5 ms·
Show HN: A game I made in 48 hours
- joemanaco 7y agoAuthor here: Last weekend I participated in the Ludum Dare Game Jam (#44, Theme was "Life is your currency") and did a game from scratch in 48 hours: TIME ZONE How to play? Arrow Keys Left/Right: Move left/right Arrow Keys: Up: Jump X: Shoot Instructions: Try to reach the exit before your life counter reaches zero. You can earn valuable time by collecting Life Capsules. When you destroy an enemy they will drop Life Capsules. But be careful: Each shoot costs you time. Play at itch.io: https://joemanaco.itch.io/timezone https://joemanaco.itch.io/timezone Source code: https://github.com/JochenHeizmann/timezone-ld44 https://github.com/JochenHeizmann/timezone-ld44 (will add Readme/Build Instructions later on when I got some more hours of Sleep) Soundtrack: https://soundcloud.com/jochenheizmann/timezone-ludum-dare-44 https://soundcloud.com/jochenheizmann/timezone-ludum-dare-44 Ludum Dare Game Page: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/timezone https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/timezone I did everything from scratch (Code, GFX, Audio, Level Design). I've used Monkey (which transpiles to Javascript) to code it, Photoshop for the pixels (Artwise I was inspired by Downwell, which I tried to mimic, but I suck at art) and Logic and Renoise for the Music and Sound FX.
- Kagerjay 7y agoReally cool animations and sound Have you ever tried using phaserJS?
- joemanaco 7y agoYes, I know phaser. But I don't like Javascript and also prefer to use my own custom stuff (especially for simple things) instead of Frameworks. (No offense, just my personal preference).
- airstrike 7y agowhy not support WASD? we've been using our left hand for directional controls since at least 1981 http://www.sextonsmusicandgames.com/80s-classic-arcade-games/y8azyi81bholy5zxwr7dhmtty5lvou http://www.sextonsmusicandgames.com/80s-classic-arcade-games... probably want to make jump / shoot right-hand actions as well, like in most games I really like the concept and wanted to play the game, but as it stands the controls are too annoying for me
- Jyaif 7y ago> why not support WASD? because of the AZERTY keyboards. You can't detect AZERTY keyboards in a browser, so he would have had to create menus to allow players to choose the keys.
- airstrike 7y agoThat makes no sense. Just bind Z and Q as well And if every other game out there can manage it, by definition it's not an insurmountable problem
- wattengard 7y agoYou fix it then, the code is on github...
- doodpants 7y agoWhy WASD and not ESDF? People have been touch-typing with their left hand in that home position since the late 1800s. (Or do you actually operate WASD with your pinky, ring, and middle fingers when gaming?)
- airstrike 7y agoDon't be dense. WASD is the most common layout, but sure, if you're that opinionated make it ESDF then. My point still stands. Left and right hand controls should follow a common sense approach
- doodpants 7y agoMaybe I'm weird, but being right-handed (like most people), I prefer directional controls on the right hand and action buttons on the left. Your characterization of the former as "left-handed" and the latter as "right-handed" controls seem backwards to me. So, to be honest, I don't even use WASD (or ESDF).
- 7y ago
- tonetheman 7y agoAny links on monkey? All the ones I have found so far were spam and the term is close enough to spider monkey ... Not a language I have seen before.
- linuxftw 7y agogoogle: monkey lang https://github.com/prologic/monkey-lang https://github.com/prologic/monkey-lang EDIT: NVM, that's not it either.
- tonetheman 7y agoThanks!
- ncr100 7y agohttp://monkeycoder.co.nz/ http://monkeycoder.co.nz/
- joemanaco 7y agoMonkey is a language by Mark Sibly. Unfortunately the original language is abandoned since Mark started to work on Monkey-2 (But Monkey-1 still available at: https://github.com/blitz-research/monkey https://github.com/blitz-research/monkey).
- joemanaco 7y agoThis is the new language by Mark Sibly, but haven't really used it yet: http://monkeycoder.co.nz http://monkeycoder.co.nz
- linuxftw 7y agoSource code is missing a license as well, FYI.
- joemanaco 7y agoYes, will add it. I will put it into public domain.
- tomcam 7y agoLots of fun and great sound, too
- joemanaco 7y agoThanks!
- cyborgx7 7y agoGreat animation. And the movement feels really good too. I like the premise, but the one hit death on the enemies is very frustrating.
- joemanaco 7y agoThanks for you Feedback. I think I have to tweak the hit boxes a little bit, so it's more forgiving. And probably also change from insta death so you only loose time/life when you hit an enemy.
- cyborgx7 7y agoA little more forgiving hitboxes would already help a lot. There is a lot of "I barely touched him" in there. But playing it some more, and getting it bit farther in the game, I'm already really enjoying what there is. Edit: Finished level 3 with almost 2 minutes to spare. Would definitely play more of this. Specially levels that focus on forward momentum, like level 1.
- joemanaco 7y agoYes, I think for a more complex post-compo version a lot of thought has to be put into the level design to consistently push the player and give him this feeling of "Shit, I'm almost out of time" - but also with the possibility that he saves himself in the last seconds.
- cyborgx7 7y agoMy mind instantly goes to a random, infinite level, turning it into a runner. But I don't want to backseat design your game. I actually really appreciated when I reached the end of level 1 and learned I don't have to keep restarting from the beginning. That was a nice surprise.
- DanBC 7y agoI love this! I am terrible at it.
- emilfihlman 7y agoWay too hard, you should also continue jumping as long as up is pressed.
- joemanaco 7y agoYes, it's very hard :) You should be able to adjust the jump height by pressing/holding the up key. Didn't that work for you? Which browser/os?
- donald544 7y agoyes, feel like it is more intuitive to continue jumping, but I thought it might be a feature to making the game harder.
- felipellrocha 7y agoMaybe practice more? I thought it was challenging, but fun
- LandR 7y agoThis is great!
- joemanaco 7y agoThanks :)
- sonofgod 7y agoTook me a while to work out you could actually make time from killing enemies -- I saw they only created one time crystal, and that it took about three to kill them, then died due to being out of time, so didn't realise that the monster's ones are significantly more valuable. :)
- apexkid 7y agoThis game is incredibly difficult in the first level itself.
- joemanaco 7y agoYes, I made a playthrough on YouTube if you prefer watching it ;-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSW4QmNz1JY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSW4QmNz1JY
- tronko 7y agoGreate game. As a backend developer, is amazing that you did that in 24 hours. PD: the music is the best part of the game, perfect for coding :)
- joemanaco 7y agoThank you. Hey, I'm also a backend developer by day ;-)
- linuxftw 7y agoGreat game. Hard, but not impossible.
- joemanaco 7y agoThanks
- ahallock 7y agoImpressive game for only 48 hours of dev--need more levels! Was able to get a pretty speedy deathless run after learning the patterns. Actually skipping most enemies seemed to be a good strategy. Also enjoyed the mechanic of bouncing enemies into position to progress faster.
- joemanaco 7y agoThanks.
- terrycody 7y agoawesome game, may I ask what the knowledge u need to build such a game? More details are appreciated!
- joemanaco 7y agoCoding wise the game is pretty simple. It has no real physics or anything involved and basically simple "Rectangle-Collisions". You can have a look at the source code (although it's pretty dirty with lots copy/paste involved during the hard time constraints). As mentioned I did it in Monkey, but it should be also easy to recreate it in vanilla javascript, because all you need is a basic canvas you can render to, and there you go. The real hard part was to get all the differents parts involved ready in time. For example the art took me alone around 10-12 hours because I'm really bad at graphics and I put a lot of effort and lots of trial and error in the animations. The music I did in Logic Pro and Renoise, and it took only around 2 hours because I'm quite experienced in doing music (doing it since my childhood). But if you listen carefully you will find out that the arrangement is very simple, and it's also not mastered. Turning this in a full-blown-not-so-repeatedly track would take several days I think for me (I sticked to the 80:20 rule here ;). The level design I did in Tiled, and I had the Tiled loader ready before the Compo started.
- Zecc 7y agoTook me some time (heh), but I've finally "compelted" the game. I really did enjoy the music.
- joemanaco 7y agoGlad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the feedback.
- heed 7y agoThe character sprite and animations look very similar to downwell: https://youtu.be/kY83H8BdxhI https://youtu.be/kY83H8BdxhI Not a criticism, just an observation.
- joemanaco 7y agoYes, a lot of people mentioned that. Indeed I had the mobile version opened next to me while I pixeld it and tried to recreate this minimalistic style. The idea was that because I suck at pixelart I would probably be able to create a consistent and nice looking game in this simple style. And I think especially in the sprite I took a little bit too much "inspiration". I replaced the sprite now with something more unique. You can play the updated version here: https://joemanaco.itch.io/timezone https://joemanaco.itch.io/timezone
- mpfundstein 7y agoI think it would be great if you could remove the 3,2,1 countdown in the beginning. Just let me restart ASAP!