Ludum Dare #46compo

Shape of Light

by moebiusmeow

Overall★★★★★★★★★★4.29

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.65

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★4.04

Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.46

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.67

Audio★★★★★★★★★★4.40

Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.44

-- There are times when one can help anyone but him/herself. --

The Flame Of Light brings others light, yet it is fragile to darkness.

The best way to keep your flame alive, is to give out your light.

> The light that provided by other light sources keeps your flame alive

> The light that provided by your flame lights up other flames

> May the light be with you

-- About The Game --

2D platformer with lightning system (The light can be blocked and shaped by obstacles)

~~(I made such an effort to implement it with code =w=)~~

The goal is to reach your destination, with your flame still burning (the life of your flame is displayed on the bottom of the screen). To pass the levels, small plans of when and where to go are needed.

I didn't make the levels quiet hard. And the puzzles are not that serious (might be better if the time wasn't limited to 48 hrs). That means, if you play platformer really well you might finish the level just before the flame dies out without thinking about the strategy.

It would be better if there was more time. At least this game is able to show that the combination of lightning system and keeping alive can make action game more "puzzle" and puzzle game more "action".

Btw I made sooooooo many versions of background music to fit the atmosphere. At last I decided to use simple chords loops and make all the sound effects with sounds of instrument rather than record more realistic ones. Well the result is quiet interesting XD

Genres: platformer

Comments22

bereg19 Apr 2020, 20:50

I really like the concept and the minimalistic artstyle. Very clever executed levels.

Kinshuk_thebest20 Apr 2020, 05:26

Love it! Great artstyle, Great audio, Really Fun!

Begocio20 Apr 2020, 05:26

The graphics, music and sounds created a really great atmosphere.

I found it really hard to finish the last level, haha.

Somehow this reminded me of GRIS. I would definetely buy a complete version of the game :)

DarriasArt20 Apr 2020, 05:34

The sound design is top notch

Retti0120 Apr 2020, 08:50

Love it all. Littlebit hard at some points.

Nicolas Diniz20 Apr 2020, 08:55

At first I didn't like the graphics, but after playing it,I don't know why, I find them gorgeous ! Great Work !

Bakob20 Apr 2020, 08:58

The game looks, sounds and feels amazing. As you mentioned in your description the levels could be a bit harder, but it is already way better than anything you could expect from a 48h gamejam. Thanks a lot for sharing this game

Aik20 Apr 2020, 09:00

I didn't get very far because the flash version has serious performance issues, but it looks very cool.

Yoshinow20 Apr 2020, 09:45

Really cool！~

Malai20 Apr 2020, 11:40

Very well done, the main mechanic has potential :D Very well polished, but on my mac small window with different punctuations of 'a' continuously popped, i personally blame flash for this :D

KirKami20 Apr 2020, 11:57

Sound and visual is awesome. But it's quite hard to plan movements because of camera.

MoebiusMeowauthor20 Apr 2020, 12:59

@aik
Indeed it is a serious problem. I used Flash for quick develop, which goes well with the 48-hour limit. I implemented The lightning system with script so the GPU can't help. I have already done some optimizations for it, such as reducing the resolution of shadows. At last the game can run at a frame rate of 60 most of time on my laptop (yet it can drop down when camera is moving quickly).

MoebiusMeowauthor20 Apr 2020, 13:13

@kirkami Actually, there are invisible triggers in each level that zooms out and allow players to see most of the whole level. It is a balance between forcing player to discover every corner of the level and lighting up the whole map at first replacing the lightning system with circle saying "stay in range".

It is my first attempt to control camera like this after all. It might be no that player-friendly. I'm sorry for that.

KirKami20 Apr 2020, 13:16

@moebiusmeow yeah. I noticed. But with this pillar of light it was really hard to plan moves because of fluctuating FPS/game speed

BloodpulpGames20 Apr 2020, 14:27

great audio and mood, best part about this game

GoblinQueen20 Apr 2020, 14:57

The mood and pacing were great. Hit a bug where the respawn pedestal was out of light, and I kept dying. But reloaded and played further. I like the presentation and the idea. Would definitely play a finished version, great overall!

exewin20 Apr 2020, 15:24

Great entry, I predict especially high rating on mood and graphics here.

Westmave20 Apr 2020, 16:01

Amazing Jam-Game. I really enjoyed the Game till finishing the Final Trial. The Gravestone with just "R.I.P" on it, let me even give Points in the Humor-Category. Really liked the Tone and Mood. Great Music and Great Visuals as well.

MoebiusMeowauthor20 Apr 2020, 16:14

@goblinqueen Actually you can always press “W” to switch between on and off of the lantern. It is related to some mechanic that I didn’t implement in the game because of time. And the respawn pedestal is just an ordinary pedestal. The mechanic of respawn is simply reset your light to 70%, and there is a pedestal in its range, then it is lit up. So if you turn off the light the respawn pedestal won’t be lit up automatically.

Dreamer21 Apr 2020, 04:13

The game is great. Whether it ’s the combination of music and game or the game ’s gameplay mechanism, they all have an artistic style. The gameplay is a bit similar to a level in Ori. It ’s all black and it ’s dead. Learn like you

Dreamer21 Apr 2020, 04:17

To be honest, I really like the last part, like a lonely person looking for light, with comfortable music, respect, I give full marks

Horbee21 Apr 2020, 08:43

I liked the lighting effects and the overall mood of the game. The descriptions and the presentings are really artistic! Really good job! :)