December 13th-16th 2013 :: Theme: You Only Get One
[ Real World Gatherings | Ludum Deals | Warmup Weekend ]
LEFT+RIGHT to play
SPACE to start
"You are Charon : you have to bring a soul across the Styx."
It's a (basic) labyrinth with a dozen of rooms.
(edit 12/23/2013)
Post-LD version... with better graphics and SFX!
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12598037/Charon2/index.html
If you're lost in the labyrinth, check this 100% spoilers map: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/charon-map.png ;)
Downloads and Links
Ratings
| #19 | Graphics | 4.34 |
| #100 | Mood | 3.52 |
| #368 | Innovation | 3.09 |
| #420 | Overall | 3.10 |
| #551 | Audio | 2.40 |
| #691 | Humor | 1.82 |
| #765 | Fun | 2.45 |
| #816 | Theme | 2.28 |
| #1305 | Coolness | 39% |
Comments
The graphics are really beautiful here. well done with them. i didnt really get way the game worked, it wasnt super clear. the look is great though
Let me start off by saying that the graphics are amazing! Unfortunatenly I have no idea how the labyrinth is supposed to work. I just go back and forth between left and right, but I have no grasp on the logic. I guess you just have to memorize the right turns?
Well, the gameplay seems too confusing, sorry guys :/
Let me explain this:
Each room have 2 exits: to your left or to your right. Each exit can be a dead end (so you can go back to the previous room), or the right path, in which case you CAN'T go back to the previous room. But there are 2 exits at the end of the labyrinth where you can go at 2 previous room (basically , there are loops).
And in two places you will have to find 2 objects to "open" more rooms.
Very confusing, but worth the effort to complete. Loved the art so much, cool sound as well.
Could not figure out how you get around. However, the graphics are exceptional!
Agree with most people here, not sure how the labyrinth works. But the graphics and sound? Proper retro - love it!
You have such an excellent grasp on this Spectrum look. Very beautiful. Nice text style as well.
Agree with everyone that this art is gorgeous. Well done. Would have been cool if there was some graphic in the background of each room so it was easier to figure out where I was going. Although having nothing to go on but latin and some guess-work kinda fits being lost in the River Styx.
I agree completely with kyyrma. The graphics are amazing but I'm not sure what's going on with the gameplay.
1. Love the graphics - gave off vibes of the monsters off Ghouls n' Ghosts. Took a little bit of time to figure out the mechanics but once I got the hang of it was a nice little adventure venturing the depths of the underworld.
2. The initial audio is a little painful as I was wearing headphones.
3. Whilst I had no idea what the words were written but they fitted the theme and were unique enough to get a rough idea for directions.
Nice little puzzle worth the extra time to figure out. Thanks for making this!
Pretty interesting, I really like the graphics, but it took me a while to figure out how it worked. I suppose it fits the mood of the river styx, but I felt like I was fumbling about randomly for most of it.
Absolutely adore the retro style you have here. Definitely needs more explanation about how to play the game at the beginning though!
Confusing, but as I read comments, it's damn deep! It gives me a kind of surreal feeling since the game has no sound effects and almost everything is black.
I love this sh*t!
Awesome graphics, and interesting concept. I wish I could say that I took a more intelligent approach to solving it, but I really just went back and forth forever until i won. I still enjoyed it, though :)
Very confusing (like a labyrinth) but I like a lot of your choices.
Nice Art but not much a game I think. Can I only go left and right and read the text?
Wonderful graphic art, interesting game, simple but clever idea. It's not confusing at all.
Those are some cool retro graphics. But yeah, I found it confusing at first too, but found the explanation in the comments. I guess the confusion arises from the fact that if you move to the left room and back to the right, you're supposed to arrive at the previous place, which was not the case here. Showing an entrance of some sort in the center/ more directions could've been helpful.
But the game's still really cool.
I just loved this entry - so well made I could cry!!! :O
Excellent work, C2 buddy! :)
Made it to the end ! That was cool, I took notes and it was not so complicated when understanding how it worked. Really like the experience and the aesthetics ! :)
Interesting, the design is well made, it lacks some feedback to give the player satisfaction to progress in the maze.
thank you for the constructive comments!
@katamori: "It gives me a kind of surreal feeling since the game has no sound effects and almost everything is black." exactly^^
@blackmagic: "it lacks some feedback to give the player satisfaction to progress in the maze." right! I should have added some SFX!
@Diptoman: "Showing an entrance of some sort in the center/ more directions could've been helpful." great idea!
@Jilt: "I took notes" yeah, I think it's the bet way to resolve the maze^^
The art was wonderful. The dead ends are well done. I guess I second everyone else that there could be a little more feedback on location.
love the art, it's beautiful. i speak Portuguese, so all titles made huge sense to me, didn't have to take notes or nothing like that. anyway, a great game :)
The graphics are great! It didn't feel like I could influence the game though, which was sad. I also liked the tune in in the beginning and some music during the game would have been nice!
I got to agree: I felt like I couldn't influence the game. All other aspects were really great.
If I have time this weekend, I'll post an updated version, with more stuff; I hope it will fix some gameplay problems.
One of my favourites so far. The art style goes hand in hand with the story and the Latin. I really enjoyed playing this and my only wish is that it had taken me more than 5 minutes to finish.
Simple game, reminded me a bit of four scepters by Benjamin, in LD26. I like figuring out this kind of puzzle (even if in poorer games it turns out to be a waste of time). This one was quite nice, I wrote down the Latin in different rooms to solve it and could even translate some of it. No idea whether I was supposed to do anything with the cyclops though.
Is there a hidden meaning to the Latin or is it just for the atmosphere?
Great atmosphere. I love this kind of pixelart. Not quite sure in what way theme was utilized here, but well done anyway!
@ Dining Philosopher: "Is there a hidden meaning to the Latin or is it just for the atmosphere?" just the atmosphere really! I found the Latin phrase used at the end, and just decided to keep this gloomy mood all allong.
@nka: "Not quite sure in what way theme was utilized here" well, this is a labyrinth, with only one final exit. ... yeah, the theme is slightly used here
Wow. The fact that you made a 2D labyrinth, by itself, is pretty amazing! Great use of the theme!
And I liked the simple color palette and the retro graphics a lot!
This wasn't as hard when I started using those lines to map the labyrinth. Then I was able to navigate (somehow)... xD
The graphics were pretty cool here, I enjoyed the simpleness of the game. Good job.
Beautiful art - very stylish. the gameplay itself didn't grab me, although the idea of a 2D labyrinth is a very cool concept and I'd love to see it expanded with a bit more to do. Overall, gave me a Simon's Quest vibe, which is a really good thing.
I loved the graphics and for me no more explanation was necessary, because after a few turns you realise it's not just left/right.
Nice music in the beginning.
I found it so special I decided to check out some of your older entries, and I like the stuff you make!
But I have no idea where the them comes in.
Wow! I enjoyed this really deeply. I don't think that movement in labyrinth is confusing too much (maybe little on the beginning, but I've found the principle very soon). But this is very unique game, I'm glad I found it and was able to play&rate this :-) Really good job.
It looks really amazing, but I didn't understand it. Needs more explanation.
Also you're using latin texts on a greek themed game ;-)
Came for the art, its great. Gameplay was not fun but i beat it anyway. Fun latin.
Haha! One of the prettiest games this LD, love the ZX spectrum feel! Lovely lovely game, top marks!
Ah and of course I remember you from Nosferatu <3
The setting and visuals were interesting. Compered to them, the gameplay could've been better though. At the moment it felt like a warped interactive picture book more than anything. Still, an interesting experience. Good job!
@rnlf "you're using latin texts on a greek themed game" Right XD but I thought (false-) Latin will be more understood than Ancient Greek
@Christina thank you!!
@Moosefly: "At the moment it felt like a warped interactive picture book more than anything." yeah, I wasn't very inspired by the theme :/
I came here because of the graphics, nicely done :). The gameplay is a little bit confusing and the story is quite short. I liked it though, great job!
Like everybody said: You did a good job on the graphics.
Didn't really understood what to do in the game
The post-compo version does a rather good job in being less confusing than the initial version with the transition, but they are a little bit long. Apart from that, I like the idea, and the graphics are realy amazing.
I love the visuals and the small details like the Latin names for every room. I feel like the idea has potential to become something much, much bigger if there were more to the game mechanically.
Neat :O I love the art and how real and spooky-feeling the world it built felt.
I think I got, and I actually liked, the forking-maze "mechanic", the problem I had with it was that you didn't really give us a way to effectively "experience it as gameplay". That is, there was no way from one particular scene to guess what the next two scenes were going to be. Even building a mental map— something I am not sure I would have considered super fun, but would have made more sense— was difficult because so many of the scenes were identical and devoid of non-Latin landmarks. Basically, what your design rewards was just trial and error random search until one found the room they were looking for. TBH I did enjoy, in a sort of anti-art way, stumbling lost and hopeless and at best able to tell— sometimes— "oh, I've been here before". But I didn't feel like I was given a lot to do. This is the one thing I would have maybe tried to improve on.
I could not figure out what if anything the harp did. (Did it break the gate in the one room?)
The post-compo version did not work for me. If I have the graphics filter on everything is just blocks. Also the transition animation is MUCH TOO SLOW for a game which rewards lots of trial and error. (And I actually sort of liked the dead silence and voidy emptiness of the original.)
Nice game ! Beautiful graphics, nice door animation ! Love it very much, remind me of prince of persia from the 80'. Great job !
@Sestren "the idea has potential to become something much, much bigger if there were more to the game mechanically." Yes! It could become an adventure game if I add a real plot (something like the Orpheus & Eurydice story)...
@mcc "The post-compo version did not work for me. If I have the graphics filter on everything is just blocks."
I played the game on Chrome/Firefox/Opera and I didn't have problems :/ But I know WebGL FX (used by Construct2) could cause problems for some browsers, so that's why you can deactivate all the new FX ;)
"I could not figure out what if anything the harp did." !SPOILER! The harp opens a new exit into the Sphynx room !SPOILER!
"Also the transition animation is MUCH TOO SLOW for a game which rewards lots of trial and error." Right! I will put the little musics into the rooms, it will reduce the time spent to look at the transition door animation (.... and yes, it's a hint to Resident Evil^^)
"And I actually sort of liked the dead silence and voidy emptiness of the original." I might consider adding an option to deactivate the musics too!
Thank you again for all your kind and interesting comments!
Sort of a hyper-minimalist labyrinth? I had to look over the comments before I "got" it, but I supposed with enough guesswork I would have figured it out. Beautiful graphics, and actually a cool idea (that could use some more signposting)!
I liked the retro graphics and overall weirdness. I couldn't really tell if what I was doing had any impact on the outcome of the game, or if the words at the bottom of the screen had any meaning.
Super game! I love almost everything, the graphics, the chiptune music, great job and great mood!
the whole idea of a puzzle is that you need to figure out how it works. I guess people just get lazy. The game is just perfect in this compo version, charming graphics, I like the use of latin, and very interesting idea of a 2d labyrinth. Took me maybe 5 minutes to finish... People just being lazy after trying so many games I guess. I really liked the last animation, when you finally notice this little flame and understand what it was. Most of it I like that you didn't say too much. Really great.
You did really well on the graphics, but shouldn't the text have been in Greek? I think an added explanation initially for how the labyrinth works (I got the hang of it, but it was really hard to navigate), and maybe UI-map to assist. Further, to really make this game fly, I think each room needs to add some to the narration - so that the game tells a story...
@local minimum: "but shouldn't the text have been in Greek?" well, Charon is a common character to the greek and latin mythology. And there is more chance that people are able to "decipher" Latin words than greek alphabet ;)
"...maybe UI-map to assist" I don't think it' useful: after all, if you see the map I just posted into the description, you see this is a very basic labyrinth.
Dem graphics, fantastic blend of classic aesthetics mixed with modern fluid animation. Interesting concept, could definitely go further with its style.
After playing the new version, I personally enjoyed the original colour pallet and some of the lack of detail. The addition of the gates giving the player a better understanding on whats going on was a welcome addition.
Love the old school pixel art style, definitely an interesting idea too. :)
Hi there fellow construct user! :)
I loved the graphics, they are completely awesome but you should work a bit more on the gameplay design.
Beautiful game, would love a longer experience so I could spend ore time in this world
You must sign in to comment.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you want to place in the final results, you NEED votes. The easiest way to get votes is by rating other games. Judging lasts for 3 weeks following the end of Ludum Dare. For best effect, rate 20 games as soon as possible. Rating more games is encouraged.
MORE TIPS AND DETAILS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE
TEAMS: Teams entering the Jam should pick a single representative to submit your game, or create a team specific account you can share. We currently do not support Team Voting, but sharing an account and together playing and rating games is acceptable.
NOT LOGGED IN?: If you get a message about not being logged in, even though you are, it’s because your web browser cached the non-logged in page. You can fix this by either refreshing your cache or clearing your cache. CTRL+F5 in many browsers. Chrome is a bit more work. Press F12 to enable Developer Mode, then you can right click on the refresh button and select “Empty Cache and Hard Reload”. This option is unavailable if you are not in Developer Mode.
PORTS: Ports to other platforms can be done after the deadline. That said, the sooner you finish your port, the sooner people can play your game, improving your chances of placing in the final results. For best results, provide a Web version of your game, or a Windows version with no dependencies. Also be sure to rate about 20 games to improve your visibility.
MY GAME DOESN’T SHOW UP: If you can’t find your game, it’s usually because the URL to your downloads are missing ‘http://‘. Fix your URLs (http://mysite.com/mygame.zip) and you will show up.
MY GAME CRASHES, IS UNBEATABLE, OR I MADE A TYPO: We allow you to fix crash or win condition bugs after the deadline (in a sense, like “porting” to support more players). We also allow “typo” bugs. I.e. A true that should have been a false, a word that should have been a different word, very tiny changes that you would have caught if you had more sleep. We leave this open to interpretation, but generally speaking your game should be identical to the game you submitted. No new features, just things you messed up last minute. Typos.
I got here because of the graphics, great job! Too bad it was a short game.