December 16th-19th 2011 :: Theme: Alone
Battle self doubt and the turmoil of existential crisis to overcome the banal and the asinine. Press X to ponder the bleakness of existence.
I took 'Alone' to mean sadness and made a Philosophy-em-up. Enemies are mere bystanders who shout meaningless drivel at you, which drives you to self-doubt. The more doubt you have, the more you fall into depression, represented by a parallel world. To overcome the trials of the real world though you must face doubt and uncertainty.
Basically there are two levels overlaid on top of each other, and they are blended together based on the damage you have taken. You must take at least some damage to be able to walk through the 'happy' terrain and on the 'sad' terrain, but if you take too much you'll die. To complete the level you have the pick up a maguffin (the bit of paper lodged in the side of the hill).
I kind of liked to concept, but ran out of time, as usual. Consequently there is only one level. I spent my last couple of hours polishing the graphics, which came out rather nicely, I think.
I used Flashpunk and Flash Builder for code. The art was done with the Gimp and a cheap graphics tablet. The sounds effects were made in Sfxr and the dreadful music using Wolfram Tones. You can press M to mute the god-awful music!
Downloads and Links
Ratings
| #40 | Innovation | 3.62 |
| #57 | Humor | 3.18 |
| #82 | Overall | 3.35 |
| #114 | Audio | 3.03 |
| #132 | Graphics | 3.38 |
| #192 | Fun | 2.76 |
| #216 | Mood | 2.72 |
| #227 | Community | 2.79 |
| #319 | Coolness | 40% |
| #332 | Theme | 2.68 |
Comments
I won't hear a word against the music. It suits the avant-garde nature of the game perfectly.
Nice idea. I don't really like how almost everyone is going to the "Alone = sad/angsty", but you managed to make it work.
The different "death" messages really add to the game too.
I think it was not really clear that after getting the paper you needed to go to the right side of the screen. It took me a while to realize that.
Also, you becoming sad when hit by happy sayings from other people was a bit strange. Maybe they should say something else?
Thanks for the game, I liked it! Hope you make more levels.
I really liked the concept. That said, it was a struggle to play and sometimes it wasn't clear why I died. My guess is being stuck in a wall that just appeared.
Very interesting concept, but very hard to play. I like the music!
It took me a while to undestand, but I really enjoyed it when I got it. It is very clever and funny, even for a french guy ;)
MAJOR INNOVATION KUDOS. This is a really great interpretation of the theme with several very refreshing gameplay mechanics. Thanks for thinking outside the box on this one... I very much enjoyed it!
This is the "out of the box" kind of games I love to see produced during Ludum Dare, +9000 kudos!
Thought this was pretty clever - the most existential game I've played so far!
You must sign in to comment.
I think that the concept of having two different paths if you're "sad" or "happy" it's really good. But it tooks me a while to understand how it works. Maybe you should have some much clear instructions.