December 16th-19th 2011 :: Theme: Alone
A Life Apart is a short atmospheric game about a spirit that must make amends for the horrible life it lead.
(In order to pass the gate in the 5th room, you must light all the torches)
Downloads and Links
Ratings
![]() | Coolness | 78% |
#5 | Mood | 4.14 |
#33 | Theme | 3.79 |
#75 | Overall | 3.38 |
#159 | Graphics | 3.24 |
#209 | Fun | 2.72 |
#229 | Innovation | 2.76 |
#262 | Audio | 2.48 |
#277 | Community | 2.63 |
#545 | Humor | 1.33 |
Comments
Not bad. I suppose 5 levels is as far as you got? Like the mechanics and controls work nicely. The spirits are a bit tricky though.
A very moving game that was put together. Nice job. You captured emotion really well, and the idea of giving up everything you have for others because you are alone is an effective use of the theme. Would be even more saddening if there were some light music in the background. Great effort, and the art looks like it took a while to draw out in the sketchy style.
Very nice game, controls are a little sluggy, but I liked the mood as well as art and mechanics.
Very nice... I played it to the ending. It's like a poem :)
Good work!
@VDZ @helloserve, SPOILER:
to get past the first five screens you should burn all the pedestals (there is one in each screen). Then the gates of the cemetery will open.
Good entry. A few bugs here and there. Jumping seems very sluggish and jumps that require exactly a double jump could have used just a single higher jump. It gets a little frustrating. Some platforms are also not very obvious that they really are platforms, so a differentiation between foreground/background may have helped. At least there are no deaths :) Music and more realistic sfx may have helped with mood better. I like the premise and the story concept. So good exposition.
During the beginning its pretty hard to see the ground. Maybe your fire/the torches should burn a little brighter?
Very nice game overall. A few annoying elements though. Getting through the gate isn't exactly self explanatory and I wish that the space bar was at least an option for jumping. With up as the jump button, jumping feels sluggish. There is no good separation between foreground and background. In addition, it is a bit annoying to have the same walking sound through the game.
Besides those points, this is good entry :D
Thank you all for the feedback!
Glad to see generally positive feedback on my first Ludum Dare entry :)
Great mood. A bit TOO dark, though. Combat and controls are a bit odd too.
Awesome! This game is deep. It reminds me of the book "The Giving Tree". The controls could be worked on a bit.
The controls were acting kinda wanky from time to time, and it wasn't always apparent of what it was I should be doing... (going up, lighting torches)... But other than that excellent entry. Well thought out and nailed the theme.
Great mood, the ending almost made me cry. Fire throwing and double jump controls are the only bad point, i wasted more than 2 minutes trying to kill enemies on level 4.
Impressive atmosphere and fun to play.
Two bugs: If you hold the run-key while screenswitching, you can't run anymore until you release the run-key. The other thing: after screenswitching, there are sometimes graphical effects of the past screen shown on the new one.
tried to run under wine but the sound didnt work and it twas too dark to see, so can't rate.
That was a nice piece of story telling, but the torch post in the first screen was a dick move. Good show.
Level design leaves a lot to be desired--you need to think more carefully about how people are going to play your game and realize that you need to "force" them to notice/realize your mechanics and level paths.
Despite that, the narrative was good, although the connection to the theme was a little indirect. You had some really nice touches towards the end there, so thumbs up for that.
Well done, I quite liked it for the most part.
I definitely would have preferred something other than up for jump. It makes jumping and moving a little awkward. It was also rather unclear what exactly I could stand on top of when platforming, and it was a little too hard to see some of the pipes that reach out past the building.
I liked this.
The best part was the poetry-like writing and atmosphere. Some melancholy music would have enhanced this even further. I appreciate that you were thoughtful about the theme.
The gameplay leaves a lot to be desired. There could have been more you could do with the fire, and maybe other mechanics to play with besides walking and jumping. I was playing for the story, not because I was having fun.
Overall, a very good entry!
Thanks to everyone that played! I definitely agree that the gameplay itself wasn't great; I was trying to get a proper story out and that took most of my time up.
A lot has been learned for next time :D
Wow, very cool game. Excellent mood, though I don't know if it feels quite "Alone". There were lots of art assets, but they could use some touching up (Of course, we only have 48 hours!) Great work though.
I didn't find the gameplay as bad as other people seemed too, but it's definitely not the strong point or focus of the game. The mood, however, is. This is one of the most deep and emotional games I've played here. The graphics and sound are effectively used to develop the atmosphere. Overall, a great use of the theme.
Couldn't see very good till I blacked out my bright desktop background. (my game was super dark too haha) Loved the story and atmosphere!
Thanks everyone for voting! :D
So happy to have made it into the top 5 for Mood, I'll definitely be doing more Ludum Dares in the future!
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How do you get past the gate in the fifth screen? I'm stuck.