Canabalt
August 31st, 2009
by Adam Saltsman
About the Game
Press X or C to jump. Run as far as you can!
I made Canabalt in 5 very long days (at least 60 hours) – 1 day at the start of the month, two days at PromJam, and then this weekend. Danny B made the music for it tonight. It follows the theme (loosely I am sure!) by using only one button to interact, and by using only 6 colors to display everything. Also, the gameplay and graphics are under 100kb, the other 3MB is all sound files.
Special Thanks
Thanks to the great feedback from Steve Swink, Ben Ruiz, Farbs and Kyle Pulver during development.
Play
Play it in your browser: HERE
For anyone with a monitor over 1440 resolution, the mega version is: HERE
We're a group of indie game developers, running a friendly competition every month. The rules: Make a game based on the month's theme, and don't spend more than 7 days. New games posted at the end of every month. 
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52 Comments, Comment or Ping
This is freakin’ fantastic! The graphics, gameplay, and sounds all go so well together. It is such a simple gameplay concept yet very very addictive. AWESOME!
August 31st, 2009
Wow… So well made and so addictive! My favorite game so far. Well done!
August 31st, 2009
Amazing. Well done.
August 31st, 2009
I really like the game. Well done. :) Music goes along perfectly :D Nice Job.
August 31st, 2009
Awesome dude! The aesthetic touches really bring this together… the way the character rolls after a long fall, the silhouetted parallax background (including a plane or something that flies by), and the music really help pull the game together. And the runner sprite kind of reminds me of Michael Jackson. :D
August 31st, 2009
This is great! Is there any plans for a download version? It’d be great to play it offline too! :)
August 31st, 2009
Very cool – great style. Love the birds.
Now my eyes hurt.
August 31st, 2009
Very very good. The birds made my day.
August 31st, 2009
Wow… a very deep universe for such a simple game. Nice job on all the small touches to add atmosphere.
August 31st, 2009
I love this game. It really sucks you into it’s world.
You were able to tell a story and create a very rich atmosphere with “simple” ingredients. The graphics, speed of camera movement, background and music/sounds go very well together. I just loved the detail of our hero falling to the floor, stumbling, rolling over his shoulder and continue running. The giant structures and urban skyline in the background are totally awesome. =)
Nice work!
August 31st, 2009
It would have been a neat touch for the bombs to explode and demolish the building they had impacted as you jumped off them.
Also: the buildings where you have to jump through windows to land inside them are absolute bastards to land correctly. They are almost always what kill me. It would be nice if the windows were wider.
August 31st, 2009
Ok .. this is awesome – I love the settings and the little details (like the pidgeons). Thanks!
September 1st, 2009
nice game but there is an hack: once you are too fast you should hit a box to slow down.. it’s unfair :(
September 1st, 2009
OMG! this is totally awsome! wow!
September 1st, 2009
This is probably my favourite of the EGP games so far. I agree with the above poster who said that the windows seemed a bit unfair though. They seem to difficult to time properly. Still, great job, this is extremely impressive for something made in only a week.
September 1st, 2009
sooo fun! i am not even a game player usually. yay! thanks!
September 1st, 2009
WoW. 1-week? such a great framerate too! I find myself going back to play it more and more. (the more coffee the better)
Standing ovation to work from great talent.
September 1st, 2009
This might have an obvious answer, but does the game ever end (asides from our abrupt death when a wrong move was made)?
Insanely addictive, I love it: well done, good sir.
September 2nd, 2009
Perfectly done, a simple world that lets the user get sucked in and experience the ravaged landscape without breaking gameplay or resorting to movies. Simply amazing.
September 2nd, 2009
This is brilliant. So simple, yet told a story. Beautiful animation.
September 3rd, 2009
10611 meters without end. I love this game.
September 3rd, 2009
Some people are playing at expensive productions without the shadow of an idea, and some play with this game…
Formidable!
September 4th, 2009
This game is absolutely fucking terrible. How the hell am I expected to jump over fucking boxes (if they even are boxes, because they look more like large floppy discs) which seem to be placed in the most inopportune places possible so that if I try to jump over one, I end up hurling myself down the nearest chasm. And what’s up with the windows? I didn’t know that there were hallways in buildings that could only be accessed by making a pinpoint jump and flying in through a large glass window. And what is the protagonist running from in the first place? A flying robot? Collapsing building? And when did the ability to make a game in five days that utilizes six shades of gray and pixelly graphics become revolutionary? Also, what is the console there for, other than dimming the screen so I can see how many frames per second it’s running at, while my leaps of faith result in smacking into the side of a building or being crushed by large falling debris, which has no obvious origin? I can only surmise that god hates this man, also due to the fact that entire buildings come crashing down at his weight. There is absolutely nothing good about this game. The graphics are bad, the gameplay is worse, the storyline is- well, there isn’t one. The entire idea for this game is that you run from something. Obviously never thought of before, so zero points for originality as well. In short, this game is horrible, and you should feel horrible.
September 4th, 2009
BBQCEREAL in his comment above does an excellent job of demonstrating there are people who possess not a skerrick of imagination.
From all the rest of us who believe that less can often be more thank you for this little gem.
September 5th, 2009
I call troll – Gotta be.
This is a fantastic little game, and proves that simplicity sometimes equals awesome :)
September 5th, 2009
I agree with BBQCereal somewhat. The concept of Canabalt is simple, yet fun: it’s a platformer with only one button. No fighting enemies, no solving puzzles, just jumping over gaps and obstacles. However, the idea is poorly executed.
For one thing, the randomly generated maps can be impossible to get through. For instance, a box could be placed so that if you jump over it, you’ll end up sailing into a gap, but if you don’t jump over it, you’ll lose speed and not be able to make the jump over the gap. And the glass windows were often what put my run to a sudden halt, due to my inability to predict when they would come up. The frustration as a result of this quicky extinguished my initial enthusiasm. I found that the only way I could get over 1000 meters depended mostly on luck.
The music is perfect and goes well with the atmosphere, but the graphics aren’t fitting for a platformer. The grays blend together, achieving a dark and realistic look but also making it harder to see obstacles. This isn’t as much of a problem with a higher screen resolution, at least, and I understand that it was necessary to conform to the contest rules.
I didn’t really mind the lack of a backstory. I kind of liked pretending that the guy was an amnesiac experimental subject, using the destruction of the city as an opportunity to escape. The presence of what appear to be robots kind of raise some questions, though.
Canabalt is certainly quite artsy, but this comes at the cost of gameplay. I’m a huge indie game enthusiast, but I really think this could be done better. If you made another game like this that takes advantage of the simplicity of the one-button rule and made it less dependent on luck, I think you’d have a winner.
September 5th, 2009
2710m … would have been nice to have a high-score system.
The things that drop from the sky are kinda dodgy ….. they make you jump and many times straight into the middle of the space between two buildings.
Procedurally generated levels would be nice too.
September 5th, 2009
Like Flashback meets Mirror’s Edge. I love the world you’ve created here. Though I admit I didn’t have much patience once I started taking too many leaps of faith. Still, definitely one of the best on here, excellent work.
September 8th, 2009
I would absolutely love to download the music of this to play on my computer, is it possible or not?
if not, I’ll play again and again ^^”
September 8th, 2009
Very very very VERY good for a one-man 5 day game. I must say I’m impressed. The music is pretty cool too!
Of course, it’s far from perfect. Here’s a quick review of it:
+Visual Effects
+Good music, fits well with the environement and gameplay.
+simple and fun
+sens of movement and speed
+moving environment (wish there was more!)
+Replay value (well, I died a few times and it’s never the same)
-It was a little too repetitive. Even though the game is somewhat addictive, you kinda get over it after a while.
-My eyes hurt! I think all the special effects are “too good” for the graphics. I don’t know how else to say it. I shared the link to this game to a lot of people and they all said it made their eyes hurt a lot.
-Lacks variety in gameplay and obstacles.
-It seems to be a sort of random generated platforms, but that goes on forever. Can we actually win? I reached a little over 5000m and there was no checkpoint nor an indication that I was near the end.
-Difficulty curve. The game is hard in the beginning as it is after 4000m. The difficulty comes more from the acceleration and the crowed visuals than the obstacles themselves.
But then again, this game was made in 5 days. By one guy. So don’t take my “critics” too seriously. I’m just saying what I liked less about it. It’s still awesome. :)
Overall: 4.2/5
September 9th, 2009
This is such an addicting and fun game! The music is awesome and I love the sense of movement and speed you get jumping in between rooftops. The most I’ve made it so far is 3440m… I have trouble making the jump into glass corridors sometimes. Its not the next Half-Life, but its an amazing effort for a game that was made in 5 days, and it fits the ‘bare minimum’ theme well. I highly enjoyed it and recommend it!
I give it 4.5/5 stars.
September 9th, 2009
It was awesome, I can’t help but think this seems like a scene from a movie. I am interested to find out who exactly Canabalt is (if thats his name), what he’s running from, and whats the deal with the giant robots in the background? This really seems ripe for a book, movie or more in depth game. Really fun, I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of it, thanks a bunch. You really should go a little further with it,but don’t lose site of the original.
September 10th, 2009
Amazing, a great concept and a great game!
September 10th, 2009
Your game is GREAT! fantastic!! it rocks!!!
o_0
the music is … wow!!
September 18th, 2009
Good game, my best so far is 13130m.
September 19th, 2009
To MiniatureCommunist, I have no idea what you’re talking about when you say you can only get over 1000 by luck. My best score is 9530, and I’m not that good at video games normally.
I find that once in a while the map will be generated so that it’s almost impossible, but by and large you can always progress farther. The idea isn’t to always jump over the obstacles in the way. And the “mines”(???) that fall from the sky you’re given warning about them coming.
The windows are definitely the worst aspect of the game. But I’m pretty sure you can always move farther ahead in the game, assuming you could time things perfectly. You have to learn the timing of the game, and how to utilize different jump heights.
I’m trying to get all my friends hooked, this game is awesome! I kept thinking they should make a movie or an anime series based on this, haha, it’s just so perfectly atmospheric.
September 19th, 2009
Like everyone else has said, this is great.
The monotone color, the retro graphics and the awesome music fit together perfectly.
Those giant walking machines in the back really caught my eye.
It would be epic if there was a whole complete story line to it. Who knows? Might just be good enough for an actual video game or even a movie.
It’s really making me want to come up with ideas for the plot, but I’m respecting your ownership. xD
September 20th, 2009
15′901 :)
is it a record of some sort?
September 21st, 2009
This game did everything amazingly well except for gameplay design. the setting is awesome, the graphics are appealing and the music is great, but there are so many unfair instances that get thrown at you (as others have noted).
I understand now there is a warning sound for the bombs that come at you, but it gets drowned out by the music and other effects. You could always play with the music off, but that’s one of the coolest parts of the game. The bombs need a visual warning too, like maybe a flash in the background from where the bomb gets fired.
If the broken-ness of the game were fixed, I’d probably buy the iPhone app, but as it stands, I wouldn’t consider it.
September 23rd, 2009
No one is saying it’s revolutionary, but LOL six shades of gray and pixelly having anything to do with it- obviously someone who says something like that has never done anything like this before, because making a game in five days is actually pretty cool to be able to do.
No gameplay? I think I recognize a polished game mechanic when I see one, and in my book that is good gameplay. I guess you could say gameplay as in “more mechanics/features” – as the naive game designer is always spouting. “It’d be cooler if it had this!” Hahaha.
No procedurally generated levels? Uhhh.. what do you think the random building width/type/selection is?
tl;dr – lol at some of the above comments
Anyway this game is WOW polished- so much stuff (I like the robots in the background and the tactics of slowing yourself down by hitting a box). Amazing how you show what polish on a single mechanic/feature set can give you. The instant ambiance music is great and combined with the smooth gameplay attention to detail, this is really a great game.
October 1st, 2009
This quickly became one of my favorite games.
It really can be an adrenaline pumping experience.
October 10th, 2009
Cool game!
I love it how after reaching about 5000m a spaceship appears in the background
October 21st, 2009
Wow gr8 game
never thought i’d see such a massive rant on a forum lol…
BBQCEREAL you’re a meatbag and we all hate you but thank you for the hilarious rant.
November 29th, 2009
Unbelievable! simple gameplay, with a driving force that keeps you coming back, gotta play once more, need to make it further. what a driving game, incredible with out fancy graphics, or such trappings it wows the player, and keeps him running!
Thanks for an awsome lil game, too bad theres no download option!
November 29th, 2009
Anyone who says this game sucks is just bad at it.
Simple gameplay, gritty graphics and a badass soundtrack.
Amazing 60 hour solo job.
January 24th, 2010
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