FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD30 → The Lion's Song

The Lion's Song

By leafthief

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall44.36
Theme134.24
Graphics14.87
Mood14.71
Coolness292
Audio264.07
Fun1223.55
Humor1583.07
Innovation1683.46

Comments

kyyrma 2014-08-25 19:10

This was an absolutely gorgeus entry on every level. The writing was really strong, and the graphics and music made my day. Beautiful stuff!

clavus 2014-08-25 19:47

The most beautiful game I've seen in this LD up till now. Great take on the theme! Lovely art and music.

pinqu 2014-08-25 19:48

Lots of stars for this one, very good :)

eigen 2014-08-25 19:52

Some of the dialog really had me smiling. Thanks for that. I enjoyed it very much. Awesome work for 48 hours.

pierrec 2014-08-26 06:19

Firt LD30 game I play! It sets very high standards for the others ^^ I really dis your art. I wish there was a bit more interaction

random-abductions 2014-08-26 06:55

Hey thanks for pointing out Webplayer problem, it would be awesome if you could check back :D.

P.S. Loved your game :D

waynaul 2014-08-26 07:07

Brilliant game. The phone as a connection between worlds is simple yet elegant. Great ending too.

leafthief 2014-08-26 07:17

@PierreC I agree more interaction would've been nice. But time got in the way (as usual) :/. Thanks for playing though :)

simplesmiler 2014-08-26 09:13

You did a good job, sir. I love every bit of it.

jvdo 2014-08-26 11:58

Very well done. Amazing art, a compelling story and awesome music as well. Yes please!

darklightteam 2014-08-26 13:37

Awesome art! Really nice :D

yoni 2014-08-26 13:43

Wow. Short but beautiful on many levels.

huacati 2014-08-26 13:44

Wow that was amazing. You really get into a mood playing this. Top stuff.

follett 2014-08-26 13:45

Incredible. The art, music, text and game in general was perfect!

kibertoad 2014-08-26 13:48

I'd offer my flesh and sacrifice newborn babies to the Devil himself to write and draw like you.

dunin 2014-08-26 13:49

really good looking even at the title screen and the menu (rare in ld)...

hyoga-3d 2014-08-26 13:57

Pretty nice take on the theme, graphics are very diferent and

ryguydavis 2014-08-26 14:07

This was very, very good. The graphics were excellent but to be honest I was mostly taken in by the rich story. It could easily have veered into trite but you managed to completely avoid ham-handing the dialogue. I was truly touched. Thanks for sharing it.

rnlf 2014-08-26 15:05

Wow.

Such a great game. Also it contains one of my favourite poems. So strong. I just wonder what made Wilma leave the hut. (Or are there other endings?)

So, lots of stars for this game!

hairein 2014-08-26 15:45

What an interesting piece and with such fitting and beautiful graphics. There is a certain interest in finding out where the conversation go and the game mechanics are easy to grasp which helps interacting with the dialogue choices. The mood is really good.

ceosol 2014-08-26 19:45

This is a very nice interpretation of the theme. I especially enjoyed how your choices produce some subtle changes in future options.

christopf 2014-08-26 19:52

first i didn't manage to get it on any bigger resolution and was bored really fast. but as i tried it again i found out how to resize and got more captured by it.
the illustration are very nice and your sound design is gorgeous. made the most of its mood for me. also you captured the mood in generally very good (what made the kind of bored feeling in the first place). with every phonecall life came into game. i'm glad i play it to the end, thank you!

primaerfunktion 2014-08-26 20:03

You made something really great here. Good work!

rawbosaurx 2014-08-26 21:43

Fantastic entry, Leafthief. Artwork is beautiful and the story even more so. Very intriguing writing and character portraits. Thanks for creating this work of art and making me feel all them good feels :) 5 gold stars for you. You've earned them.

autonomous 2014-08-26 22:02

very beautiful game!

alxr 2014-08-26 23:14

Gorgeous artworks, unfortunately don't have windows machine. A web build would be nice, thnx!

leafthief 2014-08-27 08:16

@Schrodinger Games: Unfortunately Adventure Game Studio has no such thing as a Web Export.
However, as I've heard it is possible to start Adventure Game Studio Builds using 'Wine' (for Linus).

Hope this helps.

kei 2014-08-27 15:33

Wow, amazing pixelart.

plaw 2014-08-27 15:45

Gorgeous game. Very contemplative and nice mood. Good work!

p4nurge 2014-08-27 16:02

This is the first full set of stars I've given this LD. I thought it was just an utterly beautiful game. Gorgeous artwork, elegant sound design, just enough interaction to really draw you into the conversation between the two characters. Above all, it was beautifully written. I especially liked the little period touches like Leos' sudden embarrassment at forgetting to ask her name.

A wonderful piece of work with a mood which will linger with me. Thank you!

vctr_seleucos 2014-08-27 16:13

The pixel art on this entry and the mood is magnificent! Loved it! Really nice narrative experience and GORGEOUS interpretation of theme, well executed.

cacciatc 2014-08-27 19:00

So many awesome touches!

kevinzuhn 2014-08-27 20:16

This is a fantastic mood piece, I really felt drawn in by the story and the audio set a good atmosphere. I liked the small touches in Wilma's dialog choices. No complaints here.

romko_pidstryhach 2014-08-27 21:47

Amazing mood! This is just awesome. I was looking for a long time for this kind of game. Good work!

iamspencer 2014-08-28 04:49

This was freaking amazing and you just got yourself a fan :) excellent writitng, amazingly beautiful graphics, best mood so far, and great sound. Job well done!

solifuge 2014-08-28 05:51

The game is interesting with excellent graphics. Please forgive me: You've received a lot of praise, so this post is going to be mostly critique. I felt that it was overwritten in places. The art is gorgeous as always, but when you describe facial expressions we can interpret for ourselves with text, it really weakens the strength of our perceptions. With the simplicity of the image: a young woman, a closed room, the mountains, I wish that we had been more able to access it for ourselves.

Next, the game needed more of a narrative arc, I suppose. I didn't get a sense that anything was changing, or becoming. Often I'd pick a dialogue option and then the character would say that line, and then the other... so why did I choose? Yes, Wilma becomes closer to Leos, but who are these people? Wilma describes herself as delicate, but that's, well, a very common way to describe women that doesn't tell you much about her in particular. A poetic intellect to be sure, possibly consumptive or hysterical if she *whimpers* on discussion of her writer's block. A young woman sent off into the mountains entirely alone, in *that* era? It's highly unlikely... there should be something about that in there. Talking alone, unintroduced, unchaperoned, to an unknown man on the telephone would be the site of high scandal--in England, at least; it may well have been different in Austria, but from my understanding, not so entirely different.

I wish I had gotten a better sense of the burden of the passage of time, perhaps through some sort of rain SFX or the like. Making a silent game about musical composition is a very interesting choice.

Thank you for all of the food for thought, and for the game. Best of luck in the competition!

leafthief 2014-08-28 06:40

@Vicotry Garden: It sounds to me that you think I wrote the Kill Screen Mag Article when in fact I didn't. I just thought the game page was a good place to put a link to that article.
I have now removed the link to avoid confusions.
Thanks for your opinion and feedback.

split82 2014-08-28 08:47

Graphics, Audio, Mood, Theme - everything top notch! Definitely one of the best entries I played.

stevesalmond 2014-08-28 09:12

Well, I very much enjoyed that. Thank you for making it!

rehacked 2014-08-28 10:17

liked it .Good job

stending 2014-08-28 10:34

One of the best entry in the 60 games I tried!
Incredible!

oxyoxspring 2014-08-28 12:15

That was glorious...

tautnerve 2014-08-28 12:32

Amazing art and writing, I enjoyed every moment of it.
Some of the choices felt a little redundant as a few were
the same choice phrased in a slightly different matter, but
that is the only critique I have for this game.
Great job, a very strong entry and one of the best I've
played this Ludum Dare.

dickpoelen 2014-08-28 14:05

Amazing! 10/5 mood

anssilap 2014-08-28 16:28

Loved the mood you've set for the game as well as the story and graphics. Really enjoyed it!

commodorekid 2014-08-28 16:41

This game's music, story and graphics create a really nice atmosphere. The only problem is the length of it and that's all.

merlijnvh 2014-08-28 20:05

Beautiful game, I loved the story and the pixel art with colour palette were absolutely amazing.

2014-08-28 20:58

Pleeease make an OSX version! I want to play this on my mac so bad

leafthief 2014-08-28 22:35

@tv15 I am very sorry but the middleware (Adventure Game Stuio) I made this in doesn't support Mac builds. However: there is a way to play AGS games on MAC using the runtime/Engine that can be found here: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=45708.0
This COULD work but I can't guarantee it, sorry.

androniq 2014-08-28 22:38

The game's put me into a very quiet mood. It's great how you're drawn in to the story / situation / environment by such a simple combination of images, text, sound and interaction. Very good.

spotco 2014-08-29 10:27

Really great stuff, by far the best story+art combination I've played so far. Didn't get the ending though...

carduus 2014-08-29 11:50

i hear the music but the game do not display any image on my screen ><

leafthief 2014-08-29 12:35

@Carduus: You could try and run winsetup.exe to run the game windowed. I hope this hels!

camilleh 2014-08-29 12:45

Oh my god!!! Are there alternate endings??!?!?!?!!?!? I really wanted them to meet!! Such a gorgeous game, thank you so much for the experience. I loved it, and I want more :)

jukimv1986 2014-08-29 14:41

Great atmosphere and very well written. It feels like reading a short novel. Well done!

lars-faust 2014-08-29 18:12

Most atmospheric game i have encountered.
I found myself reading the text out loud.

steve 2014-08-29 19:46

Lovely game.

hundredhundred 2014-08-30 03:37

I want more! Good job!

egor-idiot 2014-08-30 09:01

Wow. Masterpiece! One of the best games I have played on Ludum. So good story.
Art and mood are amazing and sounds support this feeling. Very well done!

simonchauvin 2014-08-30 17:47

Great visual, great music. Well done it's really inspiring :)

yopsolo 2014-08-30 19:07

amazing gfx and great idea :)

runvs 2014-08-31 08:37

Wow, this is intense! One of the best entries this LD! Though I personally do not like point & clic adventures, this one pulled me inside a whole world and i will definitely play it again.
Awesome graphics, really great sound (minimalistic though powerful -- the tunder really creeped me out), perfect timing & Storyline and interesting characters, which really come to life. Please keep doing such work!

Since you directly asked for things to improve: the scenery could be a little bit more active, e.g. the lamp flickering or some fireflies on the first day. But this is criticism on a very very high level which will not be in the score.

reidrac 2014-08-31 09:22

Th 32-bit version plays just fine in Linux, although to me is better to start the game in a window... jumping straight to fullscreen may not work ;)

Window mode and filter graphics x3 is perfect!

Other than that, excellent graphics and interesting story. Well done!

ditto 2014-08-31 10:16

DAMN! I saw your game a couple days ago and for some reason I didn't play it. That was a bad fucking move! Holy shit, I am awestruck! This was so beautiful, the graphics, the story, the rain against the window, everything is so damn beautiful! Thank you dearly for making this! <3

sunflower 2014-08-31 18:15

Oh my, I think I might have found yet another very interesting entry. I'd like to write more, but it seems everything has already been told, and after playing dozens of games I'm getting somewhat tired... ^^"

(but yes, graphics and writing are strong in this entry)

ramiel 2014-08-31 19:28

Very poetic.
It would be very cool if the song in the ending would change based on the decisions made.
Also RAWR! ;)

esenti 2014-08-31 22:09

The graphics style is great! BTW the game runs fine on Linux (using wine 1.7) ;)

moi93101 2014-09-01 15:39

Very very very good ! I love graphics, audio, ALL !

rookmage 2014-09-01 16:14

Woah, AGS. I haven't seen that in a while.

traumendes_madchen 2014-09-01 19:49

I really love the atmosphere and the simplicity of this entry, it's beautiful... Am I the only one who didn't understand what happened to Wilma in the end ? (and how Leos managed to find her house 0o)

Oreganik 2014-09-01 21:51

....

You made me reach for the telephone in the third act. One of many masterful touches. Applause, applause!

solifuge 2014-09-02 16:32

Hey Leafthief... I actually didn't think you had written a review of your own game, it's just that I'm trying to run about giving constructive criticism on writing since I see very few people giving substantive advice one could actually do anything with in that category. I apologize--it seems that you took it the wrong way. This is obviously a top-notch entry, and I was offering that level of critique out of respect. Take care...

hypnohustla 2014-09-03 07:47

Beautiful game with a very nice story! Would love to see even more :)

snoother 2014-09-03 15:39

A 5/5 entry, without a doubt. Evocative themes, stylised graphics, well-suited audio. Top-notch on most fronts. I like the spontaneity of the telephone call, that pleasantly unexpected spark of human interactivity we've all doubtless experienced online with some friendly so-and-so. But setting it in the early 20th, using phones instead, gives it a peculiar familiarity. Then how social curiosity leads into a poignant romance, set against the backdrop of Romantic composition. Safe to say I liked it.

However, I do have some criticisms (sorry!). Sometimes it lacks subtlety -- for example with the way you describe emotions and expression, defying that old maxim of 'show, don't tell'. And the prose can at times be a bit too melodramatic for me -- "...form a synergy before his inner eye...", "...warm rain in a flowing autumn's breeze..." etc. When I replayed it also, I found that the choices were sometimes without any effect -- occasionally, if I remember rightly, the character would choose the same thing regardless of the player's choice. I'm guessing that was down to time constraints, but it would be good to maybe flavour the choices a bit more post-LD.

grooveman 2014-09-03 20:54

Ah, that was really cute, and beautiful to look at. If there were actual musical refrains for the bits of inspiration you find, that would be absolutely magical.

mcapraro 2014-09-04 14:26

the game looks just amazing. love the style, love the color palette. really lovely.

jjhaggar 2014-09-04 21:55

Very beautiful game

gfm 2014-09-05 03:16

Amazing game!! The graphics are superb! I also really liked the story, even though there's only few meaningful interactions (so far I noticed two points, when Leos talks about his relative and on the dragon hunting choice). Still, I thought you were able to nicely convey both characters feelings and stories.

Congrats! :)

vividhelix 2014-09-06 20:00

Beautiful, the pixel art was just amazing! Story was good too...

someone 2014-09-07 18:02

Really enjoyed that experience. Excellent sense of atmosphere.

theexgenesis 2014-09-07 20:35

wow, just... wow. I liked it a lot, the game was gorgeous and the dialog, although menial, felt very meaningful. Congratulations!

random-abductions 2014-09-08 18:17

It is a nice looking and sounding game, that's for sure. However I am not really digging the sound effects. The story is well written and the characters are believable. I liked the suggestion in the story for you to fill in the gaps, you could have pressed this much further I feel. As of the gameplay part, it is not very much there. It's more book then game I'm afraid.

jod 2014-09-08 19:55

Wow. That was a beautiful story. The characters seem very real, the conversation is smooth and flows naturally and the sound effects are subtle and understated. And the art. Gah.

It is really, really well told. I was pulled along with it like a leaf in a stream. Just, wow.

zerkruemler 2014-09-08 20:00

Nice story. I enjoyed to experience the story.
Good Work

joror 2014-09-08 20:08

Awesome graphics, beautiful sensitive story! :)

tbamberg 2014-09-08 22:42

Hah, amazingly well done. Very cute story. Had me smiling throughout.

flannelvindicate 2014-09-09 17:02

Psssst.... You are in today's episode of Ludum Dare to Believe! Check it out at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XshA79i3By8

ancientavocado 2014-09-09 19:10

I couldn't help but give you 5 stars in every category. Simply beautiful! Love the color palette, and having struggeled with same problems as she, I found the story really close to my heart.

dohan 2014-09-09 21:03

Beautiful game, with great atmosphere. Both graphics and sounds bring up some nostalgia from DOS games.

nicepenguins 2014-09-10 21:52

Really great story and storytelling. The use of the theme is very cool, really love this idea of the research of inspiration while being isolated and the connexion with someone else who give a view to another world ! Very good writing !

whalebot 2014-09-10 23:31

Amazing pixel art. Overall great story telling. Really well done with this.

moosefly 2014-09-11 20:55

Enjoyable read and a nice experience overall.

The rain-imitating background track didn't loop too nicely though, so it got somewhat irritating after a while. Also took me a while to realise I could click on the books during the second day for some reason. Would've also liked for the game to not show any text, if clicking the object didn't do anything. For example when hovering over Wilma it displayed the "myself" text even though clicking her didn't do anything.

Anssi@MooseflyGames

sheepolution 2014-09-13 09:02

Lovely game, it warms my heart!

apiotrw 2014-09-13 16:00

Great experience :)

cardboard 2014-09-13 20:01

Your game has a beautiful atmosphere, music, and story. The splitscreen effect worked out well. I initially thought background music during the whole game would be be an improvement, but I think after hearing the song at the end, after so much silence, it sounded even better. You developed both characters very well, through both text and the visuals. Very nicely done.

franklins-ghost 2014-09-14 13:28

Beautiful visuals and liked the way you used the theme. Did seem at times that the dialogue I was choosing didn't have that much of an impact but can imagine this is because of the time constraints. Great entry though which felt really polished.

artamus 2014-09-15 19:25

Amazing. Beautiful art and atmosphere. Very well written.