The Colossopteron: trying to summon weirdness

Welcome! Don't mind the giant ant with a hat. Let's talk about that latest game.

How it started

As usual before the jam, I made a list of ideas for each theme in the final round.

The idea of "You are an X-tamer, a giant X appeared, they don't laugh at your job anymore" was ready for years, waiting for "Summoning" to be the theme. At first X was a chicken. Then I released Pheasant Courier and decided I made too many birds. Weirdly I didn't think I made too many insects (despite working on Uproar in Bug Parliament to this day). So there you go: giant ant.

I never played Shadow of the Colossus or other colossus-climbing games (if that is even a genre). My game is certainly smaller and more comedic than that though.

The week before, I did a micro-game in 2 hours to warm up. It was also a platformer with a cutout-rigged main character. It was helpful for the first 2 hours of the jam, then I went into unknown territory (as in, animating an entire ant instead of an easy-peasy limbless human).

The ant looked more like it was swimming at first. Then, after a few adjustments, it still looks like it's swimming. I'm too lazy to try inverse kinematics. If I put too much physics the player could even mess those up if not careful.

Graphics

I made the usual chunky pixel-art stuff. Most of it was done in the first few hours of the jam, because if your placeholder art is good enough, you don't need "final" art.

Like Pheasant Courier last year, I decided to mix polygons and a tile map for level design. This time there was an added complication: the polygons are moving. Physics-wise it was fine, though I don't think I acquired a professional level of animation.

I also reused the idea of "purely decorative physics objects" like crates from Beaver Submarine, my Ludum Dare 48 game. I also planned some dangling lights and ropes but that was cut because I would have needed to rig them.

Programming

This Ludum Dare was my first jam with Godot 4. It's less lightweight than Godot 3, but it has more features like the new Parallax system and stuff. Exporting for the web wasn't as bad as I thought, there is one setting to uncheck (Thread Support) and it's ready!

As usual, I didn't do any carefully thought-out design patterns, this is a game jam dammit. Maybe that quick-and-dirty approach explains why I usually don't continue those projects beyond the jam.

Audio and music

The main music was written first. In fact it was jammed a few weeks ago on my mini Roland that looks like a toy. That's when I thought of the unique constraints of the Locrian mode. Instrumentation in the intro music is loosely inspired by Tom Waits (did you get the reference in dialogue?). Unfortunately, I don't have a raspy voice instrument.

The drumset is from Kraftwerk. It helps set an industrial mood for the ant scene. I was also inspired by the creatures of Machines de l'Île, a company which makes giant steampunk animals roaming around the city of Nantes, France. I live nearby.

Sound effects mostly synthetic, mainly because squishy sounds could make the game even more disgusting. It has mild arachnophobia already. Speaking of which, I don't know how to approach marketing with this phobia trigger thing.

What could have been

Originally there were whip physics, but I cut them because they were buggy. To make it short: unlike in Ace of Rope, the player's hand is not always at a fixed position from the player's body which is the real physics object.

The amoeba was going to be a "real" fight. I put "real" in quotes because it would have one HP and be instantly defeated. After this anticlimactic battle, our rival would surrender in a dramatic and emotional apotheosis. Or just cry like a baby.

Feedback

Some players were clueless (I mean, it's understandable, how clueless would you be in real life if a giant ant walked ominously in your general direction?). They went for the other side of the road only to find a wall, or they didn't go into investigation mode and figure out the password.

Some suggested crouching to help with movement. It's less difficulty-breaking than climbing, and it can make going under legs easier. I added rolling instead, which is an even better choice. Fight me.

Among other feedbacks: some players wanted to disable the turrets by actively attacking. Double-jumping was too scarce a resource, maybe I'll put the whips where they were thrown instead of back to their start.

Changelog for the post-jam version:

• Add rolling
• Carry up to 2 whips (TODO: fix recovery bug)
• Make dialogue areas bigger & make speech bubbles semi-transparent
• Remove unused sprites, optimize things a bit

No more changes, because I kind of need some rest at the moment. I'll also try the new features of Godot 4.3's latest release which came out during the rating period, they look promising.

On that, see you in the next one! c):D