Strange Adventure by randdir

[raw]
made by randdir for Ludum Dare 45 (JAM)

In this game you will follow a fantastic short adventure that start from nothing. You'll have to make choices on each step so choose wisely your futur depend on it.

Use arrow UP and DOWN to select a choice and RIGHT or ENTER to valide it. Press LEFT arrow to go back in menu.

Program, design and sound by Nicolas. Music found on opengameart.org.

screen0.png

screen1.png

screen2.png

This game is made in 16h it's my 3th LD, so feel free to let any comment to progress in that way.

Thanks in advance for feedback. Enjoy and have fun.

UPDATED VERSION POST LD45: - Add few ends. - Fix some lines. - Fix some bugs while chosing choice. - You can now select with ENTER.

Ratings

Overall 684th 3.337⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Fun 793th 2.98⭐ 53🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 847th 2.804⭐ 53🧑‍⚖️
Theme 937th 2.76⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 362th 3.821⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Audio 278th 3.54⭐ 52🧑‍⚖️
Humor 483th 2.883⭐ 49🧑‍⚖️
Mood 234th 3.769⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Given 43🗳️ 72🗨️

Feedback

GabrielGameDev
07. Oct 2019 · 15:53 UTC
I tried to play but love.dll is missing to run the game.
🎤 randdir
07. Oct 2019 · 16:06 UTC
Thanks @gabrielgamedev I forgot the .dll. I just fix and update it pal ;)
Beshr Kayali
07. Oct 2019 · 17:20 UTC
Interesting concept! I really like the atmosphere and the music, it's gripping enough to make me try replay around 6 times because I kept hitting a deadend and redirected to main menu :joy: The conversation flows nicely (apart from a couple of spelling mistakes). The graphics are pretty cool and are fitting with the atmosphere.

It seems a bit too short though, or maybe I couldn't find the proper conversation tree?

I'd definitely like to see a more complete version of this, maybe with checkpoints so I don't have to start over everytime I go down the wrong conversation path.
KekkoDude
07. Oct 2019 · 17:23 UTC
Typo in the info screen, other than that, i enjoyed it, simplistic! are you planning to fork the story line further? or is it finished? i felt it ended a bit sudden
GabrielGameDev
07. Oct 2019 · 17:34 UTC
I don't know how many endings the game has but I think I got them all. I liked the game but I think it is a bit too short. Now that you have published the game, consider making updates to it.
snesgaard
07. Oct 2019 · 17:38 UTC
I like that you can basically refuse to participate at any point in the game :D Maybe a bit short, but interesting.
Nisovin
07. Oct 2019 · 18:00 UTC
It was a fun playthrough, but I wish there were more branches of story, rather than just a bunch of instant dead ends.
🎤 randdir
07. Oct 2019 · 18:22 UTC
Thanks a lot @nisovin @kekkodude @snesgaard @beshr-kayali @gabrielgamedev for your comments.

Yeah I know it's short story that also need to be longer with more branches ( @nisovin ), but guess it's a good start for the mechanic and story telling, glad you enjoyed spending few second on it !
radgegames
07. Oct 2019 · 18:48 UTC
Hey, this was great! Loved the music, Loved the art, and props for using sdl if i'm correct, that makes you extra crazy lol
Etch-light Studios
07. Oct 2019 · 19:37 UTC
Short story but really nice especially with the art
NachtWitch
07. Oct 2019 · 20:40 UTC
its definatly a strange adventure, however it is still super cool
ToxicComputer
07. Oct 2019 · 20:41 UTC
Cool Concept of a game and loved the graphics! Good job.
TJMcDonald
07. Oct 2019 · 20:44 UTC
Great art and sound!
clemonades
07. Oct 2019 · 21:22 UTC
Oh man the graphics are great, I love the art style you went with! Cool little story, great entry :)
Hcursino
08. Oct 2019 · 06:18 UTC
This gave me a Zork feeling it was fun haha. Gotta note here though, I spent some time in the main menu pressing enter, space, then every other letter on my keyboard and so on. Then I gave up and came here to read which button to press and figure out it was the Right key. Next time make it a bit more intuitive and use the enter key. Or use the enter, and space, and Right and all other keys the players might want to press. Or just right somewhere in the screen which key to press. Having the player to come to the internet to read what to do kills the mood a little bit. Furthermore, for the second runs while trying to skip the text I ended up selecting options that were not yet shown, so try and give the player the option to skip texts they already read.
Other than that, great game. Good job :D
onnofal
08. Oct 2019 · 08:16 UTC
Looks great, works well together with music (I know, but good choice of it anyway) for building up solid atmosphere. Then things happen
🎤 randdir
08. Oct 2019 · 15:41 UTC
First of all thanks @radgegames @etch-light-studios @nachtwitch @toxiccomputer @tjmcdonald @clemonades @hcursino @onnofal for your feed back and your time !

Sorry for your UX @hcursino. I should have done has you said, make few input unless let the right arrow to select stuff. Event if it's the INFO menu or in description. But to much focus on the mechanics xD
DWaM
08. Oct 2019 · 16:23 UTC
I liked the idea. It definitely captures the tone of an old-school text adventure. I really liked the graphics. Very moody.

The story itself, though, was pretty minimal, and I never felt too engaged, unfortunately. It seemed to end right before the interesting part starts, heh. I also think someone mentioned it before me, but I would've liked having a bit more for the other options besides just a one-liner and a redirect to the menu. Still, time constraints are understandable. Would be interested to see where it goes.

I noticed some grammar issues in the story itself (mostly the usage of tenses). If English isn't your native language, it's all the more commendable you chose to go with a text adventure!
🎤 randdir
08. Oct 2019 · 16:39 UTC
Thanks @dwam for your feed back @beshr-kayali already said something about some lines. I'll try to figure out how wich one. Of course it's not my native language and I was a bit tired when all were done (still now). So if it' remind you wich lines it' could help :) thanks a lot by the way.
shaurya_juneja
08. Oct 2019 · 16:51 UTC
Nice game loved it!
Grhyll
08. Oct 2019 · 17:06 UTC
Very nice ^^ The music and art really set a cool mood (although at first it was a bit surprising to "lose" at the first choice XD). Like the others, just kinda wish it was a bit longer ^^'
kiryu
08. Oct 2019 · 17:19 UTC
Very nice art (especially the notebook) and music. Great starting point for more and longer branches
k0haku
08. Oct 2019 · 18:41 UTC
Only thing are the sudden dead ends, as others have said. In a story game, there has to be some kind of impact when it ends. Maybe there is a way to play around it with game mechanics. Maybe you an turn back time and literally go back in your text? That would be a cool game actually.
BrokenMirrorMedia
08. Oct 2019 · 19:52 UTC
Short little game, I love the pixel art, it's really well done. I wish there was more paths that didn't just immediately kill you but I know how it is with game jams... maybe something to expand on in the future? The text speed was good, but I didn't like that I could select an option before it appeared, maybe make it so pressing right before the text is all written just fast forwards the animation instead of selecting the first option?
Ferdi
08. Oct 2019 · 20:07 UTC
Short but so well made. Graphics are wonderfull and overall game art is working great. Please make a longer version :) Congrats
Artyom Volkov
08. Oct 2019 · 21:52 UTC
I like this short text based quest, the story is simple, but pretty cohesive and visuals make it looks pretty good. However, I don't like that I can't use space or enter instead of right arrow, it's the biggest problem.
🎤 randdir
09. Oct 2019 · 15:43 UTC
Thanks for your feed back everyone @shaurya-juneja @grhyll @k0haku @brokenmirrormedia @ferdi @artyom-volkov and your time. Has said earlier jam made you easy running out of time so I'm gonna working on the next step of the story. And maybe few other branches. Soon hope :)
Plepletier
09. Oct 2019 · 16:38 UTC
Great art and finalization! I really want to know the final of story eheheheh good game!
Gaming Night
09. Oct 2019 · 16:50 UTC
Really cool retro pixel art in shades of grey :)
BOOtak
09. Oct 2019 · 18:04 UTC
I like this style, I would definitely continue playing this game if it has a longer storyline.
changemewtf
09. Oct 2019 · 18:32 UTC
My favorite line was, "I don't want to know. I don't want to understand. I care for my life." :laughing: Nice art and music style!
Porocyonak
10. Oct 2019 · 07:21 UTC
Cool art, well done for 16h!
Alexandre Delgery
10. Oct 2019 · 08:10 UTC
Everything is quite cohesive, got me engaged right away.
When hitting a dead end, that option is now gone during your new playthrough. On one hand it helps flying through dialogue to get back to where you were, on the other hand, if you accidentaly skip that line of dialogue, it's now gone. Maybe give the player an option to "reset his memory" or "start new dream".
Sweet game overall. Hope you'll update it. :)
simXple
10. Oct 2019 · 12:02 UTC
The art and the music together create such an amazing mood!
jusw85
10. Oct 2019 · 16:28 UTC
I love the pixel art style and music, gave a very good mood and instantly got me immersed into the game. I would've liked if the story were longer and gave more branching choices, right now the story seems pretty railroaded toward just one ending, and deviating from the correct path results in an instadeath.
2 Odd Diodes
10. Oct 2019 · 17:59 UTC
I loved the artstyle and general presentation. Writing was pretty good. Good job~!
Glitchheart
10. Oct 2019 · 18:05 UTC
Cool genre, and love the pixel art style! Some more content would be nice, but I get that it takes time to develop these types of branching paths well.
Good job!
Monish Vyas
11. Oct 2019 · 09:28 UTC
Nice game,apart from feeling a bit short and couple of typos here and there (not trying to be a d!*k) I found the game to be amazing. I always love a game with multiple endings and want to explore all the possibilities. Great work.
Kultisti
11. Oct 2019 · 16:35 UTC
Good job with the music! Loved it!
Enzo_B
12. Oct 2019 · 13:03 UTC
Great art i loved it ! :D
Gnappuraz
13. Oct 2019 · 14:27 UTC
Very unique style of art and music, really liked it (I don't wanna be a d!*k either but I'd advise to proof read the text, especially if is a text based game, also you can use free tools like grammarly to help you out). Overall real nice!
🎤 randdir
15. Oct 2019 · 17:20 UTC
Thanks @plepletier @gaming-night @bootak @changemewtf @porocyonak @alexandre-delgery @simxple @jusw85 @2-odd-diodes @glitchheart @monish-vyas @kultisti @enzo-b @gnappuraz for your comment and your time !

And also again thanks to @shaurya-juneja @grhyll @k0haku @brokenmirrormedia @ferdi @artyom-volkov @radgegames @etch-light-studios @nachtwitch @toxiccomputer @tjmcdonald @clemonades @hcursino @onnofal @dwam @nisovin @kekkodude @snesgaard @beshr-kayali @gabrielgamedev @gabrielgamedev.

Unfortunatly I can't handle this project for something much longer than I expect (working on other things at the moment). So I fix few bugs, lines and add few ends in an updated version. There still no checkpoint so choose wisely if you want to know the next part of the story ;)

(hints: there actualy 12 ends and half of them are "dead end")

https://tinyurl.com/yxelznur
pl4typus
15. Oct 2019 · 19:00 UTC
I get this when I spam up and down after choosing to show the book to the shadow

```
Error

tools.lua:56: bad argument #1 to 'getn' (table expected, got nil)


Traceback

[C]: in function 'getn'
tools.lua:56: in function <tools.lua:28>
[C]: in function 'xpcall'
```

Hey, that's pretty cool neverless :) Nice ambiance. Need more content maybe? As other comments say, the music is very good but not yours right?
🎤 randdir
15. Oct 2019 · 20:22 UTC
Yeah knowing issue. You use the LD45 version. If you want more stuff with fixed issue you gotta use the post LD45 version. More ends more stuff. The music coming from opengameart.org. Thanks for your time by the way @pl4typus.
sillyman987
16. Oct 2019 · 14:48 UTC
Great idea!
Paulo Brunassi
16. Oct 2019 · 15:47 UTC
I liked the concept and mood. I think if there are more options of what to do, the experience would be richer. Anyway, good job!