FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD33 → The Mammoth: A Cave Painting

The Mammoth: A Cave Painting

By inbetweengames

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall174.24
Mood64.52
Coolness1100
Audio304.16
Graphics314.59
Innovation623.87
Theme1653.92
Fun1803.56

Comments

chadivision 2015-08-25 00:17

I love everything about this! The overall mood is awesome, the graphics are great, and I love how the story unfolds as you play. Just a great game all around. Very nicely done!

bwpdsigns 2015-08-25 00:19

Awesome game, I loved the idea and the art style

uvwar 2015-08-25 00:27

Really nice graphics! The audio was a little echoing but the narration was nice.

lgbpaiva 2015-08-25 01:21

Awesome game, awesome mood, awesome graphics, congratulations!

stupidmindlessf 2015-08-25 01:22

Well done, guys!

bitsandcrafts 2015-08-25 01:31

nice piece of art

grabengroup 2015-08-25 02:07

overall very authentic. really liked what you did with the given theme.

katekmail 2015-08-25 02:58

Love it. But I was so sad when I lost one! ;_;

schnabrina 2015-08-25 12:05

Awesome game!

punkarre 2015-08-25 12:08

Really really liked it, awesome job <3

Jargo 2015-08-25 12:24

wonderful, i really like the mood,athmosphere and whole story arc. great work

secularbaron 2015-08-25 12:26

This game is among one of the best LD games I've ever played. Good job. Very polished. However my littlest Mammoth could of got it's **** together.

wevel 2015-08-25 12:47

Wow, what a game, very sad at the end

takenapeveryday 2015-08-25 12:49

Well done! The mood is perfect.

ultraval 2015-08-25 13:02

That was brilliant! :D I loved every aspect of your game nice work guys!

nidzakornjaca 2015-08-25 13:12

The mood, story and graphics are awesome.
The colliders were a bit too big though.

hwangroman 2015-08-25 13:14

Well done, guys!

conormn 2015-08-25 14:05

Excellent entry and take on the theme. Really well done.

local-minimum 2015-08-25 14:06

Very well done game. As I've discovered I love sad games, this was a perfect fit for me. In some locations I must have run a little further than expected so the hunters were spawning from right under my body, which was a bit odd. Other than that, it was a very good entry.

mar3k 2015-08-25 14:14

Lovely game, great music and graphics, only thing that bothered me sometimes was the rendering order. But I finished the game, well as a mammoth widow :D Well done guys!

oxyoxspring 2015-08-25 14:14

Bloomin' perfect! <3

humanatee_studios 2015-08-25 14:45

Mood and art are fab, nice one guys!

danialias 2015-08-25 14:58

Great mood, elegant art and touching way of telling a sad story! Although I guess it's a design decision, it was not easy to move around with the mammoth. Maybe a bit frustrating on that side, but overall a superb game. Congratulations!

korvexx 2015-08-25 16:13

Those graphics are amazing! :D Audio could have used some work (the narration was a little quiet), but I enjoyed that. Sad ending too.

freaknarf 2015-08-25 16:58

Nice game ! I'll probably try later to see if i can end it differently...
Good concept on design, great storytelling!
The game is a bit slow, but as a Mammoth i guess this fits :)
Good and artsy!

scorched 2015-08-25 18:43

Very solid game, congratulations!

general 2015-08-25 20:34

Great storytelling! Together with art and gameplay!

Here're my video reviews: http://youtu.be/AkOdas_qL9A
Your game is at 42:22

echokain 2015-08-25 22:22

Really beautiful little game, but so sad! It should come with a warning. The audio and narration is lovely too.

rani_sputnik 2015-08-25 22:35

Damnm, liked it very muchly! The children kept getting stuck on things and sometimes I didn't feel like I had a lot of control over the mammoth, but man the mood and story were really well put together. Great game!

cbstegeman 2015-08-25 23:36

A little slow, but I appreciate the languid speed necessary to tell the story. It fits with the music and visuals. It's all tied together very well, and you nailed the cave painting vibe.

hvedrung 2015-08-26 00:17

"The Mammoth was mother no more"

Oh my god that was so depressing! I don't think I was the monster here though, I only cared for my progeny. But weren't the Hunters protecting their children too when they were hunting instead of watching their beloved die from hunger?

Is there really anyone to blame, is there any monster or is the world itself the merciless beast? The story of the Mammoth and the Hunters repeated several times in the past and will happen again, perpetuating the neverending suffering... but I can't help to wonder, and I cling to that though as it is my last glitter of hope, is there a way to spare one mammoth child and make the herd anew?

On a more positive note, that was the best entry I came across yet, the art is beautiful and well-thought, and the narration and music add a really nice touch. I really loved the game and its atmosphere, great job!

sinclairstrange 2015-08-26 08:16

Wow! That's super beautiful, the mood, the style just everything was lovely. Super awesome game this is, very well done!

de_von 2015-08-26 10:14

Great and sad experience

alexbrainbox 2015-08-26 22:26

This game man, got annoyed by my slow moving child, ended up abandoning it and it was murdered by the hunters! The art style of the game is AMAZING! it rare to play a Ludum game with actual voice overs!

atomicwastinc 2015-08-26 22:52

Wow, an amazing experience, that you have created! Very solemn.

wavegunner232 2015-08-26 22:56

everything was was good. Not very fun but very interesting

careless 2015-08-26 23:08

Why did the little one have to die! Great story, fitting music and nicely narrated.

Art style and animations was great. Well done

veoviscool12 2015-08-26 23:22

Really excellent, I loved the cave painting style and the narration, especially when the mammoth lost all her children. Excellent work. Simple and effective.

xanjos 2015-08-27 17:49

Really liked the art style and the Bastion-esque dynamic narration in this plus it was absolutely fun demolishing the villages in revenge :)

01101101 2015-08-27 19:39

Really good atmosphere, story, art... The narration adds a nice touch to it. I enjoyed the experience, congrats!

handkor 2015-08-27 23:22

Very well done this is awesome.

ilookedatyourtitsandiminlove 2015-08-27 23:29

Fantastic game, I loved the art style, and I'm truly upset that the horrible hunters did what they did :( Nicely done!

galvesmash 2015-08-27 23:31

This game is amazing, the art style is gorgeous, the sound is so creative and the story makes me sad...

The only problem is that I (as the mammoth) am not a monster... the monsters are the bad humans who killed my kids!

archonthewizard 2015-08-27 23:51

So cool! Great story telling. I really felt the pain watching my children die. I had to get revenge on the hunters. Art was fantastic. Audio was great. Voice acting added a nice effect.

erkberg 2015-08-27 23:54

Wow, that was quite impressive. The visuals are just beautiful, very nice style. The audio fits this well and together with the very sad and well written story it really sets the mood. Gameplay was solid, a little slow, but it fit the rest of the game well. I felt like I could've maybe saved at least one of the little ones by being a bit more careful when running into the village and protecting them with my own body, maybe I'll try again later. One small bug I noticed: At the bottom of the screen, the sprites of the trees disappear before they're out of sight.
Overall, I enjoyed this sad little story quite a bit.

superfreak 2015-08-28 00:17

LOVED the use of archaeological material and the intricate way in which the story was interwoven with the players actions. Really impressive entry - one of my faves for sure!

vitorlanna 2015-08-28 01:01

I wasn't able to play the game, I think it was due to them being for 64-bit computers =/

mathmadlen 2015-08-28 01:30

Wow, it's really amazing! I loved the art style, music and the way the story is told. Great job!

solifuge 2015-08-28 06:00

I actually was discussing a cave-painting story game something like this when deciding what to do for the Jam. Crazy! I appreciated the interactive storytelling direction you went in, the narration, the art style, all of it. Excellent work!

crazyminnowstudio 2015-08-28 07:11

This is very good! Great artwork and super cool dynamic store elements as you progress.

rougerogue 2015-08-28 10:35

Really loved the sad story for this although I don't see how the mammoth was a monster in this case. Regardless, still an awesome game.

seconddimension 2015-08-28 11:04

Fantastic game. I love games that look hand-painted or drawn. The mood, audio and ideas are all wonderful!

fistmaker 2015-08-28 11:23

Wow, this is one of the best entries I've seen so far! Wonderful artwork and narration. Everything fit together well, and it was still challenging. Great entry!

felipeberquo 2015-08-28 12:14

What a nice game!!! Starting with the art style that we don't often see something like this!
The story as well is very nice too!
Congratulations
One of the top 5 of this jam for sure hehe

steve 2015-08-28 13:16

ctrl bad idea when combined with w :)

steve 2015-08-28 13:16

Wonderful art, loved it, kept pressing ctrl+w by accident and closing the game window though!

steve 2015-08-28 13:21

Whoops, posted my notes my accident, can't delete them now sorry!

inbetweengames 2015-08-28 16:04

No worries! Thanks for allowing us to pick your brain. :)

buffalophil 2015-08-28 19:13

Fantastic storytelling, A+ guys

theziggy 2015-08-28 19:48

Amazing looking game with a more amazing message! Awesome job, would love to see a post-LD "extended" version.

theholychicken 2015-08-28 20:13

Poetic and touching! A story of loss and wrath and loss.
The fact that the children respond to the mother's calls made losing them in the end hit so much harder emotionally.
Masterful interactive storytelling!

duzduz 2015-08-28 20:39

Very good graphics, This game is so sad!

jofra 2015-08-28 22:39

One of the best storytelling games if seen. Pulls you right to game strory. A 5star game for me ! awesome

Shadow 2015-08-28 22:50

Awesome game!
Loved the narration, the BGM and the graphics.
SFXs and collisions/layering could be improved.

It's an incredibly well made game though, and one of the most polished entries I've seen so far. Great work guys!

antokolos 2015-08-28 22:54

Good game, thanks! Still hope that happy end can be achieved somehow...
Graphics, story and mood are awesome!

lynx 2015-08-29 07:06

One of the most mood inspired games I've ever had the grateful opportunity to pay in a Ludum Dare compo! Nothing I could say or suggest could add any impact or polish needed for this narrative and complete winner of an entry. Well done! Well done!

silentlamb 2015-08-29 07:31

I love everything about your game! It's my favourite LD33 entry so far. It has everything; great graphics style, awesome story telling, trunks, tails and fur. And murderer!

primitiveconcept 2015-08-29 08:07

Definitely wins in the mood category, carries it in fact. Wanting to follow the story pushed me to finish. Very unique! Would love to see more games of this sort.

dregamr 2015-08-29 08:12

What a sad story, but I loved it!!
The artwork es really good, and the game is unexpected.
Congratulations for your work!! Anthanks, I've had a nice play!

dat_not_my_game 2015-08-29 09:40

So amazing! I love it for every part :)

balticseamonster 2015-08-29 09:43

Just beautiful - the sound effects could use some variation, but other than that, it's really good..

ithildin 2015-08-29 09:44

So beautiful! The art style and audio were really fitting, and I loved the story as well.

Amazing entry, congrats! :)

goldplatedxplodingfist 2015-08-29 10:09

Your game is verry artistic and the narration is done well.
But the controlls are really awkward to use on mac which has only one controll key.

literal_games 2015-08-29 11:19

That was nice and polished, although really really sad! Enjoyed the way storytelling was integrated into gameplay

wdebowicz 2015-08-29 11:34

The only thing I don't like is that it makes me sad. Great entry.

onionblitz 2015-08-29 11:51

The art looks very well done! That, along with the great narrative and music set the atmosphere really nicely. Kinda sad that I couldn't save anyone. Great job on this!

dunin 2015-08-29 13:13

cool graphics. Less fun because some bugs in the collisions. But good narration!

nightshadow0 2015-08-29 13:34

Oh man, this is so good, right in the feels. I love everything about it. So simple, yet superbly delivered. Brilliant work.

sparrow 2015-08-29 13:59

Awesome work. The narration and the audio fit the graphics perfectly. An interesting take on the theme, I loved it!

boywithstick 2015-08-29 14:11

Excellent game and unified concept throughout. Wonderful take on the theme and art style. It really plays on your emotions from start to finish. Nice work!

marianomiii 2015-08-29 16:28

This is the best jam game I've played. The art is amazing, the mood and story...wow! Very, very impressive!!! Awesome job!

ryusui 2015-08-29 17:25

Very cathartic to smash up the hunters' village at the end...though I lost my last baby mammoth in the process. Point made, I suppose?

qaterknan 2015-08-29 17:52

Very good and polished game! Great take on the theme!

matzigon 2015-08-29 19:07

Nice graphics and mood. Good job!
I knew people love the old school graphics but this is really old. :D

chris-olsen 2015-08-30 07:12

Great empathic approach. Just a few tweaks on the audio side to really have it sing. Nice work!

triplevisiongames 2015-08-30 09:27

Dang - game won't run on my laptop (even we version says it needs more memory) but it looks awesome so I'll check it on my desktop when I get chance later!

barigorokarl 2015-08-30 09:59

Awesome. Deep and full of nice ideas! Really, really hit me!

atridas 2015-08-30 10:39

Nice, nice, nice.

Absolutely loved the "narration" style you took. The story was catchy and very original on the theme.

Art style & sound "design" worked very well even thought some details could be improved (animations come to mind).

Great entry overall.

leaden 2015-08-30 10:50

Isaac, Jan, Daniel, Rafal, you rock!

vikpek 2015-08-30 12:46

Really awesome game and especially the graphics!

nikteddy92 2015-08-30 13:05

This is great!
I loved the narration and the gameplay.
I'm feeling a little sad about the poor mammoths story :c
Btw the mood is so deep and the video so great that I have to leave 5 stars, Well done!

crucknuk 2015-08-30 15:06

The narration is nice! I liked it! Great job guys!

beaulamb1992 2015-08-30 15:28

Great game :)

dickpoelen 2015-08-30 18:02

Hard to say if you're the monster or the hunters. I guess, in the end no-one really is, they're all just trying to survive

roaringcatgames 2015-08-30 20:48

This is an amazing entry. The art style and voice over is perfect. Awesome job.

triplevisiongames 2015-08-31 08:37

Great idea! Love the art style and the gameplay really makes you care about your little ones :D

Movement could do with a bit of work and not sure how accurate those mammoth sounds are ;)

Overall an excellent entry though.

pereubu 2015-08-31 10:36

Great, there's a lot of Shelter's vibe in it :>

patomkin 2015-08-31 11:58

Seems to be inspired by the mammoth paintings from Ice Age ;)

inbetweengames 2015-08-31 12:14

Hey everybody - thanks for all your comments! I wrote a little thing about the question who the monster is at all in our game including some of the comments made here. Please have a look: http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-33/?action=preview&uid=56968

Cheers,
David

sojabird 2015-08-31 12:15

Wow that mood and art is amazing!
Simple gameplay and a deep theme sweet! Cool cool nice naration!

zyxer 2015-08-31 12:53

This game is gorgeous! And with a really sad story.

One of the best LD games I've ever seen!

inbetweengames 2015-08-31 13:19

Correct link to the previously mentioned blog post:

http://ludumdare.com/compo/2015/08/31/so-whos-the-monster-in-the-mammoth-anyway/

Also thanks again all for the kind comments! :)

nowandstudios 2015-08-31 14:15

Probably one of the best entry of this ludum dare. You have done a REALLY great job with the mood. Overall it's an outstanding game. Congrats!

francismoy 2015-08-31 15:36

The idea is very original and the art style is awesome. The music is repetitive but the narration is nice. Good job!

zeriver 2015-08-31 15:45

When i got to the village i lost only one child, so in process of avenging my child i lost my two other children. I guess game created for me a bit different story with a bit different moral.

flannelvindicate 2015-08-31 16:00

Pssst - you have been featured on todays Ludum Dare to Believe! Check it out here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg4MzGbqQ9I

officialcodenmore 2015-08-31 16:09

This was really cool, looked great and sounded neat!

springcabal 2015-08-31 17:46

Great story telling.

keyboardcat 2015-08-31 19:21

Wow ! Really nice... and sad :)

Good work !

unclechris 2015-08-31 20:51

This is a really awesome story, and loved everything about it. The way it explained little by little, the built in "tutorial" and how the story was woven into it. LOVE this game.

jupiter_hadley 2015-08-31 23:04

Super cute graphics! I included it in part 14 of my Ludum Dare 33 Compilation video series, if you would like to take a look :) https://youtu.be/CvW_HEqR1oI

faemir 2015-09-01 00:03

Absolutely fantastic - the best LD game I've seen in absolutely ages. I adored the brush-work graphics and the audio was spot on too.

nihilaleph 2015-09-01 02:00

Beautiful! Just perfect! Congratz!! Well, if I was to nitpick, you can hear white noise on the narrator's audio, I would suggest the use of a noise filter xp
(Oh it reminds me of Shelter~)

inbetweengames 2015-09-01 12:56

Yeah noise filter would have been good. Realized too late and then there was no more time unfortunately. Next time we'll do it right the first time. ;)

shawn42 2015-09-01 17:18

Wow. Great interactive story telling.

miltage 2015-09-01 18:01

This game made my sister cry.

drauthius 2015-09-01 18:07

Excellent work.

DerekRumpler 2015-09-01 18:08

Really fun game. I like how the story dynamically changes based on your play (kind of like Bastion). You should expand it a bit and publish it!

puppetmaster 2015-09-01 18:22

What an emotional game, my tears falling down. Congrats, this is a super game!

wavertron 2015-09-02 19:51

Wow great. Less "game" and more interactive story, but still fantastic.

mach60kas 2015-09-02 20:10

Very unique style of storytelling and visual style. I think you need either better keybinds or to properly capture input - my browser kept trying to add bookmarks whenever I hit ctrl. Apart from that I really loved this game - well done!

bender 2015-09-02 22:29

Incredible narrative game

inbetweengames 2015-09-03 08:04

Thanks again for the kind comments everyone. We definitely focused more on the experience part of it starting with day 2. So some things are still a bit rough in places.
If we do a post-jam version we will take the feedback on board and make sure to circumvent the CTRL key issue somehow. ;)

sanju 2015-09-03 14:53

Original entry. Loved the graphics and the story-driven game. Good work.

hjalte500 2015-09-03 15:22

I like the artstyle. Making a game that is a cave painting is must have been everyones fantasy at some point so congratulations on actually executing that with a story to match. Great game!

glerikud 2015-09-03 15:28

Absolutely beautiful graphics, and nice idea for a monster story. Definitely one of the best I found so far! We thought of doing a narration too, but we didn't have anyone with such a great voice for the setting. Playing this really makes me think how much narration can help the immersion.

teamcosmitronique 2015-09-03 17:15

Very strong entry! Everything was great!

zenmumbler 2015-09-04 14:25

I hope you all have overcome your own grief by making this game. It was good. Not pleasant, but good. Nice drawn style and even narration. Well done.

yamzho 2015-09-04 15:53

Just perfect.

larzan 2015-09-05 07:15

Beautiful and sad and true. Great job. Love it.

shaunlebron 2015-09-05 16:59

art was magnificent. the makeshift elephant noises really hurt the experience, but everything else was top notch.

arnage 2015-09-05 17:48

Wow.

jwin 2015-09-05 21:13

Awesome storytelling, way to make something really unique with the theme!

rogberth 2015-09-05 22:28

Great entry, congrats!

ehtd 2015-09-05 22:42

Really liked your game, on mac it wasn't running well, but played later on Android. Great job.

oakus 2015-09-06 08:07

The concept of telling the story was interesting. For me the prehistoric theme did not really fit to this Ludum dare theme. Graphic design and the story teler together created nice feeling.

cyrixd 2015-09-06 08:45

Excellent work. Told a very strong, realistic and morally ambiguous story in a powerful way. Great use of theme and really nice mood created. I was desperate to keep the children safe.

disperse 2015-09-07 01:28

Perfect. The graphics, audio, and mood were amazing. Is it possible to protect the baby mammoths?

techblogogy 2015-09-07 05:17

This is on hell of a game! Great job!

emmelineprufrock 2015-09-08 01:52

Love the mood. There's a lot of really great things about this as far as feel, such as the slight flickering on the walls and the minimal drum beating.

I also hesitate to call the experience fun?

onlyslightly 2015-09-08 01:53

Beautiful game. I love how well you were able to set the tone and mood by making it appear like this was all written on a cave wall painting. The flickering of the fire on the wall was a great touch. The voice acting and story telling was great. I'm really impressed with how well you were able to tell the story with such simple mechanics.

nassi 2015-09-08 12:59

Feels somewhat reminiscent of Shelter. Really loved the mood of the game and I'm not ashamed to admit that I got misty eyed at the end. I couldn't save any of my children no matter how hard I tried. Both the aesthetic and the gameplay work brilliantly to conjure a mood like no other.

The fun-category doesn't really do justice to this entry, but I enjoyed the experience so I guess it was... fun? Read the "So who's the Monster in The Mammoth anyway?"-post and in my opinion it's either that we are all monsters or that none of us are, it's just a matter of perspective.

mickanio 2015-09-08 14:52

Very nice work.

los-pixelados 2015-09-09 17:44

A very artistic yet sad game. I wish there was a way to save the little ones, but i suppose, just like life, bad things happen even if you don;t want them to. I really like the art style and the mood of the game, but i really don't see how it fits the theme of LD33. I can't see the Mammoth as a monster because she was just trying to protect her young ones. The hunters are not monsters either as they are trying to feed their families...
A very good entry and a deep philosophical quandry. Reminds me of the game "ImorTall" on Kongregate.

mikethingsbetter 2015-09-10 22:45

I loved this! The Art, the story, so sad yet so wonderfully done. Very well done.

diningphilosopher 2015-09-11 00:11

Very good game! Nice graphics, nice story. Well done!

landosystems 2015-09-11 00:37

Excellent artwork and aesthetic, it really set the mood. Loved the story too, great work!

lukezaz 2015-09-11 05:41

All-around good game. Would've liked a slightly lower difficulty so it'd be more possible to have at least one surviving child, and the controls were a little wonky, but still fun!

taro 2015-09-13 03:53

Thought it was a thoroughly well-packaged game. The narrative wasn't too heavy-handed, and it evolved well with the gameplay. Was a bit disappointed that the number of children alive at the end had no effect on the ending.

sergi-montaner 2015-09-13 22:25

Very stylish. The art direction is something I've never seen in games, but I don't imagine nearthentals drawing about the CTRL key :p

riadelva 2015-09-14 13:19

Very nice game!

georgebroussard 2015-09-14 20:52

Really nice art style and core idea.