matthias_zarzecki 2013-08-26 03:48
Solid adventurer! I like the dark/light switch :)
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD27 → Lost in the Darkness
By tobiasw
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coolness | 1 | 100 | ||
| Innovation | 100 | 3.75 | ||
| Theme | 141 | 3.68 | ||
| Audio | 161 | 3.27 | ||
| Mood | 166 | 3.35 | ||
| Overall | 271 | 3.37 | ||
| Fun | 383 | 3.13 | ||
| Humor | 582 | 2.19 | ||
| Graphics | 778 | 2.54 |
Solid adventurer! I like the dark/light switch :)
Nice game! I like the difficulty of the game
It's cool! I finished it. Good effort with the sound effects, and it's challenging. I would have made this even more abstract, without magic/fairies, just shapes and colors.
Really love this concept actually! Very fun and quite different. The audible concept is very interesting too. I also like the details you put in game over, when the player avatar becomes a creature of the night ;) I did get to complete the game :)
Good Game Well done love that the idea behind it
I loved your game! The idea i genuenly original and fun and the execution is on the high level.
Pretty innovative but repetitive(:
Did you make a random map generator or something like this? (If yes, what was your technique?)
Really good idea! I like how you are "zombified" after death :D.
I loved this game. One of my favorites so far. The music is astounding! Only downfall for me was that I had to read your description instead of the game introducing me to some of the mechanics. Loved it nonetheless!
I loved this game. One of my favorites so far. The music is astounding! Only downfall for me was that I had to read your description instead of the game introducing me to some of the mechanics. Loved it nonetheless!
Do you have Twitter or something?
Very solid bit of game design.
Nice idea! Quite simple gameplay. Solid experience.
5/5. I really liked this one :)
My friends! I cannot get to my friend. Damn red-eyed demons ;)
Cute and fun game.
No idea how I am supposed to know where a fairy is. Cool effects both visual and audio wise. You could push the mood even further I think. Nice work!
Loved the game. I think the whole idea is great!
Very neat concept; I liked the dark/light switching and overall idea. Great job!
Very magical :)
I used the 360 gamepad with Win7-64b.
I like the flocking using those easings
This one remind me to some masterpiece games, like Eternal Darkness or Ico.. Games about light and shadow.
One good thing: the 10 sec. changing concept.
One bad: it looks like has no end:
My score in light balls:
[IMG]http://i39.tinypic.com/2a0hpqf.jpg[/IMG]
The music mechanic was epic. The difficulty isn't too harsh, and the flow of gameplay is smooth as butter. VERY nice entry!
good job
The Light/Shadow mechanic is really interessing, and the audio really helps to set the mood. Great game. :)
Some really clever stuff going on with the mechanics here, I enjoyed that a lot. A great game that deserves to do well.
The 'Game Over' text gives me the chills... aaah! I couldn't find any of my friends :( Found 2 fairies on two gameplays. What do the look like? Liked your game ^^
Thanks for all the comments! I appreciate it :D
@Bekokstover:
Thanks! And: Really? It might be just me, but I think the eyes and the little plot there is (which needs the fairies and magic) give it a bit of charm that I'd miss otherwise. Abstract it would've been too dry for me.
@Zelun:
Thanks! And yeah, it's a bit repetitive, but well, also pretty short. I had other enemies planned that would've come in later, but then I ran out of time.
The map generator is mostly just:
- If a tile is visible, create all neighboring tiles if they aren't already there.
- With a certain chance it's a white tile.
- Every set of 80 light tiles contains exactly one fairy.
- Every created dark tile contains 1 (or later 2) Scurries (the black critters)
- One of dark tiles in the outer rim of the starting tiles contains one of your friends.
- As soon as your friend is found, a new one is created on the current outer rim within a certain maximal distance.
I might write more about it in a post-mortem, but that's it in essence.
@Bjeaurn:
Thanks a lot! Which mechanics did you need the description for? I tried to put most of it in the starting screen and thought that the remainder might just as well be explored - so I'm interested in what I've missed there!
I don't have a twitter, no; I use Facebook for communication. I have a blog/YouTube for new games though!
- http://blog.dragonlab.de
- https://www.youtube.com/user/TobiasWehrum
@Brassawiking:
Thanks for the praise! And sorry - the fairies said they were too shy for me to implement any searching mechanism. They said they wanted to be found via exploration. If you keep walking in one direction, you are sure to find one though; there are enough for everyone.
@juaxix:
There's isn't any flocking actually: They just like the tile they are currently on, and switch position every 1.5 to 2 seconds. And if they find out they are on a light tile, they search the nearest dark one. It does LOOK like flocking though, and I'm glad you like it :)
@senseidav:
Thanks! It DOES have an end though - remember, you're here to find your friends, not just collect fairies. Find a fairy and lead it to the place where the music is the loudest. Look out for somebody who looks like you when you're game over - and touch him. Congratulations, then you've saved your first of three friends!
@TammiLion:
Well - your friends went game over before you, so that's how they look like! The music gets louder the nearer you get to one. (And I'm glad the Game Over text has the intended effect, haha. It even gives ME the chills :D)
Awesome game! I really liked it, even though it was a bit too hard for me - I didn't manage to save even one friend! I guess I suck at "hot/cold" games :-(
But I really like your choice of music and sound effects: the little guys are terribly creepy! And the bad ending is great :-)
Thanks for the game, and I hope you enjoy my video review:
http://youtu.be/161iPzyL1EU
Caranha! You're video review is AWESOME, and I didn't "enjoy" it, I LOVE it! This is a really cool way to review a game and it was immensely satisfying to watch. Thanks a lot!
For the music, I used http://abundant-music.com by the way - the same generator I suggested to you in my comment.
I am really unsure about how to make the direction clearer without giving it away. It's still about searching, and I wanted the player to "feel" that he's getting nearer to a friend - I thought music would be the best medium for it. I'm sorry that it didn't work out for you! Do you have an idea how I could do it?
What you might want to try though: Walk only in one axis. Walk left, see if it's getting louder or quieter. If it's louder, continue for a bit, otherwise turn around. Then do the same with up and down. Once you've got a the general direction, start walking there. Repeat as necessary.
Wow, that gameover is really mystique and melancholic, I love it! Awesome mechanic with the light and dark switch. I like how the shadows spew out of you as you enter the light regions. The music is great too!
I'm having a hard time following the musical cue when finding friends. Finding the fairies with the knocking sound is fine though.
This is quite an amazing game! Really enjoyed it.
Wow, what an atmospheric game, even though the graphics are quite simple, the creatures in the darkness feel genuinely creepy. Really love the music. One of the best entries I've played this LD.
Cool concept, but I found the character way too slow...
Hey Tobias, thanks for the comment on LEGACY! It means alot. Yeah I am going to make progression and things a little clearer in the full version, after seeing all the feedback I reckon It might be nice to make a proper version. :) I really liked lost in the darkness, gave it 5/5, nice original idea. :)
I like how you join the darkness when you lose :)
At first I thought I just had to collect the fairies, but once I got the hang of it this was really enjoyable - great game :)
Brilliant concept. I love the bug like scurrying of the demon eyed soot monsters.
Very neat little game. Nice use of the theme, good work!
Found about 6 fairies but couldn't find any friends ;_; I guess I'm really bad at hot & cold.
Unique idea. Nice use of music as well. Simple, but very enjoyable.
Awesome game, excellent use of the theme!
I like the atmosphere the game creates and it's fun to play! Music and sound effects are great and the simple graphics are nice too. After a few tries I managed to help 2 friends and the third one was in reach. I noticed, that the font was different right after loading the game, it changed after I died the first time.
Cute and very good mechanic (that goes very well with the theme).
Awesome idea! Your interpretation of the theme and your unique swapping light/dark mechanic is really refreshing. The audio is well done, too. I just wish the visuals were on par with the rest of the game. Would like to see a more graphically advanced post-compo version! Great work!
Really nice, with some more updated graphics and some more sound effects it could become pretty damn awesome. The concept was great although the enemies did make things difficult by crossing their own boundaries sometimes. Overall though good job.
Really enjoyed this! Cool idea and the difficulty was well balanced.
Good game, the main problem I have is that sometimes it's not quite clear when the game considers me to be in a 'dark' area. The only times I died was when I was near an edge, waiting for the lights to flip when I suddenly died because appearantly I was standing on the darkness without realizing it.
I like the idea and audio, could be expanded to something really cool as it's really short now.
Great job on the auto-generated world. Game difficulty would be a nice feature to implement to have more challenge (think the game is a bit easy).
Some ambiant sounds (or very discret music) would benefit to the game in my opinion.
Great job.
I loved the idea! The alternating map was very cool. I caught my self strategizing my movements. :D Awesome use of sound too! Great entry!
Nice game and loved the music!
I remember seeing a progress post for this sometime during the compo. It's very nice!
Art wise, I think it would be more ominous looking if the eyes were just eyes, and would simply blink back into being in the darkness instead of running away in the light and looking small and helpless.
Solid. Loved the music, mechanics, and concept.
At first I was kind of confused as to what my friends were, so I was just wandering away trying to find the source of the music.. haha! The light/dark switch thing every 10 seconds is amazing and the slowdown effect while being touched by the critters is very annoying (which is the point I think, so it's a good thing (not for my completionist nervs, though)!).
Amazing game! =D
I really like your take on the theme. I was a bit confused for a while about what my friends were. I found all 3 fairies, then ended up wandering around for 5 minutes. Good job though.
Quite nice! It took me a bit to realize the friend I was looking for was in the dark.
Sweet gameplay I love it :)
Pretty well done. I liked the light/dark switching going on.
Great idea! The simple visuals work well to create a mood (I especially loved the little eyes peering at you from the darkness) and the hot/cold audio mechanic is excellent. Everything in this game just meshes together really nicely to create a very satisfying experience. Good work!
I wanted to play this game since I saw the gifs in your progress updates, and it really didn't disappoint. The hot/cold mechanic with the music was a nice touch. And I like how you can only see the red eyes of the critters in the darkness.
Very nice game. I really love the music in it.
Nice mechanic, there is pressure but opportunity to plan ahead at the same time.
Pretty awesome adventurer you've got here. Quite unique mechanic, and executed very well. Was very pleasing, both visually and audibly. Good work!
The use of the music as a gameplay element is just excellent.
I really like the little runes circling around when the fairies save the friends.
Good job! excellent use of the theme.
Great game and concept! Loved the creepy little creatures, and the light/dark switch effect. The mechanics are solid and make for an interesting gameplay! I sometimes died with half of my character already in the light, which felt a bit unfair.
All in all, a great entry!
A sweet story of friendship. I found the experience nail-biting, as it took me several tries to complete. More than once, I was so happy to have saved a pal that I found myself deep in darkness without enough time to escape.
Although subtle, I especially like the sound of the little critters latching on to you.
In an expanded version, I would love to see varied environments to explore, and perhaps some details about who these characters are. Are the creatures in the darkness more fallen friends?
Nice work!
I liked the Black/White and the Hot/Cold mechanics. They really make the game shine. Great job!
Great little game here. The mechanics are solid. Loved the music and use of volume to indicate proximity to your friend. It took me a few tries to figure out who my friends were and what exactly I needed to do -- might suggest making their eyes a different color? But maybe they intentionally blend in to fit with your story. This is a quality entry for sure, good work.
I liked the game very much. Great gameplay mechanics combined with dense atmosphere and a very finished look (despite simple graphics). I especially liked the game over screen, nice touch!
Really fun, cool game. Found it very hard though. I featured it in my video compilation series of LD27 games, if you would like to check it out :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyApng3Bq-c
I liked the light/dark swapping mechanic, and the critter movements felt realistic. The only issue I had was that I collected about 5 or 6 faries, but could never find any "friends". However, I was able to watch the video to see what happened when you cure a friend.
That was incredible lots of fun and very different.
I really, really loved the game. Great job! Although I was suspicious because of the graphic style first (sorry, asshole grahic artist attitude). I get goosebumbs when I see the game over screen and how he turns into a critter @-@
Nothing more to say. Cool concept! :D
I love how you combined such simple game mechanics as "Don't step on the lava" and "Hot/Cold" so masterfully!
Kudos!
There's something strangely moody about this. A lot of it has got to do with the pressure in the gameplay, and the audio too. Having to protect the friends somehow would add more difficulty/variety to an otherwise immediately accessible game.