Ludum Dare #44compo

Nine Lives

by j-briggs

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.08

Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.95

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.71

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.32

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.05

Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.92

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.67

Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.88

Nine Lives

Description

Get through the various different rooms whilst spending your nine lives to unlock the door and proceed!

First ever Game Jam, and learnt a few things such as time management. If I had more time, I'd definitely add a lot more variety to the game.

Controls

- WASD - Movement
- Arrows - Shoot

Tools

- Unity 2019.1
- Aseprite
- Bosca Ceoil

Things to work on

- Time Management, even the use of a Gantt chart to ensure I'm on track. Features I wanted added to the game never made it due to time scale.
- Working with art. I've never been a designer, just a programmer. I think I should spend a bit more time practising with art work.

Tools: Aseprite, Bosca Ceoil, Unity

Comments12

Joe Bustamante30 Apr 2019, 02:40

Cool concept, pretty fun base. I think it could definitely be taken up a notch with some sort of an upgrade system or sound effects - something to change it up a bit, but I'm a fan. The needing to give up a certain amount of lives to move on was interesting.

Bakenshake30 Apr 2019, 02:45

This was a clever and simple concept! Love the take on nine lives, honestly. I had one thought, though. It'd make the game harder, but if the white cats could collect hearts too. It'd force the player to really go for them instead of waiting until after they kill all the other cats. Great job, though! :)

scottyseus30 Apr 2019, 02:48

The mechanics, art, and music are all solid, but I wish the gameplay had a little more variety. Either an upgrades/powerup system or more varied enemies.

zmarvel30 Apr 2019, 02:49

I think it fits the theme pretty well! The game is fun to play, and I like that it just keeps going. It would be neat to take this idea and extend it by changing the level tileset and music, or even different types of enemies.

It seems like the levels aren't hand-coded, and I like that they vary in difficulty!

Dan Thompson30 Apr 2019, 02:54

Nice job! I thought it controlled really well. The cat(s) changing colors and the names being shown for each life was a nice touch.

VadimU30 Apr 2019, 02:54

It take me 5 times to understood how to pass next round:) Nevertheless you get into the theme. Hope for better feedback from the game to players when i sacrifice my life, mean it take me one more time to open the door after taking my life. It make me feel like solving a puzzle)

fitret30 Apr 2019, 03:33

Amazing job for your first ever jam. The game is complete and cohesive, and the graphics are decent, which is really a big accomplishment on its own. I found it fun to play, but gave up after a couple minutes since it seemed like you could go infinite (I never got hit by a rat).

klekky30 Apr 2019, 03:56

Might be just me, but I'm confused as to why I lose lives at the end of each round. There doesn't really seem to be any explanation for this. Other than that, it's a cool game with solid mechanics.

johanhelsing30 Apr 2019, 07:41

It was fun for a the first few rooms, but I was annoyed that it neither got harder nor ended or changed.

But cool for a first jam :)

EDIT: The music was also kind of fun. Like the rest of the game, if you flesh it out and add some more variety it could be really cool.

Purrseus30 Apr 2019, 09:41

You created a really good base for a game! Right now, it is really basic and repetitive, but the mechanics per se are sound and you added nice touches for the mood like the names for all the lost ones.

Quite impressive for a first and solo entry!

seriar30 Apr 2019, 22:34

Simple but nice mechanics and really good implementation. 0 frustration and complete understanding that the reasons for loss are my own mistakes.

Having some kind of goal/rewards would be nice to feel more accomplishment as at this only "event" is making a mistake and losing life. Also some story might help to explain why only event is negative.

karmicRetribution30 Apr 2019, 22:58

Cute graphics, appropriate theme, music was a basic loop but didn't get annoying. Would like to see obstacles in the levels, differing AI for enemies, and maybe shrinking down the sprites to give more room to maneuver. Loved the names for the lost lives!

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