Evolve by Overkill

[raw]
made by Overkill for LD29 (JAM)
Your ship has crash landed and is now at the bottom of the ocean. You must descend beneath the surface to retrieve it, but you will need to collect the scattered energy orbs to be able to deal with the dangers ahead.

Collect 3 orbs to evolve your character to each new level.

Movement: Arrow keys
Shockwave (once available): Spacebar

Created by Angie Pytlewski, Ryan Klak, Dave MacLean, Dave Tran and Tamas Szathmary for Ludum Dare in three days.

NOTE: If you encounter graphical glitches in the WEB version, please try the Windows EXE instead.

UPDATE (2014/05/02): Fixed difficulty tuning to make game beatable, enabled full screen mode.




If you are having trouble with the difficulty, check out this You Tube video showing a complete play through in less than 2 minutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcYwJm6-zhc

Ratings

Coolness 66% 3
Overall(Jam) 3.90 40
Audio(Jam) 3.70 111
Fun(Jam) 3.31 187
Graphics(Jam) 4.75 5
Humor(Jam) 2.11 556
Innovation(Jam) 3.08 338
Mood(Jam) 4.19 25
Theme(Jam) 3.86 55

Feedback

Rick Hoppmann
28. Apr 2014 · 23:53 UTC
The game looks rather promising but I only have 1 to 2 FPS when running it in browser. My computer has enough power to play most of the modern titles on high, though.
zkenshin
29. Apr 2014 · 02:14 UTC
Gorgeous entry. Liked the use of the evolving mechanic as well. :)
BumbleBirds
29. Apr 2014 · 03:18 UTC
Seems like the website is down at the moment, a shame! this looked promising
BuriTeam
29. Apr 2014 · 03:18 UTC
Hi! I'm not being able to access the links...
Cambrian_Man
29. Apr 2014 · 03:20 UTC
Gorgeous graphics, moody music. However, I got frustrated after a while. The problem I had was that you have so much momentum that whenever I thought I was making progress, I'd fling myself into an enemy that was just offscreen before I had more time to react. Aquaria is one of my favorite games ever and this looks great, just wish I could finish it.
Lissar
29. Apr 2014 · 03:20 UTC
Gorgeous game! Controlled smoothly as well. I'd love to see it as a full title.
Marjie62
29. Apr 2014 · 03:25 UTC
Beautiful! Really well polished. I had a lot of fun playing it too. My only complaint is that death was sudden and it was frustrating to start completely over. But you're not expected to have save files for something like this :)
tchem
29. Apr 2014 · 03:27 UTC
Very interesting proposes,,, the graphics and atmospher are awesome,,, nice work all.
VDOgamez
29. Apr 2014 · 03:30 UTC
This game is beautiful. I really like some of the touches that went into the effects, like the water surface ripples. It's also extremely unforgiving, even after you're able to defend yourself.
GertJohnny
29. Apr 2014 · 05:41 UTC
Killer graphics. Web version didn't work for me either, I was disappointed until I saw the note.
delfino
29. Apr 2014 · 08:42 UTC
Web version worked fine for me (Chrome, Windows 7). Great games, looks beautiful, challenging but fun
dsoft20
29. Apr 2014 · 17:26 UTC
Great art, smooth controls and a good difficulty :P
Larzan
29. Apr 2014 · 17:34 UTC
Why are there only 5 stars to give, damn.
Absolutely brilliant, love it, but it is sooo haaaaaaard :(
Thank you for this beatiful piece of art!
MidCry
29. Apr 2014 · 17:34 UTC
SO Beautiful that my eyes get wet ... Super Great Job
Kuchalu
29. Apr 2014 · 17:35 UTC
Really good. Amazing graphics and nice game play. Died quite a few times before I reached the first evolve.. XD
ilovepixel
29. Apr 2014 · 17:35 UTC
This is really beautiful! great job! The illustrations for the levels was very very nice
Jaenis
29. Apr 2014 · 17:41 UTC
Really beautiful game! Though it is rather hard, especially those small fishes, they got me everytime
Kashaar
29. Apr 2014 · 18:34 UTC
I got some sound stuttering in the web version, but apart from that it's pretty cool! i really dig the visuals :)
StencylTuo
29. Apr 2014 · 18:34 UTC
Okay, anyone who knows me knows that I am a harsh grader, so the fact that you got three five stars (and mostly 4's for the rest) is simply outstanding. It's definitely the best entry I've played yet. The opening cinematic was impressive, especially for being 72 hours, and all of the parts work together very well. My one complaint is that I wish the player could swim just a bit faster (or enemies a bit slower) so that I could actually outrun one.
MSaul
29. Apr 2014 · 18:35 UTC
Really hard game, and yes wonderfull graphics.
maffydub
29. Apr 2014 · 18:35 UTC
Excellent graphics and nice ambient audio. Interesting gameplay ...and nice bubble effects!
snickersnacks
29. Apr 2014 · 18:36 UTC
The graphics are very nicely done and I really like the game concept. Having too much momentum was frustrating, I kept accidentally flinging myself into enemies when going too fast and manually modulating my speed takes a lot of effort. The music and the effects of being consumed by the darkness are pretty terrifying, despite the whimsical graphics.
HBurd
29. Apr 2014 · 18:38 UTC
Wow! amazing sound design and graphics. And it runs perfectly on linux
Jools64
29. Apr 2014 · 18:40 UTC
This game looks amazing, I love the art. It has nice sound and solid movement too. The only real problem with it is it's too hard because of the lack of checkpoints. Having to go back to the start everytime I get hit by one of the small fish was a real bummer.

Still, amazing effort on all other fronts, well done guys!
GeorgeBroussard
03. May 2014 · 08:09 UTC
Fantastic graphics. Kept me playing. I was never able to finish, though. Got about 7-8 orbs and would always die. Great effort. I will return to it, to try and finish.
bazld
03. May 2014 · 08:33 UTC
Whoa, stunning looking game. Plays well too. Fantastic achievement.
cageinabird
03. May 2014 · 09:16 UTC
Looks outstanding and feels very polished.
TheExGenesis
03. May 2014 · 09:18 UTC
I HATE THOSE BLOODY PIRAÑAS! Anyway, moody and difficult game, congrats.
giordanno92
03. May 2014 · 09:20 UTC
This game is incredible. I could really feel the sense of fear in the discovery while I was venturing deep into the dark. The controls are not so hard to master and the horrific look of the enemies made the experience much more interesting (and scarier), not to mention the music that indicates approximation of the enemies and the little details like the orb line formation and the protagonist changing color. The lights are gourgeous. Now the downgrades, maybe, there should be a localized respawn system, where we could gather three orbs and maybe save the game with three orbs. Cause the little enemies feel quite frustrated (since there are so many of them and we can't venture them at first without at least gathering six orbs). My firefox is updated but I had issues with sound, had to play it on chrome, no big time. The main character could have more frames in his animation, even though the little blur when we swim is pretty nice. Well, maybe that's it, I played the game more that 15 times, I guess, couldn't manage to finish it. But I will finish it. Solid entry. Great teamwork.
BoaHeck_ArtGent
03. May 2014 · 10:00 UTC
Well it was hard but I liked how the level looked made of bones. And the audio was really atmospheric. I just think it needs a better difficulty curve.
Dining Philosopher
03. May 2014 · 10:25 UTC
Incredibly difficult, but really good. I couldn't figure out how to go down after the first wave of the small fish, my shockwave would always just get most of them, and I'd still be caught. As others said, very unforgiving, having to spend a minute every time to get to the same point again.
TeamFlare
03. May 2014 · 10:35 UTC
very nice game
Deity
03. May 2014 · 11:10 UTC
Great graphics and intro. Also like the idea of the game.

The difficulty is frustrating -- the character moves fast and the enemies move quickly and cover large parts of the screen so its hard not to run into them with some momentum. Difficulty curve needs adjusting.
Christina Antoinette Neofotistou
03. May 2014 · 11:11 UTC
Lovely to see fellow construct users! This is so atmospheric and lovely! Good job! Top marks on everything :)

I felt the insta-kill was a bit harsh, but otherwise cool!
iSamurai
03. May 2014 · 11:43 UTC
I enjoy this game very much. The control feels good, the art is amazing. Nice job!
iSamurai
03. May 2014 · 11:45 UTC
One thing though, the character sprite is a bit buggy on my web browser (Chrome on Mac). There is a black background around the character.
dector
03. May 2014 · 11:51 UTC
Nice game. But restarting from the very beginning after death is a little bit confusing :(
Daniel X. Moore
03. May 2014 · 14:48 UTC
Restarting from the beginning is pretty brutal, a checkpoint after each evolution would help me a lot!
bebopbraunbaer
03. May 2014 · 15:39 UTC
solid game! good work (- : great art and fun game play. Looking forward to your next game
Almost
03. May 2014 · 16:14 UTC
I rage quit after my second death, but the game was pretty. I was eaten by a bunch of tiny fish that I assumed were friendly since they didn't have a big red mouth.
Wakka
03. May 2014 · 16:51 UTC
Woah that's awesome! Only had some stuttering sound sometimes.
ArcturusDeluxe
03. May 2014 · 20:28 UTC
Fantastic art here, really good sense of atmosphere. When you go down into the dark areas it gets pretty tense. It controls pretty well too, although I found it a bit hard to get very far because it all goes a bit fast to react to.
vilya
05. May 2014 · 20:54 UTC
Wow, very impressed with you've pulled off here! Tremendously polished and atmospheric.
Frump
06. May 2014 · 04:49 UTC
It's a really nice looking game!

So why did you use that awful font!?
ruerob
06. May 2014 · 05:02 UTC
This was a nice experience. I loved the graphics and the controlls are great. Nice entry, thank you for that.
darke_shard
06. May 2014 · 10:08 UTC
Sebastian lied - under the sea ain't as magical as he claimed it'd be! But wow, this entry has some of the best visuals I've seen in LD29.

That said, if/when you port this into a full game, may I request a checkpoint system? I love exploring the dangerous depths, but the threat of death and failure's too steep (i.e. reset to zero) for the kind of game that should encourage exploration.
jsmars
07. May 2014 · 15:38 UTC
Really beautiful game, great style and artwork!
Jupiter_Hadley
11. May 2014 · 12:13 UTC
Love the graphics and mood. I included it in part 22 of my Ludum Dare Compilation video series! :) http://youtu.be/7oB_8pUypJo
joe40001
15. May 2014 · 08:54 UTC
I got to the end with all the orbs is there a different ending or something if you don't have all the orbs?

Also while the game was challenging graphically it was absolutely amazing, mood/audio were 5/5 too
Cirrial
16. May 2014 · 02:40 UTC
Great aesthetics, maddening, repetitive gameplay based entirely on memorisation. Not for me, but great effort.
pinkmonkeyhead
16. May 2014 · 16:42 UTC
I had problems with graphics running on OSX, on Safari and Chrome
jorgemoag
19. May 2014 · 01:16 UTC
i love the graph! very moody but a little hard