The End and the Beginning by Zitao YE

[raw]
made by Zitao YE for LD 38 (JAM)

...

Those who knew

what was going on here

must make way for

those who know little.

And less than little.

And finally as little as nothing.

In the grass that has overgrown

causes and effects,

someone must be stretched out

blade of grass in his mouth

gazing at the clouds.

__Extrait of BY Wislawa Szymborska

snap2017-04-23-14-16-27.png

Concept

We want to try to represent two spaces or "worlds" within the interaction of the video game;

The first one is the world of the "text"; If we get a text (like the fiction), the text can create a small world (space) in which the player can play, transform, or compose the words in the same time, to create some new texts, like the stream of consciousness.

The second one is about the world of the hero or protagonist himself in the video game. The tasks we make, the difficult levels that we can figure it out, this fictional world, which means nothings for us, but everything for the protagonist; The game world is belonged to the protagonist or the player? The interaction between the player's subjectivity and the avatar of the Text, which has a interesting force in it.

"Who's the author? " Asked by Michel Foucault.

“Who's the player?" Asking by us.

Members

Game Designer: YE Zitao;

Programmer: Kurisu L; art^9 ; Ahikz L;

Art: YE Zitao, Check Pi;

QA: Check Pi;

Tools:

Unity 5.6; Bxfr; Magicavoxel;

Ludum Dare 39...

Cooperation in distance;

Link

https://yzitao.itch.io/the-end-and-the-begining

Ratings

Overall 766th 2.289⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Fun 769th 1.868⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 778th 1.676⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Theme 758th 2.028⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 713th 2.184⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Audio 380th 2.868⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Humor 661th 1.486⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Mood 676th 2.541⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Given 2🗳️ 2🗨️

Feedback

oxrock
30. Apr 2017 · 16:43 UTC
To be honest, I found myself rather frustrated by how slow you shoot, enemies seem to shoot 10x faster. Due to that limitation, I felt the difficulty was high enough at least, yet still the game felt a bit lacking to me personally. I didn't time it, but it felt like the reload time was 5 seconds or something ridiculous, in the meanwhile all you can do is hide which I find kind of boring.

Also, the text box on the bottom took up a lot of the screen making fighting enemies in that direction troublesome. Maybe having it appear for new messages and then fade after a few seconds would be better for gameplay.

That all said, I'm sorry if it seems that I'm bashing your game. It's just my opinion and maybe the majority of people will feel differently. The important thing is that you guys got a game completed and more experience under your belt. That's a victory for sure.

Feel free to check out my game and offer your honest opinion. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/rc-kitchen-throwdown
sn0uk
30. Apr 2017 · 20:49 UTC
I feel like the shooting is a tad on the slow side, however I really did enjoy the story :)
+
Nice music!
slimabob
01. May 2017 · 00:53 UTC
Very interesting! I really like the music and how the enemies towards the end get almost bullet-hellish. Great work :)
jdmazz
01. May 2017 · 02:09 UTC
I was a little confused with shooting until I realized you are supposed to just hold down the mouse click. The message of the game was a little confusing as well. It seemed it was about mindlessly killing, then it had some quote about the Holocaust. Regardless the elements of a game are here, and it was fun to play. I tried playing without killing anyone and just hitting the pads, but the boss tank sat on it. Once I killed him the game reloaded from the start.
wildmusketeer
01. May 2017 · 04:08 UTC
Like many people here already said: enjoyed the setting, but the control and gameplay felt slow for a shooting game. Also confused as to what's going on with the story and quotes. I think it's nice to leave things to the imagination of the audience, but I don't think there was enough in the game to go off on.
OccultOne
01. May 2017 · 05:04 UTC
So... I think the language usage contributed to a serious breakdown in profundity that the designer was going for. I don't normally point to it since a lot of international teams do this, but a huge part of the game seemed to be trying to convey some notion, and it wasn't well conveyed in english.

I ran into a few bugs: One invisible turret. I was able to kill only the group of 4 turrets in the back corner and the game ended, saying something about Hitler... I don't think this was intended.
radmccool
01. May 2017 · 05:15 UTC
this was a bit different... I don't think i understood what you were making but it was intriguing none the less. The combat was pretty weak with very little feedback on what was happening. Though in saying that the shape of the character added to the gameplay. it was at first awkward but forced me to choose between aiming and being perpendicular (to be a thinner target) which i thought was pretty cool.
VeryEvilTomato
01. May 2017 · 05:31 UTC
It tries way too hard to be deep, and gameplay is so bad it kills the message even more, it would've been better if during gameplay it was just silent and piano mostly played during the start. The message would've been better too in my opinion if enemies didn't look like tanks and main character wasn't colorful, if they were just boxes I would've liked it more.
JayTord
01. May 2017 · 06:22 UTC
Did I missed hidden meaning? I've cleared the game, then tried to clear it without killing (what seems to be impossible due to boss), then I just died, endings were pretty same.
Besides of story the game is quite trivial, but shooting is too slow and enemies number doesn't match too?
Mr. Chelnoque
01. May 2017 · 06:47 UTC
There were squares on the floor with painted gun. Do they affect something except for the showing cryptic messages?

While, I believe, I get a glimpse of a message which you are trying to send here, a bunch of reasons, listed by previous commentators prevent me from taking it seriously.
A quick note aside from was already said. I really didn't want to kill enemies, because it wasn't enjoyable. That's why game's attempts to guilt trip me or make me think about my actions wasn't really effective (because I really wasn't engaged in killing at all, I didn't feel like it was my intent to kill enemies, in contrast of, say, Hotline Miami, which asks you a similar questions after you actually willingly kill a lot of people). I understand, that it's hard to create enjoyable action gameplay in a timeframe of the Ludum, but you may want to give it a thought if you're willing to explore this theme in the future.

But, after all, this game is a good example of weird indie art stuff in the games, and this stuff is the big reason why I'm playing them. Thank you for the game.
TacomaBert
01. May 2017 · 07:29 UTC
Concept is cool, not sure how it fits the theme besides being in a confined space. Music was probably the best part of the game, but I believe it is stock. Shooting was too slow, would have like to see the shot fired when mouse is clicked. Holding down the button helped, but still made it hard to beat enemies, especially the rapid fire enemies. I thought I had defeated all the enemies, but got what appeared to be a failed message, and the game restarted. An exit button would be nice, too.

Game has a nice structure, but needs more broad changes to make it more enjoyable. Could use a little more direction to begin.
Jazzpah
01. May 2017 · 08:15 UTC
The biggest problem I had, was that the action of the game took away my focus from the text. Maybe I progressed too quickly, so it was a problem from my part. Other than that, good game and nice music to set the atmosphere.
Micah
01. May 2017 · 12:13 UTC
The music and desire of not wanting to kill enemies are very much at odds with traditional shooters, and it made for a very interesting mood, and I almost felt bad progressing through the level.

The controls and balance were good, I had some close moments while dodging the enemy fire.

It seems the text itself is supposed to be a "player" but there didn't seem to be any way to interact with the text.

I played through twice. Thanks!
blacksheepza
01. May 2017 · 19:07 UTC
This game definitely struck an interesting mood but unfortunately, the controls were quite clunky which detracted from the game. I didn't realise that you could shoot for the first while and so the mood had me dodging the bullets and avoiding the enemies. Then when I realised I had to kill the enemies, I had to retrace my steps which was a bit frustrating. I do like the character model, it's really cool! I think I understand what you were going for in the game and so I would love to see how this game would turn out with some more tlc and some polish!
fatPenguin
01. May 2017 · 19:55 UTC
The music in combination with the text and the quotes delivered quite the atmosphere - I really liked that! It would have been great if there also were some sound effects (e.g. when you hit an enemy). The controls felt a bit strange and bulky. I really liked that there was this big boss tank on my second playthrough! I always enjoy it when there is unexpected new content.

In the end I have to say I don't really know what was going in in this game :smile: but besides that I really enjoyed playing it. Good job :)
dayvidmoreira7
01. May 2017 · 19:58 UTC
Controles um pouco confuso, porém um jogo interessante e com uma boa oportunidade de se tornar ótimo, continue nessa parceiro!
Bendev_Games
01. May 2017 · 20:52 UTC
The controls could be more responsive and the shooting intervals were inconsistent sometimes. The music was awesome and created a cool atmosphere but the controls ended killing a little of the experience for me.

Good game keep working on it!
SimplePotential
01. May 2017 · 21:52 UTC
As others are saying, controls are maybe not the best. Music is indeed really good. Needs some work but a great start!
Pedro Henrique Cesar
01. May 2017 · 23:18 UTC
Good start but the game lacks some kind of a tutorial and a UI showing what is happening, I don't know if I hit the enemy or not, if I got hit, you can try some basic animation like "fading" when something got hit.
The messages appearing below are nearly impossible to read because we are too focused play, dodging bullets and etc... The game needs a balance too, enemies are too hard for how slow you shot/your damage.
Brainy_Beard
02. May 2017 · 08:07 UTC
Music met the tone of the game, concept was interesting, gameplay could be made more interesting with a greater variety of AI.
Dopple-Danger
04. May 2017 · 20:37 UTC
I really liked the tone of the game, and the text that appears t the bottom of the screen. The shooting was really slow which made it kind of hard, but looking at other comments it might have worked better if I just held down.

I played through it a couple times here if you're interested https://youtu.be/3eBTusKqwFo