The Cult by mmason

[raw]
made by mmason for LD 43 (JAM)

The cult requires sacrifices

You must provide those sacrifices. As a cultist in the cult you must lead the others to the altar.

  • Move - WASD / Gamepad (Xbox)
  • Jump - Space / (A)
  • Die? - CTRL / (Y)
  • Remove nearby grave - ` (grave key) / (X)

"Wait does that say die? we have to die for this cult? I just wanted some free cool aid"

Credits

Hints, tips, and minor spoilers:

  • Jumping at the base of a wall lets you spring higher.
  • The graves you leave behind can be used as platforms.
  • Gathering cultists is more important than having extra lives. Losing a life to gain a cultist is progress.
  • Cultists also give you an extra life in addition to another hidden benefit..

Shots

LavaJump.gif

shot1.png

shot4.png

bomb.gif

first.gif

Bug Fixes in fixed version

  • Tile sprite tearing
  • Jump sound volume (reduced)
  • Tombstone glitch pushing character into the wall
  • Minor tile misplacement (foreground tiles)

Ratings

Overall 401th 3.561⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Fun 372th 3.439⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 625th 3.01⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Theme 256th 3.857⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 365th 3.82⭐ 52🧑‍⚖️
Audio 384th 3.281⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Humor 416th 3.043⭐ 49🧑‍⚖️
Mood 361th 3.52⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Given 51🗳️ 47🗨️

Feedback

Miley
04. Dec 2018 · 03:50 UTC
Cute game, fun graphics, nice sounds. I think the gameplay could have better fit the theme, as sacrificing your character was more of an aesthetic replacer for completeting the level then it was a mechanic. Otherwise I think this game felt very consistant. IT wasn't messy or nothing and I liked the cult tile set, all the graphics really. Gave ya good points for mood,sound,art. less points for innovation and theme
Rafael Lontra
04. Dec 2018 · 04:18 UTC
Fun experience. I loved the way we go higher from the base of the walls, but I struggled a bit to control it, the char bounces too much sometimes when you dont want, but maybe that's the intention hehe I am just saying! Congrats on the game! (could not beat it tough :( :sad:
Casey Macneil
04. Dec 2018 · 04:24 UTC
Very fun, the graphics were great! Controls were pretty smooth as well, the wall jump was a little tricky tho. Great job!
Kaitlin Quick
04. Dec 2018 · 04:28 UTC
Nice game! I really enjoyed the graphics and it fit the theme nicely. Gameplay was pretty smooth and enjoyable. My favorite part is the death animation. Something about it is just so amusing and very fitting to the game!
Good work!
🎤 mmason
04. Dec 2018 · 04:38 UTC
@miley Thanks, sometimes sacrificing yourself is a way to get to areas you wouldn't have been able to before. Glad you enjoyed it!

@rafael-lontra the movement was intentional, it can get a little bit bouncy, in a post jam version it's something we would tighten up. Thanks for playing!

@casey-macneil the wall jump can be a bit tricky but it can get you over some really tricky places reliably once you get the hang of it. Glad you enjoyed!
🎤 mmason
04. Dec 2018 · 04:46 UTC
@kaitlin-quick I literally just got done playing your game! we had considered adding upgrades if you find all the people and one was going to be more viscera. For now there's just a special hidden secret.
dk5000p
04. Dec 2018 · 06:31 UTC
I really enjoyed the fact that my sprite kept changing based on sacrificing cultists. While using your dead bodies as platforms was nice, it didn't seem to add too much to the game, seemed more to justify giving a lot of lives and throwing many obstacles into the game. The music ended up getting a little redundant. The pixel art graphics are great. I ended up sacrificing 16 lives. Might play it again but would love if the music track was different maybe could achieve that by oscillating the pitch a little.
🎤 mmason
04. Dec 2018 · 06:45 UTC
@dk5000p I think if we were redoing it we would make it so you had to die more to finish levels (and probably make you respawn from the last cultist you found) as it is now I think you only need to die a handful of times and that's only to get more cultists. As for the music I'm no musician, I just wanted something that could be looped and was eerie and bass heavy. I agree it gets repetitive and I would have loved to have had more time to make more tracks to mix it up.
Ace17
04. Dec 2018 · 08:04 UTC
Fun game, I liked the pixelated graphics and the sound effects (except for the jump sound, which is too distracting), and the feeling of exploring a big level.
I didn't like the jump behaviour (if you hold the 'jump' key, the player will jump repeatedly as soon as it can jump again - this does not play well with wall-jumping, and makes it very surprising (and hard) to climb stairstep like platforms without getting throwed back.
Deideus
04. Dec 2018 · 09:21 UTC
I enjoy play it. Very funny. Except one or two jump of faith (and it's good with the gameplay) it's perfect.
RomaRogov
04. Dec 2018 · 09:22 UTC
Really fun to play, I like it!
rhewid
04. Dec 2018 · 11:11 UTC
Hey there! Played a couple of levels. The music was good. The sprite changing was nice. Id love to see a harder version of this, where you have to better manage your sacrifices in order to place a grave as a platform. Also having a hub instead of a menu after dying was cool.
JohnnyGinard
04. Dec 2018 · 18:02 UTC
Very cool idea! Good job! :smile: :top:
SubtlyDramatic
05. Dec 2018 · 03:36 UTC
I really enjoy the audio and art in this game! The animation you have when you die is really creative and well done! Great job!
arnau
05. Dec 2018 · 22:41 UTC
Levels are entertaining enough, I would make them a bit more accurate regarding the character's mobility, but still, good job!
Samuel Lee
07. Dec 2018 · 00:33 UTC
I like how you left the tombstones and remains on the map after you died, I failed so many times!
CaseyH
07. Dec 2018 · 02:45 UTC
I dig your art style. Music is nice, moody but not overbearing. Nice to see some polished platforming physics, but I feel like it's a little too slippery for such tight platforming.

Playing on the web version, I killed myself when switching tabs here and there (Ctrl + Tab, but Ctrl kills yourself).

Wall jumping mechanic is kind of different. Instead of using it to get places after you leap off to a distant wall, it's more like something you use to gain more height right at the start of your jump. It actually kind of makes more sense; you size up your jump and kick off the walls to make it happen, and once you get a certain amount of gravity or velocity, there isn't much you can do to stop it. It makes you think more about how to approach your 8bit platformer parkour. But I still kind of prefer wall jumping in a more traditional sense because it's just...more flexible and fun, I guess.

I feel like using torches and lamps as background art, then using similar-looking campfires as instant death is kind of deceptive hah. I kept walking into campfires accidentally because I forget they're not background art like the rest.

I don't really understand the point of the game. Maybe I didn't get far enough. Still, the mood, atmosphere,
and dialog were very entertaining and interesting to me. You built an intriguing world in such a short duration.

---

*NPC: "careful, fire can get pretty hot"*

*me: "you don't fuckin say...oops I touched the fire"*
PlugWorldG
07. Dec 2018 · 03:07 UTC
The game was very fun, I didn't get it at first but I started to learn.
sky-coding
07. Dec 2018 · 04:54 UTC
I enjoyed the game! The wall jump was different than usual but I think that was intentional. I kept running into campfires lol
🎤 mmason
07. Dec 2018 · 15:24 UTC
@caseyh @sky-coding I designed and placed most of the campfires in the game and that trap has killed me by at least a 3:1 margin. One of our design choices was that if something looks like it can kill you, it can kill you. I agree though, it has a bit of a background appearance.
Juan Hust Novella
07. Dec 2018 · 18:47 UTC
i like the aesthetic, but it didint works as i espected. sound is... ok. and controls works weird
Evgeniya Zapolnova
08. Dec 2018 · 19:44 UTC
I am not very good as a player, and I like idea to die with benefit, because I die anyway :)
meldrian
08. Dec 2018 · 22:00 UTC
You did an amazing job here. Had a blast playing this. To die just to use the gravestone afterwards is simple but genius. Controls are simple and very good. Would gladly pay for a more polished version of this. Excellent.
LaneDavis
12. Dec 2018 · 01:36 UTC
Cute characters! Also, fantastic mood setting. Music was understated but really grew on me. One aspect that I would like to see a (small) improvement on is with the wall jump! I found myself jumping and wall jumping at the same time! I think that making the wall jump happen on button down instead of on button held would make navigation much smoother.

On the other hand, exploration was great! I liked that as I explored, my previous mistakes paved the way for future success.
kristinamay
12. Dec 2018 · 15:54 UTC
What a great game!! I loved the making-my-own-platforms mechanic. Controls were fun too, I enjoyed bouncing my lil guy around the stages. Seriously super fun.
Jupiter_Hadley
19. Dec 2018 · 12:14 UTC
Challenging game! I included it in my compilation video series of games from the Ludum Dare, if you’d like to take a look :) https://youtu.be/RJjn8MPNuQ4