Lost in the Darkness by TobiasW
Your three friends are scattered in this nightmarish world, turned into creatures of darkness.
Find the fairies. I heard they are tiny and yellow. I don't know where to find them: You'll have to look around.
Lead the fairies to your friends! The music volume will guide you to them.
This world is in constant change. Be ready. And don't stay in the darkness for too long...
You'll only need WASD or the left stick of a gamepad (Windows release supports vibration too!).
That's everything you need to know - if you feel like exploring, don't read on.
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Some guidance for the less adventurous:
- Your light shield holds for 4 seconds.
- The little critters are harmless in itself, but they will slow you down.
- Touch a fairy and it'll follow you.
- Touch one of your turned friends when you have a fairy to help him.
- The music is louder when a friend is near.
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Used fonts:
- http://www.fontriver.com/font/a_song_for_jennifer
- http://www.fontriver.com/font/maras_eye
- http://www.fontriver.com/font/mage_script
Used base code:
- http://dragonlab.de/projects/ld27/base-code-unity.zip
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Win Condition Bugfix Update 2013-08-30:
The mechanism that guides the players to their friends is a hot&cold music volume mechanic. I forgot to normalize the ingame music volume levels - so the music contained some louder parts which probably lead some players astray. I'm sorry for everyone affected! With the blessing of the fine folks at the IRC channel, I've updated the source/builds with a normalized mp3 file.
Find the fairies. I heard they are tiny and yellow. I don't know where to find them: You'll have to look around.
Lead the fairies to your friends! The music volume will guide you to them.
This world is in constant change. Be ready. And don't stay in the darkness for too long...
You'll only need WASD or the left stick of a gamepad (Windows release supports vibration too!).
That's everything you need to know - if you feel like exploring, don't read on.
---------------------------------------------------
Some guidance for the less adventurous:
- Your light shield holds for 4 seconds.
- The little critters are harmless in itself, but they will slow you down.
- Touch a fairy and it'll follow you.
- Touch one of your turned friends when you have a fairy to help him.
- The music is louder when a friend is near.
---------------------------------------------------
Used fonts:
- http://www.fontriver.com/font/a_song_for_jennifer
- http://www.fontriver.com/font/maras_eye
- http://www.fontriver.com/font/mage_script
Used base code:
- http://dragonlab.de/projects/ld27/base-code-unity.zip
---------------------------------------------------
Win Condition Bugfix Update 2013-08-30:
The mechanism that guides the players to their friends is a hot&cold music volume mechanic. I forgot to normalize the ingame music volume levels - so the music contained some louder parts which probably lead some players astray. I'm sorry for everyone affected! With the blessing of the fine folks at the IRC channel, I've updated the source/builds with a normalized mp3 file.
Ratings
| Coolness | 100% | 1 |
| Overall | 3.37 | 271 |
| Audio | 3.27 | 161 |
| Fun | 3.13 | 383 |
| Graphics | 2.54 | 778 |
| Humor | 2.19 | 582 |
| Innovation | 3.75 | 100 |
| Mood | 3.35 | 166 |
| Theme | 3.68 | 141 |
Did you make a random map generator or something like this? (If yes, what was your technique?)
Do you have Twitter or something?
Cute and fun game.
I used the 360 gamepad with Win7-64b.
I like the flocking using those easings
One good thing: the 10 sec. changing concept.
One bad: it looks like has no end:
My score in light balls:
[IMG]http://i39.tinypic.com/2a0hpqf.jpg[/IMG]
@Bekokstover:
Thanks! And: Really? It might be just me, but I think the eyes and the little plot there is (which needs the fairies and magic) give it a bit of charm that I'd miss otherwise. Abstract it would've been too dry for me.
@Zelun:
Thanks! And yeah, it's a bit repetitive, but well, also pretty short. I had other enemies planned that would've come in later, but then I ran out of time.
The map generator is mostly just:
- If a tile is visible, create all neighboring tiles if they aren't already there.
- With a certain chance it's a white tile.
- Every set of 80 light tiles contains exactly one fairy.
- Every created dark tile contains 1 (or later 2) Scurries (the black critters)
- One of dark tiles in the outer rim of the starting tiles contains one of your friends.
- As soon as your friend is found, a new one is created on the current outer rim within a certain maximal distance.
I might write more about it in a post-mortem, but that's it in essence.
@Bjeaurn:
Thanks a lot! Which mechanics did you need the description for? I tried to put most of it in the starting screen and thought that the remainder might just as well be explored - so I'm interested in what I've missed there!
I don't have a twitter, no; I use Facebook for communication. I have a blog/YouTube for new games though!
- http://blog.dragonlab.de
- https://www.youtube.com/user/TobiasWehrum
@Brassawiking:
Thanks for the praise! And sorry - the fairies said they were too shy for me to implement any searching mechanism. They said they wanted to be found via exploration. If you keep walking in one direction, you are sure to find one though; there are enough for everyone.
@juaxix:
There's isn't any flocking actually: They just like the tile they are currently on, and switch position every 1.5 to 2 seconds. And if they find out they are on a light tile, they search the nearest dark one. It does LOOK like flocking though, and I'm glad you like it :)
@senseidav:
Thanks! It DOES have an end though - remember, you're here to find your friends, not just collect fairies. Find a fairy and lead it to the place where the music is the loudest. Look out for somebody who looks like you when you're game over - and touch him. Congratulations, then you've saved your first of three friends!
@TammiLion:
Well - your friends went game over before you, so that's how they look like! The music gets louder the nearer you get to one. (And I'm glad the Game Over text has the intended effect, haha. It even gives ME the chills :D)
But I really like your choice of music and sound effects: the little guys are terribly creepy! And the bad ending is great :-)
Thanks for the game, and I hope you enjoy my video review:
http://youtu.be/161iPzyL1EU
For the music, I used http://abundant-music.com by the way - the same generator I suggested to you in my comment.
I am really unsure about how to make the direction clearer without giving it away. It's still about searching, and I wanted the player to "feel" that he's getting nearer to a friend - I thought music would be the best medium for it. I'm sorry that it didn't work out for you! Do you have an idea how I could do it?
What you might want to try though: Walk only in one axis. Walk left, see if it's getting louder or quieter. If it's louder, continue for a bit, otherwise turn around. Then do the same with up and down. Once you've got a the general direction, start walking there. Repeat as necessary.
I'm having a hard time following the musical cue when finding friends. Finding the fairies with the knocking sound is fine though.
Some ambiant sounds (or very discret music) would benefit to the game in my opinion.
Great job.
Art wise, I think it would be more ominous looking if the eyes were just eyes, and would simply blink back into being in the darkness instead of running away in the light and looking small and helpless.
Amazing game! =D
I really like the little runes circling around when the fairies save the friends.
All in all, a great entry!
Although subtle, I especially like the sound of the little critters latching on to you.
In an expanded version, I would love to see varied environments to explore, and perhaps some details about who these characters are. Are the creatures in the darkness more fallen friends?
Nice work!
Nothing more to say. Cool concept! :D
Kudos!