LudumData

Acts of August: Introspective by NeiloGD

[raw]
made by NeiloGD for LD24 (JAM)
One small part of a larger project, Acts of August, for JamPony Productions.

Without the other parts to the story this game lacks context, so be sure to check out the comic and short film!

Controls for this game are arrow keys, or the left thumb stick of an Xbox 360 controller. Find your way around Morgan's mind, gathering thoughs, and uncovering the type of person she is. This is an experimental idea trying to bring different types of story telling together. The theme fits in as a span across the entire project and it's story.


JamPony Productions Team
------------------------

Director: Amy Forbes
Production: Samantha Maree
Co-Producer: Amy Forbes
Story: Andii Clarke & Bede Foundling
Starring: Sammi DeZwart, Vimmi Mercieca & Thomas Kuzma
Director of Photography: Paul
First Assistant Director: Liesl Bamback
Best Boy Camera: Mark Ferri
Sound: Bianca McMahon
Editing: Samantha Maree
Music: Michael O'Donnell
Comic: Shelly-Rae Haines
Game Programming: Daniel 'Dezzles' DeZwart & Neil 'NeiloGD' Richardson
Game Graphics: Benjamin Retter
Game Audio: Edward Fokkema

Comic http://jamponyproductions.com/comic/acts-of-august-prospective-page-cover/
Game (Windows) https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10382897/AOAI_JamPony.zip
Short Film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMpOlJ-PZ_g&feature=plcp
Game Timelapse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_OupQKFSNc
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-24/?action=preview&uid=1154

Ratings

Coolness 30% 888
Overall(Jam) 3.12 120
Audio(Jam) 3.63 32
Fun(Jam) 2.59 178
Graphics(Jam) 3.94 48
Innovation(Jam) 4.00 7
Mood(Jam) 3.81 13
Theme(Jam) 2.23 204

Feedback

Cell
28. Aug 2012 路 15:04 UTC
This is awesome.
ButtercupSaiyan
28. Aug 2012 路 20:41 UTC
Well, that comic was disturbing but interesting... Next time, if it's possible, include the video and the comic in the game itself from the main menu. The short film chopped up could make interesting cutscenes or unlockable memories.

The shaders made the game play very slowly on my PC, even in windowed mode, and I have around 16 GB of RAM...
馃帳 NeiloGD
28. Aug 2012 路 22:48 UTC
What video card are you running ButtercupSaiyan?
Richard Matey
29. Aug 2012 路 00:28 UTC
Really interesting combining all of these mediums and one Jam, way to be creative! Love the effects in the game, great mood and feel. Keep it coming
Dezzles
29. Aug 2012 路 01:31 UTC
Glad to see people enjoying it :D
ratking
29. Aug 2012 路 08:01 UTC
Highly atmospheric game!
timtipgames
30. Aug 2012 路 14:22 UTC
I really really liked the idea to integrate all this media together. I started with the comic, which was making me really curious. I watched the movie next. Well done. I was then hoping to find out what it all was about in the game, but I guess thats not supposed to happen? I wandered around quite a while finding parts of Morgans thoughts/memories but they seemed very random and explained nothing. that was dissapointing. I'll have to leave the interpretation within the bounds of my imagination I guess. The game itself is beautiful and has a very nice atmosphere. It could have been soooo much better if it was a more integrated part with the movie and the comic and would play more with the player starving for an explanation. Overall it still is a great idea and very well executed imho. It was a pleasure.
Dezzles
30. Aug 2012 路 23:18 UTC
There was supposed to be additional integration with the film and comic, but we ran out of time :(

Working on those changes at the moment
Gama11
09. Sep 2012 路 09:56 UTC
Wow... Excellent atmosphere as well as excellent audio. Grahics are top-notch as well and fit the to the overall atmosphere - I really like how the water or whatever that is looks.
I liked the exploration aspect of the game, got me hooked for quite a while - it felt very experimental, though - Is there any goal / game end condition? Not sure what picking up these "thoughts" does - it seems like they rendered me unable to travel across water though.
I really liked the movement / behaviour of that ball thingy you're controlling, too. It felt a bit random and experimental, thus refreshing.
ConflictiveLabs
12. Sep 2012 路 03:23 UTC
I must say the game exasperated me a little bit. The particle/thing itself had movement of its own (and/or heavy inertia) and drove me insane because I wasn't able to explore freely. I think the comic/video help to enrich the experience, but with no directions and slow/clumsy control of the navigation in-game, my desires of exploring the game universe quickly vanished. In the end, I didn't progress much into the game due to frustration. The game however succeeds in establishing an atmosphere (and the BG shader is one of the prettiest things I've seen around this LD). Also, there's an outstanding amount of work in both the video and the comic, so I take my hat off to your team!
mitkus
16. Sep 2012 路 17:57 UTC
The story, after playing the game and watching short film, was really disturbing and powerful. I applaud for the atmosphere and storytelling techniques, but sadly the "game" part was not as well done. Still, this is one of the best LD entries I played.
Beanalby
16. Sep 2012 路 18:32 UTC
The comic & film definitely hooked me, but I found the game a bit directionless & frustrating. I stumbled upon a few disjoined thoughts, but couldn't seem to progress more beyond that. I applaud the scope of the effort, and look forward to what you try in the future.
goerp
16. Sep 2012 路 19:39 UTC
I think I'll have to come back to this, when I have more time. It looks very interesting
pjchardt
17. Sep 2012 路 01:17 UTC
I really enjoyed the mixed media presentation. This is the first time I have seen something like this. Very cool. The different formats could use some work though. But you have definitely opened my eyes to alternative methods of expression for this event. Thanks!
Jedi
17. Sep 2012 路 01:39 UTC
The graphical style of the game is great! The mood is fantastic.

Like ButtercupSaiyan said, the comic and movie need to be integrated into the game. The game is really frustrating and I don't see how it ties into the story at all, really. It could be inside any person's mind. This is about as abstract as it gets, but it reminded me of playing Sanitarium (which is a good thing).

BTW, uncovering the main character's self-deprecating thoughts proved to be a poor incentive to keep me going, especially since not-a-one revealed any specific plot point, so far as I could tell.

Overall, it's an ambitious project and you guys pulled it off. Good job!
Puzzlem00n
17. Sep 2012 路 14:30 UTC
I'm going to be brutally honest with you. I have no idea what just happened.

The comic was just bizarre, and the short film was hard to understand. And the game, well, you know. Basically, the only thing I'm getting is that she's got some sort of mental problems or schizophrenia, but am I supposed to know the root of those problems somehow? Because I couldn't figure anything out. And I have no idea who the guy is either, but I'm guessing he's a figment of her twisted imagination or something.

Of course, when going with something so abstract as this, you run the risk of alienating a viewer or two. I guess I happen to be that viewer. Oh well, I suppose that's not your fault.

Well done on attempting something on such a grand scale.
Dezzles
18. Sep 2012 路 00:49 UTC
Completely understand people's thoughts on the game, we ended up running out of time on completely tying the game together with everything. Working on a post-compo version at the moment which will hopefully make a bit more sense and be less self-deprecating than the compo version as far as Morgan's thoughts go. Unfortunately our voice actors couldn't be there for the full jam so we didn't have a chance to get everything done :(