LudumData

Aphantasia by kristinamay

[raw]
made by kristinamay for Ludum Dare 45 (COMPO)

Aphantasia

[n]. The inability to form mental images of objects that are not present.

Screen Shot 2019-10-06 at 6.17.54 PM.png

You're working with a local psychiatrist on a new therapy to lessen the negative effects that aphantasia has on those who suffer from it.

Because they cannot form their own mental images, you've volunteered to help them create physical representations of their purely verbal thoughts.

Screen Shot 2019-10-06 at 6.20.14 PM.png

In other words, you're painting their memories.

https://kristinamay.itch.io/aphantasia

How to play

You can play by download love2d's super simple game engine thing. OR you can use the Windows or Mac versions I've created (which are tested and work on multiple devices!). I might try to work on a port that can play in the web but it doesn't seem well-supported so none of us should hold our breaths.

Otherwise, directions are in the game.

Known issues

  • Windows build trips up antivirus software. I have no idea how to fix that, but trying it a few times allows it through.
  • [fixed] Title isn't appearing on window.
  • [fixed] Scoring isn't working for the second or third levels.
  • [fixed]One sound effect later in the game is looping when it shouldn't be.

UPDATE: Fixed the issues above at around +1 hour after submission hour, you can look at github for the record of changes if you're curious.

Misc

This is my first game using love2d, and my third LD! I had the most fun creating all the assets for this game, and I hope y'all have as much fun as I did messing around with the art.

Youtube https://github.com/kristinalustig/ld45
Youtube https://github.com/kristinalustig/ld45/blob/master/aphantasia-win32.zip
Youtube https://github.com/kristinalustig/ld45/blob/master/aphantasia-osx.zip
Youtube https://github.com/kristinalustig/ld45/blob/master/aphantasia.love
Youtube https://github.com/kristinalustig/ld45/blob/master/aphantasia-win64.zip
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/aphantasia

Ratings

Overall 65th 3.894⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Fun 101th 3.632⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 17th 4.258⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Theme 153th 3.667⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 71th 3.941⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Audio 133th 3.438⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Humor 163th 2.906⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Mood 76th 3.766⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Given 44🗳️ 40🗨️

Feedback

Frogman
07. Oct 2019 · 15:33 UTC
This was an excellent game. Very original and not what I expected. It also had very nice graphics and audio. Well done!
Toryf
07. Oct 2019 · 15:37 UTC
Very good ! Never heard about aphantasia before x). Layers would have been good but still great concept ! Good job
PythooonUser
07. Oct 2019 · 15:38 UTC
Interesting idea! The game seems very polished. I had a bit of trouble keeping up with the text that describes the image, as I needed to think about what image to choose and cycle through what's available.
Polyethyleneglykol
07. Oct 2019 · 15:52 UTC
So unique! I love the art style and the music. And you did it in Lua! Very impressive :D
simXple
07. Oct 2019 · 16:40 UTC
Great game, maybe reading the letters out would have helped keeping up with what the person says while choosing the right pictures. :)
Pincushion
07. Oct 2019 · 16:42 UTC
I love the hand drawn.. everything! The music was good and went well with the game. I appreciate that you tried something different. Great entry.
Antti Haavikko
07. Oct 2019 · 16:53 UTC
So, on the first level I tried to read and play at the same time... big mistake. That's why it looks like I missed the table and night is inside the house.

![aphantasia.png](///raw/1e4/3/z/27299.png)

Very clever idea and nicely executed. Obviously more content in the form of more elaborate stories and bigger (or even any) variance in the objects that could be used. Btw, does it penalize you if you add in objects that aren't supposed to be there? So could you just do a big mess and still get it right? Well, not like the score really mattered anyway I think.

I had to try it out...

![perfect.png](///raw/1e4/3/z/272bf.png)

Perfect indeed!

Anyways, good job and big thanks for the mac version. :hearts::hearts: Been browsing games, rating and commenting for almost two hours now and this was just the second game I actually got to play...
🎤 kristinamay
07. Oct 2019 · 17:00 UTC
@antti-haavikko as a fellow Mac user, I feel the pain of seeing a game that looks SO COOL and then not being able to play. :-) I had to get someone else to test my windows version to make sure it worked!

And, thanks for sharing those screenshots. I wanted to implement a scoring system that penalized you for adding a bunch of extraneous weird things but honestly it's a miracle I got scoring working at all!

@simxple @pythooonuser thanks for the feedback. The idea was that it would be tough to follow along and still grab the right items - that's why I made them verbally backtrack occasionally, but I'm sure I didn't find the right balance. I appreciate the feedback!
Grhyll
07. Oct 2019 · 17:01 UTC
Very cool game! The first level is kinda hard because I was still trying to figure out what to do, and by the time I understood I has missed some lines ^^' But then it got easier and confortable, and I had a perfect score on the last one /o/
It's light and happy and super nice, congrats :)
Antti Haavikko
07. Oct 2019 · 17:07 UTC
I liked the fact that you kinda had to play it like a memory game. Listen to story first and then pick the objects. Having more/different options on each level (so you wouldn't exactly know what to look for in the story) and the stories being more twisty and complex would probably be fun. Kinda weird that the first level was the most complex one and the one where the person actually went back and corrected themselves.
🎤 kristinamay
07. Oct 2019 · 17:12 UTC
@antti-haavikko Definitely noted. It took me until about 2 hours before the compo was over to get everything working for the first level, and then I had to hurry up and write the second two chapters and get them working as fast as I could. I wanted to move the levels around but I was too scared about breaking everything. :laughing: Thanks for the feedback.
W0lfEnstein
07. Oct 2019 · 17:37 UTC
Cute atmosphere and graphics and interesting gameplay. Enjoyable! Nice work ^^
mortalfosca
07. Oct 2019 · 19:51 UTC
This is really impressing. I loved the artworks and the concept is very unique as well. Its amazing you managed to do all these in such a short time!
Also,thanks to you, now I know what Aphantasia is! It all makes sense now. (A-phantasia -> not being able to fantasize?)
daria-toni
07. Oct 2019 · 19:53 UTC
I finished playing! It's so small, but so sweet and the style is unique. I love the subject you bring up here. I think this little game may have the potential to grown up in something bigger :)
Game-mon
07. Oct 2019 · 20:24 UTC
Super unique concept! I enjoyed it a lot. Really interesting to listen to what the people say, remember, and then create the painting. Congrats! :D
BRTEK007
07. Oct 2019 · 20:39 UTC
A lot of fun, tempo is challenging but slow enought to keep up, great work :)
shrapx
10. Oct 2019 · 01:57 UTC
It was kind of like a memory game after all. Listening for details of the memory, as I try and fill the scene, Maybe that is a sign i don't have as much of a visual memory. And how different people would play this game differently if they are more or less visual. Well delivered compo game! I streamed it here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/492370802?t=00h57m27s
🎤 kristinamay
23. Oct 2019 · 18:02 UTC
@shrapx wow, thank you so much for playing my game!! Was really cool watching you play through it. :)
Dongle
23. Oct 2019 · 19:03 UTC
This was a great game! I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was a lot of fun. I liked how many different things there were. really great idea and well implemented!
GenTel
24. Oct 2019 · 01:44 UTC
Nice work, very original! You have an especially good take on the theme. The dialogue is likewise excellent for such a short timeframe. Tech-wise making it so the player could easily draw and layer stuff was very interesting and a great mechanic.

To improve I'd say it was often hard to tell what order to put stuff in to make it all show instead of covering stuff up. Maybe making some of the elements cover up less would help or some intended order for the pieces to go in.
xatulu
24. Oct 2019 · 14:12 UTC
Love the game, well done! Thanks for sharing!
🎤 kristinamay
24. Oct 2019 · 14:54 UTC
@gentel yeah, good thought. I was going to implement a static order on the canvas so that whenever you dragged things over, they'd appear in the right order. I decided against it ultimately because I felt that it was too easy that way - I wanted to introduce some time pressure of some sort, which is why I also had the dialogue introduce elements in the "wrong" order. Perhaps it ended up more tedious than challenging, but in any case, I appreciate the feedback!
Rensen
24. Oct 2019 · 19:43 UTC
Loved the concept and overall lightness of the game, reminded me of early flash games somehow. Enjoyed creating pictures based on descriptions. Agree with @gentel about canvas ordering.

Not sure if it fits with your patients theme, but what if you drew your pictures right in front of patients and they could comment on elements you placed on screen? For example: Fire... in the kitchen?! Its dangerous! Erase it, now! :D

Anyway, good job!
Palemek
24. Oct 2019 · 22:06 UTC
Hey! Thanks for the game, *LOVE2D* rules!
I really appreciate the way you used the real desease to create the feeling of.. startintg with nothing.

The only wish I have is that the audio track was a little longer, so that it wouldn't loop so often...
selkkie
25. Oct 2019 · 16:05 UTC
This was a really neat game!
The one thing I'd change would be something regarding the order of elements. As long as I put everything on the canvas, I got a perfect score, but often I'd end up putting the place or time last and covering everything up. It would be preferable I think if place and time of day were always in the same z-index under everything else, OR if I wasn't allowed to paint until the very end (making the memory test part more challenging)

It probably also would have been possible to make this a procedural game with infinite paintings based on randomly generated stories, but it wouldn't have the same homely feel this did.

Great work overall, I'd love to see this idea developed further!
s-yanik
29. Oct 2019 · 18:37 UTC
Original and creative concept. Just a fraternal and friendly atmosphere that makes you want to be better.
Statiko
15. Nov 2020 · 00:41 UTC
This is a very serious problem and everyone must work with it. In addition, it is necessary to refer to professionals. But many do not know how to get to them now because of this quarantine. Therefore, I hope that I can somehow help everyone. It will be very useful and everyone will be able to do it, you just need to apply here for [text therapy free](https://calmerry.com/text-therapy/) and it is really good to help. So be sure to check it out, I hope it will be useful and that I can somehow help with it. There are really pros working there, so the result will definitely be, I have no doubt.