Beacon by ken

[raw]
made by ken for LD30 (COMPO)
Best Played in stand alone version, Web version has some weird lighting and frame rate issues for me.

Controls:
WASD: Movement
Space: Jump
Mouse: Aim
Left Click: pickup and place shards

Story:
You are teleported to a strange world where there is no sound. You find fragments scattered around the land and 2 strange pedestals that seems to already have some fragments on them. Before too long you notice a black void consuming the land and you have nowhere to run. What will happen when the blackness consumes you?

My idea was of two worlds, one of light and the other of sound. These two were separated when the inhabitants of the light world created a right between the worlds which caused shards of each dimension to become lost in each other. You're objective is to gather all that shards and try to separate the worlds again.

Ratings

Coolness 69% 3
Overall 3.08 684
Audio 3.47 148
Fun 2.81 765
Graphics 2.89 695
Humor 2.27 587
Innovation 3.54 266
Mood 3.21 372
Theme 3.14 643

Feedback

hazzahazzam
25. Aug 2014 路 09:22 UTC
Interesting game, don't understand it, but can see a lot of work put into it.
renatopp
25. Aug 2014 路 18:40 UTC
Nice voice acting, but how can we play the dark screen without any feedback?
馃帳 ken
25. Aug 2014 路 19:37 UTC
Haha thank you. Navigating the dark world was one problem I was struggling with in the end. There is a sound if you hit a wall and you can hear your footsteps to tell if you are walking or just stuck on a wall, but even though I tried to simplify the dark world level and I know the layout it's still really hard even for me to navigate, so I should have thought of more effective feedback to give. I still like the idea of being blind and navigating this other world, but it didn't turn out as playable as I had imagined in my head.
micdoodle8
25. Aug 2014 路 23:27 UTC
Nice game, really unique in the dark world, I ended up finding all the sounds, but spent more time bouncing off the walls :P
lkr
25. Aug 2014 路 23:31 UTC
I liked the idea and concept, but I too had a hard time navigating in the dark.

I managed to find two of the sounds, but couldn't find the third. I think a big part of the problem for those of us that didn't make the game is that we have no idea what kind of layout we're walking in. Is it a maze, a big open area, or something else? Is it the same big outdoor area? If so, I didn't get much time to familiarize myself with it before the dark came along.

The humming from the last sound didn't seem to vary in volume during the time I spent looking for it, so I had no idea if I was getting closer or not.

It would be interesting to see more of the game if you could figure out a more intuitive feedback mechanism for the darkness :)
ob6160
26. Aug 2014 路 00:28 UTC
Love the concept, dark area was interesting though ;) Maybe a little refinement there. Otherwise a great game!
Cad
26. Aug 2014 路 00:46 UTC
More feedback for the dark areas would be nice, good ideas though, decent execution.
TomTheG
26. Aug 2014 路 00:52 UTC
couldn't figure out what to do in the dark, though I do understand what you're going for and I like it anyway
John Drury
26. Aug 2014 路 08:48 UTC
Interesting use of sound. Was quite the challenge. Gave up after 60 minutes wondering in the dark.
graebor
27. Aug 2014 路 03:27 UTC
Interesting concept, but I have to echo what others have said that navigation in the dark world is just way too hard.
PapaCheech
27. Aug 2014 路 03:53 UTC
great job! You dont see too many well made 3d games on here, this one was refreshing!
Zolmeister
27. Aug 2014 路 08:07 UTC
Agree with the other comments, dark area was confusing
mrexcessive
29. Aug 2014 路 15:22 UTC
Hi there. Couldn't find the third sound beacon, but didn't have headphones just stereo speakers, cats kept meowing at not-very-useful moments... Nice graphics and movement on the visible part. Clever sound design for the dark part. Good job!
ChuiGum
30. Aug 2014 路 00:26 UTC
Great graphics, seems like you've spent a lot of time on it. Great job
Akurn
01. Sep 2014 路 07:19 UTC
I love the concept, great game, the challenge was fun.
But like many people have mentioned, the dark world could be better. However I don't think it is a feedback issue, but more an awareness issue. In real life when you're in the dark, you know how much you turn, you can feel the environment and generally know your orientation (facing up or down). Not knowing the game world too much, I wasn't sure whether I was looking up or down, whether I could move forward, back, left or right. Assuming that you walk exactly as you did in the visible world, that created another problem because the mouse sensitivity in that world was quite higher than I'm used to in an FPS, which left me thinking "Did I turn 360 degrees or 180 degrees, or even 270 degrees?" in the dark world. Was the room a maze or a boxed room? Was the sound able to go through walls? All questions that could have lead to frustration.
It was a lot better once the sound was in range though (could use it to determine the way I was facing), so maybe having some ambient sound or echo could have helped the entire room. Or even restricting mouse look to only left and right, in both worlds, so the player knows that it won't be a problem in the dark world.
I was able to finish it (maybe luck?), but I could see how some people could get frustrated.
Great game though!
adharris
02. Sep 2014 路 01:55 UTC
I liked the take on the theme, too few games explore sound as a primary medium. Still got lost as hell though. :)
Linus Lindberg
07. Sep 2014 路 18:26 UTC
Really love the dark world puzzle! :)
Larzan
09. Sep 2014 路 08:33 UTC
Niiiice, loved the part in the darkness, well done, good concept!