Ludum Dare #29compo

Act Natural

by lewisw

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.26

Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.93

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.70

Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.97

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.52

Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.62

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.96

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.14

Coolness★★★★★★★★★★54%

My first shot at Ludum Dare. It went mostly okay, I think.

Game is all (crap and rushed) javascript and HTML using HTML5 canvas. Not the best way to make a game, but I wanted to do something web-based and didn't have the time to learn a new framework. Instructions on how to play are on the webpage.

I used a brilliant little library called PathFinding.js (https://github.com/qiao/PathFinding.js) for pathfinding and jQuery for some event hooks. Other than that everything was done from scratch this weekend.

I used bfxr for the one sound effect in the game, and autotracker.py for the music.

It may not be immediately obvious how this relates to the theme... I took a bit of a roundabout way:

"Beneath the Surface" could mean "More to it than meets the eye" which made me think of disguises... which is essentially what this game is about. If that's too vague of a connection, oh well.

Comments16

enosshenk28 Apr 2014, 08:17

Clever concept, I like it. It's a bit unforgiving on giving you a chance to do what you're supposed to be doing though.

Custard Games28 Apr 2014, 08:30

Cool game. Took me awhile to understand that not all computers have secrets.

PaperBlurt28 Apr 2014, 08:31

Real good job for first Ludum Dare!

cptalbertwesker28 Apr 2014, 12:55

I really like it, a game based on blending in, and done very well, brilliant first LD!

microapple28 Apr 2014, 12:58

Cool mechanics. Felt like a proper stealth game. Nice job!

mikedirl28 Apr 2014, 13:00

I loved your idea. It has a nice mood and sense of paranoia.

zeh28 Apr 2014, 13:01

Clever twist on the stealth genre. With time/assets/etc it could be an awesome game. Awesome first LD.

smbe1928 Apr 2014, 13:24

Nice game. Only problem is I suck at stealth games :D

tehryanx28 Apr 2014, 20:45

very neat concept. I didn't know what I was doing for awhile, but when I figured it out I liked the concept enough to play it again :)

grayhaze30 Apr 2014, 19:41

A good first attempt and really impressive given that you didn't use a pre-existing framework. Well done!

pancakecity30 Apr 2014, 20:01

This is a really awesome idea, could definitely benefit from more development!

Gazok30 Apr 2014, 21:19

I liked the concept, and the implementation was good. The way the people move individually is nice. Sometimes the "You are standing on your own" notice pops up when I'm standing in the middle of a group. I feel like sometimes a guard lands on you at an unfortunate time and you instantly lose. Maybe some sort of gradation in "detection" effects with a cool-down would be nice, but you already implemented plenty of features for one competition :P.

pvwradtke4 May 2014, 16:50

Good idea, but a bit difficult. Had a good laugh when you asked to imagine the character being arrested when the game was over :).

wschorn6 May 2014, 21:16

wow very clever and fun as gameplay!

ThingoStudios10 May 2014, 17:11

Sometimes the detection meter goes up arbitrarily. For example, the leftmost secret computer is hidden away in a little alcove where you should be out of sight, yet the officers are still able to detect if you're the only person working.

It's still a cool application of the theme.

Rabbits...16 May 2014, 22:16

I laughed at the 'pretend I animated a scene', it was a difficult game, but fun all the same