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[Happy Shabby Games]

Chain Champ v1001 by Shelby Smith(thatshelby) and Todd Luke(me)

Click to watch the video


Chain Champ is an unconventional platformer in which you play as a cosmic vagrant to save the large flightless birds of a dying planet - using only your grappling hook. Not one feather can be scorched.

Featuring
-24 levels of suh-wingin' good times
-An original soundtrack
-Mouse and Keyboard controls
-Stats to keep track of your deaths, grapples, and hang time! Compare with your friends to see who is the better vagrant
-Multiple block types to keep things SPICY
-Totally free. Soundtrack and all.


Download v1001 ! 5/12/12
Changelog:

• Camera panning
• Mouse controls (I have no idea why we didn't have this to begin with!)
• Lowered the gravity a bit for maximum hang time and less frustrating jumps
• Went through every level and fixed a lot of the problem areas

I urge everyone to give the game a try again. We spent the time since the initial release looking at everyone's feedback and putting a lot of polish into it. It's essentially the same game, but I think more accessible and less frustrating. I'm especially satisfied with the mouse controls. They feel great and improve the flow of the game.

Check out and download the OST too.
SoundCloud
Mp3 Download


Follow us on twitter:
@thatshelby
@SeasonsDev



Enjoy!

[harkme]

I like the art style, it's really easy on the eyes. I wish I could move around (other than by swinging). Only swinging around feels restricting. Perhaps I didn't give it enough time, but it just didn't feel natural.

[Happy Shabby Games]

Thanks for giving it a try anyway. We aren't planning letting the player walk/run because we wanted to design the levels with a natural enough flow so it didn't feel restricting. It won't be for everyone, but getting feedback from the initial release will help us refine the levels to add more of a flow.

edit: We're planning on implementing a way to pan the camera to help navigate the levels and also add some type of boost feature so you can add momentum while swinging.

[lasttea999]

Yeah, very smooth, but when I saw the screenshots before the release, I totally thought that the player would be able to walk. Cool sprites, though!

[Franklin's Ghost]

Game plays nicely and the visuals you have work well.

I'm like most people though and hadn't realised you couldn't walk. Like it though and think it just adds a specific gameplay which is never a bad thing. Just takes some getting used to but then works well. Maybe you could slightly alter the character so he doesn't have legs on him or at least they could look more useless. That way it will make more sense visually. Also maybe not have the character walk to the bird at the end when you capture them but swing just like in-game. Or else it makes the player wonder why they can't just walk in-game also.

Nice job though, like the game and the music adds to the atmosphere.

[ink.inc]

got really mad at the controls then quit

i didn't feel like i had control of the character. and yes, i know you the game is all about the grappling hook mechanic, but i had issues with that. i would get stuck on surfaces a lot (if i'd try to hook onto surface while next to a wall, i'd just bump into that wall and stop hooking), and when i would release the hook while near a vertical wall and in the air, i'd bounce off and end up all the way

at
the


bottom

two minutes in i was pretty much screaming "USE YOUR LEGS YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHITAKLJFKLSDJFKLS FUCK"


then again i am a terrible person who says this at all videogames so maybe take what i have to say with a grain of salt

[brettchalupa]

Wooh! Happy to see this get released.

Here's my feedback:

What I Liked

• Music - I am really digging all of the music, it seems to really fit
• Style and Pixels - Totally love the style of the pixels and islands
• Level Design - I think the levels are interesting and fun

What I Think Could Be Better

• Controls - I'd suggest adding a third control option, one where the mouse position controls the direction of the grapple. This would allow for more precise and fluid controls with that mechanic. As stated below by Player 3, using Joy2Key really helps with the gameplay. Adding native controller support would be awesome. If you add the camera panning, use the right stick for that, left for grapple movement, and then Button 1 for grappling.
• Movement - I love that you're trying to focus on the one mechanic of grappling, but it feels super unnatural to not be able to move as well. I think be able to only move and grapple would be perfect. There are times when I grapple to a spot and it's incredibly awkward to only be able to grapple.
• Level Design - some of the levels are really awkward because of the lack of ability to move. I'm glad there's a quick restart button, but it can get super frustrating when the player jumps in the opposite direction of the current grappling direction or the momentum doesn't work how it's expected. Specifically, Wingding's level design drives me nuts from the start haha. I like the premise, but it's just difficult when there's nothing to grapple on from the start.

Over all, I like it. Good job guys!

[rlc_nm]

Good level design; and great music!

and if you desire to make your tileset graphics public.. I am the first in line to use them in one of my sruffs!

Job well done!

[Player 3]

Yeah, the controls could be better, but Joy2Key does help with that.

[brettchalupa]

Was it a design decision to not allow grappling after releasing from grappling (also read as, Double Grappling)?

I think that'd add to the fluidity (made up word?) of the game. If movement is still a no-go, I think double grappling would compensate for that.

[ortoslon]

let me walk. also, it feels wrong how the air-jump on releasing the hook conserves horizontal but not vertical speed

[Happy Shabby Games]

You guys are rad. Thanks for downloading and checking it out even if it ended two minutes later with you totally frustrated and not wanting to play. Double thanks for taking the time to post your feedback here.

There's a very slim chance we are going to let Champ walk. We've designed every level around him only being able to use the grappling hook, so it's almost out of the question. But that doesn't mean we're throwing your feedback to the wayside. You've all brought up great points and problems the game has. We think there are some other ways, besides adding the ability to walk, to address the issues brought up.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, we want to add the ability to add momentum to your swing by pressing the arrow keys. I think this will address the problem of getting stuck underneath places, or not being able to get the exact angle you need to make a jump or climb a ledge.

Secondly, we are planning on adding a camera pan so you can check out the areas around you before going for a huge jump blindly.

I'm hoping these fixes will make it a lot more accessible without compromising the original vision of the game.


@rlc_nm - Cool I'd be happy to make the tileset public. I don't really plan on using it again. I'll post it on my tumblr or something soon.

@brettchalupa - Yeah we were going for a more strategic/calculated approach, so we didn't want to allow double grappling. Oh and thanks for the detailed pros/cons list. 

@ortoslon - I get what you're saying about the vertical speed. We'll look into that for sure.

[rlc_nm]

The music is just amazing.... As a 8-bit lover I must say this is gold
I have a special playlist on the ipod with game music.... Chain Champ now has a place there!

(sorry any mistakes in my english)

[rlc_nm]

The music is just amazing....(so sad sometimes!) As a 8-bit lover I must say this is gold
I have a special playlist on the ipod with game music.... Chain Champ now has a place there!

(sorry any mistakes in my english)

[rogerlevy]

i haven't even started the actual game yet but i loved the intro and the simplicity of the title screen.  no bs.  really love it.

edit: oh this is really nice

edit 2: this is nice but kind of frustrating

edit 3: ok i got the first bird.  i totally saw him running!  that's bullshit!  XD

ok so if i can just give my mini critique, the controls are a little hard but you get used to them.  the art style is fantastic, sprites are so awesome.  nice work.  props to the music guy too.  really happy serene stuff.

[melos]

Woo-hoo, finished it. I thought the controls were fine, you learn how to sort of judge how far you go. Maybe a more clear difficulty indicator so we know which levels to start with (my guess was the height of the little pillars on the level select was the difficulty, but that's not completely obvious at first!)

[Benjamus_Prime]

I want more! More! More! 

lasttea999 showed me this last night, and I tried it out (in the middle of trying to do my homework, no less). The tutorial took me a while, and I finished one or two levels. The controls were much harder to warm up to that the video made it look like. However, upon continuing today, I totally nailed it and started a-swingin' about in no time, and now I want more levels.

But yeah, I like the grapple-only movement idea, but it's truthfully a little clunky sometimes, especially when you're stuck directly underneath a block and can't get the momentum to move to the side. Maybe you can have a character select, where one of the characters has no legs or is in some other way unable to walk? The added challenge may appeal to some players, but making it optional will allow others to still enjoy the game.

Camera panning would be sweet.

Maybe an ice-type floor? I don't know if that'd be a good idea, but maybe it's worth a shot.

The levels in which lava began falling on you were intense, I liked those. Adding the ability to walk might especially ruin the pressure of those levels 

I didn't really notice much of the music, but I liked how minimal and stylistic it was. It fits great. The programming is pretty solid and the graphics are tasty. Sweet game!

[keo]

On the chicken level, one more after that.  Hit my mood right!  Here are some things I thought about while playing

- Adjusting the sensitivity of aiming in options.  Felt it was kind of slow especially after restarting the level for the fifth time.

- If aiming was controlled by the mouse, you could possibly move from grapple to grapple (real spiderman shit) which could be fun.

[wademcgillis]

This game was underwhelming and difficult to play.

I was expecting to be able to walk and do

(real spiderman shit)

Alas, I wasn't. Maybe I should make a game that does that.

[Benjamus_Prime]

Found a bug: When you're in the ending sequence and you press escape while the screen is shaking, the rumbly windy noise keeps looping on and on.

Also, to rehash the idea of grappling-only being unnatural, it's a little strange to be stuck in a situation like this, when all Champ would have to do is walk a bit to the side: