Dread Keep

by frump
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.20
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.05
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.18
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.20
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.26
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.41
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.31
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★100%
Traverse the shortlived horrors and despair of Dread Keep.

Gamepad recommended. Windows version recommended.

Gamepad:
Joystick/Dpad - Move
A - Jump, Double Jump
X - Attack
Up/RB - Enter Door

Keyboard:
A/D = Move
J - Attack
K - Jump
W - enter doors

Post-compo only:
Up+Atk - Throw
LB/Q - Switch weapons

Programming/Art: Kyle Parsons
Music/Art: Joel Miller Tansley

Tools:
Game Maker Studio
Photoshop
Ableton Live
Pyxel Edit

Comments49

Ryan Kline9 Dec 2014, 03:56
Haha, I had a fun time with this one. Nice try on the theme, though :P Pleasant music and tight controls. I wish the buttons on screen did more, though
srakowski
srakowski9 Dec 2014, 03:58
Very nicely polished game. I love the dot matrix style gameboy kickback look and feel. Z/X controls were a bit quirky for me, but overall very good!
digibody
digibody9 Dec 2014, 03:58
Fun, wonderful look, nice theme, controls kinda hard, not intuitive.
Trixton9 Dec 2014, 03:59
Very nice graphics and animations. Love the mood and theme. Nice implementation of the theme in a handheld system!
p1x3lruckus
p1x3lruckus9 Dec 2014, 04:01
Very nice aesthetic, but the gameplay wasn't very responsive, music was good and the animations and character/level design where impressive. Goodjob !
mmoustafa
mmoustafa9 Dec 2014, 05:57
I really liked this! I loved the retro aesthetic look and feel. The controls were really tight as well, which is great! Feels really good. Although this does make it feel retro, I do feel it's one thing you can improve: having more feedback for the player. Like recoil for enemies or animations, screen transitions, etc.. All these polish things make the game feel more fluid.
Future Proof Games
Future Proof Games9 Dec 2014, 05:58
This is really good looking! I like the fast zippy controls. I was able to rush right through to the end of each level by rushing past enemies, though; this would be great with tighter combat and some challenge to the levels. Cute use of theme but it's a bit of a cheat. :)
OttersDen9 Dec 2014, 06:00
This little game was superb. Graphics and sounds and gameplay felt very retro and tied well together. The game is short, but all the building blocks are there if you want to keep expanding on this!
Muush
Muush9 Dec 2014, 06:02
J and K didn't work for me, it was Z and X. I love the overlay and the graphics in general. Good job
ChuiGum
ChuiGum9 Dec 2014, 06:03
Love the graphics, great music, and great game overall. Good job
2Bit9 Dec 2014, 09:13
Loved the graphics and music! Wanted more for sure
GagaPete
GagaPete9 Dec 2014, 11:18
Awesome game, feels like a real gameboy game. Got a bit easy when I learned to double jump. Game sometimes responded a tad too late when I tried to attack.

I hope for a version with more levels and gamepad support. I have this cheap SNES like gamepad that would work like charm with this game. ;)
drludos
drludos9 Dec 2014, 16:23
Beautiful Entry! I love the GB style graphics. The is nice and fun to play, altough it's a bit far regarding the them (but kudos for the GB screen anyway). Good job!
Fortyseven
Fortyseven9 Dec 2014, 21:59
Love the art. But it all runs a bit too fast over here. Not sure if that's just the browser running it faster than other peoples machines, or what, but it had sharp, quick, hard to control movement for me.
Ossi10 Dec 2014, 07:30
I made it to the end! The gameboy graphics are really nice and the music fits perfectly. It was a bit too easy and sometimes the monsters got stuck on those rocks, so I could easily continue on to the next level. The atmosphere was really nice as well. Good job!
ajopart
ajopart10 Dec 2014, 08:38
Great graphics and sound. Some minor bugs to fix (monsters stuck in walls) but congrats !!
TheMeorch
TheMeorch10 Dec 2014, 08:43
This captures the retro aesthetic really nicely. I opted to complete most of the levels without attacking, since it was often safer than trying to engage the enemies in close combat. I did have a bunch of enemies get stuck spawning against a wall, so that may have made the levels unexpectedly easier than intended. This was really enjoyable to play!
Krz10 Dec 2014, 12:51
Good game but when you press Y the screen moves you to a complete different screen.
Tipyx
Tipyx10 Dec 2014, 12:52
Argh, you are play with my feelings :')
Suppagumma
Suppagumma10 Dec 2014, 12:53
Sweet! Got some bugs like flying (I suppose) monsters stuck in walls, which made it too easy, but that was all good because thanks to that it's now the first platform I finished in a long time :D
Vandash10 Dec 2014, 12:53
Great art, not sure why the UP button doesn't make me jump :)
Vinyl Pixels10 Dec 2014, 12:55
Pretty neat :) A bit hard and hectic, but fun nonetheless :) Liked the art style.
Webravenz10 Dec 2014, 12:56
very nice graphics !
got some issues with enemy spawn
rottenmage
rottenmage10 Dec 2014, 13:04
I love the artwork! The music works with the art to give an impeccable retro vibe. It would be nice if the sound effect when the player gets hurt was more 8-bit as well. Also, it's easy to avoid all the enemies, so the challenge wasn't there. More feedback when getting hurt would be good too.
fullmontis
fullmontis10 Dec 2014, 13:42
The aesthetics and controls are beautiful, remind me of old gmeboy platformers, love it! Gameplay though could use some beefing up...
friggingames10 Dec 2014, 17:38
Great job! Fantastic graphics. Enjoyed thoroughly. Encountered an issue where baddies would get stuck on the mirrors(?) from which they appear.
rainshapes10 Dec 2014, 19:25
You are a cheater! That isn't one screen! Seriously the art looked amazing and the game was fun to play. Nice job.
PS
I wish the controller moved when you pressed a button.
badlydrawnrod10 Dec 2014, 20:10
You nailed the gameboy look and sound, and the animations on the main character were pretty good.
spotco
spotco11 Dec 2014, 08:42
Classy graphics, though gameplay could use a bit of tweaking for responsiveness.

Also spooky skeletons popping out.
mathmadlen12 Dec 2014, 00:32
Love the art style, little hard on the controls side /and I got stuck under stairs once/
The music was fitting, except the hit reaction sound - it was a little jarring for me /but maybe it's just me? or I just got hit way to often?/
Really nice one!
ehtd
ehtd12 Dec 2014, 01:58
I liked the retro feel. It was weird not controlling with wasd or arrows
OFF
OFF12 Dec 2014, 10:56
Nice trick to allow several screen ;)
As said by many the only critic are the control of the game who are too reactive.
For the rest it's classical and efficient but the game feel is reall bad because of the control.
But it's only a matter of tweak and game testing.
An amazing amount of work.
I will try the post compo with a lot of pleasure.
Dokthar
Dokthar13 Dec 2014, 02:26
Spawner keep spawing enemies even if they are destroyed.. control aren't very easy. Still impressive graphics an nice mood :D.
Raiyumi
Raiyumi13 Dec 2014, 17:26
Hehe, nice 1 screen trick. :)
SIMON_SIMON14 Dec 2014, 14:24
Simple, but it has this little charming thing. It needs a little bit of gameplay and programming polishing, but, it's Ludum Dare after all ! :)
lycrashampoo15 Dec 2014, 07:27
Looks great, and the controls feel really nice, even on a keyboard. You did an awesome job with the aesthetic. I wish there was more in the way of gameplay, though, once I figured out you didn't have to kill the rats the game was a cakewalk. :)

Awesome retro vibe though!
asobitech
asobitech16 Dec 2014, 18:26
Wonderful. Love me some Game Boy action.
blackmagic17 Dec 2014, 13:05
nice retro game boy style, but it's a little too buggy for me to get the most out of it.
Backterria
Backterria17 Dec 2014, 23:06
Very well done!The main character is awesome and the music is really cool too :)
Valandre
Valandre19 Dec 2014, 13:26
Solid entry, good art style
sP0CkEr220 Dec 2014, 01:32
"dread"fully simple - but very nicely polished game - ganna play the post compo now - great job
Beerman20 Dec 2014, 13:59
That was pretty fun. Great job on the gameboy graphics and audio.
Benjamin26 Dec 2014, 20:43
The engine and the gfx are great and I love the main character. The music is also very good it bring very good vibes on the game. But the game is really short and the level designs are not very interesting.
PapyPilgrim
PapyPilgrim29 Dec 2014, 19:05
I don't see the point of break those... magic mirrors?... because enemies will keep spawning

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