
Ludum Dare #28compo
The One - A Tale of Bliss or Sorrow
In a relaxing world of hot air balloons and clouds, you have 80 years to find your one and only soulmate before you die old and alone.
Featuring an infinite procedural cloud generation system and an original ukulele score.
(Known bugs: Occasional cloud pop-in, extra NPC balloon duplication.)
Media:
https://vine.co/v/h2dmTEWVxxJ
https://vine.co/v/h2wrpBVhUWD
https://vine.co/v/h2FWq9lKDjw
Featuring an infinite procedural cloud generation system and an original ukulele score.
(Known bugs: Occasional cloud pop-in, extra NPC balloon duplication.)
Media:
https://vine.co/v/h2dmTEWVxxJ
https://vine.co/v/h2wrpBVhUWD
https://vine.co/v/h2FWq9lKDjw
Comments44

![Steve [tacospice]](https://pics.ldj.am/avatar/70/701-87e2af02-84.png)
Steve [tacospice]16 Dec 2013, 17:40
Sweet.
Very relaxing scenario & soundtrack.
No challenge or real gameplay, but then again, it's not trying to be that kind of game, so that's cool.
The music's great, and swooshing around in the air is pretty nice. Clouds sometimes pop in/out which breaks immersion a bit. Same for balloons. It'd be even greater with that fixed.
Overall 4/5 for great mood!
Very relaxing scenario & soundtrack.
No challenge or real gameplay, but then again, it's not trying to be that kind of game, so that's cool.
The music's great, and swooshing around in the air is pretty nice. Clouds sometimes pop in/out which breaks immersion a bit. Same for balloons. It'd be even greater with that fixed.
Overall 4/5 for great mood!

Rahazan16 Dec 2013, 17:42
Very pretty game, a test of patience (much like finding your soulmate in real life I suppose), but in the end I found my soulmate.

0x0961h16 Dec 2013, 18:00
Very meditative, very deep, and music is a perfect match for graphics! :)
bitslap_16 Dec 2013, 18:38
I think i found 3 soulmates at once. Not sure if possible but i bumped all of them. Good job on the clouds =)

sharpcoder16 Dec 2013, 19:03
I didn't find my soulmate, much like real-life. Awesome ambiance and very existential :)

MrTedders16 Dec 2013, 19:25
A very calming and peaceful game. Very open ended interpretation of it. Good work
Coblynau16 Dec 2013, 19:32
Really beautiful to play after playing so many other games; lovely song and relaxing. :)
iamwhosiam16 Dec 2013, 19:36
i like it, but the controls seems a bit floaty to me ;)

xrm016 Dec 2013, 19:38
Great mood, love the art style.
There were some "solid" ballons I could crash into.
There were some "solid" ballons I could crash into.

lubos16 Dec 2013, 19:39
Found the one! Great take on the theme(unlike me). Nice relaxing experience.

Elforama16 Dec 2013, 20:26
Nice game, the music really matched the soothing gameplay and visuals. I did not find my soul mate sadly though. =[

Hypnohustla16 Dec 2013, 20:45
Such a nice and relaxing game. Loved the ukulele. :) The balloons popped in randomly on the screen but I didn't let that bother me too much. :)

PaperBlurt16 Dec 2013, 20:49
So great. My dad flew hot air ballooons so I flown quite a bit. This takes me back!
Webravenz16 Dec 2013, 21:27
nice mood and very relaxing game, great job !
milugames16 Dec 2013, 21:34
That was absolutely lovely! Great ambience with the music and overall atmosphere. Great graphics, great bendy balloon rope physics. Awesome creation!
soy_yuma16 Dec 2013, 22:25
Nice atmosphere!

jillytot16 Dec 2013, 22:26
Nice ambiance. I sadly wasn't able to find my soulmate after quite some time, but it was still an enjoyable experience. Keep it up dood!
primaerfunktion16 Dec 2013, 22:30
That music is beautiful! Although I found that popping to be a little bit annoying, it was a great experience.

Brainless Games16 Dec 2013, 22:46
Nice relaxing game, found my soulmate with 66 years left.
Donutttt16 Dec 2013, 22:55
I like the idea, though I think that I wasn't laying it quite right. The physics on the balloons are awesome
Sheep16 Dec 2013, 23:20
That was.. interesting. I felt a bit pointless on the other hand, but it was calming. I stopped searching after 5 year though.

Pixelbear17 Dec 2013, 17:48
Didn't find my soul mate, mostly because I found something much more awesome to do. Screw soul mates when you can do FLIPS in a BALLOON. FLIPS. That soul mate should be finding ME.
So yeah I found it quite fun, even if the main thing didn't entice me too much. Loved the audio though, really set a nice mood. :)
So yeah I found it quite fun, even if the main thing didn't entice me too much. Loved the audio though, really set a nice mood. :)
Jellycakes17 Dec 2013, 19:09
Really nice entry! I found 'The One' at about 65 years. I really liked the Art and I think the game's strong selling point was how relaxing it was and the strong meaning behind it. Really well done, nice work.

Atmospherium17 Dec 2013, 19:17
I really like the mood of this game. The art, the music, and the slow pacing were all super effective at making it feel like it was an accomplishment to find the one. Great work.

Jezzamon17 Dec 2013, 22:48
I like it! Great mood!
My only criticism is that when you're playing you can't tell how much longer it'll take to find the other balloon, and there's not really any sense that you've progressed, so I was unsure whether I should give up or not... Still I persisted and managed to find it!
My only criticism is that when you're playing you can't tell how much longer it'll take to find the other balloon, and there's not really any sense that you've progressed, so I was unsure whether I should give up or not... Still I persisted and managed to find it!

havana2418 Dec 2013, 08:44
Really nice mood! I loved the music.
lotusgame18 Dec 2013, 10:17
The flexibility of the elasticity is very pleasant. Sometimes i met groups of balloon stuck to each other. Superb music. Nice start :)
LukeR18 Dec 2013, 17:48
Brilliant!

moop18 Dec 2013, 18:34
Nice concept and the sound and graphics really fit the mood well.

zkenshin18 Dec 2013, 21:06
Lovely atmosphere, great job (:

TinyMoonStudios18 Dec 2013, 23:09
Weird, good weird but still quite strange. Music was great and the visuals are good. It does't have much of a purpose but sometimes it's nice to just have a relaxing float about.

Aaants19 Dec 2013, 21:18
Beautiful

glovecat19 Dec 2013, 21:42
Relaxing. I spent 7 years and some days to find my soulmate. Meanwhile I was thinking of all this year 2013. A year full of changes for my team. Thank you for make this "therapy" game
Cambrian_Man20 Dec 2013, 03:03
Nice and relaxing. The first go-around I did not find The One, but the second time, they were right there when I started. Maybe that means something? Dug the music, as well.
cesisco20 Dec 2013, 15:30
Great mood, art and sound, moving the ballon it's like a therapy, very relaxing.Good work.

almightysuit21 Dec 2013, 00:37
This game is probably the most charming of this Ludum Dare, that is... if you support POLYGAMY and RACISM. Grrrr..
Just kidding Plooglez, it seriously made my heart go awwwwwwwww. Well done!
Just kidding Plooglez, it seriously made my heart go awwwwwwwww. Well done!
Keith Evans21 Dec 2013, 00:51
very sweet idea. Loved the art and sfx. Thought the totally lack of direction actually really fit this design. It definitely got your point across. Nice to play a more contemplative game.
chiguireitor21 Dec 2013, 00:59
Amazing mood. Was very relaxing too watch. If NPCs somehow gave you an idea where your SO is would be great, because i didn't have any idea how to find it :(
deadlypear21 Dec 2013, 23:46
Bumping baskets to find the one. At first, I found myself asking the question: How do you know when you've found "the one"? And knowing the answer is: you'll know. Sure enough, found it! Great serene soundtrack; really evokes drifting.

caranha24 Dec 2013, 14:59
I'm getting an error message when trying to unzip your download file :-(
error: attempt to seek before beginning of zipfile
(attempting to re-compensate)
inflating: The One.exe bad CRC 25461c01 (should be 6e60a68a)
error: attempt to seek before beginning of zipfile
(attempting to re-compensate)
inflating: The One.exe bad CRC 25461c01 (should be 6e60a68a)
ploogle24 Dec 2013, 17:24
I'll try and re-upload the .zip file, caranha.

mcc24 Dec 2013, 23:20
Super pretty (I LOVED how the clouds looked), good-feeling (movement felt nice, the music was a good fit). I feel like you didn't give me a lot to do-- it was literally "hold any button until the right balloon shows up". I liked some bits of the framing (the very slow countdown measured in "years") and I feel like with some tweaking it could have felt meaningful even if you didn't find "the one" (like, what if time ran out much quicker, and you realized that your experience lasted 80 years and felt beautiful the whole time but you never did find that one special person). As it was tho the problem was after about forty seconds it was like "ok, now what?". I tried making trying to invent my own little "game"s on top of this one to kill time, I kept trying to bounce my basket up on top of my balloon or swing the basket around in circles, I at some point decided my goal was to try to reach the ground (if one existed) and held down. I found a couple minor ways to glitch your physics engine into making the balloon move quicker than it would otherwise… :D none… of this felt like it was really part of the game tho.
As a queer person, I spent most of the game just going "but why CAN'T I date red balloons?!"
What happens if you run out of time completely btw?
As a queer person, I spent most of the game just going "but why CAN'T I date red balloons?!"
What happens if you run out of time completely btw?

SnoringFrog2 Jan 2014, 02:38
Pixelbear's review stated my feelings exactly (I think I found my soulmate! at least in terms of playing this game): "Screw soul mates when you can do FLIPS in a BALLOON. FLIPS. That soul mate should be finding ME. "
I spent most of my time seeing how far I could stretch the ropes on my balloon. I managed to get my basket to go off the top of the screen for a bit. Finding my soul mate otherwise was kinda boring. Also, my soul mate totally interrupted the shoving match I was having with a couple green balloons, so I wasn't entirely thrilled about finding them haha.
Overall, not really my kind of game. I'm find with the calming, do almost nothing kinds of games, but this one just didn't click with me. However, it was well made. Fitting soundtrack, relaxing atmosphere, just not for me.
I spent most of my time seeing how far I could stretch the ropes on my balloon. I managed to get my basket to go off the top of the screen for a bit. Finding my soul mate otherwise was kinda boring. Also, my soul mate totally interrupted the shoving match I was having with a couple green balloons, so I wasn't entirely thrilled about finding them haha.
Overall, not really my kind of game. I'm find with the calming, do almost nothing kinds of games, but this one just didn't click with me. However, it was well made. Fitting soundtrack, relaxing atmosphere, just not for me.






great experience!