Alone in the night

by rakowu
Overall★★★★★★★★★★2.72
Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.38
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.86
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.32
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.79
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.04
Humor★★★★★★★★★★1.91
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.29

Play Game!


aloneInTheNight.jpg
My game! :)

You're a young boy in the night. Escape from shadow dogs and defend yourself with light. Craft lightboxes for a longer survival.

##Link:

Browser: https://rakowu.itch.io/alone-in-the-night (Tested with Chrome)

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GameRakowu

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-71730301

Scirra: https://www.scirra.com/arcade/shooting-games/alone-in-the-night-20361

Edit: Hi guys, thanks a lot for your feedback!
I'll start working on the issues which got addressed, if you have further feedback, please let me know.

ToDo's:
- Enemies healthbar for feedback.
- Better UI including settings like pause, mute and reset
- ~~Adjust the controls for smoother gameplay~~
- ~~Quick shortcuts for items~~
- ~~Better colision detection (not being able to leave the stage)~~
- ~~Increase Hamster spawn rate~~
- ~~Increase damage with the flashlight~~
- More items, like a box for recharging
- Adjust the level design, with more decals and maybe maps

Features which might get added later on:
- ~~Adjusting Hamster spawn positions~~
- A lot more content
- Highscoring
- Story and lore

Comments25

Colestia31 Jul 2017, 11:38
Like the music! It gives off a Lavender Town type vibe. Would be good to add something to stop the player character going off screen :)
Bewelge31 Jul 2017, 11:43
The player should be stopped from leaving the scene.. I love the mood/effect of the music and art, but I wish everything was larger, I could barely read the font. Very nice work though!
Cynical Monkey31 Jul 2017, 11:45
i scored you the highest for mood as the game felt creepy

i think the controls need some tweeking its every easy to spin around in circles the way it follows the mouse, especially as the shadows don't let you keep still and you have to click on a box to build the lihtbox, had a couple of times where I went from no damage to dead in the space of being able to build a lightbox and building it as torch did very little to teh shadows.

the rng also caught me out maybe have it so the chance of something appearing increases the more something else is selected. like imagine you have a bag and you put in a battery, wheel, hamster and bulb and then pull one out. the next time rather than doing it all a fresh the undrawn items stay in the bag and you go from having a 1/4 chance to 2/7,3/10, 4/13, 5/16 etc ( i had a game where i collected 6 wheels and never saw a hamster.
Aterlamia
Aterlamia31 Jul 2017, 11:51
Controls feel a bit wonky when you get to close to the mouse pointer you do a kind of loop what slows you down. And it might be better to add a hotkey for the lightbox as moving your mouse to the icon will change your directory (in my case to the shadow hounds). But a very good idea and the dark, folowing hounds and music gave it a creepy mood.
🎤								Rakowu
🎤 Rakowuauthor31 Jul 2017, 12:03
I appreciate all your feedback. i'll improve the game and Keep in mind your tipps. :)
Virtual Turtle Studio
Virtual Turtle Studio31 Jul 2017, 16:06
I really liked the look and feel of this game, although it's still pretty empty (which I totally understand because it was made for this jam). The drawings (I assume they're drawings) are really great. I would love to see more of this style throughout the game's environment. As some others already pointed out, the 'hold w to walk towards the mousepointer' controls can be a bit weird to get used to, but isn't too big of a deal. One more thing: is it just me or are hamsters really rare? I was sometimes walking around for a few minutes without finding any. They would also escape super easily and be gone forever, leaving me with no way to defend myself. Anyway, nice job! Good luck and have fun working on this in the future :)
🎤								Rakowu
🎤 Rakowuauthor31 Jul 2017, 16:22
Yes i configured that Hamster spawn in rare intervals(30,60,90,120) :D I should reduce it. Also i want to create something like a "bed room". The main idea was a child who is scared in the night while monster come out from under the bed etc. And when you focus i'll turn into a tree or cloth. I'll keep working on it :D

Sorry for my english :'D
Luis Garcia31 Jul 2017, 16:29
Nice work, I especially liked how the music, the graphics, and the theme fit together.

As others have pointed out, the controls could use some improvement, and the game would benefit from having more content.

Anyway, good job. :grin:
LiquidBrain
LiquidBrain31 Jul 2017, 18:41
Ye boy! I got a score of 21 in my first game, I don't know if it's good

but I'll keep playing until I beat my score.

Concerning the graphics, it works very well together and is good looking!

It fits well together with the music, completing the mood.

If I have to complain about something it would be about the player being able

to walk of the screen, it was kind of annoying.

Overall this is something I found very enjoyable because

of the aesthetics and the mood.

Thank you so much for this experience and good luck in the future!

Have an awesome day, and I hope to see you in the next jam!

// Isak (one half of LiquidBrain)
AdroitConceptions31 Jul 2017, 19:42
music matches the theme.

it was unclear why you needed your flashlight? does it hurt the creatures chasing you like the lamp does?

Needs some bounding/clipping boxes to keep you from ending up way off the screen.
🎤								Rakowu
🎤 Rakowuauthor31 Jul 2017, 21:41
Yep flashlight hurt the Monsters:)
drtizzle
drtizzle31 Jul 2017, 23:15
Very atmospheric! Really like the music in combination with the visuals. The controls are a bit wonky, because you have to use the mouse to control the player AND to click a UI element. But everything has been said about that in the comments above.

I would suggest to use a control-scheme like Hotline Miami. The player looks at the mouse, but you control him with WASD, and you can bind an action (like placing a lamp) with your keyboard.

Overall well done :slight_smile:!!
Kingethaniel1 Aug 2017, 04:50
Nice work! I quite liked the music, and I thought the visuals did an admirable job of conveying the game's tone. The controls were a bit awkward at first, but eventually I got the hang of it. Good job!
acoto87
acoto871 Aug 2017, 05:03
The mechanics to move the character a little difficult for me, always find out pointing towards the wolfs. Also couldn't find many hamsters to place more than a couple of lamps. That's just me, I'm a crappy player ;)

Well done with the game!
Xsior1 Aug 2017, 13:06
Controls are really hard to get used to and hammster are tricky bastards ;). Besides that game was fun even if difficult.
zedutchgandalf
zedutchgandalf2 Aug 2017, 08:46
The controls are pretty hard to get used to. But once you do, it's a lot of fun and can be pretty tense at times. I maybe would've liked for the monsters to die a bit quicker to the light since it's already difficult to hit them. But overall, this is a solid entry :smiley:
🎤								Rakowu
🎤 Rakowuauthor2 Aug 2017, 08:52
Thanks:) And yes it is One point in my list to optimize.
Johngun2 Aug 2017, 09:36
The music fitted the atmosphere well, but I had a hard time getting used to the controls and since the monsters a pretty hard to kill, it makes the game pretty difficult.

Since you are addressing these issues I will come back later and play this again :slight_smile:
🎤								Rakowu
🎤 Rakowuauthor2 Aug 2017, 09:54
hey thanks for you feedback. i'll make these changes once ludumdare is finished to keep it fair for other game creators. But you can follow my progress in twitter. also i'll post information once it is finished.
Reggnos
Reggnos2 Aug 2017, 10:47
Fun concept, i just think it would be better if you could place more lamps on the map, because this way it just feels useless to make more, or maybe have a mechanic where the placed light slowly dies off so you have to hurry and make a new one. The music is very nice and i like how the movement is unconventional.
Brandon Diaz
Brandon Diaz2 Aug 2017, 15:44
Interesting, I liked the light mechanics. I think it would help if enemies also had health bars, I didn't have a concept for how much damage I was actually doing relative to their HP pool. I also think that when you take damage, it should be a number as well to keep it consistent.

Good job overall, best hamster wrangling game I've seen in a long time.
🎤								Rakowu
🎤 Rakowuauthor2 Aug 2017, 15:59
Thank you :). yes the healthbar is a good point. i started to work on it but ran out of time. I almost forgot it. thanks for reminding me it :D. I'll add it to my list
ToadieTechnika
ToadieTechnika9 Aug 2017, 22:07
The enemies take a lot of effort to kill. The mechanics are alright, glad I got the hang of it at the second game. The controls and graphics are inconsistent, they don't blend well. I would mention that the controls are more on a racing game than a top-down shooter. Still has fun factor :)

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