My first Ludum Dare... and inevitably I got the rules a bit wrong. This entry was intended for the compo but I unwittingly included a few royalty-free sound effects so I guess it's going in the jam now!
The Game: You are the elusive Loch Ness Monster, and you must remain elusive by avoiding the tourists trying to take photos of you, but you'll need to surface for air at some point! Each level brings higher numbers of camera-toting tourists that you must avoid.
The Making Of: The game was made in Game Maker Studio. Sound effects came from freesound.org or were created with SFXR, and the music was thrown together in Pro Tools. MSPaint was used for a few graphical things but the vast majority was done in Game Maker.
THE GAME HAS A DUMB RESOLUTION I don't know what I was thinking, but yes, the resolution is 1408 x 768. sorry. I should also mention that it was designed with gamepad control in mind, but it is totally playable with keyboard.
All in all I'm happy with what I managed to achieve solo in under 48 hours. As the game is now destined for the jam I could spend another day polishing it but I think I'd rather leave it as it is. I had a great time and I'm looking forward to the next game jam! Thanks for playing!
Comments48
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armanb2124 Aug 2015, 09:02
Just a tip, when you want to create sound effects, I recommend using BFXR. You can get it at 'bfxr.net!' Good job on the game, though! I really like the art.
I actually had a lot of fun with this one. I will admit, I wasn't really able to get past level 2 (I know, I suck), but I can't really think of anything that I would improve outside of the graphics. Nice job, and I feel you on having to submit a compo game to the jam (it happened to me before).
I like the concept. However, I find the keyboard control a bit difficult, not always responding. The graphics and the music are good, especially if you made everything yourself.
@moon519 I wonder if the seemingly unresponsive controls are actually the mechanic of having a slight pause between each swim stroke so that you can't spam it? if so then it's intentional, but cheers for the feedback
Very Good ! Great use of the theme, very well polished. I think the other good aspects were mentioned in the comments, so I may not need to repeat it :D .
Wow that was hard, I didn't pass the third level. But i enjoyed it. Music, sound effects and graphics work really well together and the idea is cool :)
as for the difficulty; when I was playtesting the game it originally started with just one tourist on level 1, two on level 2 etc, but those first two levels were too easy and boring, so I decided to just jump straight to the more engaging gameplay. if you're having difficulty, I found praying to the gods of RNG and holding my breath in real life really helped :P
Nice, fun game, I liked it, thanks! Things that potentially can be improved: graphics and level design (i.e., it will be good if levels were different, not only increasing number of tourists)
Very well made, loved the smile the Loch Ness has on its face after clearing a level and when tourists are confused when they miss a shot. Audio is also very nice!
The graphics are simple but enjoyable (i think animations contributes à lot to it). The concept is really cool and funny. It's nice picturing myself as this sooo adorable lochness monster. I had a hard time figuring the control. I couldn't understand that i needed to press up and swin at the same time to go up. Maybe some indications in the description ? I would prevent the frustration i had.
Fun idea well executed. Great use of the theme too! I found it quite difficult, would've liked for the tourists to spend a bit more time grabbing their cameras before taking a photo.
This was so fun ahah I could only reach level 5! One thing that bothered me is that the monster got stuck on the walls to the side, they should be smooth!
Well inspired monster game. This is a cute interpretation which doesn't involve blood and guts and that's fun! I actually wanted to make a mini-game using Loch ness but failed to find a concept, yours work well ^^ I only regret that sometimes tourist behavior is a bit unstable and hard to anticipate, other than that, solid entry.
Really fun, and cool idea. Graphics were pretty charming, and the music was both appropriate and well made. The people flipping instantly caught me out a few times though, it's just like eyes appeared on the back of their head or something... Really fantastic tho.
I only made it to level 3 since people catch you so quickly, but I really liked the game! The art was pretty sweet and the music fit the game nicely. I'd maybe make it so that people couldn't see you while they were turning to give players a little more warning though. You can also get caught just as the level ends, which is harmless but pretty funny. Great work, keep it up!
Nice game! The concept is funny and fun to play. It can also get quite hard with the later levels. I thought the controls were good, didn't have any problems.
Hello fellow Nessie-monster maker! Hope you had a fun first Ludum. It took me a while to understand that the arrows only directed her and space made her swim. I found it a bit too hard even on the first level, but that might have been because I tried to stay out of sight entirely. So maybe at least the first level should be easier, or it should be made clearer that it's OK to be seen a little while (if that was the case), just not photoed. Good entry though and quite similar, yet very different from my own take on being Nessie.
We liked the graphics, they were awfully cute. :D BUT, mashing A was a total pain in the ass, you should look into using the joystick for movement, at least underwater. Maybe a dive and surface button so you keep the snappy avoid movements? :D Good entry. :)
After 5 seconds of seeing this I really liked the use of the theme! A monster, yet a monster people like so you could still make a friendly game, clever. Graphics are cool and sound effects as well.
It´s simple, but complete. Maybe a little easier than it should. Congratulations!
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Mike Mezhenin26 Aug 2015, 16:48
Surprisingly fun to play! I loved how the tourists actually come back to the bus after the tour finishes, and the fact that they act surprised when you escape from the shot. Good game!
Fun, challenging and innovative! The visuals are great as well. Good luck with this one!
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blubberquark27 Aug 2015, 15:13
More Nessie games! :) I think a stealth game is a good fit for the theme. Also like the sunken bus. I guess maybe Nessie had something to do with that one...
Nice game! We had the same Loch Ness idea for a while, but we eventually switched to something else. The game is a bit hard at first, I had to get used to the swim controls. It took a while to get through the first level, but then the sound of finishing a level was very satisfying. ;) I noticed that sometimes I also hold my breath IRL. ^^ Well done!
Comments48
It's really interesting idea, really fits the theme!
Though I wish, it would be better to have tourist behavior more predictable.
Great job!
as for the difficulty; when I was playtesting the game it originally started with just one tourist on level 1, two on level 2 etc, but those first two levels were too easy and boring, so I decided to just jump straight to the more engaging gameplay. if you're having difficulty, I found praying to the gods of RNG and holding my breath in real life really helped :P
This feels like a really polished game -- the little touches like the fish make it feel very complete.
The difficulty feels just about right too -- I managed the first few levels, but you have to get very sneaky once you get to 5+ tourists.
The music is pretty rockin' too!
Things that potentially can be improved: graphics and level design (i.e., it will be good if levels were different, not only increasing number of tourists)
Thx for the game.
I think a stealth game is a good fit for the theme. Also like the sunken bus. I guess maybe Nessie had something to do with that one...