Beneath a killing moon by Holtenice

[raw]
made by Holtenice for LD35 (JAM)
In the middle of a vast desert, a small village is located. It’s midnight and the full moon is shining.

You play as the evil full moon, which is desperate to end the life of the humans.

The killing is accomplished by pushing down the buildings of the city to get the full moon to shine on the citizens. If you’re lucky you’ll then expose a Werewolf who’ll start the killing. But you need to hurry, cause otherwise the citizens will go home to sleep. If you kill enough of humans you’ll get rewarded.

Good luck, it’s not an easy quest to keep track of the Werewolf and at the same time trying stop the people from going in to their houses.

Idea: Viktor and Gustaf
Programming: Viktor
Art and Music: Gustaf

see more of Gustafs things at gustafholtenas.com
More of Viktors stuff at https://spikospel.itch.io/

NOTE(initial plan was that a second player plays the werewolf and tries to hide from the evil moon, let's see if we can get that in in the future :) )

Ratings

Coolness 30% 1854
Overall(Jam) 3.50 304
Audio(Jam) 3.80 98
Fun(Jam) 3.04 608
Graphics(Jam) 4.27 97
Humor(Jam) 2.73 387
Innovation(Jam) 4.00 51
Mood(Jam) 3.98 66
Theme(Jam) 3.53 389

Feedback

Firephoenix
18. Apr 2016 · 22:34 UTC
Pretty nice idea of the houses, but it takes quite a few tries to make the werewolf appear, as there is only one and you can't just rapidly push all the buildings down.
dvdfu
19. Apr 2016 · 03:45 UTC
The visual style in this game is FANTASTIC! I also love the eerie piano and concept. Trying to get endings besides "No Good".
Matzigon
19. Apr 2016 · 12:44 UTC
Kind of a strange game, but in a good way. :) Did not get rewarded in the end, sadly.
fprawn
19. Apr 2016 · 18:44 UTC
I had fun with this one, but always lost. Is it possible to win? It seemed like I was doing well.
Toonhawk
19. Apr 2016 · 18:48 UTC
The gameplay is perhaps a bit too barebones and it's not very satisfying to have to rely on an AI you can't control. The visual design was really good though, fairly unusual and it made you want to try the game.
JOK
19. Apr 2016 · 18:49 UTC
Cool idea. The graphics and the sound is an awesome match! Good job.
WeaverDeveloper
19. Apr 2016 · 18:58 UTC
Can't run this, i get "The browser could not allocate enough memory for the WebGL content" error. Probably a firefox issue.
kestrelgames
19. Apr 2016 · 19:03 UTC
I really liked this! lots of tries playing and still haven't beaten the game argh :) timing comes naturally from the building anims which is a smart idea.
LudumAnthony
19. Apr 2016 · 19:26 UTC
Hard for me to beat, I tried at least 15 times :(

The idea was great, graphics were good, sound suited the game quite well - I really liked it.

Like stated below, you should be able to control the werewolf because the AI is pretty bad at killing people!
Arvydas
20. Apr 2016 · 00:56 UTC
Really great art in a classical way, the mood and overall immersion is fantastic and the gameplay is really original, good job!
megalukes
20. Apr 2016 · 00:58 UTC
Really liked the idea and loved the music, it definitely puts you in the mood! The problem is that it gets boring too fast.

And btw, I always lost, haha, even killing almost all the citizens. Is it possible to win?
RafaSKB
20. Apr 2016 · 01:02 UTC
Love the concept, and it's challenging in a way. I couldn't beat it though. Great sounds too.
Nolocality
20. Apr 2016 · 03:03 UTC
Very nice.

The landscape, moon and art in general is just beautiful. Your 'take' on the werewolf/moon thing is great...the friggin moon itself reaches down and ensures the wolf gets some rays.

Nice entry guys.
ThommazK
20. Apr 2016 · 05:10 UTC
I really like the art style, and what an interesting concept! Very nice use of shapeshifting. As mentioned, I found the AI very tricky and, perhaps, we should be able to control the werewolf.
Raptorij
20. Apr 2016 · 05:41 UTC
слишком пресно
Weeping Rupee
20. Apr 2016 · 07:21 UTC
This game has absolutely my favorite art design yet. Kudos to whoever did that. The architecture of those buildings with the moody music and this really strange idea for a game really was a worth-while if short experience. It kinda seems though that this would have fit better in the "the light hurts you" theme that got voted out final round. Still, wow. I wanna be in this world you made, and cant wait to see the next/first big one you create. I think your strength is in creating this magical uncanny looking universe-- maybe try a game about exploration and light puzzle solving one day (ala Hohokum)

Suggestion: Im pretty sure this runs on a timer and I think it would be more strategic if it worked on a number of moves and gave you that information up front.
zillix
20. Apr 2016 · 07:32 UTC
what a neat concept! the gameplay was very original and the art style was very pretty. well done :)
rodobodolfo
20. Apr 2016 · 07:57 UTC
Visuals and music are top notch but I found it too difficult to kill enough humans as the controls didn't seem fast enough and too hard to see if they are going into the houses. Would be nice to have an indicator that they were about to enter a house, if that doesn't make it too easy. Solid effort nonetheless.
pjimmy
20. Apr 2016 · 08:27 UTC
Awesome! The visuals are very good.
Pestel Crew
20. Apr 2016 · 09:44 UTC
I liked the game. Well-chosen music, the atmospheric graphics and intuitive gameplay. Good job
bryGPO
20. Apr 2016 · 10:08 UTC
I love the all the art and animation going on here. Shoving down the buildings has a really good weight to it. Also, the music adds a lot to the atmosphere.
It would be nice if there was some more options for identifying the werewolf. Having the 2 player mode would add a lot to the experience.
Great work!
pavel_insight
20. Apr 2016 · 11:07 UTC
You have your own style. Interesting entry.
sylveax
20. Apr 2016 · 12:44 UTC
It's good, has nice sounds to it, looks good... but the gameplay lacks a lot of flesh...
KairosXIII
20. Apr 2016 · 13:49 UTC
Interesting game, love the graphics and animations.
SengiG
20. Apr 2016 · 19:10 UTC
Neat concept, you've mannaged to deliver nice exprerience with this one. Looking forward for your future works!
DevDad
20. Apr 2016 · 23:05 UTC
Interesting and original concept. Very nice graphics and sound.
Freank
23. Apr 2016 · 15:14 UTC
Hi, nice game ! We're realizing a video with several games of the Ludum Dare #35.
Can you add your game on indiexpo.net ? (it's free)
So we can include also your game in the video ;)
p.s. write #LDJAM in the game's description
urfbound
23. Apr 2016 · 17:28 UTC
Great music and fantastic art. Aside from looking pretty and having a unified style, the animations are smooth and don't get old. The style is imaginative and adds to the mood of the game. I like the reverse-whack-a-mole idea a lot.

The only suggestion I would have about the gameplay would be that maybe the humans could be split into different types (e.g. height, colour, dress) that conferred well-understood walking patterns (left-to-right, zig-zag, crossing a particular section of the screen, loops, etc.), speeds, and so on. This would make it easier to predict where they are going to be and add an element of strategy. Then, to build on this, perhaps multiple people could be converted at once, allowing for more damage. Maybe comboed werewolves would stick around longer or move faster or something.

Overall I think this is a really polished game with a great sense of style and mood. Original concept and good use of the theme. I had a lot of fun playing and hope that you had fun putting this game together!
SecondDimension
24. Apr 2016 · 16:51 UTC
Really liked the visual style and colour palette, a very original idea.
Freank
26. Apr 2016 · 08:43 UTC
i'm still waiting it ! :D
AinoraZ
29. Apr 2016 · 22:39 UTC
Graphics are well done, the game idea is there but it's pretty hard to understand what's happening at start. Still, a great entry!
themadknights
08. May 2016 · 12:31 UTC
The mood and the graphics are awesome!. I saw a bug where part of the player is on a house, and you can't get it.
themadknights
08. May 2016 · 12:35 UTC
For some reason, I joined the second part of the comment (that one about the part of the player) which I wanted to say in another game. Sorry.