Ludum Dare #35compo

The Long Night

by husky

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.46

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.15

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.92

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.95

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.46

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.64

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.94

Coolness★★★★★★★★★★100%

How to play

The game controlled by mouse left click, there are three bars (X, Y, R) for controlling the items' shapes, once the items matching the shadow on the center of the frame, then the puzzle solved.

Engines, and tools

HaxeFlixel
Aseprite
Music created by the magical https://www.jukedeck.com

Chit chat

I'd like to make more difference to the games of similar ideas, like "Blueprint", but I had no ideas how to improve it more.

So I tried to intense some story or mood elements, I "rolled" the music for hundred times, and I draw more images this time, after about 8 hours for making the game core, I've spend the remaining time on drawing stuff.

This is my first time using jukedeck.com to create music, it's definitely much better than Autotracker, give it a try! you won't regret it.

Well, hope you like this game :).

Genres: puzzle

Comments40

tppr204618 Apr 2016, 09:39

Good game. New way to explain the detective job!

Idkfawin3218 Apr 2016, 09:55

Wow I absolutely love this game mechanic for this theme

Danny Gallagher18 Apr 2016, 10:00

Absolutely fantastic, loved it! really great take on theme and nice mechanic

MrDave18 Apr 2016, 10:02

I’m so pleased I found this game. really nice art style. Some ingame instructions would have been nice (but maybe that would have ruined the look and feel), once I got into it I loved it.

qu218 Apr 2016, 10:24

This isn't really "my genre", but I can tell how much care and attention you put into this game. It's really well done.
I really like the storytelling and the atmosphere. One thing I could suggest though, is that it's difficult to see the shape being manipulated a lot of the time (both in the viewport and against the background).

grayhaze18 Apr 2016, 10:28

This was fantastic! I'd love to see this expanded further.

Really good work, and it's nice to see another dev pushing the boundaries of what's possible with HaxeFlixel. :)

mutonizer18 Apr 2016, 10:30

Interesting detective mechanics and nice little vignettes in between with a relaxing music over it all.
Difficuly varied greatly from item to item but was left strangely engaged and intrigued enough to at least try and solve each, so kudos on that :)

One criticism:
It was a bit too "slippery" at times with the mouse and it went out of one slider bounds onto the other one (ie from X to Y etc).
Maybe a "constraint" to one specific slider as long as mouse button is kept down to prevent this could help.

As a note:
Putting the body in the "purse" at some point was a bit creepy :)

sanojian18 Apr 2016, 12:44

Really interesting mechanic. It works as a detective game and it could also work as a space docking type game maybe?

Marsouin18 Apr 2016, 14:18

Awesome game gg !

yoel123418 Apr 2016, 14:31

the music was nice, i liked the fact i didnt need to Download it to play it.
but i didnt like the gameplay much, moving nobs to fit shapes. maybe its just me. your other games are nice too.

ConorOD18 Apr 2016, 15:33

Wow, I absolutely loved this, just wish it was longer! Loved the art style and the music, and the main mechanic was a really great twist on the theme! Also, top marks for mood!

Elemental Zeal Games Studios18 Apr 2016, 15:33

This was a really cool mechanic! Lagged a little on my machine, though.

KodingNights18 Apr 2016, 15:36

Not bad at all. Original mechanic, albeit a little frustrating at times. :-)

deepnight18 Apr 2016, 18:10

I really like the art on this one, although some pictures were a little hard to understand. Nice game :)

glaze_9618 Apr 2016, 19:38

Really innovative!
The soundtrack really sets the mood.

Overall, pretty nice!

Hope you had a fun LD experience =)

LandoSystems19 Apr 2016, 04:01

Interesting take on the theme. I also had trouble seeing what I was doing when the manipulated image was outside of the bounds. Also the controls seemed really touchy, I would try to adjust a little bit and it would change a lot, I was in the Flash version.

Great job!

retrogradeorbit19 Apr 2016, 08:24

Very atmospheric and enjoyable.

Jimjam19 Apr 2016, 10:15

Really interesting shape-shifting mechanics, especially when it came to the more "layered" shapes which revealed themselves only when I got them matched up properly.
The mood and audio is also fantastic! I'm a little torn about the graphics - on the one hand, your compositions can be a little difficult to make out, but on the other, this fits really well with the idea of confusing/obfuscated shapes, and shifting them to reveal something clearer. Not sure if this was intentional, but it works well I think.
Great entry!

Gamepopper19 Apr 2016, 12:36

Didn't really follow the story, but the puzzle solving was really nice, and the music was quite relaxing.

Huskyauthor19 Apr 2016, 14:12

Thanks for all the feedback!

It's really helpful, I can't notice that I can make some details better without your feedback.

I appreciate it, it means a lot to me :D

Broxxar19 Apr 2016, 16:32

Definitely unlike any other game I've played in LD. Also did he just stuff that bloodied woman into his bag?!

esayitch19 Apr 2016, 18:35

What a wonderful entry this is, the music is very moody and appropriate, visuals are top notch, and the concept and usage of the theme are both great :)

Keyboard controls for the sliders might have been preferred by some as sometimes I found it slightly difficult to get the sliders exactly to where I wanted them xD

Great work, good luck!

fullmontis19 Apr 2016, 18:59

Nice game and interesting puzle mechanics! It is immersive to move around the sliders to find the perfect shape.

arzi19 Apr 2016, 19:28

The art somehow reminds me of the first Alone in the Dark game. Maybe the music too. Nice and pretty innovative game!

LeReveur19 Apr 2016, 22:52

It take me time to understand the point of this, but I manage to finish the game, it's an interesting take of the theme, well done. :)

markusfisch20 Apr 2016, 16:24

Cool idea! And surprisingly hard to beat. Really like the music! Well done!

Yword21 Apr 2016, 14:14

I just finished it! Really unique and interesting, and the music is very good too! Well done!

Adipson21 Apr 2016, 15:40

original ! nice work !

Fabraz22 Apr 2016, 15:03

Visual story is appreciated, music is nicely tranquil and the photoshop slider puzzle mechanic is innovative.

Jupiter_Hadley24 Apr 2016, 15:41

Very unique and well made! I included it in my video compilation series of Ludum Dare games, if you’d like to check them out :) https://youtu.be/Rc53wZClozM

SHLFStudios25 Apr 2016, 02:19

I really like the concept!

Huskyauthor25 Apr 2016, 04:03

Thank you all!

I will rate your games back, and try to make some comments as well, but my English is poor, if I can't describe what I thought clearly, I will let the comment blank, sorry about this.

But I'd definitely rate your games, thanks again!

kabel26 Apr 2016, 12:17

The music is great and the concept is nice, but I am not sure about the art style, I could hardly make out what was where.

vini6028 Apr 2016, 01:28

Great game, fits the theme well. The music is very atmospheric too !

gnerkus28 Apr 2016, 18:12

This is a great concept. I'd like to see you take it further.

My comments:
- The color palette made it difficult to see some shadows.
- The controls (X, Y, R) were a little too sensitive.

A little fine-tuning and you'd make this an excellent game.

Reis Mahnic29 Apr 2016, 05:57

Neat core mechanic, and excellent mood. Really liked the music as well. Liked piecing the story together. Awesome job.

Florent Juch29 Apr 2016, 07:57

Very cool idea ! Love it !

Xanjos3 May 2016, 17:31

I like the concept and the music fits the mood very well but my only gripe is that the slider bars could be distanced a bit further apart as most of the time whenever I moved the Y slider for example all the way to the left/right I would end up moving the X/R slider by accident.