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[Asthalis]

Hello everyone  

Here is Hop!2D, a 2D old-style platform game I made with Godot and I wanted to show you what it looks like.
100% of the game is now contained in this last beta, it is available for a one-month "mega-test" if you find remaining bugs !.

Hop (the blue one-legged jumping creature) must rescue his girlfriend but, unlike many other platformers, the main character jumps all the time and the player can only move him left or right. This apparent limitation is not a problem for Hop, who can climb stairs, use trampolines, switches, moving platforms and air flows, go through breakable walls and even fight bosses.

You can download Hop!2D or play it online.

Hop! 2D 1.2 new official version (french/english latest version)
- Hop!2D 1.2 main page (presentation)
- download Hop!2D 1.2 (Windows/Linux/macOS)
- play Hop!2D 1.2 online (itch.io, not from mobile phone)

N.B. : the game may show in french first but you can switch to english from the options menu (this setting will be saved).

Here are some more screenshots :

[jbarrios]

Hey Asthalis,

I played your game

[Asthalis]

Hey ! Thanks a lot

As I commented your video, it's great to get such a nice feedback. You only saw a small part of the game but, so far, that was really interesting to see and hear. Was it really your first game on Hop!2D ? You did well if it was so. The game may seem a little empty at the beginning but the first world was clearly designed as a training course, to get used to Hop's moves and jumps. Serious things really start in world 2, which you can directly get to as it is mentionned in the HELP menu. If you wanna try further, well... ok, I can tell you, try typing 110205 in the CODE menu and you will discover new features.

I update Hop!2D monthly and most of the existing UI and levels won't change much from now on as I will focus on new worlds, mechanisms and enemies.

Are you OK if I add your name to the "thanks" part of the ABOUT menu (by the way, what should I write ?) ?
Thanks again and hope to see you soon  

[Asthalis]

Hello everyone,

Hop!2D beta 15 is out, it brings 4 new levels to the game (5th boss and beginning of 6th world), a few improvements (graphics, code and debugging) and a dramatically smaller game size (down by 20% compared to beta 14) for more content. Links are unchanged (see first post) and here are some of my latests screenshots :

[geo]

Hi, I just played it (beta15) and then realised it takes a screenshot right at the moment of your death. Well played, so here it is:

(I admit I died to the boss)

Here is my feedback (some parts may sound harsh. Please let me assure you that no harm is intended

1) The controls felt a little floaty in the beginning but I got used to it pretty quickly.
2) The reason I played it was beause I was curious. I got a nice 90s nostalgia feeling from the trailer you shared (and your website). The internet was so chaotic and innocent back then, love it.
3) It has a very steep difficulty curve. Not sure if that is avoidable though. Making a lot of levels based on such simple (meant positively) mechanics without ramping up difficulty is hard.
4) I understand the health system mechanic but it felt a bit too punishing for me. Especially as I could not avoid losing health, even if I took the perfect path.
5) The sound she makes is great XD
6) If I had to name the art style I would call it "charmingly 90s". That's very niche. Not sure how many people will like it.

I made it to the green boss in my first run and I am pretty sure I could have beaten him. I was ready to try again but then I had to start at the very beginning after the "game over", so I didn't (sorry). I know that's how the old games worked but nowadays people (including me) just rarely have that patience anymore. The whole save system reminded me of "The lost Vikings". If you are going for that nostalgia 90s aesthetic then I would say you nailed it.

Thank you for sharing your game with us

[Asthalis]

Thanks a lot for your feedback, geo, it is very rewarding

Hop!2D is definitely "90's-looking", that was clearly my goal when I started working on it. Among other references, I had Lemmings in mind. I kinda kept the same "save" system (access codes) though the gameplay is completely different. I did want to stick to platform style but I wanted to introduce something new (the non-stop jumping character), while keeping a very simple interface (2 keys) and an interesting gameplay.

I you miss the patience to reach world 2, no problem : just follow the instructions of HELP menu and type the code 012345 to start from level 11, the first one of world 2. World 1 is clearly a training course, so I understand some players will get bored playing it again and again. Its goal is to teach you the basic moves you will need to complete further worlds.

One you beat a boss, you get the access code for the following world so you don't have to restart from level 1. To give you a clue, I played all working levels from level 1 and it took me a little more than 30 minutes to succeed. There will be more levels in the future, so it does take time and patience if you want to explore the whole game. Once you lose, you don't have to enter an access code to restart the last world you reached : simply choose "LAST WORLD" in CONTINUE menu.

One last thing : may I keep your name to add it in the "thanks" part of ABOUT menu ? I did it with other testers  

I will take my time to make the game complete (more levels, enemies and echanis

Thanks again and feel free to send me more feedback if you want to play Hop!2D again, from world 1, 2 or more !

[geo]

> "I had Lemmings in mind"
Aha, an excellent game that was. Well maybe the hop could have different modes like a lemming had. For example, let him just "walk" without the ability to jump. So the player has to switch between those two. Not sure, just an idea. Maybe adding just one or two modes could give you a lot a variety.

> "may I keep your name to add it in the "thanks" part of ABOUT menu"
Sure,thanks.

> "simply choose "LAST WORLD" in CONTINUE menu"
I actually chose "last world" but that started me at the beginning of the tutorial. Maybe add an exception for the tutorial world and let the players start at the first boss level in that case.

[Asthalis]

Your name has been added to the thanks section, you will be credited in next beta

Yes, Lemmings was clearly a genius of a game and has become a genre of its own. To me, it is the perfect illustration of "easy to learn, hard to master" principle. It may not suit everyone (many players only consider speed, noise and flashing effects everywhere nowadays !) but I do believe some of them still appreciate this kind of game.

About Hop's behavior and alternative modes, I really wanted to stick to constant jumping because the variety you seem to wish comes from level design, tricks, enemies and new mechanisms you find later in the game. In a way, I challenged myself to build an interesting game with a very simple gameplay. Hop seems weak before what he has to face but, if managed carefully, he does have the ability and the speed to succeed.

Just to make sure I got you right : when you started back from level 1 after choosing "LAST WORLD", you mean you lost your last life in world 1 ? This "restart" option normally leads you to the beginning of the last world you reached and it does not seem buggy to me. I hear what you say about restarting from the 1st boss but the statistics of world 1 would be totally off in this case and it usually takes less than 2 minutes (1 if you hurry) to get to the 1st boss level from scratch. If you're fed up with world 1, once you have entered 012345 code, no matter where you lose, you can always restart from world 2 or further if you manage to kill one or several more bosses.

[geo]

> "normall lead you to..."
I admit I don't remember exactly. Maybe I misclicked in the menu searching for a continue option. I honestly don't know. I wouldn't count it's a bug unless someone else also has the same issue.

[TehEpixLuc]

i got stuck on the first level because it was to hard to move

[Asthalis]

i got stuck on the first level because it was to hard to move

I don't believe you 

[Asthalis]

Hello everyone !

New update pour Hop!2D, which you can download or play online in its beta 16 version (first post updated).

changelog :
- 6 new playable levels (59 in total)
- 2 new secret areas (secrets 6 et 7)
- start of world 7 and secret worlds construction (completed unplayable levels)
- more than 40 levels retouched and some renamed
- sound quality and balance of background musics improved
- calculation of experience and rank modified
- back to differed display for lives and money lost
- code rewritten with new functions for small enemies
- rotten fruit taking energy from Hop (new danger)
- new visual effects (transition screens)
- reworked animations (hop, girlfriend, bonus)
- presentation details revised
- many new thanks

fixes :
- no more unexpected bouncing against some small enemies
- no more motionless and silent trampolines
- bonus coins instantly displayed
- music stopped if final progression interrupted
- lit monitors not counted twice after losing a life
- 1st boss growling frequency reset
- 5th boss taken into account in final stats
- clock hands correctly displayed in full screen mode
- level names switched (51/52)
- forgotten thanks back !

coming up :
- 6th boss
- more 7th world and secret levels

[victor11]

Hello everyone  

Here is Hop!2D, a 2D old-style platform game I made with Godot and I wanted to show you what the playable beta looks like (so far, 50% of the levels is done and I update the game every month).

Hop (the blue one-legged jumping creature) must rescue his girlfriend but, unlike many other platformers, the main chracter jumps all the time and the player can only move him left or right. This apparent limitation is not a problem for Hop, who can climb stairs, use trampolines, switches, moving platforms and air flows, go through breakable walls and even fight bosses.

You can download Hop!2D or play it online.

- download Hop!2D (Windows/Linux/macOS)
- play Hop!2D online (itch.io)

N.B. : the game may show in french first but you can switch to english from the main menu (this setting will be saved).

Here's the game official trailer :



Have fun and feel free to send me sendback

Here are some more screenshots :

Played it for an hour. Was really fun but I honestly got bored after a point

[Asthalis]

Played it for an hour. Was really fun but I honestly got bored after a point

Thanks for your feedback
If you can elaborate, what do you think is fun and what did you find boring ? How far did you go in the game ? Did you try to start the game from world 2 (using code 012345, as described in the help menu of the game) ?

[Asthalis]

Hello, everyone

Hop! 2D will be back soon (by the end of this week) in its new beta 17 version.

6th boss is ready, the beginning of world 7 is playable and new features will enhance the gamer's experience (2D sounds, new animations and visual effects, more debugging) and each game will start with 5 lives (instead of 3) to allow the player to go further in the game.

Here are some screenshots of some of the latest levels I tested.

See you soon !

[Asthalis]

Hello everyone !

New update pour Hop!2D, which you can download or play online in its beta 17 version (first post updated).

changelog :
- 5 new playable levels (64 in total, 1 more boss)
- 2 more lives at the beginning of each game (5 in total)
- 2D sounds for all characters and some mechanisms
- 2-color and 3-color basic scenery
- improved Hop : lethal collision marker, dust when hitting walls or ceiling, ill state, smaller collision mask
- improved bosses : code reworked, variable blinking if energy low, darker shade and dust if dead
- gun-blocks : code reworked
- small enemies : dust when hitting a wall
- barrels (boss 4) : collision mask reworked, destruction animation and dust
- standard simplified and stretchable lifebar
- sprites modified (planets in stats, dust, broken fragile blocks, switches)
- elements brought to foreground (boss lifebars, switches)
- coins and fruit not moving anymore in pause mode
- developer mode : more info displayed and immortal option
- some behaviors changed in pause mode
- a few sprites redrawn
- codes simplified or merged

fixes :
- 1st boss : not stopped by collision with Hop anymore when dropping dead
- 3rd boss : put to background and no more collision with Hop when dead
- available coins : counting per world corrected when a life is lost
- game summary : claps are played if rank is "expert"
- some enemy sounds stopped in mute mode
- no more initial parasitic vertical scrolling in regular levels

coming up :
- more levels (regular and secret worlds)
- new mechanisms

[Asthalis]

On the way for beta 18 version, a new type of enemy (see screenshot), a crawling one this time. It may look tiny and harmless but it will cause you trouble !

[Fed101]

Hi Asthalis,

I've tried Hop!2D, I like the simplicity of the game, it's a good starting point!
I reached only the level 9 of the second world (I'm not great on platformers). I think for now the game, at least for players like me, is a bit frustrating.
The fact that you lose life as time goes by penalizes too much in levels you don't know, and the fact that you have to restart each time from the first of 10 levels in each world makes the experience a little too trial and error.

My suggestion would be to only make you lose life when you hit something, so as to reward precise movements, and add a checkpoint to the fifth level of each world (so that if you die in the ninth as happened to me you do not abandon that easily  ).
Another point, but this is a bit more complex, is about the movement itself. It's not too bad, but is a bit too linear for me and gives me the impression that your character is not moved by the propulsion of the jump itself, but by some continuous force while you press the directional key.

Anyway, those were my thoughts, hope they can be useful

[Asthalis]

Hi Asthalis,

I've tried Hop!2D, I like the simplicity of the game, it's a good starting point!
I reached only the level 9 of the second world (I'm not great on platformers). I think for now the game, at least for players like me, is a bit frustrating.
The fact that you lose life as time goes by penalizes too much in levels you don't know, and the fact that you have to restart each time from the first of 10 levels in each world makes the experience a little too trial and error.

My suggestion would be to only make you lose life when you hit something, so as to reward precise movements, and add a checkpoint to the fifth level of each world (so that if you die in the ninth as happened to me you do not abandon that easily  ).
Another point, but this is a bit more complex, is about the movement itself. It's not too bad, but is a bit too linear for me and gives me the impression that your character is not moved by the propulsion of the jump itself, but by some continuous force while you press the directional key.

Anyway, those were my thoughts, hope they can be useful

Thank you so much for your detailed and kind feedback, I will try to comment each point

I like platformers in general but I wanted to keep my own game as easy to learn as possible (just 2 keys, no attack, fire or exotic extra function). From the beginning of the project, I made choices I want to keep : simplistic interface, constant jumping, instant death when touching any hazard or enemy, decreasing energy, inertia in all moves and acceleration depending on the time a move key a pressed.

Hop's movement will remain as it is for several reasons : I'm happy with it, it took quite a while to tune it the way I wanted and all the levels are designed to fit Hop's abilities (max horizontal speed, jump height, wall bounce behavior, etc.). As explained in the HELP section (by the way, did you read it ?), if you feel Hop goes too fast, you can slow him down by pressing the opposite key, even while jumping or falling. This gives the player more control and Hop slows down to idle after only a few seconds if no key is pressed. He goes up with the same vertical speed when bouncing on the ground (except on trampolines, where it is increased), his horizontal speed gets down by 30% after bouncing on a wall, he keeps accelerating as long as a key is kept down or when falling from a great height (in both cases, though, there is a top speed that can not be exceeded).

Decreasing energy is also something I won't change. Though Hop 2D is not particularly based on speed (most of the time, precision and caution are the keys to success, which is why I consider it as a "precision platformer"), the game would lose a lot of its interest if there was no time constraint to end a level. In world one, levels are short enough to be completed without extra energy and bonuses are available from world 2 (and definitely necessary later !). Extra lives depend on the number of coins collected (they can be many) and I recently increased the initial number of lives from 3 to 5 to help the player going further in the game.

But I agree with you, adding "checkpoints" is a good idea, I thought more and more about it while testing harder levels (currently world 7). I will definitely add mid-world access codes in future versions, I just have to think about the best way to integrate them in the story. And I guess I will have to delete "Asthalis time" from world stats as it will not mean anything if the player starts the game from the middle of a world. Anyway, I will allow the player to restart from the 6th level of each world if he has reached it and noted the corresponding code.

By the way, as a tester who gave me interesting feedback, would you like to have your name added to the testers list (ABOUT section of the game) ?

Thanks again and see you soon  

 

[Fed101]

Hi Asthalis,

sure, I mean, I didn't do that much, but I'll be happy to be in the tester list. 

I'll test again when there will be the "mid-world" checkpoints!