Platform Styx

knightowl 2017-05-01 23:30

So... The character died in a train wreck??? Either that or the character is so delirious from hunger he is having strange dreams about picking up coins to feed a vending machines after falling asleep on a subway :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

Overall it is playable and the music/sound fit the eerie atmosphere. I'm not entirely sure how to categorize this in my mind. Judging it as a mood piece, it could use a bit more story. Judging it as a puzzler, it could have been more challenging. If it is trying to be both, having the puzzles rooted in the story would be cool. I think the lighting set the mood well and made good use of the Unity platform.

grim 2017-05-02 11:46

@knightowl thanks for playing our game! that is an interesting interpretation! :ok_hand:

scornz 2017-05-02 12:44

Oh man, was not expecting it to be that scary... I'm a fan of horror games (Outlast, RE7, etc.) Really nice to see this in a game jam, nice job!

jakobe3 2017-05-02 17:25

A train to hell!? I like this a lot, super-spooky atmosphere and short but effective.

piller-yann 2017-05-02 19:02

For me, the character has a nightmare because he is hungry... like me XD

I think it's a very cool atmosphere.But you can make a more dark atmosphere to transform this game in a horror game.

I think you could have more challenging puzzle and more center the gameplay in exploration.

Very good job for your first Ludum Game ;-)

grim 2017-05-03 05:23

@scornz @jakobe3 Thanks for playing our game! We really appreciate it ! :D

grim 2017-05-03 05:26

@piller-yann :D that is a very interesting interpretation of the game!

Thank you for the feedback!

oh and thanks for playing the game! :D

gfm 2017-05-14 20:51

I've finally found your game! I meant to play and rate back earlier, but the game isn't listed on @grim's public because of issues on the new site... Anyway!

~~I'm still quite confused. I'd go with something like @knightowl and say that the character died on a train accident... are the coins a reference to the Charon?~~

A quick Wikipedia search (to learn how "Charon" is spelled in English) shed some new light into this! I didn't know the name of the river... Now the title make so much more sense!

There's only one missing piece, for me. There is a coin right at the start of the game that got overridden by another one on the second (or third) carriage... I wonder where it can be used...

The game is definitely interesting, and I'll probably keep wondering about it for a while. :smiley:

grim 2017-05-15 09:18

@gfm Wow thanks for playing our game! Very nice research, fascinating perspective of the game narrative. :ok_hand:

local-minimum 2017-05-15 20:24

Where to begin! First thing first, this is truly a gem! Wow. So there's almost not much to say beyond that. The narrative through the landscape you crafted and the props you decided to include to make the story. There were so many details my head is almost spinning around trying to understand how you managed to make so much with so little time. The music that builds up the experience. Looking at the hand. Walking into and shoving things around!

Some details:

It would have been nice if the music AudioSource was on a GameObject that wasn't destroyed when going from the menu to the game. It was kind of abrupt there. It could probably have been faded in or out some, true, but that cut felt a bit hard.

Spoiler !> A bit into the railway/subway cart I happened to look out of the window and then saw ahead how they !> would start going down before I encountered it and that would have been nicer if they were invisible !> or something up until transitioning into the room where you get to enter them.

Spoiler 2 !> I kind of also really want to use the coin on the vending machine instead, but !> perhaps it was more rewarding to feel that conflict than to be able to act on it.

Pressing `Esc` brought up a menu but the cursor remained hidden and that made it impossible for me to exit the game in orderly fashion.

With regards to the narrative anchor in Greek mythology, I see the point, but I also think what you made was that good, that it didn't really need it. That it would have stood completely on its own.

So I'm really happy I got to play this. One of the best games this LD in my book! And @grim thanks for your comments on our game.

local-minimum 2017-05-15 20:27

Also +1 for the :ok_hand: consistency

rockhoppergames 2017-05-15 20:54

Wow, this game is 100% my jam, and nails the presentation too! I'm particularly impressed that you managed to model the arm and the skull in the time limit, along with all the other simpler items!

I don't really have much to criticise here, so I don't have much else to say beyond congratulations on your first Ludum Dare, and keep doing what you're doing!

grim 2017-05-16 06:08

@local-minimum @rockhoppergames Thanks for playing our game! it is really appreciated! The feedback is excellent thank you :ok_hand:

wildmusketeer 2017-05-16 06:39

Thanks guys, I really didn't need to sleep tonight. Really great job on setting up the dreadfully haunting atmosphere with so few scenes/objects. I think you did a really good job choosing the music and pacing the transitions--a lot of lingering senses of mystery but also sudden senses of horror. While the story is a little on the vague side, it was an interesting exotic experience. Thanks for sharing the game! Would love to see it fleshed out more post-jam.

jerm 2017-05-16 07:49

Wow this was awesome! I loved the atmosphere of the game. The lighting effects and music really made it.

I also liked the simple "gameplay" which doesn't get in the way of exploring the world. But maybe I'm biased because I did the same in my game (although yours is executed much better) :)

porcus-pie 2017-05-16 09:06

Holy cow that was really cool, I'm a sucker for all things arty and atmospheric, so I loved this. The graphics, whilst simple really played into the games style and the audio was simple yet it worked. I was really impressed in this and got really into this character that the player builds throughout the journey. The constant skull motif I feel was really quite well done, without being too over the top. I felt the entire time like I was exploring some dreamscape, which I imagine the game was styled to be like. I did feel that unless it was intentional, the music cutting out every now and then was kinda weird and broke me out of the game. The controls worked really well as well, with the walking, looking and running handled smoothly. So I enjoyed this thoroughly , top work :ok_hand:.

I noticed a lot of people talking about how the character died in a train accident, yet to me it felt like the character had done something awful to end up in this place (must be my pessimistic side). But I feel this game is highly up to interpretation and I am really enjoying ready all the different meanings people are coming up with

grim 2017-05-16 09:19

@jerm @porcus-pie Wow thanks playing! Thanks for the feedback , it is really appreciated! I really enjoy the theories that everyone comes up with! :ok_hand:

veksell 2017-05-16 10:13

Nice game for first LD. I can feel dark atmosphere. But I think, we need more exploration.

ccglp 2017-05-16 11:38

Very good work for a first LD entry. The summary for this would be "UNITY LOW POLY P.T" and that is VERY good.

glimaleite 2017-05-16 11:57

I loved the mood. I was totally immersed. Loved the graphics and the weird things happening on the train. I also love the fact that the player is the one supposed to interpret what actually happened. Lovely game, probably the best I've played so far in this LD. Amazing! Great job guys!!

slueta 2017-05-16 13:14

The game has a great atmosphere - graphics, sounds. I got intrigued by what will happen after each wagon. I enjoyed it a lot. Congratulations!. If you have the opportunity, please look at my game: NUKEBALL - https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/nukeball - it is WebGL.

picapica 2017-05-16 16:55

I loved this! I loved it so much that I kept playing and restartng even after running into several problems. The first time I ended up outside of the train after the first carriage, that was interesting, but unfortuntately I couldn't get in again. Then the game kept crashing just before the end. And the camera movements made me a little sea sick. Also, my computer didn't understand the fonts in the start screen. But really these things didn't stop me from enjoying this a lot!

garethiw 2017-05-17 09:52

Wow, this was a bizarre little journey that I'm glad I went on. Lots here for a jam game. You crafted a great atmosphere with the lighting, art and audio.

I like that I'm left to decide the meaning of the story. Something to do with being stuck in the grind of today's modern life, with news and emojis and lots of depressing travelling on underground trains.

Great entry, well done!

👌📰