Specter Snap by Snicklodocus

[raw]
made by Snicklodocus for LD32 (COMPO)
Specter Snap!
You're a walking exorcist camera, out to save the world by snapping ghosts. Take a spooky close-up or zoom out to capture large swaths of ectoplasmic baddies. Jump around to get the best shots, for the most points. Only you can prevent a spectral selfie epidemic!

Make sure the tutorial completes! You can't gather score or die unless you do everything it asks you to do.

Move with a and d or left and right.
Jump with w or up.
Drop through floors with s or down.
Change focus with z and x or [ and ].
Take pictures with c or \.

Thanks for playing! Please leave a comment, and I will return the favor! If you want to contact me, try at twitter.com/snicklodocus or gamesbyme.tumblr.com

Ratings

Coolness 89% 2
Overall 3.55 231
Audio 3.47 154
Fun 3.57 187
Graphics 3.91 134
Humor 2.68 568
Innovation 3.77 137
Mood 3.37 222
Theme 4.11 59

Feedback

MiniBobbo
21. Apr 2015 · 02:08 UTC
This was fun. Switching between the focal lengths were hard at first, but I got it after a minute.

The score for me wasn't working. Collecting the photos doesn't add anything. Then after awhile it threw an exception and blew up on me.

Still, I was able to play for a couple of minutes and it was a lot of fun. Nice and smooth gameplay!
ApocoNypse
21. Apr 2015 · 02:13 UTC
Love this, it was really fun. The photos didn't add any score though. Polished and great fun, loved the sound as well! Good job :)
DaGamesta
21. Apr 2015 · 02:16 UTC
Took a minute to get used to, but the mechanic was unique and interesting. I also really liked the artstyle and general mood made by the mixture of the artstyle with the sounds, gives it a nice crunch. Great job, especially for a Compo entry.
Diventurer
21. Apr 2015 · 02:17 UTC
This proves how important background music is. It added so much to the experience in this game. I love how polished this game felt!
CamRFWhite
21. Apr 2015 · 02:17 UTC
Really awesome job! My only complaint is I wasn't sure if the things I was picking up did anything other than give me points, and I didn't fully understand how to get more points by taking the picture, i.e, if I was doing something "better" or not. But seriously other than that 10/10, great art, responsive, and fluid gameplay.
🎤 Snicklodocus
21. Apr 2015 · 02:18 UTC
Oh, really sorry about that bug! I've never encountered that. If you don't mind me asking, were you playing the web or Windows version, and what was the error message?

Anyway, thanks for commenting! I'm glad you enjoyed it regardless.
Gipzo
21. Apr 2015 · 02:21 UTC
Nice game, pretty graphics. A bit not-intuitive controls, but it gets used to. Nicely done!
BlindSkyStudios
21. Apr 2015 · 02:25 UTC
I like the camera mechanic, switching between focal lengths. I thought the score wasn't working at first but then I released you had to catch the pictures.
I couldn't jump back up to a platform I had jumped down from thou.
gaarlicbread
22. Apr 2015 · 21:05 UTC
This is great! I love love the graphics. Consistent style that fits the mood perfectly. The music is also nice.

If you keep working on it, I would recommend adding a sense of progression, but that's not critical for a fast ludum dare game.

Overall, this is one of the best ld32 entries I've played so far. I would want to check out other games you've made to see what kind of graphics are around for longer-term creations!

PS The camera mechanic is a great idea that fits the theme perfectly.
MiniBobbo
23. Apr 2015 · 01:52 UTC
I just revisited this and for some reason this time it worked perfectly. I played the web version both times. I think what happened the first time was I got stuck in the tutorial loop because now that it is working I realize that I can 1. Run out of film and 2. Die. I couldn't do either before.

No idea where the exception came from. Maybe we just mark it down as a buggy Unity OpenGL release.
benmcnelly
24. Apr 2015 · 01:26 UTC
Took a bit of practice but I love the concept and cute art, good job!
srakowski
24. Apr 2015 · 02:35 UTC
Great graphics, solid audio, neat use of the theme. A bit of a learning curve, but otherwise a solid game. Well done!
Davikin92
25. Apr 2015 · 02:52 UTC
I like the Kirby-like graphics! You should add more zoom levels and maybe dim the lights to make it harder for you to take pictures.
resty
25. Apr 2015 · 05:45 UTC
A nice entry, I love the art style.
Fun to play, tried to get a 20 point after some tries.
Not sure what to do when used up all films.
phi6
26. Apr 2015 · 00:56 UTC
The trade off between the focus distance and size is genius - what a great mechanic! Everything is really charming about this game, top marks!
Octopus Melange
26. Apr 2015 · 04:38 UTC
Very well rounded game!
Dege
26. Apr 2015 · 09:36 UTC
Solid Game!
Sergi Montaner
27. Apr 2015 · 21:43 UTC
Very original and nice graphics.
I runned out of photo "amunition" and then died. How do you get more photos?
🎤 Snicklodocus
28. Apr 2015 · 02:49 UTC
Thanks everyone for the comments! I'm glad you like the game.

When you run out of film, the game should end once you collect all the photos. There's no way to get more film - just try to get the most points with what you have.
OnlySlightly
28. Apr 2015 · 03:53 UTC
:D This game made me so happy! I love all the work you put into the details like the jump animations. The robot was adorable! The graphics were gorgeous and I love how you came up with a unique mechanic and framed it into an arcade-y action game. That was clever of you to use a film strip for the 'ammo' bar rather than having a standard colored bar that runs down. Beautiful game! Thank you for making this!
Jupiter_Hadley
29. Apr 2015 · 01:23 UTC
Cute graphics, simple but well made game, nice entry! I included it in part 7 of my Ludum Dare 32 compilation video series, if you would like to take a look :) https://youtu.be/Cnio28O-EgI
bentglasstube
29. Apr 2015 · 03:02 UTC
I really liked the graphics and the music. It was an interesting take on the theme as well. Nice work all around.
zeejfps
30. Apr 2015 · 03:42 UTC
Love the graphics man, I have a thing for nice 2d Graphics.
Park
01. May 2015 · 00:20 UTC
Great work, some satisfying mechanics and great interpretation of the theme. The core experience stands above many of the games I played.

The jump sound could be a little bit softer or smoother, and some of the high notes in the music also seem a little out of tune. It adds some to the ghostly mood, but ultimately it's the main reason I needed a break from playing. Otherwise, kind of got a Secret of Mana (NES) vibe from the music - pretty cool. Maybe a different instrument sample would smooth it out..?

For visuals, you could try adjusting the shadows toward blue-greens, blue-violet, or a cool red-violet instead of grey. It will add a punch of life and energy to the setting for the least effort. Bonus points for randomly selecting between a background preset for replay variety. Maaaybe even try pulling the background into darker mid-range values instead of light values, and adjust black UI elements to be white if necessary.

Hope those suggestions might be usefulヽ(^。^) It's already a solid game with tons of potential.
Kalman90Grape
02. May 2015 · 03:22 UTC
Interesting and unique idea. I like it!
Exeneva
05. May 2015 · 06:52 UTC
I like the focal length switching!

Score did not work for me, but overall the polish in this really shows.
MaesK
05. May 2015 · 13:58 UTC
Good idea! Graphics and sound are really nice too. Not sure about how useful changing the camera focus is, but mechanic is interesting.
tripleVisionGames
05. May 2015 · 16:00 UTC
cool concept and well made. I like the art style too. It did crash when I died but that may have been more to do with webgl!
sP0CkEr2
06. May 2015 · 03:22 UTC
same as other - no apparent score - great job