Disappainted & Spike Tips 1

DaFluffyPotato • 5 years ago on 1st AKJ Tournament 

I made a guideline image using the easel and background so I could tell where to draw in the game. Also, if you look hard enough, you can see the lines from any color. My 77% was the second of 2 tries after I made the guideline image. ^-^

Spike was probably my favorite game to play for the tournament. At first it seemed like luck, but eventually you figure out there are some rules to the map gen (or possibly hand made maps?).

First off, there's the obvious tip of figuring out where the walls are so you don't hit them from two sides.

Starting with this:

You can already tell where two blocks are, which leaves only one path through:

One of the "rules" I was talking about was the fact that (I don't think) the end is ever in a straight line from the starting point. I don't think I've ever seen a case where there was only one turn either.

You may be tempted to do this:

But going off of the previously stated rule, you can assume those routes are blocked, which leaves only a few paths:

Now let's take an example of another level. In this level, you start 2 blocks away from the spawn. Since it would only take two turns (not counting turning on the starting point) to get the the end, we can assume there are blocks there. Typically (not always the case), the levels don't make you walk through the entire area, so two paths are immediately obvious here:

Which as you can see, one of the paths I assumed was correct and led to the end without any deaths:

One more rule I'd like to point out is that the pathways are never 2 tiles wide. Which can help you guess even more block locations/likely paths farther on.

The "rules" for Spike are only coming from my experiences, so they may not be true. However, the "rules" still seem to be accurate, so they definitely helped me get a good score. :D

The Tournament is over! 3

Wan • 5 years ago on 1st AKJ Tournament 

After a full month of competition, the 1st AKJ Tournament is finally closed. Congratulations to @CMLSC for the well-deserved win! Nice job as well to @dollarone and @toasty who managed to get in the podium, and to all of the participants.

If you liked the event, know that we intend to make it a regular thing, the next occurrence being planned for the month of September. Some questions for next time:

  • What do you think of the number of games? Was 8 a good number or would you have preferred less? More?
  • Should we have prizes next time? (If so, it would be probably Steam games and/or Alakajam! goodies)
  • Did you mind the games being mostly for Windows only?

Any other thought or suggestion is welcome.

As for the next event… The 3rd Alakajam is finally approaching! It will be hosted in th 22-24th June week-end, which means the detailed schedule will be published next Monday. See you then :)

Lollipop Ninja (& Disappainted) tips 6

Wan • 5 years ago on 1st AKJ Tournament 

Lollipop Ninja is probably the hardest game to post a score on, as it seems to take around 30' for most people to beat the first time. After finishing it twice I finally feel like I have the hang of it. So, a couple tips:

  • The cooldown for Smoke bombs is super low, so use them A LOT. Since they can both be used on enemies and on yourself, you can basically advance through levels hiding behind smoke. The more confident you'll get, the less you'll have to use that.

  • Going invisible is mostly useful to advance tricky sections with lots of jumps/wall jumps, until you can finally reach either a safe spot, or a flat place to hide behind smoke again. The cooldown is quite high here, so if you run into trouble try to hide in smoke waiting for the skill to ready. Again, with more confidence you'll realize some enemies can be passed without using the skill at all, by just rushing through.

  • Sometimes it's hard to figure out where to go next, leading you to get lost a bit or end up in a hole. Some guy did a video speedrun of the game, so if you're getting too frustrated with the trial and error feel free to check that.

  • The very final jump of the game requires a specific wall jump technique. It took me a lot of practice so just smoke the guy below the jump before each attempt and you'll be able to try for as long as you need. Basically the idea is to hold Left after the ninja has jumped, and then immediately switch to Right to reach the opposite wall. Again when at the right wall, keep holding Right when you jump, then immediately switch to Left. After a couple back and forths you'll be on that sweet lollipop.

EDIT: Some more tips courtesy of @Raindrinker

  • You can walljump on top of a non-smoked enemy for a looong time because the sight line collides with the wall or something.
  • Also vertical shafts are super safe, so waiting there for your invisibility cooldown to restore is quite useful.
  • Going invisible resets your alert rate, so sometimes just running towards an enemy and pressing the skill in the last moment possible is enought to escape his gaze.

Bonus: On Disappainted, use white paint to leave a slightly visible mark on the canvas. It can help you put down the contour of your drawing before you fill it with actual paint.

Let the Tournament begin 0

Wan • 5 years ago on 1st AKJ Tournament 

The 1st AKJ Tournament has begun! For the whole month of May, you will get to prove not your gamedev skills, but your gaming skills :) More rules info here

You'll find below the final selection of 8 games made by Alakajam! members. From arcade games to hardcore platformers to UFOs, you'll have plenty of material to test your skills. Have fun playing them and try your best to climb the leaderboard! A quick warning though: some games are Windows only. We'll aim for a fully cross-platform event next time, promised ;)

May the best player win!

The time has come
To prove you are the best
To crush your enemies
To win the Tournament (*)

Game Author(s) Genre Jam
Disappainted: Master of the Invisibrush dorkulon, cloakednunjas, treslapin MSPaint 2nd Alakajam! (1st place)
You Can't See Everything at Once sebastianscaini, EternalStormfire, Supermooper123, coleycaves Platformer 2nd Alakajam! (4th place)
Lollipop Ninja DaFluffyPotato Platformer 2nd Alakajam! (4th place)
Whiteout euske Arcade skiing 2nd Alakajam! (9th place)
Spike sorceress Arcade labyrinth 2nd Alakajam! (13th place)
Cooperoids: Tournament Edition toasty Asteroids MiniLD 74
Turbo/Glide rnlf Arcade transformer Ludum Dare 35 (86th place)
Drift Raindrinker Arcade racing Private jam hosted in Raindrinker's room and open to Raindrinker only (1st place)

Hacking up an old game 0

toasty • 5 years ago on 1st AKJ Tournament 

A remake nobody asked for

I'm planning to submit my MiniLD 74 entry, Cooperoids for the first AKJ tournament. Not happy with the way the game currently looks, though, I'm releasing a brand new edition. Introducing Cooperoids: Tournament Edition (oooOOooh).

In brief, expect (hopefully) fixed audio, better graphics and more intense gameplay (full description here). Enjoy! :)

Let's compete on jam games! 2

Wan • 5 years ago on 1st AKJ Tournament 

In May, Alakajam! is not hosting a gamedev event. Instead, there's something completely new in the works: we'll play and compete on game jam entries!

How it works

Throughout the month, everyone will get to play on a selection of 8 games (made in any past game jams) on which they'll try to make the highest scores/best times as possible. Using screenshots as proof, players will battle to enter (and remain in) the leaderboards.

Leaderboards points are awarded to all players that enter the top 10 of a game. At the end of the event, on May 31st, the player with the most points wins the tournament!

As usual, there's no prizes to be won other than bragging rights. We're just here to have fun!

Submit your game to the event

The list of 8 jam games to played is still in the works, and should be finalized on April 30th. If your game supports setting a high score or a best time, please submit it below!

Submit your game here

EDIT: List is locked down, and unveiled on Twitter