Of Life and Death by jsspiegel

[raw]
made by jsspiegel for LD28 (JAM)
In life, you only get one... ending. Of Life And Death is an unintentional text adventure with graphics, about a man's futile attempt to achieve immortality!

Art by me (Jacob, 16) and everything else by my amazing friend Adam, 16. This is my second Ludum Dare and his first. We were going to have a third friend do art for us, but she had to drop out last minute due to schoolwork, leaving me to take over the art (originally Adam and I were going to split code). While art is not my forte, I'm kinda pleased with how it turned out, and the game as a whole is a fun experiment! It's (kinda) #NOKILL.

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 3.08 275
Audio(Jam) 2.38 382
Fun(Jam) 2.90 255
Graphics(Jam) 2.13 500
Humor(Jam) 2.32 276
Innovation(Jam) 3.23 148
Mood(Jam) 2.96 235
Theme(Jam) 3.22 138

Feedback

blasmena
16. Dec 2013 路 22:33 UTC
awesome! love it!
godan
17. Dec 2013 路 02:26 UTC
Well written!
Christopher Schulte
17. Dec 2013 路 02:26 UTC
The choice to steal from your parents at age 8 is really good one that I've personally never seen in a game. I think that kind of exploration of ethical development is really interesting. Well done.
glovecat
17. Dec 2013 路 02:36 UTC
It has a good message.
馃帳 jsspiegel
17. Dec 2013 路 02:46 UTC
Thanks for all the positive feedback!
Lazdo
17. Dec 2013 路 03:05 UTC
Very Nice! Never seen anything like it!
@TeddyNashor
17. Dec 2013 路 03:24 UTC
great story guys. I am really curious if there is a way (but I would assume not as it seems to be the point of the game). Either way, experimental games are so great to play so thanks so much!
uRLgR3y
17. Dec 2013 路 03:29 UTC
Intense. Well written. Loved it. Good job.
van noctar
17. Dec 2013 路 03:30 UTC
Good game, many choices and meny game states. WHat system are you used? State Machine?
JaymeeMak
17. Dec 2013 路 03:31 UTC
I loved it! I like the way the interactive narrative was implement, the music went nicely with it, the story was great, the choices were great, the representation of opening doors and leaving behinds others was great too.

Great job!
Lacutis
17. Dec 2013 路 03:31 UTC
Interesting use of the theme. Felt like a choose your own adventure book in computer form.
TFJO
17. Dec 2013 路 03:33 UTC
Interesting! There's a couple of (minor) bugs that I've noticed, such as giving you the option to pay back your parents regardless of whether you actually stole from them or not, otherwise an interesting concept.
Unept
17. Dec 2013 路 03:33 UTC
Ya, great job!
pom9898
17. Dec 2013 路 03:34 UTC
Wow. Very well done. And this is your second game?!?!
馃帳 jsspiegel
17. Dec 2013 路 03:42 UTC
pom9898:

Thanks! Second full Ludum Dare for me, first for my partner, but I did Shark Jam last month, and we've both made many games outside of Ludum Dare.
dremelofdeath
17. Dec 2013 路 03:42 UTC
It was fun to pick various life choices. I feel like the results of your actions took a long time to affect the outcomes it seemed. Fits with the theme. Good job!
Optimus6128
17. Dec 2013 路 07:51 UTC
Haha, nice concept!
Zephyr89
19. Dec 2013 路 07:43 UTC
MUST PLAY ALL THE STATES!
somepx
19. Dec 2013 路 23:05 UTC
Very well written, interesting twists. A good entry
pele
21. Dec 2013 路 01:11 UTC
Cool game! Sad thing the character ends up as a beggar if you try to be charitable ;)
LD_LAN_Party
21. Dec 2013 路 01:30 UTC
Interesting concept. I liked a lot of the choices.
zkenshin
21. Dec 2013 路 01:31 UTC
Never reached immortality, interesting game.
01rafael
21. Dec 2013 路 03:26 UTC
great idea of storytelling! Five stars!
ittlebit
21. Dec 2013 路 03:58 UTC
Interesting approach to branching.
Blinked
21. Dec 2013 路 04:39 UTC
Very well done!
Hyde Wyvern
21. Dec 2013 路 05:47 UTC
Wow this game is so touching and really deals with decisions in a fantastic way, I'm speechless. My game also relies on the "you only got one life so make the right choices" theme but in a kind of different way. Amazing! I loved it.
馃帳 jsspiegel
21. Dec 2013 路 18:33 UTC
Hyde Wyvern:

Played through your game earlier (although I just realized I forgot to finish and rate it!), and I noticed the similarities immediately. So interesting how the same sub-theme can be taken two totally different ways!
TheWhiteLlama
21. Dec 2013 路 18:56 UTC
Wow, so much futur-changing choices to make. I can't get another way then being homeless. Maybe I only made wrong decisions. Well done.
Zener
21. Dec 2013 路 19:15 UTC
Best idea I have seen so far!
aare
21. Dec 2013 路 19:58 UTC
Nice attempt on creating game with story and a message, mabye a bit naive at times and limitating the player, but a great try after all!

--- Spoler! ---

After denying the money to the client I was told that it destroyed my personality to the point where I wanted to kill myself - the development of the character that I took (f.e. - to take the knife, to stab the guy, to steal the girl...) didn't made me to expect that the protagonist would be a guy who whold want to kill himself just because of some random guy's death :P
馃帳 jsspiegel
21. Dec 2013 路 20:50 UTC
aare:

-- Spoilers --
Unfortunately, early decisions don't much end up impacting future consequences, the consequences are usually immediate. No matter your early choices, you always end up working at the insurance office, if you deny money you become guilt ridden, if you give it you get fired, and you always end up dying. That's our take on the theme, you only get one ending. In a full game, you're right, there would be a more diverse system of choices and consequences and personality and all that stuff.
kibertoad
21. Dec 2013 路 21:42 UTC
it would be nice to see a complete interactive story written by you. liked the idea, but suicide as resolution is overrated.
archaeometrician
22. Dec 2013 路 01:16 UTC
Nice concept, I like the idea of being confronted with choice. Great work ! I tried it 3 times, I wonder what I got wrong, never got the immortality choice ;)
馃帳 jsspiegel
22. Dec 2013 路 01:24 UTC
archaeometrician:

SPOILER

Not sure if I should reveal this, but there is no way to achieve immortality. That's the point/moral of the game, no matter how you live your life, it always ends, and you can never become immortal.
olafsworld98
22. Dec 2013 路 01:46 UTC
i love it, but i still never got immortality