LudumData

Discoveries by whitetigle

[raw]
made by whitetigle for LD19 (COMPO)
Discoveries is a non conventional Adventure game.

It puts you in the mind of Igor, a scientist, who is working on Teleportation.

Through Igor's streams Of consciousness you will have to think for Igor and choose what he has to do.

How to play :
Please click on the colored thoughts (orange, yellow and blue ones) to explore one of igor's thought.


A few details :
The game is in english and is based on very young html5 standard (SVG and canvas). It means you should use Chrome 4+ to try it.

I am sorry about that. However, it works on firefox (3.5+) but most effects are disabled...
I didn't try it on Safari, IE or opera yet.

I hope you'll enjoy the experience (because it is special... ) And if you play on Firefox and like the game, please consider switching to Chrome for a better experience.

(no I don't work for big G ;))

All source is included in a (very long) javascript file.
All the library used are included as well (jquery, raphaeljs, cufon)


Enjoy !

Chrome http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7838262/ld19/index.html
source http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7838262/ld19.zip
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-19/?action=preview&uid=2966

Ratings

Coolness 9% 61
Overall 2.67 143
Audio 1.14 193
Community 2.38 151
Fun 1.72 222
Graphics 2.89 112
Humor 1.22 219
Innovation 3.61 35
Theme 3.28 86

Feedback

increpare
20. Dec 2010 路 22:15 UTC
the intro is really long (maybe a bit slow on my laptop - not sure). I waited around for a while, until the 'dear emily' but, then stopped. I'm using chrom v 8.0.552.231 on osx
stevejohnson
21. Dec 2010 路 00:25 UTC
This is a fascinating concept. I have had similar ideas. Unfortunately, I had a very hard time determining when the game wanted my input and when my input had any effect. I have no idea why I suddenly lost.
Dslayer27
21. Dec 2010 路 07:39 UTC
Not really sure what's going on, got to "stream 46" and quit, expected something would happen but nay. Good to submit an entry though :p
馃帳 whitetigle
21. Dec 2010 路 11:13 UTC
Dslayer27 : Did you save your progression ( S key ). So if a bug happens, you can always go back to last save :)

Increpare : I coded it on a AthlonXP64 (quite old) but it worked. On my eeepc it is slow though

stevejonhnson: I agree about the input system. It is quite bad... :( Text before game over should indicate why you lost.

Thanks to everybody for trying the game :)
arielsan
21. Dec 2010 路 13:13 UTC
I like the content but I felt like I was not playing nothing, more like watching a movie or reading a book.

I will not rate it to avoid influence the rating because I didn't understood the game or something.
馃帳 whitetigle
21. Dec 2010 路 14:20 UTC
Well, It's a kind of "Fighting fantasy book"-like game. But withouth the dice. ;)
There are several paths to follow and different endings. So I admit it's more an interactive story than a game...
Anyway thanks for your comment : I had a great time creating the content !! I'm happy you liked it :)
ThatSnail
21. Dec 2010 路 20:51 UTC
Sorry, this just goes way too slow for me to be able to play. I found my mind screaming "TELEPORT ALREADY!" at the unnecessarily long parts. I tend to like games like this, where it goes however you interpret it, but the questions asked ("Who am I really?") were a bit dry and uninteresting.

I see where you're going though, and I think if you were to ask some more thoughtful ("interpret-friendly") questions it'd turn out really well.
馃帳 whitetigle
21. Dec 2010 路 21:09 UTC
Thanks for your comment. I understand your point. I think with more time and more sleep I can make something better and more balanced. However, one question : did you went through the whole game ?
plams
22. Dec 2010 路 19:33 UTC
Seems more like a piece of art.
FatherGoblin
25. Dec 2010 路 09:33 UTC
Its more of an interactive book than a game. Sorry, but it just wasn't fun.
Endurion
26. Dec 2010 路 15:10 UTC
I used FF and it was kinda slow. Also, I wasn't sure when a mouse click registered. Some kind of feedback or mouseover effect would be neat.

OT: Shows once again that HTML5 is not useful for anything yet unless you want to use Chrome or nothing at all.
馃帳 whitetigle
27. Dec 2010 路 20:52 UTC
I agree on the fact that it is still a young technology and quite webkit related.
But I would recommend this article : http://www.themaninblue.com/writing/perspective/2010/03/22/
which gives interesting data.
However it was still interesting to try to see if I could come with a game. And I believe in a few years it may render faster in every browser.
joekinley
28. Dec 2010 路 21:53 UTC
I don't get it. Had 14 something thought streams explored, found the word discovery, found a blond girl then game over.
I just don't get it.

You had your moments in blogging that is okay. Would have liked to see a timelapse though.
馃帳 whitetigle
29. Dec 2010 路 12:57 UTC
Timelapse next time (need to see how i can do that on ubuntu though).

Anyway, I understand that I completely failed at making people understand how to play the game. I should have changed my priorities. It's a good lesson though. My friends told me the whole Week End that I should make the player know how to play.

As for the game concept, well it was a true experimentation of ideas I've had in my head for a long time.

Next time, I will try to make things clearer and funnier :)
Thanks for your comment :)
Devenger
30. Dec 2010 路 00:01 UTC
I found this enthralling. Perhaps I had better luck than others, though. Sometimes, I didn't even know if my choices mattered, or my clicking was having any effect. Nonetheless, an interesting exploration of viewing a stream of consciousness - well done.
馃帳 whitetigle
30. Dec 2010 路 20:31 UTC
@devenger : well, most of the time your choices mattered in the sense that they brought you a different vision of the same event.

They also mattered because, there are different endings.

Eventually, each time you play you can discover a new hint about igor's life. Especially childhood and relation to women...

Thanks for having played the game. I've got a few ideas to make the concept become something nearer to a game...

@endurion : your point is agreed but maybe in a few months games such as : http://www.chromeexperiments.com/detail/onslaught-arena/?f=

will be available on ffox, ie and opera ?
Ryan
09. Jan 2011 路 02:27 UTC
Interesting concept, but knowing what to do was confusing, and it felt slow.