NOTE: Because of the Theme tie, we allowed everyone to pick either Theme. Using both was optional. To keep things simple, there will still only be one Theme category. Every category in Ludum Dare voting is an opinion, so you’re welcome to rate them as you see fit. But we encourage you to be fair in your scores to people that chose only one Theme, and not both.
ALSO: Itch.io has an experimental game downloader over here. You may find it useful.
Ethereal is a minimalist, ambient game created in 48hrs for Ludum Dare 34 with the theme "Two button controls" and "Growing"
*Click on some of the images above to view the GIF*
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Controls:
Left Mouse Button/Left Arrow Key - Turn Left
Right Mouse Button/Right Arrow Key - Turn Right
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I think the controls feel nice for mobile devices so I guess I'll add this to my list of games that I might port someday.
Engine: Unity
Arts: Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator
Audio: Magix Music Maker
Downloads and Links
Ratings
 | Coolness | 50% |
| #14 | Mood | 4.23 |
| #18 | Audio | 4.12 |
| #88 | Graphics | 4.08 |
| #109 | Theme | 4.17 |
| #183 | Overall | 3.65 |
| #509 | Fun | 3.12 |
| #655 | Innovation | 2.85 |
Comments
The art is very pretty, and together with the music, the game is super calming and relaxing. :) Nice!
I agree that the shooting didn't really fit with the mood of the game. Other than that it was really soothing and not too hard.
Really solid game, I love the atmosphere, especially the music. I would prefer if it didn't have the shooting, but awesome anyway
Relaxing game!
Responsive controls and lovely concept!
Nice work dude!
Very nice simple and soothing game. I enjoyed the feeling of floating around the the world. It might have been nice if the targets sent out a long-range ping of sorts to help guiding towards them, but it was easy enough on the levels I played that it wasn't necessary. The ease of flight, I would say almost made me feel like there should have been a negative effect on colliding with any wall, not just the spikes. The shooting seemed a bit wonky right if one got hit first, but that was no big thing. Also the particles kind of felt like they didn't come from the engine of the ship (especially when turning). Besides those small details, it was a very well made and enjoyable game. Great work.
Very nice color palette you have choosen! It looks very smooth and clean.
Beautiful graphics and music. I included it in my Ludum Dare 34 compilation video series, if you’d like to check it out :) https://youtu.be/DppxuiW8XzY
Your Mac build doesn't work with the itch.io app because it is rar'd. Rars are bad for mac software anyway because they lose some of the file permissions and can't launch until you go fiddling around in their internals. You might want to just upload the .app file directly, they are already compressed.
Very pretty, minimalist graphics, and great ambient music to go with them. I like it! I would for sure play a mobile port of this.
Loved the atmosphere. It was quite fun doing some "zen drifting" while trying to dodge those bullets, hahah. Great job with this. :)
Pacing is pretty slow (The game maps seem a bit too large) but I like the ambient design approach that you were going for.
Such a soothing entry. This is one of my favorite entries. There's so much I love about this game I had to make a list:
-Design
-Aesthetic
-Audio
-Mood
-Pacing
-Mechanic
Thanks again for also sharing your source code I could learn so much from this since I am learning Unity as well. Truly inspiring especially since it was a compo!
Awesome graphics and sound! There was a little discord between the mood and the gameplay (relaxing vs shooting) but nonetheless a great entry!
Nice game!, so relaxing, i enjoyed the graphics!... the controls are great, keep it simple, well done
Great with a pleasant mood. However it could be improved by another gameplay - something more frenetic with bounds. The aesthetic and the music are polished. Thumbs up ++
Cool game. I think the player "ship" moves too slow and therefore the movement is too easy, but the atmosphere of the game is very nice anyway.
Very clean graphics and nice audio (though the song seemed a bit melancholy).
Backtracking to find the shards was sometimes a bit tedious; maybe you could add a sprint mechanic by holding both buttons?
Love the artstyle and music.
It would be nice if you could maybe hold both buttons to make the character go faster.
Nice level design. The mood is strong in this one, graphics are simple but beautiful and in general an awesome game despite the simple mechanic
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So relaxing!! Loved the audio, the only thing I wasn't keen on was the shooting mechanic... it just didn't fit with the peacefulness of the world. I was hoping for something more zen...