The Last Light

vegevan 2017-07-31 09:57

Oh man your game ! My feedback: * THAT WAS FUN ! A real game, I don't know, I played this game way too long, but I couldn't resign to die haha * The design is sober and efficient and the lightning gives a real atmosphere to this world, the night impression was there * The controls (web + chrome as you told not to do haha) are easy, but the character does some weird things, I guess this is browser issue. Any way, I liked the quick jump traveling the whole map and killing monsters with a ninja-style * The gameplay is fun, accuracy is key, BUT its lacks of growing difficulty. The number grows too slows, the uber wave is more fun than terrifying and the arrows are unlimited so we finish up firing all along when there is too much. Maybe a cooldown, a pool would have been a good choice to adjust the difficulty. * Also, the last light growing up with red enemies caught me; I wanted to see how big it could become and I stopped when the whole map was lighten and my coffee cold because... * It lakcs of a pause button. This is survival action game, and I was drinking ! I would have ppreciate it even more with a coffee break between uber waves haha Just joking and telling you ^^ * I regret there is no story, lore around this, the character seems mysterious and i'd have like to be introduced in this handsome game

That's a perfect man, for a second LD this is really, really good \o/ I just put you bad rating for the theme as the power reducing isn't that ... well... Actually it is; I changed my mind haha

Be proud of you !

michaeltwg 2017-08-01 08:41

Nice game with a good mood and good using of the lightning! It would have been very nice to keep a little more of the first interactions that changed the scenery.

pfeyffer 2017-08-01 08:46

Awesome game. The lighting really adds to the mood. Fun to play. It lacks some character development. There seems to be an untold story behind the mysterious guardian of the last light.

simon-millard 2017-08-01 08:48

I really liked the graphics / lighting in this game. The atmosphere is quite nice, but unfortunately the limited sounds and lack of music is a bit of a hindrance to the atmosphere being superb. Game-play is decent but not too original. Overall it's a pretty nice little game for your second LD entry, well done :)

madbeagle 2017-08-01 08:48

Really like the shooting mechanic, quite satisfying when you judge the distance from the centre to get the right angle for a direct hit. It wasn't super clear what the collectibles dropping at the edge of the screen were for - maybe I missed an instruction somewhere?

loktor 2017-08-01 11:47

@all thank you for trying out my game and giving me constructive feedback :)

@vegevan thx for the inputs, your right the character development comes a bit short (due to limited time), yeah a pause button would have been helpful :D

@michaeltwg good point, when i continue to improve it i will keep that in mind :)

@pfeyffer Yes that's definitely something i want to improve upon (time ran out so i wasn't able to pack in more^^)

@simon-millard yeah sadly i didn't manage to make a fitting soundtrack (time ran out on me :D), in terms of gameplay i planned to include more variety in terms of gameplay (with different enemy types not only flying ones, as well as temporary weapon upgrades, changes, sadly i didn't manage to include all of that)

@madbeagle Maybe the intro part was a bit too short, right after you shoot the orb a message should appear that explains that the things (essence) dropped strenghtens the light when you pick them up

gris 2017-08-01 19:10

I don't think I can add a whole lot hahaha. A soundtrack is incredibly necessary it would add a lot to the mood of the night and glow of the creatures. I like the idea, and it definitely fits the theme. Congrats!

wicked7000 2017-08-01 19:11

**Pros:** - I LOVE the lighting in the game , very well done on that it adds a lot of atmosphere to the game! - The overall concept of the game is good and a very addictive one at that. - The art is simplistic but works well and works in tandem with the lighting to really set a mood. - The addition of the concept of the uber wave made what could be a somewhat mundane repetitive game-play loop more entertaining.

**Cons:** - Maybe add some sort of background music to help round of the atmosphere of the game? - A high-score text letting you know what was the best score so you have something to aim for and beat. - Maybe add a few varying waves similar to Uber waves to mix things up a little. - Add a fire rate limit to the weapon? I feel like I can just spam at and angle and kill everything quick so by adding a fire rate it may encourage people to aim instead of spam but it depends on what your intention was (Subjective).

**Conclusion:** A well rounded and fun game that with a few extra tweaks could make it even better , but for the time constraints its an amazing entry so well done!

thorneto 2017-08-01 19:13

Fun game for awhile, the mechanics all seemed to feel nice. The particle effects coming from the destroyed enemies looked cool. I was really missing music, a nice piano track like Gwyn's theme would have fit the mood and filled out the DS reference pretty nicely. It also would have been nice to see a bit of variety in the enemies but its Ludum Dare so what can you do. Overall great entry.

d-studios 2017-08-01 19:27

This was a good game overall. I mostly liked the art and that how it was polished, with the lighting providing some atmosphere to the particle showers when you kill a spirit. I also liked that you didn't really take a basic interpretation of the theme, and that you used it in an innovative way. However, I did not like the game's lack of growing difficulty and after some time, the gameplay started to feel kind of trite and boring. In conclusion, I liked this game's polish and creativity, but I think the difficulty aspects needs some improvement.

loktor 2017-08-01 19:54

@all thank you for your feedback i really appreciate it :)

@Gris Your completely right a soundtrack is really missing (sadly i didn't manage to finish a fitting one in time :O)

@wicked7000 Yeah and fitting background music is a good suggestion :) those are some great tipps for improving the gameplay, i planned on having different enemy types (not only flying ones, also some which walk on the floor and maybe slow your shooting speed down?), i will defenitly add the highscore should add to the replayability :)

@Thorneto Yeah i was going for the darksouls vibe :D sadly i didn't get around to adding a fitting theme in time^^

@D-Studios Actually there should be a growing difficulty (e.q. the spirits get faster and become more frequent the blue ones, approx. every 20-40 seconds + uber waves (altough they get repetitive too after some time)), but your right a bit more variation in terms of gameplay e.q. what the player has to do to defeat certain enemies would have helped to increase replayability

fireshake 2017-08-01 20:12

Pro: EVERYTHING!!!

Con: Soundtrack

or better: No Soundtrack ;(

zelos 2017-08-01 21:11

Since you commented on Gradient Descent, I decided to try out your game as well.

I enjoyed it a lot, really nice experience. Got to 164s and died to the second Uber Wave. I don't think it changes much after that, so I'll comment on the game until then.

You know I like Lighting and Particle Effects, so that's a plus. Looks great here as well. The the rest of the graphics is also very clear.

I appreciate the home-made SFX. Would've been even better with some atmospheric background music though. Nonethless it's pretty clear what those sounds are supposed to be.

The gameplay is simple, but pretty fun. I found it a bit weird at first that the blue ghosts needed to reach an invisible line but the red ones just go through. Was confusing to estimate which ones to shoot first, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. I also liked the small intro part.

Overall really fun game. By the way - I answered to your comment on my game. It's unfortunate that the message system is still not working. Just so you know I read and really appreciated it.

loktor 2017-08-01 21:28

@fireshake thanks, i am really happy that you liked it :) yeah sadly i didn't have enought time to produce a fitting one :(

@Zelos :) thanks for the great and detailed feedback, i really appreciate it if someone takes the time and points out flaws which i might have overlooked^^ Yeah your right that's one of the main points which i wanted to get in but didn't manage to due to time running out^^ Now that you write it i haven't really thought about it before but it really isn't totally clear initially why they behave like this, i initially had an explosion animation sadly that one didn't look to good and time ran out so i didn't manage to put it back in (which might have explained it a bit better, but that still doesn't describe why the red ones don't explode)^^ :) yeah it's a pitty that the notification system isn't working :/

peachtreeoath 2017-08-02 05:14

One thing I really like to see in games with upgrades is a visual indicator rather than just a number go up. For example in Diablo where upgrading charged bolt actually shot out more projectiles. As simple as it was I just really liked seeing the light growing and that probably kept me playing more than anything.

wan 2017-08-02 11:19

Yay this is a Fantasy Fireworks Simulator!

It was a fun entry to play, the idea is simple but I kept playing, I enjoyed exploding those monsters with my arrows hehe. Props for the efforts you put into graphics and lighting, and of course the funny foley work you did yourself haha

Like others already said, the main improvements the game could use would be:

* Either a way to win the game or having the difficulty ramp up more quickly (the uber waves were fun but not enough to put me in real difficulty) ; * Some music for the background. * The main character physics are a bit strange (huge jumps!)

I also like the use you made of the theme, and how you painted an intriguing fantasy story in just a couple sentences. Nice job!

bombjack 2017-08-02 12:58

good job. I had some fun playing it

loktor 2017-08-02 13:00

@all thank you for your feedback :)

@peachtreepath yeah that was my intention behind it, and i am also with you on that point :) (and also part of the game mechanic, i would have liked to expand on it further if i had more time) :)

@wan :) actually there is a win state (altough not a very obvious one, after 500s the game ends and you get an firework of explosions more or less :D, but your totaly right on the difficulty part, after the first play, playing the tutorial part again is tedious sadly i ran out of time, i also wanted to include an skip tutorial part for the second playthrough to get quicker into action, also the speed and amount of enemies increases over time actually, maybe it wasn't noticable enough tho^^ i also planned on including more different types of enemies, which force the user to react differently with the initial mechanics sadly i ran out of time in the Compo :D), Yeah background music is my #1 on my todolist right now^^ That's a bug actually :D that i haven't gotten around to fix yet^^ or maybe more surface friction would have worked well^^ Thanks for the detailed input :)

michael-feldman 2017-08-02 18:34

I love how different this game is. It fits the theme perfectly. I love the lighting and color palette. It brings out the main theme of light which connects to power quite readily. On another note, the arrows are fun to fire, and the mechanics of red / blue are like a fun/modern twist on space invaders. Very unique. Keep up the good work.

aterlamia 2017-08-02 18:42

Good work i liked the graphic and i think you had some fun making the sounds? I am not realy a fan of click spawning but it is definitely fun for a little while

battle-buddy 2017-08-02 19:25

It's Flak Attack! Nice rendition of it. The lighting effects were pretty cool. That's something I want to learn eventually.

loktor 2017-08-02 21:01

@michael-feldman Thank you for your feedback i am really glad you liked the game :) yeah the sense of power from the source of light was what i was going for :)

@aterlamia Haha that is true :D sadly sound is currently my weakest point so i have to improvise :D

@battle-buddy since it was compo i uploaded the source code if you want to take a look :) (most of the light calculation is just the right shader and fitting graphics with bright parts which react well to the light + light sources attached to the moving objects :))

oxrock 2017-08-03 01:08

Nice entry! I actually remember playing your last submission as well. We're now both 2/2 for compo finishes! :) I can't really add much to what's been said already in terms of criticism unfortunately. It's a nice looking game that's simple enough to understand.

zarkonnen 2017-08-03 12:25

Really nice atmosphere! I managed 207 seconds.

deke 2017-08-03 12:49

Hey, hey! Finally found the time to actually post a comment on your entry! As I said in the livestream: your game is incredibly fun, even though the premise is rather simple. I loved how stressful it gets after a while and I especially loved that you don't limit the player on how many bullets they can shoot. I could just mash away like a madman! :D The only gripes are the jump, which feels very off because of its' weird momentum and the difficulties I had actually seeing the drops from the red enemies.

All in all a really cool entry, especially for the limitations of a compo. Good job :)

svr-audio 2017-08-03 13:41

Loved the graphs, that light effect with everything kinda dark looks just amazing, really beautiful, I missed some sounds in the background, maybe some ambience sounds could have worked, but the sfx are good, although the game is short and simple is very well done and it is fun. Great job !

ganbaregameskyle 2017-08-03 14:17

I found an error where you can't jump while standing still. Not that there is any discernible reason why it would be advantageous to jump.

loktor 2017-08-03 20:18

@All thanks for trying out my game and giving me valuable feedback :)

@oxrock yeah i remembered your icon and saw a comment of you somewhere so i had to try out your game :D

@zarkonnen :) Nice :)

@deke thank you :) yeah your completely right about the jump, i sadly ran out of time, at the moment too much force is applied^^ really gotta take the time sometime to practice writing good jumps :D yeah your right they are a bit small, i should have made the lights bigger :)

@svr-audio yeah ambience sounds are definitely missing, sadly didn't get around to include one :/

@ganbaregameskyle i actually didn't notice that yet, i always tried jumping while moving^^ thanks for pointing that out :)

danielilett 2017-08-04 20:53

I really like the visual effects in this game! The lighting around the ball at the beginning is a cool effect and the particles that spray out of defeated enemies are kinda cool.

-You can't jump while standing still and there is no air control on jumps, so you sorta go flying across the stage sometimes. I didn't jump because of these reasons, although jumping isn't necessarily required in this game.

-If you fix jumping a bit, then perhaps alternative levels with platforms or something more interesting to stand on might be cool.

-Since the red enemy drops are meant to increase the flame's size, why not make them glow with the nice effect from the start? It'd help to make them more noticeable.

-I'm a huge fan of the darkness aesthetic you've gone with. It's too easy to make a game feel too dark, but I think you've nailed it.

-I like the sound effects, but mostly because they sound like you made some of them with your own voice. :p

-The waves are a cool idea, and I managed to hold on through them, somehow. I did two Uber Waves and got to 200s, then I quit the game because it was mostly the same thing over and over.

-Do include some spooky atmospheric music if you can - it would tie the game together very well.

-My main tactic was to just spam shots, as you can imagine. I would appreciate an option to just hold the mouse button down to automatically shoot repeatedly - it helps reduce muscle strain for people's wrists.

-Your trees look nice.

-I'm not even sure what the enemies were supposed to be, but they look spooky so it works anyway.

A really strong entry and a very fun game. There's something satisfying about watching enemies fall down over and over again!

loktor 2017-08-06 11:03

@daniellilett Thx for the comprehensive comment i really appreciate it :)

>-You can’t jump while standing still and there is no air control on jumps, so you sorta go flying across the stage sometimes. I didn’t jump because of these reasons, although jumping isn’t necessarily required in this game.

I actually fixed that in an update now it should be possible (additional v3 Version) but yeah beforehand it wasn't really useful^^

>-Since the red enemy drops are meant to increase the flame’s size, why not make them glow with the nice effect from the start? It’d help to make them more noticeable.

I also fixed that in v3 :) now they should be way more visible :D

> -I like the sound effects, but mostly because they sound like you made some of them with your own voice. :p

I am glad you like them :D sfx/sounds is defenitly my weak point so i had to improvise^^

> -The waves are a cool idea, and I managed to hold on through them, somehow. I did two Uber Waves and got to 200s, then I quit the game because it was mostly the same thing over and over.

I will push an update today that should fix that, and avoid some of the repetition by introducing new elements later on :)

> -Do include some spooky atmospheric music if you can - it would tie the game together very well.

Yeah i will get onto that, but first i have to learn how to compose good music :D

> -My main tactic was to just spam shots, as you can imagine. I would appreciate an option to just hold the mouse button down to automatically shoot repeatedly - it helps reduce muscle strain for people’s wrists.

That's a good idea i might change that, i initially thought that this might make it too easy, but since you have to spam to really win maybe it would be a good idea :)

I am glad you liked it :)

loktor 2017-08-06 12:03

@Everyone i pushed a new version of my game, which incoporates a lot of the feedback i have been give :) maybe you have time to check it out and tell me how you like it :)

nitzanel 2017-08-06 13:42

I really liked the game! the visual effects are nice, the controls are simple, and it gave me 15 minutes of fun. Well done!

multiplexor 2017-08-06 13:59

Nice! I played the original version and I really enjoyed the graphics, the gameplay feels a bit too easy since you can just shoot in the middle all the time and watch everything die, other than that, some music would have been great for the mood!

Good job!

Keep up the hard work! :)

loktor 2017-08-06 14:10

@Nitzanel i glad you liked it :) @multiplexor Yeah the initial version was a bit too easy, you should try out the bugfixed version (there this problem shouldn't be the case :D also waves are there to counter that^^ and in the post compo version i included a new enemy which should disencourage this behaviour a bit and force you to have more fun :D), thx for the feedback and trying it out really appreciate it :)

drag0mir 2017-08-06 14:14

This so good,very good! Nice art. I liked it all very much

theflyingkeyboard 2017-08-06 17:59

Really fun, but I think player moves too fast and shooting is unlimited it makes the game too easy. Particle effects and lights look very nice.

loktor 2017-08-06 18:57

@drag0mir thank you for trying it out :)

@theflyingkeyboard yeah i was thinking about the fact that the player was running around too fast, i decided to leave it as that tho, because it allowes for more interesting gameplay options i think :) as for the game being to easy which version of the game did you try? (the bug fixed ones? since they shouldn't be too easy actually they should be rather hard as well as the post compo one)

sprouts 2017-08-07 07:20

Great game love the sound effects. Can imagine it was fun to make all those sound effects.

vkmicro 2017-08-07 19:38

**First of all:** Thank you for your feedback and for checking out my game. Appreciate it!

**Overall game impression:** It's been mentioned before but awesome sound effects really xD well done. But I would like to focus on lighting with my feedback. The lighting is incredible in your game. The light that each projectile emits when you shoot it add an incredible feel to the game. The sprites of enemies look incredibly and match the game art style perfectly. The colors overall were great and fit well. I loved the art and the lighting. Beautiful effects when enemies die. Gameplay is smooth and everything fits well.

**Suggestions and comments on improvement:** Some soothing and quiet background melody would fit this game very well I think and make it feel nicer. Make main character Stand Out. Give it an aura or something, make it appear and stand out like the main character should, I think that's the main thing I'd like to see changed. (i'm the one to talk...my characters in the game look just different color from the enemies...)

schu 2017-08-08 21:02

The lighting is really neat and the concept is great. The biggest flaw I noticed is that there's nothing stopping you from spamming shots but you can't just automatically shoot (or hold a button to do so) which is sort of annoying. Othewise, I thought it was pretty cool although I would've hoped for some other way to ramp up the difficulty aside from more enemies.

kr4ft3r 2017-08-09 12:42

Pretty neat details in this game, gj. Tho art style is too calming for frantic gameplay you have to fall into in order to save the flame, those blue demons are the worst jerks. All in all very good concept and art style, also good call to make controls responsive and character fast.

loktor 2017-08-10 18:40

@sprouts, @vkmicro, @schu, @kr4ft3r thx for giving me constructive feedback, really appreciate it :)

@sprouts haha yeah that is actually quite true :D

@vkmicro I am glad you like the atmosphere :) took some finetuning to get it right^^ yeah background ambient music is on my todo list :) really is the big missing part atm^^

@schu actually the spamming of shots was kind of intentionally (but to be replaced later on with upgrades/more targeted killing of enemies), but maybe a different way of controlling it without clicking to much would have been good :) yeah sadly i ran out of time for more enemies with different mechanics/behaviours, but i have some planned :D

@kr4ft3r that's a good point regarding the art style, i will consider that next time :) haha yeah :D