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Starwhal: Just the Tip - Like QWOP but with Narwhals in space

Hey guyz! So after taking a break from working on big titles (We did that GAF Marvin's Mittens give-away thing. Thanks GAF!) we went to Game Jam this year and made something...actually really cool!? We're shocked as normally 48 hours is just enough to get something running relatively well, but this has been making some waves. Check it out!



http://starwhal.com

You need two players to try it out. We are pretty stoked about it and are thinking about working on it more to flesh it out since people seem to love it.

Anyway, enjoy! :)

And ok, it's getting picked up by Rock Paper Shotgun now, too!
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/02/02/mortal-space-narwhal-qwop-combat-just-the-tip/

Electric Boogaloo
WcpCR9k.jpg

Shaowebb shows off a close match!
HOLY SHIT I TAKE BACK WHAT I SAID!*striking out my old posts now*

HYPE AS HELL JUST THE TIP MATCH!
 
Damn, you made this? I saw it when Auntie Pixelante tweeted it and I've been having a blast with it. I tried digging through the page source to see if I could find who to give props to and failed, I'm glad you posted it. Awesome job!

edit: the bullet time and zoom, color scheme and overall visual design, sfx and soundtrack are all just incredibly well put together. How many folks worked on this?
 
Damn, you made this? I saw it when Auntie Pixelante tweeted it and I've been having a blast with it. I tried digging through the page source to see if I could find who to give props to and failed, I'm glad you posted it. Awesome job!

Wow, as if you had already heard of it! Thanks for the props :)
 
...yeah, I need someone to play this with.

I know, that's the one thing we lament at the moment, but we're thinking either AI or single player "challenges" with crazy obstacles and stuff. Just controlling those cool guys is fun!
 

NewFresh

Member
At first it's like watching two Narwhals hump each other in space. Then it turns into a combat game. Very cool.
 

DrSoundbad

Neo Member
Hi, this Mike, another member of the Breakfall team, with my own, fresh-off-the-press GAF account! Exciting times!

Damn, you made this? I saw it when Auntie Pixelante tweeted it and I've been having a blast with it. I tried digging through the page source to see if I could find who to give props to and failed, I'm glad you posted it. Awesome job!

edit: the bullet time and zoom, color scheme and overall visual design, sfx and soundtrack are all just incredibly well put together. How many folks worked on this?

Thanks! It was a team of six people, but six people who work pretty well with each other. I mostly just did audio for this one, and had a couple of other tracks that didn't make it into the game, which then became the basis for this set:

https://soundcloud.com/michaelok/sets/starwhal

Still kind of a work in progress, but some may be used if we ever extend the game.

I can't believe the reception we're getting for this. It certainly turned out incredibly well for a Game Jam game, but this is awesome.
 

efyu_lemonardo

May I have a cookie?
Dude, this is fucking incredible :lol

indeed!
my left hand agrees, even though it is consistently losing to my right ;)

I know, that's the one thing we lament at the moment, but we're thinking either AI or single player "challenges" with crazy obstacles and stuff. Just controlling those cool guys is fun!
Have you tried just fudging an AI opponent by entering random commands very loosely based on the player's input?

Seems like it might work better than expected..
 

shaowebb

Member
This is better than Smash Bros.

Its good, but cmon man Smash Bros is enormous in content and features. No comparison. Isn't it enough to just say this game is really good and fun?

I take it back. Glass Rebel is right! This game is hype as hell!
 
Awesome game. Although I got my horn stuck in my opponent's, and it was a good few minutes of thrashing about before we realised we couldn't finish. Hahaha. Great fun!
 
indeed!
my left hand agrees, even though it is consistently losing to my right ;)

Have you tried just fudging an AI opponent by entering random commands very loosely based on the player's input?

Seems like it might work better than expected..

I'm flirting with the idea of maybe doing real AI, as having an opponent randomly flop around defeats the LAZER FOCUS of couch-gaming and hollering at your opponent you do in this game. Just like old times at the arcade in Street Fighter or in Smash Bros. or whatever. We'll see though! :)
 

shaowebb

Member
I didn't expect my intentionally exaggerated post to invite a reply like this.

Its all good. I just couldn't tell if you were serious or not. You never know online. In any even this game is pretty awesome. I'll be spreading it around to my friends.

Glass Rebel knows his shit. I need to shutup more. Narwhals are friggin hype!
 

efyu_lemonardo

May I have a cookie?
I'm flirting with the idea of maybe doing real AI, as having an opponent randomly flop around defeats the LAZER FOCUS of couch-gaming and hollering at your opponent you do in this game. Just like old times at the arcade in Street Fighter or in Smash Bros. or whatever. We'll see though! :)

I hope you guys eventually have AI opponents in one form or another. The fundamentals here are really solid and fun!

And personally I think simplicity is a huge part of the appeal, so hopefully if you do flesh it out it won't be overcomplicated.

Thanks for making this thread! :)
 

shaowebb

Member
This is better than Smash Bros.

HOLY SHIT I TAKE BACK WHAT I SAID!*striking out my old posts now*

HYPE AS HELL JUST THE TIP MATCH!
Forgive the little hiccup with my video capturing at the beginning.
This thing is hilariously hype and fun. I was only playing lefty versus righty getting a feel for it, but I just slipped Just the Tip in on my wife and after playing a good while this is now a favorite.

OP is a genius. Somebody make a gif of the 1:27 thrusting for the OP please. This shit is amazing.
 
Haha! I didn't even think you were that cynical to be honest! Smash Bros. is a legendary title, so I can see it.

This video was awesome! This is half the fun of the game is just going into slow-mo on those near attacks and hollering at each other. My fav was the slow mo and then just narrowly escaping ;)
 

theJudge

Neo Member
Hey guys, I'm another member at Breakfall and one of the artists on Starwhal: Just the Tip. When I first pitched the idea to the gang at Game Jam I knew it was going to be a fun little game amongst the group. I even joked around and told them, "Trust me, I just sold 50,000 copies in my mind!" but I seriously had no idea it was going to be this good (okay I'm a bit bias). The rest of the team did an amazing job at pouring their love of great games and competitive spirit into this 48hr project. It was definitely a step in the opposite direction from Marvin's Mittens and we had a lot of fun developing this game, in such a short time, blaring 80's tunes.

How many folks worked on this?
We were 6 people. Two programmers, two artists, one level designer, and one audio master. Whoops, my teammate already answered that.

I take it back. Glass Rebel is right! This game is hype as hell!
I'm so glad you got to play with someone else and have a blast. The game really shines when you have multiple people in the room. We held a mini tournament after the Jam and it was so fun to watch. Thanks for the great video!

Awesome game. Although I got my horn stuck in my opponent's, and it was a good few minutes of thrashing about before we realised we couldn't finish. Hahaha. Great fun!
This does happen from time to time but you are able to get out. The best way we found is that the whal that stabbed has to trash around and not the other. You eventually wiggle off, lol. We are hoping to reduce the frequency this happens in further iterations.

Anyways, I apologize if I sound like I'm blowing my own horn here but I wanted to express that I just love playing this game and seeing others do the same. I'd love to see more Youtube videos of people playing Just the Tip.

Like jasoNsider stated before we are hoping to add a bit more to the experience, more levels, 4 players, etc. but we know the value in simplicity and don't plan to go feature crazy on this one. Hopefully you guys can check back from time to time and give us some criticism and comments.
 

shaowebb

Member
Hey guys, I'm another member at Breakfall and one of the artists on Starwhal: Just the Tip. When I first pitched the idea to the gang at Game Jam I knew it was going to be a fun little game amongst the group. I even joked around and told them, "Trust me, I just sold 50,000 copies in my mind!" but I seriously had no idea it was going to be this good (okay I'm a bit bias). The rest of the team did an amazing job at pouring their love of great games and competitive spirit into this 48hr project. It was definitely a step in the opposite direction from Marvin's Mittens and we had a lot of fun developing this game, in such a short time, blaring 80's tunes.


We were 6 people. Two programmers, two artists, one level designer, and one audio master. Whoops, my teammate already answered that.


I'm so glad you got to play with someone else and have a blast. The game really shines when you have multiple people in the room. We held a mini tournament after the Jam and it was so fun to watch. Thanks for the great video!


This does happen from time to time but you are able to get out. The best way we found is that the whal that stabbed has to trash around and not the other. You eventually wiggle off, lol. We are hoping to reduce the frequency this happens in further iterations.

Anyways, I apologize if I sound like I'm blowing my own horn here but I wanted to express that I just love playing this game and seeing others do the same. I'd love to see more Youtube videos of people playing Just the Tip.

Like jasoNsider stated before we are hoping to add a bit more to the experience, more levels, 4 players, etc. but we know the value in simplicity and don't plan to go feature crazy on this one. Hopefully you guys can check back from time to time and give us some criticism and comments.

If you make it I will play it. This game is the best 2 player, no learning curve romp you can experience. Its hilarious, stylish, and intense. Congrats on this It deserves all the praise it can get. For those wanting to record go to screenr.com and you can have it record your desktop and anything happening on it for free. If your mic is set up it will get the audio as well. 5 minute maximum. It took some clicking though on the Starwhal.com window to get the game going, but it works as you saw in my vid.

Record some Just the Tip!
The game
Screenr to record you playing it
 
Hi, this Mike, another member of the Breakfall team, with my own, fresh-off-the-press GAF account! Exciting times!



Thanks! It was a team of six people, but six people who work pretty well with each other. I mostly just did audio for this one, and had a couple of other tracks that didn't make it into the game, which then became the basis for this set:

https://soundcloud.com/michaelok/sets/starwhal

Still kind of a work in progress, but some may be used if we ever extend the game.

I can't believe the reception we're getting for this. It certainly turned out incredibly well for a Game Jam game, but this is awesome.
Great tunes!

Must try this game later on.
 

theJudge

Neo Member
This game is fantastic guys, now I need to get my brother to play with me. Great job!

edit: You should bring this to XBLA/PSM etc. Add online support, or 2 controller support and you're golden.Oh my god
KuGsj.gif

Thanks!

So far we support 2 Xbox360 controllers for the browser game and we have in the works the support for 4. We haven't tested out gamepads like the Logitech controllers but I assume it works as well.

Keep the gifs coming.
 
Greatest game title ever. Something about the phrase "just the tip" amuses me endlessly.
Game mechanics are fun, although without a second player it gets old quickly, obviously.
 

DrSoundbad

Neo Member

FinKL

Member
LOL. This is AMAZING. Balanced and fun. And 4 players soon?! Have you thought about first to 5 for 1v1? Might add more tension + more chances to open on even ground. Maybe because I'm used to fighting games.
 
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