LudumData

Never Go Alone by quin

[raw]
made by quin for LD20 (COMPO)
Never Go Alone - Choose a companion and fight your way through a vicious* labyrinth filled with monsters and treasure*! Compare your performance online!

*labyrinth not actually vicious
*only one treasure

The only controls not mentioned in the game are Q and E, for expressing your opinion of your companion. Q - positive opinion, E - negative opinion.

Please be sure to have .Net 4.0 and XNA 4 Redist installed before attempting to play. (It'll just crash otherwise)

Also requires a network connection, and a real mouse is recommended as the controls are mouse based.

IMPORTANT - if you're in the Aether Void and can't figure out what to do, wait a while or try playing at another time. For best results, try playing when other people are playing.

Windows http://hood-studios.com/files/NeverGoAlone-LD20-quin.zip
Source http://hood-studios.com/files/LD20-src-quin.zip
XNA 4 Redist http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=a88c6dec-aeae-42cd-a108-d35c013c3b97
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-20/?action=preview&uid=2303

Ratings

Coolness 2% 177
Overall 3.15 95
Audio 1.50 232
Community 2.64 147
Fun 3.00 108
Graphics 2.15 245
Humor 2.50 131
Innovation 3.85 22
Theme 3.69 26

Feedback

馃帳 quin
02. May 2011 路 02:13 UTC
If you get connection problems, you may have to tweak your router or your firewall. The game communicates with the master server via UDP.
DrPetter
02. May 2011 路 09:32 UTC
This game might be statistically impossible to play. By the sound of things, it requires two people to download and start the game within the same 5-second period, since nothing will be going on in there if they're alone. With 299 other games to choose from, nobody is going to sit around in front of a black screen waiting. It's too bad though, networked games are definitely interesting and impressive for a short compo. Maybe there could be an IRC rally at some point to get at least 3-4 users online at once?
馃帳 quin
02. May 2011 路 12:59 UTC
Blast, you figured out my secret surprise! Yes, the game is a two player cooperative game. The worst part is I solved the last networking glitch in my head while I was showering this morning.
localcoder
03. May 2011 路 10:10 UTC
Very cool idea. Unfortunately as DrPetter said it seems unlikely that I will meet a partner by chance.

I tried playing with myself (opening it twice), but wish I hadn't - it would be much more fun to discover the game the way it was intended. The Q and E commands are fun, and letting the players discuss the experience afterwards was a thoughtful touch.

I also made a 2-player game, please take a look at it :)
馃帳 quin
03. May 2011 路 13:00 UTC
I'm thinking maybe I should try to arrange some time for everyone to play at once. Maybe try for 8pm EST each night?
LegacyCrono
03. May 2011 路 14:47 UTC
Golly, this is really creative! Nice job!
Yeah, I'll have to agree with DrPetter though. It sounds unlikely that by coincidence two people will be playing at the same time, so I think that only a few will be able to play it properly. Still, it's a really interesting experience.
Kynrael
04. May 2011 路 05:16 UTC
I should fin someone to play with. Can't rate as I only saw the Aether Void... ^^
Dark Acre Jack
05. May 2011 路 23:51 UTC
I would highly recommend attaching a gameplay video as that would give us some idea of what should be happening.
Shadow
06. May 2011 路 00:47 UTC
Nice game, I actually had fun.
TellusE
06. May 2011 路 17:45 UTC
As has been said, an excellent idea, especially such a brilliant tie-in with the theme. It's really unfortunate, because of the low chance of meeting someone coincidentally.

I also launched two processes to give it a try myself and I loved what I saw.

Consider adding a local coop mode (two usb mouse inputs?) particularly for these events so it may be easier to try the fullness :)

In reality I've got nothing bad to say, it's merely the circumstances of the compo that detracts from the hilarious experience.

I can imagine the conversations even now, sitting with VoIP gaming with a buddy. "Go left, go left - no, your OTHER-OTHER left!!11". Classic.

Excellent entry, dude :)
Cirrial
08. May 2011 路 15:15 UTC
Managed to play it by asking someone I knew to play it with me, while we were in a Skype call. It was amazing. Amazing idea for the co-op. Such a shame so few people will be able to play this. I really enjoyed it.
Danik
17. May 2011 路 11:11 UTC
I didn't find someone to play with so I opened two instances. A little hard to control them both, but I can see how it would be a lot of fun playing two player coop. I like the take on the theme.
The graphics are pretty ugly, which is too bad because that might make less people try the game if they judge it by the screenshot.