APATHY by pbdiode
This is a game about apathy.
For some, it is a near-debilitating condition -- not having concern, excitment,
motivation, or passion can lead to a state of depression, which can be a very
serious illness.
In this game you take on the role of a manifestation (a goat) of Apathy. You can collect coins that represent actions that are apathetic or result from apathy (red coins), and coins that represent the opposite (gold coins).
Red coins increase XP, gold coins decrease XP.
It was made with Haxe + NME + HaxePunk, and is my first foray into the world of flash.
## Controls
The __LEFT__ and __A__ buttons move the goat left.
The __RIGHT__ and __D__ buttons move the goat right.
The __UP__ and __W__ buttons make the goat jump.
The __M__ button toggles the music on or off.
The __R__ button resets the game.
Press __ESC__ during the game to go back to the intro screen.
For some, it is a near-debilitating condition -- not having concern, excitment,
motivation, or passion can lead to a state of depression, which can be a very
serious illness.
In this game you take on the role of a manifestation (a goat) of Apathy. You can collect coins that represent actions that are apathetic or result from apathy (red coins), and coins that represent the opposite (gold coins).
Red coins increase XP, gold coins decrease XP.
It was made with Haxe + NME + HaxePunk, and is my first foray into the world of flash.
## Controls
The __LEFT__ and __A__ buttons move the goat left.
The __RIGHT__ and __D__ buttons move the goat right.
The __UP__ and __W__ buttons make the goat jump.
The __M__ button toggles the music on or off.
The __R__ button resets the game.
Press __ESC__ during the game to go back to the intro screen.
Ratings
| Coolness | 67% | 3 |
| Overall | 2.74 | 505 |
| Audio | 2.83 | 230 |
| Fun | 2.84 | 367 |
| Graphics | 2.65 | 489 |
| Humor | 3.15 | 155 |
| Innovation | 2.70 | 430 |
| Mood | 2.84 | 332 |
| Theme | 2.35 | 662 |
Ok, time to play this.
haha, I won. (Just by standing, and doing nothing!)
I was hoping the world would push me along. That would be the ultimate Apathy Goat.
Nice game though - Maybe lower the volume of the SFX a bit, they're a tiny bit piercing.
The game is simple, yet addictive. Procedural level generation adds points for replayability(even though, as some have already said, it could use some more work to avoid some impossible jumps)
The theme choice is an interesting one as well (Sadly, I can relate to some of the negative sentences).
The Xp system is a bit abstruse, some explanations about i could reinforce the theme.
The trouble with procedurally generated levels is that, unless you're careful, the game can generate some impossible scenarios. One I encountered a lot was jumping between pieces of land while being forced to push a block (that is, the block is low enough that the goat pushes it while standing on the ground, but it's too tall to jump over). It's hard to prevent that kind of stuff entirely. It also might be a good idea to include a different game over message for players who end the game with negative XP (about how you overcame your apathy or whatever).
If you plan on expanding this game for a post-compo version, one thing to think about might be how to make "apathy" manifest itself through the gameplay, instead of just through points and captions. Perhaps the more XP you get, the slower the goat moves? Or maybe the background becomes less colorful, or the music gets slower. Whatever you can think of.
One fun little bug/feature I found: hold down the 'R' key for a few seconds during play. The coins will stay in the same place while the land, blocks, and goat shift around them- it looks funny.