Fear Of The Future

alexv 2017-12-05 13:34

A very visually pleasing game, one of the best looking I've seen so far. I love the attention to detail you've put in the level.

I got stuck for a while at the jump before the "Life is a series of choices" for a while because I didn't know there's a double jump mechanic.

I don't think you should've gone for the double jump since platforming isn't the focus of the game so it doesn't really add anything and you can argue it's unrealistic and breaks the immersion, but if it's going to be in the game then you should definitely state it, since it's required to actually finish the game.

pur3 2017-12-14 14:07

@alexv Thank you very much, I agree with what you're saying about the double jump mechanic, it was more sort of for a fail safe if you were about to slide down the wrong choice and needed to jump back up. Nonetheless thank you for your criticism. Hopefully I'll get something a bit better out in 41. ;P

pecolyte 2017-12-14 16:17

Good game! The art fits the game style very well, as long as the music. I think there are some cracks on the environment when I move. Liked the way to make choice, is going up or down have some meaning? Didn't figured that out. Well done!

pur3 2017-12-14 16:29

@pecolyte Thanks, the cracks in the environment is due to Unity, it's not the best at handling tiles. I tried my best to fix this issue but couldn't in the end. Sometimes it all just depends on what resolution you're playing at. Finally, no I didn't purposefully make up or down have any deeper meaning lol! Glad you enjoyed the game.

louspirit 2017-12-14 17:11

What I liked more

* A lot of work on the atmosphere of the game : the visuals, the sounds, the effects * A lot of work on the branches : and to make it fit the theme ! * It is "pleasant" (expect were are talking about death :innocent:) to play again and discover all the endings

How to improve

* Maybe add more visual effects when you take branches would improve the immersion (popping hearts for love, popping coin sound for fortune etc) * Maybe change the abilities of the character getting old (less speed, jump, sprite changing...)

pur3 2017-12-14 17:59

@louspirit Thanks for the amazing suggestions! I wish I would have thought of those. Glad you like the atmosphere it's probably what I spent most time on. :)

cosarara 2017-12-14 19:09

The death animation needs a bit of work, I think. Very interesting concept overall. Hope you can get those white line glitches fixed!

pur3 2017-12-14 19:13

@cosarara Yeah, I wanted to have a different animation for each ending but I just didn't have enough time. :( Also I don't think I'm gonna be doing any bug fixes. I just want people to play the game how it was when I finished it, don't want to break any obscure rule either lol!

jk5000 2017-12-14 19:29

Interesting

svarttand 2017-12-14 19:38

Quite nice,

The music was good and the mood was great. I encountered a invisible wall when i just jumped back a few steps right after the first texts. Maybe it was planned, i don't know.

pur3 2017-12-14 21:39

@jk5000 Thank you?

pur3 2017-12-14 21:41

@svarttland Thank you and thats surprising, I didn't think anyone would like the music. First time ever making a song lol. Also yes the invisible wall was meant to be there. How many endings did you get? There are 4 that are obvious but the other 2 are a bit more hidden.

2017-12-14 22:02

The music and art were nice. It definitively seemed like you put a lot of thought into mood. You did well in this except for the double jump. Above a read what you said your reason was for doing that but it is kind of out of place and could have been replaced with some sort of crouching through a platform or something to make it more fitting. I liked the pixely player sprite. It's kind of weird that your goal is to die as young as possible.

pur3 2017-12-14 22:07

Replying to Anonymous comment:

Yeah, at the time though my brain was frazzled. Personally I think the double jump was a dumb idea too, but what can ya do. Also yeah, I know the Age thing is kinda backwards but it was about 2AM when they released the Theme for me and that's all I could think of at that point, by the time I woke up I just needed to start working on something so it's what I went with.

Hope this addresses your concerns, Thanks for the constructive criticisms. :)

terrapass 2017-12-15 00:34

This is quite a profound take on the theme, especially coming from a 15 year old game developer (assuming the info in your profile is up to date). The platformer mechanics, though simple, do their job of exploring the theme perfectly well, with your level even going as far as offering multiple paths and endings. I like how the pits and invisible walls, the latter of which you occasionally place behind the player, help to express the idea that quite often the choices one makes in life are irreversible.

What few technical and gameplay issues there are have already been mentioned by previous commenters, so I won't dwell on them.

The audio and visuals come together to create a mood, which I would describe as thoughtful and somewhat tense (time is ticking) at the same time. This aspect of your game, I feel, is very strong.

I think the risk you took in using Unity and C#, which you admit is not something you have much experience with, has definitely paid off. The scope for the 48 hours of the Compo was selected wisely: there is nothing obviously missing from your game and no game-breaking bugs either. You even had time to create a custom icon for the game - now that's attention to detail.

My main criticisms have to do not so much with the game itself, as with the way it's presented on the site. Firstly, unless I'm missing something, I don't see a link to the source code anywhere, though I believe it is [required](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/rules) for Compo entries. You should add a link to your Github repo (or even just a zip with your Unity project) to your game's page, so that there are no problems with the rules.

Additionally, despite using Unity, you only provide a Windows version of your game. Come on. :) I understand why you might decide to not have a WebGL build, since without additional tweaking of the game those often come out laggy and inferior to desktop builds. But you don't have builds for other desktop platforms either. I mean, I mainly use Linux on my laptop and I would've been able to try your game much earlier, if it just had a Linux build, and I'm sure there are even more people on Macs who love to play games. So do upload builds for other platforms as well - the rules allow you to do so after the deadline and your game will be available to more players.

Overall, I think you did a great job. If there's one thing I'd say, it's that you probably shouldn't have much fear of the future, if this entry is anything to go by. In fact, it will be pretty interesting to see what games you come up with in the future.

Good luck!

pur3 2017-12-15 20:37

@terrapass Yes, I am still 15 (until May)! The source code is now up and running, had to download the other packaging stuff for Unity, so the following builds will be up soon: Linux, Mac, WebGL! Hope this is satisfactory! :P Thank you for all the support, kind words and feedback! I hope I won't disappoint next year and I'm also looking forward to what you come up with. (Hopefully the theme won't be as bad as recent ones :sweat_smile:)

philstrahl 2017-12-17 18:11

Hey PUR3, I already got your comment, I just wanted to post my play of your game also here in your comments. https://youtu.be/BgkQxnrr8sU

gurbx 2017-12-18 11:30

I really like the libo-like art style, very cool! The music and mood is also very good! Well done!

knarf 2017-12-18 20:01

Interesting introspecting game ! I think i've reached all the end, each one seems a bit depressing in some way xD The limbo style is in tuned with the concept. Good job on making multiple ends, that's always a good excuse to retry and discover some new things... The first end that I've reached was disapointing me (I mean I don't want to end like this), then I could do what life would not allow you : live again, but there is no way you can really win but enjoy your ride :) Good job ! Cheers !

conrad123 2017-12-18 21:31

I really like this game. A lot. The one thing I would change is the background - it hurt my eyes. But this game is incredible. I love the mood.

sadcolor 2017-12-19 04:42

I think if there was some sort of actual platforming challenge, you could make the character aging significant by changing how the person controls, which would contribute to the theme. But I think as it is right now, you could have just made it like a text game and it wouldn't have really made a difference. As in, there isn't any real meaning behind the mechanics that you chose... It's just kind of tedious to walk down each path, and they are all functionally identical with some different text. The mood you created is very effective, though.

picapica 2017-12-21 00:28

I really appreciate games as expressions of their creators' thoughts! The simple form works well with the content. Interestingly, I started out treating it as any other platformer, avoiding falling into pits etcetera, but then I was faced with the fact that I would have to fall into one pit or another, no one gets out alive. I think maybe the quotes are a bit too on-the-nose sometimes, and if you were to develop the game further, you could probably find more subtle and personal ways to express the paths of life. Anyway, I enjoyed this game, and felt compelled to get to all of the endings!

goat-toaster-games 2017-12-24 04:33

This was a really fantastic little game. Visually stunning, love the mood and I really enjoyed exploring all of the endings. Good job!

geckoo1337 2017-12-27 12:29

Really fun little game which you did in a few hours. Each time, the main gameplay catches me. All sentences improves mood. Well done ++