[I WARN YOU, THIS GAME IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART... THIS GAME GET'S HARD]
[A note on performance : Make sure you choose an appropriate quality setting before launching the game as it will have a major effect on how the game preforms]
During this game you will get to play as Bob a depressed character who is running out of space in his head, filled up with clutter of his past and fears. He strives to reach the end where he can finally reach his freedom from himself... This was the inspiration of the game, so I wanted it to make it a very dark theme so I hope everyone who plays it, will enjoy themselves.
We hope you can look past these missing points and see what this game could truly become with some time put into it, we hope to : - Add a lot more levels and obstacles - Fix any remaining bugs - Improve the player movement
How to play?
- Use W to jump, A and D to move horizontally and S to shrink to half your size - The mouse is very important in this game as it allows you to interact with the environment which is key to playing this game (it represents him clearing way in his mind and allowing him to pass through his negative thoughts) - Most obstacles has be clicked and held on to suspend their motion which can be very helpful - You can use the mouse to drag platforms around, but be careful there are hidden platforms and if you aren't smart enough to find them, it might just cost you, you're life.
Ajay Venkat - 15 years old, Lead Developer, Scene Management, 3D Art -> Twitter and Website : ] - YouTube : [https://www.youtube.com/user/batchprogrammer108] - >Advanced and Beginner Unity Tutorials!! - Twitter : @CodeWithAjay - Website : [www.codewithajay.com]
I developed this game in ( < 20 hours) w/ : - Unity - Blender - FL Studio - Paint.Net + Photoshop - Visual Studio
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Please Remember :
Please leave feedback on what I can improve with the game Please inform us if you spot any bugs Leave a link to your game and we will check it out :)
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Expected Improvements : - Larger Space to Play In - Larger Item list for the Cards - More enemy types and weapon types - More detailed modelling - More levels and more objective oriented - Use guides etc...
All of these features were restricted due to time constraints :(
Creating this game was so much fun and I would be very grateful if you checked it out :) Have a nice day. If you rate my game I will be sure to leave a rating back, just leave a comment saying you did ;)
I'd recommend using a .zip instead of a .rar as that is not a standard file format. Some people might not be able to play without downloading third party software to get to it.
Easily the best atmosphere of any Ludum Dare game I've played so far! As for bugs, it seems that gravity keeps effecting the players y velocity even when they're on a wall. I look forwards to seeing where this game goes!
Man, I'd love to finish the story but the game is just freakin hard. Especially when you get near the diagonal tunnel. Reminds me of "The Company of Myself"
@serious07 Yeah I'm sorry about that, really I was spending a lot of time working on getting the phsyics right, but in the end I had to make a deliberate decision to go for performance over physics accuracy :\ wasn't too happy about that but hopefully I can write some custom code to detect walls via raycasting later :) Thanks for the comment!
The graphics are extremely polished! I think the platforming is too slidey, and I don't like how the obstacles slam back down when you release the mouse button. But everything else about the platforming is impressive! All and all this is a seriously great game!
I love the art ! It has a nice Limbo like feel :) ! Very hard game... and some collisions seem a little unfair (like the very first block that slams down and kills you without really touching you). But all in all a solid ld entry :) !
@noa-calice Thank you for the feedback and very nice comments, yes I noticed that about the first obstacle, I really never figured out why that was happenening haha :sweat_smile:
@ravenflame You're not the only one, imagine me trying to play the game, actually seeing if it was possible and I swear I spent more time playing my own game than actually making it :laughing:
Love the game, although I think there's a bug that stopped allowing me to use my mouse click...? Not sure what happened there, but I'll play it a bit longer when I get the time. Very pretty and reminds me of limbo, although it would be nice to fix some of the hitboxes as well. Just a lil' word of advice :D
I like the mood the game sets, nice idea. Like someone else said, it reminds me a lot of limbo. Improving (or re-writing) the physics to be more reactive and precise would greatly improve the fun of the game.
Great entry. I always wanted to jump with Space instead of the W button, haha. The postprocessing effects look very cool. I experimented with it a bit as well.
@naemis@psychead@dangogamedev Thank you all for your amazing feedback, hahah yes the phsyics and hitboxes are quite off I will certainly fix these issues once judging is over :) @naemis I'm not quite sure what this bug is? Did is start happening after you held onto an obstacle, because sometimes I think the camera shake effect goes overboard and kills the camera :sweat_smile: -- Thank you all for your comments :)
@missalpha@talia Thank you both for very kind words, @talia I think it would be appropriate to add space for jump, and I also forgot to map the arrow keys - I need to work on adding that. - Thank you for the kind words :)
@Ajay.2002 I'm not quite sure actually haha. It was at the very beginning of the game, I kept dying at the large boulder/spike and once I past after learning how to read, it stopped working once I died at the spikes afterwards... I guess you can say I got stuck between a rock and a hard place. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Nice graphics but its so hard. I spend 20 minutes and passed third obsticle and died instantly. I rage quited :laughing: We really need a checkpoint system.
Very moody, nice stuff. Only criticism would be that for what it does it's way too finicky (i.e. the first spike kills you even though your character is nowhere close to it). Precision platforming requires very precise collision models etc, which makes this a bit of a chore to play! Unfortunate, as it would've been fun to see where it goes!
Could do with a lot of collision changes and overall balancing, but the mood it set was great. A bit too difficult for it to be fun for me but great job! The movement was a bit weird but I slowly got used to it.
Overall good game and has potential if more time was added!
@wolfrug Yes absolutely I agree with you, actually this is the first time I have worked in 2D in unity and the first time I have created a plat former, so the reason of the terrible is collision is I set the mesh collider of the first obstacle to convex, but that you for the feedback :)
@dark-roast-studios Absolutely, the game is actually quite short this is why there are no checkpoints but I will be sure to add onto it in the next version :)
I like the contrast of the music and the gameplay. Good looking game, but get's hard real fast. I find it a bit unfair that you can't see where you are going when you come to a new area and you don't know what awaits you and you can end up dying from a moving object. The first structure that can kill you has not too accurate of a collider. The look and feel are on point, great game
I like the style of the game. music and art fit well together. Sometimes the physics where a little off - I could get stuck in a wall when sliding it too fast or glitched onto a wall without being able to jump back down. With some bugfixes this looks like it has great potential. Well done!
@jackou@raffe@brallex Thank you all for playing the game and the great comments. Physics is a big thing I have to work on but im glad you enjoyed. Good luck with your own games :smiley:
Schools should encourage kids to take days off to make games, end of the day.... when do you actually use half the stuff from school, but ludum dare programming comes round every 3 months!
The Music is great, but whenever, I die, It is looped and becomes repetitive. The movement however, I find a little queer. Although, The graphics were stunning, it really amplified how the main character was feeling. Great work, I wish to see your future entries
Awesome game, however it's hard to conquer the controls. Physics could use some improvements, for example while climbing up the stairs or lifting up that obstacle in lvl 2. Graphics and music are fantastic!
Nice game! It has a vibe very similar to Limbo. Dragging the obstacles could use some work, if you drag up/down too fast you can clip through, and the drag left/right ones should pull you with it instead of having to move the character at the same time.
I love the DA even if it sometime hide the ground shape.
Level design maiby need some love for more fluid run and when you introduce new a mecanic, make sure the player have to use it when you explain it (I did't need to move the platform, so I did't notice the mecanic and I was stuck later)
PS : An "easy" way to point the importance of the mouse could be changing cursor visual
I got an error when I tried to extract the rar, so I didn't rate. May I suggest that you name your download archive/file something specific? Calling it Ludum Dare.rar during the play+rate period is like when I'm hiring and a bunch of different people send me files called "resume.doc."
@liven Thank you very much for the great feedback, the cursor change idea is very nice I will certainly add it once judging is over. @agentparsec Thank you, glad you had fun :thumbsup: @angela-k Thank you very much Angela :)
I got stuck in the walls often when needing to raise the platforms i was standing on, which was a bit frustrating. On the positive side though, I feel like your game is a lock for winning the Mood category. Probably the best LD game I've ever played as far as mood goes. Great job.
Hey the game scores really high for graphics, mood and music for me. I like the effect that everything goes blurry off center (in fact I even want to know how you do it if you dont mind haha), although I don't really get why I can't go backward. The game now is very very difficult, if I werent watching it on a stream, I wouldn't have passed even the first part. So here is some feedback: - First of all, you combined two genres: platformer and atmospheric exploration. These two elements are not well balanced in the game. - Player speed is a bit fast, its hard to make refined movement. - Collision problem: player hover on top of the platforms. - Moving platform should let player stick to that, because controlling both the platform and the player at the same time at the same speed seems like creating extra and unnecessary challenge (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R_AdDK25kQ an useful pointer) - You die when touching anything, that along with the level design make everything very punishing (two bullets flying in almost parallel?) - Tutorial: Im all for interactive tutorial, but the rule of thumb is that you teach player something, then let them practice that in a safe environment without punishing, then you add punishment to make players refine their skills. The tutorial now failed to do this, players practice their skills in a highly punishing environment. - The narrative doesn't really fit the pace of the game. For example, the second spike makes players feel like they are trapped, the next spike going up diagonally kill players instantly, and they perhaps already feel this place wants to crush them, some more the narrative right here rather than waiting for a longer progress could be nice. - The platform after the tunnel doesnt have any indication that player would die touching that. But the problem of what kills you and what not is very difficult in black and white games, I have that problem too have have not yet found a solution. Lemme know if you can find one.
Anyhow, this is not to say that your game is not good, I really like the vibe of it and totally see what it could become. This is such a promising entry, you should really extend it man (but fix the difficult first). Great great work!
A very nice platformer game with a minimalist look like I like them! I think a little more feedback and fewer bugs with the environment could have improved even more the gaming experience even if the gameplay is already working very well! Great job!
@nam-nguyen Wow, that is one of the best and high quality feedback I have seen in a long time, I appreciate that you took the time to write this :)
- To address your first point, I didn't want the player to go backwards because of optimization hahah, in the short time I needed some quick means of optimizing the entire game, because there were a lot of objects and everything working in parallel would kill any computer pretty quick. So I set every checkpoint as a way of de-loading all objects in the back. But you are right, I feel like I could have spent a bit more time on this.
All of your other points are absolutely right, unfortunately I cannot go back and fix this :( But once the judging is over I will fix these points - but this is just another jam game for me.
- On your point about indication of obstacles on black and white games, I was going to add a few black particle effects around the border of the obstacle but I really did not have time at all. I just had time to throw the game together in the last 10 hours of the jam because like many other unlucky individuals, I changed my idea past half way through :face_palm:
- Level design as you can clearly see, is not my strong point hahaha I will need to work on that. Plus I primarily work with 3D, 2D is a very different environment for me to be building in.
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I really appreciate this feedback, thank you very much :)
@ajay-2002 Hey, thats a good start, I was having crunch time near the end too. Its okay, I think you spent much time on the graphics and it worked out! Regarding the black particles on the edge of obstacles, I think that would be a noticeable indication, but would it hurt the performance? Because you have some very large spikes and having particles all around that might be overshooting just for indicating that this is dangerous. I was thinking of making the tip of the spikes a bit white, Idk.. what do you think about white tips?
@nam-nguyen White tips are also a very good idea, but on performance - you don't have to use the particle system, you could pre-make particles into the sprite and make it as an animation as well, would that work?
Instantly reminded me of Limbo, lovely looking entry. I also loved the mechanic of holding/moving objects as the player moves around the world. It adds a level of plate spinning that I did not even think about. Overall I think this is really great. My only complaint would be that the platforming probably doesn't feel as fluid as it could be. I could see more coming from this idea if you expand on it! Great stuff!
Comments73
Also that ending... RIP. 😢
Improving (or re-writing) the physics to be more reactive and precise would greatly improve the fun of the game.
Great job!
Overall good game and has potential if more time was added!
With some bugfixes this looks like it has great potential. Well done!
Nice entry looks great!
I love the DA even if it sometime hide the ground shape.
Level design maiby need some love for more fluid run and when you introduce new a mecanic, make sure the player have to use it when you explain it (I did't need to move the platform, so I did't notice the mecanic and I was stuck later)
PS : An "easy" way to point the importance of the mouse could be changing cursor visual
few bugs when you get stuck in a platform or float in the air.
but i think you should be able to recognize what is interactible with the mouse and what's not.
- First of all, you combined two genres: platformer and atmospheric exploration. These two elements are not well balanced in the game.
- Player speed is a bit fast, its hard to make refined movement.
- Collision problem: player hover on top of the platforms.
- Moving platform should let player stick to that, because controlling both the platform and the player at the same time at the same speed seems like creating extra and unnecessary challenge (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R_AdDK25kQ an useful pointer)
- You die when touching anything, that along with the level design make everything very punishing (two bullets flying in almost parallel?)
- Tutorial: Im all for interactive tutorial, but the rule of thumb is that you teach player something, then let them practice that in a safe environment without punishing, then you add punishment to make players refine their skills. The tutorial now failed to do this, players practice their skills in a highly punishing environment.
- The narrative doesn't really fit the pace of the game. For example, the second spike makes players feel like they are trapped, the next spike going up diagonally kill players instantly, and they perhaps already feel this place wants to crush them, some more the narrative right here rather than waiting for a longer progress could be nice.
- The platform after the tunnel doesnt have any indication that player would die touching that. But the problem of what kills you and what not is very difficult in black and white games, I have that problem too have have not yet found a solution. Lemme know if you can find one.
Anyhow, this is not to say that your game is not good, I really like the vibe of it and totally see what it could become. This is such a promising entry, you should really extend it man (but fix the difficult first). Great great work!
- To address your first point, I didn't want the player to go backwards because of optimization hahah, in the short time I needed some quick means of optimizing the entire game, because there were a lot of objects and everything working in parallel would kill any computer pretty quick. So I set every checkpoint as a way of de-loading all objects in the back. But you are right, I feel like I could have spent a bit more time on this.
All of your other points are absolutely right, unfortunately I cannot go back and fix this :( But once the judging is over I will fix these points - but this is just another jam game for me.
- On your point about indication of obstacles on black and white games, I was going to add a few black particle effects around the border of the obstacle but I really did not have time at all. I just had time to throw the game together in the last 10 hours of the jam because like many other unlucky individuals, I changed my idea past half way through :face_palm:
- Level design as you can clearly see, is not my strong point hahaha I will need to work on that. Plus I primarily work with 3D, 2D is a very different environment for me to be building in.
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I really appreciate this feedback, thank you very much :)
Keep up the good feedback :thumbsup:
P.S
Your game, is amazing