LudumData

Potdemon by RockhopperGames

[raw]
made by RockhopperGames for LD 40 (COMPO)

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Disclaimer All demons contained within are a work of fiction, and any similarities to demons real or imagined are purely coincidental. Do not attempt to recreate any rituals contained within.

Armed with your Demonomicon and a capture pot, you have opened a portal to a quiet part of the demon world to explore. Scan and capture demons with your devices, but gathering demons can bring its own risks...

Post Jam version now available! Contains bug fixes, geometry fixes, sound, and one new rare demon!

Instructions

WASD - Move character

Shift - Sprint

Left Click - Use Demonomicon

Right Click - Zoom

Tab - Switch between scan and capture modes

1 - Cycle through previously scanned demons

2 - Toggle viewing a demon's form and its information

3 - View the inside of your Capture Pot

The main thing I was experimenting with this time was rigging and animating characters, which was exciting to learn. I may have gotten carried away with designing demons, leading me to run out of time to add sound during the compo. I highly recommend playing the Post Jam version though, since sound contributes a lot to the theme, I think.

The demon concept was partially inspired by ctrlcreep's Inconvenience Demon series, which I would highly recommend. Their demons are much better designed than the ones contained within this game!

Windows https://rockhoppergames.itch.io/potdemon
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/potdemon

Ratings

Overall 551th 2.946⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Fun 554th 2.804⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 399th 3⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Theme 651th 2.339⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 351th 3.25⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Humor 219th 3.096⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Mood 342th 3.054⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Given 30🗳️ 27🗨️

Feedback

county-agent
06. Dec 2017 · 01:21 UTC
The link to your game on itch.io 404's. Please fix, I want to play your game!
FormalCloud
06. Dec 2017 · 05:02 UTC
You need to make the itch.io page published - it is still hidden! :)
Sarrixx
06. Dec 2017 · 07:05 UTC
Still waiting to play this game :D Publish your itch page!
🎤 RockhopperGames
09. Dec 2017 · 16:28 UTC
@country-agent @formalcloud @sarrixx Sorry about that! I was sure I'd set it to published, but I was tired enough at that point that what happened is anyone's guess! >_<
CreativeWhisper
09. Dec 2017 · 17:21 UTC
I played it and it's very interesting. Maybe the aproach for the theme is a bit obscure (or, at least, i couldn't grasp it), but the enviroment and the creatures are very well done. The analising/capturing mechanic is very well executed and it could be the base for a good game. Good work mate.
gilborn
10. Dec 2017 · 08:51 UTC
A nice little deomicum you created here! The cave is well designed und the demons and their animations are pretty pretty.
If I want to critisize I would mention that the game is loose on the theme (why does it get worse if you scanned more?) and that it´s not too clear what to do besides scanning demons.
To stay fair I played the 48hour version, which is very good for the time given!
Fabio Guedes
10. Dec 2017 · 08:57 UTC
Interesting experiment. I agree with @creativewhisper that the link to the theme is not very obvious. The atmosphere was pretty nice and good job on animating those demons. Keep up the good work.
🎤 RockhopperGames
10. Dec 2017 · 10:44 UTC
@gilborn The scanning mechanic is 'safe' and doesn't make things worse as you scan more, but if you press tab, you'll switch over to capture mode, which lets you suck demons into your Capture Pot. This grants small abilities that can help you explore, but can cause trouble if you capture too many. Also in the Post Jam version, their chirps and hums can still be heard through the Capture Pot. I know tutorialising this would have helped, but that's unfortunately not something I got round to...

@creativewhisper @fabio-guedes Thanks for the feedback. I've tried to explain the connection to the theme a bit in my comment above, but part of it was me just loving the idea of a pokemon game with the slogan "the more you have the worse it is" and running with that.
stmatn
10. Dec 2017 · 12:17 UTC
I'm a bit confused about the game. I didn't really understand what th goal was. It plays quite good and the models are nice, but some explanation about what to do would be nice. It was strange, that the gameplay got weirder, as you captured more demons. However it was an interestign experience :)
Juhani Koskinen
10. Dec 2017 · 12:34 UTC
It was one of the most humorous games in this LD so far! But a bit confusing also. Didn't really catch the main idea of the game. Other than that, nice graphics and idea!
Louspirit
10. Dec 2017 · 13:02 UTC
### What I like
* It was cool exploring this world
* The demons are well animated / sounded
* For once I have the power over the demons :smiling_imp:!

### How to improve
* You should guide mode the player
* I was stuck at some places
🎤 RockhopperGames
10. Dec 2017 · 13:42 UTC
@stmatn @juhani-koskinen This is a more exploration focused game, so there is no central objective. The scanning and capturing is meant to allow you to interact with the demons in such a way as to give you a bit more information about the world, if you want that. Also the weirder late gameplay was intentional, the more you have, the worse it is, after all!
🎤 RockhopperGames
10. Dec 2017 · 13:45 UTC
@louspirit The post jam version has some extra platforms to help you get unstuck from any pits you fall into. More guidance probably would be useful though. Thanks for the feedback!
Raphael
11. Dec 2017 · 11:08 UTC
Pros:
- Interesting environment to explore
- Nice description of the demons

Cons:
- Clunky controls
- Tasks not really clearly laid out(maybe I missed something)
Ale
11. Dec 2017 · 15:42 UTC
Cool concept well-executed. It's a fun little exploration game, but at some point while collecting those floaty demons, I stopped being affected by gravity and just got stuck in the air. I was collecting as many as I could because I didn't want to get stuck in a hole in the ground, but I ended up getting stuck in a hole in the roof :P
Sebastian-M
11. Dec 2017 · 17:59 UTC
I'm not sure how many were there, I could only find four demons. But I did wanted to find them all, I really enjoy the enviroment you created and the design and sounds of the demons are great.

I do not see how the themes fits though, I wnat to get them all and it doesn't get worse. Also I got stuck in some places in the map. But those are my main complains. I liked everything else.
MattyGroGy
12. Dec 2017 · 12:16 UTC
I hate that you are using idea from another game, this competetion is about original idea, and this is just copy of pokemon turned around
🎤 RockhopperGames
12. Dec 2017 · 12:24 UTC
@ale floating too much is an intentional choice (The More You Have The Worse It Is, after all), but the process happens a lot slower in the post-jam version (also the holes are all escapable with only one or two demons)

@sebastian-m There's only four demons in the 48 hour version, but I did manage to add one more to the post-jam version. They hide in hard to reach places though, and you may need to capture some flying demons to get to them. The theme connecting is in when you capture too many of the demons; they start interfering with your movement in frustrating ways, and their chittering can be heard even through the Capture Pot. I thought I'd fixed all the places to get stuck in the post-jam version, so if you could let me know where you were having trouble, that'd be a great help!
Knowledge
12. Dec 2017 · 21:49 UTC
I couldn't really understand the game.
Joror
13. Dec 2017 · 15:48 UTC
Cool exploration game! Was drawn in by the environment and weird demons!
Did end up in a few dead ends, where I was stuck and could not return to the rest, and had to restart.
Local Minimum
13. Dec 2017 · 19:15 UTC
Interesting exploration. I enjoyed scanning the different inhabitants. And I don't know if this was real, but I felt like I was shrinking (or they growing) with the scanning. Unfortunately I jumped down a hole hoping to get a angel-like demon, but well at the bottom I couldn't find a way out again. And that was a bit of a bummer.

I liked the style, and those eyes with the sounds were really nice. And that you had time to get the demons into cute animations in the scanner was really cool.
Zinkler
15. Dec 2017 · 13:23 UTC
Is there a winning condition or something? I couldn't really figure out how to use demon's abilities, if those are actual mechanics, of course. And yeah, being softlocked here and there takes out some amount of fun from it. The visuals are fantastic!
CaylebLucas
16. Dec 2017 · 09:08 UTC
Really enjoyable game, interesting Environments :)
falak
18. Dec 2017 · 13:59 UTC
Nice game!
Franklins Ghost
20. Dec 2017 · 12:22 UTC
Liked the simple design and exploration aspect of this game. Reminded me of No Mans Sky with the detecting the demons you find along the way. Thought it was done well and liked that trying to find all the demons kept you exploring trying to see where others were hiding. Did find myself at moments feeling like I was stuck and couldn't get out of certain environments though.