Essense by Jorjon

[raw]
made by Jorjon for LD26 (COMPO)
** POSTMORTEM (AKA READ MY MISTAKES!): http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/05/02/essense-post-mortem/
** IF YOU CAN'T FINISH IT: At least watch the walkthrough (in the links)

Summary:

*Essense* is your surrealist first person puzzle game.

Have you enjoyed Kairo? The Witness? Well... then maybe you will like this.


Controls:

WASD and MOUSE.
From 1 to 0 in keyboard to change mouse sensitivity.

Nothing much I can tell you, you have to experience it by yourself.


Stuff Used:

* Paul Stretch
* Audacity
* Unity3D
* HOTween
* Fraps
* FastStone
* Photoshop
* Chronolapse
* MonoDevelop
* SVN

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall 3.23 491
Audio 3.44 143
Fun 2.73 786
Graphics 3.42 300
Humor 1.97 748
Innovation 2.90 739
Mood 3.81 57
Theme 3.56 533

Feedback

nuprahtor
29. Apr 2013 · 19:56 UTC
First stage is rather confusing, you can't say - do you falling or just flying.
Then begins puzzle, it was really interesting to reveal game mechanics.
And music greatly fits "cloudy" mood
Andrewves
30. Apr 2013 · 09:04 UTC
The music in this game is extremely fitting, though some aspects seem a little unpolished. Good job adding the ability to adjust mouse sensitivity, it's a feature i would like to see in more LD games.
evilseanbot
01. May 2013 · 00:59 UTC
That's some pretty extreme difficulty.

Very impressed with the atmosphere.
Andrew Shouldice
01. May 2013 · 01:05 UTC
Super serene.
EatenAlive3
01. May 2013 · 01:05 UTC
Amazing. Great puzzle aspects, great texts.
Crazi456
01. May 2013 · 06:02 UTC
I couldn't load the webpage
Maple
01. May 2013 · 06:25 UTC
I finished with 12 mins something. It was an interesting experience, but I wasn't really able to follow the text. I liked the audio and the reflective surfaces you stood on (I would rather have not been able to see a blue ball floating in mid-air when I looked down though.) Good job.
ilovepixel
01. May 2013 · 07:01 UTC
Really hard game, but great concept. I got suck on the 3 level, I didn't know what to do.
argo15
01. May 2013 · 07:56 UTC
It's got a nice aesthetic to it. A little hard to figure out at the start but fine after a while.
Jellycakes
01. May 2013 · 08:31 UTC
Cool relaxing game. Found some bugs where I Can avoid walls and not progress but other than that it's a nice game. good job!
SomeNetworkGuy
02. May 2013 · 02:58 UTC
I don't know if I'm just bad at video games, but the first level is really hard.

Beautiful and relaxing scenery and music!
zatyka
03. May 2013 · 02:13 UTC
I beat it. It was quite enjoyable. My favorite board was the one with all the spike coming at you. I hope you keep working on it.
Prelucid
03. May 2013 · 02:45 UTC
Tricky platforms! The moving ones got on my nerves. Great work!
Daniel X. Moore
03. May 2013 · 02:48 UTC
I stated to figure it out, but the jump was unforgiving if you were a little too early.
bowlercaptain
03. May 2013 · 07:12 UTC
Really good. Video games have their blockbuster movies, their novels, their short story, the rare bit of poetry, so this was... what, a conversation with my therapist and/or motivational speaker? I don't know. Anyway, you definitely hit the feeling you were going for. It fits the minimalism theme to a T, and nonetheless manages to be pretty anyway. Good Job.
lotusgame
03. May 2013 · 07:41 UTC
Beautiful and peaceful. There is a true atmosphere here. Interesting puzzles. Congratulations !!
Aceria
03. May 2013 · 07:48 UTC
Lovely mood, but first-person platforming has always been tricky to get right. Some of those jumps are brutal!
Fritzendugan
03. May 2013 · 07:49 UTC
Hit mood right on the head. First level took a bit, I think mostly just because the jumping mechanic felt almost too tight. The level that introduces the smashing blocks and talks about stress had me SO FREAKING STRESSED OUT. It was perfect. The level where you ask "why don't you look around you?" I was such a hurry to escape the crusher chasing me, that I did notice there were other path ways, but I was too worried about escaping that I didn't think they were worth my time to examine. Turns out they were the only way to escape. Very effective, and heavily symbollic.

A few criticisms: like I said, the jumping mechanic felt just a little too tight, especially for being in first-person where it's not always easy to time your jumps quite right. The visual effect on the platforms, while really cool, was a little too distracting and made it tough to tell where the platform boundaries were. Perhaps instead of the surface being 100% reflective, it should have some slight discolartion/lighting of its own so that you can clearly see the platform boundary. Other than that, the game is basically extremely well done. More levels maybe? :D
Patacorow
03. May 2013 · 08:07 UTC
Confusing game, but very solid nonetheless. I loved the levels where you had to avoid the spikes, they were great fun. Really good game!
Travis Irby
03. May 2013 · 08:13 UTC
Nice looking enviroment and some cool ideas! :)
Dining Philosopher
03. May 2013 · 08:38 UTC
Personally I also have trouble with the first-person jumping, but I like the cloud reflections and the font, the level design is also really good (especially the spike mayhem and the chasing level). One thing I noticed is that there's always some blue pixelated dot underneath the player, which I think shouldn't be there.
Cake&Code
03. May 2013 · 08:48 UTC
Wow, that was a pretty cool experience if a bit on the challenging side but only because the experience isn't quite guided enough. On the first level I tried a few times to jump diagonally because standing on the front facing tile made the platform I needed to stop on go away. It wasn't until 3 deaths later I decided to look at the light beams and follow them.

Oh, the title screen did have me wondering. The title had the last 'e' in a different color, is there a meaning to that? Essen[s]e
intripoon
03. May 2013 · 09:00 UTC
This is hard - there is always missing a tiny bit.
lanz
03. May 2013 · 09:15 UTC
Cool reflections and cloud-y atmosphere. Music really fits it.
lorancou
03. May 2013 · 09:34 UTC
I love how you achieved minimalist graphisms without relying on big pixels or magenta squares. This is way too hard for me though, I couldn't pass level 2, which is a shame considering the rather zenish mood. Seeing at your walkthrough it seems that it doesn't get any easier afterwards ;) But very nice entry overall, this is a very impressive work for 48 hours!
Rafael Sales
03. May 2013 · 20:42 UTC
It's poetry. Beautiful game! Congratz!!
Are
04. May 2013 · 09:15 UTC
6 minutes of cloudy adventure.
Madball
04. May 2013 · 13:18 UTC
I loved it, though jumping sometimes was a challenge. IMO, level when you have to dodge spikes has a big potential.
zkenshin
04. May 2013 · 15:10 UTC
Very good mood. :)
Xaychru04
04. May 2013 · 17:23 UTC
I enjoyed this plateformer, I thought the platforms were pretty strange, but I think that's part of the game. The music is very relaxing and the levels are not too difficult. Great game ;)
PabloAlexandre31
04. May 2013 · 20:01 UTC
I like of atmosphere of game!
Taro Omiya
06. May 2013 · 04:28 UTC
Aack! I genuinely love the graphics, presentation, and concept of it (jump on the platforms in the right order), but the difficulty to jump of to the next platform makes it difficult to enjoy.
MinionStudios
06. May 2013 · 13:42 UTC
The spikes were too tough for me, I will keep trying to not avoid my problems... Atmosphere and simplicity with great art and music!
SmilingCat
06. May 2013 · 16:31 UTC
The light beams were a good hint for when landing on a platform changed the layout.

Good job!
wademcgillis
06. May 2013 · 20:09 UTC
The platforms are very polished ;)

And the first level is a pain until you figure out what's going on.
GaTechGrad
06. May 2013 · 23:04 UTC
Really liked the atmosphere in this game. Sort of like being an angel jumping through heaven. I'm just not a fan of the first person platforming.
kyyninen
07. May 2013 · 12:47 UTC
Liked it! At first I was kinda frustrated at first, then I got the feel for jumping and it went smoothly onwards. Nice, serene mood. 06:02 was my time.
Tiago Ling Alexandre
07. May 2013 · 12:49 UTC
Cool take on the theme, good job! Also, very good music and mood. Congrats!
lightnarcissus
07. May 2013 · 18:05 UTC
Little confusing but the music is extremely well-done and I'd say it does a good job staying true to the theme. Good job! :)
ovenchips
07. May 2013 · 18:26 UTC
Really good entry - I completed it. Frustration level set just right. Difficulty curve dropped right off on the last level but perhaps that was intentional to give more weight to the on-screen messaging. Well done indeed!
Sylvain.p
07. May 2013 · 21:27 UTC
Well, i have try 10 minutes...but impossible to finish the first level. Too bad because your game looks great.
Colapsydo
08. May 2013 · 09:03 UTC
Those mirror platform are excellent.
The overall atmosphere is great even if I found the textureless objects a bit out of the world.
marnaouf
08. May 2013 · 16:43 UTC
Very beautiful game.
mkpictures
10. May 2013 · 03:01 UTC
It was hard, but what an amazing experience!
Simple graphics and lovely music.
Great, great game!
Thanks
ataxkt
10. May 2013 · 14:04 UTC
Copy pasting the definition for minimalism doesn't make your game minimalist, especially when adding it makes the game less minimal!
Very pretty atmosphere and mood though! Very difficult.
MrShoestore
12. May 2013 · 18:57 UTC
nice. I liked that the platforms you could walk on were mirrors. gave it a nice vibe. seems like a small thing, but totally huge when it comes to design aesthetics.
Jesse111
13. May 2013 · 07:47 UTC
This is great! I love the music and visuals, and the adherence to the theme!
The "problems" are scary! It's very menacing hearing them approach.
kirby_freak
13. May 2013 · 15:11 UTC
I didn't find the game too difficult, but I loved how the mechanics worked in tandem with the words to convey your thoughts. The music was nice too, and I liked how the floor was a reflective surface, made it look nice. I also liked how you're just a ball :P Great job!
Kitch
15. May 2013 · 03:36 UTC
very beautiful game. sound and graphics work well together. nice work.
WiseGAMER
16. May 2013 · 12:40 UTC
A very nice game that must be top 10!
I think you will like out game too. It speaks about minimalism in a different way. Try it :)
Martin_Monosys
17. May 2013 · 21:34 UTC
Hey cool, your game has the same objective as mine (go to the red cube), but the rest of the games couldn't be more different, completely other mood here... but I like it ! :)
sP0CkEr2
18. May 2013 · 02:43 UTC
very cool idea -- but it was sooo frustrating to play -- could not figure out the pattern of the floor moving
Make A Game
19. May 2013 · 10:22 UTC
The jumps were tricky it took me some effort and I couldn't finish, but I watched the walkthrough afterwards (I didn't score any less because of my inaptitude =P). Overall the ethereal aesthetics created a very poetic mood. It also hit the spot with the theme.
AdventureIslands
20. May 2013 · 20:16 UTC
Loved the mood, really peaceful and serene, I liked jumping around the clouds, and didn't think the game was too difficult. Just curious why there is 2 exits in the final level when they both take you to the same outcome?