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A jam submission

Kelly KangarooView game page

Vertical platformer for Atari 2600
Submitted by Denebola Interactive (@DenebolaGames) — 5 days, 14 hours before the deadline
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Play Atari 2600 ROM file

Kelly Kangaroo's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Novelty#213.2804.400
Stealth#242.9814.000
Sounds#311.7892.400
Game#352.5343.400
Looks#452.0872.800
Narrative#461.4912.000
Harmony#521.7892.400
Overall#521.9882.667
Horny#561.0431.400
Kink#580.8941.200

Ranked from 5 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Holy cow! It actually works if you crack open an emulator! Crazy~

Developer

There is also something special about seeing it running on a real life Atari! Though, emulators are more forgiving with all the bugs.

(+2)

Wow, this is really interesting. I got pretty stuck in some places, but I did manage to get to the end~ It's a bit hard to rate since a lot of its shortcomings are clearly related to the platform; I will admit I find the Atari 2600 soundscape uniquely difficult to listen to.

It would be nice if it was a bit clearer what could be jumped on -- I spent a lot of time on the ghost before I realized that I wasn't expected to completely avoid it.

Unless I'm missing something, the horny here seems pretty subtle. But then, I'm realizing by now that every time I'm not sure what the horny is, I just assume there's a sperm/egg metaphor going on. ...which would be pretty hot.

Uh, anyway. Overall, I had a fair bit of fun with this one despite the frustration at points. I'd also be super interested to learn more about how this game was made. Do you have any plans to make the source code available?

Developer(+2)

Thanks for playing!


I have some trouble balancing difficulty. I did intend for it to be challenging, but I don't like games that actively try to frustrate the player. I need to work on that! 


Atari sound effects are kind of engrained in my brain! All the same, I played around with some of the jumping values. I set the control register to a more pure waveform so that should be easier on the ears. 


I was hoping the top of the flower looked dangerous enough not to try to jump on it. Thinking about it now, they probably do in Mario Bros. because they have teeth! Wonky collisions not withstanding, everything else can be jumped on. Sometimes the bee and ghost are weird though.


The horniness was definitely toned down for this one compared to my last attempt... but I have a thing for inter species stuff so it's enough for me. ;D The sperm and egg is interesting though, and would make a unique Atari game!


The only reason I didn't release the source code is that it's a hot, uncommented mess and didn't think anyone would get much out of it. I was going to wait until someone asked! I put it up now. While I do know assembly language (just the z80 and I'm brushing up on 6502 for c64 stuff) I used a BASIC compiler called Batari BASIC. The Atari 2600 was never meant to do the things it does, and the programmer needs to do some crazy stuff just to get it to display anything. The compiler takes care of all of that, but you still need to consider the limitations, like only having around 27 bytes of RAM to work with and only two sprites. 


Forgive my rambling; I do appreciate the feedback!

Submitted(+2)

Building a rom for an emulator is definitely a fascinating and challenging undertaking. I struggled to make it past the spider and ended up accidentally exiting out, so that's where I'm going to take a break for now.

Unless making the goal a bit of a mystery was intended, it would have been nice to have a brief screen that explains the objective and points me in the right direction.

The player character animation and feel of the movement is pretty good!

Developer(+2)

Oddly enough, I understand these old machines so much better than modern engines. Though, I will admit I used a BASIC compiler for this one because the Atari is kind of bonkers.


I was just talking to someone about how Atari games can be difficult to figure out without the manual or a page explaining the goal. With the way I set this up, I can't have a text screen, but I may be able to squeeze in "collect all six strawberries" in the width of the two sprites I have to work with.


Thanks for playing!

Submitted

Ah, see, I was skipping the strawberries because I thought they were just an extra difficult pickup, not the goal.

Submitted(+2)

I ended up using save states pretty liberally after reaching the screen with the ghost, immediately getting hit, and then getting sent back to the first screen in the game. Dealing with the bee, ghost, and bat all took multiple tries to figure out, and if I didn't get it right on my first try then I basically just died, so getting sent back multiple screens just felt really punitive.

Pretty cute game though, aside from the wonky collision detection sometimes (which you already know about), congrats on making the first Atari 2600 game I've ever played!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing and the feedback!


I was wondering if it would be too hard if I send the player back so far. The ghost and bat used to just send you back to the start of the cave. Also, now that I've been away from it a bit, that bat is way too aggressive. I might experiment with the numbers a little more. 


And here's to much more Atari in the future! I recommend Tunnel Runner and Dragon Stomper.

Submitted(+1)

I am absolutely terrible at this game, but thank you for the interesting experience!

Developer(+1)

Thank you so much for playing! It's hard to gauge difficulty and fun levels after I've played it a hundred times, looking for bugs. :3