Hot & Cold by Swen
My submission for Ludum Dare 40, the first Ludum Dare submission I've ever done.

In this game, you play as a wizard controlling temperature. The more extreme the temperature gets, the worse it gets.

The game features a few small levels + a quick boss fight.
Gameplay
Overcome obstacles by casting spells. Each spell has an effect on the temperature of the environment. When the temperature is too cold, you'll freeze. If it is too hot, you'll burn.
Controls
AWSD or Arrow keys = Move
Mouse = Look around
Mouse Left Button = Cast the fireball spell (if unlocked)
Mouse Right Button = Cast ice beam (if unlocked)
More details about the controls and the concept will be explained in game.

Tools used
Game engine: Unity3d 2017.2.0f3
Art: Paint.net + Aseprite
Next time I'll go for a concept that takes less time so I can polish a bit more. This game feels really empty and rough.
It was fun though, I had a blast!
Ratings
| Overall | 154th | 3.705⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 161th | 3.636⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 243th | 3.364⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 371th | 3.386⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 224th | 3.591⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 95th | 3.548⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 294th | 3.159⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 27🗳️ | 9🗨️ |
OMG, this is awesome.
It's so sad that doesn't have any sound. The mechanics, the graphics, everything else was great. Short, obviously, but great. The final battle, for a moment I thought I had to kill his HP, but fool of me. You nailed the theme, and did the most original game mechanic I have seen so far.
I really hope you continue this game because I want to play it.
And it is a shame I didn't have time left for the audio. I agree that it would have added a lot!
As for the sound, yes it is a shame I wasn't able to add any... Maybe I'll get to that later. While I am at it I might as well make the game a bit longer. The game now, by itself seems more like a prologue.
Thanks for your feedback and comment!
Your comment really made my day.
I beat it again.
Foremost, great first-time entry, keep at it!
### THE GOOD
Surprisingly smooth controls (although you should've used CCD for the character to remove jitter).
Nice little touches on animation, nice use of screenshake.
The concept is good, but I think it's too challenging (for a designer, not gameplay wise).
Plot adds a nice simple narrative touch to everything.
Doing 8x8 art was a good move, there is a nice unity in your sprites.
### THE BAD
The whole game feels like a tutorial, each level there is some new thing, but I haven't used the previous thing long enough and... well you get the point.
No sound or music, I know time constraint and stuff, I failed to deliver sound myself many times, but that's no excuse, sound adds a lot to a game (much more than it feels like when you're making it!), missing out on that is not a good tradeoff at all!
The color palette, I know you're probably not an artist, but here is the tip, find some picture that you really like and use the eyedropper tool on it to get yourself some nice balanced colors, then just use them to draw everything.
Low tonal contrast, open your graphics editor, open hue/saturation filter, drag saturation to 0 (make image black and white), you will find that your background is just as dark as your foreground, and the grass is brighter than your characters, you want have tonal layers in your graphics (unless intended otherwise), that makes them clear sharp and punchy!
### CONCLUSION
Every ludum dare game has a lot of flaws, that's just the way it is, don't take anything personally, learn to focus on the essential and you'll get a great game.
You have every skill needed, practice them, learn to manage them and I hope to see you at LD41!
I should have totally stretched the game and put in more levels.
About the "don’t take anything personally" I think you should be able to accept any kind of feedback. Feedback helps me a lot.
I think a better planning, some more art practice and a smaller concept would help me a lot next time. It was my goal to send in a game for Ludum Dare 40, which I did, although I was aware of these issues.
Anyway, it was great fun :)
Due to the gaps in the ground and the green graphics it reminded me of Super Mario, but what jump and run does not ;)