FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD46 → A Night In The Dark

A Night In The Dark

By lectvs

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall943.9497
Fun1443.8097
Innovation4153.4298
Theme764.1698
Graphics1144.1098
Mood753.9797

Comments

feferuco 2020-04-20 02:52

Nice graphics. Is that clone guy immortal? It comes to a point where it feels like it's hopeless to keep fighting.

louis-hong 2020-04-20 04:01

Rated! I've been watching your development, and it turned out amazing!

nyunesu 2020-04-20 04:14

Heyo Hayden!

So, a little bit of feedback!

Feel free to ignore most of the things due to jam scope etc, but as always I’ll give feedback considering you’ll work on it after the jam.

Also somehow the game crashed when I was smashing the button to kill the evil dude.

Could’ve been better: - More interactions, like setting a tree on fire, or killing the guy and burning him with the torch - As you know, if your engine had audio it'd be great - A little bit of player-driven strategy, like making another fire to move to trees nearby

Good points: - Nice art - Lovely environment mood - Great mechanic of revealing dangers, the torch was also a nice mechanic to support the bonfire.

Hope that helps, and if you happen to update this game, come back here in your comment section to remember me and drop me a tweet or something!

If you have time, please click on my profile and give me some constructive feedback on my game (:

See ya!

wubbaduck 2020-04-20 05:16

I really like the concept. Like you said, we had a similar idea with fueling the fire. The movement and controls were a bit clunky and hard to work with. I really like the art direction.

rsim 2020-04-20 05:36

Great game! The 1-bit art worked well.

sneakycocoon 2020-04-20 05:47

Wow, i didn't expect the secret! That's honestly my ah ha moment of this game. Very well done

mehrdadsh 2020-04-20 06:39

nice stuff, really inovation and cool enviroment

juako 2020-04-20 06:41

Nice! love the mood of this game

ch4oticau 2020-04-20 06:43

.

supergamersgames 2020-04-20 06:43

Wow, literally dark. Well done!

evolving 2020-04-20 06:44

Realy cool style and game feel

tattomoosa 2020-04-20 06:45

Really dug how the outlines turned white in the visible edges of the shadow. Animations are very slick.

corporation 2020-04-20 06:46

Love the art, game is really interactible to controlls. So enemy is immortal? And game crashed at some point when hitting the enemy

alexander-termer 2020-04-20 06:49

Looks great

jeremy-ryan 2020-04-20 06:50

Nice entry! Too bad your engine doesn't support audio, it could have pushed the experience to the next level.

The one-bit art style worked really well, and you did a good job of using effects like negatives to simulate extra shades. Overall the game was very smooth graphically, and the environment was very reactive when you hit a tree or pick up an item.

The "long-term" interactions like the (spoiler) that leads to the (spoiler) were the cherry on top. I could see this expanded to include even more things, on top of having to maintain the central fire.

Great work for 48 hours!

lectvs 2020-04-20 07:05

Thanks for the comments everyone! I put out a small patch that should hopefully fix the crashing issues...

scintillae-creations 2020-04-20 07:57

I love the aesthetics! That moment when I accidently threw my axe into the dark was quite memorable. :laughing: Audio would be dope.

Were you inspired by Don't starve?

tupto 2020-04-20 11:13

Really incredible graphics. Interesting concept and nicely fleshed out. Took me a couple tries to beat the game and find a satisfying ending

tobiasw 2020-04-20 17:38

Oh, this was very nice! In the beginning it felt like it would be mostly resource management, but then it turned out to be more about incrementally unfolding exploration - I like surprises like that.

It took me a bit to figure out that the enemy can't be beat and is just there to avoid and to add tension. It did that quite well, giving me an additional thing to worry about.

I like the throwing, but I'm not sure it is strictly necessary. I sometimes threw things when I wanted to drop them, and throwing them too far was also a bit frustrating. Still, other times, throwing e.g. the torch was quite useful. I'm a bit torn on this. (Maybe I just need to get better at throwing, haha.)

Pity that there is no sound! The visuals and mechanics are already so atmospheric, sfx and music would've pushed that over the top.

Still, what *is* there is very enjoyable and quite impressive for a compo entry. Definitely of my favourite games so far!

erkoply 2020-04-20 18:10

This game looks amazing, I love how the world goes dark when you get hit! Also chopping trees is extremely satisfying, I could do it all day. Great work!

2020-04-20 21:30

Nice graphic style! I included it in my Ludum Dare 46 compilation video series, if you want to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/eHokHalkfT0

blabberf 2020-04-20 21:49

Such a neat game, I love the art and overall vibe so much! This was a delight to play, it felt like a streamlined, miniature version of a survival game (like Don't Starve or something like that). And when I found the key, and the game started to open up? Are you kidding me? That was awesome. I loved flinging wood at the fire, but I feel like it would be more satisfying if you made the wood just feed the fire if it touched it, so that throwing it would be more forgiving. At one point I accidentally threw my axe offscreen and couldn't get it back (it seemed to disappear), which was hilarious but did not help my success in the game. One other minor suggestion I'd make is to make the menu navigable by arrow keys and x/c instead of the mouse. Overall, really nice work and a joy to play!

rob1221dev 2020-04-20 23:24

I like the simple color scheme here and how you also added a small amount of color for important highlights. The door is also in a good spot because I might not have looked for a key without seeing that first.

frozedon 2020-04-21 04:58

This was an amazing game! It was so simple, but so well polished and just was really good.

demontoon 2020-04-21 09:04

Damned I love the secret ! Very nice work, and the polish is neat :)

life-lich 2020-04-21 17:20

great game, but can you plz add a link on your lectvs.itch.io to here, it took abit of time to find your game.

lectvs 2020-04-21 17:23

@life-lich Hey, thanks for the reminder! Totally forgot to go back and add the submission link after I published. I appreciate that you took the time to find the game here after coming from itch.io :)

synystercola 2020-04-21 17:47

Well done! I like the simplicity of it. It did take a bit to realize I should drop the log into the fire - not attack the fire with it lol. Good job!

lespaul59 2020-04-21 18:10

Really love the artstyle and the gameplay, hope you can add the music and sounds later. really good job :)

2020-04-21 19:28

Solid art. Interactions felt good. I was confused about the shadow person - that distracted me (goal-wise) from tending to the fire.

cptn-b 2020-04-21 20:06

Damn the red eyed one! He is anoing and I could not axe enough to go and leave, eventhough I axed him very politely.^^

sid-fish-games 2020-04-21 22:22

Great little game, chopping the trees down is very satisfying (the cutting down action reminds my of Forager). Wasn't sure if it was possible to defeat the enemy or if its possible to get the key to the lock whilst having a light trail. Great work :)

aditya-kumar 2020-04-21 22:39

Great game! The black and white color scheme only accented by the fire really sells the mood. The subtle things like the flickering of the light really add to it as well. The resource gathering mechanic feels a lot like unrailed, but you hit a completely different tone with it

shaolin-dave 2020-04-21 23:32

Best of the "campfire" games I've played so far. The graphics, while minimal, are pleasant and do their job. I totally wans't expecting that red-eyed axe killer, not sure if there's actually anything you can do to beat him.

neowhoru 2020-04-22 04:50

Wow this is really a great game - really nice idea for this theme.

splitpainter 2020-04-22 04:57

Great visuals. The game itself reminds of Minit. And I have read your Post Mortem, it is cool to see you developing the engine further in the jam.

yarl 2020-04-22 05:27

Nice graphics for the game and neat little animations. Despite being one of many of these, this one has an additional charm to most. I enjoy the enemies, though they do not die so easy.

kiln 2020-04-22 05:52

Very cute game. I liked the shader for the darkness, that was nice. Also interesting having the enemy be unkillable so they're a constant threat. Overall, a pretty decent concept. :smile:

tab1bit0 2020-04-22 12:06

Cool game! Really enjoyed! It took several attempts before I realize how to get the key and not lose the torch

chertkov 2020-04-22 15:49

Very nice artwork. I went for similar style, but your implementation is hands down superior. Great job.

roey-shap 2020-04-22 18:18

This was great! JEEZ! Everything just contributed super well to the central mechanics, and there were only a few things that I could ask more of: -A slightly more fitting item to keep your fire lit "forever" or "longer than wood" (it feels like it should be the other way around - logs lasting longer. Maybe you could have a "giant log" or "giant fallen tree" and then it could still have kind of a semi-comedic shock factor when you escape the darkness holding this giant felled tree.). -MORE OF THIS GAME IN GENERAL -Slightly better indication after a while that you can't actually damage the monster, just stun it

Incredible for every aspect of a Jam, and this Jam especially. Nice/10

yolziii 2020-04-22 19:04

Really cool game! The second guy was very unexpected! Good experience, thanks you!

sergio-gonzalez 2020-04-22 20:55

Cool game! I liked the 1-bit graphics and how when you throw things they inherit the player's momentum. I ended up using a strategy of throwing the axe to the fireplace before grabbing the wood :) I also made a game about a fire slowly going out with enemies attacking. It's funny how many games this jam ended up being like that. I really like the game feel when chopping trees too

davidpeterworks 2020-04-23 06:28

5* in all aspects. I would not compare it to Don't starve. You managed to put everything that is needed for a good game. I loved the inverted colors in the dark.

silurus 2020-04-23 10:41

It's poetic! I love the black and white graphics too bad for the music it would add an atmosphere!

but good job: D

jazambuja 2020-04-23 17:25

Nice art style, cute game congratulations!

apandso 2020-04-23 19:53

The art is cool and I love the inversion. The amount of times I threw when and where I didn't want to because of controls was.. a lot. So the point is to survive for as long as you can and there is no way to win? Good job!

jangamesdev 2020-04-23 20:32

Greate little game, I would like to see where you can take this if you keep working on it. I won on the first run and I think mostly because when I got the torch I started running around in the dark. It was fun and a nice play experience overall.

bailey 2020-04-23 22:35

really liked the use of a simple colour scheme as the main use of black and white drew attention to the fire and object highlight well and naturally

sierpinski-simon 2020-04-24 05:50

This was a really great game! It took me about 3 tries to get to the gasoline, and the fire growing very rapidly surprised me!

velvetlobster 2020-04-25 00:20

This has a "Minit" with "Don`t Starve" vibe. It seems the red eye creature refuses to die lol. Nice graphics. I miss some music to go with this mood.

hulien22 2020-04-25 04:14

Awesome game! Looks like we had very similar concepts for this jam (we even both had the red eyes for the enemies in the dark!), but I think you delivered a lot better on the artstyle and general mood ;)

Well done!

hectorpather 2020-04-25 12:13

Nice game, the graphics are simple but contribute to the atmosphere of the game, well done ! By the way we came up with the same core idea but the result is quite different ^^

notan-lemon 2020-04-26 07:03

This is great! I love the pixel graphics, it's so cute. And the secret ending was good. It took about 5 tries for me to see that because I knew there was a door but I didn't know how to use that torch. Anyway, good job!

gurbx 2020-04-26 10:46

Fun little game! Really enjoyed playing it trying to find out what secrets are hidden in the shadows. I like the retro look of the game. Everything is very nice and overall consistent.

It's especially cool that you made it with your own engine! Sad that there is no sound as it would have added a lot to the overall feel but it's of course totally understandable if your engine doesn't support it yet.

marcusnystrand 2020-04-26 13:05

Very original aesthetics! 5/5!

Also cool game concept! I found the door but didn't find the key before the fire died :/

Well done!

pee-thief 2020-04-26 16:13

amazing visuals. I love the negative effect when you get hit.

holysparks 2020-04-26 19:11

Absolutely loved the art style and the gameplay. Balancing the resources, escaping, exploring... All wraped in so tight. Great overall. I'd love to play a full version with more levels, with different maps and some new items.

wongkongphooey 2020-04-26 20:30

Amazing what you managed to achieve with such limited colours! It has a great mood to it, and was a lot of fun to play. Reminded me of Minit. Can I ask what engine you used?

lectvs 2020-04-26 21:28

@wongkongphooey Hey, glad you liked the art! The game engine I'm using for this, I wrote from scratch over the past year-ish. Uses pixi.js to render graphics. The engine is currently in a pretty bad, half-complete, and undocumented state, but if you want to take a look, the full source is included with my game's source code on itch.io! (the engine code is in the folder called "lectvs")

andrfw 2020-04-26 22:43

Digging it. Would be cool if there was more immediate danger. The biggest thing I was afraid of was getting stuck in a dark hallway, which was a sentence to a slow painful death. Maybe more enemies in the dark that could actually kill you would be cool?

nova0173 2020-04-27 00:07

Great idea! I love the impending doom angle- very fun. It might be kinda cool if you could kill the clone guys, then more would come, but just a thought!! Thank you!

mika-la-grand 2020-04-27 12:01

Nice game, but I couldn't figure out how to kill the enemy. Some sound would also help the mood, will this be added post-jam? Perhaps the axe and torch can glow in the dark as well. Currently you're pretty much screwed if you loose them.

theceases 2020-04-27 18:38

so much fun! I was constantly yelling "ahhhhh! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!" :sweat_smile:

knason 2020-04-27 19:08

The game looks great! I loved how the trees was animated, so rubbery :-) It was well balanced and that little monster guy was as irritable as he looked evil. Good job!

monish-vyas 2020-04-28 08:20

Loved the game and every moment playing it. Introducing new elements at regular intervals kept the game interesting. I wanted to explore the whole world but died a few times. Will come back later to play more. Just one small issue was I hated when my player threw the log instead of putting it down, same happened with the axe and lost it forever in the dark. Went with a torch to find it but no luck :(

Overall a really amazing game and a lot of fun playing it and the art looks cool

johnnysix 2020-04-28 21:26

Loved the negative effect when the dark encroaches , very simple but stylish. If you were to continue post compo, don't neglect the sound and music.

szieberth-adam 2020-04-28 22:27

From what light do the trees their photosynthesis? Or that light is just not visible for the player? He must have a short and unique wavelength range visibility or is dreaming. Even more as with a full tree one can feed a fire for a very long time. But these logs burn like straw. He must be dreaming. And there is a madman who do not care with the light but only to hurt our hero. He has no chance. Utterly nightmare! Uncanny. I am sure some like that. Me not so much, sorry.

I like the art style though.

eran-haas 2020-04-29 11:31

Really love the art style, love how much character and movement you get from something so simple! The inverting color is a really nice touch

microchasm 2020-05-02 07:08

I really like where this is going. It's like a little puzzlebox to figure out, with some unfolding as it goes. I want it to be like A Dark Room, where it continues to unfold to more and more interesting things. I would 100% buy a game like this if it got wierder and had environmental story telling.

jmad 2020-05-02 12:11

Adorable art, and super readable. Concept is simple, and straight to the point, as are the control, which is wonderful. Was nice to have a "hidden" endgame, too :) I had a hard time keeping the fire on, due to the fact that my little guy kept on throwing the log meters away instead of fueling the fire, it took me a while to figure out what triggered one or the other - even if it seemed obvious once I did - different keybinding for the two actions could be better, maybe.

lazzydev72 2020-05-06 18:01

Very cute Animations. Love them. it is impresive how you have represented Light and dark by just using Black and white collors. Well done Keep it up. :v: :thumbsup: