atte

[Released] They Came Through the Floor

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^^^Same.

 

Looks great, but I'm not feelin' the gameplay. But then again I'm not overly fond of arena shooters and bullet hell stuff.

 

The one part of the gameplay I did like though was the "bouncing ball mode". That could be the basis for a cool and unique platformer.

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5 hours ago, infamous space turtle said:

I like this, though I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing. The art is great as always and the music/ sound design is terrific. Top job! Ill play a bit more later, im in a hurry right now but I really enjoyed it. 

 

2 hours ago, Henke said:

^^^Same.

 

Looks great, but I'm not feelin' the gameplay. But then again I'm not overly fond of arena shooters and bullet hell stuff.

 

Thanks for playing! I recorded a playthrough of the new version showing how it's played currently:

 


My process of designing gameplay in this project was/is very tentative and winding - slowly inching towards a nebulous goal (that sometimes feels crystal clear, sometimes nonexistent). There is some things in place already, that I really like. Now the most fun for me is to try to speedrun a level, but going forward I want to tone down the hecticness (while still keeping a fast pace) and introduce more strategic elements and secondary goals. I love the feeling in Spelunky when you try to observe an area and piece together a plan as fast as you can. That's kind of a high aspiration, but I guess that is what I'm really aiming for here.

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The art (visuals and audio) is extremely good! I also like the movement of the drone, but I'm horribly bad at games like this so I didn't get the rules of the game until I watched your gameplay videos. I think more variation between the rooms could help to make each one feel more different from each other (ok ok, I just want to see more rooms with more art :D). Are you going to continue this? 

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1 hour ago, fabian said:

The art (visuals and audio) is extremely good! I also like the movement of the drone, but I'm horribly bad at games like this so I didn't get the rules of the game until I watched your gameplay videos. I think more variation between the rooms could help to make each one feel more different from each other (ok ok, I just want to see more rooms with more art :D). Are you going to continue this? 

 

Thanks, my musician friend had limited time during the jam but there's more action music coming sometime soon.

 

This kind of surreal style in a flat(ish) 2D environment is pretty fun for me to draw, as I don't have to stress about things like realism and perspective. I get mentally stuck really easily but art like this flows usually quite naturally - I should definitely draw more with this style and attitude (while still trying to learn more challenging stuff on the side sometimes too).

 

This time the jam was largely a chance to start prototyping this idea I've had for some time now. I have a strong idea of the direction, but very vague idea of the end goal for this project. That's why the 2 week jamming result is, especially gameplay wise, quite half-baked and obscure to new players. Right now I still have plenty of inspiration and interest to continue developing this.

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I just beat all the levels and its is super cool!

At first i was finding the controls a bit strange, but when i "got it" and it was really fun to play. You start to develop some strategies in your head to hit 3 in one side leaving the easiest one and then moving to the other one. I also liked the risk reward of collecting bullets. The art style is also really cool and it fits well with the music. I just wish the buttons were Z and X instead of N and M, i think this is a bit akward. I also wish that you left a few bullet guys still spawning when the final ghost comes in, so you don't get screwed if you don't have any bullets left. Other thing was that sometimes the  blocks blocked the buttons, it would be cool if you had a way of breaking them.

Overall i really enjoyed, i think you should have left one level where theres only one wheel so people could get around the controls.

 

Pro tips:

Double jump to shoot down and hit the top button.

When you are in ball mode you shoot backwards so you can use it to hit a clean shot on the bottom button.

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1 hour ago, SharedControl said:

I just beat all the levels and its is super cool!

At first i was finding the controls a bit strange, but when i "got it" and it was really fun to play. You start to develop some strategies in your head to hit 3 in one side leaving the easiest one and then moving to the other one.

 

This makes me very, very happy! :tup:

 

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I also liked the risk reward of collecting bullets.

 

This was pretty much the core of the whole initial idea. I was really drawn to this idea where the main resource and the main hazard are the same.

 

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I just wish the buttons were Z and X instead of N and M, i think this is a bit akward.

 

You played with arrows instead of WASD? I kind of forgot that that was an option. I can definitely add the Z and X keys too. I pretty much always tested with a gamepad so I didn't pay close enough attention to those things.

 

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I also wish that you left a few bullet guys still spawning when the final ghost comes in, so you don't get screwed if you don't have any bullets left. Other thing was that sometimes the  blocks blocked the buttons, it would be cool if you had a way of breaking them.

 

There's already solutions to these in the game but it's totally my fault for not making them really stand out in any way (both were pretty late additions that I implemented quickly).

- You can get new points from the opened shining orb. I should add something to the end phase, it can get quite barren, but I also love the effect when suddenly the previously busy room starts to get quieter when the ghost worm arrives.

- When you have 0 points, shooting button now punches, and with that punch you can break blocks. I'm considering making the punch be always available (with a separate button) and I'll think of also other uses for it.

 

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Overall i really enjoyed, i think you should have left one level where theres only one wheel so people could get around the controls.

 

Yeah, now the rooms are still pretty much the same.  I'm planning to make different types of orbs with varying number of locks (2 - 4), maybe even a rotating one.

 

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When you are in ball mode you shoot backwards so you can use it to hit a clean shot on the bottom button.

 

This is very cool, I liked the ball back shot but never really tried using it in unlocking. My method for those hard to hit bottom locks was always to collect the full 3 points which makes you shoot directly up (+ left and right).

 

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I like the art and atmosphere of this. It had a great feeling of pressure, especially after getting one of the orbs. I'm ashamed to say I couldn't finish any of the levels though. I got up to the having one orb done a couple of times, but then got killed by the dark orb. Reading the rest of the replies I think I can sort of figure out how it should work, but I found it difficult to combine switching to the ball form with other movement. Maybe it was because I was using the keyboard and not a controller.

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27 minutes ago, Teljoor said:

I like the art and atmosphere of this. It had a great feeling of pressure, especially after getting one of the orbs. I'm ashamed to say I couldn't finish any of the levels though. I got up to the having one orb done a couple of times, but then got killed by the dark orb. Reading the rest of the replies I think I can sort of figure out how it should work, but I found it difficult to combine switching to the ball form with other movement. Maybe it was because I was using the keyboard and not a controller.

 

Thanks for trying it out. The horizontal and vertical speeds transfer directly to the ball form, which is not affected by gravity. So for example going to ball immediately after jumping is a good way to travel fast. If you haven't already, and are curious, check the video (that I posted here also) where I play through the levels (level 1 goes super smoothly! level 2 not so much)

 

The challenge is now probably way too high for new players getting used to the game, I will make the learning process smoother in future. And yeah, I tested and designed with a controller on mind so at least for me it's way easier with a gamepad.

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I love the visual style and the music! The start screen was very clever as well*.

 

I had some difficulties with the controls as well, but I think I will try this again some time with a gamepad.

 

* I was definitely not about to report that the credits are cut by the edge of the screen :P

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I played this game! And it was fun, if perhaps PRETTY DIFFICULT ON A KEYBOARD. You can watch me fumble around with the game (and probably, pronouncing your name, sorry!) here:

 

 

 

I am ALSO sorry that I was super oblivious at first as to what was going on. 

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1 hour ago, RubixsQube said:

I am ALSO sorry that I was super oblivious at first as to what was going on. 

 

*Extreme sweat drop smiling emoji*

 

Now I have valuable video evidence of how truly obscure the game currently is for new players. :lol::tup:

(again, if you're still curious check the gameplay video that's here and on itch game page)

 

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I also struggled with the mechanics at first, but did manage to beat one of the levels after a few tries. I agree with @SharedControl that once you get it, there's quite a lot of room for interesting strategy. So while the mechanics are a bit obscure at first, and I agree with others that controls on keyboard could be better, the core gameplay is actually really solid! These are accessibility problems that could be easily fixed.

 

Visuals and audio are excellent! They create a really tense and creepy atmosphere. I particularly love the realy solid click sound when you hit one of the switches - so satisfying!

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9 minutes ago, pdotjpg said:

So while the mechanics are a bit obscure at first, and I agree with others that controls on keyboard could be better, the core gameplay is actually really solid! These are accessibility problems that could be easily fixed.


Thanks, that's really nice to hear. While there is still much to add and tune I do also already feel like there is a satisfying core of a game hiding there.

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it took me a few minutes before I discovered how the orbs worked and what the green/yellow/red status meant, but I figured it out.

 

Spoiler

Once I figured out to break the glass light things, the shadow monster thing always killed me. I think maybe I have to let it eat all the frozen blocks, or maybe break the second light to beat it, but I always die and restarting from scratch seems too hard for me to complete. 

 

But despite the punishing difficultly, this game was fun to discover things about through play, and the audio visual presentation is really nice. Those hand-painted backgrounds are especially nice :)

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1 hour ago, brendonsmall said:

it took me a few minutes before I discovered how the orbs worked and what the green/yellow/red status meant, but I figured it out.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Once I figured out to break the glass light things, the shadow monster thing always killed me. I think maybe I have to let it eat all the frozen blocks, or maybe break the second light to beat it, but I always die and restarting from scratch seems too hard for me to complete. 

 

But despite the punishing difficultly, this game was fun to discover things about through play, and the audio visual presentation is really nice. Those hand-painted backgrounds are especially nice :)

 

Nice, one reason for the lack of instructions actually was that I thought maybe some players would enjoy the challenge of figuring out how this simple yet pretty unconventional action game worked (because when you know what to do exactly it's currently really straightforward.) About the ending:
 

Spoiler

 

Yeah the worm monster instakill is too harsh now. You win when you reveal both of the light orbs, so you should leave one lock left on both, that way when you reveal one and the worm comes you have just one more lock to open.

 

 

I'm rethinking and adjusting a lot now so the next update will take a few weeks probably but I'm still excited to keep on developing this.

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1 hour ago, atte said:

I'm rethinking and adjusting a lot now so the next update will take a few weeks probably but I'm still excited to keep on developing this.

 

Nice :)

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