Ludum Dare #49compo

Theory

by agentparsec

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.96

Fun★★★★★★★★★★4.02

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.83

Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.11

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.52

Audio★★★★★★★★★★4.19

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.96

Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.08

Story

You are Erwin, a cat that has been captured by a race of alien robots, the Drexl'erin. After weeks of experimentation on you, you've developed the ability to shift between a living and dead state, but only when not being observed. You must use this power to escape your captors.

Features

- Puzzle/action gameplay with a stealth element
- 5 levels
- Dynamic music
- Intro/outro cutscenes

Tools used

- Unity 2021.1.23f1 (programming)
- Aseprite v1.2.29 (pixel art)
- GIMP 2.10.20 (other art)
- Reaper v5.983 (music)
- GoldWave v6.41 (sound effects)

Notes

- The last level is a pretty big spike in difficulty from the level before it. It is beatable though.
- There is a potential soft lock on the final level that can occur if you shift to normal form while still intersecting with one of the grates (in fact, it’s the one in the screenshot up top, the one to the left of the player). I didn’t realize it was possible to soft lock at all, so I never added a level restart option. Therefore, if it happens you have to exit and start over from the beginning. Sorry about that.

Tags: #2d, #pixel art, #stealth, #unity

Genres: action, puzzle

Tools: Aseprite, GIMP, GoldWave, Reaper, Unity

Comments23

3amsoda3 Oct 2021, 23:51

Fun game, wasn't able to make it past the final level though. Still I appreciate how much went into the games presentation with the opening intro cutscene and story. Also I thought the music was really good! My only issue is that I wish there was a better way of telling how much time in the dead form you have left.

Mathiouza4 Oct 2021, 00:09

I really was in the mood! The game is really great and the puzzles are interesting! Well, it's not puzzles, but you know what I mean x) The game is graphically correct and the cutscenes are really well done. Musics are so good too!

:clap: :clap:

z0rly4 Oct 2021, 00:17

Wow, this is really good! The music too. Great backstory as well to motivate the game.

LDJam user 2379134 Oct 2021, 00:22

Brilliant execution of this mechanic. I really liked flipping back and forth. The Watchers as a "passive enemy" was awesome. They can't hurt you, but they stop you still. Well done on this one! :clap:

Cynthia Clementine4 Oct 2021, 00:40

Very cool mechanics, and the sound design is very good! Having the game start with an unskippable opening crawl is a bit offputting though. I would have liked a click-to-skip feature, since I finished reading the text faster than the scene progressed.

khaotom4 Oct 2021, 00:46

Nice job on the presentation. The game played very well too!

fakefirefly4 Oct 2021, 03:25

I really liked the instrumentation as well as the cutscenes; they were really well done. The final level was also pretty good with complicated guard pathing.

The use of the theme was cool too, with your unstable state being inaccessible while being observed, which seems to be a nod towards quantum mechanics.

I wish there was the ability to reset the level, since it is possible to soft-lock in a few places. The ability to shift the camera around would also be nice to get a better view on guard pathing.

theviraldragon4 Oct 2021, 07:44

Great job. Figured the key is to wait after every shift back from ghost. Nice environmental music

silkworm_sweatshop4 Oct 2021, 13:28

Nice little stealth game, I like the dynamic music effect you have going which both adds to the mood and gives some feedback.

Kit Gorn5 Oct 2021, 03:07

I liked the game very much. Dialogues, riddles, music, atmosphere are all on top.

3mpty5 Oct 2021, 06:26

Really awesome execution on a novel game design concept, really polished levels and a lot of fun. My biggest complaints would be an excessively slow cooldown on the protagonists ability and a camera that's slightly restrictive, but those pale in comparison to the really awesome game mechanic coupled with a really polished shell. I love that there's cinematics to really sell the mood and set up the premise better than any tutorial ever could. Awesome compo submission!

Brainloaf Studio6 Oct 2021, 08:02

Really nice game! I liked the audio cues both on being captured and becoming 'unstable' in ghost form. The opening cutscene and art in general was nice too! Cool usage of stealth mechanics - overall great work!

shores6 Oct 2021, 08:32

I never expected to play a game that uses 'the observer effect' as a game mechanic, how cool! Also nice story and art, very cute character! Fun gameplay! I would've liked to have checkpoints in the level. Overall, solid game! Great job!

as you like 1016 Oct 2021, 17:13

such fun game !! good job !!

nshbae7 Oct 2021, 04:32

Love your mechanism of 'destabilizing' cat. How about adding slider of stabilization?

Simpathey7 Oct 2021, 04:32

Such a fun game! I really liked the mechanic. Maybe add an indicator for enemies and destabilization time in a post jam version.

Ghostbit7 Oct 2021, 05:04

fantastic game! great power, love me some stealth games

lucasvb8 Oct 2021, 18:36

Brilliant game! Very compelling gameplay, and cramming some lore into LD games is always a plus in my book!

My highest praise goes to the music and sound design. The way you dynamically incorporated the violins when spotted, and the "ethereal" sound when you enter the dead state is badass as hell, it sounds and works amazingly well! It helps the music is pretty good too.

Another technical praise I can give is the particle effects. The little details like when you destabilize and the sparks fly randomly, the force fields, or the stars "charging" your power, all of it works beautifully.

An utterly excellent entry for Ludum Dare. You should be proud!

RookRules11 Oct 2021, 20:58

YO! Schrodinger..... CAT!

RIBOUT Horace13 Oct 2021, 21:09

It was unexpectedly polish ! The little detail like the music when you turn to a ghost and the effect when you're near the end of ghost mode is some really good idea ! It feel good and the level are big but don't loose yourself with clear area (maybe sometime, not seeing the element out of screen, but us able to see the player, can be hard but it's not that harsh and it's a game jam game, I already ask a lot)

It's a complete game and feel really masterize ! Congrat!

atmospherium14 Oct 2021, 16:26

Great work, especially on the music and overall mood. Building the tension while you're captured or losing stability was a great effect. Your use of particles against pixel graphics looked really cool as well. I hit that softlock you mentioned, but other than that issue everything felt challenging but fair. Great work!

zimny1115 Oct 2021, 17:31

Cool mix of puzzle and adventure game! Nice job. I really like the in-game mechanics, and the music is pleasant to the ear too. Yay, for Schrödinger's cat!