Digital Abyss by TwinGhosts

[raw]
made by TwinGhosts for LD 42 (JAM)

DIGITAL ABYSS [Jam Solo]

Hey guy thanks for visiting my game's page! This is my fourth LudumDare entry as a solo jammer. Unlike the other three, this one is submitted for the jam due to setbacks and other things that came up during the Jam. I wanted to do sometime different from my other submissions in terms of style (Medieval and Space) so I tackled the 80s retro style, sort of. The art and most of the code (other than an extension for Unity) is all made by me.

Have fun!

Description

Jump on your hoverbike and win all of the stages of the Digital Abyss tournament in this retro-themed Tron inspired game!

Controls

  • Arrow Keys | Movement & Menu
  • Enter | Dialogue Skip & Menu Option Selection
  • ESC | Skip all of the dialogue
  • Numeric keys to go to specific levels (for when the game bugs or when youre stuck)

Features

  • Tron-like mechanics
  • Dialogues (which are completely nonsense :D)
  • Two different types of objectives (Eliminate or Collect)
  • AI Opponents (AI is a bit fucked tho, time
  • A retro feel
  • Obstacle courses because why not

Images

Image1.png

Image2.png

Image23.png

Image5.png

NOTE: Be warned for when you cant stand high constract colors (sometimes flickering). It's not that extreme but do keep it in mind!

Ratings

Overall 211th 3.75⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Fun 135th 3.769⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 849th 2.923⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 224th 3.942⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 168th 4.115⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Mood 89th 3.88⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 18🗳️ 31🗨️

Feedback

Devio
15. Aug 2018 · 16:16 UTC
I would ADORE to play this game casually with a "Just Tron" mode. Not as keen on the dodge and collect mode but added to running out of time theme. Loved the style and graphics of this game and stood out upon most others. I saw that some of the lines after turning a corner was overlapping so to say, but other than that, AI did what it needed to, game wasnt overcomplex and a fun time overall.
Chillen
15. Aug 2018 · 18:18 UTC
Super chill vibe, really fun, and a really cool use of the Tron tail mechanic! The level design is solid and keeps it interesting. The first round is a great introduction.

Graphics, sound, everything is solid. Can't think of many critiques, really!
diesdas
15. Aug 2018 · 18:28 UTC
Nice graphics, funny dialogue, good submission overall. Would be way better if you wouldn't have to go through the dialogue over and over again, also gets super hard really quick!
Hadi Danial
15. Aug 2018 · 18:39 UTC
I liked the game! Was pretty cool. One thing that annoyed me though was how long it takes to restart after you die. Would be nice to automatically reload instead of having to press reload, skip the dialog, then wait for the game to start. But other than that, I really liked it. The music, graphics, and gameplay were good. A bit difficult in the collect levels.
Ekilibr
15. Aug 2018 · 19:16 UTC
Great entry overall :) The good ol' Tron feeling is definitely there, and fits the theme! It's cool that you even took time to plug dialogues in, but as it's already been said, it would have been a nice addition to be able to just restart, as a fail can happen pretty soon in the game.
Minemes
15. Aug 2018 · 20:49 UTC
I couldn*t use the 2nd link.
diwo
15. Aug 2018 · 20:58 UTC
very cool like the graphic
mrsylar59
15. Aug 2018 · 21:01 UTC
I liked the game idea. The fact that you are moving quicker than the obstacles made it hard in the second level. Also the second link is broken and the quit button in game doesn't work. I would have liked to not go through all the dialogues when retrying a level. The music and the efforts on the artstyle are amazing. Great job.
DrSkort
15. Aug 2018 · 21:02 UTC
The game was very good. The graphics and sounds matched the idea of your game and are really well done. The game was a bit too hard for me and I didn't get how to skip level (I tried to use my num-keys) but still I enjoyed playing it. Well done
Leetchi
15. Aug 2018 · 21:14 UTC
really nice game, the concept is known but you put it to a new level, graphics match and music is really nice ( a bit too loud )
nice execution for a solo jam !
Hare Software
15. Aug 2018 · 21:20 UTC
Amazing graphics and chill aesthetics. Gameplay is solid and the theme is well implemented as well. One last tip is to not show the dialogue after the first time, this lets people back into the action quicker. Maybe just me, but I wanted to get back in and try again quickly each time! Congrats on the result!
🎤 TwinGhosts
15. Aug 2018 · 21:51 UTC
Hey guys thanks for all the great comments! You can press "1, 2, 3, 4" to go to the levels or press ESC to quit out from the dialogue!

So if you lose, press the level number and you respawn instantly
without the death screen!
🎤 TwinGhosts
15. Aug 2018 · 22:01 UTC
Oh and Ill fix the WebGL link asap!
Sorry for that
Lexyvil
16. Aug 2018 · 00:22 UTC
Amazing game! Quite challenging too. It's still one I want to come back to and finish, as I couldn't finish the second level. If I have one suggestion, it's to remove the need to re-read the dialogue after the first death in a stage, as dying a lot is what I've been experiencing~

I rate it 5/5 for the theme.
Luca1152
16. Aug 2018 · 00:41 UTC
The graphics looks great in my opinion! :) One thing you could try for your game is to change the voice sound to a different one, because I find the current one a bit annoying (it may be only me, however). Also, it would be a lot better if the tutorial (or the discussion between the two) wouldn't play every time you retry :D.
Jesús González
16. Aug 2018 · 00:46 UTC
404 Not found: We couldn't find your page (with a frog logo) :(
🎤 TwinGhosts
16. Aug 2018 · 02:09 UTC
Thanks Lexy! and thanks Luca, great feedback ill work it tomorrow :) You can press ESC to skip all of the dialogue by the way, but I agree I should just remove after one playthrough because it doesnt really add anything anyway haha.

Jesus GOnzalez Im sorry i didnt fix the link just yet, for now theres only a windows version :( Ill take the webGL one down
hi.irie
16. Aug 2018 · 02:17 UTC
I wish I could play this game but it's for windows.
squabbler
16. Aug 2018 · 02:36 UTC
Man, that was really good. The one thing that bothered me, even though it's a nice effect, is the moving grid behind the stage. At first I was using it to gauge where to turn against the AI, but realized it wasn't possible.

Fantastic job!
chronicbite
16. Aug 2018 · 02:38 UTC
Really liked the aesthetic of the game, that 80s vibe going on with the music and background plus the mechanincs from one of the best most fitting (for the theme) arcade games made this an overall really pleasent game to play all the way through.

I liked the dialog between the characters and would have appreciated a skip button because this is the type of game that once you die you just want to get right back into it and do it better this time.

Good job, I had a lot of fun
coldfire83
16. Aug 2018 · 02:48 UTC
Great job on the game. Graphics are amazing, sounds nice, and the game controls well. Only suggestion I have is to consider not allowing the player to hit the button opposite the direction of travel, instantly killing themselves.
🎤 TwinGhosts
16. Aug 2018 · 09:26 UTC
@hi-irie the game is now up and running on itch, my bad!

@squabbler thanks for enjoying the game and thanks for the feedback! You're right, it's a bit disorienting at times :/ sorry for that I might fix it in a later stage of the game.

@chronicbite thanks man! I really appreciate it! You can skip all of the dialogue with the ESC button, but I think ill need to make that more clear within the game :)

@coldfire83 Thanks for liking the game :) Thanks for the feedback as well, thats a good idea, ill fix that soon!
whoisninja
16. Aug 2018 · 15:29 UTC
Nice game brah! I like how you balanced the difficulty by letting the players skip level. I love the sfx and music and the graphics is awesome. Story is just the icing on top of the cake. Wish you added something more to the mechanic cause there are plenty of games like yours.
exofrenon
16. Aug 2018 · 18:54 UTC
Wow, great job man, one of the most complete games I have played in this jam. You totally nailed the retro aesthetics, graphics and sound wise. The game feels very fluid and it is a nice take on the "Snake" genre. I loved the challenge and I also like how you made the effort to add dialogues at the beginning of each level explaining you what to do. Very polished overall. You even have AI on the enemies!

Now moving on into the Critical Feedback section...

Maybe it is just me, but after a while the game became a little bit hard on the eyes, so maybe you could tone down the neon glow effect of the background or something?

Even though I loved the challenge, I think the difficulty has a big spike. It took me 10 minutes to finish the second level, and some people like me who are short-tempered might even become frustrated by the time they reach the 4th level :laughing: . So maybe you could add some easier levels at the beginning to ease you in?

On a smaller note, I don't know if it is a bug or a feature, but I think it would be best if you didn't instantly die when you pressed the opposite direction. Also, I know that you can speed up the dialogues but if you could skip them all together at the beginning it would reduce the waiting time of the player and increase the playing time.

As you can see, I don't have anything really important to add about improvements which really speaks about the quality of your game. It is amazing how you managed to do this by yourself in a weekend.

PS: I am the guy doing my Master on AI from your stream. Didn't see that you were from the Netherlands. Finishing my master at the UvA AI program soon.
🎤 TwinGhosts
16. Aug 2018 · 19:44 UTC
@whoisninja Hey thanks for playing my game dude! I appreciate it, I had huge time management problems during this gamejam, everything turned out to be more difficult than I first thought.

@exofrenon Hey man, thanks for checking my game out and taking the time to give me a detailed review. I really really appreciate that a lot! And thanks for the compliments (though the AI is half broken haha, was difficult since i didnt use a grid, but free movement. That made a MinMax algoritm and checking what the player might soooo difficult). You can actually skip the Dialogue by pressing ESC, its on this page but I might need to add it to the game because I get a lot of notices about it haha :)

About the difficulty, you're completely right man. I wish I had more time to test it haha, I usually love difficult games so I always have to downscale difficulty quite a bit, thats sooo difficult at times :D
And good call about the reverse direction kill, it didnt kill you normally but I added that to prevent bugs and stuff. I might make it so that the player just keeps going in the current direction instead of dying.

Oh sick man, a fellow dutchy :) I wish you the best of luck on your AI thesis! Thanks for the detailed review, I really appreciate it!
ProdigalSon
18. Aug 2018 · 04:11 UTC
It definitely has that tron/80's vibe to it and I like the story elements to it to make it feel more complete, adds narrative, and gives the player a bigger goal to pursue. The gameplay itself is simple to understand but hard to master though the movements is smooth as butter (yes, I quoted your game lol). I do wish I could use the WASD keys to move as on my keyboard the arrows are too close together and I found myself hitting up when I meant to go down and dying...a lot, but the restart is fairly fast and the ability to skip all dialogue makes retrying a little less tedious. Struggled on the second level as I feel that the rotating beams feel external to the game and not in sync with it. Hard to explain but hope you get it.

Overall a solid entry :thumbsup_tone4:
🎤 TwinGhosts
23. Aug 2018 · 12:21 UTC
@prodigalson hey thanks man, I really appreciate the kind words and that you enjoyed the game :D Awesome! Sorry for the WASD keys not working, I did mean to do it but due to time restraints I forgot to actually pull that through :/

Lovely quote hahaha, but thanks man! And sorry for the difficulty, I prefer my games difficult, but I should test it and then lower the difficulty a bit for a broader audience!
Del Nordlund
25. Aug 2018 · 03:04 UTC
Great job for a solo jam game! The aesthetic is on point and the narrative was a nice touch! Loved the Tron mechanics