Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD60 → While the Lantern Burns
By chuckeles
π€ AI-Assisted
| Percentile | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | LD60 | Ever | |
| Overall | 27 | |||||
| Fun | 26 | |||||
| Innovation | 27 | |||||
| Theme | 27 | |||||
| Graphics | 27 | |||||
| Audio | 25 | |||||
| Humor | 23 | |||||
| Mood | 25 | |||||
I couldnt get past the first enemy but the atmosphere is INSANE
The musket reload bugged out for me and it didn't reload the musket (Or did I miss anything? I pressed right mouse to aim and expected left mouse button to fire? Anyways the visuals are a bit glitched there, no big deal)
Awesome job!
The graphics and sound design are fantastic. Really amazing, I can't believe you were able to create such high quality stuff in such a short amount of time!
The game itself, although the concept is interesting and on theme, I think is too frustrating for me to enjoy playing haha. I would almost have preferred like, just exploring with the lantern in the awesome world you built!
@ntmalichi as a final step, you have to light up the musket on the lantern before you can shoot. I wanted this multi-step process to fire the musket on purpose to put pressure on the player, but in the end I left myself NO TIME to actually properly explain this in the game π€¦ . Thanks for playing anyway.
@william-corrin thanks so much for giving it a shot. Yeah, I know, the game is very rough around the edges once you start actually playing. I'm proud about the art, sounds, the atmosphere, but the level design and tutorial is just crappy. I did not leave myself enough time to properly do those. Yet again, the same lesson learned. But thanks for playing! You can totally just wander around with the lantern until the first enemy, but aside from the same rocks, there's not much to see. π
hand-operating the lantern in total darkness until the light finally spills over the cave floor is a great moment. finicky lantern plus musket as your only tools is a smart take on the theme. only took a few steps, want to see more
This looks and sounds great, and that really sets the right mood. I had the same problem of not being able to get past the first monster. I shot him several times but nothing happens to it. And having to go back to the start every time was off putting. Picking up the musket should act as a checkpoint. I think there's a really good concept in here, horror games often use unwieldy controls schemes to add to the tension, so I do hope you continue and improve on this. Great work for only 48 hours. Good stuff π±
@oddballdave thank you! Not sure why you were not able to kill the monster... I hope there's not a bug. I tested it before publishing but just in case I'm gonna retest. But I am aware that the game is super clunky. Thanks for playing! π
@gevernus sooo, did you actually play the game? I'm confused by your comment π . You say you liked it, took a few steps only, but you'd love to see more... well, just play for longer? π€
Itβs incredible. I canβt get over the atmosphere youβve managed to create. Itβs a bit of a shame that itβs somewhat marred by gameplay that isnβt very intuitive. But wow!
@tasakasama thank you! Yes, exactly like you said. The pieces are there but the main gameplay falls apart.
This is amazing. My highest rated one so far.
@jesus-gonzalez thank! π
I really love the lantern mechanic, the concept, and the art style. However, the game was quite laggy for me, particularly in full screen mode, and the audio was very glitchy. Also, the musket was broken for me. I feel like it would be helpful to have downloadable builds, and also, if you did some bug fixes, this would be a really good entry.
I don't mind that you used AI (I wish others would disclose this in similar detail), but IMHO your entry really shouldn't be submitted under Compo rules. Using AI the way you did is sort of like having a little helper. Plus, you mention yourself that you also used pre-existing assets (sounds).
That being said, I really liked the mood and I think the mechanic works well, it all kinda fits together. I actually understood the mechanics so this was fine. The only problem I saw was that web version does stutter a little for me (RTX 2070 Ti).
---- If you're not the author and want to heart this comment, please don't - there's an unfixed bug on LD page. Explanation [here](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/far/psa-do-not-heart-comments-on-other-peoples-games) and [here](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/60/the-base-for-old-creations/playrate-is-still-broken).
the atmosphere in this one is fantastic, the flickering lantern light and the noises in the dark do a lot of work with very little. i really like that the musket takes a whole little ritual to fire, having to light it on the lantern first turns every encounter into a panic and makes the tools feel properly old and fiddly. was that multi step reload always the plan, or did it come out of playtesting? great mood.
Hi, I dig the graphics mechanics, and atmoshphere. At first, musket mechanic felt too clunky, but it`s a learning curve, after couple of tries you do it pretty fast. Wish it was a bit longer or had a boss in the end. By the way, Sound diglitally distorts in the beginning of the game. Great entry!
The game has a very pleasant atmosphere. I liked the sounds. I managed to get through the game without fighting any monsters; it feels like something could have been done to make them more of an obstacle to progression.
Wooooo! First game I played of the jam! π (Too bad it was when I was still working on mine, so I couldn't play it long. or take time to comment) π¬ π
HUGE fan of your work!! Been following for a few jams now and I always look forward to seeing what you make! (Also been enjoying following your progress on Whisperlands! π³
I'm genuinely impressed by what you can create in 48 hrs. π This entry is bonkers. It's so good. β€οΈ π₯ The sound and atmosphere is so crazy good. When I first played, I immediately died on the first monster because I didn't know how to shoot. After seeing that you needed to light the muzzle with your lantern, decided to give it another go... I still died. π The respawn is BRUTAL. π
But it made it even more intense. (Even tho a checkpoint after the tutorial bit might be nice). The controls are very clunky, but seem deliberately so. Like it's a lot of steps and controls to remember. But makes it part of the charm I think? After a while, I was able to get the hang of it, and started remembering the steps and it made it feel more immersive tbh. It felt like using a really old gun and lantern.
Granted... I would've died under that pressure if I didn't game it a little and retreat a bit to give more time between monsters.
I was really scared here π° π
Overall, this is a top entry for me!! Really really nice work! π€
The core idea of navigating those winding passages with such limited light and tools is fantastic. It creates a palpable sense of urgency and tension with every step. Looking forward to seeing how you build out this dangerous cave environment!
@eugenik thanks π€
@technicalitycreations thank you! Yay it seems Godot has performance and audio issues in the browser. I'm sorry for that, nothing to do about it now. I could prepare Win/Mac/Linux builds quite easily but I guess most people are still going to play in the browser anyway. π€· Thanks for playing anyway!
@vorondesan thank you for playing π
@perrarancino The multi-step preparation of the musket and in general, the fiddly interactions with the items is actually where I started before I even had the game built around that. I actually had no time for playtesting lol π₯² Thanks for playing!
@viktoria Yes, that is because I left myself about an hour or two to make the final level before the deadline, and the result is that I had no time to actually playtest it properly and come up with fixes for the problems π . I had ideas for forcing you to fight the monsters. For example, rocks that would block you and you had to shoot them, but I just ran out of time, so it is what it is. Thanks for your feedback and for playing the game. π
@scrapmetal Thank you so much for your kind words and for your support. I really appreciate it! π€―π
@marudziik Thank you for your honest comment. To be entirely honest, I was on the fence whether to join the compo or the jam, but I decided to go with compo because that's the format I've been joining for years now, and I like the two-day version format. For this exact reason, I went through the rules about AI usage just before the compo started, and I think that I was still allowed to join the compo with the current rules. That being said, the current rules desperately need to be updated with more exact instructions for AI-assisted development I think. Still, it's messy with AI in Ludum Dare right now and I see that in other entries as well. It's difficult to judge. So I appreciate your opinion. That's why I disclosed the exact ways I used AI. I wanted to be transparent so that everyone can make up their own mind. And about using existing assets for audio, I believe this is fine. I hope that I'm not expected to record every audio effect for my game. And I've used a similar approach for pretty much all my previous entries, using existing sound samples from the internet and then combining and layering and cutting them. Cheers! π
@chuckeles The rules I mentioned are the official, albeit a little outdated, rules: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/rules. Regardless of the AI usage itself, under Compo rules all assets - including sounds - must be done within its timeline. I agree on the AI rules part - and until the rules are updated, AI is (weirdly) legal in Compo. My comment regarding this is just my personal opinion. Thank you for being transparent, cheers!
Nice game, and the graphics is indeed very good.
This was pretty great! The art and atmosphere are very well made. The gameplay, while simple, held it together for the 5-10 minutes it took to complete. I loved how loading the rifle works. Pressing the lantern felt a bit tedious, but I think it worked for a jam, combined with the rifle mechanic. I do wish there was a bit more to discover rather than walk to the exit, but that just shows me this has promise.
I've often wanted to try 2.5D, this is a great example of how well it works!
EDIT: Btw, did you use normal maps to dynamically light the 2D rocks?
Sadly I wasn't able to progress very far, since playing with a touchpad the controls were a bit too much. But I really like the mood and I think the game looks pretty.
Also, as a little side note - it's funny that both your game and ours went with basically the exact same idea, just executed it a little different. To know what I mean, just give it a try, I promise it'll be funny to you :D https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/60/nightguard (thanks if you leave a rating, but you absolutely don't have to)
The artstyle is just great, and the sound design fits perfectly :) I kind of struggled to make the rifle work but the overall game is cool, good job!
Nice style, a quality entry. I like the balance between tactile without making the actions excessively fiddly.
I noted this is submitted as a COMPO entry but uses existing sound assets which is not allowed in the compo. Please can you edit the entry to JAM and I'll be happy to score it.
@grateful-tomato thank you!
@aviv-levy thanks! Yeah I also wanted to try 2.5D for a long time in Godot, so this was my chance. Learned a lot!
For rocks, I drew rock sprites like this one myself in Procreate and then used those as normal maps in Godot:
@parxer yeah, not a good game for a touch pad π ... And yeah, our games are sooo similar! Cool! π
@darkshadow I'm confused by the rules for audio, I just read through them again. For my next entry I'll be more careful. Here I tried to make my own sounds using ElevenLabs and then also edit them myself. Not sure if that counts though. I'll keep this entry as-is and I'll know better in the future. Thanks! π
@chuckeles the note describe it as "samples" as in i though you'd gone and found a sound file that already exists online.
For compo samples or existing art is a no no, however using a synthesiser to generate new sound is okay.
I'm guessing the line between what is generative and sampled is getting blurier.
@chuckeles that's neat! You really inspired me to try that too. Well, you and Cult of The Lamb π
I really enjoyed the atmosphere here, I think you really nailed the 2d-shadow thing. I was able to load the gun once but not again, and was killed by the monster. I think the feedback above covers everything I had to say, but overall great entry for such a short time, I enjoyed it even though I didn't finish it.
WOOOW!! This is one of the best entries I've seen so far! Absolutely ... cohesive feeling of dark desperation and loneliness inside the cave, where only the lantern and your rifle are your only chance for survival! BEAUTIFUL play with light! Yu won me on mood, graphics and overall eeriness! Bravo! I also just loved how the monster stays a dark shadow after it is killed..
My only nitpick would be that it seemed to me shooting is a little bit tricky. I also like how you help the player with instructions in-game.
Top-notch cohesive entry! Bravo! BEST mood ever..
@darkshadow yes indeed. In this case none of the samples I used were existing, all were generated and then tweaked. Not sure if this counts as a sampler. The line is getting blurrier like you said. π€·
@aviv-levy Cult of the Lamb and Don't Starve are my biggest inspirations for this kind of perspective!
@brusi thank you so much! π
@aweskybear thanks a lot for the feedback, I'm glad you enjoyed the game! π
@chuckeles, you said it yourself the sounds are generated not samples.
Samples is going and making a recording, which if you do it yourself is totally allowed and past LDs I've seen crazy talented people do exactly that. The jam relaxes the rule and lets you use samples by others before the 48 hours.
