Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD51 → Nightfall
By gamebuilder and genie
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 1174 | 2.71 | 23 | |
| Fun | 1189 | 2.40 | 23 | |
| Innovation | 1024 | 2.78 | 23 | |
| Theme | 1112 | 2.81 | 23 | |
| Graphics | 1068 | 2.54 | 23 | |
| Audio | 479 | 3.32 | 22 | |
| Mood | 409 | 3.62 | 22 |
Pretty neat use of the concept. I was confused at first because I didn't get feedback that I was no longer moving left and because the houses look the same I couldn't tell that they were different. But I figured it out, nice game!
Thememaster, thats you are, fit into the theme. I like little that audio, maybe next time. You art is not good, sorry.
One last note: I always write down honest review, because everybody need that, not just nice craps with some bullshit, but sometime I will appreciate very good games. So if this review insult you, but use it well :) Anyway every game is counting so :)
As usual, the game is very atmospheric, I don't know how to say it correctly, but the whole approach to controls that you use is something I never seen before. It's strange but usually it adds to the overall atmosphere of the game and the worlds that you build.
The musicthis time is just fantastic, and I was impressed that you managed to record three different and memorable tunes. They add so much to the overall feel.
My main complaint this time is that it's so short. As soon as the atmosphere starts to sink in, it's over. I don't know, maybe I got extremely lucky run, and I understand that this is COMPO, but, as usual with your games, you want to enjoy this surreal and magic worlds for longer.
This theme was not very useful for a lot of games categories (that's why I say it's a very bad theme), and among those, adventure games. So, good for you for finding a way to do it, because myself, I couldn't think of any :sweat_smile:
This game has some good spooky potential! I was expecting something rather scary if I could not find my way back home. Luckily I was able to beat it pretty quickly through the power of button mashing everything! Some limits may have prevented that, but I do think the system of having number keys being how you interact with the world to be novel. Very good audio design, even when I made it back home I felt unsettled! Good job overall!
@lesinvisible the main track (the first one) was composed by @bcav. The other two were made by me with BeepBox during the final stretch.
You are right, this is a short game. I gave myself ’til Saturday night to finish the game (apart from @bcav’s music), and didn't have much time for playtesting. It was a self-imposed deadline, to make this more fun. My goal was to get it done in 24 hours, but that just wasn’t possible. Who knows, maybe next time. Anyway, glad to see you are still here and playing these games. Your comments always make for interesting reading.
The site just times out when I try to connect :(
Very enjoyable game and a surprisingly nice little story arc despite the simplicity! I love the colour pallete and the way that the trees are kind of pixelly around the edges. It's not afraid to acknowledge that it was made on a computer and the feel of the game benefits for it. I want to explore this world more!
Nice entry, especially for such a short self-imposed deadline! Would love to see what it could be like with some additional items and more elaborate puzzles in the future :)
I love the movement scheme in this game. On the one hand, I've definitely played games before where different objects on screen are associated with different actions--seems like a standard mouse-based adventure game, right? Except in this case there's no mouse. And I think that's pretty neat.
Especially because, it would be possible to say, use the left and right arrow keys for moving left and right, and then use the up arrow for doors. That would be pretty standard. But instead it's just numbers. I don't know, the simplicity of the movement scheme, but at the same time the novelty of it, is a cool combination.
Another thing about the movement--it feels 3D in a disorientating way. Moving left and right through the world feels like rotating my head, either due to the environmental art or due to the lack of a character on screen, or maybe both. This is a weird feeling, because it is very much not a 3D environment, and it very much keeps going to the left and to the right rather than looping around, as an actual 3D rotation would. And of course, the precipice to the right, at the beginning, cannot be traversed just by turning my head. But it feels like it could be.
I wasn't sure if the star did anything. I played a couple times to check, doesn't seem like it does.
I do like the other two houses. They mesh well into the movement scheme, with the numbers repurposed for new things. The fact they both are laid out so similarly, with a door, object, and portrait, is interesting as well. It is like the way that games will reuse things to save on labor cost or because that's the only way to make the art look coherent... but in this case, the rooms are quite different even though they have the same layout. That's interesting, at least to me.
So yeah, cool game as usual. :smile:
Interesting use of numbers for controlling the direction and a solid little puzzle. The woods section feels a bit too big, and the game is way too short. Great work in all!
It’s a really cool idea and the execution is pretty good, but for me the graphics are unattractive!:)))overall good job!
Interesting atmosphere! I agree with @alpharock6: "Nice entry, especially for such a short self-imposed deadline!" -- Also, I have to say, I enjoyed the music! :notes:
I really appreciate the atmospheric nature of this one.
Cool idea to have an adventure game on a tight time limit and obvious environmental changes. I would have liked the houses to match the theming better, and arrow keys or WSAD would have been more intuitive for controls. Good mood piece overall though.
The number key inputs are cool. I could've done with a longer game, it barely got dark at all before I solved it, but cool game nonetheless!
@honey-pony the star gives you 100% light. Originally, my plan was to have stars scattered throughout the game, so that you would have to explore to find stars before running out of light. I should have increased the rate at which night falls; as it is, the star isn't really necessary.
The navigation-through-numbers scheme comes from some of my older games, like Maximum Overdrive and Mourning, as well as the Nanna series (LD 48-50). But my original idea was very different. Instead of horizontal movement, there was going to be a world of unique locations: woods, houses, mountains, cemeteries, etc. — more like a traditional adventure game. But I fell into my old pattern of horizontal movement, just like in the Nanna games, even though I wanted to try something new. It's funny how that works. Maybe next time. We'll see. Anyway, thanks for your comments — they are insightful as usual.
Well, I won the game on second try, in less than 5 minutes total, makes me feel smart if anything lol. I guess you didn't had much time to add more to the game. Graphics are simple at first but there is something about them. Lady portraits are somehow nice.
I remember playing a game with this kind of numbers interface few years ago, I'm not sure if it's yours, couldn't find it among your previous games anyway. All I remember is it had style similarities and feminine atmosphere and theme, it left an impression in some dark psychological way since it's still in my memory. Annoying I can't find it though.
@kr4ft3r Thank you for the feedback. The game you are thinking of is probably **Mourning:**
http://www.pub22.net/game/mourning/
It fits your description, anyway. If it wasn’t that then maybe it was **Maximum Overdrive** — there is a link on my profile page. Both of these games have number interfaces.
Yes it was Mourning, "Merci" I actually replayed and solved it.
@kr4ft3r Excellent. I replayed it myself — I had forgotten what it was like.