LudumData

blomster by Ditto

[raw]
made by Ditto for LD28 (COMPO)
blomster is an exploratory game with pretty colors and stuff. I really struggled with the theme this time, but a short bit into the game you get a sphere you need to carry with you to progress, you only get one. I didn't really have time to flesh out the story as I pictured it.

Blomster means flower or flourish in Swedish.

New Linux builds are up, both the original and the postcompo version! Huuuuuge hugs and kisses to Kaleb (@belak51) both for contacting me, doing the linux port AND fixing a disgusting graphical bug in the game! <3

Post-compo version is UP!

This ludum was crazy, I've slept ~6hours during the 48 hour compo time. I also have some fun figures to show

Time spent / keys pressed, in application:
19.6h / 116684, Visual Studio
8.1h / 14209, in Google Chrome
3.8h / 18092, Photoshop
2.9h / 27320, in Sublime(text editor)
1.5h / 11631, in Skype
5.7h / 68433, in blomster while debugging!
this adds up to 41.6h during the competition, I may have been afk atm ~2h of that though. Kindof shows why I am so damn tired now! Anyways, I am very proud of the game, I hope you enjoy it as well!

Second place, wow! A bit overwhelming, I don't know what to say.. wow.
Special thanks to:
My wonderful GF who actually made me food, my dishes and stuff.
SonnyBone, @phantom_green for being my rolemodel and friend during jams!
Belak @belak51 for porting the game to linux AND fixing some bugs while doing so!
of course all of you who played and rated my game. wow thankyou speach, I've let this go to my head.. gg guys, cya in april, I'll be doing LD from China! :D
windows https://www.dropbox.com/s/uj068618a4pq4wp/blomster.rar?dl=1
post-compo https://www.dropbox.com/s/s8oeohh5scw9bcp/blomster_post-compo_v2.rar?dl=1
linux https://www.dropbox.com/s/7t4v07p64ezv9r9/blomster-linux.zip?dl=1
linux postcompo https://www.dropbox.com/s/5pld69qrujcvqfp/blomster-linux-postcompo.zip?dl=1
source https://www.dropbox.com/s/349qbekw8awi09a/blomster_source.rar?dl=1
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-28/?action=preview&uid=14669

Ratings

Coolness 69% 3
Overall 4.24 2
Audio 4.18 6
Fun 3.72 47
Graphics 4.31 26
Humor 2.27 482
Innovation 3.76 67
Mood 4.40 5
Theme 3.41 215

Feedback

SonnyBone
16. Dec 2013 · 05:19 UTC
Holy crap, man. There were several moments where I legitimately stopped and thought, "OH WOW" or "HOW DID HE DO THIS" or "THAT WAS CLEVER". The sphere you collect... the first time I threw it and it bounced... then I looked at the animation of it kind of 'rolling' and just stared at it. It's so simple but just beautiful. And the music. OH MY GOD THE MUSIC. Everything about the audio just really sucked me into this world and made me want to know more. I wanted some kind of connection to this little guy and I was pushed and pushed to get through some tricky puzzles (good job on the puzzle design!) and then I was rewarded by a genuinely moving ending that nearly made me shed a tear.

This is a very, very fine accomplishment.

Yeah, it's a puzzle platformer and there isn't much innovation going on, but you gotta look beyond that and see that what's here is pretty much perfect. And in 48 hours? Are you kidding me? This is a fucking triumph.
AlanZucconi
16. Dec 2013 · 12:45 UTC
It's quite a clever puzzle! :)
DST
17. Dec 2013 · 12:31 UTC
Beautiful game! Really nice mechanics and it works in WINE ;)
joserodolfofreitas
17. Dec 2013 · 12:34 UTC
Wow, that's a very charming game. I loved the mood and the art style. Well done!
Tanser
17. Dec 2013 · 12:38 UTC
Amazing game, I cant even believe it is compo! Really nice!
I just fancy the lighting so much. Amazing.
PaperBlurt
17. Dec 2013 · 12:57 UTC
This looks soo good.
And is it from Sweden (blomster?)
Poupi
17. Dec 2013 · 13:03 UTC
Very beautiful game, the sound is pretty immersive and the graphics are simples but works very well.
🎤 Ditto
17. Dec 2013 · 13:03 UTC
Thanks DST, edited the description!
PaperBlurt, yeah, I am Swedish, blomster means flower(or flourish?) in Swedish!
grozamorei
17. Dec 2013 · 13:03 UTC
Awesome atmosphere! Small window - great impressions.
Capitals
17. Dec 2013 · 13:18 UTC
This is definitely one of the best games made this ludum dare!
GBolt
17. Dec 2013 · 13:59 UTC
A bit confusing, but really inspiring.
Sylence
18. Dec 2013 · 09:30 UTC
Great game. I love the graphics :)
Diptoman
18. Dec 2013 · 09:33 UTC
This. Was. Amazing. Beautiful, just, beautiful! Hats off for managing to pull this off in 48 hours!
Zambini
18. Dec 2013 · 09:41 UTC
This game is one of the most impressive I've seen so far. I want to play more but I have to go to sleep.
The light as a puzzle mechanic is not only technically impressive but visually fantastic.

(Also woo hoo for a fellow SFML crazy person! Mine wasn't nearly as impressive, but I've also not done C++ for 2+ years :P)\
Kane
18. Dec 2013 · 10:39 UTC
Fun little game, really sadistic with some puzzle :p
Nice work in only 20h of dev !
TijmenTio
18. Dec 2013 · 12:54 UTC
Hey, I can't open your game, it popped-up a message saying VCOMP100.dll is missing and thus cannot open the application.

I really wanna play it, your games are always so great!
🎤 Ditto
18. Dec 2013 · 15:14 UTC
TijmenTio: thanks a lot, apparently, it should work if you install VCRedist(package for using C++ applications). There are 2 different versions depending on your OS.
32bit: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5555
64bit: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=14632
ResonantCraft
18. Dec 2013 · 16:42 UTC
Really, super smart concept !
Pixelbear
18. Dec 2013 · 17:52 UTC
Wow! Incredible game! The design in this is really, really good. The learning curve was gradual, and the puzzles made me feel pretty smart for solving them. Will definitely recommend to people.
ChrisMingay
18. Dec 2013 · 20:29 UTC
Absolutely amazing, the best I've played so far :) The final puzzle before the ending starts is something else, really exceptionally clever stuff.
Sytech
18. Dec 2013 · 21:09 UTC
Atmospheric and clever! Incredible that this only took 42 h for you to make!
TheMaster99
18. Dec 2013 · 21:31 UTC
Pretty great game! Didn't get very far because I gave up after the second time I managed to lose my sphere. That's my problem though, not yours. Also, the "bug" you experienced in my game isn't a bug, it's a feature. There are invisible walls around the map to stop you from leaving the level. There are better alternatives I could have (and should have) implemented, but didn't due to lack of motivation. Hope that clears things up, ping me on IRC if there's anything else you didn't like/understand about it, using same name!
Shaun Lebron
19. Dec 2013 · 18:38 UTC
Sublime. I really enjoyed the game and its ending. Very nice use of lighting as a mechanic.
Patacorow
19. Dec 2013 · 19:57 UTC
Creepy game. I like it.
WiseGAMER
19. Dec 2013 · 21:31 UTC
I liked those affects with the colors ,very well made game .
Jiggawatt
19. Dec 2013 · 22:15 UTC
It's so well designed, it didn't even feel like a 48h game. Heavy mood as usual with your games. Some clever stuff going on, while still being taught in an implicit way. Pretty impressive.
LukuluK
19. Dec 2013 · 23:29 UTC
Really beautiful game with a cool mood ! Well done
Alex Rose
20. Dec 2013 · 01:32 UTC
Really lovely little platformer. Really tight physics, the lighting effects are beautiful, it requires a fair bit of thought to complete. I really enjoyed the flower bit at the end. Am I right in thinking it showed exactly the number of flowers I picked?

Really nice ending too. I look the afterlife asthetic too. Good job man.
Shaun Lebron
20. Dec 2013 · 15:34 UTC
The "source" link you provided is the same as the "windows" link. I didn't find any source code in it.
🎤 Ditto
20. Dec 2013 · 16:55 UTC
Shaun, sorry, just editted link!
lordjosephdeburg
21. Dec 2013 · 16:52 UTC
Excellent game, well polished and good concept over all. 5 stars well done!
timtipgames
21. Dec 2013 · 16:58 UTC
I loved it. This is going to rank pretty high. Well done!
tak
22. Dec 2013 · 05:11 UTC
wow this was seriously beautiful :O the subtle change in music + walking speed while you're walking through the plants at the end just feels so relaxing, like the entire game is slowing down and exhaling :D

and all the extremely subtle visual effects really help this feel like more than just pixel art - the way the character rotates his head when you look up and down, the way the lights fade in and out when you enter and exit rooms, it all just feels really smooth and ghostly. the actual size of the game window was great choice too :D

and the puzzles at the end! wow! so many cool uses of the ball of light as a mechanic, it was all really fresh!

definitely one of my favourite games i've played so far :)
javifugitivo
22. Dec 2013 · 06:49 UTC
Great atmosphere! Great ligth colors!
jimmypaulin
24. Dec 2013 · 14:43 UTC
Really haunting and immersive game, the audio just draws you in! It works kind of subliminally - very creepy, what exactly were those things you were harvesting? Sadly too difficult for me to work out the puzzle as I kept coming back to that one "you are lost" place :/ The presentation was excellent
ezolotko
26. Dec 2013 · 06:56 UTC
Looking cool
GFM
28. Dec 2013 · 03:48 UTC
Wow! It's already so moody... can't wait for the post-compo version! :)
The audio and graphics really add up to the atmosphere!

Amazing work!
csanyk
29. Dec 2013 · 06:01 UTC
I'd like to play this, it sounds like it was a good game. But I am getting this error when I try to run LD28_YOGO.exe after decompressing the .rar:

"The program can't start because VCOMP100.DLL is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem."
🎤 Ditto
29. Dec 2013 · 13:06 UTC
csanyk, see my earlier comment on this, you need to install VCRedist, I posted links to this in the comments earlier, hope you get it to work, please tell me if you do, further questions can be asked on @dittomat or thedittozaur on skype!
Jupiter_Hadley
04. Jan 2014 · 14:59 UTC
Super awesome game, love the graphics as well, one of my favorites :) I included it in part 20 of my Ludum Dare 28 compilation video series, if you'd like to take a look :) youtu.be/O9M3TIYW4UU
TijmenTio
06. Jan 2014 · 22:03 UTC
Well I FINALLY got around to playing it! As a matter of fact it's the first thing I did after getting back home from the holidays and I'm just in time to rate it too :)

This may sound stupid, but it reminded my of a Zelda dungeon haha. Not just having a new item and solving clever puzzles with it, but also the entire mood surrounding it. The puzzles were great, but not frustrating and the story was a really fantastic addition to it all, making it a beautiful, perfect little game :)
And before I quit typing I have to mention that the music was brilliant!!
Jarcas Studios
08. Jan 2014 · 15:42 UTC
Great atmosphere here!
csanyk
12. Jan 2014 · 00:20 UTC
Finally came back around to give this a try again, and I'm glad I did! I *really* like the controls. The subtle camera shift from pressing up and down is a great touch. And I love the ball physics. The platform puzzles gave me a fun challenge. Congrats on placing 2nd!