u died
This game is from ldjam.com, which is currently unavailable.
You can try viewing the original page on Web Archive (may not load correctly).
You can try viewing the original page on Web Archive (may not load correctly).
Read the devlog here
u died is a conceptual genre-mixing game which aims to 'keep alive' two genres close to my heart which don't have much representation these days - text-based adventure games and pure platformers. I hoped to encapsulate the energy of the very first days of game development and really make the player feel like they had stumbled on something ancient. The game you see here is a minimal, immersion-focused, text adventure and the combat system, one of the few things I always find lacking in this genre, is very simplistically replaced with platformer levels - you fail in the level: you lose health. You beat the level: you beat the enemy. These levels are stripped-back, removing all gimmicks and focusing on the core component of moving through a level which is out to get you not through whats in it, but by its layout itself!
Play (kind of) as yourself, someone venturing into long-forgotten games and finding something new! Interact with the game world and talk to your new friend
A picture here
In terms of fitting the theme, I'm mostly looking at it from an abstract position: the act of making the game is "keeping it alive". However, much of the game is focused on protecting someone else whilst you have little option to do anything else, and the questions that raises (at least I hope this is communicated properly). The minimal storyline I do have right now does conclude with something that takes the theme a little further but I'll leave that as a surprise ;)
I'd love in the future to see more interactivity, more dialogue, more rooms, more platformer levels, more objects and most importantly properly flesh out characters and important game events.
The only asset I didn't make myself was the amazing font. Credit to sensi.org for this.
WARNING: the intention is for this to be dark, and without giving too much away, some of the descriptions can me quite graphic so please do make sure to keep this in mind.
u died is a conceptual genre-mixing game which aims to 'keep alive' two genres close to my heart which don't have much representation these days - text-based adventure games and pure platformers. I hoped to encapsulate the energy of the very first days of game development and really make the player feel like they had stumbled on something ancient. The game you see here is a minimal, immersion-focused, text adventure and the combat system, one of the few things I always find lacking in this genre, is very simplistically replaced with platformer levels - you fail in the level: you lose health. You beat the level: you beat the enemy. These levels are stripped-back, removing all gimmicks and focusing on the core component of moving through a level which is out to get you not through whats in it, but by its layout itself!
Play (kind of) as yourself, someone venturing into long-forgotten games and finding something new! Interact with the game world and talk to your new friend
A picture here
In terms of fitting the theme, I'm mostly looking at it from an abstract position: the act of making the game is "keeping it alive". However, much of the game is focused on protecting someone else whilst you have little option to do anything else, and the questions that raises (at least I hope this is communicated properly). The minimal storyline I do have right now does conclude with something that takes the theme a little further but I'll leave that as a surprise ;)
I'd love in the future to see more interactivity, more dialogue, more rooms, more platformer levels, more objects and most importantly properly flesh out characters and important game events.
The only asset I didn't make myself was the amazing font. Credit to sensi.org for this.
WARNING: the intention is for this to be dark, and without giving too much away, some of the descriptions can me quite graphic so please do make sure to keep this in mind.