December 16th-19th 2011 :: Theme: Alone
Kuudou is an exploration game in which players should guide a "lone lorn creetur" around a huge, empty and extremely dark cave. Somehow the creature has developed the ability to make her own body glow, but it is not enough to see far off in the distance. Fortunately, the cave is not so empty as would seem a priory. There are some critters lurking in the dark, and they have very, very bright eyes.
Using the eyes of the critters wandering around each stage, it is possible to make a mental map of where are the platforms and jump around to the exit. All the levels are doable with that can be seen and what can be inferred by the position of every creature or by jumping around the area. Some of the jumps require almost pixel-perfect collision that, together with the already frustrating environment, make the experience a little less enjoyable than what I wanted.
Please don't mind the name and the fake Japanese characters on the title screen. In the README there is the reason behind it all, for these that are interested.
Kuudou is made in C++ using the SDL and SDL_mixer libraries. The sound effect (there is only one) was made with sfxr and the background music with its four notes was made with Schism Tracker and a royalty-free freeware sample.
Downloads and Links
Ratings
 | Coolness | 100% |
| #63 | Mood | 3.44 |
| #94 | Theme | 3.48 |
| #102 | Fun | 3.10 |
| #108 | Innovation | 3.20 |
| #118 | Overall | 3.23 |
| #211 | Audio | 2.64 |
| #236 | Graphics | 2.95 |
| #346 | Community | 2.48 |
| #538 | Humor | 1.39 |
Comments
The Linux/source file is corrupt, just so you now ;) But the Windows version works with wine.
Anyway I liked the mood
I like the concept a lot, and the graphics are well-done, especially the player animation. Unfortunately, the game is too short to really explore the concept and it's frustrating at the beginning when you're figuring the game out.
It's cool how the game tries to mislead the player in the later levels. I wish this was longer and used more mechanics!
Nice. I liked the minimalistic approach. The game mechanic works well.
A bit short. I would have loved to play some more levels... and thats quite telling. :) Great gameplay idea.
oh wow, this was a really interesting game. you're definitely on to something here. i enjoyed it!
Loved the darkness, really got me. The way my eyes adjusted to looking for the creature pixels was kind of amazing, because I didn't notice them at first. Good job on making a special experience.
Could be longer.
Oh no :( I get an "Unexpected end of archive" error when I unzip the Windows version.
I really liked the game. Good controls and sharp graphics. The "Pixel perfect" jumps didn't bother me at all, since dying was quite painless (quickly returned to the start of the small level).
Thanks for rating so many games too!
This is great.
I read your read me and was suprised how self deprecating you are. The pixel perfect jumping is fine, as Caranha said, the levels are so short that dieing isn't frustrating at all. I like the name and I like the character animation, the music is fantastic.
I agree with Hempuli, the later levels do tend to trick the player which is great. Not knowing which critters to trust and their indifference to you works well with the theme. Overall I think this game feels complete.
That said, the level design could be refined to explore the concept more concretely so that each level is some new manifestation of that mechanics possibilities.
Well done.
Short, but well done. Solid platforming mechanics, and the darkness was a nice touch.
Short but moody, I like how you tried to confuse the player with the bats. Interesting concept! Needs an ending though.
A game being too short is probably the best bad comment you can receive. :)
Man, that was cool, but way too short. I want more.
It's a little too easy to resort to trial and error gameplay though.
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Really enjoyed it! I liked the eye mechanic, it with the darkness just worked.