Forever Alone, my 48h project for the LD27 compo, is a top down "survival" game of sorts. The basic premise is that you take control of a guy who's got the problem that every woman falling in love with him dies within 10 seconds after doing so. You have to try to find a solution by keeping the woman of your dreams alive for those longest 10 seconds of your life...
There's quite a bit of story involved, which is told through dialogues. Finishing the game should take you anything between 5 and 15 minutes, depending on your performance as well as luck (levels are partly randomized).
The game requires Windows and DirectX 9.0c to run.
I hope you enjoy the game (given that it runs on your system, which I hope) - please leave feedback and a rating. :)
And finally, a few hints in case the game happens to be too difficult:
*Your aim is to save the girl *she always follows you around *try to avoid dangers to increase her chances of living *try to reach the safe zone, which is at the upper end of the street, in time before she dies from a heart attack *generally it's a good idea to stay roughly in the middle of the road *the look of the buildings to the side indicate their effect *for instance, buildings with red light tend to explode *buildings with white light are harmless *the train usually arrives just one time per level *crossing the rails on the left side is safer than on the right side *if nothing works out, just keep trying, the level difficulty may vary quite a bit
Thanks tiffi. :) You can in fact save her by reaching the "safe zone" at the top (which is not possible in the very beginning, this event will be unlocked after ~2 women died already). I guess I will upload a playthrough video soon.
Thanks for all the positive feedback, I really appreciate it!
@Jimanzium: Sorry for that. Possible that it runs once you download that dll, but who knows. I'm just about to upload a video of the game to youtube for those who can't run it themselves. But thanks for trying. :)
Okay, this is definitely the best game I have played in this Ludum Dare. How the heck you managed to make all that in such a short time is beyond my comprehension.
Seriously, it was funny, it was innovative, it fit the theme in a very original way, the graphics were nice and clear, the music fit everything perfectly, and the gameplay was original and entertaining.
You are very good at this. Thanks for this experience.
Thanks guys, I really appreciate your feedback. :)
@ZeppelinCaptain - I spent almost no time on the music, it was procedurally generated and I simply tried a few seeds until something with an appropriate mood came out. Furthermore I spent maybe about 4 hours total on all the textures and sprites, the rest was writing and coding (and sleeping and eating and wasting time on the internet). I came up with the dialogs pretty quickly and there wasn't really anything complicated programming-wise (although I spent over an hour on the movement of that car alone... and I can't even say I'm satisfied with the result). Also, although DBPro lacks a lot of features you'd expect from a decent programming language, it's great for prototyping etc. since you can get results very quickly. So that certainly helped. Thank you very much for your comment, I'm honestly honored. :)
Hey there ShellfishGames! Just saw you checked out my game, it's much appreciated! Funny thing, I actually found your game through the TGC Forums, I was sure I had already rated it but I see now that I did not. So here I am!
I really love the game, it has a great atmosphere, though the most intriguing part of it for me was the whole theme and story, was very surrealistic and mysterious, kept me all the way through and I think the theme was very well implemented. Good job!
This was the best entry I've played, seriously. I love when a game has a good plot with a dynamic between gameplay and narrative and it was also very moody. My only complaint are the graphics, they are OK but the spinning camera in the group therapy makes my head spin. Very nice, loved the story and already checked out some of your other games :)
You have managed to make really depressing and funny game at the same time... Congratulations! This is really great. Got 8 women killed. Nice number it is.
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You can in fact save her by reaching the "safe zone" at the top (which is not possible in the very beginning, this event will be unlocked after ~2 women died already). I guess I will upload a playthrough video soon.
Gameplay is simple, yet it all blends with the story so it all clicks (9 women died for poor, poor Joe). I also enjoyed the dark humour a lot.
@Jimanzium: Sorry for that. Possible that it runs once you download that dll, but who knows.
I'm just about to upload a video of the game to youtube for those who can't run it themselves. But thanks for trying. :)
Great work!
Very concise experience, nice work.
Seriously, it was funny, it was innovative, it fit the theme in a very original way, the graphics were nice and clear, the music fit everything perfectly, and the gameplay was original and entertaining.
You are very good at this. Thanks for this experience.
@ZeppelinCaptain - I spent almost no time on the music, it was procedurally generated and I simply tried a few seeds until something with an appropriate mood came out. Furthermore I spent maybe about 4 hours total on all the textures and sprites, the rest was writing and coding (and sleeping and eating and wasting time on the internet). I came up with the dialogs pretty quickly and there wasn't really anything complicated programming-wise (although I spent over an hour on the movement of that car alone... and I can't even say I'm satisfied with the result). Also, although DBPro lacks a lot of features you'd expect from a decent programming language, it's great for prototyping etc. since you can get results very quickly. So that certainly helped.
Thank you very much for your comment, I'm honestly honored. :)
I really love the game, it has a great atmosphere, though the most intriguing part of it for me was the whole theme and story, was very surrealistic and mysterious, kept me all the way through and I think the theme was very well implemented. Good job!
5 for the Black Humor, and the narration was actually good.
I have no idea who'd live in such a dangerous neighbourhood with all them pianos/zombies/reckless drivers.
And you said my game was funny, pfft!