Astral Offset by bytegrove

[raw]
made by bytegrove for LD26 (COMPO)
Timelapse: http://youtu.be/j0HmuHKOBvU

Steer - W/A/S/D or Arrow keys
Sword slash - Left Mouse Btn / L Ctrl
Move crate - Right Mouse Btn / L Alt (recommended in webplayer)

You can also play using an Xbox 360 gamepad or similar:
Move crate: A | Sword slash: B

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I didn't manage to implement a tutorial on time(might add it in a postcompo version based on feedback. The following are some hints on how to play the game, as it might be a little confusing:

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I wanted to incorporate the theme in the gameplay somehow. I decided to try to create a game in which you have two representations of the game world.

In Astral Offset you play in a 3d world while overlooking a simple minimalistic 2d world as well; the "astral plane". Pay attention to what happens in the astral plane and what effects it has as you play the game.

More info here:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/04/29/astral-offset-mini-post-mortem

Potato enemies can be killed with the sword, the astral beings however must be defeated in their plane of existence.
Keys are scattered around the world and you'll need all of them to win, enemies drops keys as well. Crates can be pushed around or beamed as energy to the astral plane by slashing them with the sword.

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Found bugs:
* Sword slash active even though animation has stopped.
* Teleport cubes/crates sometimes get stuck far away from the player(feels like the camera controls them).
* More than one teleport cube can be slashed at the same time, and none is returned on hit(game breaking).

Feedback:
* Add mouse lock
* Improve depth perception/avoid dizziness
* Sword combat weird/hard/glitchy, maybe add auto targeting+ranged weapons?
* Tutorial to better explain concept
* More content :)

Ratings

Coolness 74% 3
Overall 3.10 634
Audio 2.84 468
Fun 2.68 835
Graphics 3.43 296
Humor 2.10 648
Innovation 3.57 224
Mood 3.04 440
Theme 2.38 1301

Feedback

Diamonde
29. Apr 2013 · 16:21 UTC
Cool concept and cute graphics.

It feels kind of like playing two games at the same time, where you have this astral, calm world and the more action filled grounded world. I like the concept although I fail to see a relation to the theme.
I also feel that I grasped the concept after quite some time, and would have hoped for a few more levels as a reward! :)
Shigor
29. Apr 2013 · 17:03 UTC
How do I get to the astral?
FuzzyWuzzie
29. Apr 2013 · 17:29 UTC
Neat concept! Love the toque! I had a hard time hitting enemies with the sword though.
semi
29. Apr 2013 · 17:38 UTC
A winner is me!

I absolutely adore your art style and the perpective, especially since it's even relevant to the gameplay. The potato monsters are a little annoying in that they almost always seem to get two hits in before you can kill them, but it becomes manageable after a few tries.

I guess like always it's important to read the instructions that come with the game but it took me a while to figure out how to kill the box moster thingies. A real cool idea for that, though! Now we want MOAR CONTENT!

Shigor: You don't actually _go_ to the astral world, Diamonde is talking about the box monsters coming down from the sky.
PyroSneak
29. Apr 2013 · 21:12 UTC
Pretty good game, nice graphics, and the music's pretty good too :)
Kitch
29. Apr 2013 · 23:26 UTC
really like the "log rolling" world... made for a really neat effect. nice little set of mechanics in there as well. nice job!
omaromeir
30. Apr 2013 · 08:51 UTC
Nice graphics and character, loved the concept but it was difficult to hit enemies with the sword at times :(. Good luck :D.
mortus
30. Apr 2013 · 14:49 UTC
Are most enemies invincible? Or I just can't aim.
🎤 bytegrove
30. Apr 2013 · 16:14 UTC
@mortus:
The astral enemies that appear from the sky can't be killed directly with the sword, you must kill them in a different way.
Dark Acre Jack
30. Apr 2013 · 17:26 UTC
Kinda neat & good art style but I seemed to run so far that stuff stopped spawning. Also the lack of depth perception fighting a bit of a pain. Maybe with an auto-locking ranged weapon that would be more fun.
T800
30. Apr 2013 · 17:26 UTC
Inteeresting gameplay, like the sounds very much!
badlydrawnrod
30. Apr 2013 · 18:33 UTC
Love the art style.
paulmcgg
30. Apr 2013 · 18:41 UTC
I love the idea of exploring the connection between the 2d and the 3d. Ideas like this fascinate me, metaphorical connections, and I actually wanted to work it in but there wasn't enough a time. Music was pretty nice too& rotating world.
HelkeGames
30. Apr 2013 · 19:25 UTC
Love the graphic and the concept is very cool ! :D
klianc09
30. Apr 2013 · 20:38 UTC
Kinda confusing but interesting concept. Although it doesn't really have much depth as it is. Artstyle kinda reminded me of the good old PSOne games.
alcazar
30. Apr 2013 · 21:58 UTC
Nice entry
gilmore606
30. Apr 2013 · 22:13 UTC
I love this! That faux-3D rolling-cylinder world concept is great, I might steal that idea. :) Really nice graphic style, and the map-in-the-sky astral plane idea is great.
UltimateWalrus
30. Apr 2013 · 22:24 UTC
Really awesome, I love the titular mechanic. It takes the whole Animal Crossing-style scrolling to a level beyond just aesthetic. My favorite I've played so far. Nice job!
Andrewves
01. May 2013 · 03:58 UTC
I like the idea and visual style of this game, good job.
Husky
01. May 2013 · 09:13 UTC
Awesome concept!
I like the vertical scrolling, pretty cool!
good job :p.
Gravity Games
01. May 2013 · 18:29 UTC
I really liked this game a lot, though combat is a bit awkward from the angle the camera is at (at least awkward before you get used to it). However, there were quite a few glitches, for instance, I apparantly went to far, and was able to control the teleporting cubes with the camera (unless that was supposed to happen), and holding down the sword button allows you to keep attacking, even though the animation stops. All in all, it was a very interesting and cool game, and I would love to see it continued in another form.
Jarcas Studios
02. May 2013 · 02:01 UTC
Neat idea. Took me some time to understand what was going on, but still cool.

Pretty neat trick how you got it to look like you're running around an endless cylinder.
gregdevice
02. May 2013 · 06:16 UTC
Nice work! I couldn't hit anything, maybe I'm doing something wrong. There's an easy way to capture the mouse in Unity in the browser window and disable the right click button. Nice Work! Interesting perspective.
GeorgeBroussard
02. May 2013 · 06:59 UTC
Liked the basic mechanic of the world on a cylinder. I got a little dizzy after a while :)
juaxix
02. May 2013 · 08:41 UTC
Stars made of bytes fall from sky in an infinite loop while the potato demons try to steal my astral body and the dark squares want to kill me too XD
This is an ironic epopee to find the essential key of life using astral travels, like our dreams? cool!.
I ran out of things in this world, no keys, no doors, no potatoes, no nothing, an empty , void world, just running around XD
I like the idea of walking in a continuously generated world, with dangers lying in wait for us, the key (essential) things of life are hard to know and understand.
🎤 bytegrove
02. May 2013 · 10:29 UTC
I'm glad to see that you liked the concept! Thanks for the great feedback! Thanks for the bug reports as well, I will add them to the list! :)
daniel2357
02. May 2013 · 12:03 UTC
Nice concept, very mice graphics but i could not find the last key somehow. Nice Work :).
Uhfgood
02. May 2013 · 17:37 UTC
It was a little weird to play, and I didn't know half of what I was doing.
EdoMiyamoto
02. May 2013 · 18:04 UTC
Very nice game !
Boiúna
03. May 2013 · 01:09 UTC
Good job. The game overall is very good.
ataxkt
03. May 2013 · 15:35 UTC
Perspective is cool, but very confusing to the point that its offputting. Needs a shadow or something to help you understand positioning more intuitively!
sudorossy
04. May 2013 · 00:36 UTC
It bugged out on me a little and I fell through the world. Other than that, it was pretty cool to play!
MinionStudios
04. May 2013 · 19:22 UTC
Very interesting game, I love the rolling-pin landscape idea. The stars show you the way
kyyninen
05. May 2013 · 20:10 UTC
Love the idea of two different worlds interacting, but I had no idea what was happening in the game itself! Luckily instructions cleared that up quickly. I was little disappointed there wasn't epic end battle in the astral plane when door opened. Going past the end of game and just leaning towards rolling eternity was kinda beautiful though.
SaintHeiser
06. May 2013 · 02:03 UTC
Ohwow! Not bad, bot bad.
Movement mechanic looking fresh and awesome!
Galvesmash
06. May 2013 · 06:33 UTC
Great game! Love the art style!
GameNacho
08. May 2013 · 19:46 UTC
Woah really cool perspective, it works well! Nice game too!
henrykun
14. May 2013 · 13:07 UTC
Beautiful game!, graphics are very good and sounds too. The mechanics are simple and fun, great job!
Codexus
18. May 2013 · 11:37 UTC
Cute game, the gameplay idea is really nice but not so easy to understand at first.
Sebastian
20. May 2013 · 19:19 UTC
Cool, I love the way the trees pop up out of the horizon. Moving the crates is a bit awkward using alt in the webplayer build. Perhaps disabling context menu for web would have been a good idea so that right clicking would have been viable, or even just auto pushing crates when you're near them.
Anyway, that's just a minor gripe, pretty fun and very interesting looking game overall.