"You can't jump, you can't aim, you can't survive explosions, you can't escape."

My submission for the Game Maker's Toolkit 2020 Game Jam. The theme was "Out Of Control". This is my approach.

This game is a short platformer where the incapability to jump leds you to using a grappling hook to move vertically. But oh no! Some guy gave you a defective one that is very difficult to aim, and also can explode randomly. What a shame, it is what it is.

In "You Can(not) Escape", the crosshair used for aiming the hook shot is moving randomly over the screen, and also, every shot of said hook reduces your chances of surviving, that is, that you don't explode. Taking away things that the player uses to have was my take on the jam's theme.

These are the controls:

  • Arrow Keys,  or A/D -- Move horizontally.
  • Space Bar -- Start aiming and shoot.

The battery on the top-left corner represents your chances of surviving the next shot.


To whoever reads this, feedback is really appreciated. Thanks for playing!

Comments

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(+1)

Pretty fun game! Although it's a bit too out of control for me, having the aiming be a bit less random would've helped.

(+1)

Great game! I was kinda confusing tho 

(+2)

The game is really buggy, but I love the concept and it has potential. It would be way more fun if it had polish 

(+2)

cool

(+1)

Awesome game, great concept, really fun. The location of the crosshair is a bit random but the game is pretty forgiving.

(+1)

Nice game, found myself constantly trying to jump at last second or aim. Good use of player muscle memory to screw with them. Might be nice if the arrow stayed on screen.

(+1)

I should've read "you can't escape" before I played, now I'm mad that there's no goal :(

(+1)

Interesting take on the theme. Maybe for future updates, have the player stop at the position of the cursor and allow some slow-motion/air-time to make a second jump, say over a pit of spikes for difficulty :D

(+1)

Feels a bit too random, so every level is more trial and error than anything else. It does look and feel nice, though.

(+1)

Really fun game, and nice concept. Like many of the comments i think it would have been better had there been a little control on which direction the cursor went. I ended up getting stuck on one level, because i just couldn't get it to go where i wanted. Also looks very polished, especially with that great music.

(+1)

I really loved the idea, the look and feel of the game, it all seemed really good, but the level of the randomness on the hook left me feeling that I couldn't progress. 

(+1)

Cool idea!

I would've loved a drifting aim in the general direction of the cursor or something. Now there are too many times where you can't progress due to randomness / waiting for an aim to be where you know you must go.

(+2)

The crosshair going off the screen makes it difficult to judge where you'll go at times, otherwise a very enjoyable little game :) 9/10

(+1)

The aim being random makes for completely RNG based gameplay but the grappling mechanic looks and feels pretty neat.

(+1)

SPACESPACESPACESPACESPACESPACE

(+2)

+Really cool concept

-Aim being totaaly random is kinda boring

(+1)

I think that having some control of the start position of the aim might be useful, I sometimes just got completely destroyed by the rng. Other than that, great game. 

(+1)

Awesome art and gameplay! The random aiming can be a little frustrating. Maybe giving the user some partial control over the aim would help.

(+1)

Very Funny!:) Nice Gamefeel:) 8/10

(+1)

Pretty fun! I think the crosshair should be clamped in bounds of the screen, it can be hard to see where you'll go once it leaves.

(+1)

The grappling hook sound is super satisfying! I'm wondering though maybe if its possible to reduce the number of helpless situations where you're stuck and a wall and have nowhere to go.

Thanks for your comment! By stuck in a wall are you referring to those times where the aiming doesn't spawn correctly? Some other comments gave me good ideas to fixing that, so maybe I will change it a little