*EDIT - I have created a post-compo version of the game, as well as written a post-mortem. See below for links*
As the war became more desperate, the High Command authorized the deployment of a highly unconventional weapon, in order to turn the tides.
You are this weapon, a cloud of sentient nanites, merging with human minds, as you drift from host to host.
Your purpose: To infiltrate a secure military facility, in order to extract valuable intelligence from key personnel inside.
The included .zip-file contains a runnable jar-file, as well as a cmd-file which starts it (in case your .jar-extension has been hijacked by another program).
I've had a few friends verify that the jar-file also works on Linux, so I've added the link as a Linux-patform link as well. Let me know if it does not work for you on Linux!
This game requires Java in order to run. It was developed using the excellent LibGDX framework, and the graphics were drawn in Aseprite.
This is my first Ludum Dare, so I'd appreciate any feedback that you might have!
*Added information:* I have also made a post-compo version of my game, including enhancements taken from my TODO-list as well as the from the comments below.
Improvements include: Smoother movement, the ability to probe the minds of your hosts (discovering their secrets, and finding ways to manipulate their actions), additional visual and sound feedback, individual host mental traits, more statistics upon mission completion, and more.
Thank you all for the feedback! :-) I am very glad that you enjoyed my game and my concept!
As for the pacing and "jerky" movements, the "mood" I was going for, was that of an unseen presence hiding among the personnel, jumping from host to host with eerie timing. So I felt I needed to make it easy to discern the movement patterns, and to easily time the transferrals.
I especially enjoyed my concept in the sense, that I was able to continuously draw new ideas from it during development. This to a degree where I had to be very picky about which of the ideas I chose to implement, in order to be able complete the game on time.
Still, I might have been a bit too ambitious, since I ended up working until right before the deadline... :-)
Smoother movement would improve it quite a lot. There doesn't seem to be an end-game. Neat idea though. Some way of influencing the host would be nice too.
@drakekin Once you have gathered enough information, you have to escape the facility. Your starting host is waiting outside, and when you transfer back to him, you can end the game (and get your rating from the High Command).
As for influencing the host, I agree. My original design had three levels of mind integration, where the third would allow you to influence your host in various ways, depending on what you had learned about him. But I did not have sufficient time to implement that feature.
This was a very clever concept! I had a lot of fun playing it. But it definitely needed some smoother transitions between tiles - it was hard to track movements when they teleport around. Also, I'm not quite sure what the danger was in increasing integration... it only took the level up one and it didn't seem to increase over time.
thoughts: - smooth menu experience - quite tense, even without any music ... or maybe lack of music increases the tension? - small nitpick: would maybe be nice to have 'transfer to new host' (better) visible on the map, instead of just ungreying the 'transfer' button
Welcome to the Ludum Dare! Your concept and execution is top-notch. I can see where corners had to be cut, but you pulled this off magnificently. I would absolutely love to see a post-jam version.
Really interesting concept! I think its definitely worth expanding on. I got a little bored after playing for a while, but as complete game I think this could be really fascinating.
I like the mechanic alot. The patience required to watch and wait to be able to transfer to your next target, it feels good. I also really enjoyed seeing what was on my host's mind. Pretty funny stuff. Good job!
Cool game with an interesting story. At first I didn't understand that you had to go deeper into their minds. Also the movement could have been smoothed a little more. Sometimes it was tricky to transfer to a new host because he was passing by so quickly. I like the idea of the mental stress level, but unfortunately it was not really relevant, since you could easily get around without it ever getting critical. I could see this principal working if it got a little more polish :) Still a solid Compo entry especially for a first timer.
Interesting idea! Reminds me a bit of Paradroid. Not sure what effect "Increase host integration" had other than lower their health. Could be interesting if you could somehow influence their behavior with it.
Very very nice game. It took some time to get what I need to do. But once I got it, it became great. With some tweaking, this game has a very huge potential.
Note: the left status bar panel was covering the game, which is not all that practical from user experience perspective.
Interesting concept, and it all works very fluently. It would have been even better if you would have found a way to reduce the amount of text on the screen.
Comments27
As for the pacing and "jerky" movements, the "mood" I was going for, was that of an unseen presence hiding among the personnel, jumping from host to host with eerie timing. So I felt I needed to make it easy to discern the movement patterns, and to easily time the transferrals.
I especially enjoyed my concept in the sense, that I was able to continuously draw new ideas from it during development. This to a degree where I had to be very picky about which of the ideas I chose to implement, in order to be able complete the game on time.
Still, I might have been a bit too ambitious, since I ended up working until right before the deadline... :-)
As for influencing the host, I agree. My original design had three levels of mind integration, where the third would allow you to influence your host in various ways, depending on what you had learned about him. But I did not have sufficient time to implement that feature.
- smooth menu experience
- quite tense, even without any music ... or maybe lack of music increases the tension?
- small nitpick: would maybe be nice to have 'transfer to new host' (better) visible on the map, instead of just ungreying the 'transfer' button
At first I didn't understand that you had to go deeper into their minds. Also the movement could have been smoothed a little more. Sometimes it was tricky to transfer to a new host because he was passing by so quickly.
I like the idea of the mental stress level, but unfortunately it was not really relevant, since you could easily get around without it ever getting critical.
I could see this principal working if it got a little more polish :)
Still a solid Compo entry especially for a first timer.
Note: the left status bar panel was covering the game, which is not all that practical from user experience perspective.
All in all, a very enjoyable game.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21601438/ld32/LD32_Somnium_The_NID_Project_postcompo.zip