ALONE by WITS

[raw]
made by WITS for LD22 (COMPO)
I made this game to go along with my Nether Six collection, so it's an arcade game that only uses the AXML keys, and has a simplistic graphic style. It's an HTML5 game made using a slightly modified version of my library CanvasLord (http://canvaslord.co.cc/).

Hold the key that corresponds to the location on screen that you want the crowd to move to. Try to avoid the gray circle as long as you can. It must remain alone. Pass through the outlined zones (circles) to get points quickly.

* How it relates to the theme: The gray circle is forever alone.

Ratings

Coolness 22% 533
Overall 2.85 273
Audio 1.88 442
Community 1.47 698
Fun 2.70 214
Graphics 2.00 550
Humor 1.24 598
Innovation 3.55 51
Mood 1.44 629
Theme 2.03 557

Feedback

MasterBaldwin
18. Dec 2011 · 05:30 UTC
I love it. The controls are extreamly challenging and fun at the same time!
ddr2
18. Dec 2011 · 11:32 UTC
I love the gameplay :)
Rockenez
18. Dec 2011 · 14:14 UTC
I really like it, but how does it answer to the theme?
🎤 WITS
18. Dec 2011 · 15:25 UTC
The theme is alone, but that doesn't mean the player has to be the one who is alone. Your goal is to keep the gray circle alone as long as possible.
🎤 WITS
18. Dec 2011 · 15:26 UTC
And thank you for the nice feedback everyone! :D
nate427
19. Dec 2011 · 03:09 UTC
I don't see how this really fits with alone, but i LOVE the gameplay! It's just so new! I suck at it though...
Wompus
19. Dec 2011 · 03:38 UTC
@nate427 the little grey circle is forever alone :(

Cool gameplay btw
fishbrain
19. Dec 2011 · 06:52 UTC
I like the style of controls. Nice idea.
Stavu
19. Dec 2011 · 10:07 UTC
This is great :) I feel really sad for the grey circle though...
Nik
19. Dec 2011 · 14:38 UTC
The game itself is not bad, but I really do think that a lot more could be added, whether it's the graphical style or gameplay. I played it and got a half decent score, but I didn't have any fun. It's a really nice concept though, and could be expanded a lot more to make something good - the whole idea of trying to leave an object alone hasn't really occurred to anyone.
pythong
19. Dec 2011 · 17:54 UTC
I agree with Nik, as there's somehow no real 'goal' except for getting points. Which gets hard quick because your group gets larger, and three lives are very unforgiving (it would be better making it dependent on the number of your circles). Also, better graphics like e.g. sheep and a wolf (+blood splatter) would have been nice
🎤 WITS
19. Dec 2011 · 20:07 UTC
The graphics style is simply to keep it similar to the other Nether Six games (and to avoid showing my lack of spriting skills), and your group only gets larger if you don't fluently change direction. If you stop pressing any keys and then press another one, it counts as a freeze, because when you press another key the gray circle delays a little bit before following, and every five freezes another circle is added to your group. Otherwise, you could simply keep freezing, and the game wouldn't be challenging at all. So you can keep your group's size to four if you don't pause in between pressing keys. Considering that it's an arcade game, shouldn't the main goal simply be to get points? I suppose I could make a non-arcade version as a sequel or something...
joekinley
19. Dec 2011 · 21:56 UTC
Aaaw no timelapse. Apparently you don't even have any blog posts, OR I just can't see them.

I love that game. At times it is hard to play, but I love the innovation and the idea. Humor is great. Only audio is a bid easy.. but okay for me. Would love to see a timelapse though. Actually you get one minus community point because that colorful community is so harsh to the poor little grey circle. :D

Great game.
Atomic
19. Dec 2011 · 23:01 UTC
Nice gameplay but it's quite a strech of the theme.
Cosmologicon
20. Dec 2011 · 05:55 UTC
I think the gameplay is a clever idea, it just gets monotonous pretty fast, when I realized I could just keep moving around the points in order and easily hit any zone that wasn't right in the middle. I only died when I messed up and hit a key out of order. I don't think the graphics need to change, but I would like more of a progression, have it get harder as you go along, you know?
Awennor
20. Dec 2011 · 12:55 UTC
Great game! Really liked it!
marudziik
20. Dec 2011 · 13:45 UTC
A very interesting idea, but connection to the theme... well, it would fit last LD's theme much, much better.
blocklad
20. Dec 2011 · 15:44 UTC
Favorite game in this contest. Better than Notch's entry.
Jasper Stocker
20. Dec 2011 · 18:43 UTC
Can't open the entry - Is something wrong with your server?
🎤 WITS
20. Dec 2011 · 19:56 UTC
@joekinley I wanted to do a timelapse, but Windows is messed up ATM so I'm using Fedora, and I didn't want to go through the trouble of finding one for Linux because I didn't find out LD22 until it was an hour or so in and as for the blogging... Well, I'm just not much of a blogger.
@Cosmologicon You make a good point, thanks for the suggestion!
@Jasper Stocker The name servers were messed up for a bit, but they seem to be just fine now.
@Others Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy it!
Pierrec
20. Dec 2011 · 21:05 UTC
AWESOME!
FredericRP
20. Dec 2011 · 21:38 UTC
interesting game, but why those four letters ? On an azerty keyboard, L and M are on the same line, that's so unlogical to play with those two :(
cobhc6
20. Dec 2011 · 22:18 UTC
Strange but interesting
Jack
21. Dec 2011 · 15:21 UTC
pretty good fun, but the theme was clearly an ancillary concern
caranha
22. Dec 2011 · 00:36 UTC
Very interesting game. I liked the idea, it reminds me of those Orisinal web games.

I think the game would improve a lot if:
- Instead of the harsh sounds we have now, you added more soothing sounds, and some sort of tranquil music
- Instead of the points wobbling towards their destination, if the movement was more fluid.

With the two above points, I think the current graphical style can be kept - maybe having the colored dots change color over time, or maybe the screen change color over time.

Anyway, very nice game, thanks!
johndrinkwater
22. Dec 2011 · 14:47 UTC
Hi! tried to award you a ‘HTML5 gaming’ trophy, but your user page is missing :o
SonnyBone
23. Dec 2011 · 08:09 UTC
Neat idea and a unique control scheme.