Existence : Evolving with Videogames by Richard Matey

[raw]
made by Richard Matey for LD24 (COMPO)
Play through the evolution of a person's existence through different games. Start existence in crude Atari graphics then level up through the the evolution of game technology and a person's life.

3 games to play through spanning from Atari - 32 Bit

Representing the time we have grown up with videogames and how it has shaped our growth.

Play the web version and let me know what you think!


Dev Process
Part 1
http://youtu.be/cgrzQ54gVbo

Part 2
http://youtu.be/-PSqGeivvbg

Part 3
http://youtu.be/w5MLlxIONTs

Postmortem
http://youtu.be/85qW2djbzPc

Ratings

Coolness 35% 816
Overall 2.63 563
Audio 2.79 236
Fun 2.38 559
Graphics 3.13 291
Humor 2.29 292
Innovation 3.17 233
Mood 2.63 375
Theme 3.46 162

Feedback

LemonTree
28. Aug 2012 · 05:10 UTC
Nice art!
axcho
28. Aug 2012 · 09:09 UTC
I really liked the style of the first world, but I got stuck trying to jump up the building on the second. How is it possible?
dvdking
28. Aug 2012 · 09:38 UTC
This game is weird... I don't understand where I am, what I am, and what I am supposed to do.
The music is good, the style of the first level is great, but I didn't understand gameplay at all.
Character's behavior on second level is quite strange
imef
28. Aug 2012 · 13:30 UTC
Awsome game! A bit spazzy in 2nd world and rotations are too fast in 3rd one.
kato9
28. Aug 2012 · 16:39 UTC
Pretty cool! I've played a couple games with this concept already, but yours in the first that actually went into the 3d era. Just collecting yellow dots gets a little dull after a while, it would have been nice if there was some challenge.
rmatey
28. Aug 2012 · 16:48 UTC
Hey Axcho,

THanks for playing, to go up the building walls you need to hold W & D and the character will go up as long as he is against the wall. I know kinda hacky haha but its just a mechanic that developed from some early playtests. Also my first platformer controls, so there is definitly some jank haha
rmatey
28. Aug 2012 · 16:49 UTC
Thanks for the comments everyone. I am really glad to see all the feedback :)
Dramble
28. Aug 2012 · 18:11 UTC
The playability certainly needs work and I feel like the part with the drug dealer came out of nowhere then didn't amount to anything, but it is cool to see the same environment in 2D then 3D.
X-0ut
28. Aug 2012 · 20:14 UTC
Clever idea. Slightly let down with the collision.
Fell out of the 3d map with the green character.
emveyh
28. Aug 2012 · 20:14 UTC
Wow, what a ride :D It's fun how it constantly evolves to other games / genres. The controls are felling a bit weird, though
🎤 Richard Matey
28. Aug 2012 · 20:44 UTC
thanks for playing guys!

Dramble: yeah the drug dealer thing is suppose to be from left field and kinda makes fun of how meaningless collectibles are. HAha need to work on my feedback in the game.

X-Out: Yeah I definitely need to add a invisible wall to fix that

emveyh: thanks for the feed back, much appreciated :)
Tempest
28. Aug 2012 · 22:33 UTC
I thought the drug dealer was clever, as in so many games your character is just "collecting coins/items", which half the time belong to someone/something else. I think this would have made more sense if there was a transition between world 1 and 2 as well.

I thought I would get a weapon (since he mentioned it), which I thought was the perfect evolution from 2d platformers/adventure games to a 3d era with a magnitude more shooters.

+ Nice art, sfx and music.
+ Great idea/theme
+ I love that that you kept the same assets from World 1 and 2 in World 3. It was great to see the 3D version of the worlds I had already encountered.
+ Three different worlds, with 3 different control schemes is impressive for 48 hours.

- A bit jumpy with camera and controls in world 2, and camera too sensitive in world 3.
- A bit rough on the collisions.
pighead10
28. Aug 2012 · 22:39 UTC
A bit buggy. Space was jump and W was "fly a bit", collision detection was stuttery and I ended up falling out of the map. Great idea (I thought of it as well, but abandoned it after deciding I couldn't make those graphics, which you did very well) and great graphics.
madpew
28. Aug 2012 · 22:42 UTC
nice music, strange gameplay. I like the idea but it would need more typical elements of the represented game-eras. Looking forward for a post-compo version (if there will be one)
whilefun
29. Aug 2012 · 00:52 UTC
I really liked the first level, but I couldn't get passed the second "2d jumping guy" world. I kept getting stuck on seams, and I couldnt jump :(. Really good audio in the first world
Syarahsy
02. Sep 2012 · 05:15 UTC
Great concept, fun graphics, and good timing. I enjoyed it!
RawBits
04. Sep 2012 · 01:38 UTC
1. VCS just don't have that graphics.

2. The 6507 is an 8-bit processor.

3. On the Sega 32x were a Doom and if I am remembering right a Wolfenstein but what you did is more like a 64-bit N64 style thing where it goes 3D. (Later consoles had better graphics - well at least they considered better...)

4. Jumping should be shorter when taping SPACE. And why is that bouncing?

5. Clipping isnt right at anywhere in the game. I thing think in the last part you didn't do a seperate clipping wall and you can go inbetween the buildings maybe.

6. I found a building inside anouther. :)

7. You need a HUD to show how many things you collected as they are necessary to advance.

8. And never ever take away the controls from the player unless you clearly show there is an animation going on!

Anyway you did good in your first LD. I am sure you will do better in the next!

And just for you to know, you are my hero having a restart option at the end - even if I don't want to replay this game ever.
Cake&Code
04. Sep 2012 · 06:24 UTC
The concept is really interesting, "evolving" videogames through a videogame. How meta! The controls are a little sticky, especially in the second part of the game. I ended up jumping over all of the "big" obstacles by ramming my body against the side and holding up to go up.
Andrew
04. Sep 2012 · 19:01 UTC
Each level seemed a bit too long.
Ragzouken
08. Sep 2012 · 19:03 UTC
It wasn't really clear what the tail was - it seemed to level up with the flower pickups or something? It seemed to fly about a lot too, not sure if that was intended. In the second stage, the jumping was very buggy! The game didn't seem to register very well that you were and the ground and allowed to jump, and the wall jumping felt like I was abusing the physics rather than doing what was intended :( The 3d stage suffered a bit from the collision - I seemed to be able to walk through the houses. Still, I liked the graphics and it was nice to have sound an music - a good idea, but playability diminished by the physics.
csanyk
17. Sep 2012 · 01:56 UTC
I liked the buildings and the shady looking guy at the end of level 2. Overall this feels disjointed, and I didn't care much at all for the controls in the second or third parts. I didn't really get a sense of evolution from playing this, it just felt to me more like I was playing three separate games that had nothing to do with each other.