Imphenzia_AncientTechToReturn by imphenzia

made by imphenzia for LD36 (COMPO)

"Ancient Tech To Return" is my entry to Ludum Dare 36. It's the first time I participate in LD, or in any game jam at all for that matter, so it was a fun and very educational experience.

Goal of the game is to collect Ancient Technology artifacts and give them to the guards that are standing in the way between you and the teleport that will bring you back to present time. Search through chests and remember where the artifacts are if you need them later.

HOW TO PLAY:
* AWSD / Arrows / axies to control the character
* Open a chest and search it by walking up to the lock
* Find the path with guards, find the right items in the chests that they request as you approach them
* Beat your own time to set high scores

To make this game I used Unity3D 5.3. I created the 3D objects in Blender (OMG how I had to learn and watch tutorials during the 48 hours on modelling, rigging, skinning, and animating in Blender since I have a 3DSMax background.) I used Photoshop for some textures. I composed the music (2 tracks) in Cubase with some VST-instruments. I recorded the sound effects at my computer using my voice, whistling (for the birds), crumbling paper, an banging my desk. I edited the sounds in Sound Forge and RX5.

I decided to participate in LD36 on Friday, the day before. I hadn't tweaked my tools and I had some family commitments visiting a birthday party, playing with my children during the day, reading bed time stories in the night, to name a few. Thanks to my wife Nicky, and my children Aiden, Emilia, and Meja for enduring with my hours in the computer room.

Update 20160829: Added web HTML5 port.
Update 20160830: (Potential) bug fix implemented for guards not spawning on some computers and being able to leave chests too early.

Web	http://games.imphenzia.com/html5/ancient-tech-to-return/
Windows	http://games.imphenzia.com/downloads/Imphenzia_AncientTechToReturn.zip
Source	http://games.imphenzia.com/downloads/Imphenzia_AncientTechUnity53Project.zip
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-36/?action=preview&uid=112319

Feedback

QwaKlak

29. Aug 2016 · 08:18 UTC

Funny game but at the beggining i had no idea what to do. And I think when i hitted play 1st time. Gouards didn't spawn. After restart it fixed. Game better than main for sure :) http://screenshot.sh/m9lXOYyvGojoc

FrozenCow

29. Aug 2016 · 21:48 UTC

I really like the art-style. Simple and clean, but still looking good and functional. Falling off the edge felt a bit unpolished but the rest of the game was very nicely done.

Avalanche Games

30. Aug 2016 · 02:01 UTC

Amazing you managed to learn all that within 48 hours. Looks great but guards didn't spawn for me either.

🎤 imphenzia

30. Aug 2016 · 06:41 UTC

Thanks for your feedback! I'm not sure why the guards don't spawn sometimes but I did try to implement a bugfix - maybe the "Destroy" items command was cached to GC so the newly spawned guards were collected by GC straight away. Not sure if the fix will work but hopefully =)

Thanks again!

Rocketship

31. Aug 2016 · 08:21 UTC

First of all, great job finishing the game and learning Blender in 48 hours, that alone is worth an applause. The game looked nice and had a cool idea. I got the same issue of no guards spawning ( reloaded a couple times and still nothing :( ) and also had a hard time getting used to the controls.

lCira

31. Aug 2016 · 08:32 UTC

Nice game and nice graphics that was just made as a beginner watching blender tutorials

🎤 imphenzia

31. Aug 2016 · 09:22 UTC

Thanks! So odd with the guard spawning... Did you try the WebGL / HTML5 version? Rocketship: I tried to fix it yesterday with a minor bug update so it would be interesting to know if you downloaded recently.

(Also, I tried Blender a while back but I forgot pretty much everything so I wasn't entirely unaware. But all the rigging and animation was new.)

mvasko2

31. Aug 2016 · 10:23 UTC

Both the graphics and the music (especially the "left" track) feel really nice and relaxing, making playing the game a really pleasant experience.

Also, as simple as searching for items in chests is, it can also be surprisingly fun. What would be great to have though, is more unique elements to be able to distinguish the places better - right now, everything feels the same. Yes, I know there was not enough time to do that, I'm only suggesting a possible future improvement (if there will be any).

All in all, I enjoyed playing your game, you've done a great job!

wilsk

31. Aug 2016 · 10:58 UTC

Nice background music and a fun mechanic. Thanks for the game.

wr4th88

31. Aug 2016 · 12:46 UTC

Good work with the impromptu blender modelling, and I like the music too. I use Cubase for composition also and I know how long it takes to lay down a couple tracks like that ;).

fractalsunrise

31. Aug 2016 · 17:44 UTC

I really loved the style! The colors were bright and happy, but not overly saturated, and the main character looked nice and peppy with a spring in his step. The low-poly models worked really nicely. My kids and I enjoyed going around and trying to remember where we put stuff. The game really made me want to explore; well done!

One time a box spawned too close to a tree so I couldn't open it (just restarted to get a new placement), but otherwise the game worked very nicely.

Narkhos

31. Aug 2016 · 18:10 UTC

Nice graphics style and nice game. I love the running animation (it remind me little big adventure for some reason), it could be perfect with more fluidity. I found it difficult to open the chests, and sometime it trigger twice. Using 'space' key to open chests could be less confusing.

Great job

Elit3dGaming

31. Aug 2016 · 19:11 UTC

Great game and graphics, at first I didn't understand the objective so I had to come back here to understand what to do. Pretty neat concept.

qzqxq

01. Sep 2016 · 06:09 UTC

I absolutely loved the music and attention to detail in terms of sound effects and animations. The actual gameplay was a little light, but the memory challenge is quite fun.

Only one issue: There seems to be some bug where approaching a chest diagonally causes you to search it twice in a row. This broke my first playthrough, because there was a chest placed next to a tree in such a way that I was always forced to search it twice, no matter what angle I approached from. I knew that this chest contained an item I needed because I searched every other chest on the map, heh.

I also read your postmortem and watched the timelapse, and I just have to say that I am very impressed. :)

darthbox1

01. Sep 2016 · 21:02 UTC

I watched the time lapse video in YouTube and really liked the music and graphic style. I managed to play it finally tonight. It is a beautiful game...you should be proud! Gameplay is of course very simple but it is fun and remembering where you put items is challenging. I really think you could expand the ideas and make a really nice game world with lots to do in a future version. I hope you do. My wife also loved the music. i

atom0520

03. Sep 2016 · 16:45 UTC

At the first sight of your game name and the screenshot that a man is seemingly lost in a forest,I thought it would be a game about throwing bread crumbs to leave trace or put mark on the trees to prevent from getting lost and help find the way home...While after playing the game,I found I was wrong.Anyway, I think it still a good LD work, considering how limited your time is.The graphics looks lovely and the idea of taking and putting things in different boxes is interesting. Moreover how strict you are with your time and how caring you are about your family impresses me, it seems that you are both a good game developer and a good father. The game has little difficulty, and the used time is the only feedback that player can get from the challenge,and personally I think that feedback is not enough to motivate me to play the game once more.However,given more time, I believe u can make it better.
All in all, good Job! And if it's convenient for u, please have a try with my game.
http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-36/?action=preview&uid=99794
I'm very expected to receive your comment ^_^

Hero7785

05. Sep 2016 · 16:07 UTC

cool

xzippyzachx

11. Sep 2016 · 22:16 UTC

My Time = 517

Very good graphics and good game idea!

The animations for the little guy are awesome and well done!

The sounds are very very well done for being homemade. The guards little voices are great also!!!!!

I watched your you tube video and It looks like you did a lot of work.

Congrats on a GREAT game!!!!