Well, Mike ran in to problems getting ldjam.com working properly with about 12 hours left in the Compo, so this is the backup plan.
Explore the dungeon, avoid the spikes, defeat all enemies and light all the lanterns! Good luck!
Info:
- Top-down dungeon explorer
- Retro style
- No music (sadly, I ran out of time)
Controls:
- Arrow keys: walk around
- Space/C: Jump
- Ctrl/X: Shoot
- Escape: Hold to quit
Downloads and Links
Ratings
 | Coolness | 100% |
| #34 | Theme(Jam) | 4.37 |
| #51 | Overall(Jam) | 4.04 |
| #101 | Graphics(Jam) | 4.33 |
| #123 | Fun(Jam) | 3.75 |
| #144 | Innovation(Jam) | 3.72 |
| #334 | Mood(Jam) | 3.49 |
| #463 | Audio(Jam) | 2.82 |
Comments
This was really great! Excellent use of the theme. I love how this game looks and feels, the tiles flipping over really sold it for me. I would totally buy this if it had more content.
Love the aesthetics. So simple, yet full of personality.
One of my favorites, even though I'm pretty bad at it! I'll have to try again later :p
This game has the best level/room transition I've ever seen in a game, even one that has gameboy style retro graphics. It's ingenious!
cool art style and tricky but very nice use of theme, i like it very much. but most important! i makes fun!
I love the hooks grabbing all characters! nice idea and cool style!
That was a good game, really like the concept of everything being grabbed by the pliers !!! That's a great idea !
Just missing a bg music :)
Good work !
Best theme interpretation I saw until now ! Very well polished game.
This game works really well! Very fun to play and frustrating at times, the music is missing but the audio you do have is effective.
Very nice. I loved that the claws are used to everything lol
Like everyone already said great use of the claw to transition from scene to scene and using it for removing enemies and lives. It's a very interesting and cool take on the theme. Graphics have a certain charm to them, reminds me of downwell. I just kept dying trying to jump the spikes.
Very wonderful! I really love how much polish went into it.
I love this entry!really good how the theme is playing here.
Good job!
Qute little game! The graphics are nice and consistent, and I love the feel of the game. As others have said the transitions are superb, the hooks are great haha. Well done!
Awesome game! It's so interesting how the whole dungeon thing works like an experiment, I love the interpretation of the theme here. Definitely one of the best games I've played this LD.
Really great visual style, and a fantastic idea.
However, I think the transition between rooms should be a little faster. It really breaks the flow for me. There is a small pause at the end after the player is placed down, and removing that pause could fix the issue. Music would also have done a ton for it.
That said, this is a really great entry!
Highly conflicted my spatial understanding, in a very stimulating way.
Loved it.
Short but awesome. The presentation alone deserves high praises.
Really good! I love the design and sound effects. This can totally become a full game with more content.
Great game. Absolutely love the art style and gameplay, but really wish I could've beat it.
Nice and very polish !
I love arts, sounds and animations, great job :)
Awesome entry! I used a similar concept with a different perspective on LD-31, but graphics and jump controls were less polished than yours. You nailed the retro look here, congrats!
Great. Really great. I loved it so much.
Maybe you can lower the audio's volume.
Overall magnificent.
Keep it up!
It's a really cool, fun and polished game. The art is great and I loved the grappling hook concept. Really well done, congrats! :-)
Hard hard hard!!
Love the art style!
Game is solid and polished.
Good job.
Really fun! I love how things get carried away with those robotic arm things.
I love how everything was place or removed by those mechanical arms. That was a great idea well executed.
Wow! Great Idea!
I love the zelda-like art style.
And the grappling hook idea is amazing! Well Done!
Everything about the presentation, is cohesive, making otherwise simplistic art really shine. I also love all the litte things you did with the crane. One criticism I have is that it's a bit difficult to do precise jumps.
Amazing!! Such a unique title and a fantastic use of the theme. I love the art style and how it plays.
Great job! One of my favourites.
Really great entry, loving artstyle, spikes were annoying to deal with though.
Fantastic concept and use of the theme! Absolutely love the art. It was a little too difficult for me, but still enjoyed it. Awesome work.
This game was a lot of fun! It took me 3 attempts to get all 5 lamps. At first I was upset that I couldn't regain health. In the end that only made me try harder. Solid Entry. :D
Best game I'v rated so far. I wish it wasn't so hard for me, I died a lot I eventually gave up. I didn't care too much for the jumping mechanic but it was obviously vital to the game. My suggest would be to maybe make the room tiles 7x7 instead of 5x5 so there would be more room to jump around with precision. Really great idea though! Hope this one wins in Innovation at least.
The room transitions are the most innovative part of the game.
Very easily the most creative game I have ever played. Ever! Awesome stuff man! That cleverness with the room transforming is just mind blowing.
Brilliant how you implemented the dungeon theme. It would not relate to the competition theme at all in my mind, even after 1000 years of thinking.
My absolute favourite so far!
The idea of the big metal hand taking of lifes and keeping the player in one room is so awesome! Just great submission.
Great game, the concept might be a bit generic but loved how you succesfully and creatively adjusted to the theme. Great art too!
Nice style! Always forgot about jumping because I didn't usually have the ability in similar games!
Awesome visuals and animations. A really clever use of the theme too. Gameplay is tight and satisfying, some of the jumping puzzles were especially neat. Great work!
Really good game ;). I love how you have done transitions :). Nice!!!
This was great and an ingenious use of the theme! Great style, and scope :). 9000!
Cool transition between rooms. Clever idea. The pixel art and aesthetic are great. Well done ++
Wow. Just wow. This is great. This game is an excellent example of knowing the limits of a gimmick. The very thing that makes this game interesting (the crane arms and room reset every time you go through a "door") could be come grating and annoying if the game were any longer, but the one room experiment has really struck the perfect balance.
Very fun! The consistency of the mechanical hand things even adding things to your inventory and moving the monsters away was quite nice!
The pixel art style got me instantly. I love the gameplay! (Even if the game is somewhat difficult)
The claw mechanic is a very good idea!
Hahah well that's one way to deal with a theme. Really creative!
Interesting take on the theme! It'd be cool if the idea was taken a bit beyond just a visual effect, and the fact that it's all just one room was worked into the gameplay a bit more (e.g. make it possible to lock a tile and use this to get over otherwise impossible areas).
I found myself wishing the transition animations happened a bit faster though; it was pretty annoying having to wait so long between each move, especially given how small the room is. I also found the game to be a bit too difficult. The monsters weren't really a threat, but the jumping was finnicky enough that I had to restart quite a few times.
Great entry!
Challenging, looks pretty, sounds are a bit ear piercing. What I needed at the beginning was a control scheme. I know it is in the description but it would have been nice in game. The jumping is a bit clunky but it was probably me. Also the transitions were beautiful.
The visual design was amazing. Shame that it has no music. The game was quite fun and a bit more challenging than expected (It took me like 4 attempt to beat it). The link to the theme while certainly there, was a bit weak. Overall a really nice entry.
Woooooow for the level transitions, ingenious idea to fit the theme! Art style is my personal favourite, I loved it, bravo! 5-star theme and 5-star graphics for me, I wish you the top 10 for these categories.
Wow! Very good game. I like the machine thing. Sad it's not a little bit longer, with some different settings maybe. I replayed about 15 times to finally complete it and had a lot of fun. Good job!
Different people's interpretation of this theme have really shocked me with how different they all are. Yours is one of those really cool interpretations that makes me wish I was as smart. :P
Amazing game!
Dude what do you smoke to get such crazy ideas because i want some of that.
Not sure if this is a clever way of interpreting the theme or getting around it. ;)
The graphic remind me a lot of Links Awakening, one of my favourite games of all time.
A clever use of the theme. I really liked the little mechanical arms coming down and moving stuff and having the floor tiles flip over. Nice job.
Very nice game! I am in love with this transition animations:)
Simple, elegant, fun!
Pros:
-Very smart use of your assets
-Like the retro art style
-Good way of subverting the One Room idea with the robot arm and the doors
Cons:
-Had some issues with lag, specifically while jumping
-enemies are hard to deal with in such a small space
Suggestions:
-Maybe, like in the original zelda, have a more pronounced wait period upon entering a room for when the enemies spawn
Very creative take for the One Room theme. A nice homage to the dungeon crawler genre and intuitive gameplay. The color palette is pretty. The level design was interesting and every jump had its risk. The only downside is the level design which could be a little better. Too bad you didn't find the time for adding some music, but I forgive you. Keep make these creative games!
Very clever use of theme with a very charming art style!
Too bad you didn't have time to add music as this was a very enjoyable entry otherwise.
Very nice game! I really liked the art style, it reminds me of my Game Boy days :)
I love the way the transitions were done in the game to make it feel as one room! It's fun, I enjoyed it.
One of the best use of the theme, and one of the most solid game overall I've played so far! Too bad there's no music but it doesn't prevent your game to be enjoyable and most importantly, that we can see the real potential in it for the future!
Great work :D
Nice and fun. The graphics were spot on, the idea hit the theme, the audio was only functional though, with no music either. The movement could be a bit more solid to improve the 'feel' and get the hitboxes spot on.
I liked the lighting and collecting of the mysterious lanterns. I like the claw idea, and I would love to be able to make choices based on it.
Oh no, I think I got to the very last room with the final lantern and then died!! It was my 3rd or 4th run and I couldn't quite bring myself to do the whole thing all over again. So close!
Really cool idea for the theme, and the graphics are outstanding. The claw was just about the right pace.
Most of my hits were kind of just clumsiness with jumping. It took me a while to get the correct pacing of the jump down, and even after that it was slight jump flaws that mostly caused damage. This kind of pure execution/timing test as the primary challenge was not exactly my favorite aspect, but since everything else was so strong I still really enjoyed it.
Nice work!
This reminded me of Atic Atac. Not so much the game mechanic as the top-down view of the room. I love the way you got around the limitations of the theme. Very clever.
Great art style too.
I liked this. It took me about 3 tries. The controls should be more clear. I loved the style and transitions.
Really awesome art :D I wish I saw that I could jump when I started haha
Simply put it is my favorite take on the theme so far.
The whole dungeon fitting in one single room ever changing is brilliant.
It is a bit difficult though. I really think the jump should have had a predetermined length. The possibility to stop, or change direction during jump, makes it a bit difficult to make precise landing on a top down game like that.
I made it to the end, but it took me many attempts, and I would have stop before if it wasn't for the awesome graphics, and transitions and that I was a bit curious of the last room.
Anyway, might be my fav entry so far.
Always love seeing low resolution 3-colour games, and this is no exception! The claw machines and flipping tiles to make this feel like a little shifting toybox is so, SO nice. Even with the shadow under the player I found it a little hard to judge distance when jumping north/south, but I slowly got used to it after a few attempts.
Fantastic entry. If this game had music, it would be a real winner!
This is fantastic. I love the claw and the art style/animations i think spikes should do half a heart though. I died to them a lot more than the enemies.
Really cool! Very stylised and nice. It's a very nice detail how the arm comes not only to pick up the character, but also the hearts and the lanterns! Very clever. c:
Like so many entries, I suppose the interpretation of the theme is rather liberal and stretched, but in a good way, and one that ensure that not too many entries are alike. Appreciated!
I guess I feel like the game was a bit too difficult not to have at least one extra heart to pick up somewhere, but I also get how the brevity of the game might have necessitated a bit of extra difficulty to make it last longer—and I sometimes do this too when it comes to LD games—but I just hope you're not losing any impatient players because of it. p:
The whole core mechanic and the animations that come with it are very polished and nice. Too bad you didn't have the time to add some music as well, but at least there are those nice and fitting sound effects.
Also good how the collision on the spikes and enemies is relatively forgiving. The only issue really comes about in the rooms where you are stuck between spikes and can't really move but have to shoot a lot of enemies coming at you all at once. That's where I died most of the times. Should probably be a bit more balanced in a post jam version, if you ever make one, heh.
Really neat game! Liked it a lot!
Cool little game! Love the limited set of colors and the use of the hook. The hook made me really feel like the object of some experiment.
Nice artstyle! Especially liked the player sprite! Some background music would have been nice.
This is really a nice game. super cute art style. Especially the little lanterns with the little flame and the picker arm animation. :D
Although I have to admit, I gave up, after jumping in the spikes several times in a row.
Nice game, simple concepts but fits well with theme. I just missed some music playing.
some music would have been nice, the sound effects are cute, liking the graphics style aaaand I'm pretty sure that there's a way to beat it, but I'm not good at puzzles.
Fantastic art, really great concept, just wish it had some music to really set the mood. Overall one of the best LDjam games I've played, really solid and great stuff!
Super lovely game! I included it in my compilation video series of the Ludum Dare 37 games, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/uJPQ-kT6kvQ
Loved your game! The transitions are awesome. Very challenging also. Congratulations :)
Nice little game, I guess it could you more feedback (especially audio) but other that that, a great idea. I like how the claw is used for everything.
GoDAMN that's one fantastic way to use the theme.
The way it's done is... I'm just blown away because it's such a SMART WAY to use the theme!
And on top of that, it's super fun to play! Thanks a lot. :)
Really nice presentation of the classic Zelda genre. I had trouble jumping over the spikes.
Super slick with really nice detail (and thematic unity). Everything works so well in the world of the game.
I did a couple runs and couldn't get to the end. I'm really bad at top-down jumping (had issues with it in the Game Boy Zelda too).
solid entry!
It's fun and challenging. the graphics are cool. it's a pity there's not much audio but you know that already.
apart from that, really polished.
Cool idea! Really challenging, took me a good few tries to get the final torch, kind of glad I didn't have to take the torches somewhere, I don't think I'd have made it out :P
This is very unbelievable! This game is old school game with all elements on it! Very good Idea and very good Realization
P.S. When will be a speedrun? =)
Great aesthetic and fun to play! The game was balanced very well, and the platforming was surprisingly clean (I was worried the top-down perspective would cause me headaches, but I never felt like the game was being unfair when I ran into spikes). The level design really elevated this game for me. The combat mechanics are pretty simple, but the placement of pillars and spikes made each room different enough, and the difficulty escalated at a steady pace. Good job on that! If this game had a combat/movement mechanic that encouraged strategic choices I would have given this a perfect score.
wow ... like. just ...WoW . Nailed the theme, difficulty, aesthetics. mad respect. excellent entry
The aesthetic was great. Reminded me of FF Adventure for Game Boy. The controls handled pretty well. As you're aware, some music would have been a nice touch. Also, I got stuck on some spikes when I killed the last enemy in a room, which ended up killing me because I couldn't move and my iframes ran out, which was a bit of a frustration. Overall great job, though!
The graphics and theme they put together were excellent, but I couldn't get far due to excessive lag, and it got annoying to wait for the arms to finish moving. Lastly, the spikes seemed to have a bit large of a hitbox.
I love how you've implemented the theme! I'm a bit jealous of those level transitions and the claw arms that move everything around, I wish I'd thought of that.
The art style is absolutely gorgeous and is an example of minimalism done right and I definitely feel the Zelda inspiration in the design of the rooms, enemies and obstacles. Even though the room was small, the space was put to good use in terms of the tiles and obstacles used in each... well, room.
I did feel it was a tad difficult to jump over spikes vertically and died a couple of times from attempting it, but I guess that's just part of the game's difficulty. I would suggest being slightly more lenient with jumping over spikes, but it's really just me being bad at the game more than anything :p
I'd have loved if there were some background music, it would've tied the game together really nicely. But as it is, the sound effects in the game are put to good use.
It's the best game I've rated this far, so great job!
Clever take on the theme, you didn't make the deepest game ever but what you did make is extremely well executed. I'm jealous of your skill with making a stylish game.
This is absolutely beautiful. I think this has got to be the winner for "theme" I couldn't imagine anyone coming up with something more creative. Well done. I love it so much.
This is both a really clever use of the theme, as well as a devious way to avoid the theme. :D Not sure I really liked the way my character could be a pixel off and therefor not move forward sometimes, and most my trouble was getting my jumps right.
Very cute, simple graphics. The sound effects were quite shrill and could do with some equalizing, and there could've been some more sound effects for walking, tiles flipping, robot arms moving, etc.
Needs a little polish and then you have the building blocks a full game. Nice work.
Nice game. Good graphics and cool workaround the theme. Well done!
Such a clever fun game, really enjoyed the mechanic and how the rooms would reset with the transitions. Also quite fun to play and keeps you going to try and collect all the lanterns. Great job, a favourite so far.
I also included this game in an article of my favorites! http://fireside.gamejolt.com/post/jam-favorites-ludum-dare-37-gwqmcmek
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Really nice game! Love art style!