://‘. Fix your URLs (http://mysite.com/mygame.zip) and you will show up. Alternatively, if you just posted it, wait a minute. The cache may not have refreshed yet.
NOT LOGGED IN?: If you get a message about not being logged in, even though you are, it’s because your web browser cached the non-logged in page. You can fix this by either refreshing your cache or clearing your cache. CTRL+F5 in many browsers. Chrome is a bit more work. Press F12 to enable Developer Mode, then you can right click on the refresh button and select “Empty Cache and Hard Reload”. This option is unavailable if you are not in Developer Mode.
Found the secret ending! This was really hard...