The Darkness by Iconocatstudio

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

Screenshot from 2019-10-06 16-30-19.png

Move with WASD/Arrows.

Start being nearly totally unable to see. Collect orbs of light to see! Avoid Spookies. Find key and the exit.

Ratings

Overall 412th 3.59⭐ 63🧑‍⚖️
Fun 589th 3.217⭐ 62🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 450th 3.344⭐ 63🧑‍⚖️
Theme 271th 3.725⭐ 62🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 471th 3.667⭐ 62🧑‍⚖️
Audio 253th 3.569⭐ 60🧑‍⚖️
Humor 752th 2.293⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Mood 123th 3.949⭐ 61🧑‍⚖️
Given 45🗳️ 42🗨️

Feedback

pedromgdo
06. Oct 2019 · 23:17 UTC
What a great game, really liked the gimmick! Very original.
DragonsBeardGames
06. Oct 2019 · 23:18 UTC
Great game, A little too hard at the start, running around blind but once I had a tiny bit of light is was good!
JordanEh
06. Oct 2019 · 23:23 UTC
Very atmospheric. The audio from the spookies freaked me out whenever I ran across it. The lightning effect added an invigorating burst of excitement to look for the next path during an otherwise chill & moody experience; It worked really well. The player graphic is super cute. The darkness line-of-sight effect was a nice touch.
t1a2z
06. Oct 2019 · 23:26 UTC
Very nice game! Great atmosphere! Lighting also a cool feature. A bit hard at the start, but still manageable. Awesome audio!
Bagenzo
07. Oct 2019 · 00:52 UTC
The start was a little stressful (the lightning helped, that was a very nice touch) but after that I enjoyed my time with this game. Good work!
Plazmaz
07. Oct 2019 · 01:05 UTC
Engaging, relatively mellow, and well thought-out. I really liked it.
bobotast
07. Oct 2019 · 01:16 UTC
Great mood, sound, etc. Very spooky! Also very difficult to navigate, I was just stumbling around at a certain point.
Bocodillo
07. Oct 2019 · 01:23 UTC
Really atmospheric with the rain, it was quite scary at first wandering around in the dark. Looks good to boot.
crunchykingcobra
07. Oct 2019 · 02:04 UTC
Spooked me a little. The rounded-off corners that you naturally slide along is an incredibly elegant detail and it makes the whole thing work much better than I expected. After I had enough light I did end up wandering for quite a long while looking for the key and the game was less tense after that. If you plan to continue with this I'd suggest introducing a pac-man ghost into the maze to follow people and give them heart attacks.
🎤 Iconocatstudio
07. Oct 2019 · 02:08 UTC
@crunchykingcobra Ha, I love it! That's a great idea!
sbackus
07. Oct 2019 · 02:23 UTC
I'm so bad at mazes even when the lights are on! lol. Nice game!
Jasper Hansen
07. Oct 2019 · 02:27 UTC
Very nice execution on a decent idea. Great mood in particular. As far as play is concerned, though the navigation does give it depth, the game is unfortunately a bit shallow. But, it does do a damn good job accomplishing what you seem to have intended.
🎤 Iconocatstudio
07. Oct 2019 · 02:39 UTC
@jasper-hansen Thanks! I completely agree on it being a bit shallow. By the time I finished the groundwork, it was time to submit. Will definitely manage my time better next time I do a game jam!
Gold5Games
07. Oct 2019 · 03:39 UTC
Great atmosphere. It pulled me in and kept my interest. The first flash of lightning sparked my interest, and with each bit of light collected, I was further drawn in.
RoboDoig
07. Oct 2019 · 04:02 UTC
Great idea, and very well realized. Interesting game mechanic and the lightning was a nice touch.
SSStormy
07. Oct 2019 · 05:12 UTC
gg. I like the polish! The enemies didn't feel hostile at all.
Rolly
07. Oct 2019 · 09:39 UTC
That's a nice idea! The sounds and visuals work perfectly together. I didn't meet any enemy except the static ones, and they didn't do any harm. So that was more like decoration improving the mood.

The minimalistic game over screen made me laugh :D
clemonades
07. Oct 2019 · 15:56 UTC
Great atmosphere, the sound effects/audio really gave the game a creepy vibe for me. Nice entry!
W0lfEnstein
07. Oct 2019 · 16:05 UTC
So spooky atmosphere,great sounds and cute graphics. Nice work ^^
JediNeeson
07. Oct 2019 · 16:54 UTC
Very nice ambiance, your graphics and sound design are perfect!
kristinamay
07. Oct 2019 · 17:26 UTC
This was such a good game! Great graphics, sound effects, and the lightning was a great mechanic.
Decappoolla
07. Oct 2019 · 17:53 UTC
Never thought I would actually feel scared when playing a pixel game. That whisper sound actually got me shiver😂

It's a little confusing that, when I see the character stop moving, I don`t know if I actually hit a wall or is the camera moving with me. Not a big problem.
IndieBin
07. Oct 2019 · 19:52 UTC
Very nice! The lighting was done very well! Got GG'ed quite quickly. And the spooky sounds were a lovely touch. Lightning added a great mechanic too, well done!
Wevel
07. Oct 2019 · 19:57 UTC
Nice game, the atmosphere is great,and the game works very well with the theme. I found the challenge was more about not getting lost, rather than avoiding the spooky things, but it was still fun to play.
RetroBarbare
07. Oct 2019 · 20:33 UTC
Very nice game , this is a first time i saw something like this , making a pacman in the dark was a great idea very spooky
The Osk
07. Oct 2019 · 20:54 UTC
This game was just wonderful. Great mechanics, impressive level of polish.
erebus
07. Oct 2019 · 21:49 UTC
Cool idea! I wish I had at least enough light to see a tiny bit of wall at the start. Wandering around not knowing if I'm moving and waiting for lighting wasn't fun. Once I got some light it became a much more enjoyable experience. Nice job!
DrakeSpartan
07. Oct 2019 · 21:53 UTC
The art was well done and the audio was great. However, in the circumstances where the camera isn't moving, it's hard to discern if you are moving or if you're against a wall, so maybe game-play would benefit from a much smaller light, a lot earlier on (which then increases to what you end up with).
Cyrolis
08. Oct 2019 · 00:03 UTC
"Gg" is the best conclusion :). I didn't know if monster can kill you because I didn't go on :).
Well done !
Porocyonak
08. Oct 2019 · 04:40 UTC
beginning was really tough and confusing, especially since the camera hovers around. if the lightning was more frequent in the beginning to counteract this, that would've made it more manageable.
Goldenglade
08. Oct 2019 · 04:54 UTC
The gameplay concept is workable, and the mood is well set by the setting of the pipes, the flashing red lights in the darkness, and the audio cues of the spookies. However, the game is too difficult too early on due to the small radius of light initially afforded to the main character, the infrequency and unreliability of ambient light events such as flashes and red lights, and the rapid waning of light after the collection of pickups. If these elements were counteracted in some way in which tension could still be caused, I believe the game would be more accessible, whilst still retaining an atmosphere of horror.
BrokenMirrorMedia
08. Oct 2019 · 07:10 UTC
I'll be honest, I don't love it when games blind you, especially not when it's a maze game, feels very tedious to get through. Once I got more lights the pace picks up, but before then it's just frustrating.
Ambra
08. Oct 2019 · 08:44 UTC
Nice idea, cute character and good sounds! :D
mechanicallife
08. Oct 2019 · 15:28 UTC
Really cool entry, It was fun to gather the light and get a better idea of how to move around the space. At the same time I had a hard time finding the exit once i got the key. And the enemies did not seem to do much to harm me. Anyway cool entry and GG to you too!
🎤 Iconocatstudio
08. Oct 2019 · 15:48 UTC
@porocyonak @goldenglade @brokenmirrormedia @ambra @mechanicallife Thanks for the feedback!
WanSou
08. Oct 2019 · 16:12 UTC
Not a bad game, keep the good work, i like the ending screen "gg"
Cybikitty
08. Oct 2019 · 22:32 UTC
For some reason this won't load for me, I just keep getting a pink screen with audio in the background :(
🎤 Iconocatstudio
08. Oct 2019 · 23:00 UTC
@cybikitty I did have someone say it didn't work for them on safari, but chrome and firefox seem to work for everyone. It could be a hardware or driver issue too, as it requires GLES 3 support. Thanks for letting me know!
RealityCheck
09. Oct 2019 · 21:23 UTC
Great little maze game. I really liked what you did with the lighting - the lightning flashes that helped guide you every once in a while (they were the reason I found the key). The rain and the thunder along with the ambient sounds of the cave were comfortably spooky.

I felt like maybe you walked a little too fast when you had no light to guide you. Ran into monsters too quickly - though it wasn't much of a problem since they don't hurt you physically, and I was already out of light.

Keep up the good work.
Euler Moises
11. Oct 2019 · 01:57 UTC
A simple game. I like so much the thunder effect. I don't found any enemies. What happening?

Congratulations!

This is our game:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/soundscapes
Ithildin
11. Oct 2019 · 22:59 UTC
Nice game with a spooky atmosphere. It was challenging at the beginning, until you start getting the orbs and get enough light to move around a bit more at ease.

Good job!
adliberum
29. Oct 2019 · 01:19 UTC
This so deserved to be a compo entry, what a really clever concept! Great job :thumbsup: