The Dreamer

by johnfn
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.78
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.72
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.33
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.78
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.28
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.72
Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.18
Community★★★★★★★★★★3.50
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★12%
FAQ (don't read until you've played through the game) : http://www.stanford.edu/~grantm/spoilers.html

My first LD entry, finished with seconds to spare :) It's a tale about a dreamer abandoned on a foreign world. What's there to discover? I wonder.

Platformer game with W/A/S keys. (W jumps).

screenshot

Comments14

philomory20 Dec 2010, 10:37
Clever game. The controls could be a little finnicky at times, but that may be due to my machine's poor relationship with Flash than with the game itself. I liked the twist, it'd be neat to see it developed further.
johnfn
johnfnauthor20 Dec 2010, 16:48
Thanks. The main issue I noticed (not sure if this is what you're experiencing?) is pressing 3 buttons at once (i.e. jumping up and left while holding shift). As you suspected, this is more Flash than me; I figured out a bit too late that Flash sometimes can't deal with 3 simultaneous key presses. It's really strange though, and in fact I didn't notice because it depends on where the keys are on your keyboard (for me, right shift didn't work, but left shift did).
Endurion
Endurion21 Dec 2010, 07:49
Really good game. I like explory games like this. The "jump" feels floaty until you realise it's more of a float power and needs to be treated as such.
Took me a while to talk to the guys on the dark side as well (instead I tried to get to the top right corner of the bottom right screen).
Ryan21 Dec 2010, 10:26
Haha, lots of losing focus. Nice sort of dream-like music too. Getting used to the controls took a while, I think it responds a little too quickly. Overall it was satisfying to play.
KoryWazHere
KoryWazHere21 Dec 2010, 13:16
I really enojoyed the game. Movement speed is fast ;P
Sos21 Dec 2010, 19:42
I couldn't find the last one :(
Also, it reminds me of Knytt, which is cool!
johnfn
johnfnauthor21 Dec 2010, 21:07
Thanks guys. Do you think I should turn down the speed a little? I made it pretty fast because I always got frustrated with games when the movement speed was too slow.

@Sos: Cool! I really like Knytt :) I think in my final version of this game I'll give some sort of indicator to see if there is a guy in this room - because I really dislike games where you have to do endless searching.

As for now, a hint to anyone who is still searching: there are TWO guys in the dark world.
Danik
Danik21 Dec 2010, 23:10
Fun game, and the music was really fitting. I like the quick responsive controls.
Starspell
Starspell22 Dec 2010, 19:01
I really loved this game. I had played something very similar on Kongregate not too long ago with the same kinda of basic mechanic minus the shift key. I really enjoyed this game although I was annoyed that I couldn't find where the last guy was hiding.
badlydrawnrod1 Jan 2011, 11:58
Twitchy controls, but I like the dual-world thing very much.
joekinley
joekinley2 Jan 2011, 16:23
Talking pie sidekick? That is just awesome. At least you made the dream come true.

Nice game. I played it till the end. I really wanted to find all guys. The ending was amazing. Really nice game, great concept, good theme fulfillment. Great humor, overall a really really fun little game.
johnfn
johnfnauthor7 Jan 2011, 21:21
Thanks for the comments guys. I guess I kinda messed up on the controls. I'll be sure to improve on them next time around, (assuming I end up making a platformer again).

Also, @Starspell, wouldn't my game without the shift mechanic just be a normal game? :)
bmcgames10 Jan 2011, 17:38
I initially found the controls quite floaty but I later realized that's on purpose, good job with the theme and the level design.
johnfn
johnfnauthor11 Jan 2011, 03:17
Wow, thanks for the nice votes guys! I was just hoping to get in the top 10%. 'Course, I plan to do even better next LD. ;)

Also I think it's funny that I was the only one in the top 10 to not get any other rewards. Apparently although I suck at innovating, being fun, theming, making graphics, making audio and being funny, I'm a decent game maker. :P

Other games by @johnfn

Found a bug?
Tell us on Discord