FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD48 → It came out of space

It came out of space

By suchista

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall5323.3425
Fun4953.2625
Innovation7752.5825
Theme6973.1025
Graphics4413.4525
Audio2423.5225
Mood794.0025

Comments

james-gillespie 2021-04-26 06:46

Loved the mood and music, the way you set it up to explore was nice. 4-way shooting would have been nice but it works how it is too.

squigglez 2021-04-26 14:26

i really liked the atmosphere! the lighting, graphics, and music was very spooky

neonjeff 2021-04-26 19:22

Killer rabbits! I love the music and the pitch shifting down to add dread!

samguy 2021-04-26 20:25

Great music, good gameplay, interesting premise! The restrictions on shooting made kiting difficult which made the game more challenging in a good way. The music set a great tone throughout the game. The hitboxes on the blobs don't occupy their whole bodies, only the lower section, I imagine that may have been intentional but it was a surprise while playing

kristinamay 2021-04-26 20:29

Very cool! Love the lovecraftian vibe, music was great, game was v spooky. The first big blob I killed I was like "Yeah, I did it, I got the boss!" Lol, nope. I also LOVE the swirled trees.

forevertrash 2021-04-26 21:58

Awesome graphics, lighting, and atmosphere. Cool idea. I never made it to the end, not sure if it's possible, but I like the level design. Sick game.

alchemic 2021-04-28 04:31

Excellent atmosphere and mood. I love the twisted trees and some of the scenes. You clearly put a lot of effort into the level design, and were able to form a compelling narrative with such few components. The only thing I could complain about is the lack of sound effects, but honestly that just let me appreciate the music more (btw what tool did you use to make the music?).

Seriously, good job!

suchista 2021-05-02 20:21

@james-gillespie @squigglez @neonjeff @samguy @kristinamay @forevertrash @alchemic

Thank you all for playing and reviewing! :)

@squigglez Thank you, that's what I aimed for in this LD :)

@neonjeff Yes, killer rabbits! I was worried for a while that the game will be just a rabbit hunting simulator xD

@james-gillespie Thanks! About the only-two-way shooting, I intended it as a way to make the gameplay a bit more interesting, as it didn't have much going on, because I was too busy with the atmosphere. Also, it fitted the art for the hero and I didn't want to draw 4 more frames just for that.

@samguy Thank you, I'm glad you've enjoyed it! The blob hitboxes were intentional, the same way the player and the trees have smaller hitboxes, but maybe it was a mistake.

@kristinamay Haha! The game was directly inspired by Lovecraft, I don't know if you've read Colour out of space, I like it very much :)

@forevertrash Thanks for playing! The game is winnable, there is a sign on each level (besides the last one, but that one has something special). Maybe I should have made them more visible, I honestly drew them in the last minutes. And the extensive amount of enemies in the penultimate level would be something I'd reduce now.

@alchemic I very much wanted to add sound effects, but I really ran out of time. I used BeepBox to make the music (it was my first time with it and it's so much better than LMMS or even Bosca for my simple needs). The instruments I chose were caliope, slow strings and dark strike. Thanks again!

andidebob 2021-05-03 12:58

What a really nicely crafted experience. First off, I love the inspiration and I do think that you really went in the right direction with this. The music warping at points was really fun, I would have loved it if if got weirder and weirder the further you progressed. Then The little things you did, the lights suddenly flickering, the trees all warped and weird, really good stuff. I with there would have been a bit more of that feeling in the player controls itself, like maybe give me the ability to shoot in all 4 directions, but make me releoad my gun for a second or two after every shot, just to show that helplesness more.

All in all I think this is a really solid entry that was really fun to play, also I normally don't like it when a game gets you stuck on a non exitable screen at the end, but it was really fitting for yours and a nice way to get the credits in too!

garys 2021-05-03 14:30

This was really good, atmospheric and moody. The graphics reminded me of 90's photoshop texture filters! The music was very fitting and I liked the lighting effects too. I would have liked to be able to shoot in all directions, but other than that it was pretty great.

blubberquark 2021-05-13 18:38

If we were still doing the awards from the old site, I'd give you this jam's programmer art award

sevkron 2021-05-15 15:52

The gameplay isn't what interested me so much as the overal style of the game. The VFX were pretty good, it's a shame that it wasn't accompanied with sound to go along with it. The graphic style almost reminded me of engraving, especially when the lighting goes wild at the end. Along with the music it was all very creepy.

chirichirichiri 2021-05-15 16:00

I actually quite liked the horizontal limitation for the bullets, it led to a lot more kiting which I thought was fun. Quite cool little game! I was glad to see multiple enemy types by the end, as well, it would've gotten old with only the one

scruffylooking2121 2021-05-15 21:29

Nice game. Music was full of dread. The difficulty ramp-up was nice as it allowed me to figure out the limitations of the shooting and plan ahead for the next encounter. Nice use of check-point system! I really appreciated not having to start completely over. You really set a creepy mood with the music and other-worldly color selection. Nice job!

binaryprinciple 2021-05-15 22:21

Nice game! I would recommend having a smaller scope, maybe a smaller level with more thing on going. Still I enjoyed it! Good entry.

francesco 2021-05-15 22:41

I really like the art design. From the texture of the trees in the beginning to the colour madness of the end and the deformed trees, I found it great ! The music fits the mood, and some creepy sound effects would make it even better.

There were a lot of levels but it got a bit repetitive for me. However I found some thrills towards the end when it got trickier with a lot of enemies, and that's also were you get to really feel the mechanics of the game.

So my suggestion would be to dig on that stress vibe: being surprised by enemies making terrific sounds, adding some survival gameplay, and a psychological plot, etc.

epb9000 2021-05-16 11:06

The normal maps with the lighting was pretty incredible. Excellent music for the mood. I didn't die at all so I didn't get to experience the checkpoint system mentioned in the comments. I'm thankful it existed had I ended up needing it though.

oadt 2021-05-16 15:05

The exploding bunnies are hilarious :smile: The graphics with the heavy use normal maps and other effects is pretty novel and cool and fit the idea. Also the music is pretty nice. The gameplay is pretty simple and the enemies could use a better AI but it was good enough to get into the mood of this game. Nice atmospheric entry! Just out of interest: are the dead bodies actually corpses of other players?

I might got inspired to read "Colour out of Space". Is it good to start in the Lovecraft universe?

littlegamer 2021-05-18 14:47

Hi ! Liked a lot the mood and the environnment, the graphics are simple yet nice ! The game could be better on the gameplay but is enjoyable due to its unique atmosphere. Nice music too, though sounds would have made the experience even better.

A good entry overall !