I love everything about this! The overall mood is awesome, the graphics are great, and I love how the story unfolds as you play. Just a great game all around. Very nicely done!
Very well done game. As I've discovered I love sad games, this was a perfect fit for me. In some locations I must have run a little further than expected so the hunters were spawning from right under my body, which was a bit odd. Other than that, it was a very good entry.
Lovely game, great music and graphics, only thing that bothered me sometimes was the rendering order. But I finished the game, well as a mammoth widow :D Well done guys!
Great mood, elegant art and touching way of telling a sad story! Although I guess it's a design decision, it was not easy to move around with the mammoth. Maybe a bit frustrating on that side, but overall a superb game. Congratulations!
Nice game ! I'll probably try later to see if i can end it differently... Good concept on design, great storytelling! The game is a bit slow, but as a Mammoth i guess this fits :) Good and artsy!
Damnm, liked it very muchly! The children kept getting stuck on things and sometimes I didn't feel like I had a lot of control over the mammoth, but man the mood and story were really well put together. Great game!
C
cbstegeman25 Aug 2015, 23:36
A little slow, but I appreciate the languid speed necessary to tell the story. It fits with the music and visuals. It's all tied together very well, and you nailed the cave painting vibe.
Oh my god that was so depressing! I don't think I was the monster here though, I only cared for my progeny. But weren't the Hunters protecting their children too when they were hunting instead of watching their beloved die from hunger?
Is there really anyone to blame, is there any monster or is the world itself the merciless beast? The story of the Mammoth and the Hunters repeated several times in the past and will happen again, perpetuating the neverending suffering... but I can't help to wonder, and I cling to that though as it is my last glitter of hope, is there a way to spare one mammoth child and make the herd anew?
On a more positive note, that was the best entry I came across yet, the art is beautiful and well-thought, and the narration and music add a really nice touch. I really loved the game and its atmosphere, great job!
This game man, got annoyed by my slow moving child, ended up abandoning it and it was murdered by the hunters! The art style of the game is AMAZING! it rare to play a Ludum game with actual voice overs!
Really excellent, I loved the cave painting style and the narration, especially when the mammoth lost all her children. Excellent work. Simple and effective.
So cool! Great story telling. I really felt the pain watching my children die. I had to get revenge on the hunters. Art was fantastic. Audio was great. Voice acting added a nice effect.
Wow, that was quite impressive. The visuals are just beautiful, very nice style. The audio fits this well and together with the very sad and well written story it really sets the mood. Gameplay was solid, a little slow, but it fit the rest of the game well. I felt like I could've maybe saved at least one of the little ones by being a bit more careful when running into the village and protecting them with my own body, maybe I'll try again later. One small bug I noticed: At the bottom of the screen, the sprites of the trees disappear before they're out of sight. Overall, I enjoyed this sad little story quite a bit.
LOVED the use of archaeological material and the intricate way in which the story was interwoven with the players actions. Really impressive entry - one of my faves for sure!
I actually was discussing a cave-painting story game something like this when deciding what to do for the Jam. Crazy! I appreciated the interactive storytelling direction you went in, the narration, the art style, all of it. Excellent work!
Wow, this is one of the best entries I've seen so far! Wonderful artwork and narration. Everything fit together well, and it was still challenging. Great entry!
What a nice game!!! Starting with the art style that we don't often see something like this! The story as well is very nice too! Congratulations One of the top 5 of this jam for sure hehe
Poetic and touching! A story of loss and wrath and loss. The fact that the children respond to the mother's calls made losing them in the end hit so much harder emotionally. Masterful interactive storytelling!
One of the most mood inspired games I've ever had the grateful opportunity to pay in a Ludum Dare compo! Nothing I could say or suggest could add any impact or polish needed for this narrative and complete winner of an entry. Well done! Well done!
I love everything about your game! It's my favourite LD33 entry so far. It has everything; great graphics style, awesome story telling, trunks, tails and fur. And murderer!
Definitely wins in the mood category, carries it in fact. Wanting to follow the story pushed me to finish. Very unique! Would love to see more games of this sort.
What a sad story, but I loved it!! The artwork es really good, and the game is unexpected. Congratulations for your work!! Anthanks, I've had a nice play!
The art looks very well done! That, along with the great narrative and music set the atmosphere really nicely. Kinda sad that I couldn't save anyone. Great job on this!
Excellent game and unified concept throughout. Wonderful take on the theme and art style. It really plays on your emotions from start to finish. Nice work!
Dang - game won't run on my laptop (even we version says it needs more memory) but it looks awesome so I'll check it on my desktop when I get chance later!
This is great! I loved the narration and the gameplay. I'm feeling a little sad about the poor mammoths story :c Btw the mood is so deep and the video so great that I have to leave 5 stars, Well done!
When i got to the village i lost only one child, so in process of avenging my child i lost my two other children. I guess game created for me a bit different story with a bit different moral.
This is a really awesome story, and loved everything about it. The way it explained little by little, the built in "tutorial" and how the story was woven into it. LOVE this game.
Super cute graphics! I included it in part 14 of my Ludum Dare 33 Compilation video series, if you would like to take a look :) https://youtu.be/CvW_HEqR1oI
Beautiful! Just perfect! Congratz!! Well, if I was to nitpick, you can hear white noise on the narrator's audio, I would suggest the use of a noise filter xp (Oh it reminds me of Shelter~)
Yeah noise filter would have been good. Realized too late and then there was no more time unfortunately. Next time we'll do it right the first time. ;)
Very unique style of storytelling and visual style. I think you need either better keybinds or to properly capture input - my browser kept trying to add bookmarks whenever I hit ctrl. Apart from that I really loved this game - well done!
Thanks again for the kind comments everyone. We definitely focused more on the experience part of it starting with day 2. So some things are still a bit rough in places. If we do a post-jam version we will take the feedback on board and make sure to circumvent the CTRL key issue somehow. ;)
I like the artstyle. Making a game that is a cave painting is must have been everyones fantasy at some point so congratulations on actually executing that with a story to match. Great game!
Absolutely beautiful graphics, and nice idea for a monster story. Definitely one of the best I found so far! We thought of doing a narration too, but we didn't have anyone with such a great voice for the setting. Playing this really makes me think how much narration can help the immersion.
The concept of telling the story was interesting. For me the prehistoric theme did not really fit to this Ludum dare theme. Graphic design and the story teler together created nice feeling.
Excellent work. Told a very strong, realistic and morally ambiguous story in a powerful way. Great use of theme and really nice mood created. I was desperate to keep the children safe.
Love the mood. There's a lot of really great things about this as far as feel, such as the slight flickering on the walls and the minimal drum beating.
Beautiful game. I love how well you were able to set the tone and mood by making it appear like this was all written on a cave wall painting. The flickering of the fire on the wall was a great touch. The voice acting and story telling was great. I'm really impressed with how well you were able to tell the story with such simple mechanics.
Feels somewhat reminiscent of Shelter. Really loved the mood of the game and I'm not ashamed to admit that I got misty eyed at the end. I couldn't save any of my children no matter how hard I tried. Both the aesthetic and the gameplay work brilliantly to conjure a mood like no other.
The fun-category doesn't really do justice to this entry, but I enjoyed the experience so I guess it was... fun? Read the "So who's the Monster in The Mammoth anyway?"-post and in my opinion it's either that we are all monsters or that none of us are, it's just a matter of perspective.
A very artistic yet sad game. I wish there was a way to save the little ones, but i suppose, just like life, bad things happen even if you don;t want them to. I really like the art style and the mood of the game, but i really don't see how it fits the theme of LD33. I can't see the Mammoth as a monster because she was just trying to protect her young ones. The hunters are not monsters either as they are trying to feed their families... A very good entry and a deep philosophical quandry. Reminds me of the game "ImorTall" on Kongregate.
All-around good game. Would've liked a slightly lower difficulty so it'd be more possible to have at least one surviving child, and the controls were a little wonky, but still fun!
Thought it was a thoroughly well-packaged game. The narrative wasn't too heavy-handed, and it evolved well with the gameplay. Was a bit disappointed that the number of children alive at the end had no effect on the ending.
Comments152
The colliders were a bit too big though.
Good concept on design, great storytelling!
The game is a bit slow, but as a Mammoth i guess this fits :)
Good and artsy!
Here're my video reviews: http://youtu.be/AkOdas_qL9A
Your game is at 42:22
Oh my god that was so depressing! I don't think I was the monster here though, I only cared for my progeny. But weren't the Hunters protecting their children too when they were hunting instead of watching their beloved die from hunger?
Is there really anyone to blame, is there any monster or is the world itself the merciless beast? The story of the Mammoth and the Hunters repeated several times in the past and will happen again, perpetuating the neverending suffering... but I can't help to wonder, and I cling to that though as it is my last glitter of hope, is there a way to spare one mammoth child and make the herd anew?
On a more positive note, that was the best entry I came across yet, the art is beautiful and well-thought, and the narration and music add a really nice touch. I really loved the game and its atmosphere, great job!
Art style and animations was great. Well done
The only problem is that I (as the mammoth) am not a monster... the monsters are the bad humans who killed my kids!
Overall, I enjoyed this sad little story quite a bit.
The story as well is very nice too!
Congratulations
One of the top 5 of this jam for sure hehe
The fact that the children respond to the mother's calls made losing them in the end hit so much harder emotionally.
Masterful interactive storytelling!
Loved the narration, the BGM and the graphics.
SFXs and collisions/layering could be improved.
It's an incredibly well made game though, and one of the most polished entries I've seen so far. Great work guys!
Graphics, story and mood are awesome!
The artwork es really good, and the game is unexpected.
Congratulations for your work!! Anthanks, I've had a nice play!
Amazing entry, congrats! :)
But the controlls are really awkward to use on mac which has only one controll key.
I knew people love the old school graphics but this is really old. :D
Absolutely loved the "narration" style you took. The story was catchy and very original on the theme.
Art style & sound "design" worked very well even thought some details could be improved (animations come to mind).
Great entry overall.
I loved the narration and the gameplay.
I'm feeling a little sad about the poor mammoths story :c
Btw the mood is so deep and the video so great that I have to leave 5 stars, Well done!
Movement could do with a bit of work and not sure how accurate those mammoth sounds are ;)
Overall an excellent entry though.
Cheers,
David
Simple gameplay and a deep theme sweet! Cool cool nice naration!
One of the best LD games I've ever seen!
http://ludumdare.com/compo/2015/08/31/so-whos-the-monster-in-the-mammoth-anyway/
Also thanks again all for the kind comments! :)
Good work !
(Oh it reminds me of Shelter~)
If we do a post-jam version we will take the feedback on board and make sure to circumvent the CTRL key issue somehow. ;)
I also hesitate to call the experience fun?
The fun-category doesn't really do justice to this entry, but I enjoyed the experience so I guess it was... fun? Read the "So who's the Monster in The Mammoth anyway?"-post and in my opinion it's either that we are all monsters or that none of us are, it's just a matter of perspective.
A very good entry and a deep philosophical quandry. Reminds me of the game "ImorTall" on Kongregate.