FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD32 → Sepulcher of the Unicorn

Sepulcher of the Unicorn

By core43

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Coolness359
Graphics494.45
Mood1233.70
Audio1723.53
Overall4473.31
Fun7242.75
Humor7362.42
Innovation8052.56

Comments

2015-04-21 05:53

I had totally forgotten there was a theme until the end.
The "puzzles" could be better, the door puzzle is pure trial and error, it's just guessing.
I did enjoy the environment, it's intriguing and pretty.

binarycoder 2015-04-22 03:09

Very beautiful game! Puzzles were decent too.

superkid 2015-04-22 03:15

Loved the graphics. The unconventional weapon was great! xD

primitiveconcept 2015-04-22 03:25

Not bad! I did feel a bit dumb for a few minutes when trying to figure out what to do but I got it eventually. I still think I only made it through because of luck but it's better than nothing!

themeorch 2015-04-22 03:37

Super impressive art and audio. Makes for a really atmospheric experience, nice work!

mike-cullingham 2015-04-22 03:56

Cool graphics. I couldn't really figure out the puzzles. Maybe I'll sleep on it.

criticalmammal 2015-04-22 04:29

Gah this is absolutely amazing in both the visual and sound department. You really nailed the whole atmosphere, and I mean NAILED it. This may be one of the more impressive Ludum Dare entries I've seen, ever. But definitely most impressive I've run across for this one. It really carries a Myst-like quality overall to the feel in general.

Obviously the visuals are really nice, but I really love that you did such a great job including appropriate sounds also. I'm not sure how much of the assets were done during the jam though, but the fact that it all went so well together is just great.

The puzzles weren't amazing or anything, but the final door puzzle was engaging enough to keep me at it for a bit.

(Spoilers for those who haven't played it)

It took me a while to figure out I needed to go to the area where you flip the water wheel switch. By that time I had seen the light bulb sequence on the other machine and could figure out the door sequence pretty easily.

I noticed someone mentioned the door puzzle was just trial and error, but it's sort of funny because that door puzzle is only guesswork if you don't look for the clues haha. Good job with that part, though I guess ideally you'd want puzzles people wouldn't be able to brute force figure out without the clues.

As for the ending, well... I suppose it's an alright justification of the theme... but let's put it this way... I can see why you'd opt out of the rating in that department.

Great job overall, seriously impressive atmosphere.

lolshouse 2015-04-22 13:53

Very atmospheric. Could've had more content, but is good for what it is.

orkyorks 2015-04-22 14:11

Puzzles were pretty good, graphically impressive. However you missed the theme of the jam.

core43 2015-04-22 18:43

@theeu
Thanks for the feedback! For the doors, look at what CriticalMammal said.

@binarycoder
Thanks!

@SuperKid
Eh, it's alright... ;p

@Squidtank
You still succeeded, so thank you for giving it a shot.

@TheMeorch
Thank you!

@mike.cullingham
Thanks for trying it out; keep at it! :)

@CriticalMammal
Thanks, I really appreciate your feedback!
With the exception of textures and sounds, all assets were made during the jam. That said, I heavily modified each texture (Originally from cgtextures.com; resizing, recoloring, baking to specific models) and sound (Originally from a royalty free sound library; chopping up, changing speed, and making some into separate sounds to make seamless transitions) to actually fit the game during the 72 hours available. On top of this, creating normal, roughness, and ambient occlusion maps for each texture. Not the most fun process, but I liked the results.
If you have any suggestions for guiding the player to the water wheel switch, I'm still trying to figure that one out. ;)

@chikun Dev Team
Thank you. Perhaps I'll add more soon. :)

@OrkyOrks
Yeah, I was a bit dissapointed to have to end it the way I did after my original idea didn't pan out.

cosinep 2015-04-23 03:03

This. Was. Amazing. Thank you so much for that. The graphics, sound, and polish were on a way-beyond-LD quality. It blew me away. The atmosphere was amazing. I just loved being in the game. It seemed very short for me... I would have liked more than one puzzle.
PS: I should learn UE4 :)

crazyninjamofo 2015-04-23 03:12

Of course, great work on the visuals; they're the most realistic I've seen of any entries so far. Also, the audio fit nicely. I didn't even realize I was solving puzzles until reading comments, I thought I was just playing around in an environment.

leaden 2015-04-23 03:14

I like your idea of unconvinced weapon. And this is interesting idea to use UE4 for decent visual. It really outstanding in comparison with pixel art and lowpoly art. But need to admit that it strikes on amount of content. Your game also very short. As idea, you could make maze sequence near the final by using existing content. It will make your game longer with keeping main idea.

criticalmammal 2015-04-23 06:25

@Jon Fisch No problem, that's very impressive that you were able to pump out so much polished content in such a short amount of time. Finding and editing proper sounds normally takes me about half a day alone. They also didn't feel overused or anything, which is surprising.

As for the water wheel issue... I dunno. I kind of like that it's this thing you pass by at first oblivious to its importance. The pipe-work that leads you around to the parts of the puzzle are good subtle hints. The main problem is that there wasn't much in the way of a small piece of information hinting that I may have missed something (aside from the door puzzle not working). After I was pretty sure I was doing it right I started backtracking and found it. But that process was a tad lengthier than I would have liked personally.

Perhaps have some sort of indication when the player correctly has the levers pulled? Like turning on the little light in the elevator (though it's hard to see if you aren't inside it). That way they could know they need to start looking elsewhere?

drauthius 2015-04-24 20:52

Beautiful! It looks very well made. :)

catwheel 2015-04-28 02:54

I figured everything out fairly easy. It was very cool. The graphics were stellar. Very awesome myst mood to the overall game. I enjoyed this.

core43 2015-04-30 17:41

@Cosine
Thanks a bunch! You definitely should give UE4 it a go!

@crazyninjamofo
Thanks! They're not really the best or most obvious "puzzles," but I'm glad you figured it out.

@Yaroslav Kravtsov
I'll admit, I'm much better with graphics than I am with super in-depth content, but I'll take your suggestions into consideration. Thanks!

@CriticalMammal
That's good to hear; I was worried that I'd get sick of them in testing alone. :P
I've been working on an update that should hopefully make it more obvious to the player where they need to go, but I've been extremely busy recently, so I don't know exactly when it'll be ready. I'm also completely reworking the lever puzzle, so it should (hopefully) be much more intuitive and understandable for everyone. Your feedback is much appreciated, and I'll definitely be taking your suggestions into account. :)

@Drauthius
Thanks!

@Catwheel
I'm glad you liked it!