Existence by donaldducky

made by donaldducky for LD28 (COMPO)

tech: javascript / canvas / css
tools: grunt, backbone, underscore, jquery, requirejs, keymaster

Used Chinese characters for the sprites.

Coded using VIM!

First LD!

Edit (Dec 16 9:30pm EST):
For those of you who can't make out what those Chinese characters are, I've created a guide here:

http://pyjamacoder.com/ld28/help

I recommend you try playing through the game yourself to get the full experience (it's not very hard or long) but if you get stuck, here's a walkthrough of the entire game:

http://pyjamacoder.com/ld28/walkthrough

Both of those links can also be found on the game's page itself.

Enjoy!

Web	http://pyjamacoder.com/ld28/
Source	https://github.com/donaldducky/ld28-existence
Character Guide	http://pyjamacoder.com/ld28/help
Walkthrough	http://pyjamacoder.com/ld28/walkthrough
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-28/?action=preview&uid=31430

Ratings

Coolness	57%	3
Overall	3.26	296

Audio	1.06	813
Fun	3.20	283
Graphics	3.77	139
Humor	2.15	538
Innovation	3.86	46
Mood	3.11	275
Theme	2.43	751

Feedback

adnzzzzZ

16. Dec 2013 · 22:35 UTC

I knew that one year of Japanese lessons would come in handy one day. Pretty nice and simple game. Good job!

windwalkerranger

16. Dec 2013 · 22:47 UTC

Is it just two screens?

van noctar

17. Dec 2013 · 02:51 UTC

For a game created with javascript, the result is good! It's a little honorable tile game for a first LD!

Unept

17. Dec 2013 · 03:17 UTC

Great job on this. I felt a little bad, since the tree was pleading with me. But it had to be done.

doctorscientist

17. Dec 2013 · 03:19 UTC

I really like the jkli shooting control. Its a lot of fun and the simple shot animations are perfectly subtle. I hope more people see your game.

Crigs

17. Dec 2013 · 03:47 UTC

I really enjoyed the experience and symbolism. I'm glad you wrote a walkthrough because I would have never been able to finish it otherwise. Great job!

Crigs

17. Dec 2013 · 03:51 UTC

Just wanted to add that I hope you take this further; I really think using Chinese characters is a brilliant idea and the resulting experience was very, very cerebral, even if very literal in this entry.

Katamori

17. Dec 2013 · 22:51 UTC

Damnit, too short! You should really expand it!

🎤 donaldducky

18. Dec 2013 · 13:27 UTC

Thanks for the kind comments!

I really enjoyed creating the game and want to share my experience. I've created a post in my journal but more will follow as time permits:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/?category_name=ld-28&author_name=donaldducky

If you get stuck, I recommend reading/using the walkthrough to get the full experience of the game. It's not very long but I don't want to take up too much of your time since there are so many games to try :D

Here's the link: http://pyjamacoder.com/ld28/walkthrough

postmodestie

18. Dec 2013 · 21:50 UTC

Wow, the asthetics blew me away! One of the reasons why i learned a little chinese (forgot everything).

IMO it was relatively easy to end, so i played it twice, for 'both' endings. Great!

Is there some relevant folklore innit, i guess so?

Alex Rose

19. Dec 2013 · 03:12 UTC

I burnt the world tree. Like a boss.

Great concept man, really enjoyed it.

mortl8324

19. Dec 2013 · 06:41 UTC

Awesome game. Very innovative to use Chinese characters to represent things.

triforcespark

19. Dec 2013 · 08:48 UTC

I was actually thinking about also using Chinese characters for one of my games, and this just showed how useful (and powerful) they are.
Nice story you got there.

Diptoman

19. Dec 2013 · 12:57 UTC

Interesting take. Glad you provided that character table. The shooting and different kinds of attacks felt cool. I'm not sure how the theme fits in, though. Still, great aesthetics.