Lightmare

bockja 2017-12-04 22:12

This game deserves something close to a perfect rating.. the idea that you need light to see and life but attract enemys with it is just brilliant. The visuals with the light are super cool. Together with the music it makes a great atmosphere. Even the name is brilliant. personally i prefer platformers with more aircontroll and the attack needs a unpleasent time to recharge. The tipp to shoot at the spotlight is also necessary because i did not identify it as oponent at first. Other than that: Great work, keep it up!

corc0 2017-12-04 22:29

@bockja I don't think we'll hear anything nicer! I'd be interested to see what we can do with air control... like a lot of people, we bit off more than we could chew, even though we're excited to develop this further. Thank you so much!

dj-depressive 2017-12-04 23:53

Cool idea that really fits the theme + fantastic art + platformer = good game :thumbsup:

interpol 2017-12-05 00:12

Wow, the game is really melancholic. The idea is quite interesting and simple, so it could be the base for a big game. I really enjoyed the overall atmosphere, so good luck! Hope you'll continue developing your idea.

strelly 2017-12-05 00:49

Like others have said, you could expand on this game to make a full release in the future, it's really good!

corc0 2017-12-05 01:21

@dj-depressive Thank you! I wish we could say we were the only ones who found this fit with the theme, but if you're interested, DeLight (https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/$51177) takes our premise in a totally different - and very cool - direction.

@interpol So glad to hear that the mood is working out; I think it's what we've liked best. We didn't even use a third of the concepts/enemies/etc we'd wanted for the game jam, so a fully-developed game is something we'd really like to consider.

danmanngames 2017-12-05 03:57

Great atmosphere and mood.

diego-santos-leao 2017-12-05 04:16

Very interesting theme, and well realized! I kept learning new things as I died and played again, picking up items as part of the core mechanic, learning about shooting, avoiding to light enemies! Cool concept, congrats!

corc0 2017-12-05 04:24

@diego-santos-leao Thank you! It's so hard to tell when you're successfully communicating a mechanic and when you're just being heavy-handed. I wish I'd included a space that's just jam-packed with moths and almost no batteries - just so you get the idea that you're safe while your light's dim. Ah, well. Next time?

oskarolausson 2017-12-05 12:46

I did not think it was heavy handed at all. Played it many times over and still feel I do not fully understand the mechanics (I picked up every battery without shooting everything because I was saving it for the big clump at the end but then I could not shoot for some reason, ah well It worked next playthrough so maybe it was a bug). I think people are different and you communicated just enough so many can understand. Great job!

revolutiongt 2017-12-05 12:50

Really enjoyed this. The music, atmosphere and even the gameplay all worked to convey a somewhat sad atmosphere. I wanted the character to survive. The many wonderful uses of light were interesting and had me looking for hidden compartments.

schizoid2k 2017-12-05 13:20

Wow! Nice job! Loved the feel of the game. Music and effects really add to the game.

corc0 2017-12-05 18:30

@oskarlausson Ah! That's my bad - each battery will only take you to 40% or 60% health in the prototype; you can't store them or add them together. Maybe we should've had the light-man drop a dead battery each time he picked up a new one... or made our health bar bigger... or something. Anyway, thank you for the super useful insight.

corc0 2017-12-05 18:35

@revolutiongt Thank you! Love to hear that the atmosphere feels something like how we pictured it.

@schizoid2k Much appreciated. The music came together at the last hour and I'm really glad it did.

meanmon13 2017-12-06 01:55

I liked the setting and the music .... found it REALLY hard to get past the first obstacle. I wasn't able to get past it after several minutes of trying and dieing over and over. I must've been doing something wrong. I like the game though and think you did a good job :-)

corc0 2017-12-06 02:08

@meanmon13 Oh no! The little room you're trapped in? We left batteries in the holes in the ground... but, ah, that sucks. I'd like to make the batteries show better if we get the chance to refine this... thanks for the helpful feedback!

seanbeans 2017-12-06 03:29

Really nice setting and art. Maybe some extra sounds for the player would have been helpful. Further to see more of these in a future. Good work!

luciax 2017-12-06 03:32

The idea is really interesting and I really love the atmosphere. More battery and wider light means more possibility to live but also attract more enemies. I'm not sure what those white and black squares are, they seems like dynamic platform and barriers but are they related to my light or other game mechanisms?

ryusui 2017-12-06 04:11

Really clever concept, but the gameplay is just too clunky. Charge attacks simply don't want to register about half the time, and that ridiculously unforgiving jump at the bottom is just plain sadistic. The lack of sound effects of any sort is also a serious thumbs-down.

corc0 2017-12-06 04:36

@seanbeans Ah, I knew someone would mention the sounds. We had several more but ran out of time. Thanks for playing!

@luciax So, we were hoping that the level would teach the player that the purple blocks disappear when you've got a bright enough light. I don't think it always worked, though, and those black and white squares you mention are what they look like when they're vanishing. Good to know that it wasn't super clear.

@ryusui I'm disappointed about the (lack of) sound, too - we just ran out of time, honestly. We need to do a way better job communicating what's going on and I think it's the level/UI design that should do the heavy lifting... which is pretty much on me. Really appreciate the critique. Thank you!

2017-12-06 06:13

Atmosphere is perfect and music fits it as well. In several round of play I get to know how to explore the world. I still can't manage to go long however. Here's a little question that some times light can vanish blocks but sometimes can't. Is it intentional, like, when power is low lignt can't vanish blocks? This also happens on bats when I try to shoot them. The concept of using light is cool and new but I'm not sure how this works with the theme. So I skipped the theme rate.

corc0 2017-12-06 08:40

I'm sorry to hear that! Light only works on those blocks when you've got enough power -- that's right! I wish we'd included a more visible health bar, but the one we have is color-coded, so you should see two colors when you've got enough energy to pass through blocks - and most of the time, the moths won't follow you if you don't have enough light. We didn't make this clear - at all - but there's a recharge time on the shot, and the power depends on how much light you have.

There's a lot going on here and I wish our level design had made things clearer!

mr-madcat 2017-12-06 08:49

Very cool idea. The game saounds and looks pretty good too. As others mentioned, understanding the mechanics is a bit had, but it's a game jam, so it is hard to test these things properly. Anyways, good work.

jk5000 2017-12-08 18:54

The music and atmosphere in the game is really good. The gameplay idea is interesting, but light mechanic is a bit confusing. But overall a fun LD game.