Mercurial by sorceress
About
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The theme for this Ludum Dare was "10 Seconds". My interpretation of the theme was to have a game which consists of 3 separate subgames, and player control switches between them every 10 seconds. Items collected in one subgame may be used (rightfully or wrongfully) in another subgame. Meanwhile, the player is plagued by ghosts, and must avoid them at all costs. Since death in one subgame means death in them all.
The switching makes the game both interesting and challenging, as you have to remember both what you were doing, and where the dangers lurk. And iIt can take a couple of seconds after switching to get your bearings again. It is quite challenging trying to plan ahead, to avoid running head into trouble when the game switches back.
I hope you enjoy playing my game, as I've certainly enjoyed making it :D
Controls
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Descriptions of the controls are available in game.
Cursor Keys = Move // Control = Shoot // Escape = Quit
Notices
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This application uses FMOD Sound System, copyright (c) Firelight Technologies Pty, Ltd.
Updates
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26/08: Fixed what I believe to be the cause of the terrible lag experienced by some users.
26/08: Fixed an issue where some doors (at random) fail to open correctly, leading to the game being unwinnable.
26/08: Fixed a non-terminating loop which occurs when the player wins the game, causing the game to hang.
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The theme for this Ludum Dare was "10 Seconds". My interpretation of the theme was to have a game which consists of 3 separate subgames, and player control switches between them every 10 seconds. Items collected in one subgame may be used (rightfully or wrongfully) in another subgame. Meanwhile, the player is plagued by ghosts, and must avoid them at all costs. Since death in one subgame means death in them all.
The switching makes the game both interesting and challenging, as you have to remember both what you were doing, and where the dangers lurk. And iIt can take a couple of seconds after switching to get your bearings again. It is quite challenging trying to plan ahead, to avoid running head into trouble when the game switches back.
I hope you enjoy playing my game, as I've certainly enjoyed making it :D
Controls
--------
Descriptions of the controls are available in game.
Cursor Keys = Move // Control = Shoot // Escape = Quit
Notices
-------
This application uses FMOD Sound System, copyright (c) Firelight Technologies Pty, Ltd.
Updates
-------
26/08: Fixed what I believe to be the cause of the terrible lag experienced by some users.
26/08: Fixed an issue where some doors (at random) fail to open correctly, leading to the game being unwinnable.
26/08: Fixed a non-terminating loop which occurs when the player wins the game, causing the game to hang.
| Windows | http://sorceress.byethost18.com/?dl=Sorceress%20-%20LD27%20-%20Mercurial.zip |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-27/?action=preview&uid=5745 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 73% | 3 |
| Overall | 4.11 | 12 |
| Audio | 3.91 | 18 |
| Fun | 4.14 | 7 |
| Graphics | 4.00 | 66 |
| Humor | 3.00 | 206 |
| Innovation | 3.84 | 73 |
| Mood | 3.60 | 80 |
| Theme | 4.05 | 25 |
Needs some time to get in though...
* Having both the platformer red key and the Gauntlet red key makes one or the other unwinnable.
* Gauntlet area is overly dangerous and enemy-infested compared to other areas.
* Gauntlet area preserves some of the original game's tense health sinks (rapid-spawning enemies) which feel badly misplaced in a one-hit-kill game like this.
* Reaching the locked doors in the wrong order makes the game very tedious.
* Other than providing invincibility in the platformer, the Pac-Man segment has no real purpose other than increasing score in an unrewarding fashion. (Had it provided invincibility to the Gauntlet area instead, where enemies are prolific, I'd find it much more interesting.)
* No checkpoints!!
These are my feedback bullets.
(Oh, I opened the source folder out of curiosity to take a look at the code and it was empty)
I liked the game apart from that and I think it have a nice take on the theme.
Too bad it hangs when you complete it.
I'm running on Windows 7, x64 if I'm not mistaken...
I'm happy to see that the wait was totally worth it. The combination of the 10s countdown with the three different gameplay mechanics works beautifully. And great polish, too. I love the retro art style.
One of the best entries I've played so far. Great job!
The "source" folder in your ZIP-file is empty, BTW.
Good job!
The combination of the different types is great. Music fits really well too :). Also love the sinning-coin faux-3d-effect
I got stuck in the red-wall-room with the red key. I didn't open the re wadll on the first try, and afterwards I couldn't open it either.
Really like game switching every 10 seconds and the stylish graphics. The game plays smooth on my computer.
Also using the cherry with spacebar(removes nearby enemies) is not listed in any of the controls, I learned about it by accident.
Unfortunately, it's also very hard. I still haven't beaten it, though I intend to get back to it at some point. This in itself isn't a flaw. A bigger problem is that there's quite a bit of difference in difficulty between the different worlds: the "Pacman" world is so easy you almost have to try to get killed, whereas the Metroidvania platformer is a lot harder.
Still, that's about my one nitpick about this game. Congratulations on a very good entry!