[Phaser][WIP] Hot Larva

[Prime8]

Hot Larva is my third Phaser game.

 

http://www.primitive.co/hotlarva/

Change direction to avoid falling in the lava. The aim is to hop onto the ledges and stomp out hidden jewels. Once the jewels have fallen, if you're quick enough, you can hop down and collect them. If you're super-quick after that and manage to get onto the very next ledge, you'll be able to pick up a bonus gem.

The more consecutive jumps you manage from ledge to ledge, the higher the value of the jewels. Landing back on the floating slab resets the values to their default.

Controls
High tap (in top half of screen) to hop onto ledges or flap upwards after you run off the end of a ledge.
Low tap (bottom half of screen) to change direction, or to stamp out jewels when on ledges.

If you're on desktop, you can also use spacebar for high tap and up cursor for low tap.

Please let me know how smoothly it runs. I did have a few problems with a kind of judder that happened whenever a non-looping sound played. I tore everything out apart from an autoScrolling tile sprite, and the judder remained. As soon as I added looping background music, the judder disappeared.

It now seems fine in Chrome and Safari on desktop, but is still a bit jittery in Firefox and on the iOS simulator.

Thanks for any input.

All the best,

 

Paul

 

[mentuat]

Looks fantastic - love the colour scheme and backgrounds

It all happens a bit too fast for me to play, but I expect younger, twitchy players will cope better!

[Prime8]

Great - thanks for that Mentuat. What device were you playing it on?

 

I've just uploaded a new version - previously, if performance dipped, the ledges were added too close together as this was based on a timer interval. It's now based on their distance apart.

[mmcs]

The graphics are very funny, sounds are properly chosen. The game is interesting but , I agree with the previous opinion. Is a little too fast to play. Only that the point, because everything else is very good.

[Prime8]

Thanks mmcs - looks like I need to have to have a look at the timing then!

[nuvorm]

a quick countdown at the start might be nice to prepare the player for the action.

I agree it is a bit fast paced but i enjoyed playing and even managed to get some jewelry out.

[Prime8]

Good idea. I'll give that a try.

[mentuat]

Great - thanks for that Mentuat. What device were you playing it on?

 

iPad air iOS 7

 

I agree with Nuvom above - it just needs a bit more 'hand holding' at the start to ease the player in.  I found even after several attempts I just could not get the rhythm going to jump, turn, collect before dying repeatedly!

[Prime8]

OK, I've uploaded a new version with a countdown. I've also added the main menu and instruction states. Must say, I do like that countdown!

[Leandrus]

It looks great, very interesting art work.

But sometimes I tap to jump and it just fall down.... But it's a great game.

[Prime8]

Thanks Leandrus. Might it be it falling when it bumps its head on a ledge, or is there no obstacle when it happens?

[Phempt]

great artworks, I like this style. Unfortunately I have some difficult to play it with the mouse.

[Prime8]

Thanks Phempt. If you're playing on a desktop, it's a lot easier if you use the keyboard - spacebar to change direction and up-arrow to jump

[Leandrus]

Thanks Leandrus. Might it be it falling when it bumps its head on a ledge, or is there no obstacle when it happens?

 

Ahhh... I play it again and I toke a closer look.

It's when it bumps it's head on a ledge 

I thought he could jump throw the ledge, my bad!

It's happening so fast that I didn't notice the first time.

[Phempt]

Hi Prime8, unfortunately also with the keyboard I've a lot of problems with the jump function.

 

here, a video about the problem:

http://it.tinypic.com/player.php?v=16itbas&s=8#.VEA6ZIusX6I

[Prime8]

Hi Phempt,

 

Thanks for taking the time to do a video. He's bumping his head on the ledges, which kills him. I think I need to mention this in the instructions, as the fact that he falls through a ledge after the countdown makes it seem like he can go through them.

[hellspawn_bg]

The game would feel better, if you change directions with the arrow keys.

[Phempt]

@Prime8 thank you for the explanation

[Prime8]

@hellspawn_bg my daughter mentioned the arrow key thing too.

 

I've just uploaded a new version - left/right arrow to change direction, up to jump. Or you can still use spacebar to jump if you prefer.

 

The ledges on this version don't appear until the countdown has ended, so there's less confusion about whether ledges are obstacles.

[hellspawn_bg]

@Prime8 It is much more intuitive now. When it comes to games, always listen to the little ones