EveningWayward

The Mother of All Games by sorceress 2017-05-01T10:39:47Z

An interesting collection and tribute to simplistic and effective mechanics of classic games. The ability to play any game at any time and finish them all in a non-linear order was an enjoyable surprise and a good design decision, because otherwise your game may become too tiresome for some players.

The lack of a restart button was unpleasant for me as I basically had to complete the same levels over and over again to reach the one where I had failed during the previous attempt. Hope you'll add it in a postjam version.

iii by YukonW 2017-05-01T09:32:03Z

Really loved the art style and the way you combined cute characters and visual aesthetics with dark and moody themes. That's a solid 5 for mood, and I'm a fan of your work from now on.

Extraction by Criobite 2017-05-02T14:28:30Z

That's definitely inspired by Submachine series of games, am I right? A pretty decent game to tell the least, I see how you tried to stick with the same style all way long which is a rare occasion.

Just to let you know, I waited for the monitors to turn on after I had inserted the ID card, but it didn't happened - dunno if it's a good idea, but such an event may become a surprise for newcomers of the genre if you're going to update your project later.

Routine by Breno_M 2017-05-01T14:13:13Z

Awesome drawings, icons and methods of their placement on the map remind me of "This Is The Police", "Kentucky Route Zero" and "Mini Metro" with their designs of complex routes, geography and strategical puzzles.

Falling ground by Mr. Chelnoque 2017-05-01T14:29:09Z

The atmosphere of total abandonment and world destruction which is told through level design makes the game fun to play and gives somewhat of an energetic feel.

Too bad you didn't have any time left to finish your entry properly, a good ending after the boss fight would be great. I understand that there's already a boss death animation present, but it simply feels like it's not enough for the player.

The World Within by ZushidotomoThe3DHero 2017-05-02T11:52:10Z

An original implementation of the theme in form of a (mostly) 1-button clicker with fine visuals and calm ambience playing in the background. Unfortunately, finishing the game was rather painful due to the lack of functional to change controls as my space button doesn't respond sometimes. It would be better if there was more diversity in all of the appearing objects on levels.

Levels with enemies attacking characters in the middle have a bug which is triggered by holding 2 or more arrow keys simultaneuosly. It makes walkthrough much easier as there's no need to press right button at a right moment, and that ruins the purpose of those stages.

move on by erbridge 2017-05-03T17:01:39Z

I am amazed by the amount of work put into this entry, literally, how many words have you written and how many drawings have you made over the course of 3 days in my favorite dark-mooded themes... It's incredible!

Take in consideration that there's an issue with sliding the scrollbar in some areas, as a single click, which is needed to move it up or down, advances the story thus increasing the number of fragments required to read at a single time. It can quickly become too cumbersome to navigate the screen, even though sentences stop appearing after their limit is out.

Uncharted Dreams - Fate of the Miniatures by Franklins Ghost 2017-05-02T14:10:03Z

I wish it had sound and was longer so bad, seems like all the time you spent on the Jam went into drawing sprites and making animations, and that's the reason why it looks so madly atmospheric thanks to the art style similar to Plug & Play.

DONATA by Feminem 2017-05-03T16:22:20Z

Scene direction and noir design with a certain neon flavour is nice, but the bugs and badly programmed events really ruin the experience for me. Gameplay wasn't much fun either, it just doesn't feel right to combine it with that great atmosphere you've created.

Cathode Way by garethiw 2017-05-01T12:41:47Z

I don't have much to say about your game because it's simply genious, literally the most innovative title I've played so far during this Ludum Dare, and you're the one who deserves the first place in this category.

Influence of Witness is pretty obvious, especially in the artstyle.

Encircle by Certainly Canyon 2017-05-01T15:21:36Z

An interesting interpretation of turn based combat in a top-down shooter. Controls were not as responsive as I expected them to be because there's no way to control the strength and speed of character movement, thus it's easy to get hit by bullets in awkward positions. Enemy design turned out to be pretty repetetive as every foe looks and fights almost the same, the only difference is the frequency of shooting.

Try to add more variety if you're intended to grow something serious out of an existing prototype. It may become a good game one day.

Overtime by Mark Smith 2017-05-01T10:15:21Z

I wasn't sure if all of the bugs I discovered were intentional or not, but they only added more irony to the approach of your submission and its clever level design (moment with the trash urn is my favorite).

Made a few screenshots of some of those bugs just to let you know: http://imgur.com/a/2ZwAt

Protoware Planet by josefalanga 2017-05-01T16:43:30Z

A solid entry with excellent space physics and tiny details in retro aesthetics like cursor changing color and darkening/lightening the scene that really make up a finished feel. That font you're using perfectly fits the UI on screen.

It's a pity that you didn't have enough time to make a death animation for enemies.

ExtractCorp by notime4games 2017-05-02T13:41:35Z

Took me some time to figure out how to play and what shold I do exactly, so a short tutorial would boost game a lot. It's quite a good resource management simulator in terms of compo, mechanic seemed interesting to me though boring at the same time as it doesn't offer any real challenge, and I never ran out of resources or felt the need to upgrade the abilities of my ship.

The Golden Bough by razzle_dazzle 2017-05-02T11:30:06Z

It's always surprising to stumble upon another participant from Gamin community on Ludum Dare. Your game actually succeeded in breaking the Fourth Wall for me with its eerie pitch resembling all those meta-horror games like IMSCARED and Space Blaster which change itself with every playthrough (oh, I guess that's a spoiler!).

A nice little art installation with no particular meaning or mission.

Alone Together by Artylo 2017-05-01T11:14:21Z

I wonder how many lines of dialogue this game contains. I've already spent half an hour or so, and the character just keeps on going with new phrases without any end in sight.

A meditative and somehow creepy experience indeed, I felt like I was stalking someone or peeping through the keyhole to see the world that I was not supposed to see, and all the humor from the second character only fueled up that feel.

Id's Journey by red-fan-games 2017-05-01T13:47:59Z

Unfortunately the game didn't work for me. I'm running Windows 8 on my desktop computer, your application launches perfectly, then it gives me the title screen, and finally I see nothing, only a black screen with some haunting sounds on the background (ambience and audio design seem to be well paced, I'll vote for them since I can't play the game at all).

UPD: I also tried running it in various compatibility modes.

Interstellar Botanist by saiodin 2017-05-01T14:54:25Z

This is a gardening simulator of my dreams. It would be nice if you could add some subtitles to the introduction as there are always players who don't percept english speach at all even though voice acting is superb. Space photo on the wall looks like a joke to me, it would be better without it as it ruins the isolated mood.

All in all, I liked the idea of combining seeds together to get new plant species and slowly looking after them to see the metamorphoses. It's quite a perspective game mechanic actually, so keep up the good work.

This Game Will Die Eventually, and So Will You by Yondermore 2017-05-02T13:10:09Z

Player #00470 is here to greet and thank you (as well as give you 5/5 in the mood category).

I have been following the creation of your worlds for a fairly long time now, and there are no words to describe that mix of anticipation and fear I felt when your new LD entry caught my eye during browsing.

A well-directed and a veiled use of theme with a strong tone of occult that has already become your calling card.

Snowday by Jon Tiburzi 2017-05-03T17:39:13Z

I can't believe that this was created by a single person, your game is simply so stunning and polished that it's hard to describe all of its pros. Love everything about it: animation of footsteps and how distinctly they sound; the noisy art of an incoming snowstorm; how colors subtly change during character animations that liven up a bunch of pixels into a real human being; how well-paced sound iteration actually is; and so on...

It reminded me of my childhood.

Man, you need to make people know about your game, it may be the best entry out there on this Ludum Dare!

A Forest Dark by TheHolyChicken 2017-05-03T15:49:46Z

Loved every millisecond of your presentation which is now one of my favorites on here, perfect manipulation with the theme and feelings of observation and desorientation. Music you've decided to use suits the scene well even though at first I thoght that level lightens up bit by bit with every step, but then I eventually figured out that it does so automatically to allow that keen fadeout at the end.

Escape World by Haveachin 2017-05-03T17:50:44Z

I wonder if there are any secrets hidden as the description on this page is rather misleading, but it was a cute little experiment, don't know why, but your game brought me back memories of old god Pan and his nymphs. There's no connection with the theme however.

A Mind Is A Small Place by Juju Adams 2017-05-01T12:04:11Z

Loved how the game seemed to be rather innocent from the start, but then the events started to get darker and darker. Glitchy and surrealistic behaviour of doors and objects evoke a certain fear of in-game space itself for me, thoughts of instability and fluidity. Played it multiple times but didn't get any idea of how to reach an alternative ending. Could you post a walkthrough?

THE HUNT by Xangotrick 2017-05-01T11:35:53Z

I should say that you've done quite an impressive amount of work for 48 hours of compo though I saw only a small partition of game as I couldn't find any way to get into ventillation system in the next room after getting the gun. Abstention from using textures and outline shader unify the graphics and give a minimalist Antichamber-like atmosphere to the game which is a good point, I guess.

Hypercube by county-agent 2017-05-01T13:42:18Z

I felt like I was a test subject who's taking part in a series of experiments conducted in a closed facility and is contanstly being watched by invisible eyes. A remarkable atmosphere that's hard to reach. Among the examples of similar vibes I can only remember The Stanley Parable, some of @nuprahtor games and Cube (which was released in 2005).

Good job building the tension.

Discours sur la révolution by annagavaldakedavra 2017-05-03T15:09:37Z

That was gloomy enough, I was unsure of how the visuals were supposed to be connected with all the text that was read aloud, but I'm glad that you included controls on this page since all text on the title screen in in french.

I like the buzzy soundtrack and sound of narrator's voice that slowly sets the right mood thanks to the transcending perspective, did you record it all by yourself or use any public pre-made audio assets? Changing sliders' values became repetitive very quickly because there is no way to combine their impact on the environment, and they are basically doing the same things no matter how their values are combined.

When Resizing by pinneh 2017-05-02T12:14:56Z

Hm, that sure is an innovative concept, to be honest! I've never seen a similar mechanic anywhere else, and I've played thousands of games in my life. You really need to develop it more, probably as a different game in a different setting.

Your entry in its current state is almost unplayable because of bugs (unexpected behavior of platforms after changes in size; missing "how to play" screen; character is visible after death; clumsy controls; etc). I couldn't even finish the first level, and after the sixth attempt I simply closed the game.

The Adventures of Sir Horsington Von Stick III: Wood Enough by freakoftheyear 2017-05-02T12:34:54Z

Wow, I'm amazed that your entry has no comments! I had so much fun stomping on all the villagers and warriors I met along the way that I'm still unsure if bugs were intentional or not. As an example, enemies run into the woods every time giant approaches them, and it's difficult to get them there since trees have colliders, and there's no way to walk into the forest.

In-game cursor was also fiddly and confusing for the major part of time, because when I pointed my mouse cursor in one direction, pressed LMB and then repeated the same procedure during the attack animation, ingame cursor stayed in one place with a delay of a second after the end of animation, and only then it slowly started turning around to a spot I was pointing at. I understand that it's probably there to make fighting system tougher to master, but it really irritated me.

Hand drawn sprites are also good for such a short gamejam as Ludum Dare!

Petite existence by Pixel Sharmana 2017-05-02T11:18:36Z

I don't see any .exe file on the webpage from both of the identical links you provided. You have to create a playable build, it's impossible to rate your game otherwise.

The Watchtower by Scoutas 2017-05-03T15:26:37Z

You'll never believe how cosy I felt during my playthrough! Short and sweet, especially regarding the audio design which is straight to the point. I was slightly disappointed to see that there wasn't much to do, as I managed to finish game multiple times in 4 expeditions each time, and I never needed any logs with a possibly everlasting fire, so I clicked and waited without any objectives.

I Want To Explore by joekinglake 2017-05-01T11:47:13Z

What a nice little idea, just like the world that's presented to the player, though the previous LD theme "one room" suits the game better. The start was also confusing and unintuitive to me because I witnessed the same problem as @undefinist.

I understand the 1-bit aesthetic that you tried to recreate, but overall darkness of the scene hurt my eyes a bit because of the palette. It would probably be better if the game was stylized for LCD display with sort of greenish color for the background and black color for the foreground, though it's just an assumption.

Song of Fungus by DGSpitzer 2017-05-01T09:54:06Z

Truly hypnotizing visuals. That's probably the best use of particles I've seen for a while on Ludum Dare. It would also be great to see an extended version of game in future.

The Inner Lock by EveningWayward 2017-05-01T08:09:35Z

Thank you for your feedback @szczebel1995. I didn't have any time left to tweak and lessen the noise, but there's going to be a later version of game with new types of noise and its randomization as well as extra features.

The Inner Lock by EveningWayward 2017-05-01T13:26:34Z

@max-amaden Thank your for your critique, I've already mentioned that posteffects are a bit overdosed, but I'm going to fix it in later builds. There's one nameplate in particular that's almost unreadable because it's situated too low for camera to see.

The Inner Lock by EveningWayward 2017-05-01T13:50:54Z

Thanks @somethinboutgames, the ground consists of a rails system, so it's rather easy to navigate the place once you get to know it.

The Inner Lock by EveningWayward 2017-05-02T11:03:59Z

@saiodin Thank you for your comprehensive comment! An idea with the camera is good indeed, I'll change its rotation in a future version.

The sound of a lightbulb smashing is not a jumpscare at all as it's more of a bug and unfinished feature. I tried to make the lights on the semaphores (those mechanisms slowly descending from above) blink in a cycle, and thus they would explode once the player enters the trigger near the semaphore itself, but my time management was so bad that I didn't have any time left to set that function up.

Sucker Munch by oultrox 2017-05-01T15:40:27Z

A strongly addictive game with beautiful pixel art and a colorful palette, I really appreciate all the sprites that @veryeviltomato drew. I lasted 13 waves, how many of them are left, and are enemies generated in random positions of map every round?

I'd suggest animating the health bar as it is inconvenient to make out numbers with such stylized font during battle.

RASHLANDER by ryguydavis 2017-05-02T13:55:04Z

A great use of basic colors and posteffects to enhance the picture, I especially love how you implemented the CRT one. Physics and desctuction systems seem fair to me, though it would be better if you made a brake button to slightly slower the speed of the ship.

What is more important, link to the source doesn't work for me and gives 404, could you please reupload it as its abscence violates the rules?

The little world behind the wall by Brim502 2017-05-03T15:59:05Z

A fairly good use of voxel art, models of spiders remind me of those from Minecraft, I wonder if they were your inspiration.

However, I found gameplay too simple (even for an arcade game) to play for a long time, and the point which pellets were falling on was somehow hard to determine because of the viewport.

Secluded by nikkilak 2017-05-01T14:03:05Z

Such a dramatized and theatrical narrative it is, I felt like I was watching a play unfolding. The chalk font you used suits your style well, it's a shame there is not much to do except for choosing options.

I would love to see more of your projects in future as you're a great artist, the contrast of those lowpoly models and their colors looks perfectly smooth.

Clean your room! by zenkerdus 2017-05-02T12:50:40Z

That was too... short and abrupt? I managed to collect all the trash in 20 seconds or so and didn't get the message if there even is a one, but the given time limit was not a problem to me. It's great that you used PICO-8, which is a lovely engine, to make your game.

The Teahouse by shaw 2017-05-03T16:44:39Z

A simple yet beautiful simulation of cyberpunk/vaporwave aesthetics. I see that you've put a lot of effort into modelling tiny bits of location's layout, and I appreciate your focus on graphics and style.

A Small Game in a Small World by Tataeus 2017-05-03T17:19:21Z

Damn, than one sure is hard to complete, but there is so much to learn from that level design, and the way control scheme originates difficulties in screens, that are so easy from the first sight, deserves respect.

vijver by Celine Veltman 2017-05-01T13:01:42Z

It's hard for me to call your entry a game, but it's a nice meditative piece of art with the same spirit as Viridi and Mountain.

RE.VISIT by linseyray 2017-05-01T13:23:42Z

You successfully reached the goal you've set up on your itch.io page, but the experience was too overdosed with posteffects which don't fit the mood at all and don't offer anything new. Mechanic was interesting, I would really like to see more of your work, but in its current state the game is too unfinished to judge for sure.

Trapped by smithcs5 2017-05-02T14:40:10Z

It seems that I have the same problem as @torcado, game is so badly optimized because of UE4 that it freezes every 10 seconds and shows only 15 FPS all way long. Judging by the screenshots and what I have seen, models and textures are excellent and are being used with PBR right.

G2-11 Park Place by Jessiscah23 2017-05-01T09:44:46Z

That's a nice use of pixelation and posterization shaders you've got on here. I exited the game after third of forth day, so I'm not sure if there even is an ending, but you actually managed to create a vibe of isolation in totalitarian society if I understood the theme correctly.

For Better or For Worse by valandre 2017-12-06T14:38:42Z

Incredible, you've done a great job in narrative design! I love every bit about it: posteffects and their distortion that you used; how the walk cycle changed and gradually faded into a running cycle in a massive area; slow but steady story progression and a sudden increase in enemies' amount right behind the character's back. Your project is also similar to Kentucky Route Zero, if to speak about graphics.

Close Friends by skippuku 2017-12-06T13:59:32Z

Simply astonishing! I haven't got a slightest idea how you managed to release that as a part of LD, but the amount of hand-drawn sprites and background elements, written dialogue lines and composed music + gameplay randomisation deserves highest respect. This is probably the best LD entry I've played in a while, and I'm quite surprised how this has no comments so far.

You also need to add a few screenshots to your LD page, otherwise people won't notice it at all!

Rot 24/7 by jsqrs 2017-12-06T11:09:21Z

You've prepared an awesome experience! Loved everything (especially sound design and particle system that you used for vomitting) about it except for the menu design (the laziness of controls screen is dissonant and doesn't fit general style).

Lonesome Hunter by EveningWayward 2017-12-05T09:17:16Z

@lamossus, thank you for your feedback! Did you play the 002 version? If so, there are 4 stages, each is separated by a conversation with an NPC, and in the end there is a boss fight. Use of the theme is somehow subtle, you need to pay attention to the pools of blood and their effect on the character (as well as different dialogue routes and their impact on the ending).

Lonesome Hunter by EveningWayward 2017-12-05T09:40:48Z

@lamossus I think I've just fixed the issue that you had, if you're still going to give it another chance, download a new version.

Lonesome Hunter by EveningWayward 2017-12-05T10:34:23Z

@sengi, I'm super glad you liked it! You can always find me on Twitter (twitter.com/eveningwayward) or VK (vk.com/eveningwayward).

Lonesome Hunter by EveningWayward 2017-12-06T11:34:02Z

@jsqrs, thanks for the kind words! To kill moths and progress further you need to destroy the cocoon (first its spikes, then the body itself).

Technologis by TheFunAttic 2017-12-06T11:45:09Z

An astonishing amount of work, your style is even too good for a LD game, so you definitely need to polish that mechanic and take it one step further. However, game crashed when I tried to bring the rat in during the tutorial, so try to keep that bug in mind. Other than that, everything is a perfect combination of nice graphics and original controls. Audio design was a bit too simple though.

Cloie Hell by Kerrigan 2017-12-06T13:40:11Z

Quite a nice entry you've got on here, but the thing that spawns at player position makes the game unbearable to beat, as it doesn't allow horizontal movement during its circular animation and kills the spaceship almost instantly.

Plague Venue by Sengi 2017-12-06T12:28:30Z

It's hard not to distinguish a party-hardish art style :) Loved the atmosphere with the uncanniness of main character and ritual ambient, mechanic is simple at first but the gradual progession of difficulty makes everything fit together really well.

ICTOAN by devsaur 2017-12-06T11:53:00Z

Awesome, reminds me all the projects by Zachtronics due to its logical rules! It's easy to detect the use of UE4 judging by file size of the archive, which is a bit too painful to download, so I recommend to decrease it somehow.

Statues by giucapan 2017-12-06T11:28:55Z

Short and sweet, your use of one button controls impressed me a lot. It's rather hard to call it a game however, you should have mentioned that it's an art project with minimal interaction so that not to disturb some users.

Candyspotting by Nage 2017-12-06T12:59:42Z

Art is good and level design is perfect, I've never seen a map that big in a LD game before. Unfortunately, I stopped playing with a score of 5, as the gameplay is too unrewarding and provides no real challenge except for running from one place to another one. There is simply no suspense for the player to depend on (probably because of lack in sound), which is quite important when you have a stealth mechanic.

OVERWHELM by randomnine 2017-12-06T14:59:17Z

Your choice of palette reminds me of Downwell, and that, in turn, is one of the best examples of 3-color use in games. Tileable texture for the ground and walls is a bit boring though and starts to hurt eyes quickly, so I'd recommend to add a few other sprites and their variations for each wave after crystal pick-up in a postjam version. Checkpoints and irritating deaths after transition from one screen to another have already been mentioned, so keep them in mind.

Overall, amazing sound design (there is no way to describe how I love that impact from shots) and an interesting idea with hive.