Fallen Leaves by LemonBalmGames
LD41 was my first ever game jam and here's what I managed to create. "Fallen Leaves" is a mashup of a "3D FPS platformer" and a "hidden object game" (which in this case boils down to pixel hunting in 3D space).
Other than that it's a weird, quirky, slightly creepy, fun (hopefully?) little story-driven experience that plays reasonably well and if you're a fan of a certain book series you might get a chuckle out of it (the game, not the books). In any case, please enjoy!
Controls
E - Blink Forward (1s Cooldown)
WASD - Movement
SHIFT - Walk
SPACE - Jump
Changelog
Version 1.1
Immersion breaking footsteps sound removed.
Re-balanced difficulty level. The game is a bit more forgiving now: - Player character now sprints by default (you can still press Shift to walk for that sweet sweet #immersion) - Blink distance slightly increased. - Re-arranged the floating rocks a tiny bit to make the first level easier to complete.
Version 1.2
Fixed the issues with poor visibility of the dialogue text.
Version 1.3
I finally managed to find a solution for one of the major dialogue bugs! Dialogue text won't get stuck on the screen anymore after you leave the conversation with an NPC.
It's highly recommended that you download this version of the game as there's no additional content in the updates - only major bug fixes and balance improvements that shouldn't be against LD terms. That said, the original version of the game will be available for download at all times so feel free to pick it up if you prefer.
Acknowledgments
I used some free 3d models from various free Unity Asset Store packages:
Low Poly's Pack vol. 2 by Works For Fun (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/low-poly-s-pack-vol-2-46375)
Low Poly Survival Essentials by Broken Vector (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/tools/low-poly-survival-essentials-109444)
FREE Skybox - Cubemap Extended by BOXOPHOBIC (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/vfx/shaders/free-skybox-cubemap-extended-107400)
Heart Model by JeremyWoods
Everything else (logic, some 3d models, story, music, writing, sound effects, image effects, particle effect and every other kind of effects) was created by my humble self a.k.a. @LemonBalmGames
| Windows | https://lemonbalmgames.itch.io/ld41-jam-entry-fallen-leaves |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/fallen-leaves |
Ratings
| Overall | 653th | 3.393⭐ | 86🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 744th | 3.145⭐ | 85🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1001th | 2.831⭐ | 85🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 971th | 2.982⭐ | 85🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 435th | 3.253⭐ | 85🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 726th | 2.632⭐ | 78🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 173th | 3.81⭐ | 86🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 76🗳️ | 104🗨️ |
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/hype-time
if u wanna check our game:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/guns-n-goals
The positive:
* Extremely beautiful
* Challenging but in a way where I know it's my fault for FALLING FOR THE 100th TIME ON THAT *%!¨% LEDGE! :)
* Fitting music
The negative:
* No mention of the blink in game? I didn't read the controls section first I was stuck at the very begining. With blink, life is better.
Good work!
And then comes the problem which is personal to me. There are too many controls and I dont have a gamer keyboard. So when I press Shift+W I cant press Space at the same time. It wasnt so much of an issue until I came upon the gap that could only be passed by sprint-jumping. I completely understand that thats my personal issue and that wont affect most of the people, but the point is, why do you even have a slow walk mode in game? Why dont just have sprint at all times?
Really wish I could complete this game. In looks and sounds nice. And that free assets packs you mentioned seem really helpful. You might consider adding a proper links for them on this page so people interested in free lowpoly assets could go straight to them.
@detectiveLosos Tell you what, while I do want to keep sprint in the game because it feels more 'standard' or 'natural' and allows for the contrast between slow meditative movement and a more rapid, platforming kind, I'll make a build just for you where walk movement speed = sprint movement speed so you can complete the game. I'll post it in this comment section and tag you as soon as I'm back at my PC. Thank you so much for your comment.
Didn't really expect such a hustle. That you will make a separate build just for one person. But I surely will try it again and complete your game this time.
I also took some time to play your game and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I left you a rating and a mini-review in the comments.
If you have a sec to spare and want to check out our game would really appreciate it :)
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/shipwrecked-on-robot-island
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/flight-deck
I don't thing the genres you choose are so incompatible, but this don't make the game less enjoyable.
Good job!
Please, take a look at my game too: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/confessional
Overall great entry!
Controls are good too, and i like the jump blink ability.
The level design remind of XC maps in counter strike source ^^
It looked nice, but seeing that more than half the assets are not even made by you, I can't really give your props for that. The music was fitting and the lighting was beautiful though.
I was unable to get past the second island, the floating small islands were so far away, I tried like three times, but never even got close. The blink platforming was an interesting aspect of the game, but I feel like the hidden object part was executed incredibly poorly. You don't have to search for things, basically the object that isn't a tree is the one you have to click on. At least you should have added a few more options. All in all, I feel like this worked great as a sort of atmospheric walking sim-esque game. A bit more narrative would have been nice too.
In the planning phase, I wanted to tackle the 'hidden object' part in a different way buy my lack of experience caused me to reevaluate and settle for 'pixel hunting in 3d space' instead. Thank you for the feedback! I'm sure my next game jam creation will be much better because of it.
I was able to complete the game, but I would perhaps make the platforming jumps just *slightly* less difficult, to make the game finishable by more people. I missed the Sprint feature the first time through, and died a couple of times trying to blink with just the standard move speed. Perhaps a reminder with an on-screen visual as people approach the harder jumps?
Overall, a good concept and a great atmosphere. I'll go with the other reviewer's word, "oneiric" as well! =)
@torak-whiteleopard I agree with your assessment. The logic of the game is kinda wonky but it has one advantage that you mentioned - it makes dying a lot less tedious than it would've been otherwise. I appreciate the time you decided to invest in my little creation:)
The mood is pretty cool and i loved the music (even if it's really repetitive).
I don't know if it's normal but, I didn't succeed to grab the heart at the end.
And, when I moved the camera, it was a little bit hurting for my eyes. I think you can remove this by adding a little point in the center of the screen, like in Mirror's Edge (like in my picture, I added a little point in the center).
And, i had a bug with the text... :/
It's a really good game with a really good mood!
Check out our game if you are interested: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/date-fighter
Again, thank you so much for playing the game, thank you for the feedback and I'm glad that you enjoyed parts of it. I'll definitely take a look at your game:)
First: I loved the overall look and appearance of the game, very dream-like and soothing and Stanley looked like something I'd have expected in Black Mesa's test chamber :)
The biggest problems I had was with the jumping, though, and had to give up after finding the first hidden object as I just couldn't make it to the second floating island. Later I realized that probably the "blink forward" mechanic was exactly meant to overcome that challenge, so I'd put a reminder on the screen when the player falls to their death. Or at the very least have some sort of checkpoint before the jumping.
I found the idea with the riddles somewhat unexpected but quite interesting at first--until I realized it just meant to find the one object hidden in rather plain sight. So while the riddles definitely give the game some flavor, I don't think they are necessary. The troubling thing with riddles is that either you get them right away you don't (without cheating).
Nevertheless: Very good and very polished entry, great atmosphere and visuals, I just didn't make it past the first island.
When it comes to the difficulty of the 3d platforming, I've got a bunch of mixed messages but I think that it's in fact too high, especially for a story-driven experience.
In any case, I'm glad you liked parts of the game. Thanks to you - and other kind LD participants - I now know what I did right and I know what I need to work on for the next jam.
The graphics and audio really fit well together and it results in a good mood.
I'm not a native english speaker myself so I'm not sure I got quite everything but at least I knew the last answer! :D
I hope you continue with the project.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/witchs-escape
https://imgur.com/a/P2KrmVz
Onto the feedback:
**Overall**
Overall congratulations on your first entry, especially cause u did all yourself. While the game is really simple, it works well together, but there are alot of stuff u can do better(I know that in a jam what 1 person can do is limited), but that's what feedback is for.
**Fun**
It has some nice funny parts in it with the dialogues of the npc's.
**Innovation**
I can't really give feedback on this one cause what u did isn't something really innovative. But it's something that already exists and u did your best to make something good out of it by yourself!
**Theme**
U tried to mix hide and seek with platformer. It was ok. It's not something really incompatible in my eyes. Nice try though!
**Graphics**
Graphics felt good together. There wasn't something weird at all. The only thing that fell off was the text color. It could be hard to read from time to time. Try to add a box behind it.
**Audio**
Gives off a good ambience. Some of the sound effects where a bit out of the theme.
**Gameplay**
The movement feels good, only the jumping is a bit weird. Can't really feel where I'm landing.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed the couple of minutes I played the game for, and we understand the hard work needed to create something like this! 😊 Our team also worked hard to create a game for the jam. You can check it out [here](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/wizsnooks)! 🐳
Suggestions/nitpicks:
* the movement feels good except when stopping after running for a while - then it moves in that direction and then stops abruptly without any lerping or anything so I either just worked my way though without stopping at all (which felt great) or just tapped the keys to nudge myself in the right direction
* would have liked the option to pick up some other (random) stuff which would make me actually try to remember and think about the riddle rather than just look for whatever I could find
The only thing that doesn't fit is when you fall off a platform, you don't get put back in the last position. Still, it's a great game.
Phew ! Attempted to speedrun it (yeah after like 11 deaths I remembered that I could dash so I never stopped pressing the W button since) and , well, it's a very nice jam game !
Efficient graphs, very nice particles, some backstory, riddles, and damn faith jumps everywhere !
Everything was pretty minimalistic, but it worked, you had a game with a start, an end, a story, so i guess it's mission accomplished ! (plus I liked Bill's level theme).
I played Rp first, reading attentively all the riddles, before seeing that I could rush the props to liberate the cloud dudes before they could even say a word.
But, I mean, I liked it alot ! So, nice game ! Especially for a first jam !
Great job! :)
https://youtu.be/uB5uhswoCbU
Neat little game, the jumping doesn't feel right yet but the look was really really beautiful and I liked the Level Design a lot - also a very good idea to include story since it always is a nice addition to the gameplay. The music was okay but I didn't like the standard sounds of jumping etc. overall a really nice game for a Ludum Dare Game, nice atmosphere! Played the 1.3 version.
http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-34/?action=preview&uid=35835
http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-36/?action=preview&uid=35835