Ludum Dare #45compo

Dreamscaping

by kirbloid

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.19

Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.99

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.30

Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.94

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.35

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.27

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.88

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.50

Emptyhead has realized their dreams are so boring because they're so empty, so in order to have better dreams they'll build one themselves. Push and pull dream orbs together to form dreams and nightmares. Dreams score points but block the way, and use up Emptyhead's energy, while nightmares regain it, too many will also wake them up.

Controls:

Z or controller face-buttons: grab orbs
Arrow keys or directional pad/stick: move Emptyhead
X key or Start button: Quick start
All art, music, and programming done by myself during the game jam. Only outside piece was Kenney's font "Kenney Pixel". I supported them; you should too! https://kenney.itch.io/

Made in Godot 3.1.1

Tools: Godot

Comments28

NachtWitch7 Oct 2019, 00:52

like the concept and the gameplay

William Derksen7 Oct 2019, 01:39

That was a lot of fun! The experience was honestly pretty exhilarating for the simple gameplay. It was very fun to get an understanding of what kind of combinations you could make and what kind of stuff would come out of them. The sprites do a good job of being eerily frightening too! The fact that most of them are smiling but dangerously red put me on edge, and when I finally decided to try putting 4 reds together, I was terrified. Great space management crafting experience haha.

Corrade7 Oct 2019, 07:03

Wow I loved the strangely cute protagonist and the whimsical vibe. I think you did a great job on the aesthetic.

The hitboxes of the dreams were very unwieldy. In particular, there was an instance in which I tried to pick up a dream orb stuck in a dream. Holding onto the dream orb, I too became stuck and had to release it. It'd be nice if this awkward interaction wasn't possible.

As a small note, the noisy white text border/chat bubble effect wasn't great to look at.

Toryf7 Oct 2019, 17:09

Like the art, good gameplay to, great job

shared7 Oct 2019, 17:11

Very good game, it feels very cozy.
It was pretty fun creating nightmares only to dodge them

Dvlv7 Oct 2019, 18:46

Cool take on the theme.

PurpledArtFrog7 Oct 2019, 21:50

Congratulations on a good entry :thumbsup_tone1:

:purple_heart: :dart: :frog:

Rialgar7 Oct 2019, 22:40

Had a really good time playing it. I especially loved how the music changes based on the dreams/nightmares you create. See me playing here: https://youtu.be/eOq1wb0j7d0

~~(argh, used the wrong cover, and now it's cached. Should update to the correct cover any minute)~~ it updated

silkworm_sweatshop8 Oct 2019, 00:36

Really love the trippy visuals, somehow both cute/wholesome and creepy at the same time.

Pandamnesik8 Oct 2019, 17:20

It's really cute, well done ^^

randomnine8 Oct 2019, 17:27

Really strong mood here. I love the dream visuals popping up, and it's cute how they get in the way and build up an obstacle course for dodging nightmares.

Grhyll8 Oct 2019, 17:31

Super nice :) Relaxing at first, and then a bit more tense as several nightmares start chasing you ^^'

The art is great, especially the nightmares, sound is cool too!

jk50008 Oct 2019, 18:04

I like both the music and the graphics. I found the gameplay idea a bit confusing, but it was fun to make dreams and nightmares. Overall a good combo game.

Kirbloidauthor8 Oct 2019, 19:44

It's great hearing the feedback so far, and gives me so many ideas of things I could do to improve this project, and future ones, in how I present the game and the mechanics.

@rialgar Thank you so much for sharing that video. Seeing the process of checking out the game and testing how it worked meant a ton!

Wevel8 Oct 2019, 19:54

Nice game, the music creates a nice atmosphere. I found that sometimes, the orbs didn't combine as I was expecting. But well done on your entry.

Lombax8 Oct 2019, 22:42

realy nice game. i would say this got some potential. gj :dog: :dog:
i like the design on the player character. the only thing i would see more of is when a nightmare is born. a nightmare should be dangerious in my mind, so solving a bad dream it would be a fun addition,

HumphreysMedia9 Oct 2019, 17:25

Wasn't aware that I had to put the orbs together to create dreams and nightmares the first time I played and 'Esc' automatically goes to end screen, maybe it would be nice to have that as an option is 'Esc' was clicked. Visuals were great and the game other all was very aesthetically pleasing, great job! Gives me a less creepy Binding of Issac vibe.

velvetlobster9 Oct 2019, 22:54

one of the most charismatic characters in this ld jam, the choice of colors is nice too and the aesthetic has a lot of the halloween vibe to it, just a bit more fun

zoarfy12 Oct 2019, 01:40

This has some great vibes and mood too it! In general this is a really strong submission! I love the character and art style and I love the central mechanic of combining the orbs to make dreams.

I would love if there was a way to decrease the meters though? Maybe there was but it wasn't obvious if so.

candlesan12 Oct 2019, 23:25

Really clever theme. I like the idea of combining the dreams and nightmares together.

eugsun14 Oct 2019, 01:36

Great music and art combo that turned the game into a mystical little experience. I loved how each nightmare creation gave me a healthy dose of involuntary creeps. Well done!

Just curious, are you a fellow lucid dreamer?

sver22 Oct 2019, 16:24

Very cute game :) Nice idea!

Jonno22 Oct 2019, 17:02

First impressions: I didn't find there much of a game here to be honest other than messing around with the different combinations of dreams and nightmares, but the art is very nice, and the music helps to establish a mood that's both peaceful and unsettling at the same time. I may have totally missed out on something re: the game play, but interested to know if there'll be features added later because it's definitely memorable and unique.