Light of Happiness by Katamori

[raw]
made by Katamori for LD28 (COMPO)
Light of Happiness is a superminimalistic, mouse-only, pseudo-artistic...ehm...reflex game? I think so.

You have to use your left mouse button only. BUT BEWARE: YOU HAVE TO USE IT VERY OFTEN!!! (I'm not joking, prepare your LMB :P)

Theme: You Only Get One...well this game uses only one input (mouse), only one colour (white) - but in 8 shades because we can, and tells that we get only one single and superior purpose in life: happiness.

So...make it out as you wish, I think the game is related to the theme.

My original plan was too complex and buggy, but I already wasted 20 hours for that. However, I couldn't just sit on my ass and waiting, so I created Light of Happiness WITHIN SIX HOURS OVERALL! Please, think about it, when you rate tha game.

The game uses 8 shades of gray overall. No, it's not worse than the novel with a similar name.

Ratings

Coolness 92% 2
Overall 2.56 835
Audio 1.78 720
Fun 2.24 882
Graphics 2.31 787
Humor 1.96 625
Innovation 3.17 317
Mood 3.23 213
Theme 2.65 618

Feedback

PaperBlurt
16. Dec 2013 路 14:48 UTC
More text adventures! Nice!
馃帳 Katamori
16. Dec 2013 路 15:23 UTC
@PeperBlurt: In fact, I didn't plan this game for a text adventure, but glad you enjoyed it =)
headchant
16. Dec 2013 路 15:23 UTC
Very interesting concept, but it might be a bit harmful for the left mousebutton ;)
mruno
16. Dec 2013 路 15:39 UTC
Interesting game with an interesting concept. It hurt my hand a lot though :P
DST
16. Dec 2013 路 16:19 UTC
Nicely done! Text adventures in Love? Why not ^_^
kyyrma
16. Dec 2013 路 16:22 UTC
Interesting game. Good work on the descriptions between the stages.
etabubu
16. Dec 2013 路 16:24 UTC
Interesting idea and important topic. Would have loved to seen other implementation on the mouse input though, more friendlier to my finger ;)
SketchyGalore
16. Dec 2013 路 16:29 UTC
Thanks for leaving a nice comment on my game; I had to stop by and do the same :) And I was feeling a little down so a game about happiness was interestingly-timed! I think I might have to dig into the source so I can re-read the interesting essay within... without hurting my hand again ;)
scriptorum
16. Dec 2013 路 16:30 UTC
Nice. I found the contrast between descriptions of happiness and laborious clicking to be amusing. ;)
馃帳 Katamori
16. Dec 2013 路 16:46 UTC
Thank you all!

@scriptorum: No one said that happiness is easy to reach! =) also, I tried to implement more similar metaphorics elements, with more or less success.

@SketchyGalore: thank you, Mr. Baffleman! :D sadly my game is not that "actionful" as yours, but I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Nik Sudan
16. Dec 2013 路 17:40 UTC
Nice idea, but I can't feel my finger now :P
GravityScore
16. Dec 2013 路 17:44 UTC
Interesting!
josefnpat
17. Dec 2013 路 05:37 UTC
Very interesting. Lots of clicking!
supremefist
17. Dec 2013 路 20:00 UTC
Nice message, but my finger hurts now :)
donaldducky
17. Dec 2013 路 21:56 UTC
I tried to play this (downloaded Love 0.9 to play other games) but it crashes:

Error

main.lua:135: attempt to call field 'drawq' (a nil value)

Traceback

main.lua:135: in function 'draw'
[C]: in function 'xpcall'
馃帳 Katamori
17. Dec 2013 路 22:38 UTC
@donaldducky: I used an earlier version of L脰VE for creating this, so it was never tested on 0.9 version. Try to get 0.8, that should work IMO.
viinnyk
17. Dec 2013 路 22:39 UTC
looks and sounds really nice, however i can't figure out how to play. All I have is a ball floating in space...
viinnyk
17. Dec 2013 路 22:40 UTC
honestly I can't tell what I have to do
drkrunk
18. Dec 2013 路 09:49 UTC
This was interesting, neat concept. Good job.
ian_snyder
19. Dec 2013 路 00:41 UTC
Interesting, and I do laud you for making something in 6 hours :D I don't really understand what I was doing other than clicking as fast as possible in the same areas, though :P I like the writing, would be interesting to see something from you that was more focused on that.
Paco
19. Dec 2013 路 00:43 UTC
Well,
I must tell you, I hope you understand: I was interesed by the text and ideas, but I can't really give you a good score.
But, I didn't wanted to just do that. So I'm leaving a comment, (an useful one i hope) to compensate, maybe.

I really like when games open doors that are usually ignored or taken lightly. Happines is a very heavy topic actually and you have several ideas, some of them I concurr, others not so much. In any way, I must confess I was a little disapointed by the game itself. I understand the limits you got, and I celebrate your attempt to cover the topic in this challenge.

I think you weren't able to carry the ideas presented in text to the game... I guess you noticed that too, so I propose to you a challenge/technique, next game write these ideas, these text down... but do not put them in the game, and try to translate them into gameplay alone. I do not have a problem with text, but 驴What if the ability to write down the concept free us from the obligation to gamefy it? You know, limits (self-limits too) are great for learning new things, new ways... Maybe you are used to write more than design games... (maybe, i cant really know) so, if this is the case, you could force yourself to not write at all (only because you can write)...

Well that is a proposition you can dismiss, of course, I hope you understand my real message: I look forward to your next game, and i know it will be better.

PD: sorry for my bad grammar, i hope the comment is still readable
ReactorScram
19. Dec 2013 路 00:44 UTC
At first I was very confused, I thought I was supposed to click on the tiles that flashed. Then I reread the rules. I don't see any tiles marked by colons, but they are marked with commas. By the end, it was pretty easy because I would just make a square that took a long time to degrade. The cellular automaton was fun to play with, but the text was a little hard to understand.
scoopsy
19. Dec 2013 路 01:14 UTC
Not able to get it running, but it looks neat.
馃帳 Katamori
19. Dec 2013 路 01:18 UTC
@ian_snyder: Actually, you're not doing anything else! Squares are metaphoric implementations of aspects of your life, and clicking means taking care of them - consequence: they are getting brighter. Light means happiness and good things in this metaphoric meaning.

@Paco: I think I could get the matter: you miss the real implementation of metaphoric elements. You are perfectly right! I wrote my idead but at the end I couldn't add much to this "click-on-tiles" stuff.

Probably my mistake, I don't want to blame short perioud of time for everything - I'm not even permitted to do so.

Also, thanks for the long-long comment!

@ReactorScram: colons vs. commas - ARGH, damn, my bad grammar! It may be the reason also that you could barely get the texts. I hope you still enjoyed this little game o' mine!
chiguireitor
19. Dec 2013 路 01:35 UTC
My poor poor poor LMB. Nice mood and very easy to understand mechanics.
MrTedders
19. Dec 2013 路 04:01 UTC
haha oh geez i read the complaints about hand and lmb and now i understand. Interesting concept you got goin here.
JaymeeMak
19. Dec 2013 路 04:04 UTC
I really enjoyed the mood of the game and the message you were trying to convey. The gameplay itself was a little simplistic and could have used a bit more clarity in explanation, but I see where you were going with it, and the attempt turned out quite nice. My finger is kind of sore now though. Good job!
Coblynau
19. Dec 2013 路 20:52 UTC
Fascinating!
Spelchan
20. Dec 2013 路 23:35 UTC
Too much clicking.
badlydrawnrod
26. Dec 2013 路 19:57 UTC
Argh, my carpal tunnel is playing up. Some of us are out of warranty you know.