First of all, sorry in advance for my text. English is not my first language, so...
I never finished a game before. I've made some prototypes in the past, but never got back to them. So to finish this game in 48h for LD makes me very happy! \o/
And it makes obvious, but I think a need to say that this is my first time on LD.
Techy talk:
I knew I was going to take forever if I started coding my own engine. So I decide to use Construct 2. I’ve never ever used one of this game makers, but I always thought about them while wondering why I never finished any project.
I can't draw and I used the internal editor from Constructor, except for the logo (because I wanted some fancy unnoticeable gradient and I used Photoshop). Programmer art FTW!
I have no talent for music either, so I went with sfxr and Circuli (from the same guy who made Otomata).
The Game:
The game is named Oxy and is about two coworkers of an underwater lab, when an accident happens and they must leave right away! The problem is you two only have one oxygen tank. Ah! And, to help with that, your coworker Dave is unconscious, so you have to drag him around to help him breathe and to assist you on opening the doors.
Final Thoughts:
Using Construct 2 was interesting. Sometimes I wished for making my own engine and sometimes was pretty easy to do stuff. I didn't know the best practices to use Construct 2 so the project is a real mess. Sometimes it doesn't even open the level layout without crashing it. For my next time, I will try to code everything.
I hope you guys enjoy this little idea.
Thanks!
* Update 26/08/2013 *
- Information about the controls updated
- Bug in Game Over screen (appeared too quickly)
- Bug in some cases when a message was displayed when it wasn't supposed to be visible
First off, congratulations on finishing a game! I like the atmosphere of the game, the concept and the subtle take on the theme :) I got pretty far but ran out of oxygen, so I didn't completely finish it. But from what I saw, the puzzles seemed diverse enough, and progressively getting harder. The only thing I had a minor "problem" with is that I had to try 2 or 3 times before I figured out you have to hold space to carry Dave (that little word extra in the control screen would help :P) Anyway, great job! I like it! :)
Well done for your first game :D You did a great job, I really liked the game idea and the music... I almost done it to then end on the second time without dying!
Great job! The controls are so responsive, I didn't feel like I was fighting them at all. I brought Dave all the way to the last chamber and I was so low on oxygen at that point I knew it was me or him, so I had to cut him loose. It was tough. 5 stars on Mood from me. A checkpoint or two would have been really nice. Having to redo the whole thing was a bit of a chore.
The idea is good, I saw a lot of air balls but none gave me more oxygen :(, that is the only thing I didn't like, the puzzles are nice,the game is fast and controls are good. Thanks for the game :)
Great first entry. It's a great game, with a very good idea. Awesome mood and music. Perhaps just a bit too difficult. It took me a second run to understand how the oxygen is re-filled.
I liked it very much, especially the mood that the sounds conveyed. And the sort-of heartbreak that happens about having Dave run out of air was really interesting. And congrats on your first game, I know too well that feeling of having lots of protos around and no finished game for a long time.
Congrats for your first game :D i see that even if it's your first game, you managed to make interesting puzzles, and that' s great. i managed to arrive half way ( because i suck at puzzle timed games :| ) and i am impressed by what i saw. really, keep up the good work, mate :D
The game kept me tense for the most part! The atmosphere is just amazing and even though you say you have no talent for music you know how to build up a piece to put the player in the mood of the game!
I killed myself and Dave in my first try and manage to get out on the second, but I had to leave Dave. =( Is Dave's oxygen the only one supposed to recover? (it makes sense because you can breath precisely for 10 seconds when you're not with Dave? =p)
Congratulations on your first entry! The game is just awesome and I can't wait to check your next one in December. =D
This was absolutely excellent. My feels...nooo Dave(ha my mind yelled out his name as well the first time he blinked on screen)...I can feel the struggle, desperation, and guilt. This was very simple and clean, but had much depth. The music and details of Dave's slow fall and blinking while suffocating added much to the experience. Great job.
Great idea, excellent smooth controls and really solid puzzle mechanics. Proper heart too, helped by the atmospheric music - I really felt concerned for poor Dave.
I was interested to read your thoughts on Construct 2. I used it myself because I have absolutely no programming experience but in your case I can see that it would probably be more trouble than it's worth.
Overall, a solid entry which was very enjoyable (and surprisingly moving) to play.
Great puzzle mechanic. I loved how the game didn't end when Dave died. Dragging a dead body around added a great amount to the mood. Brilliant job for your first finished game :)
NOOOOOOO DAAAAAAVE!!! ...I'm still going to use your corpse as a companion cube. lol Terrific atmosphere. The music really makes you feel like you are drowning. The story gives a really nice sense purpose to the gameplay. You don't have to save your friend, but you can't help but want to. And if he dies you still need his corpse.. Awesome, awesome job!
Congrats, man! Very highly rated! Really loved the mechanic of dragging the other guy around, very creative and really creates an oppressive feel of urgency. I went pretty far but was unable to finish - if there's one thing I suggest, is making the difficulty curve a little less steep! Maybe it would encourage more attempts if one didn't need to restart the game from the beginning but instead from the last checkpoint. Anyway, I loved it!
About Construct, I hear ya. But I really think using such programs ('makers') is a great optimization of time and allows for focusing on design and creation rather than technical aspects. It does require getting familiar with the tool in advance, though! As a reference, Super Fair Trial Show was made in MMF2, which is also a 'maker'. But it is only worthy, of course, if you want to learn that language - ultimately the best language is the one you're used to, right? ;)
Congrats on your first finished game, it is actually quite good, and cheers from Brazil!
The game fits the theme perfectly and is brilliant idea. Controls feel really nice, unlike some games this definitely feels like underwater. I'd would not have been able to tell that this was your first game if you hadn't mentioned it.
Good puzzles. You ramped the difficulty up nicely. The pressure of saving someone else is a pretty personal touch for this kind of game. Nicely done! :)
Hey, thanks for the game. I think that, for a first try, this was really well done. There were no glaring bugs, the gameplay was clear, the controls were crisp.
Of course, you can work a little bit more on the graphics - specially the messages on the bottom, they were kinda hard to notice and read, but I think you got something really nice going on here!
Thanks for the game, and here is a video review :-)
The innovation was superb! The rest was pretty good too. Congrats man! And you did that with a new learned engine? That was fast! I need to take a look at this Construct, man! Congrats!
Very nice innovation, use of the theme, audio and mood!
It's too hard - remember that most of us haven't spent hours playing it!
It gets really slow for me (the fps drop) around when I'm scrolling the screen (in Firefox) for some reason. It really does ruin the experience, unfortunately. Since you used Construct 2, that probably isn't your fault though.
Like someone else said, I wouldn't know this was your first entry if you hadn't said so. Good job!
Thanks a lot for the comment on Lost in the Darkness! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
For "not being able to draw" and "having no talent for music" this looks and sounds pretty well - it still creates this special underwater mood, although it doesn't convey much urgency. I like the gameplay, and the second time I nearly finished the game and died right before the airlock, unable to open the 3 doors. I like your level design, I would've wished for checkpoints though!
All in all, great job, and congratulations on finishing your first game!
Disregard what I said earlier about it slowing down. Just had to restart firefox. Now I just think it's too hard :P I did manage to make it out after a bunch of plays - Dave did not however :(
![[-BipolarDesign+]](https://pics.ldj.am/avatar/-9/-9597286-25cb42ba-84.webp)
Cool little puzzle game! Well done.