FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD48 → Deeper Trance

Deeper Trance

By dhim

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall3823.5473
Fun6922.9271
Innovation154.4375
Theme2363.9074
Graphics4793.3970
Audio3443.3374
Humor5532.1456
Mood2043.6670

Comments

liammasters 2021-04-25 22:18

Really crazy concept! I had difficulty staying focused but when it worked it was awesome. The music fits the feeling well but the mute button doesn't seem to work.

lakshyaisagod 2021-04-26 04:17

TODO: review game

robinfaury 2021-04-26 06:47

I love it! I blink just above 1km ^^

dhim 2021-04-26 07:11

thank you both, @liammasters the mute button is working locally... I'll try a fix

bhanosthegamedev 2021-04-26 07:28

Great game, it took me a while to get, what I had to avoid, but afterwards I was amazed!

ghuyajil 2021-04-26 08:20

It works! Once you see the holes, the trance really gets you! Very nice! Screen Shot 2021-04-26 at 10.19.00.png

dhim 2021-04-26 08:24

@ghuyajil Nice!

2021-04-26 10:11

This game literally made me cry (by staring too deeply). Awesome! And fitting music. Capture.PNG Do the colors change over time? It seems like it...

dhim 2021-04-26 10:18

@willem yes the slowly evolve, it's cool that it is subtle enough or that you where in such a **deeper trance** that you didn't notice much

purpledartfrog 2021-04-26 10:21

Thank you very much for your entry - I hope you had great fun making it :smile:

Strained my eyes a bit on this one - interesting idea :thumbsup_tone1:

I hope you'll drop by mine and give it a spin :wink:

:purple_heart: :dart: :frog:

mdotedot 2021-04-26 11:02

I need to go to the optician : I couldn't see a damn thing behind those pixels. But I'm old and I could ask my grandson to have a look. Neat idea.

iovorobiev 2021-04-26 11:13

Wow, that was a wonderful experience, not only fitting the theme, but also extending it in a surprising way!

runuchok 2021-04-26 11:38

Omg) Thats trippy!

rolly 2021-04-26 12:29

:cry: I can't make it. I have spent the past half hour trying, but I really can't. Is it better in small or in full screen?

I will try again, but in the mean time, I must say it's a great concept, totally inovative! Great job! I will extend my comment soon, if I can reach the trance :)

dhim 2021-04-26 12:33

@rolly sorry to hear that! Sadly some people can't see autostereogram... I'd say better in full screen. Try close to the screen and get further away.

thebmxeur 2021-04-26 12:39

I can't see a thing. Maybe it would be nice to have a "training" where you have to put the bar vertical, than horizontal or something to see if you actually see it (sometimes I though I saw it, but not sure).

wizard-sino 2021-04-26 12:42

I took a bit of work to see it, but once I did it was rather fun. very innovative idea.

dhim 2021-04-26 13:06

@thebmxeur you can activate cheat mode, rotate the bar and pause with space. THen remove cheat mode

thebmxeur 2021-04-26 13:30

@dhim Yes but that doesn't really help. One issue is that the game is still going on (you can "die") which doesn't let you get used to it. Another issue for me is that going from cheat to no cheat I couldn't see the bar at all which make me wonder if the game is working properly on my computer.

jaybaus 2021-04-26 13:36

Really cool, I used to be fascinated by autostereograms when I was younger but I've never seen an animated version, let alone an interactive one! The shepard tone in the music was a nice touch too. Really innovative, well done :)

dhim 2021-04-26 13:39

@thebmxeur. One you die the game indeed continue and nothing really change, it just go back to going slower and the score is zeroed, so if you are in it you should not loose it. You might be immune to the effect. THank you very much for trying multiple times !

dhim 2021-04-26 13:51

@jaybaus thank you. I came about the idea of interactive autostereogram during a research project with a colleague more than a year ago. For the shepard tone I knew the effect going up, it was some *happy accident* to merge a descending theme I had with the concept and have an interesting result. I am the most please by the music!

kernon 2021-04-26 14:10

Man I wish I could see these things. Never been able to. Cheat/boring mode works great though! :smile:

dhim 2021-04-26 14:19

@kernon yes it was a gamble to choose them to make a game for **Ludum Dare**. Thank you for playing still

a0m1n3zone 2021-04-26 14:28

Really nice concept for the theme

xlambein 2021-04-26 14:33

I have a slight headache but it was worth it :D this is a really cool idea! Took me a while to get my eyes to relax enough to see the pebble (never been good at those things), and then a bit more time to really start seeing the slits. Once I got there though, it was really cool and impressive! Definitely one of the most surprising and interesting entry I've seen. Makes me want to experiment with this in future games myself

zwodahs 2021-04-26 14:36

Screenshot 2021-04-26 at 10.35.13 PM.png okay ... this must be the craziest idea I have seen so far. I am saving this for later.

dhim 2021-04-26 14:39

@zwodahs thank you! @xlambein, source code is on github. I'll gladly help if you want to implement this kind of algorithm. I have better version and effect that I hadn't the time to implement in this LD

pookipoot 2021-04-26 16:26

Man this is so trippy. Really innovative approach to the theme. Though my head slightly hurts now I enjoyed the trance you put me through.

noel-widmer 2021-04-26 16:32

Thank you for the web app. The best way to share your game :D The music just stared playing while I am writing this. Love it!

Dude, this is sick. I started in fullscreen and I never really had issues with seeing these things. But it took me about 30 seconds I think. I don't know how far I've come because the timer resets so quickly and I was still in trance mode. Would be great to have a "high score" that showed the best score at all times.

Really love the idea. I didn't know this worked on screens as well. Sick!

Edit: Oh I didn't see my score in the esc menu. Damn. This could probably be more intuitive if the high score is near the current score.

famicon80 2021-04-26 16:32

oh god I'm terrible with these things, but this is such a cool idea I have to keep trying lol.

dhim 2021-04-26 16:46

@noel-widmer you are right, or put some indication that you can escape with space.

@pookipoot, cool that you liked the **deeper trance**

@famicon80 good luck, really relax your eyes like seeing far away.

charliegray 2021-04-26 19:41

I've always had trouble with autostereogram images and it's even harder when it's moving so I only got to 320 meters. But I just love the idea, this is the creative kind of stuff I like to see from gamejams. Also nice work with the audio-illusion.

dhim 2021-04-26 20:22

@charliegray nice that you were able to go that deep already

samguy 2021-04-26 20:38

This game is absolutely terrifying, I can feel myself being pulled into the sunken place

hypp 2021-04-26 20:51

Great idea!! Unfortunately I have never been able to see autostereograms so I had to play in "cheat mode".

japes 2021-04-26 20:59

This is why we do LD, to try out weird stuff like this and share it with other devs :) cool creative idea, kudos to you :)

dhim 2021-04-26 21:05

@japes, @samguy Thank you !

@hypp, sorry you could not experienced it in full. Thank you for playing it anyway!

forevertrash 2021-04-26 21:11

Played for about 10 minutes and didn't really understand the point of the game or the objective or the controls. Just hurt my eyes staring at it for so long. Cool music though

dhim 2021-04-26 21:25

@forevertrash Could you see the 3d effect ?

forevertrash 2021-04-26 21:59

@dhim No and I tried to use the squint setting and could only see 2 colors when it said you should be able to see three. Not sure if it's my eyes or what

delicioussalad 2021-04-26 23:03

Such a cool unique idea and take on the theme! Once your eyes adjust the way they need to this game grabs you for a while while the music also aids with the trance effect. Awesome work, I doubt there's any other game in the jam like this.

predominant 2021-04-26 23:29

As an older guy with eyesight issues this was literally painful. I understand the "magic eye" approach, but trying to focus on this was genuinely painful for my eyes. Please consider accessibility in the future! Good work on the music though.

hutchings90 2021-04-26 23:29

Okay. This is really cool, among the highest levels of creativity. One suggestion I have is to make the objects visible with fully unfocused eyes. That would make it easier to see, but maybe that point is too different from person to person.

occasoftware 2021-04-27 02:14

Thanks for the cheat mode! Honestly couldn't see a thing without it :D Cool concept and thank you for sharing. Definitely fits the theme and very creative idea.

andreia 2021-04-27 03:43

This was awesome, really unique. I feel kinda inspired to try something new with the medium and out of the box in the next game jam I participate.

colombo 2021-04-27 03:56

Loved the game, I used to have so many sheets of paper with designs that would pop when you lose focus. This is an amazing concept. Definitely not a game for everyone but I consider myself lucky to be able to play it

dhim 2021-04-27 06:19

@predominant Sorry you could not see the effect! It was a gamble to use such an effect. Although I made a cheat mode for accessibility. @marcmagus suggested a blue/red variant for people that can't see the effect (but you need colored glasses )

@occasoftware thank you for playing it!

@hutchings90 Thank you!, You are right, I could have added a slider to adjust the disparity, that controls the unfocused effect. But that would have added a level of unwanted fiddling in a Jam for most people instead of playing the game. For a production game, definitively!

@andreia The shader is on the github. I'd be happy to help if you want to use such an effect.

@colombo Thank you!

bubakgames 2021-04-27 06:28

Great game. I like the unique idea.

keithswanger 2021-04-27 08:40

I've never been able to get parallel views to work. I find cross-eyed views much easier. I can play the game cross eyed, but obviously it makes everything inverted. If there were a way to toggle between parallel and cross eyed views, I think that would be the best of both worlds!

Really cool to see this effect in a game though. Nice job!

vilcans 2021-04-27 08:49

What an excellent crazy idea! Nobody can see what you're doing, so this game has a built-in privacy filter!

dhim 2021-04-27 09:59

@vilcans I think that was the use case for the research work from my colleague a year ago

@keithswanger, ah yes, I tend to not see cross-eyed one... So I didn't think of adding the feature! Though the fact that is was a wall eyed autostereogram cross my mind when I made the squint helper and looked at my familly from behind the screen... Thank you for the suggestion, it would be quite easy to implement as well...

thegamerasd 2021-04-27 11:57

Nice game! I liked the idea and how innovative it was.

fishmasterino 2021-04-27 12:09

Very very nice idea, but quite headache inducing :)

omg-blackbeard 2021-04-27 12:59

@dhim - This is totally different concept. I never thought something like this could have been done. Very innovative

joonamo 2021-04-27 13:51

Oh wow, first time I see autostereogram in a game! I could have used a bit more contrast between the shades of noise, other than that it was really fun to make my paddle fall in the holes! Would be intersting if you could have other games with autostereogram support.

I would have wanted to tell everyone how deep I got, but I really couldn't read the score cross-eyed :laughing:

dhim 2021-04-27 14:06

@joonamo Thank you for playing. Higher contrast felt more tiresome ( but maybe because I spent a lot of time pretesting ) you can press space to get to the pause menu and see your deepest score!

jason-wilson 2021-04-27 15:05

I could never get those hidden 3D images to work as a kid, and I couldn't get the image to show for this game. :(

While playing in cheat mode, I didn't get a sense of depth as to where my paddle was in relation to the hole so I had no idea when I would collide. I often felt like I didn't have enough time to rotate into place.

This seems like a cool idea. I wish I could play it as it was intended.

dhim 2021-04-27 15:11

@jason-wilson yeah the cheat mode is the depth map used to create the 3d effect, but matching the white of the paddle and the gray scale of the plateform is barely possible, while it's easy if you see the effect. Thank you for playing it still.

grena 2021-04-27 18:25

Wow, took me time to actually seeing the game. At first I've put myself veeeeery close from the screen. Then I pulled back and.. WOW.

Literally first time I see this kind of experiment, "real" 3D, that's awesome. Crazy concept, I really went on a deep journey over there, thanks making me discovering autostereogram.

kooky 2021-04-27 18:28

Absolutely incredible. I LOVE how you used the theme, in multiple ways!

I love your choice of using an ever-descending musical illusion to fit the theme (fantastic), and the dependence on autostereograms to fit the theme too. I've never seen those things done in a game before! :grin: Well done!

It's funny that if somebody happened across a person playing this game without first seeing the tutorial, they'd wonder what the heck was happening, and how the player knows what they're doing.

nyxkn 2021-04-27 20:20

What a unique experience! The theme was absolutely spot on, both with the game concept and the music. It took me a while to get to see the thing, but it all seemed very impressive when I did!

nyanpierre 2021-04-28 03:01

Its really innovative! good job !

axeltherabbit 2021-04-28 13:01

Sorry I tried for a while but I can't see anything without the cheat :(

dhim 2021-04-28 13:11

@axeltherabbit sorry to hear that! Some people can't see them... Sometimes changing Light conditions, distance to the screen can help

fatebreak 2021-04-28 15:17

Wish I could see the effect. I'm not really able to get close enough to the screen with my monitor setup. Very cool and clever idea though! Very unique! Good job!

dhim 2021-04-28 16:23

@fatebreak, yes I'd say 50cm (20 inches) works well for me. Thank you for trying it anyways

neverautomatic 2021-04-28 16:52

This was a really unique experience! Autostereograms are definitely cool, and I was excited to see a game that uses them for graphics. Very clever!

zimny11 2021-04-28 17:43

Wow! This is just amazing! At first I thought, "Ah, well, I can't see it :( ", but then it clicked! Bravo for the idea. What a cool game mechanic!

dhim 2021-04-28 17:48

@neverautomatic Thank you! I hope to do well in the innovation category!

@zimny11 Glad it clicked! thank you for playing

exewin 2021-04-28 18:05

Tried for 10 minutes, but I didn't get the effect. I think it will be fair if I not rate this game, sorry.

rob-parker 2021-04-28 19:10

This was a really innovative idea. The actual game itself is simple but the mechanism to play the game really stands this out from the rest. However, that is almost it's curse as it will be a little bit of a blocker for some people (Although you clearly thought of that adding the helper and cheat mode. Nice job!)

dhim 2021-04-28 20:07

@exewin Sorry you didn't get the effect. I appreciate you not rating. Feel free to rate the music, to increase your karma!

dhim 2021-04-28 20:12

@rob-parker true, My goal this year was to make a game, as I tend to create experience or mood with no clear goal for the player. As I was very short on time this week-end as I was visiting familly, friends and taking care of the kid, I decided to go for a **very simple(( game first, and then add something to it!

I think the effect lands itself well for simple things in the center of the screen. I tried to add more complex shapes like text, but it's quite hard to read or get. Moving around the screen also tends to break the concentration.

microchasm 2021-04-28 22:01

I love magic eyes, and it super cool to see a game use the concept. It's a simple game, but it was still an experience worth having. The music is familiar, I think I've heard it on a few other LD games before. Well done on getting this to work. Who needs VR?

dhim 2021-04-29 07:00

@microchasm the theme is my own design, but it consist of so few notes (it's one bar repeated over and over one half tone each time ) that it might indeed appears somewhere else. The [score](https://github.com/dhmmasson/deeperAndDeeper/blob/main/ressources/Deeper%20Trance%20Sheet%20Music.pdf) is on the project github. The key thing is that it is always going down ad infinitum.

My GF told me it made her think of 2+2=5 by radiohead.

microchasm 2021-04-29 07:27

@dhim I’ve played so many games these past couple of days, I was trying to think of where I heard the music. Then I realized... one of the games was your game in an early build. That’s probably where I heard it, my mistake.

triastase 2021-04-29 13:13

Wow, what a unique entry! I needed some time to adjust, but when you see it, it's a really cool effect (same with the music going deeper and deeper). The gameplay is of course rather minimalistic, but it's crazy to see a game in Ludum Dare that does something I've never seen in a game before! :smile:

dhim 2021-04-29 14:31

@triastase Thank you for your kind review. Glad you liked it ! I am starting to hope to do well in the innovative section :). It was a ton of fun too make, and I am amazed by all the positive feedback from the community!

marcmagus 2021-04-29 17:16

Thanks for bringing your game by my stream to try out Monday Night. If you'd like to see my reaction/our discussion again you can find the highlight at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1005053844

I was disappointed I couldn't see the stereogram, but I really enjoyed the high-concept of what you were trying to do both with that and with the audio.

animagik 2021-04-29 21:56

I feel very strange for this game. Cool)

kromeboy 2021-04-30 15:47

Unfotunatrly I never was able to see this kind of images, but it's an original idea nontheless

vanleiden 2021-04-30 20:04

Wow, that's insane! That's exactly the kind of thing I love to see in a GameJam. Amazing entry! I love everything about this.

timon 2021-05-01 13:07

Such a cool concept. Unfortunately my (nearly) one-eyed vision limited me to playing the cheat-mode, but I'm a sucker for seeing people try unique game mechanics like this!! Keep up the great work!

ayxh 2021-05-01 13:54

Whoa, that was trippy! Took me a few minutes to really "get" the image, but it absolutely sent me in a trance!

Screenshot 2021-05-01 145001.png

liam 2021-05-01 13:58

Absolutely loved it! Always had fun doing magic eyes. Really original and cool. I did read your comments that adding text was hard but I wonder if the depth you were at could be large enough to form part of the background you are falling through. It would be ace to keep your eyes unfocused and know your depth!

dhim 2021-05-01 16:33

@liam, thank you! 'aybe with a 7-segment font that would be simple enough to be readable.

dhim 2021-05-01 16:36

@ayxh Nice score ! I wanted to implement a global high score system this year, but didn't. Next year for sure!

dhim 2021-05-01 16:37

@kromeboy, @timon Sorry you missed some of the fun. Thank you for playing anyway.

@vanleiden thank you for the nice comment!

azagaya 2021-05-01 20:24

Really nice concept! Sadly, i cannot see autostereograms (never could in my life), but I see that this should be mindblowing when you are able to see it! So I played in the cheat mode. Congrats! very creative!

jrevel 2021-05-02 18:12

I really like autostereograms, so when I saw this game featured in a stream I had to try it ! I didn't know it also worked even with animations, it's good to know. It give such a sense of depth to the graphics ! The gameplay itself is very simple but it works pretty well, I think just increasing the speed over time to make the game harder and harder would help to keep the interest of players a bit longer.

dhim 2021-05-02 18:54

@jrevel Thank you for your comment ! Game speed is increasing each gate you go through. Although I tweaked it down so people could go **deeper and deeper**. The game is not really meant to be difficult or played for a long period of time or even multiple time. It's kind of a novelty game to experience this effect. I am glad you liked it!

nonumbersgames 2021-05-08 21:00

An incredible experience! I used to have issues with these type of images, but your clear explanation and good implementation made it easy to see, didn't even have to use helpers.

Great idea and great execution. The subtle change/distortions as you go deeper really emphasizes the mood. Not sure if it is that or something else, but I want to continue playing it even though my eyes got tired after a couple of delves of more than 1km. Will keep the tab open to play more another day.

Also noticed it is much more difficult to see the effect during the day when sunlight is reflecting off the screen. If someone has trouble seeing it they might have better chances after sunset.

dhim 2021-05-09 17:16

@nonumbersgames Thank you for your review. Indeed light condition on the screen have a big impacts it seems. I am guessing your eyes tend to focus on the reflection instead of the deeper image!

I was going to check your games, but I already did! I liked it :)

felo07 2021-05-13 14:54

I just woke up and came here to play your game, I almost fall sleep again hahhahaha maybe the music could be a little more chill! but very unique and conceptual idea, congrats!