Ludum Dare 18
August 20th-23rd, 2010
Theme: Enemies as Weapons
Thwackswinger 2 - squidlarkin - Competition Entry
Correct title is "Super Thwackswinger" (it wouldn't fit).
Grab enemies with a grappling hook! Smash and destroy!
An updated version of the classic original Thwackswinger, which I made for Klik of the Month Klub yesterday. http://www.glorioustrainwrecks.com/node/1415
View squidlarkin's journal. | View all entries by squidlarkin
Ratings
| #12 | Fun | 3.63 |
| #13 | Theme | 4.05 |
| #32 | Overall | 3.32 |
| #40 | Coolness | 15% |
| #54 | Innovation | 3.26 |
| #102 | Audio | 2.12 |
| #152 | Humor | 1.33 |
| #155 | Graphics | 1.79 |
| #163 | Community | 1.22 |
Comments
Excellent mechanic/theme matchup. Gameplay was addictive and enjoyable. The simplicity of the graphic design complimented the mechanic well. Plus it didn't crash, which makes it better than many I've rated so far! Well done.
Simple and addictive. Is lacking a bit of substance but its fun to play!
Yay, glad this is being so well received. I'm still hacking on it, so don't be surprised if there's a Super Duper Thwackswinger in the near future...
Neat gameplay idea, i on the other hand didnt like the control that much.
I found it extremely difficult to grab the rock i wanted. and then after that i couldnt work out why it breaks sometimes and not others, i thought it was force at first but then a soft hit breaks.
Enlighten me? :D
It's random, actually. I think of it as some being harder than others. (And I just implemented five different control styles for the sequel...)
Nice mechanics! As others have said, a bit more polish and variety would make the game even more playable.
Straightforward but fun gameplay. Quite difficult to fire out the grappling hook accurately though.
Got 74. I really like how it moves, and it's definitely fun to play. You need to focus on two different spots at once while swinging enemies around (offensive and defensive), which is a cool effect. Lacks some kind of goal, perhaps. It would have been nice if you could work towards and achieve some target, like killing N balls to reach the next level (different color, more speed?). One thing you could have added, maybe as a higher difficulty setting, is to kill the player upon touching the hooked ball. It doesn't seem unreasonable to have that added element of avoidance and still be able to play properly. I couldn't quite figure out what determines when you lose the ball you're swinging. It seemed accompanied by a louder sound effect, so maybe it's a bug causing two collisions in the same frame or something? It would be more fair with a set limit of hits, or destroying it if they collide with too much force. Oh, another thing I thought of was to have the balls chase you while you're alone, and then run away from you when you have something to attack them with. Kind of Pacman style, I suppose. They could also chase you up from behind and run away from you once you go in their general direction. Just to add a little bit more "life" to the enemies.
I liked it. Fun mechanic. Scored 99 points.
I guess I don't have much suggestions, other than to polish it up. Was pretty fun.
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Excellent! The controls are a lot of fun, and it's really satisfying to launch at the enemies. It's a shame there isn't more in the way of scoring, and a little more polish would be appreciated, but it's definitely better than the modest screenshot suggests.