Cost by D-Studios

[raw]
made by D-Studios for LD 40 (COMPO)

Cost is a game made for Ludum Dare 40. It is currently in its prototype stage. Cost is a game for all ages.

This game relates to the Ludum Dare 40 Theme “The more you have, the worse it is” because the more kills you have in the game, the more the value of the treasure in the story decreases.

Features:

  • 2D platforming game with auto scrolling mechanics.

  • Single Player and Multiplayer Mode.

  • Enemies that shoot projectiles. Touch enemies to kill them.

  • Surreal music. Turn up the volume!

  • Excellent and intuitive UI menus.

Note that this game doesn't save progress. Therefore, leaving the game or going to the Main Menu will result in losing progress. However, this game is very short and can be finished very quickly in the single player and multiplayer modes.

Ratings

Overall 676th 1.813⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 677th 1.667⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 677th 1.604⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Theme 675th 1.938⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 656th 1.917⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Audio 482th 2.152⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Humor 522th 1.917⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Mood 623th 1.978⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Given 18🗳️ 13🗨️

Feedback

teekeks
06. Dec 2017 · 19:46 UTC
Unfortunatly it seems like the entire simmulation was at half speed. it was way too slow, from the movement to the auto scrolling. Liked the graphics tho.
Poller
06. Dec 2017 · 19:46 UTC
the gameplay felt sadly pretty slow. the player and the first enemy i saw looked neat.

if you find some spare time feel free to visit me:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/team-or-greed
Lamossus
09. Dec 2017 · 07:58 UTC
The game is too slow, often there's no way to jump over enemies which ruins main game mechanic, I also got stuck because I couldn't jump over platform in my way
falak
09. Dec 2017 · 09:15 UTC
Too slow view scrolling, music and graphics are just UHH. The theme? where's the theme? sorry but this isn't good game! 1/5
Serval Games
09. Dec 2017 · 10:00 UTC
Most of the time I had to wait for the camera to move and it seems to me that this music sample is a bit too short to repeat it over and over
eerongal
10. Dec 2017 · 16:41 UTC
As others have said, the game is rather slow. Also, restarting completely after every death feels particularly punishing given the pace.
🎤 D-Studios
11. Dec 2017 · 01:21 UTC
@teekeks @poller @lamossus @serval-games and especially @falak, this game relates to the Ludum Dare 40 Theme “The more you have, the worse it is” because the more kills you have in the game, the more the value of the treasure decreases. I am sorry for not making this clearer in the game and having this concept only mentioned in the intro.
dijaguy
11. Dec 2017 · 02:04 UTC
I liked the story and the interpretation of the theme. Clever!
Moski
12. Dec 2017 · 19:11 UTC
Credit where credit is due. The game is fun when you're doing 2-player mode while solo.

![Cost_2017-12-12_14-07-10.png](///raw/519/z/e87b.png)

While I understand that this is a Compo entry, I'm thinking that you could have had a better time by trying to get it into the jam instead. An extra day to polish the game, speed it up, make it more intuitive and appealing would really have made a difference.

First of, don't get me wrong. It's great that you made it into the compo. Odds are that you learned a lot of stuff about programming and workflow. But as it stands, the game looks more like an experimental platformer, with a slow pace and floaty mechanics.

However, the highlight is that it supports 2 players. While it's probably not much more fun with another person, I played this on my own and it felt very fun in comparison. It _is_ harder with more characters to control, so it'd be an unintended interpretation of the theme.

All in all, hope that you take some of this feedback, as I had no ill intentions. It's great to always have more people experimenting. [In behalf of my team](twitter.com/whalesandgames), we're looking forward to see where you go from here. :whale:
Veralos
18. Dec 2017 · 02:23 UTC
I really like the concept of getting punished for killing enemies. Killing them makes things easier as you have less bullets to dodge, but you also want to keep them alive to get a bigger reward. It doesn't seem fully developed here though - It was unclear what the reward was and the setup seemed contrived. I feel like there's potential in the idea though. Perhaps a game where you complete missions as a police offer but you get paid less for harming people? I don't know, but I think there's something here.

As for the actual game, it's mostly functional but feels unpolished. The platforming works but the jumps feel very slow and floaty (the horizontal movement seems fine, though). The camera moves too slowly and feels unnecessary. It could probably just follow the player. The visuals and music aren't great, but it is at least easy to parse. Also, I couldn't get to the end. I may be missing something, but I couldn't get past one platform that was too high to jump over and too low to walk under.
jandourek
23. Dec 2017 · 14:03 UTC
Not a bad concept, but the pacing was really slow. You could always make the scrolling faster and add more types of enemies. I really liked the 2-player mode. :)
Ayushman
24. Dec 2017 · 16:36 UTC
Sadly the game is too slow, It kills someones's interest to play the game... Hope you will try to make your next games a bit faster
Mikeliosus
24. Dec 2017 · 18:37 UTC
Checked. Like many others said - the game is super slow.
I hope you completed a challenge for yourslef, which is always great on a jam.

From the game design perspective - recommend you to show your game to a potential player and view his reaction and how he playing. It helps a lot to understand wich parameters will be kindly met by the wide audience.
Yohoho Games 2
25. Dec 2017 · 07:21 UTC
simply but nice) thank you for work! :wink: