Tim's Christmas Nightmare by Zombie Virals

Tim wakes up in a unfamiliar world, which is full of horrors and danger. Will he find a safe way to home?
| HTML5 (web) | https://zombievirals.itch.io/ludum-dare-43 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/tims-christmas-nightmare |
Ratings
| Overall | 431th | 3.524⭐ | 44🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 473th | 3.314⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 972th | 2.465⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1024th | 1.976⭐ | 44🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 185th | 4.128⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 248th | 3.535⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 731th | 2.402⭐ | 43🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 88th | 3.988⭐ | 44🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 49🗳️ | 30🗨️ |
- Graphics are good
- not quite sure were the theme fits in... but maybe I just didn't get far enough
- creepy mood
I love the atmosphere details (intro scene, parallax background, falling snow, props, flickering lights) and how you can trick monsters into running into a trap (:
What was this made with?
If it's Unity, you could enable "prewarm" on particle effects to start with snow already falling.
I found the checkpoint mechanic very useful, although a couple times I killed myself before realizing where I was because the camera restarted from the beginning.
Because the lore is so nicely developed at the start, I'd consider giving some breathing room between challenges and adding bits of story during quiet sections (like finding a drawing or piece of cloth, something to set the mood).
Overall, really well done!
- Definitely one of the better storyline and narrative games i've seen on here
- Love the coherence of mood and music
- Absolutely love the checkpoint system (would have quit the game early otherwise)
Could be improved
- Too much text in the cutscenes (if you want to read it, don't write it)
- Its hard to tell where you can stand in the snow (confusing layers)
I don't think I'll be looking at Christmas the same way again for a while. That was definitely a chilling experience, and the introduction really set up one terrifying mood that I started wondering if it wasn't a bit for me, Capitan Scared-pants. The overall presentation was really top notch, from the graphics with terrifying Christmas-monsters designs and the overall eerie mother-is-missing atmosphere. Controller support is also appreciated.
If anything, I found the game to be just a bit to unforgiving at first until I was able to get a proper hand of how I was supposed to kill the monsters and use the dash properly. Other than that, I didn't really find any other glaring gameplay issues or the like.
Other than that the small phrases of _"I don't feel so good."_ and _"Coding your games is easier thank you think."_ lifted out the heavy mood a bit and put me a small smirk on the face. Even so, I find it a bit hard to rate the game in terms of humour properly.
For me, the real star of this game is really the mood. It's perfect, made me consider how scared I would have been as a kid if I was in the same situation. In behalf of [our team](https://twitter.com/whalesandgames), congratulations on your entry, and I really hope our Christmas isn't as monster filled as Tim's. :christmas_tree::whale:
The only thing that felt wrong was maybe the players animation vs the speed he it moving at.
It did not feel correct. I think if it were any other enemy in the game one would not have noticed it but because it is the player in front of you that whole time one notice.
As others have said, very nice graphics and great controls.
My favorite part, no question, is the check point system. Not having to start all the way back at the start after making some progress was a huge plus. I would, however, recommend locking playing movement until the camera catches up, because I died once before even seeing my character because I blindly walked into a saw blade.
Speaking of the saw blades; they - along with the quick respawns and challenging jumps - had me nicknaming this, while playing, "Super Meat Boy: Santa's Story." lol
Excellent entry guys. Also, props to you for controller support!
A moody entry indeed. I like the presentation of your game - it's pretty well done. The intro was quite creepy as well. The voices were a bit silent but that's okay.
Thank you for making this game! :smile: